What's Your Plan to Read the Bible in 2019?

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What's Your Plan to Read the Bible in 2019?

For many of us, 2019 means fresh starts and new beginnings. When we think about new years, new year’s resolutions typically come to mind—losing weight, quitting a habit, changing something. We all know, however, how often new year’s resolutions last or work. 

Why don’t new years resolutions work? They often fail for one primary reason—lack of discipline. Anything worth while in life requires discipline—the ability to say no to certain things, yes to other things, determination, perseverance, good time management, and more. Each year many of us long to read the Bible more but fail to. What needs to change?

As we leave 2018 and enter into 2019, we must see Bible reading as a discipline, and that’s a good thing! Like any discipline, Bible reading is something we must be committed to and willing to do regularly until it becomes a habit. After we’ve carried out a discipline regularly over a long period of time, that discipline becomes easier. This reality is also true for Bible reading. 

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Replicate Response: Fast Purposefully

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Replicate Response: Fast Purposefully

Fasting is one way of us showing God that we value His presence more than anything else in our lives. Personally, fasting is a spiritual discipline that I have always struggled with the most, but I’m honestly not surprised by that, because fasting is the action of giving up something, usually food, and clinging to God when we crave it. Fasting is not natural to us because we love our food and possessions! It goes against the flow of what our culture shows us. Fasting pushes against the cravings of our flesh and the world, and it compels us to press into and lean into God more than anything.

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Replicate Response: Pray Earnestly

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Replicate Response: Pray Earnestly

Prayer is our direct communication to God! I am still amazed at the reality that God grants me direct access to Him through prayer. It is truly amazing! Those of us who are His children and have given our lives to Him, have unlimited availability to talk to God. In our Western culture, we often take this for granted because life can be so busy and overwhelming. We also have so much at our fingertips and become easily distracted. The truth is, prayer should not just be something that we do when life is not going well or when tragedy hits. Prayer should be constant and consistent in our lives, no matter the circumstance we find ourselves in.

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Replicate Response: Give Generously

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Replicate Response: Give Generously

We are each given the task and responsibility of stewarding our finances well. Money is a gift from God, but money can also be used to our disadvantage if we are not careful. 1 Timothy 6:10 says this: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” Paul doesn’t tell Timothy that money in itself is evil, but he does tell him that the love of money is evil. We know that money itself cannot be evil, and it is a good thing. Making money is how we take care of ourselves and provide for our needs and families. The jobs that we work give us money, which is a good and honorable thing to the Lord. The question is, though, how are we managing and using our money? 

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Why You Should Make a Big Deal about Baptism

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Why You Should Make a Big Deal about Baptism

A lot of people have different thoughts, beliefs, and even misconceptions on what baptism is and what it’s meant to be. As Christians, we need to understand the true meaning and significance behind baptism and how the Bible explains it for our own understanding and so we can also explain it to others. 

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