What Can You Give to God Every Day?

Photo by Robert Hurst 

Not long ago I felt inspired by this post from my favorite blogger, Tim Challies.  It is about consciously dedicating things like your time, energy, and enthusiasm to God every morning.  I decided to start praying through them in the mornings, and soon I found myself adding more.  I thought I should share these with you, because I find them very helpful in my own walk.  (Not that I'm an expert in living this way...far from it!  But this is the direction I believe He wants me to grow.)
Please let me know in the comments if you think of anything else that would be helpful to add to these morning prayers!

My morning dedications:

• I dedicate to You the gifts and talents that You have given me, to be used for Your glory.
• I dedicate to You the time that You have given me, for I am only time's steward in Your service.
• I dedicate to you the energy You have given me, for pursuing Your will.  I will trust You to supply moment-by-moment energy when I have no supply of my own.
• I dedicate to You my enthusiasm, for Your joy and Your promises to shine through.
• I give to you my cares and anxieties over the circumstances You have given me, for the praise of Your peace and Your sovereignty.
• I dedicate to You my reputation and honor, for You to raise or lower in the eyes of man as You see fit, because You laid aside Your glory for me, and You have promised to clothe me with Your glory forever.
• I dedicate to You my weakness, to be used for the glory of Your strength, rather than using it myself as an excuse to bury what You have entrusted to me (Matt 25:14-30).
• I dedicate to You my thoughts and imaginings, because Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts, and You have prepared blessings for me that are beyond imagining.
• I place on your altar my self-sufficiency and self-confidence, to replace with Your sufficiency, and with confidence in You.
• I dedicate to You my best-laid plans, for You to establish or overrule as You see fit, because Your plans are perfect.
• I leave in Your hands every "sacrifice" I've given, not trying to control what You do with them.  If you are pleased to make them into obvious blessings, or to burn them to ashes on Your altar, I will rest in Your acceptance of them.  I will trust You that nothing is lost.
• I dedicate my all to You, Lord.  You gave all to me, and You have told me that all things are mine in You (1 Co. 3:21-23).

My New Bible Reading Plan

(My plan doesn't rely on the high tech stuff, but this is my setup.)

Have you ever struggled to find a Bible reading plan that works well for you?  That has been my struggle recently, and I wanted to share with you what I have developed, and have found to be a great enhancement to my morning devotions.

Why did I need a new plan?

(Feel free to scroll down to the details of the plan if you want to skip the “why.”)

I've used several plans over the years. Usually, I default to a plan that includes some Old Testament, some New Testament, some Psalms, and some Proverbs each day.  But for a while I also used and enjoyed Professor Horner's system (link to PDF), which gave an incredibly broad overview of the Scriptures, with large amounts of reading from all over the Bible every day.

Each system has its advantages. But I found I couldn't stick with Professor Horner's system for more than about a year and a half before the frenetic pace left me a bit frazzled. There are great advantages in swallowing large amounts of Scripture every day for a while, but it does keep one back from a more careful, in-depth look at the Word.

Lately, I had begun to find myself dissatisfied with every Bible reading plan I tried. All involved multiple chapters a day, and I really felt I needed something that allowed me to give greater concentration to small amounts of Scripture.  But I couldn’t bring myself to embark on a one-chapter-a-day, Genesis-to-Revelation type of study. Perhaps it’s shameful to have to admit it, but there are certain books I just didn’t want to get bogged down in for a month or more. After a great deal of time spent in Deuteronomy, for example, I’m nearly gasping for the refreshment of the epistles. And while some of the Bible’s most beautiful words of hope can be found in Isaiah, it also has many, many chapters of judgments against the enemies of God’s people. All of that is useful, but one can only read so much of it at a time before one begins to thirst for words of grace.

I began to toy with the idea of creating my own Bible reading plan, one that would give me small amounts of Scripture each day, while giving me a great deal of variety in my reading. At the same time, I didn’t want to be reading things out of context, since context is such an incredibly important part of Scripture interpretation and understanding. So I certainly wasn’t going to choose some sort of random, “shut-your-eyes-and-open-the-Bible-and-read-whatever-page-it-opens-to” approach.

The more I puzzled about it, the more I thought that Professor Horner’s plan might have some answers for me.  It did offer lots of variety, it was not calendar-based, and it divided the Bible into sections from which one would read each day.

What if, instead of Professor Horner’s ten-chapter-a-day approach, I adapted it into a one-chapter-a-day plan, and read from a different section of the Bible each day? That way, I could get the variety that I thirsted for, could get the in-depth study that I knew I needed, and could keep my daily selections within their natural contexts.

And so, from these musings, my new plan was born. And I’m finding it to be everything I hoped it would be.

The Details of the Plan

It is generally recognized that the Bible can be divided into five or six different categories. Of course there is some blurring of the lines between categories, but for a weekly reading plan, you can do very nicely with the following divisions:

·        Law – Genesis through Deuteronomy

·        History – Joshua through Esther

·        Poetry and Wisdom – Job through Song of Solomon

·        Prophets – Isaiah through Malachi

·        Gospels and Acts

·        Epistles and Revelation

That gives me one different type of Scripture to read each day of the week. So Mondays I read one chapter from the “Law” section, working my way through the chapters in order, so that everything remains in its correct context. On Tuesdays I read a chapter in the “History” section, also working through that section in its natural order. And so on throughout the week. This way, I get a very nice survey of the Bible every week (except Sunday), while at the same time going through at a slow enough pace that I can spend time studying and taking notes.

Since this plan is not calendar bound, in the sense that you don’t have to finish at a certain pace, I am also free to divide a long chapter in half if I find that I want to spend more time on it. There’s no guilt for having fallen behind what someone’s predetermined plan says I should be reading today.

I find that this plan really helps me to get through the sections of the Bible that I find harder to read than others, such as the thundering judgments of Isaiah, or the grieving of Jeremiah in much of his two books. Since I know that I will only be reading one chapter from these difficult sections each week, I approach them with a better attitude. And that makes me more open-minded, and enables me to gain more from these valuable passages. And believe me, these are vital and valuable passages. It is my own sinfulness that makes it hard for me to appreciate these sections. With this new approach, I’m learning to appreciate them more.

While not everyone will agree with me on this, I also skim over the genealogical stuff. I know and believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. I believe that the profit in the genealogies comes from the fact that they show that God knows every individual, and, more importantly, they confirm the necessary genealogical line of the Messiah. (That’s why the Bible stops keeping track of genealogies after the birth of Christ.) So, when I encounter a chapter full of names, I thank the Lord for His intimate knowledge of all people, and for His wisdom in bringing the Messiah into the world. And then I skim over it and move on to the next chapter. (But be careful if you do this. Sometimes there are real gems stuck in the middle of the lists of names. So don’t just skip them. Skim them, looking for those little nuggets. It would be a shame to miss them.)

So how do I keep track of where I am? I decided to borrow Professor Horner’s strategy here, too. I created a bookmark for each section, and I clearly labeled it to show what section it belongs in. I just move it forward with me as I go along. You can see a sample below.

(I chose to make magnetic bookmarks that fold over top of the page so they won’t fall out. I labeled both sides of the bookmark for easy identification from any angle, and then placed a distinctive mark on the side of the bookmark that shows which side of the page I actually left off on.)

Since in-depth study was an important consideration in designing this plan, I also needed to set up a note taking system that would work well for me. Being the computer geek that I am, I chose to set up my system in Evernote. You can of course use a much more traditional system, such as pen and paper. But whatever system you use, you may find it helpful to use an organizational strategy similar to the one I am about to describe.

I created six individual notebooks, one for each day of the week and its corresponding section of Scripture. Each notebook then has its own page devoted to a book of the Bible within that section. So, within the “Law” notebook, I have a page for Genesis, a page for Exodus, etc. (If you’re using pen and paper, you will of course need much more than a single page for each of these books.)

I then take chapter and verse notes wherever and whenever thoughts strike me. But I make sure that I date the notes, so that the next time I come to this section of Scripture, I can review the notes that I made last time. This is a great way to refresh my memory on important points I might have forgotten, as well as giving me a glimpse of my progressive understanding and appreciation of the passage over time.  (If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may recognize the fact that the notes on chapter 4 verse 5 turned into a recent blog entry!)

Please let me know if you decide to try this Bible reading plan, and how it works for you!

21st-Century Tech and 19th-Century Preachers

Image by almoko via Flickr

At various points throughout the life of this blog, readers have asked questions about how I study the Bible and where I find all of Morrison’s wonderful writings.  The answers to those two questions are intertwined, so I’m combining them today.

My main study Bible is the eSword electronic version.  It is a free download in its basic form with non-copyrighted Bible versions, but you can also download additional materials such as other translations of the Bible, devotionals, commentaries, Bible dictionaries, maps, and other valuable resources.  Some are free, others are not.  The daily devotionals have been a very rich resource for me, particularly the Morrison and Spurgeon ones.  Yes, that’s right, it’s through eSword that I discovered Morrison.  Since it’s not easy to find Morrison’s writings online, it’s worth the download just to get those devotionals.

One of the things I like to do with my eSword is to take copious notes.  You can write long notes for any verse and have them available right beside the text.  I often copy entire devotional entries into the corresponding verses’ note pages, giving rich insights every time I visit those verses. 

There are many other features of this Bible that are quite useful and helpful, but I will stop with simply recommending that you visit the eSword site and investigate it for yourself.

Another very nice downloadable Bible program is simply called “The Word,” and it’s worth checking out as well.

Whenever I’m away from home, I always have a Bible handy, thanks to MyBible 4 from Laridian Publishing.  If you use a handheld Palm, Windows, IPod or Blackberry device, you’ll want to check this program out.  I wrote earlier about how I use the Scripture Memory program that you can also download from this site, so I won’t go into that again.  Laridian also offers devotionals, dictionaries, and commentaries, as well as free and paid translations of the Bible, all for your handheld.  I highly recommend this resource.

Another excellent resource is the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.  The CCEL is for online use, but it has features you’d often expect only from a downloadable program (such as the ability to highlight text.  Your highlights will be remembered whenever you sign in).  CCEL offers a wide variety of classic Christian literature, going all the way back to the 1st Century, and moving up to extensive libraries of the greats like Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, and more!  Definitely an invaluable resource for those of us who could never dream of amassing our own vast printed libraries.

Now it’s your turn.  Have you found any “Helpful Tech” that you’d like to share?  Or do you have any further comments on the ones discussed above?  Please leave your thoughts for us to enjoy.

One Way It's Not About Me (Or You)

There are lots of ways that it's not about us.

The world doesn't like that fact. The flesh hates it. The Devil rebels against it.

It must be a good thing.

One of the ways that "it's not about me" hit me tonight as I sat down for my devotions. I knew I hadn't had it all together today, and the enemy was trying very hard to discourage me. I wanted to approach devotions hard-heartedly, with all my defenses up against feelings of failure.

But it's not about me.

It's about Him.

God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. One God in three Persons. That's who it's about.

He is the one who has held me thus far. He holds me now. He will hold me forever.

Yes, I must repent of known sin and turn more fully to Him, endeavoring by His grace to "go and sin no more." But that's really all the attention I should give myself.

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) said,
"Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own existence. Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do."

I messed up today. Of course I messed up today! I'm going to mess up every day. I'm human.

On one hand, I must not take this lightly. Sin is deadly serious business (see the blog entry for July 29, 08 called, "How Seriously Does Heaven Take Our Sin?") Sin cost our Lord the agony of Calvary and more. It costs humans their eternal souls if not dealt with at the Cross. It must be hated and repented of wholeheartedly.

But if my sin and failure become the main focus of my life, I'm playing right into Satan's hand. And it's not mainly for the reasons you might think. It's not mostly because I'll get discouraged if I focus on sin, though of course that's true. It's not because it will damage my self-esteem (something I shouldn't be seeking anyway).

It is because:

1. Anything that holds our spiritual focus more than God becomes an idol...even our sin. We may not think of it as an idol, but it is. Strong's Concordance defines the Hebrew word for worship this way: "prostrate (especially reflexively in homage to royalty or God): - bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship." The Greek word for worship carries the same connotations. (It makes you wonder about what passes for "worship" in many churches these days, but that's going to have to wait for another day.) Who or what do we worship as an idol? It's anyone or anything besides God before whom we fall flat, overcome or overwhelmed. It is anyone or anything which we believe holds the power to determine our destiny. Our sin deserves no such obeisance from us. Only God does.
2. Anything that takes our focus away from God keeps us from enjoying Him. We cannot pursue obedience to the greatest commandment, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength," if all that fills our vision is ourselves and our sin. We cannot enjoy all of His glorious attributes, or encourage others to glorify Him, if He is eclipsed by evil in our eyes. We cannot know His peace, His joy, His hope, or His comfort if all we know is self, self, self.
   

It's not about us. Thank God, it's not about us!

So how should I approach my devotions tonight? As one who is neither surprised nor discouraged by my own sinfulness. After all, it is only pride that is surprised by failure. Humility is not. And it's only pride that is discouraged by failure. Chambers says, "Discouragement is disillusioned self-love." He is so right!

How should I approach my devotions tonight?

• As one who has eaten only scantily today, and who is starving for more of what is good.
  
• As one who trusts the Giver implicitly, and does not look to herself to decide what her fate will be.
  
• As one who loves the Father and has no desire to waste her affections on anything less.

I'm so sad, so lonely, and so hungry whenever I think it's all about me! But when I remember Who everything really revolves around, then I'm ready to let my soul delight itself in abundance (Isa. 55:2).

Please click here if you would like to read a poem that I wrote about the emptiness of a self-focused life, and may God bless you with more of Himself!



(Photo by Betsy Markman, 4/96)

Devoted to Devotions, or to God?

Today's reading from "My Utmost for His Highest" (Oswald Chambers) is almost mind-boggling to me. Here is an excerpted segment:

His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. His end is the process -that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience. God's end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.

Please don't confuse this with a zen-like "Living in the moment" philosophy. We do not put our faith in the moment, but in the God who ordains each moment. This God who ordains every tick of the clock has also "declared the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I shall do all my pleasure.'" (Isa. 46:10) We do not lull ourselves to sleep with assurances of some benevolent Force or faceless providence, but find our strength in the great I Am who reigns from Genesis to Revelation and beyond.

But why is that quote from Chambers mind-boggling to me? I guess because I still find the present so hard to cope with. I tend to like the big, sweeping view. I take comfort in God's overall master plan, in His declared purposes, in His promises for the future. It's today's mountains of responsibilities and hardships that send me reeling. I guess it's hard to remember that the pages of my life fall between Genesis and Revelation, too. So I tend to hide away in the comfort of various pleasurable distractions, to the exclusion of too many of my daily chores and responsibilities.

Don't get me wrong. My family isn't totally neglected. But fear of being overwhelmed by my responsibilities has always sent me into hiding far too much of the time, whether in writing a novel or short stories, or playing at some other thing. When I began to grow closer to God, my devotional time became an escape as well. Something that I read from Chambers a little while ago rebuked me for that:

To live a remote, retired, secluded life is the antipodes of spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it. The test of our spirituality comes when we come up against injustice and meanness and ingratitude and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritual sluggards. We want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of retirement. We utilize God for the sake of getting peace and joy, that is, we do not want to realize Jesus Christ, but only our enjoyment of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things are effects and we try to make them causes.

Ouch!

So where does all this lead me?

Lately I've been retreating more than usual and allowing the housework to really pile up. So I decided that yesterday, which was a Saturday, would be a serious workday. And I came to the startling realization that I needed to NOT have devotions that morning.

Now, before you denounce me as a heretic, hear me out.

When I have devotions, I get so wrapped up in them that an hour or two can easily go by. And, because I tend to abuse devotional time and make it an escape from reality, I find it hard to "tune in" and engage the real world once I'm done. That's no fault of devotions, per se. It's only the result of years of misusing them.

I definitely do NOT need less time in the Word. But I do need to start having it with a heart that wants to take those truths into the day-to-day grind. I need to learn to bring the sacred into the secular.

So I decided to combine my morning and evening devotions into one, all to be done in the evening. I won't have less time in the Word. I'll just have it at a different time. Why? Because if I don't start my housework almost right away, I lose all momentum and don't start it at all. So Saturday morning, after taking just a few minutes to practice a few memory verses, I had to start in on the day's chores, challenges, and responsibilities with the goal of doing everything on my list if at all possible. I had to try to be God-centered in the midst of thankless drudgery and squabbling children and the special challenges of children with autism and ADD and bipolar disorder. I had to start seeking true godliness, rather than some sort of suburban monasticism.

It was kind of scary. It's a bit scary to think of doing it again tomorrow. It's also absolutely necessary. And I am trusting in the God who gave me a family to care for, to take me by the hand and walk with me as I face more and more of the burdens that I've been afraid to shoulder all these years. I'm also confident that He will make my devotional times MORE precious to me than they already are, as He teaches me to enjoy them the way they were meant to be enjoyed.

I guess it all boils down to this: it's impossible to pursue loving the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, if you're busy avoiding loving your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said those were the two greatest commandments, and He tied them pretty closely together (Matt. 22:36-40).

I'm not saying that anyone else in the world needs to change what time they have their devotions. And I'm not saying it will have to be this way for me for the rest of my life. I am saying that I am hungry for more of God than I can find while seated. I want to get out of the boat and walk on the water, needing only the sight of Him walking on the sea with me. Then, in the evenings when it's finally time to sit down and enjoy my time in His Word, I hope I'll be able to approach it with the perspective of someone who has gotten her feet a lot wetter than usual.

(Photo from Flickr by Independentman)