WOW!!! I am so proud of you and our church as a whole. I was amazed to learn that over 200 of you took the 1-92 challenge this past Sunday. It is a simple challenge that will be difficult to complete. In the next year give God 92 hours, 15 minutes a day to read through the Bible. It sounds simple, but I promise you the enemy does not want you to complete the challenge and finish the race. So we are going to do this together. The FIRST thing each of you should do is sign up on the right hand side of this post to "follow this blog" and "subscribe" as well. This will let you know each time a new post is added. Here is the basic idea of the blog A few times each week we (Pete, Tanner, & Scotty) will post blogs on this page to hopefully give some insight and more detail to what you are reading. It will also be useful when we get to the hard parts as we encourage each other and “spur one another on.” So check back often or better yet sign up to follow the blog and post your own thoughts and comments for others to read.
For this first post let me give you some basic things you will need to do to complete the 1-92 challenge in the coming year.
1. Set a time and place- Try to read your Bible around the same time and in the same place as much as possible. I know this will not be practical for those who travel a lot, but if you can do it I promise it will make it easier to get in the habit of giving God 15 minutes each day without forgetting.
2. Be consistent- Don’t skip a day unless it is absolutely unavoidable. I promise you will hear this voice. “I will catch up tomorrow” that’s the DEVIL talking to you!!!! Don’t fall for it! Chances are if you skip a day or two you will not catch up and before you know it you will be weeks then months behind. Should you fall way behind, don’t quit, just look at the date on your watch, turn there and pick up and go again. DON’T QUIT NO MATTER WHAT!
3. Don’t expect to understand everything- Don’t try to study it all till you understand it, just read it and let God speak to you. I don’t understand it all, it’s ok, just keep reading and more will come to you as you go farther.
4. Expect to hear from God- When you come to read, come expecting to hear God. Don’t come thinking oh great another day of hard names, or man I don’t know why I am doing this. Expect to hear a word from the Lord.
5. Find a quite place and get rid of the distractions- I know it is hard but do your best to find the quietest place possible with the fewest distractions possible to read. If you leave the cell phone on it will ring, the devil will see to it. If you have supper on the stove, your mind will wonder to the time left before it is ready. If the TV is on, you will lose focus. Turn everything off or on silent for 15 minutes. Open with prayer, read, then close with prayer. Enjoy the peace and quiet, listen for the voice of God to break through and speak to you.
Don’t quit, don’t give up, don’t get frustrated, you need to make up your mind on day one that you are going to do this thing!!! Let’s do it together, and see what God will do in 2009!
Praying for us all!
Pastor Pete
It is exciting to see that so many from Cowboy Fellowship have accepted the challenge to read the bible in one year, it's really not that difficult. This new Chronological Bible is very different than from reading other bibles thought.
ReplyDeleteAs Pete said, it should be simple to do but we get distracted easily. Do not give up, stay focused and commit to a time each day for your reading. Fifteen minutes a day is not much to give back to the Lord. Give it a try. The Lord will bless you if you stay focused on Him.
I do not attend cowboy church but do attend church in Floresville. A friend of mine does attend your church and even bought the chronological Bible for me. Just wanted to let you guys know I am taking the challenge with you!Great idea and may God bless you!!
ReplyDeleteSHELLY