How To Get More Out Of Reading The Bible

Last week we looked at several tips that I’ve found helpful in becoming more consistent in my Bible reading. I feel it is crucial to my spiritual growth to take in God’s Word in its entirety at least once per year. But I’ve found that when I read through it that fast, I miss some important stuff. Today I want to examine one of the methods that I use for a more in-depth reading and application of the Bible.

Panning For Gold

I call it the Golden Nugget Approach to Bible reading.

Just a quick word of warning before I explain: if you are a very organized person, this approach may not work for you. If you like to see daily progress, this might leave you wanting. That said, I feel that this approach works pretty well at digging out truth from the Bible to apply to my daily life.

Here’s how I approach the Golden Nugget Bible reading system:

The Secret To Growing As A Leader

It seems as if everyone is talking about growing as a leader this week. The leader’s personal growth has been a topic within the last few days on several blogs I frequently visit. I find it very interesting that so many are discussing this idea.

Question Mark Sign

Here is something that I’ve discovered to be very true, even though it sounds overly simple: It takes effort to grow. I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true. If you want to grow as a leader, you have to put in some effort. A lot of effort. Otherwise you’ll drift down the stream of complacency, opposite of the direction you want to go.

I’ve identified over a dozen different observations about personal growth. So, instead of overwhelming you with all of them at once, I’ll post a few at a time, over the next couple of weeks.

Here are the first five ideas to help you lay the foundation for personal growth in your life.

Memorize Scripture With Me!

One of the things I used to do frequently was memorize significant passages from the Bible. I did this faithfully while I was in Bible college, partly because it was assigned, but also because I wanted to hide God’s Word in my heart. I memorized dozens of verses.

Man Holding Bible in the Mountains

But I haven’t done that in recent years. And I really don’t have a good excuse for why I stopped.

I’m going to start again….

In 2011, I’m going to memorize the entire Sermon on the Mount, a verse or two at a time.

And I’d like you to join me in this.

Hello Bar

I just received an invite to the closed beta service of Hello Bar. I’ve plugged it in and love the way it looks so far. Thanks to Church Crunch for the invite.

Hello Bar Website

The settings are simple to customize, but what I love best so far are the stats.

Hello Bar on my site

I have 5 invites to pass out three left, so if you’d like one, leave a comment and I’ll pick five to send it out to.

More E.M. Bounds On Prayer

Last week, I shared a passage from E.M Bounds, on prayer. Here’s another paragraph that has been inspirational in my life.

Woman In Prayer

This quote comes from The Possibilities Of Prayer, and Bounds seems to be asking if we, perhaps unintentionally, place constraints upon God’s willingness or ability to answer prayer.

The utmost possibilities of prayer have rarely been realized. The promises of God are so great to those who truly pray, when he puts himself so fully into the hands of the praying ones, that it almost staggers our faith and causes us to hesitate with astonishment. His promise to answer, and to do, and to give “all things,” “anything,” “whatsoever,” and “all things whatsoever,” is so large, so great, so exceedingly broad, that we stand back in amazement and give ourselves to questioning and doubt. We “stagger at the promise through unbelief.” Really the answers of God to prayer have been pared down by us to our little faith, and have been brought down to the low level of our narrow notions about God’s ability, liberality, and resources. Let us ever keep in mind and never for one moment allow ourselves to doubt the statement that God means what he says in all of his promises…. His promises are for plain people, and he means to do for all who pray just what he says he will do.

Do you take God at word? What do you do to help yourself grow in your faithfulness in prayer?

If you are interested in reading more from E.M. Bounds on prayer, you can you can purchase his collected works at Amazon.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Why Does A Young Creation Have The Appearance Of Being Old?

One of the most frequent questions I hear regarding the Creation/evolution discussion concerns the appearance of age. How can the universe be so young when it looks old?

Eagle Nebula

Taken at face value, Genesis presents us with a dilemma. If we read the Creation account literally, we find that the earth and the universe were created around 6000 years ago. This is in direct opposition to what the evolutionary model of our origins tells us. Currently, the evolutionary model estimates that the universe is 13.6 billion years old. But which view is correct?

If we truly accept God’s Word as infallible, then we need to trust it in all matters, including science. Anytime science disagrees with Scripture, we have to assume that science doesn’t have all the facts. Throughout history, the Bible has repeatedly been shown to be accurate in scientific matters, as well as all manner of other areas. So, Genesis must be correct concerning the age of our universe as well. Our knowledge is limited, finite. We need to trust that God knows all the answers, even though we may not. Why are we so quick to ignore the God of Creation concerning matters that he obviously know more about than we do?

E.M. Bounds on Prayer

Hands Folded In Prayer

It’s Friday. My goal for Friday is to give you something that’s either an inspiration to me or a great resource that I’ve found helpful. This week, I’d like to share something that has impacted me pretty heavily.

A few years ago, I read several of E.M. Bounds’ books on prayer. These are powerful books, and I go back to them again and again.

In The Reality Of Prayer, Bounds describes what pray is, and what it isn’t. This is something that I’ve copied and stashed in several places, so that I come across it frequently and remind myself of the reality of prayer. I hope you find it as encouraging as I do.