A Daily Refresh

God wants to refresh our souls on a daily basis and according to Jeremiah 31:25 He “will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” (New International Version)

When we create spiritual habits and disciplines in our daily lives they can assist us in connecting with and drawing closer to Him, and going deeper in our spiritual journey.

In these moments of connection He can fill us with peace, love, hope, and joy.

If only we allow Him too! 

The thing is, these days it has never been easier to create these moments of connection. There are a myriad of tools, resources and apps available that can help create spiritual habits and disciplines – but we have got to want to do it.

We (or maybe I should own this like each and every one of you), have to have the right attitude and desire to open an app, or the Bible, study or even prayer resource that is our go to and read, and listen.

And I (like you I’m sure), need to be consistent with doing it, regardless if I am feeling up to it or not, if I am getting anything out of it or not, or if it is doing anything for me in this moment.

I need to continue diligently opening the Word and spending time in it, daily. Not just reading for the sake of reading – but listening also.

Maybe that is why Isaiah wrote;
“Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life.” Isaiah 55:3a (New Living Translation)

You see, one of the biggest challenges of today’s discipleship is that we have turned it into an experiential thing – the devil has very cleverly shifted the focus of coming to God and listening, by making it all about us and what we get out of reading His Word.

We have bought into this subtle shift when we read His Word to get something out of it, rather than reading with the intention of listening we say things like; What can I get out of what I read, what can I learn? What is God trying to tell me?

In and of themselves they are not necessarily bad, they are just a little distorted.

This is the same for many of the activities that we do as Christians; we may sing to Him, and pray to Him, and serve for Him in practice – but for many the world over it has become more about what we get out of it.

Have we experienced God while we are doing it, and if we haven’t then God is not doing it for us anymore.

You see, even our ministry is at risk, as any ministry that wants to bear lasting fruit must have the Word of God at its center.
Yet I wonder how many ministries these days are based on other things rather than the Word of God?

What metrics are you chasing after: Money raised, numbers helped, amount of feel good stories recognising ‘our’ service rather than acknowledging God’s provision and sharing His Word.

Would we be brave enough to take an honest inventory? 

I digress, but we need to evaluate our motives in all areas of our lives – are we doing what we do for our benefit, or for God to do what only He can do in our lives, transform us inwardly. So that we can say like the apostle John, ‘more of you Lord, less of me’.  

When we read His Word we need to come to Him with “our ears wide open. Listen, and we will find life.”

God’s Word speaks to us about what He has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do. He is Life!

Yes we can learn valuable insights and adopt them – but it must always be about Him and what He is doing – not about us at the centre.

We must come to His Word to listen to what He has to say, not what we want to get out of it!

Instead of asking; what is God saying to me? We need to be asking what is it that God is saying through His Word?  

To help with this the people behind YouVersion have come up with a way to help you and I go deeper and listen more.

The all-new Daily Refresh helps you and I to visualize our consistency in seeking God, assisting us to cultivate a rhythm of reflection, and start a conversation with God. It is not intended to replace your existing bible reading plan / study or prayer guides etc. it has been designed to compliment it.

If you’d like to explore how daily refresh can assist you in connecting with and drawing closer to Him then check it out here 🙂

Now I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions, however I’d encourage you to cultivate a habit (if you haven’t already) of daily reading and reflecting on the Word of God and listening. Then sharing what you have read with an accountability partner, mentor, spiritual guide or coach, so that they can support and encourage you to keep your commitment, or monitor your progress towards a desired goal that you may have. 

At Spiramentum Ministries we can help you do this through partnering with you 🙂 

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How Do You Study the Bible?

This year, many of us have had to adapt to a “new normal” that doesn’t feel normal. Sudden life adjustments like this can negatively impact mental health^† and lead to chronic fatigue and burnout.

Yet, in the midst of this, God still calls us to come to Him, promising to give us rest. One way we draw closer to God is by spending time in His Word, but how do you make time with God a daily habit? And then, how do you bridge the gap between knowing Scripture and living it out every day?

There are 5 seamless steps (that form an easy to remember acronym) that can help you PAUSE, rest, and study the Bible every day – even when you feel overwhelmed.

They have been created by the team at YouVersion Bible App and I’ve created a page under the Corps (Church) Ministry / Life Groups entitled How Do You Study the Bible?

Hopefully this can assist those of you that would like to know how you can study the Bible more easily in this day and age utilising an extremely handy platform.

Blessings 🙂

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A witness worth emulating

John the Baptist is a witness worth emulating. We read in John 1:7 that http://bible.com/111/JHN1.7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
Bible.com/app

I have started the E100 Essential Jesus Bible Reading Challenge at The Salvation Army Invercargill, each week a life group will be discussing and exploring our observations from the selected verses that we read and sharing them using the SOAP method. An example of this is below from Saturday’s reading:

Scripture – John 1:7

Observation – John came as a witness that others would come to know about Christ because of the way he spoke about him and the way that he he lived…

Application – What sort of witness am I? Can people see Christ in me? Do I do the things that I need to do that point people to the Saviour or do they see something else?

Prayer – I pray that people would see my Saviour in my speech and actions and that I would be a good example to those that I come into contact with. May Christ live in me and I in Him so that others are drawn to the love of the Father.

If you live in Invercargill and want to find out more about the Essential Jesus Discussion Group check us out at The Salvation Army, 105 Tay Street on Thursday afternoons @ 1:30pm.

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The Faithlife Study Bible

The Faithlife Study Bible is the world’s largest, most advanced study Bible. With three layers of study notes, over 400 photos, videos, and infographics, the ever-expanding Lexham Bible Dictionary, and much more.

The Faithlife Study Bible is the ideal tool for digging deeper into Scripture and integrates seamlessly with Faithlife groups that you can create so that your Christian community get get into the Word. You can explore the Bible’s passages, create group reading plans, and share notes with your Faithlife groups. 

“If the Word of God nourishes the soul, trains the mind, and is used by the Spirit to transform our lives, then what a priority it should be for those of us who trust in Christ to devour the revealed word of God. Logos has removed every obstacle imaginable with the Faithlife Study Bible. The commentaries, videos, articles, maps, and graphs take you as deep as you want to go while being easy to navigate. The Faithlife Study Bible is a steroid shot in the arm of reading the Bible through in a year.”—Matt Chandler

The developers of Faithlife are giving away 2.5 million copies of the Faithlife Study Bible! It’s available on your iPhone, iPad, Android device, or Kindle Fire, or online at Bible.Faithlife.com. All you have to do is download the app on your mobile device and create your account. Once you have the FSB app, share it with all your friends—dig deeper, together. 

If you’d like to be part of a Faithlife group in Invercargill then drop me a line or leave a comment…

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Food for thought…

Did you know that more than 80 percent of those who call themselves Christians read their Bibles only once a week? And that’s usually on Sundays, at church. They come to church to get their spiritual fill, and then snack on devotional tidbits for the rest of the week (if we’re lucky). Food for thought…

The following excerpt is from ‘The Divine Mentor’ by Wayne Cordeiro. It left me wondering how the church is faring in the whole area of discipleship, life groups and Bible Reading; as well as how well am I doing in this area personally…  

“What would the people in your church look like if they snacked on meager food morsels during the week and ate only one good meal on the weekend? You know the answer, don’t you? You’d find yourself surrounded by emanciated, gaunt people in desperate need of nutrition.

And how would these undernourished believers fare against a demonic adversary? Can you imagine how this army would look? You’d see threadbare skeletons with hollow cheeks and sunken eye-sockets, lined up like phantoms. Weakened by famine, that shriveled militia could barely stand at attention; each would struggle to find strength to keep his or her bony frame upright.

Could this ‘army’ conquer an opposing foe? No way. No earthly general would send them out to fight.

Well, then, how about the army of the Lord? What of those who gather on Sunday mornings? Are they spiritually nourished to fight the battles ahead? Considering what most members of God’s army subsist on – an occasional tidy snack from a devotional book and perhaps an average-sized meal on Sundays to satiate conscience – you’d have to conclude that God’s fighting force has some serious training to do.”

This is something that we all need to start looking at seriously; both individually and congregationally as we grow in our faith. Especially when we consider that the Word of God is food for our souls.

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The Divine Mentor

In the past few years or so while on holiday I’ve noticed a rather fascinating change that has taken place in my psyche. I enjoy time alone in God’s Word and reading books from Christian authors about how I can be everything that God wants me to be, and how I can continue to lead His church into the future. One such book that I am devouring at an extraordinary rate is “The Divine Mentor” by Wayne Cordeiro.

I’m sure that all of us would “enjoy a dynamic, vital, and intimate relationship with God”  Wayne  invites us to “embark on an adventure that will introduce you to His handpicked mentors, men and women who may save your marriage, your ministry, and your future”  as you “develop a lifelong habit… that will preserve your soul, establish your legacy, and hold God’s Living Word inside you.”  But it will require effort, determination and perseverance amid the pressures of life and the demands on our time.

When talking about reading your Bible on a daily basis (which many so called mature Christians don’t do) utilising a good daily reading plan and you miss a day or two don’t beat yourself up… “Don’t give up!” Wayne explains. “We can all remember times when we’ve been so engrossed in a project that we skipped breakfast and then worked right through lunch. By three or four in the afternoon your hunger begins to scratch at the insides of your stomach. Just then, your remember you’ve forgotten two meals! What do you do – what’s your response? You wouldn’t say,… ‘I’m not eating anymore.’… Of course not! You’d look forward all the more to dinner… Remember, you’re feeding yourself spiritually. So if you’ve missed a couple of meals, just eat for that day. Feed yourself, and then keep going. And when you have opportunity, try to pick up what you missed.”

A great reading plan that I have used in the past is the E100 Bible Reading Plan, or another one is the follow up Essential Jesus Reading Plan. If you can – get a group together to discuss on a weekly basis what you have learnt and to keep you accountable to “growing your faith as you sit at the feet of the Saviour.”

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