Category: Article

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week.  These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. ** 

 

John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

            One of the greatest joys of Super Summer is being together with like-minded believers.  We love being around people who are like us.  Students talk regularly about the awesome feeling of meeting people their own age who are committed to Christ.

 

            This experience stands out to students so clearly because not many have a youth group full of devoted followers of Christ.  Thus, when we return home, many experience a sort of let down.  The local church does not feel like Super Summer.  The local church is full of people whose bad habits, short tempers, and general foibles we all know.  The local church that most of us go to will not have a group of thirty other people who are our age, who are going through our experiences, and who are committed to the same things we are committed to. 

 

            So, what do you do when you get home?  What do you do when the music is not played as well, as loud, or as fast as when you were at Super Summer?  What do you do when there aren’t even two other people your age who are trying to follow Christ?  What do you do when there aren’t even two other people your age?

 

            What did you learn to do at Super Summer?  One thing that I know you learned was to take seriously the word of God.  You were challenged to obey that word, no matter what the cost.  Is that true of you?

 

            If it is true, then you need to take the commands of God seriously regarding the local church.  It is your job, whether young or old, to obey the commands God has given you about the life of the local church.  And the commands that you will see below are all about how you treat other believers.  The clearest place for you to obey these commands is right there in your local church, even if you are the only one your age. 

 

            So, here is what I want to challenge you to do.  Read the list below.  Perhaps even look up these verses to see the commands in context.  Then pray and ask God how you can do these things in your own church.  How can you fulfill the biblical “one anothers” in your church toward the senior adults, toward people your parents’ age, toward youth both committed and not,  and toward the young children.  God has you in your local church for a reason.  If you close off to the people who are not like you, you will not be able to fulfill his commands regarding others.  No, God does not make it easy.  But, if you will obey, there will be the joy of his glory, no matter how others respond to you.

 

One Another Sayings (this is not a complete list, but it is a great start)

 

John 13:14 – Wash one another’s feet (humbly serve one another)

 

John 13:34 – Love one another

 

            Romans 12:10 – Be devoted to one another in brotherly love

 

Romans 12:16 – Live in harmony with one another.

 

1 Corinthians 12:25 – have equal concern for each other

 

Galatians 6:2 – Carry each other’s burdens

 

Ephesians 4:32 – Be kind and compassionate to one another; forgive each other

 

Colossians 3:9 – Do not lie to each other

 

Colossians 3:13 – Bear with each other; Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another

 

1 Thessalonians 4:9 – Love each other

 

1 Thessalonians 4:18 – encourage each other

 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 – Encourage each other; build one another up

 

1 Thessalonians 5:13 – Live in peace with each other

 

1 Thessalonians 5:15 – Be kind to each other

 

Hebrews 13:1 – Keep on loving each other as brothers

 

James 5:9 – Do not grumble against each other

 

James 5:16 – Confess your sins to each other; Pray for each other

 

1 Peter 4:8 – Love each other deeply

 

1 Peter 4:9 – Offer hospitality to one another

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week. These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. **

In 2 Chronicles 10, we read the story of a young king by the name of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the son of King Solomon. After Solomon’s death, Rehoboam took the throne of Israel and was approached by his people. The people of Israel asked Rehoboam to lighten their workload, as they had done many years of hard service under Solomon.

What should Rehoboam do? If he lightens the load of the people, perhaps they would think him weak. If he does not lighten their workload, perhaps they would think him harsh.

Rehoboam received advice from two groups of counselors, the older and younger. Rehoboam then ignored the advice of the older generation for the advice of young men who think like him. In doing so, Rehoboam made a bad decision to become even harder on the people than his father. Immediately, the 12 tribes of Israel divided, splitting the nation into two nations. Rehoboam only was able to govern 2 tribes, while 10 full tribes rebelled and became the northern kingdom.

What happened? Besides the things that God was doing behind the scenes to punish Israel for their sin under Solomon, Rehoboam also made a terrible mistake. He refused to listen to the counsel of the older generation. He refused to hear the words of men who had lived longer than him, men who were older and wiser than him. Rehoboam only listened to people who were his own age, and he made a blunder that robbed him of his kingdom.

Don’t miss the life lesson here. We tend to surround ourselves with people who are like us. We tend to only talk to people who already think as we do. We do not often look outside our own generation to get advice about what to do, how to think, or where to go. And in limiting ourselves to the advice of people just like us, we rob ourselves of the kind of counsel that God intended to be present in his church (cf. Titus 2:1-6).

Younger Christians, do not make the mistakes of Rehoboam. Do not assume that your generation is the only one to serve Jesus or take their faith seriously. Believe it or not, the generations who are older than you have also struggled through peer pressure, depression, fear of man, dating, money issues, career choices, and all the rest. Honestly, and I mean no insult here, if you are only in your teen years, you do not have the kind of wisdom and life experiences to make life’s most important decisions without counsel. You need to hear the wisdom of pastors, parents, and other wise older followers of Christ. If you do not seek out the advice of older saints, you are very likely to make decisions that are just the same as the faulty and damaging decision that Rehoboam made.

Think this through in an issue like dating. Should you go out with a particular young man or woman (as the case may be)? Though you may not believe it, it is very likely that your parents, your grandparents, your pastor, your Sunday School teacher, or your youth minister can see more about your love interest’s character than you can. You have too much emotion tied up in the situation. You have too little experience identifying dangerous habits and trends in potential suitors. You need the godly counsel of others if you are to make a good decision.

By the way, if you are reading this and are not a youth, be sure that you also recognize your need to seek counsel and thoughts from others who do not think like you. Pastors need to hear from the older and younger generations. Thinkers need to hear from people who are more emotional. Merciful people need to hear from more logical people. Bluegrass folks need to hear from rockers. Cardinals fans need to hear from Cubs fans (if only to understand their futility). We need to listen to people who are not like us but who are seeking the glory of God according to his word.

Ask yourself who you might develop a friendship with to help in this area. Who is not like you in age, experience, or personal taste who might be able to give you a new perspective on life? Who knows, you might find out that, as amazing as it may seem, somebody different than you, older than you, actually has some pretty important things to teach you about following your Savior.

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week.  These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. ** 

 

            Can I use my personal testimony as a way to share the gospel with others?  This is a difficult question, because it totally depends on what kind of testimony you give.  There are some testimonies that only focus on the person and their experience.  Other testimonies interweave my story with the biblical truth claims of the gospel.  Only those which make clear the truth claims of Scripture—the universal need of all people to repent and turn to Jesus—are truly evangelistic testimonies.

 

            Consider the following 2 paragraphs from Mark Dever, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, 133:

 

“ Some think of a personal testimony as evangelism. Certainly a testimony of what God has done in our lives may include the Good News, but it also may not include it. In telling other people how much Jesus means to you, you may not have told them the Gospel at all. Have you explained what Christ did by dying on the Cross? It is good to share your own testimony of what God has done in your life, but in your testimony, you may not actually make clear what Christ’s claims are on other people.

 

Testimony is, of course, very popular in our postmodern, “that’s good-for-you”  age. Who would object to your thinking you’ve gotten something good from Christ? But wait and see what happens when you try to move the conversation from what Jesus has done for you to the facts of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and how that all applies to your nonbelieving friend. That’s when you discover that testimony is not necessarily evangelism. ”

 

            Simply put, if all I do is tell a person that trusting Jesus made my life better, all I have done is made an experiential claim with no demands on the life or beliefs of another.  It is little different than telling someone that, since I began taking a certain kind of vitamin, I have a great deal more energy.  My conversation partner is likely to say to me that they are glad that my experiment with religion worked for me, even though they have no intention of trying that.  They may walk away from that conversation assuming that they are free to try their own way and it be just as valid as my experience.

 

            How then do you use your testimony and actually include enough Scripture to follow it up with a call for another person to respond?  I would recommend using Ephesians 2:1-10 as a base text that you can pattern your testimony around.  If you have a Bible available, you can actually use the text to help a person see your testimony and their condition before God.  If you use Ephesians 2:1-10, you can share your testimony in 4 steps:

 

1.      Who I was (v1-3) – Begin your testimony with what God says about all of us before our salvation.  We were dead in sins and trespasses (v1).  WE all followed our own desires, the pattern of the world around us, and the tricks of Satan himself (v2-3).  Because of your sin, you were under the curse of God’s wrath, and rightfully so (v3).  Had nothing changed, hell would have been your ultimate destination, as it is the ultimate destination for all who are not forgiven by God. 

 

2.      What God did (v4-7) – Then tell them what God did to make you alive.  God, the perfectly holy Creator, sent his Son to earth to pay the price for our sins.  Jesus died and then rose from the grave to grant forgiveness to all who will come to him.  For all who become God’s child, God will grant eternal life and forever kindness.

 

3.      How you responded (v8-9) – Jesus did all the work, but he requires us all to respond to him in faith.  We are saved by God’s grace through trusting in Jesus Christ.  You did not do anything good to be saved.  God graciously allowed you to place your trust for your eternity in the finished work of Jesus.  This is how any will be saved.

 

4.      What is different (v10) – God not only forgave your sin if you are a Christian, he also changed your life.  Now you live to do the good works for which God created you.  These works do not contribute to your salvation at all.  Instead, the good things that you do now give you joy as you give glory to your God.

 

            It would be wise to construct your testimony, your true story, around the points above and Ephesians 2:1-10.  Don’t spend a great deal of time dwelling on the gory details of your sinful past—this tends to glorify your sin rather than God.  Instead, get to the cross and help them to know how you trusted Christ, received forgiveness, and now have joy in following him.  Don’t make yourself look perfect; be honest.  Simply tell the truth and use the Scripture as your authority for the truth of the change in your life.

 

            Then, as you wrap up your testimony, point out to your friend that Ephesians 2:1-3 says that all of us are in need of God’s grace.  Verses 4-7 tell us that Jesus has done the work for all who will trust him to be forgiven.  Then let them know that, if they wish to become God’s child and be forgiven of their sin, they too must come by God’s grace through faith in Jesus as verses 8-9 say.  If they will come, they will be able to live out their ultimate purpose that God planned for them from before the dawn of time as we read in verse 10.

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week.  These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. ** 

 

            A key focus that we had in the Blue School at Super Summer was evangelism, sharing the message of Jesus with those who need to hear it.  If you are a Christian, you probably already have had plenty of people tell you that it is your job as a Christ-follower to tell the lost world about Jesus.  Those people are right.  In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus told his disciples that he has all the authority in the universe and that he commands us to go and make disciples out of the nations.  Part of that process is us telling people about Jesus.

 

            Generally, when we discuss the issue of sharing your faith with another person, one of two reasons surface as the things that hold you back.  Some people will say to me that they do not share Jesus with others because they are afraid.  They fear what others will think of them, that they may be hostile or judgmental.  This is what the Bible calls fear of man.  We will not address that particular point today, though if you would like a resource to help with the issue of fearing man, I recommend reading the following:  Edward Welch. When People are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997. 239 pp. $14.99.

 

Maybe, if I get time, I will return to overcoming the fear of man as an issue for our discussion.  But for now, I recommend you read Welch.

 

            The other reason that many people struggle to share their faith is a simple lack of understanding the message of Jesus Christ or how to present it.  This issue is something that we worked to address in our Blue School at Super Summer.

 

            One thing that I am convinced of is this:  If you truly know the content of the biblical gospel, you will be able to present it to someone else.  I do not think you need a slick strategy or a lot of clever arguments to share the gospel.  If you will just honestly talk to someone, and if you truly understand the gospel, you will be able to tell others about Jesus.

 

            In Blue School, we used a particular outline to help students to share Jesus with the lost.  There are many different outlines that could be used, but this one seems to me to be easy-to-remember, honest, and complete enough.  It comes from a little booklet or gospel tract produced by the folks at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.  The tract is called Experiencing God’s G.R.A.C.E.  The booklet uses the letters G.R.A.C.E. to help readers remember five key points of the Gospel:

 

G – God.  God is Creator, holy, just, and loving.  Because he made us, he has the right to command us to follow him and to do with us whatever he wants.  He is perfect, and he sets the standard we must meet.

 

R – Rebellion.  All mankind has rebelled against God by sinning both by nature and by choice.  That puts us under God’s wrath and earns hell for us if things are not changed.

 

A – Atonement.  Jesus Christ, God’s Son—God in flesh—came to earth and lived a perfect life.  He then died as a sacrificial substitute, taking the punishment we deserve for our sins even though he never sinned.  Jesus provides what we need to be made right with God by fulfilling all God’s law, paying the penalty for our sin, and offering us his perfect righteousness to make us able to enter into God’s presence.

 

C – Conversion.  To be converted is to be changed.  When we turn away from our sin and believe in or trust in Christ, we are truly converted, changed from children of God’s wrath to God’s very own children.  When we believe in Jesus and trust him, we are saved.

 

E – Eternal life.  If we trust in Jesus, God forgives us of all our sins and begins in us a new life that will last forever.  We will live with joy in this life, enter God’s presence when we die or Christ returns, and be resurrected to a glorious new life with God forever.

 

            If you would like to see the G.R.A.C.E. tract, you can see a PDF copy, listen to an audio reading, or check out a video presentation of it.  I believe that, if you are struggling to know how to share your faith, looking at this booklet and working through it will be a great help to you.

 

            The point is not that you memorize or even use the G.R.A.C.E. outline.  The point is that you rightly present to a person who God is, what we have done to earn his wrath, who Jesus is, what Jesus did to make us right with God, and how we, by simply trusting Jesus and turning from sin can be saved from our sin and granted eternal life.  Use whatever outline you need to , but share.  Tell the truth, and then leave the results to God.

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week.  These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. ** 

 

Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

12 and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

 

            When we think of how to pray, our minds should quite quickly turn to how the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray.  The goal here is not to repeat the words of Jesus without any understanding or heart behind them.  Instead, the better goal would be to use the words of Jesus to teach us a set of categories for prayer.

 

            Watch as we walk through the model prayer, and see if you might benefit from using this as a template for your own personal prayer time.

 

Open with worship

 

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name. (v9)

 

                The opening lines of this prayer establish two things.  First, the addressing of God as Father indicates that the one praying knows himself or herself to be in a relationship with God.  If you are not saved, you just can’t pray this way.

 

                Saying that God’s name is “hallowed” means that you are acknowledging his name as holy.  The holiness of God is his being perfect, above us, separate from us because of how awesome and wonderful he is.  Thus, the opening part of this prayer is worship or praise.  The model prayer opens with the person praying and offering God praise.

 

                If we are going to use this as a template, then, we should open our prayer with a time of praise.  Spend a few minutes just praising God for his attributes.  Talk about how God is holy, righteous, just, merciful, glorious, all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful, etc.  Use what the Bible has revealed to you about God to praise him.  This is not about what he has done so much as it is about who he is.  Praise God to open your prayer.

 

Pray for God’s will to be accomplished and the lost to be saved.

 

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven. (10)

 

     The next portion of the prayer is that God’s kingdom come.  The kingdom of God is his rule and reign.  As the parallel line indicates, the point is that God’s will be done here on earth as we know it is already being done in heaven.  Thus, this section of the prayer is to pray that what God wants to happen actually happen.

 

     Part of praying that God’s kingdom come is praying that the world and our own lives reflect what God has shown us he wants.  Pray that you will obey him rightly.  Pray that God will set right things that are wrong in your home, your town, or your nation.  Pray that the world will begin to show more and more marks of God’s ownership.

 

     Another way to look at God’s kingdom coming is to see it gaining ground through the salvation of the lost.  Pray that lost people will be saved, entering God’s kingdom.  Pray that God will save all his children and then send Jesus to return to earth and wrap up history. 

 

     This aspect of prayer has a global and eternal perspective.  Make sure that you spend a few minutes simply asking God to do his will on earth and in your life just as his will is always accomplished in his throne room.

 

Pray for God to provide for your needs.

 

Give us this day our daily bread, (11)

 

                In Jesus’ day, people did not tend to have cupboards and freezers full of food.  They needed to work to get their food on a daily basis.  Thus, this prayer for daily bread is a prayer that the basic needs of life be provided by God.

 

                When you pray through this section of your prayer, ask God to meet your needs.  Perhaps this will be financial help for your family.  Perhaps it will be health.  Perhaps it will be some other struggle that you and your family are going through that you need God to provide for.  Pray asking God to meet your needs in the way that only he can.

 

 

Pray for forgiveness of sin.

 

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors. (12)

 

     Even though our sin has been fully paid for by the blood of Jesus, we still sin and fail before our God.  That sin can become a hindrance to our experiencing fullness of joy and fellowship with our God.  Thus we still need to confess our sin and seek God’s forgiveness.

 

     In this section of your prayer, spend time confessing the things in your life you know have displeased him.  Perhaps it will be things you have done or thought.  Perhaps it will be things you should have done or thought that you failed to accomplish.  Perhaps you will confess that you failed in something and had no idea that you were failing until it was too late.  Confess your sin to God, and ask him, because of Jesus, to forgive you that sin and restore you to fellowship with him.  He will forgive his children and he will help to purify you from your sinfulness before him (1 John 1:9).

 

     Note that in this section is also your expression of willingness to forgive others.  Forgiveness of others is a hard topic that I cannot fully address here, but this one point is fair to make.  If you know that you have been forgiven by God, you should have a desire in your heart to forgive others.  Such forgiveness requires more than a solo action on your part, and thus you may not be able to fully accomplish the transaction of forgiveness, but you are required by God to be willing, before his throne, to offer forgiveness to those who have wronged you, even if you are not able to put yourself in a position to remove the consequences of what those others have done.  Again, this is a huge topic.  (For further thought on forgiveness, I recommend Chris Brauns. Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds. Wheaton: Crossway, 2008. 240pp. $17.99.).

 

Pray for spiritual protection.

 

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. (13)

 

     The final aspect of Jesus’ model prayer is to pray that God will protect you as you go through life.  The two aspects at work here are both internal and external dangers.  Internally, we are often led astray by our own desires to temptation.  Externally, there are myriad evils out there that would try to lead us astray or harm us.  Simply put, Jesus instructs us to ask God to protect us from such things and lead us toward him.

 

     So, as you wrap up your walk through this model prayer, pray about the areas of weakness you have inside.  If you know something tempts you, lay it out before God’s throne before the day begins.  Ask God to shield you.  If you know that you are facing a dangerous circumstance or a difficult person, ask God to protect you.  Put your trust in the Lord before you even take a step toward your day.

 

Conclusion

 

     This model of praying is a great way to pray for a longer period of time than many of you currently do.  If you set aside five minutes for each category, you will be praying for twenty-five minutes before you are finished.  If you will think about each of these categories, five minutes worth of prayer material is probably not a stretch.  Again, the point here is not time, but focus.  If you use these categories, you have five things to pray about that Jesus himself told us to pray through. 

 

     I would encourage you to give praying through the model prayer a shot.  Let me know how it works for you.

 

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week.  These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. ** 

 

            Prayer can be daunting for any Christian.  We read stories of super-saints from the past who seem to pray for hours per day, and we wonder what it is about our Christian lives that make us so messed up.  We try to pray and we get sleepy, our minds wander, or we just can’t seem to come up with something to say.  What is our problem?

 

            I would say that it is likely that the main sources of our problems when it comes to prayer will fall into one of two categories:  distractions and failure to plan. 

 

            In the way of distractions, we simply will not pray well at all if we are constantly hearing or seeing things that grab our attention.  If you are going to pray, you simply cannot be texting, checking email, or listening to a song with catchy lyrics.  If you are going to pray, you need to be able to get yourself in a place that allows you to focus.  OF course, you can pray while you are riding in a car or walking down the street, but the most focused prayers are going to be in a quiet place where no one is crying out for your attention.

 

            You will also pray better if you plan what you will pray about.  Having a solid list of things to pray is crucial.  Note, by the way, that I say to have things to pray, not to ask for.  Not all of praying is asking God to give you this and heal that.  Prayer is full of praise and declaration of the greatness of God too.

 

            Pray with purpose and pray with Scripture.  You will pray much better if your prayer time is preceded by a look into the word of God.  Often people will tell you to listen while you pray.  I would caution you to be careful here, as you can discourage yourself by looking for a mystical voice of God as you are praying.  I would urge you to pray briefly, read God’s word, and hear from the Lord in his perfectly-clear revelation.  Then pray again, taking a longer time, in response to what God revealed in his word. 

 

            I’ll offer you two models for how to pray.  The first is the ACTS model.  This has been used by saints for generations.  Then, in the next post, I will show you an even older and more biblical model or way you can approach God in prayer.

 

The A.C.T.S. Model

 

            As you prepare to pray through this model, remember that each letter stands for a category of prayer.  If you can come up with five minutes worth of things to pray in these four categories, you will be praying for 20 minutes without breaking a sweat.

 

A – Adoration means to praise God.  Open your prayer and study by telling God how great he is for who he is.  Be careful here to be God-focused.  Shine all the light of glory on the Lord who is worthy.

 

C – Confession means to agree with God about your sin.  When you see sin in your life, tell God and begin to turn from that sin as you ask him to help and forgive you.

 

T – Thanksgiving means just what it says, giving thanks.  Not only do we praise God for God’s attributes, we also thank God for the kindnesses that he has shown us.  Take time to tell God how grateful you are for the things he has done in your life.

 

S – Supplication means to make a request.  Pray asking God to make a difference in areas of need in your life and in the lives of others.  This is where you might ask God to bless the Isalt Bulgaria team or to give you the chance to share the gospel with someone.  You can pray through the spheres of relationships that you have starting with your own life, your family, your friends, your schoolmates, your city government, your state government, your national government, and the lost world.

 

            Honestly, you can and will want to tweak each of these areas to best fit your life and thought process.  But if you cover the 4 categories above, you will be praying with more focus and more fervor before long.  This will be a good help to any Christian quiet time, especially for those of us who struggle to pray effectively.

 

Tomorrow, we will look at the model prayer of Matthew 6:9-13 as another way to pray through categories in a helpful and very biblical way.

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week. These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. **

How do you pick a passage of Scripture to read in your quiet time? Some people are so stymied by this question that they actually find their quiet times difficult. These folks may get to the place and time of quiet time, but then find themselves stumped by what passage to choose.

The problem here, I would suggest, is that too many of us are given to a desire for mystical leading. We want to hear the voice of God speak to us about which book and chapter and verses to read. But God just is not going to work that way for us. Instead, God has given us a rational, reasonable, logical mind to thoughtfully, and yes prayerfully, decide what to read.

So, here are some tips about choosing a passage to read through and pray over through your quiet time:

· Stay in context. Far too many people try to randomly choose a passage to read from day-to-day. The problem here is that the books of the Bible were written intentionally with an order and flow. If we read random verses or random chapters out of the Bible, we are very likely to miss the big picture of the book that the Author intended us to see. We will do better picking up a passage that we read the day before in order to better understand the author’s point.

· Judge passage length wisely. If you choose to read only 1 or 2 verses, they had better be pretty rich. While sometimes I am greatly blessed by meditating on one verse over and over and over for twenty minutes, this is not always the case. I often find it more helpful to at least read several paragraphs of Scripture. Again, the point here is to catch the big picture flow of the passage as well as the smaller sections.

· Focus on what stands out. Once you have read a paragraph or two or twelve, then you can allow your mind to focus on one key point for meditation. For example, you might read the entirety of Matthew 22 in one sitting, but then pray through verses 11-14 asking God to reveal to you whether or not you are rightly dressed in the grace of Christ.

· Use a plan. I cannot emphasize this enough. If you are going to wisely read through the Scriptures, I would implore you to find a plan that will work for you and stick to it. I use this plan from Discipleship Journal, because it helps me to read passages from 4 parts of Scripture each day. It will allow me to read through the Bible in 1 year, and it only has 25 readings per month, thus allowing for catch-up days when I miss for some reason. You might like my plan, or you might want to check out this article which will show you several other plans. Pick a Bible-in-a-year, do it on-line or off-line, read several sections or just the NT—honestly, do whatever you need to do, just pick a plan and follow it logically. (I would personally not recommend students start at Genesis and try to read straight through the Bible, as this will keep them out of the New Testament for too long and will often bog them down at Leviticus, Numbers, or for sure by 1 Chronicles.)

· Read aware of the kind of book you are reading. If you take just a moment to look at a Bible dictionary or a study Bible’s introduction to the biblical book you are studying, you will find out valuable information about the book that will help you to better understand it. For example, you might learn that Haggai was written after the Jews returned from their Babylonian captivity, which will make all that language about rebuilding the temple make sense. Such introductions as well as the helpful charts and study notes is why I am so fond of the ESV Study Bible.

· Read with accountability. If you can find someone else who is committed to reading Scripture daily, perhaps you can use the same plan. Knowing that a friend or family member is reading what you are reading will encourage you to be more faithful and more thoughtful in your reading. Plan to talk with each other about the readings, and you will find that you are more apt not to blow a day off.

By the way, most of the devotionals that I write on my blog are my own thoughts from my daily reading. If you choose the plan that I proposed above for your daily reading (or even part of that plan), you will find that I am often writing about something you will be reading. If that helps you to read more regularly, great.

Again, comments here would be welcome. How do you choose your passages of Scripture for daily reading? Any helpful ideas for others?

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week.  These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. ** 

 

            One of the reasons that Super Summer is so powerful an event for students is the fact that, for a set of five straight days, students find themselves actively involved in worship, Bible study, and prayer.  This is combined with the fact that students are also totally removed from the distracting influence of outside media.  The experience is sort of like a spiritual detox, where you intensely connect with God while not allowing Internet, texting, radio, movies, TV, or other unhelpful things to direct your focus away from the Lord.

 

            It is nearly impossible to return home and not have outside media influence you.  If you are a Super Summer student who is reading this, you obviously are Internet connected.  Thus, you will not be able to hide yourself from the distractions completely.  However, if you will do a little work, you can make sure that, for a portion of your day, you are quiet and connected to your God.

 

            The common term that Christians use to talk about shutting out the distractions and focusing on the Lord is “quiet time.”  You will often hear Christians talking about what they learned in their quiet times or how their day did not go right after missing their quiet times.  Know right up front that there is no biblical pattern for what is contained in a quiet time, but there are some helpful things that we can suggest.

 

            First, schedule your quiet time.  This can be early morning, middle afternoon, or evening.  Whatever time you pick, stick to it.  make this an appointment that you will not miss.  I personally recommend mornings because these times are usually the easiest to get away from others, your phone is less likely to ring or beep or play a tune, and you will be able to think about what you learn in this time for the rest of the day.  If you pick evenings, you have less time to meditate on your study before you fall asleep and your mind is cleared for the next day.  But, there is no command here, just a suggestion.

 

            Once you pick your time, pick a place.  You are foolish to pick the living room, in front of the TV, for your quiet time.  You will not be able to focus.  Find a spot where you can have some privacy.  Commit yourself to being in that spot at the time you decide to be there.  Pick a place with enough light to read, enough privacy to keep you from being interrupted every 30 seconds, and not so comfortable that you fall asleep too easily.

 

            Gather the right materials to have a quiet time.  You need a Bible that you can read and study well.  I’d suggest a notebook to write down thoughts, questions, and observations that you make.  Have a place to sit and a surface to write on if you can. 

 

            Have a plan.  What will you do in your quiet time?  At minimum, you should pray for God to help you, read some Scripture, think about what you have read, and spend more time in prayer.  (How to pick a passage will be the subject of a future post.)

 

            So, imagine that you are ready for your quiet time.  You go to your place with your Bible, notebook, and pen (coffee is an optional treat).  When you sit down, you pray a short prayer (1 to 2 minutes) asking God to open your eyes to his word.  Then you read through a passage like Psalm 139.  As you read, write down things that catch your attention.  You might notice things like the following:

 

v4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

 

You might write:  Wow.  God knows my words before I even speak them.  He knows me more than anyone else.  What an amazing God!  What a frightening thought.

 

v7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

 

You might write:  God is everywhere.  I cannot run away from him.  He is always with me.  This comforts me.

 

            Once you have read what you intend to read, take time to pray through what you have seen.  Praise God for his knowledge.  Praise God for his being ever present.  Thank God for being with you.  Confess how sinful you know that he must know you are because he knows your thoughts.  Pray that he will be with you as you go to a hard place.  Thank him that he does not leave his people alone.  (This reading and praying might only take you 5 minutes, but could grow to lasting a long time.)

 

            You can add to your prayers over the passage prayers that you pray daily.  Perhaps you have prayer requests that you are committed to lifting up such as the ISalt Bulgaria team or your friend’s salvation.  (Prayer topics will be the focus of a future post.)

 

            There is much more that you can do with a daily quiet time.  You might work on memorizing Scripture.  You might read through a part of a good book or devotional.  You might listen to a sermon or podcast.  You might sing alone or along with some good Christian worship music.  There is great freedom here.

 

            While it is hard to come home from a powerful week of worship and study, it will be much easier if you integrate the discipline of a good quiet time into your life.  Prayer and bible reading are crucial to your health as a Christian.  Your strength will grow as you intentionally make time to spend with your Lord in his word and in his presence.

 

            I’d love to hear your comments and questions here.  What are you doing in your quiet times that I did not mention?  What questions do you have about a quiet time?

This post and several to follow will speak to our Super Summer students, but there will be things here that can help any believer in his or her walk. So, don’t turn away from this if you didn’t attend Super Summer this last week.

**

Super Summer was a great week. There were around one-hundred-eighty students who gathered together to worship God and grow in their discipleship. Though there were certainly a few moments that were a disappointment—Twinkies are at the top of the list here—a vast many more moments showed us the power of God, the joy of worship, and the life-impacting glory of his word.

Now, for the most part, students are back home. They are no longer studying together for six lessons per day. There are no longer three small group discussions for students to talk and pray together about the working of God in their lives. There are no longer guys strumming guitars and leading in worship songs all over the place. And, perhaps hardest of all, the homes of the students did not change simply because they went away for a week.

In Luke 9:28-50, we see a picture of Jesus and some of his disciples going through a great, spiritual high-point. Jesus led three of his disciples up a mountain. While there, the three saw Jesus in his unveiled glory. They saw the beautiful majesty of Christ and his position of supremacy over the Old Testament saints. They even heard the voice of God the Father declaring the glory and authority of Christ. They did not want to go home.

But, they had to come down from the mountain. They had to step back into normal life. And when they stepped into normal life, they walked right back into the middle of a fallen, sin-filled, devil-attacked world. They saw spiritual warfare that they could not conquer on their own. They found themselves fighting for social position. They heard Jesus talking about the fact that he was going to die, though they did not totally understand this plan. They found the ugliness of life again crashing down around them.

Super Summer students are experiencing some of this right now. Students have left the campus of the college, and they have walked back into conflicted homes, petty squabbles, youth group popularity contests, sinful friends, and all the rest. This is no surprise to God. God has a mission for us that involves us being salt and light in a fallen world. God has a mission for us that involves us being workers to build his kingdom in the middle of a world that does not want to respond to him. God will be the victor, but the victory will not be simple and easy for our lives right away.

So, students, what do you do? First, don’t let the disciplines that you learned fall away. If you learned to read your Bible, to pray, to worship God, continue to do those things. You don’t need a big worship band or gifted teacher to worship God and learn from his word. Make the time. Turn off the TV, IPod, cel phone, Xbox, DVD player, etc., and sit down with your Bible. Maybe you have to go outside. Maybe you have to hide in your room. Maybe you have to hide in the closet. Do what you have to do to have time to read God’s word, pray, and sing or just speak to God how wonderful he is.

Over the next few posts, I will be sharing some ideas of things that students and others might do regularly to help keep their spiritual lives moving forward. If you have questions or ideas, feel free to send them my way. For today, why not read that Luke passage I linked above and thank God that he understands what it is like to come down from the mountain into the thick of a messed up world. Thank him that he will not leave you alone in yours. Ask him to help you to serve him right now, right where you are.