I have many blogs I check and occasionally I find one that stops me in my tracks. Often these posts are simple things that I forget.

I ran into one by a pastor in Raleigh, NC and had to point all of us to it. I hope we will each take a long gaze at what we pray and how we focus on the gospel.

Here are the three gospel prayers he prays, but check out the whole post here.

“God, because I am in Christ I know there is nothing I can do today that would make you love me any more than you do right now, and there’s nothing I have done that makes you love me any less.” As Martin Luther noted, the human heart is hardwired to default into works-righteousness (my acceptance and worth is based on how well I perform). This sentence helps me grasp the free, complete grace I have in Christ. According to John 17, God loves me now as much as He loves Jesus. Wow. The idea that I can add to or take away from His love, then, is absurd.

“God, your presence and approval is all I need to have joy today.” This sentence helps war against my natural proclivity to idolatry. As John Calvin said, the human heart is an idol factory. We turn almost everything good into an idol, looking to it for happiness rather than God Himself. This sentence helps me remember that I don’t need worldly praise, monetary blessing, success, or even “happiness” to have joy.

“God, everything the Gospel tells me about your intentions for my life is TRUE.” In the Gospel, God shows me that His intentions for me are blessing not cursing, hope not despair, resurrection not death. This completely charges me up to go into the day. I realize that God’s intentions for me, my family, and my ministry are good beyond even my wildest imaginations. The sky is literally the limit (Psalm 103) on the power and salvation He wants to work in and through me.

Michael

Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Jim Elliot and four other missionaries.

I have been greatly impacted by reading a book called Shadow of the Almighty. It is a compilation of journal entries and the story of Jim Elliot. This video might cause you to search it out and read it yourself.

Jim Elliot and Beyond on YouTube

Thanks to Justin Taylor for pointing this video out.

I am thankful for the dedication of such people all over the world. Pray for our missionaries, no matter where they live.

Michael

The plan is simple and that may be why I struggle to trust it since I make things more complicated than they really are. The plan is based on a book by James Gray called How to Master the English Bible. Great title, right?

The plan:
Read a book of the Bible over, and over and over and over (and over again!)

Simple right? Why would it be so difficult to follow through with if it is that simple? Well about the 6th time I read the same book in a row, I get bored. I start telling myself that I have seen everything that I can in this book since I have read it so many times. You ever have that problem as you start the New Year in Genesis yet again? How hard is it for you to actually engage the text of Genesis 1-3?

Anyway, it is really hard to press beyond that point and keep reading. What I am told is that if you can push through that moment and keep reading, somewhere between the 10th and the 15th time reading the same book, the clouds will part and you will see God coming down and the angels proclaiming, oh wait, that is my dream. Back to the plan. Sometime between those you will see clearly how the book flows and you will start to see things in the text that have always been there but you have never connected before.

If older saints reading the Bible faithfully for many years are still able to learn new things from the same book, then I can read the same book again. I have not exhausted everything there is to learn even in Jude, so why should I think I have grasped it all.

My additional problem is that I tend to get caught up on sections I want to think about more and study in depth. There is plenty of time for this after I do my reading. Right now I just want to read it over and over and, yes, over again.

Well, I chose Ephesians for the first book I am tackling and I have read it 8 times so far. I think I am at that point where it becomes a struggle, so pray for me in the midst of this, but I am seeing things that are tremendously helpful. I will try to share some of those things in future posts.

Another thing about this, I am not rushing through this process to get finished. At this point I don’t even know how many times I will read Ephesians. That really takes the pressure off. I simply want to read it until I get it. After that, I am going to choose an Old Testament book to do the same thing. I have no idea when I will get through the whole Bible this way, but my goal is not to get through the whole Bible in a certain time. My goal is to benefit and grow from my reading. This is a method that I think will help me do just that.

Now, lest any of you think I am throwing any Bible in a year plan under the bus, I think there are great things you can learn from reading the Bible in this way that are more difficult in my plan. If you stick with the bible in a year plan (which often seems difficult in itself) you will have a wonderful grasp of the whole bible. You will read portions that you would probably never have chosen on your own, portions you may never have read before. This can be helpful.

My suggestion is to keep reading no matter what your plan is. The power is not in a plan for reading the Bible. You grow by reading and applying the Bible. You can do that by reading the whole thing, one book or even one verse for a whole year. Do whatever you must to get into the book often. You will see the benefits if you will just read.

Michael

Are you thinking about what you can do differently this next year? I know I am. It almost seems hard wired in me to evaluate my last year and to make plans to do better this next year. That can be both good and bad.

I have to constantly remind myself that according to the gospel, I am accepted even with the failures of this last year. Jesus covers it all! How comforting and yet humbling that is. I can start over knowing that it is not my performance that will get me closer to God. Jesus keeps me close. This makes me want to start over.

Having said that, it is a good time to evaluate and plan. If you are also in that mindset and want to systematically read through the Bible this next year, let me recommend a few plans by pointing to Justin Taylor’s blog Between Two Worlds. He has listed many different plans that might suit you. In fact, I would recommend his blog for regular reading. I check there often.

Another plan I have heard about that seems really helpful is this flexible one from Tim Chester on his blog. Check it out.

In the next few days I will lay out the plan I am going to try this year. Please pray for me to follow through and if you let me know what your plan is for this next year, I will pray for you.

Thanks and have a great New Year’s day! I know I will.