Interest in The 7 Experiment

It has been gratifying this week to see that there are ladies who are willing to take on The 7 Experiment challenge and boldly declare mutiny on the excess in our lives in the areas of food, clothing, possessions, media, waste, spending, and stress.

Each discussion I’ve had has revealed that we are all in pretty much the same boat. There is excess in some or all areas of our lives and it is causing anxiety, guilt and stress. We want to change but motivation, discipline and encouragement are lacking. We want to put some space around our “stuff”, we want, as Jen says, “to create space for the Holy Spirit to move”, we want to see God move in a mighty way in our lives.

I am excited to see what the Lord does through this study. I believe it is His will that are lives are open and free for His movement. He will reward our desire with results as we come to Him admitting our weakness and dependence knowing we cannot do it without Him. Jesus tells us this in John 15:5,

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (ESV)

I like the way the Amplified Bible says it,

I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. (AMP)

Come on! Jump in with both feet. The Lord has amazing things in store for you. Promise!

Get more info about the study at here. Sign-up by contacting me at abiding@cfl.rr.com or register at alomachurch.org. Or, you can use the contact form below.

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THE 7 EXPERIMENT: August 22, 1013

THE 7 EXPERIMENT: Staging your Own Mutiny against Excess
Do you feel trapped in the machine of excess? Jen Hatmaker was. Her friends were. And some might say that our culture is. When Jen was called “rich” by a child who was living in poverty, she began a social experiment which evolved into a spiritual journey. Through this study, you’ll start that same experiment, at whatever level you choose, in seven key areas: food, clothes, spending, media, possessions, waste, and stress.

 The 7 Experiment: Staging your Own Mutiny against Excess
Begins: Thursday, August 22 at 6:30 p.m.
Location: My home (Winter Springs)
Cost: $13

Online and Home Study begins August 22. Contact Janice at abiding@cfl.rr.com for more info.

A Home-grown Cure for a Shortened Attention Span (SAS)

A HOME-GROWN CURE FOR A SHORTENED ATTENTION SPAN (SAS)
What Happened to My Attention Span?

I’m that person they talk about when they write articles about Shortened Attention Spans (SAS) due to the Internet and the constant access to digital information.  (Notice the link above? I had to stop writing and find an article to link. I didn’t read the whole thing, sent it to my Kindle for later, but the info looked pretty good. Let me know.)

I prefer my information in short paragraphs and preferably bullet-pointed. Give me a list of 5 solutions, 10 tips, or 3 danger signs and I will print it right away and put it on the read pile. The guest bed in my office serves as a credenza of sorts and is piled with books and papers. I constantly send things to my printer, my Kindle, my phone, the guest bed and OneNote. I save, save, save for later and later never comes.

ARE YOU A WALKING BIBLE?

Spiritual Affirmation
Reading and obeying God’s Word will cause you to walk a straight path.

Walking Bibles
“Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law
 and obey it with all my heart.” Psalm 119:34

Determine to PRACTICE whatever you read. Christians should be walking Bibles, living the truths written. The Word is not only a guide to knowledge, but a guide to obedience. A holy reading of God’s Word, results in our fleeing from sins, and practicing the duties commanded.

“I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I
 might obey Your word.” Psalm 119:101

Read more by Puritan pastor Thomas Watson.

NEW BIBLE STUDY: 1 JOHN

How to Know You Have Eternal Life (11 lessons) 
Join me as we dig deep into the book of 1 John.

How do you know if you’re really born again? What does it mean to be holy. . . to love God? Find answers to these and other questions as you take a look back at the fundamentals of Christian beliefs.

Beginning Wednesday, January 18 at 6:30.
Aloma Church

For more details or to register please contact Janice at abiding@cfl.rr.com.

READING THE BIBLE IN 2012: SHOULD I?

Should I read the Bible in 2012?
Yes, I should, and will, read the Bible in 2012. That is a real simple question to answer and a simple task to accomplish because I am a Bible study leader and spend several hours a week in God’s word.

But the task I haven’t been able to manage in my Christian walk is reading the ENTIRE Bible in a year. I am a great starter and a terrible finisher. I bet some of you know what I mean. How many times have you read about the Creation, the flood, the stories about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph? Maybe you made it to Exodus and suffered with the Israelites in their salvery and rejoiced in their escape from Egypt with Moses. BUT! Then you hit Leviticus! How often I have said this and heard it, “I was fine until I got to Leviticus then I lost it. I guess I’ll never read through the entire Bible.”

I am hesitant to begin again. I am afraid I will once again be marking February as “Read Through the Bible Failure Month”. I look back at all my attempts, all my quittings, all my slacking off, lack of discipline and become overwhelmed. My heart droops low and says, I don’t want to be a disappointment to God again, I don’t want to make a new commitment that I know I probably won’t keep.

All this runs through my head as I prepare my bookmarks for a reading plan I have commited myself to. Yes! I did. I remembered that God loves me whether I read through the entire Bible in one year or not. I am convinced He is a God of new beginnings (no matter how many I need). I started to dwell on the fact that His mercies are new every morning. I began to pray that the Holy Spirit would sustain me throughout the year to complete a journey through His inspired Word. My hope and desire have surged.

What about you? Maybe you read through the Bible yearly. Pray for those of us who struggle. Maybe you are starting a new read-through plan this year. Rely on the Spirit of God, not yourself. Maybe you don’t even think that you need to do this. Consider that all of the Bible is God’s words to you. Ponder the idea that He has things to say to you that you can’t even imagine. Things that will prosper and bless you.

I am starting with a fresh attitude and a complete understanding of my own weakness. Here is what I heard from James MacDonald the other day. Maybe you don’t feel like reading the Bible today. Don’t wait – do it first and feel it later! Amazing! I needed to hear that, do you? Don’t wait til you feel it, just do it!

Below are some plans for reading through the Bible and some articles about why and how. Choose a plan that will work best for you. Set your heart toward this task and let God open the doors of desire, willingness and victory.

Here is the plan I am using. I am going the boot-camp route because I want the challenge. It is called the 3650 Challenge.

Gospel Coalition: Bible Reading Plans for 2012

More Bible Reading Plans at WordWise Women

S.O.A.P Plan for reading the Bible and journaling

Do you need to plan? See what John Piper says.

Here is an article by Noel Piper that is full of grace and encouragement to get through the entire Bible. Start anytime, read anywhere. Love this. I am sticking with my decision to use the 3560 plan but I will use Noel’s method next year.

My prayer for you is that you will be in God’s Word. Maybe you can finish in a year, maybe you stretch it to two or more. Just read it! Don’t let another day, week, or year go by without hearing all the Lord has to say to you. I’m really excited, how about you?

What happens to those who never hear the Gospel?

David Platt – What Happens to Those Who Never Hear the Gospel – Romans 15:20-24 from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.

Book of Hebrews Word Cloud

Sixty-Six Clouds is a visual exploration of word frequency in the Bible.
Follow this link to see more. Posters available. Book on the way.

Radical: Can you handle it?

What is Jesus Worth to You?

Wise Words on Proverbs 18:10

The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous runs into it and is safe. (Proverbs 18:10.)

Here is,
1. God’s sufficiency for the saints: His name is a strong tower for them, in which they may take rest when they are weary and take sanctuary when they are pursued, where they may be lifted up above their enemies and fortified against them. There is enough in God, and in the discoveries which he has made of himself to us, to make us easy at all times. The wealth laid up in this tower is enough to enrich them, to be a continual feast and a continuing treasure to them. The strength of this tower is enough to protect them; the name of the Lord is all that whereby he has made himself known as God, and our God, not only his titles and attributes, but his covenant and all the promises of it; these make up a tower, a strong tower, impenetrable, impregnable, for all God’s people.

2. The saints’ security in God. It is a strong tower to those who know how to make use of it as such. The righteous, by faith and prayer, devotion towards God and dependence on him, run into it, as their city of refuge. Having made sure their interest in God’s name, they take the comfort and benefit of it; they go out of themselves, retire from the world, live above, dwell in God and God in them, and so they are safe, they think themselves so, and they shall find themselves so. 

Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Pr 18:10). Peabody: Hendrickson.