This is a little different Heart Warming Wednesday post (and it could quite possibly become a series) , but I thought it might help someone so I'm going to go ahead with it. I have made a commitment to reading my Bible complete through by the end of this year (December 2014). I have felt guilty for
never reading my Bible completely through in my life. I've come pretty close but never actually done it. So I'm determined to do it this year. However, I realized that the normal 3 chapters a day through the week and 5 chapters on Sunday won't allow me to finish the Bible by the end of December, so I'm reading 5 chapters a day and sometimes 6 in order to make it. But I've found that some of the books are somewhat depressing, like Lamentations and now I've started into Jeremiah, but I've also found that I can add to my devotions and that helps some.
A Bible study book that I have been going through is called "
Adventurous Prayer" (you can purchase it
here).
I believe that prayer is essential to the Christian life, otherwise how else would we communicate our hearts to God. As I think about taking an adventure in prayer, I think of the simple fact that after all I am a daughter of the King of Kings and that makes me a princess. I have been thinking on this subject and about the requests that I make to my Father each day. I believe that we should come
boldly before His throne, just like he has told us to in His word. God says in "
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Do we oftentimes come
timidly to His throne instead of
boldly as He has said we can? I think that too often the reason why we don't see some answers to our prayers is that we aren't bold enough in our prayers. After all if we are truly the King's sons and daughters, then why are we so afraid to make our requests known to Him? I'm aiming the finger at myself here too. I know that I haven't made my requests always known, they've been there in my heart, but I've been too afraid to actually voice them. I know that God can read our thoughts but He also likes when we speak up and tell Him our request.
I have gone through times of dryness and feeling like my prayers went about 2 inches about my head and stopped, ( I think we've all been there) but lately I've been really trying to pour my heart out to God, because I have realized that He is my Father and that when my earthly father was alive, I could go to him and ask his opinion on something or ask him for advice, but I wasn't really doing the same with my heavenly Father. As a princess I can come
boldly before God as my Father and make my requests known. There are family and friends that I am praying for that God will work in their lives and save them, or help them, or give them strength, or just generally be a comfort to them, and I know that because God is my Father I can trust Him with any need I have. God cares about His children and cares what is going on in their lives and wants to help, if we'll just let him.
So are YOU taking advantage of being a Son or Daughter of the King of Kings? Are you taking advantage of being a Prince or Princess? Why don't you trust God with your needs and even wants!
I'm linking to:
Whole Hearted Home
Thank you for sharing this on the Art of Home-Making Mondays. I haven't done the Bible in a year reading because I think I would have the pressure to speed read to get through it all and I want to chew on the Word to get a better taste... But perhaps one day! It would be a wonderful accomplishment :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for allowing me to post on the Art of Home-Making! :) Yes I do sometimes feel like I'm not getting a whole lot out of it, but I couple it with reading the devotional readings for the Sunday School Lesson from church. Right now I'm in Jeremiah and that's a hard book to glean from since he's called the weeping prophet. But it's all part of God's word so there must be something in it, that God wants to tell me! :
DeleteOne of the best things I learned about prayer is that God is interested in every area of our life. I used to just pray about big things -- that I didn't want to bother God with the small things. Now I just talk to God all through my day -- when I have a praise, when I need a little extra grace. I love that i don't have to bottle it up inside until my quiet time. ~Pamela
ReplyDeleteI have been blessed so much in reading my Bible through in a year. I did it for about 8 years but the last couple years I have gone slower and soaked it in deeper. I like reading through from Genesis to Revelation so I get a feel for the whole Bible. The neat thing about books that seem hard to read through is that all of a sudden something special will jump out. Like in Lamentations 3!!
ReplyDeleteYes! I've been so enjoying doing this and really searching those hard to read books for something that pops out at me! :)
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