Here are the suggested steps that my pastor uses in his quiet time with God.
1) Start with thanks and praise for what God has already done in your life.
2) Read Scripture - Kevin works his way through one book at a time, reading one chapter a day.
3) Pray - He keeps a prayer journal, and has a scheduled time that he prays for each group in his life. Two days a week, he prays for friends & family, another two days he prays for our church as a whole, and the remaining two days he prays for specific prayer requests that church members have given him.... yes he takes Sundays off because he is focused on the sermon and our church member needs.
I've written and asked him for suggestions on where I can start reading scripture - and a little guidance on that... as I've tried reading cover to cover and got completely lost. My Dad has made some suggestions, but I guess once again - I'm looking for a professional opinion. (sorry Dad!!)
I've also asked someone to consider being my mentor and helping me learn scripture - so hopefully I'll hear back from her in the next day or two, and get started on that as well. Kevin told me originally when I asked him - that it needs to be someone of the same gender to mentor and help with discipleship, so I chose someone - and asked. I don't know if she has time for that in her life right now, but if she can't do it now - maybe she can help me find someone else that does. (I hope that sounds the way I intended - I completely understand if she can't make that commitment right now, and wish her nothing but the best. She's someone that I haven't known very long, but really respect spiritually.)
At our retreat, our speaker also told us about the power of having a kindred spirit friend that is a friendship following the example of Paul and Barnabas... and I began talking to another friend of mine that I respect spiritually, Sarah, about how I'd love to be her kindred spirit... we've been friends for over a year, and I think that we really do love our friendship and just need to make a little more time to hang out now that we've found different church homes.
So spiritually speaking... things are moving in a very positive direction for me right now, and I look forward to nurturing relationships in the future, and growing in those relationships as well as my relationship with God.
This all sounds wonderful! I know I am not a professional; far from it, but a few suggestions on reading the Bible from me, are the Bible in a Year bibles, because it divides it up, a bit of New Testament, a bit of Old Testament and a Pslam or Proverb. The other think I invested in (and I got it for a great price off eBay) is iLumina Gold. It's a Bible software package that contains the Bible and tons of other stuff. It's pretty neat through I need to spend more time with it!
ReplyDeleteKim, I love that you're putting so much energy into growing your understanding of scripture! I think it's rare to see someone put a plan in place like this.
ReplyDeleteI've read the bible cover to cover a few times, skipping psalms and proverbs because they don't really matter chronologically and you can read a bit of them each day. But if that doesn't work for you, it's wise to ask someone where to start! I don't like skipping around because it's hard to get a chronological sense of things, but that's just me!