Reading My Bible

When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have always felt the hunger to read God's Word. I wanted to read my Bible. But since I was very young at that time, I don't know where to start. I bought "Our Daily Bread" and maybe once or twice a week, I was reading "Our Daily Bread" and sometimes my Bible. I was very inconsistent with my Bible reading.

Then, only 6 years ago, I found the New Living Translation (NLT) Bible. It was so easy to read and understand and I began to enjoy reading my Bible. Slowly, I began to understand many things about my Creator and my God, I began to learn how to live the Christian life and by daily reading God's Word, my life was changed.

Why do we really need to read the Bible? Tim LaHaye outlined in his book "How to Study the Bible for Yourself" the reasons why:
1. It will make you a strong Christian
2. It will assure you of salvation
3. It will give you confidence and power in prayer.
4. It will cleanse you from sin.
5. It will give you joy.
6. It will produce peace in your life.
7. It will guide you in making important decisions of life.
8. It will enable you to articulate your faith.
9. It will guarantee your success.

Unfortunately, many Christians think they are too busy to refresh their minds each day on the Word of God. What they don't realize is that a daily quiet time costs them nothing in the long run because the rest of their day will be more successful than if they had ignored their Bible. A brilliant nuerosurgeon in Atlanta claims, "The most important part of my day is the first 30 minutes after awaking, so I spend 20 minutes of it reading and studying the Word of God. It enriches the rest of my day." Try it - you'll like it.

Tim LaHaye says, "many Christians believe they can't understand the Bible without the interpretation of theologians or ministers. But the Bible was written to all people - including you - and everyone can understand its message! Even "little children" or brand-new Christians can undestand the Bible. This means that you can understand the Bible! You may not be able to go down into the depths of Bible truth the way the scholars do, and there will be a few things you won't fully understand, but you will find far more in Scripture that you can understand than what you cannot."

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE.
1. Read daily.
2. Set a regular reading time.
3. Set a regular place.
4. Read with a pencil at hand.
5. Read devotionally.
6. Keep a daily Spiritual diary.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR SPIRITUAL DIARY
1. God's message to you today.
2. A promise from God.
* Make sure they are universal promises
* Make sure they apply to you.
3. A command to keep.
4. A timeless principle.
5. How does this apply to my life.

THE THREE -YEAR BIBLE-READINGS SCHEDULE
First Year
Read...... First John seven times
* You should read this little five-chapter epistle every day for one week, making the
appropriate notations in your daily diary.

The Gospel of John twice - approximately 4 chapters a day

The Gospel of Mark twice - approximately 4 chapters a day

Galatians through Philemon - if possible try to read the entire epistle in one daily
period; however, Galatians, Ephesians and Timothy may take longer.

The gospel of Luke - approximately 3-4 chapters a day

The book of Acts - approximately 3-4 chapters a day

The book of Romans - approximately 3 chapters a day

The New Testament Twice - approximately 3 chapters a day

Second Year
Read .... A proverb every day for four months

Two wisdom literature chapters daily
(Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon)

Read repeatedly for one month the following:
First John
Ephesians
Philippians
First Thessalonians
James
Romans 5-8
John 14-17

Third year
Read ... One New Testament Chapter daily
Two Old Testament Chapter daily
Five Old Testament chapters each Sunday.

I suggest that you buy Tim LaHaye's book "How to Study the Bible for Yourself" for a complete guide to Bible reading. The time tested methods presented in the book will take you to a new levl of biblical understanding and knowledge - and help you become a dynamic witness for the Lord.

God's Message 2

Taken from Experiencing God day by Day Devotional by Henry and Richard Blackaby

MAKING NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS

Oh that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night. For the slain of the daughter of my people. Jeremiah 9:1

Jeremiah was invited by God to be a weeping prophet. His call came during turbulent, agonizing times as his society suffered from pervasive moral and spiritual decay. The nation of Judah had turned so far from God that it was soon to face His fierce judgment. This was not a time for merrymaking but for weeping. God looked for someone he could mold into the kind of prophet needed for such a bleak time. He forfeited family and reputation. He endured misunderstanding, ridicule, and persecution. He was imprisoned and mocked by those to whom he had come to warn of God's empending judgment.

Satan will try to convince you that obedience carried much too high a price, but he will never tell you the cost of not obeying God. If you are to be used in God's service, you must expect to make adjustments in your life. Can you measure the distance between the throne room of heaven and a cattle shed in Bethlehem? How far is it from the Lordship of th universe to the cross? Don't be deceived into thinking there is no cost involved in obedience.

What adjustments is God asking you to make? Will you face the hardships and opposition that will come when you align your life with God's will? Jeremiah had the deep satisfaction of knowing he was a faithful and beloved servant of God. Your reward will be the same when you fully obey Christ, regardless of the cost.

God's Message

The day after we decided to take the new route, God gave me this message. This was taken from Experiencing God Day by Day Devotional by Henry and Richard Blackaby.

The Cost to Others

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John 19:25

There is no Christianity without a cross, for you cannot be a disciple of Jesus without taking up your cross. Crosses are painful; they forever change your life. But sometimes the greatest cost will not be to you but to those you love. You may be prepared to obey the Lord's commands, whatever they are, because you've walked with Him and know that His way is best. Yet there will be those close to you who have not related to Jesus in the same way and have not heard His voice as clearly.

Jesus understood that His Father's will for Him led to a cross. The cross would mean a painful death for Jesus, and it would also bring suffering to those closest to Him. Because of the cross, Jesus' mother would watch in agony as her son was publicly humiliated, tortured,and murdered. Jesus' aunt and close friend would witness HIs excruciating death. His disciples would be scattered in terror and confusion in what would be the longest, darkest night of their lives. Because of Jesus obedience, there would also be a cross for each of His disciples.

Obedience to the Lord's commands will affect others (Luke 14:6). Don't refuse to obey what you know God is asking because you fear the cost to your family will be too great. Beware lest you seek to prevent those you love from taking up the cross God has for them. Don't ever try to protect those you love by disobeying God. The cost of disobedience is alwasy far greater. Rather, look to Jesus, your model, and see what it cost those around Him for Him to be obedient to His Father.

Taking the Road Less Travelled

Serving the Lord allows us to learn so many lessons as we journey through life. I realized that sometimes we have to take "U turns" - U turns are occasions when you started going one way and then had to stop and change directions because your original plan wasn't working.

Change of direction may cause some inconvenience but I believe that we have to embrace them as opportunities to get back on the right track.

I praise God for always showing us His ways and allowed us to take the road less travelled.

We may be travelling a new route but we will serve God until He comes.

Birthday Harana Food

Grilled Pork
Eating Time
Cake for our two celebrators
Our cook
Tilapia
We enjoyed eating tilapia and grilled pork. Our youth boys took charge of cooking our food.

Friday Evening Fellowship

Praise God that on the first Friday of the year, we were able to resume our Friday evening Fellowship. We continued with our ministry evaluations. Next Friday, we will have our Spiritual gift inventory. Please pray that these young people will be used by God through their gifts.

Plans for 2006

Prayer Concerns:

1. This year, we will start with our monthly leaders' training. Please pray for God's wisdom as we train these young people. We are still looking for more materials that we can use for their training.

2. I would like to come up with a complete 3-4 years curriculum for Sunday School, Sunday Afternoon fellowship and Friday Small group Bible Study. Please pray for financial provision and right resources.

3. We still need more Bibles and Devotional books. We'd like our students to grow in their quiet time so we are providing them their own Bible and Devotional book. We were able to give away more than 25 NLT Metal Bibles and 12 Wonder Devotional books and we are praying that we can provide more devotional books for them.

4. On April, our youth will be trained by CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship), this will be a 5-day training. CEF will teach our youth to evangelize children. Please pray for God's provision for the training needs.

5. Also this year, we will start our Bible study on being a campus missionary. Please pray for our students that they will have a heart to reach their lost friends and classmates.

6. Our youth will once again take their Spiritual Gift inventory. Please pray that these young people will use their gifts for God glory.

2005 Thanksgiving

Praises and Thanksgiving to God for the many many blessings we received last 2005. Though there were ups and downs, but our God is faithful, He's always with us . Praise God that we were able to provide Bibles and devotional books for our youth. But most of all, I praise God for sustaining us. For allowing us to learn new things and giving us room for growth. Praise God for family and friends, you have always been very very supportive to us. Thank you so much for your help and prayers. We give back all praises and honor to our God.

Birthday Harana

We all wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning to greet our birthday celebrators. We normally go to their homes to surprise them (but actually, they're not surprised, they expect us to come, they'll be more surprised if we cannot come hahaha). We bring a small cake, flowers for the girls and let each one say their wishes for the celebrator then we close our fellowship in prayer. We sometimes cry but it's all tears of joy.

Enjoying the Fellowship

Every 5th Sunday, we go out to have fun and enjoy the fellowship. We either go to the pool or play bowling at Fitmart Mall.

SMBYF Camp at Lamsugod Surallah

Camp started last December 26 and ended on December 30. We had 30 students who attended the camp. Floyd and I only visited our youth, this was taken last December 30, coach Candy was the one who took charge of the youth during the camp.

Friday Night Bible Study

Our Bible Study is every Friday at our house. We have an average of 20 students attending. Most of them are faithful in attending our Bible study.

"You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others." 2 Timothy 2:2 (New Living Translation)