Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Bible Reading Plan for Growth and Freshness
The following is a plan of Bible reading and study that I believe will be a blessing to you, should you choose to implement it in your own life.
Begin your study each day by reading a chapter of Proverbs. If you start at the beginning of the month and read a chapter each day, you will read through the book every month. On the few months that have less than 31 days, you will need to read a little extra to keep on track and read through it each month.
Read the chapter of Proverbs first, because Proverbs contains the distilled spirit of wisdom, and is written and structured in a way that reflects the way God thinks—cause and effect, black and white.
Reading the book of Proverbs does for your mind what running a comb through tangled hair does; it gets the “rats” out and prepares you to receive illumination from the Word.
I find that the Scripture seemed to speak more clearly to me when I begin each day’s study with Proverbs. It seems to focus the mind to receive from the Word.
Next, read at least one chapter from the Gospels. We need to read about the words and deeds of Jesus every day to keep the mind and focus Christ-centered. It is difficult to spend too much in the Gospels, and there is inexhaustible thought material there.
The third place to read from every day is the book of Acts. The book of Acts contains not only much doctrinal material but a tremendous amount of faith building Scripture. Signs and wonders and healings abound. Apostolic structure and Apostolic authority permeate the chapters of the book. It is critical to keep these things fresh in your mind and prominent in your thinking if you want to have a true Apostolic ministry and live apostolic lives. Read the book of Acts continually and it will pay dividends in your ministry. Reading the book of Acts lends itself to living the book of Acts; living the book of Acts lends itself to Apostolic results.
In addition to Proverbs, the Gospels, and Acts, read from the epistles every day. The epistles contain solid instruction regarding church government, sanctification, doctrine, eschatology, and ministry. We need this.
The epistles also stretch you intellectually, especially the writings of Paul. John’s epistles are a personal favorite of mine because of his love for exalting the deity of Jesus Christ. You need a steady diet of the Epistles.
Thus far, most of the reading plan has consisted of the New Testament, but don’t neglect the Old.
The Old Testament can be divided into History, Law, Prophecy, and Wisdom Literature.
Try to always be reading through at least one book in the Old Testament at any given time to encompass a wide scope of these categories.
There are advantages and benefits to reading from a broad range of Scriptural settings at a given time. You tend to reach toward what you read, and with this type of reading plan, there is a broad range of subject matter in the forefront of your thinking that God can speak through and that you can draw from. This keeps you from becoming stymied and repetitious in your ministry and walk with God.
If you don’t have some kind of structured plan for your reading and study, your tendency will be to read over and over again those books and passages that are your “favorites.” If you fall into this pattern, you will have a hard time generating fresh and versatile material for ministry.
Always read and study the Bible with the motive of feeding your soul; and out of that will come substance that will feed and bless others.
I certainly don’t believe this is the “only” way to study the Scriptures, or even the best way. It is just something that has been a blessing to me, and will hopefully provide some inspiration and guidance for others who want to profitably study the greatest Book ever written.
2 Tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
KJV
Begin your study each day by reading a chapter of Proverbs. If you start at the beginning of the month and read a chapter each day, you will read through the book every month. On the few months that have less than 31 days, you will need to read a little extra to keep on track and read through it each month.
Read the chapter of Proverbs first, because Proverbs contains the distilled spirit of wisdom, and is written and structured in a way that reflects the way God thinks—cause and effect, black and white.
Reading the book of Proverbs does for your mind what running a comb through tangled hair does; it gets the “rats” out and prepares you to receive illumination from the Word.
I find that the Scripture seemed to speak more clearly to me when I begin each day’s study with Proverbs. It seems to focus the mind to receive from the Word.
Next, read at least one chapter from the Gospels. We need to read about the words and deeds of Jesus every day to keep the mind and focus Christ-centered. It is difficult to spend too much in the Gospels, and there is inexhaustible thought material there.
The third place to read from every day is the book of Acts. The book of Acts contains not only much doctrinal material but a tremendous amount of faith building Scripture. Signs and wonders and healings abound. Apostolic structure and Apostolic authority permeate the chapters of the book. It is critical to keep these things fresh in your mind and prominent in your thinking if you want to have a true Apostolic ministry and live apostolic lives. Read the book of Acts continually and it will pay dividends in your ministry. Reading the book of Acts lends itself to living the book of Acts; living the book of Acts lends itself to Apostolic results.
In addition to Proverbs, the Gospels, and Acts, read from the epistles every day. The epistles contain solid instruction regarding church government, sanctification, doctrine, eschatology, and ministry. We need this.
The epistles also stretch you intellectually, especially the writings of Paul. John’s epistles are a personal favorite of mine because of his love for exalting the deity of Jesus Christ. You need a steady diet of the Epistles.
Thus far, most of the reading plan has consisted of the New Testament, but don’t neglect the Old.
The Old Testament can be divided into History, Law, Prophecy, and Wisdom Literature.
Try to always be reading through at least one book in the Old Testament at any given time to encompass a wide scope of these categories.
There are advantages and benefits to reading from a broad range of Scriptural settings at a given time. You tend to reach toward what you read, and with this type of reading plan, there is a broad range of subject matter in the forefront of your thinking that God can speak through and that you can draw from. This keeps you from becoming stymied and repetitious in your ministry and walk with God.
If you don’t have some kind of structured plan for your reading and study, your tendency will be to read over and over again those books and passages that are your “favorites.” If you fall into this pattern, you will have a hard time generating fresh and versatile material for ministry.
Always read and study the Bible with the motive of feeding your soul; and out of that will come substance that will feed and bless others.
I certainly don’t believe this is the “only” way to study the Scriptures, or even the best way. It is just something that has been a blessing to me, and will hopefully provide some inspiration and guidance for others who want to profitably study the greatest Book ever written.
2 Tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
KJV
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Intercessory Prayer, We Miss You!
This is just a line to let you know how things are since you’ve gone. It’s not the same without you, nor will it ever be. Although our lives seem shallow and empty when you’re not here, we’ve learned to make up for you in other ways. We’ve learned to live without you.
We now run the aisles, leap for joy, jig to the music, sing catchy choruses, and tap our feet in time to the rhythm of the drums. We use sticks, banners, black lights and our sign teams do a tremendous job acting out recorded music. We’ve learned to worship without you.
The prayer rooms are mostly silent now. Those that do go there, for the most part, come away dry-eyed. A lot of praying now is chanting and singsong style. That’s how we know we’re in the groove. We pray memorized phrases that come automatically. We love what we call Prayer Walks. Most of us don’t even close our eyes anymore during prayer. We just walk and pray while we look around. We pray because it is required. No one prays till they break through anymore. We just pray till our ten minutes are up.
Family altars are almost unheard of now. You can’t imagine how busy we are and how hectic our schedules have been. It’s unbelievable. We get up in the morning and never stop till we go to bed at night. We do try to make it to church most services and get some praying in there during the service, but prayer at home is kind of out of the question. That may be another reason you haven’t heard much from us.
Oh sure, we still believe in prayer, as such. But not very many of us are anxious for you to come back. (You were always the polite type, you know, never forcing yourself on anyone. You never came uninvited. You only left because you were ignored.)
The sad truth is you’re not really needed anymore. You see, most of us have hospitalization insurance now. (It sure takes away that old desperate feeling we use to have.) So now, there’s no need to pray more than the few minutes it takes to drive to the Emergency Room. Also, we don’t have to ask for our daily bread like we used to. We now have better jobs with good benefits and government programs to fall back on. If we lose our jobs, there is always Unemployment or Welfare. If we retire or become disabled, Social Security now supplies our needs. So, you can see, we’re doing OK. Other things have filled the void in your absence. Sure we miss you. But we’re getting over it some how. Actually, we’re too busy to entertain you right now, even if you tried to come back. I hope you understand.
We are having revivals now without you. It’s not hard. The pastor fasts and prays, along with a couple others. The evangelist preaches mostly just to sinners now. Most of us try to get to church in time for the first song or two. We justify the fact that the number of new converts is down. Yes, there seems to be diminished conviction, less lasting victory, fewer miracles and many young people are backsliding. We agree, however, that it’s not us that are at fault here; it’s just the times we’re living in. It’s like this everywhere.
As your friend, I’m writing this to you, knowing how much it must hurt you to have folks say they miss you…and yet in their material and intellectual progress, they’ve weaned themselves away from the haunting memory of you. What hurts, I know, is that we were children you personally raised. You were always there when we needed you. (But now… we don’t.) You taught us about faith. You taught us about miracles. You taught us about a move of God. You taught us about revival. You taught us about how to touch God. Thank you for that, but you see, this is a new day and we are trying to go to the next level. Our services are structured differently now.
Do you know…can you believe, that now when you are ever mentioned in church, everyone gets real quite? They all feel guilty I’m sure. It’s like they experience a momentary twinge of guilt while they consider their part in your disappearance. Once in awhile some even get misty eyed when we talk about the old times you shared with us. But all that feeling vanishes along with the pizza right after church.
No, Intercessory Prayer, your coming back really wouldn’t work right now. We’re too blessed. We’re doing too well. We’re comfortable. In your day, you served your purpose, but the sentiment of most today is that we can manage OK without you now. We’ve got better clothes, cars, homes and prettier and bigger churches than ever.
Remember the folks of yesteryear coming into the sanctuary with red-rimmed eyes? Remember the baggy looking knees in men’s’ suits?
Remember all night prayer meetings?
Remember the depth that was in worship?
Remember when sinners couldn’t sit in their pews any longer, and would run to the altar? Remember when you could feel unity and brotherly love? When folks helped bear one another’s burdens? When the saints didn’t watch the clock? When they could hardly wait to enjoy the after service atmosphere, praying around the altar until the wee hours of the morning? Boy, those were to good old days. We call that “Old Church" now.
”Well, it’s pretty much all gone now. But...you ought to see our new Hammond C-3, our new drum set with a cage and everything. Electric bass guitars are just awesome and the electric guitars too. We use Praise Singers to help cover up the fact that our congregations don’t sing like they should or used to. We let them do most of our worship for us. Our Choirs just do terrific on the new style songs. Old saints don’t like the new songs much, but the younger crowd seems to like them. Many music directors don’t even know some of your old favorite songs, so they don’t get played much anywhere.
You would be proud of our church buildings. Carpet on the floors, there are pews now instead of benches and they are padded too, besides. The arched beams are beautiful, we also have the loveliest of imported chandeliers. Our pastor has polish too. He doesn’t preach long. We are more concerned about sermon length now, than content. Our pastor spices up his sermons with cute sayings… but I guess that’s progress for you. “Win some, lose some.”
Speaking of “lose some”, we’re losing a surprising percentage of our young people. An unbelievable number of marriages have gone on the rocks. Many lives have been in jeopardy. But that’s to be expected I guess. Teenagers seem to be at war with their parents and want to dress more and more like the kids at the public school. Our youth meetings may not have much in the way of prayer, but we have great icebreakers, skits and games.
We have plenty of medicines nowadays to help our aches and pains. What more could we ask for? Sure we miss you, but I guess we really don’t NEED you right now. I hope you’re not offended. I don’t mean for you to be. You’ll always have a special place in my memory. You were very kind and generous to me. You sure got me out of some hard times. I can’t thank you enough!
Still, this is a generation now that doesn’t know you at all. Your coming would probably scare them. Remember the night when my mother sat at the piano bench and you joined her there? Remember how she wept and groaned in the Spirit and slumped to the floor during the revival service and how some tried to call the ambulance because they thought she was sick? They never knew you and her were talking. That’s what I mean.
A good many never got to know you well. And most never knew you at all. Those that knew you personally have waited so long to talk to you that they are now, to say the least, embarrassed.
So while we are trying to work out our feelings about you, and see where you might fit into our plans in the future, you might try your luck someplace else. Try Brazil, Ethiopia, or how about the Philippines? You might have better luck in Third World Countries, or behind the iron Curtain. You might even luck out and find someone to talk to you in some little storefront on the other side of the tacks. Surely someone somewhere needs you.
We’re terribly sorry, Intercessory Prayer, we miss you, but we really don’t NEED you… right now!
By Martyn Ballestero Sr.
We now run the aisles, leap for joy, jig to the music, sing catchy choruses, and tap our feet in time to the rhythm of the drums. We use sticks, banners, black lights and our sign teams do a tremendous job acting out recorded music. We’ve learned to worship without you.
The prayer rooms are mostly silent now. Those that do go there, for the most part, come away dry-eyed. A lot of praying now is chanting and singsong style. That’s how we know we’re in the groove. We pray memorized phrases that come automatically. We love what we call Prayer Walks. Most of us don’t even close our eyes anymore during prayer. We just walk and pray while we look around. We pray because it is required. No one prays till they break through anymore. We just pray till our ten minutes are up.
Family altars are almost unheard of now. You can’t imagine how busy we are and how hectic our schedules have been. It’s unbelievable. We get up in the morning and never stop till we go to bed at night. We do try to make it to church most services and get some praying in there during the service, but prayer at home is kind of out of the question. That may be another reason you haven’t heard much from us.
Oh sure, we still believe in prayer, as such. But not very many of us are anxious for you to come back. (You were always the polite type, you know, never forcing yourself on anyone. You never came uninvited. You only left because you were ignored.)
The sad truth is you’re not really needed anymore. You see, most of us have hospitalization insurance now. (It sure takes away that old desperate feeling we use to have.) So now, there’s no need to pray more than the few minutes it takes to drive to the Emergency Room. Also, we don’t have to ask for our daily bread like we used to. We now have better jobs with good benefits and government programs to fall back on. If we lose our jobs, there is always Unemployment or Welfare. If we retire or become disabled, Social Security now supplies our needs. So, you can see, we’re doing OK. Other things have filled the void in your absence. Sure we miss you. But we’re getting over it some how. Actually, we’re too busy to entertain you right now, even if you tried to come back. I hope you understand.
We are having revivals now without you. It’s not hard. The pastor fasts and prays, along with a couple others. The evangelist preaches mostly just to sinners now. Most of us try to get to church in time for the first song or two. We justify the fact that the number of new converts is down. Yes, there seems to be diminished conviction, less lasting victory, fewer miracles and many young people are backsliding. We agree, however, that it’s not us that are at fault here; it’s just the times we’re living in. It’s like this everywhere.
As your friend, I’m writing this to you, knowing how much it must hurt you to have folks say they miss you…and yet in their material and intellectual progress, they’ve weaned themselves away from the haunting memory of you. What hurts, I know, is that we were children you personally raised. You were always there when we needed you. (But now… we don’t.) You taught us about faith. You taught us about miracles. You taught us about a move of God. You taught us about revival. You taught us about how to touch God. Thank you for that, but you see, this is a new day and we are trying to go to the next level. Our services are structured differently now.
Do you know…can you believe, that now when you are ever mentioned in church, everyone gets real quite? They all feel guilty I’m sure. It’s like they experience a momentary twinge of guilt while they consider their part in your disappearance. Once in awhile some even get misty eyed when we talk about the old times you shared with us. But all that feeling vanishes along with the pizza right after church.
No, Intercessory Prayer, your coming back really wouldn’t work right now. We’re too blessed. We’re doing too well. We’re comfortable. In your day, you served your purpose, but the sentiment of most today is that we can manage OK without you now. We’ve got better clothes, cars, homes and prettier and bigger churches than ever.
Remember the folks of yesteryear coming into the sanctuary with red-rimmed eyes? Remember the baggy looking knees in men’s’ suits?
Remember all night prayer meetings?
Remember the depth that was in worship?
Remember when sinners couldn’t sit in their pews any longer, and would run to the altar? Remember when you could feel unity and brotherly love? When folks helped bear one another’s burdens? When the saints didn’t watch the clock? When they could hardly wait to enjoy the after service atmosphere, praying around the altar until the wee hours of the morning? Boy, those were to good old days. We call that “Old Church" now.
”Well, it’s pretty much all gone now. But...you ought to see our new Hammond C-3, our new drum set with a cage and everything. Electric bass guitars are just awesome and the electric guitars too. We use Praise Singers to help cover up the fact that our congregations don’t sing like they should or used to. We let them do most of our worship for us. Our Choirs just do terrific on the new style songs. Old saints don’t like the new songs much, but the younger crowd seems to like them. Many music directors don’t even know some of your old favorite songs, so they don’t get played much anywhere.
You would be proud of our church buildings. Carpet on the floors, there are pews now instead of benches and they are padded too, besides. The arched beams are beautiful, we also have the loveliest of imported chandeliers. Our pastor has polish too. He doesn’t preach long. We are more concerned about sermon length now, than content. Our pastor spices up his sermons with cute sayings… but I guess that’s progress for you. “Win some, lose some.”
Speaking of “lose some”, we’re losing a surprising percentage of our young people. An unbelievable number of marriages have gone on the rocks. Many lives have been in jeopardy. But that’s to be expected I guess. Teenagers seem to be at war with their parents and want to dress more and more like the kids at the public school. Our youth meetings may not have much in the way of prayer, but we have great icebreakers, skits and games.
We have plenty of medicines nowadays to help our aches and pains. What more could we ask for? Sure we miss you, but I guess we really don’t NEED you right now. I hope you’re not offended. I don’t mean for you to be. You’ll always have a special place in my memory. You were very kind and generous to me. You sure got me out of some hard times. I can’t thank you enough!
Still, this is a generation now that doesn’t know you at all. Your coming would probably scare them. Remember the night when my mother sat at the piano bench and you joined her there? Remember how she wept and groaned in the Spirit and slumped to the floor during the revival service and how some tried to call the ambulance because they thought she was sick? They never knew you and her were talking. That’s what I mean.
A good many never got to know you well. And most never knew you at all. Those that knew you personally have waited so long to talk to you that they are now, to say the least, embarrassed.
So while we are trying to work out our feelings about you, and see where you might fit into our plans in the future, you might try your luck someplace else. Try Brazil, Ethiopia, or how about the Philippines? You might have better luck in Third World Countries, or behind the iron Curtain. You might even luck out and find someone to talk to you in some little storefront on the other side of the tacks. Surely someone somewhere needs you.
We’re terribly sorry, Intercessory Prayer, we miss you, but we really don’t NEED you… right now!
By Martyn Ballestero Sr.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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