What To Do With Your Bible?

A year ago, I posted a challenge to Read Through The Bible In A Year.  Are there any readers that did it? Did you take up the challenge and dig into the Word of God this year?

If not...its ok. Today is a new day, and tomorrow starts a brand new year. I always encourage folks to jump in and pick up anywhere in a Bible reading plan. We need the Word of God more than we need daily food. It is vital to our survival in this crazy world in which we live. The Word of God is the only absolute that never changes, and makes sense. It is where we get the reasons and principles for WHY we do what we do. If we don't have a Biblical basis, we will end up changing according to our surroundings.

Why is it so important to have a plan for reading our Bible? Because we can get easily distracted with all the noise of daily living and modern technology, and quickly fall into bad habits of neglecting the things that are most important to us, even if we mean well!

 

Following a plan will build character in your life. While character is not essential to becoming a born again child of God, (God already did all the work for that - all we have to do is believe it and accept His gift), having good character is definitely helpful to live a life that will be pleasing to our God. Having character strengthens us to resist temptation and strive to live right, even on the days we might not feel like it.

 

Here are two more sets of Daily Bible Reading Schedules that I recently came across. Both of them have been graciously allowed free distribution from the people who created them, so rather than making them available here, I am simply including a link to the sites where they can be found.

 

The 52 Week Bible Reading Plan breaks the Bible down into small daily readings. It is for those who might not want to read through the Bible from beginning to end, but would be more interested in skipping around and mixing things up a bit. In a week, you will read portions of Scripture from the Epistles, the Law, Poetry, Prophecy, History, Psalms, and the Gospels.

 

A traditional daily Bible reading plan that starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation. It is written by weeks, not dates, so you can jump in anywhere and at any time.

 

Here is a link to a page of interesting and unique Bible reading plans that will allow you to choose any number of ways and time frames to read through and study your Bible.

 

What can we do with our Bible? Here is a list,  A-Z. I challenge you to make this list a part of your everyday life, and embrace and cherish the Word of God this year like never before!

 

Jeremiah 26:2, "Diminish not a WORD."

 

• We need to accept God's Word;
• We need to believe God’s Word;
• We need to cherish God’s Word;
• We need to depend on God’s Word;
• We need to enjoy God’s Word;
• We need to feed on God’s Word;
• We need to grasp God’s Word;
• We need to hear God’s Word;
• We need to include God’s Word in our life;
• We need to join with God’s Word;
• We need to keep God’s Word;
• We need to love God’s Word;
• We need to memorize the Word of God;
• We need to need God’s Word;
• We need to obey God’ Word;
• We need to preach God’s Word;
• We need to quote God’s Word; 
• We need to read God’s Word;
• We need to study God’s Word;
• We need to treasure God’s Word;
• We need to understand God’s Word;
• We need to value God’s Word;
• We need to want God’s Word;
• We need to examine God’s Word;
• We need to yearn for God’s Word;  
• We need to zip to God’s Word daily.

 

 



Copyright 2012-2013 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author.

Top Ten Christmas Gifts of 2013

I hope all my blog readers had a wonderful Christmas. I know our family did.

We were able to give and receive some very enjoyable gifts this year, and I decided to make a "top ten" list to share here on the blog. I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who shops for small items randomly year round, to spread out the expense of gift giving and make it budget friendly. Here are some ideas of really fun gifts that might be an inspiration to you for your own family or friends.

1) Family Movie: "Come What May"  This movie has been on my oldest's 'wish list' for quite a while now, and she was very happy to finally be able to see it. You know it's a successful choice of a movie when your teens want to watch it a second time the next day! A really neat side note: this movie stars over 40 homeschoolers in it! I plan on writing more about the movie at a later date, perhaps in a "family movie night" post.

2) Another family movie: "Sheffey" This is a great movie - an old family favorite that we have seen enough times to wear out our vhs copy....so we upgraded to the newer DVD version!

3) Really fun and interesting game: "Suspend"

This game uses varied length metal rods with different sets of notches, and has a beginner, intermediate and advanced level to build a tower that will not topple over. It sets up quickly, and is easy and fun to play. It is also different every game. A complete game takes no more than 10 minutes and is a great way to sneak in some educational thinking (physics anyone??) while the kids are having fun.

4) Another really fun game:

Our regular version of "Battleship" has seen it's fair share of battles, so we branched out and got "Electronic Battleship" for the girls. Running on batteries, it comes complete with lights and sounds, and also sneaks in some learning moments, where the players have to 'program' in the coordinates of their ships, as well as learn some military lingo. (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta....etc.) The funniest moment was when dad and Kelly played and both selected the exact same pre-formatted ship configuration! This game would also work well for an only child, because they could play against the computer.




5) Snacks from Pretzel Perfection.  If you or someone you know is on a restricted, gluten-free diet, but enjoys gourmet snacks....then THIS is the website for you! Even though I felt the items were  a bit pricey, I did order a few of them to give away as gifts. WOW! Can I just say that these products are totally amazing and definitely lived up to the hype surrounding them! (Highly recommended: the salted caramel dark chocolate pretzels)

6) After reviewing the Lily Lapp series from Baker Publishing Group this year, we have been anxiously awaiting the 4th book in the series. I purchased this for Melissa and Kelly, and they were thrilled!



7) The girls are huge "Team USA" fans already, but with the winter Olympics coming up soon, they have been talking about it a lot more than usual. They loved receiving "Team USA" mittens! They are very warm and well made. (Made in the USA too!)



8 & 9) The Adventures in Odyssey series are well loved here. I like that I can have a source of entertainment that the girls can listen to, and I can trust it to be family friendly and not compromise our values.  They enjoy going online and listening to the audio adventures so much that I decided to purchase a few sets for them to have on hand. They have listened to them non-stop since opening them up! I guess that means they really like them!!! ;-)

The two we added to our collection are: Novacom (which comes in a very cool vault box) and the Bible Eyewitness, Hall of Faith Series which gives 'first hand' accounts of exciting Bible heroes. The stories are fascinating, and the entire family enjoys listening to them.

10) New music CD's.... "Be Our God" sung by Matt & Christy Taylor from Majesty Music.  Very nice!!



Copyright 2012-2013 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author.

Merry Christmas!