Category Archives: A Fresh Start

To give up food, TV, or -gasp- the Internet, is helpful to show us that God is god and not food, TV or the Internet. If I rely on anything more than on God, I should think about doing without this thing for a period of time. One way to decide what may be the most important object of fasting would be to decide what is the thing you think you cannot do without. Then decide to do without it for a given period. One of the first lessons I learned about fasting from food was that I should have a specific matter to pray about, then, every time I felt hungry from not eating, I should pray about that request.

To decide to open our heart, minds and ears to those who have yet to meet Jesus is paramount to following Jesus faithfully. Praying to become aware of those who need to hear the gospel and then the grace to go tell them is our personal great commission.

The Great Commission has an imperative. As you’re going, make disciples. In the book, As We’re Going I explore disciple making historically, theologically and practically. Throughout the book you are reading, I refer to meeting with fellow disciples. Here, I’ll simply point you back to that larger work on the subject.

It is important for me to name my sin and admit it to God. Without this naming and admission, repentance is very difficult. James instructs us to confess to one another. Jesus taught us to go to the offended brother, and then come to the altar. Making a regular practice of confession, to God, to one another, to the person who gives us spiritual guidance, will allow us to keep the Devil from using unconfessed sin against us in our heart and in the heart of others. I find it helpful to have a written prayer of confession that I pray each morning (or each night) that has a place to pause in silence and consider what sin of omission or commission needs to be confessed.

When we want to know more about a Bible text, we study it. We look at the historical background of the book in question and then we look at the context of the verse(s) we are studying using a variety of study tools. We look for the original meaning of the author as inspired by the Holy Spirit so that we can properly understand and apply that truth to our life. Our goal in Bible study is growth in knowledge that leads to a growth in understanding that leads to a changed heart. Bible study is more intense and should not be confused with Bible reading.

To sit each morning and read and hear God’s voice through His inspired word has several purposes: to know God better, to be changed by the words of God and to live a life that gives him glory because our thinking has changed as we read. We must be sure that we are reading enough, too many people read far too little. These days I turn on the recorded reading of the Bible on my Bible app and listen as I read along. This slows me down and the practice allows my brain to receive through two, not just one, of my senses. I use a reading plan for my morning reading. Because if left to my own choices, I would read too narrowly, and it is helpful to grow from the whole Bible. The YouVersion Bible app has many helpful plans and many translations. I use this and listen to the audio version of the Bible and read along more slowly than a normal reading pace. Bible reading should not be confused with Bible Study which is next.