by Steven L. Pogue

The Bible is not just for learning; it’s for living. –Lawrence O. Richards

Would you like to know what God really thinks about you? Or how you should think about God? You can find out… in the Bible!

The Bible is the very personal message of the One who created the universe. Because it is God’s living Word, it does more than grab your attention. It speaks to you. In a manner that’s almost uncanny, the verses you read today may apply directly to your problems.

For the Word that God speaks is alive and active; it cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword: it strikes through to the place where soul and spirit meet, to the innermost intimacies of a man’s being: it examines the very thoughts and motives of a man’s heart (Hebrews 4:12).

The Bible explains how it was written

“For no prophecy recorded in Scripture was ever thought up by the prophet himself. It was the Holy Spirit within these godly men who gave them true messaged from God” (2 Peter 1:20,21). Those verses apply specifically to the Old Testament prophecies, but the entire Bible is inspired: “All Scripture is God-breathed…” (2 Timothy 3:16).

The word inspiration literally means “God-breathed.” From God’s very life, His breath, came the words of the Bible. You may find other books inspiring to read because they are intellectually or emotionally moving, but they are not the very words of God. Only the Bible is.

The Bible reveals what God wants you to know about Him and about life. It contains promises: things that God says He will do for you. Here are just a few of God’s promises to you:

• God will use everything in your life for good, conforming you into the image of Christ (Romans 8:28,29)
• He will always be with you (Matthew 28:20)
• He will generously give wisdom if you ask (James 1:5)
• He will supply every need in your life (Philippians 4:19)
• He already knows your needs before you ask Him (Matthew 6:32)
• His peace will superintend you through life as you pray with thankfulness (Philippians 4:4-7).

With most books, you learn best by beginning at page one. You would think that the best place to start your study of the Bible would be on page one of Genesis. After all, Genesis means “beginnings.” But the Bible is not arranged in chronological order. The books of the Bible are placed in categories. You may want to follow the recommended order for reading the Bible at the end of this article. This order is designed to give you a good understanding of the major themes of Scripture and to acquaint you with much of its history.

The key to understanding the Bible is Christ

The Old Testament looks forward to His coming. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) reveal Christ’s identity and mission, and the rest of the New Testament explains the implications of that new life in Christ. To understand the Old Testament, you have to begin with the New Testament.

Jesus said He came to give us life more abundantly and part of experiencing that is by knowing and following His Word. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31)

It was as someone shared God’s Word with us that we became Christians. “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23) And we continue to grow the same way, through His word, which He refers to as our nourishment. “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:2,3)

All of Psalms 119 talks about the value of studying God’s Word. Here are just a couple of reasons from it: “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you.” (v11) “O how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.” (v97-99) “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (v105)

Bible reading is an intellectual exercise, involving your mind. But to understand the spiritual teaching and apply it, you need the Holy Spirit’s leading. As you read the Bible, pray, asking God the Holy Spirit to make plain to you what He wants you to know: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Develop a spirit of expectancy – God wants to teach you through His Word. But don’t rely on feelings. I’ve had some of the best times of Bible study when I decided that I would continue reading for fifteen more minutes even though the previous fifteen minutes were “boring.”

If your Bible study is regular and daily, it will become a habit in your life. Find a place free from distraction. Be creative, and pick the time of day when you are most alert and able to spend time with God. Remember, you are pursuing a relationship with God and you want to be able to converse with Him. Keep a journal to record what God teaches you. Writing helps organize your thoughts, as well as giving you something you can return to several months later.

God will honor the time you spend with Him, and you’ll find yourself growing in your faith. It will be time well spent.

Recommended order of Bible reading:

• John
• 1 John
• Romans
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• Luke
• Acts
• 1 Thessalonians
• 2 Thessalonians
• 1 Timothy
• 2 Timothy
• James
• Mark
• 1 Corinthians
• 2 Corinthians
• Genesis
• Exodus
• Joshua
• Proverbs
• 1 Samuel
• 2 Samuel

Understanding how to trust God…

By Ney Bailey

I poured myself a glass of ice-cold lemonade, sharpened a pencil, and pulled out my Bible, eager to begin my assignment. Earlier in the day the professor for my summer school Bible course had instructed us, “Bring back to the class a report on everything the book of Romans has to say about faith.” It sounded like an easy assignment, one that wouldn’t take me long.

But I was in for a surprise. I soon discovered that the word faith appears numerous times in Romans and that my study would take longer than I’d thought.

Defining faith

As I read what Romans had to say about faith, I found myself asking, Faith is probably the most important thing in my life, but how do I define it? What is it?

My mind flashed back eight years when I first joined the Christian organization, Campus Crusade for Christ. Back then I didn’t understand a walk of faith. I’ve come so far in my understanding, I thought. But even with all that I’d learned about faith, I realized that I still couldn’t define it.

I knew that the Bible made hundreds of references to faith, such as “The just shall live by faith”¹ and “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”² But I was surprised that I couldn’t come up with a simple, personalized definition of the word; I had never completed the statement: “For me, faith is ___________________.”

I prayed, Lord, how would You define faith?

A story came to mind in which Jesus had told someone, “Not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” What was it that Jesus had called “great faith”?

I quickly looked up the passage in Luke 7 about the centurion who was willing to believe that Jesus could heal a loyal and trusted servant who was near death. The centurion told Jesus, “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”³ Then the centurion used a personal example to illustrate that he understood what it meant to be taken at His word and obeyed.

In response to the centurion, Jesus turned to the crowd that was following Him and said, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”⁴ Jesus seemed to be saying that “great faith” was simply taking Him at His word.

Could this definition be confirmed elsewhere in Scripture? Since Hebrews 11 is often referred to as “faith’s hall of fame,” I turned there.

Taking God at His Word

After reading and rereading the passage, with all its references to the phrase “by faith,” I began to see that all the people mentioned had one thing in common: No matter whom the writer of Hebrews was talking about, each person had simply taken God at His word and obeyed His command. And they were remembered for their faith.

For example, God told Noah to build an ark because He was going to bring a massive flood. Noah took God at His word and built the ark.⁵

God told Abraham to go out to a place that he would receive as an inheritance. Abraham took God at His word, left his familiar surroundings, and he went.⁶

God indicated to Sarah, who was long past the age of childbearing, that she would conceive a son. The Scripture states: “She considered Him faithful who had promised.”⁷ She took God at His word.

Regardless of circumstances, despite arguments of logic and reason, and regardless of how he or she felt, each person mentioned in Hebrews 11 believed God and His word and chose to be obedient.

I began to wonder, If Luke 7 and Hebrews 11 illustrate great faith, is there a passage that illustrates a lack of faith?

Then I remembered an incident from Mark 4 in which Jesus had just finished a full day of preaching and teaching by the shores of Galilee. He instructed the disciples to go to the other side of the sea. Initially, they took Jesus at His word, got into a boat with Him, and headed for the other side. But when a storm arose, they grew fearful and lost confidence that they would actually reach the shore. When Jesus asked them, “How is it that you have no faith?”⁸ He could just as easily have said, “Why are you not taking Me at My word?”

I have always loved the first verse of Mark 5: “And they came to the other side of the sea.” Jesus’ word proved to be true.

Through my study of these three passages, I had arrived at a simple, workable definition of faith: Faith is taking God at His word. I wasn’t sure if I would ever have a report on all the book of Romans says about faith, but I knew that I had learned something that would prove to be very significant in my walk with God.

What does God say about His Word?

Still, I had one more question. If faith is a matter of taking God at His word, what does God say about His word? I found the answer in Scripture itself:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”⁹

“The word of the Lord abides forever.”¹⁰

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”¹¹

These verses were telling me that everything in life may change, but God’s Word remains constant. His truth never changes. I was beginning to catch a glimpse of how faith in God’s promises could affect me the rest of my life.

For instance, I feel things very deeply. At times I am so happy I think I will never be sad again. Other times I am so sad I think I will never be happy again…and still other times I feel almost nothing.

But as strong and as fluctuating as my feelings are, God’s Word is

• truer than anything I feel
• truer than anything I experience
• truer than any circumstance I will ever face
• truer than anything in the world

Why? Because heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Word will not. This means that no matter how I feel or what I experience, I can choose to depend on the Word of God as the unchanging reality of my life.

I look back on that summer evening and that homework assignment as a turning point in my life. Innumerable times since then, when circumstances and feelings have seemed more real than life itself, I’ve chosen to believe that God’s Word is truer than anything else. I’ve chosen to walk by faith.

Sometimes that choice has been difficult.

What about feelings?

There were times after that summer evening when I didn’t feel God’s love. I could choose to dwell on that feeling, letting it carry me into a state of self-pity, or I could say, “Lord, I don’t feel loved. That is the truth. That is where I am right now. But, Lord, Your Word says that You love me. In fact, You’ve said that You have loved me with an everlasting love.¹² You never stop loving me. Your love for me is one thing that stands when all else has fallen.¹³ Your Word says there is no partiality with You. That means You don’t love anyone else in the world more than you love me. So, Lord, I thank You that I am loved by You.¹⁴ Your Word is truer than how I feel.”

I began to realize that this kind of response to my feelings gave me the freedom both to be honest with God about my feelings and to choose to believe God’s Word when my feelings contradict His promises.

At other times I have felt afraid or lonely or depressed. My heart has literally ached in anguish over circumstances of life, and in those moments I have been the most tempted to doubt the truth of God’s Word. But instead I chose with my will to believe His Word. Thousands of times my prayers have begun, “Lord, I feel…but, Lord, Your Word says…”

And I’ve found that He does bring my emotions in line with His Word, in His own timing and in His way.

We are created as emotional beings

When I’ve been tempted to condemn myself for how I feel, it has helped me to remember that God created us in His image and that part of His image is that we are emotional beings. Feelings aren’t wrong. Even Christ had feelings. He didn’t “try not to feel.” He did not hide His emotions; instead, He took them into His relationship with His Father. He was honest, real, authentic. In the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His crucifixion, Scripture tells us that Jesus was “distressed,” “deeply grieved,” “troubled,” and “in agony.”¹⁵ Jesus expressed how He felt and trusted the Father in the midst of His feelings.

We, too, have immeasurable freedom to be candid with the Lord about our feelings, to tell Him honestly where we are and what is going on in our lives.

How do we respond?

The Bible promises that, for those of us who truly love God, everything that happens in our lives will have the effect of molding us into Christ’s image.¹⁶ Some of us may have prayed a prayer similar to this: “Lord, I pray You’d make me more like You. I pray that You would conform me to the image of Christ.” Often, what we really want is for God to give us an anesthetic so we can be unconscious while He performs surgery on our hearts in order to conform us to Christ’s perfect character. We don’t want to wake up until the transformation is complete! We want the result but not the painful process.

But God doesn’t work that way. The Lord is concerned about what we go through, but I believe He is more concerned about how we respond to what we go through. That response is a matter of our wills. He allows the trials, temptations, and pressures of life to come so that we have the opportunity to respond either by trusting our feelings and life experiences or by taking Him at His word.

I have learned to get into the habit of taking God at His word—and now it is a habit! You and I can either grow accustomed to listening to our feelings, thoughts, and circumstances, letting them control us, or we can be in the habit of taking God at His word despite our feelings and life experiences. We need to choose with our wills to believe that His Word is truer than our feelings.

I have made a lifetime commitment to bank my life on the Word of God, and God has honored that commitment. And yet, there have been times when I could have easily gone back on my commitment because I couldn’t believe that anything was truer than what I was going through—times when my feelings have screamed 180 degrees in the opposite direction of God’s Word but over and over I have found God to be faithful to His Word.

¹Romans 1:17, KJV
²1 John 5:4
³Luke 7:7
⁴Luke 7:9
⁵Hebrews 11:7
⁶Hebrews 11:8
⁷Hebrews 11:11
⁸Mark 4:40
⁹Matthew 24:35
¹⁰1 Peter 1:25
¹¹Isaiah 40:8
¹²Jeremiah 31:3
¹³1 Corinthians 13
¹⁴Acts 10:34
¹⁵Matthew 26:37-38; Mark 14:33; Luke 22:44
¹⁶Romans 8:28-29

This article is an excerpt from Ney Bailey’s book Faith Is Not A Feeling. Copyright © 2002. Published by WaterBrook Press. Used by permission of the author.

By Ney Bailey

Some of us think, “If Jesus were here on earth, and we could see Him, we would follow Him anywhere.” But in Ezekiel 36:26-27, the Lord says, “I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways.” There is something about that word “within.” “I will put My Spirit within you.” There was a time when I needed to be reminded His Spirit was within me. I remember reading that, and for days I walked around thinking, “His Spirit is within me!” Christ is in me by His Spirit today as surely as He was with the disciples. It is amazing to realize His Spirit lives within us and often we don’t pay any attention to Him at all.

Where The Holy Spirit Lives

I Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” Andrew Murray, in his book The Spirit of Christ, elaborated on this in a way that was very helpful to me. He said in the Jewish temple there were three courts: the outer court, the inner court, and the Holy of holies.

Murray described how our bodies are like the outer court. The inner court is like our mind, our will and our emotions. But inside of us is the Holy of holies where the Spirit of God dwells. The Holy Spirit dwells inside our spirit. So inside you and inside me is the Holy of holies. The Holy of holies is in you. Verse 17 of that chapter says, “The temple of God is holy, and that temple is what you are.” That will help your self-image to know the Holy of holies is in you and in me.

How then do we keep our temples cleansed? Once we’ve accepted Christ the blood of Christ cleanses us. How then do we keep our temples cleansed? By faith. By taking God at His word.

1 John 1:9 is a verse I like to call “the Christian’s bar of soap.” It says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The last time you washed your hands when they were really dirty, did you stand over the sink and say, “Where did the dirt go, I’m so worried about it?” No you didn’t. You accepted by faith that the dirt went down the drain. You never thought about it. That is what we need to do. If we confess our sins, He is faithful; He is just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We need to believe He has forgiven us even if we don’t see or feel it.

The Holy Spirit always points us to Christ. He always points us to forgiveness, to the cross and to the blood of Christ. He always points us to no condemnation. Why? Because Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

But what does Satan do? He wants to rob you of the peace God says is yours. Satan tries to make you look back and think about your own worst sin. You think about those things and they go across your mind like a video. What we need to do is bring those sins under the cross and say, “Lord Jesus this just proves that I need a Savior. Lord, thank you that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin.” Think about your sins through the cross and through the blood of Christ, and you will have God’s peace. Don’t review old sins. Believe God’s forgiveness.

The Holy Spirit Speaking to Us

Now, what about current sins, sins that God may be bringing to your attention?

The way the Lord gets through to me, more than any other way, is through my relationships. I had a relationship in my life that had plagued me for years. I had such a hard time with this person that I thought, “If you are going to be in heaven I don’t even want to go there.” I was pointing my finger at this person. I was critical. I was judgmental. I was finding fault. I had nothing good to say about them. And the whole time, I was justifying myself.

Then one day the Lord pointed me to Luke 18:9, “And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt.” I realized I was viewing this other person with contempt. This is the parable Jesus told:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee (self-righteous, arrogant religious leaders in Jesus’ day) and the other a tax collector (often corrupt, over-taxing people, hated by most.) The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, ‘God I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, ‘God be merciful to me, the sinner.’”

Jesus explained the parable saying, “I tell you this man (the man who said ‘God be merciful to me the sinner’) went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.”

When I read this I said, “O Lord, I’m being like the Pharisees. I hate this. I’m viewing this person with contempt.” I realized that I needed to look at my own heart. As I began to look at my own heart, I saw jealousy, lack of love, pride, anger, judging, pointing my finger. I then looked at Galatians 5:16-23. “But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh…The fruit (or deeds) of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, outburst of anger, jealousy, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, against such things there is no law.”

Sometimes we look at the sin list and we say, “Well I don’t find myself in there anywhere.” But do you know what we fail to do? We fail to look at ourselves in the fruit of the Spirit list and say, “How loving am I being? How kind am I being? How faithful am I being? How gentle am I being?” We tend to measure ourselves by the sins instead of measuring ourselves by the fruit of the Spirit.

Andrew Murray said, “Why is it that we find Christians who are holy and harsh?” He goes on to say, “Because they know nothing of the Spirit of love. Only the Holy Spirit can produce his love.”

As I thought about the person who had hurt me, I was reminded of a verse in 1 Peter 3:8,9: “To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind hearted and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult.”

I felt this person had done evil things to me, had done insulting things to me. But after it says, “not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult,” it says, “but giving a blessing instead, for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.”

As I looked at what I saw in my own heart and confessed that I was like a Pharisee and I prayed, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. Lord, would you please show me how to give a blessing to this person?” I was in England at the time, and in one of the bookstores I remember seeing a rather expensive book that I knew he would really like. The next time I came back to America, I gave that book to him. I cannot tell you how deeply touched he was. It meant the world to him and I think God used it in a powerful way.

The Holy Spirit will always be faithful to show us where we are not like Christ. He was faithful to show me where I wasn’t like Christ. As we read God’s Word and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us in ways that are pleasing to him, he will produce in our lives the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control.”

Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love…These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:9,11)

Excerpted from a forthcoming book with WaterBrook Press. Copyright © 2004 by Ney Bailey. All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission. The sharing of this article with another individual is permitted, if accompanied by this copyright notice.

Ney Bailey is the author of Faith Is Not a Feeling. WaterBrook Press.

Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. (Proverbs 30:5)

by Marilyn Adamson

I am amazed at the guidance God gives us. By learning from God’s wisdom and insight, we can live free from many problems that others experience simply because they don’t know His Word. It is through the Bible that we learn who God is, what He values, how to trust Him.

I have found a wonderful way to listen to God through the Bible, which I would like to share with you.

I get out my Bible and a sheet of lined paper (or a blank lined journal). At the top of my page I will write down two or three sentences describing what is on my mind. I might have a question about God, or about how He views something, or a question about the Christian life. Or maybe there is a situation in my life that is bothering me and I could really use God’s insight on it. On my paper, I will write a couple of sentences to summarize the current situation or what led to my question.

Then I ask God a question about it, and I write that down question on my paper also.

So what I have written might look like this:

“God, I feel overwhelmed with all the work I have to do. I have this, this and this to do; and I’m not sure I can get it all done. I’m feeling angry about it also. Is there anything from your perspective that you would like me to know right now?”

And then I open the very back of the Bible where usually there is a listing of words in an index, in what is often called a “concordance.” Does your Bible have one? This index will list words like: “work,” “anger,” “worry,” “God’s power,” etc. Under each word you will see a list of Scripture verses that contain that word. The word “angry” for example might show a listing of: Mark 3:5; Mark 11:14-16; Romans 2:8; Matthew 23; etc.

[Side note: Sometimes, instead of looking in the back of my Bible, I might search online for words/topics at Biblegateway. I just type the word “angry” (for example) in the "Word Search" box and it will give me a list of verses. If I want to, I can restrict my search to New Testament, Gospels, etc.]

Whether I have searched for the verses online or in the back of my Bible, here is what I do next. I look up the verses in the Bible and read each. If a verse seems to relate to my question, I write it down, word for word, on my paper. (Yes, I do this by hand because it helps me to notice what the verse is saying.) I’m not writing any comments about the verse. I’m just writing the verse out. And I’ll continue copying verses, maybe 5 verses, maybe 20 verses. After a while I may see a pattern, an overall message through those verses (I don’t mean mystically, I mean a knowledgeable summary of what those verses are saying). I had asked God to teach me, and now I’m observing what He is saying about this topic.

As an example, if I were angry at someone and had looked up a lot of verses on anger or forgiveness or peace, I would likely find an overall, consistent message from God. That message might be that since Jesus paid for my sin and He doesn’t hold it against me, I too need to forgive this person, just like He’s forgiven me.

Sometimes God will cause one verse to really hit, where He really speaks to me in that verse. When I come across verses that are particularly interesting I will often “cross-reference” those. What I mean by that is, I will find other verses that might talk about the same idea. In many study Bibles you’ll find a listing of verses down the middle of the page, or at the bottom of the page. These verses are like footnotes or references related to the verses on that page. So when one verse really stands out to me, I’ll look up those other related verses and write those out also.

I might only spend 10-15 minutes on this, or sometimes I’ve found the time so enriching, I might spend an hour and a half on it!

Now this part is important. I am asking God to teach me. I am asking Him to help me understand His perspective on something, because I want to follow Him. However, as I do this, I am NOT looking for verses that I will put into practice on my own for God. This is not a job description that I’m going to take and implement FOR God. I am mostly focusing on letting God speak to me in whatever way He wants, to fulfill whatever purposes He has. I am asking Him to set His agenda, not my own. When I know He wants me to follow something specific in His Word, then I ask Him to work in my life and give me the strength and desire to do His will. When I read a command such as, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love,” I think, “Good idea. God, I ask you to work in my life to make me humble, gentle and patient with others. You know it’s not my nature to be that way with all people. Teach me how.” In other words, I continue to trust Him, continue to rely on Him, asking God to do in my life what He has just spoken to me about.

If you don’t have a study Bible with a “concordance” in the back and “cross references” on each page, you might find one very valuable, so you can approach God’s Word in this way. Any Christian bookstore could help you pick one out that isn’t too expensive, or you could find one at Bibles.com.

This is a very simple way to ask God to teach you through His Word. In summary, it is going to God with an open heart, asking Him to speak to you about a particular topic or question. You are sharing your honest thoughts and feelings with God. And then you are asking God to speak to you from His perspective. Sometimes I’ll ask, “God, what is it you would like me to know about you, as it relates to this situation? How would you like me to trust you? What would you like to say to me?” And then you give God time, as you write out His Word, as you look for His overall message to you. When He teaches you, then thank Him and ask Him to build that in your life.

By Dave Lowe

Everyday we continually exercise faith. Ninety-nine percent of every belief or value we have is held by faith. Faith is central to all of life. For example, let’s say you get sick. You go to a doctor whose name you can’t pronounce and whose degrees you’ve never verified. He gives you a prescription you can’t read. You take it to a pharmacist whom you’ve never personally met, and he gives you a chemical compound that you can’t understand. Then you go home and take the pills according to the instructions on the bottle. All the while you are trusting in sincere faith. Faith is also central to the Christian life. The word faith appears 232 times in the Bible.

What Is Faith?

First, I think it would be helpful to tell you what faith isn’t.

• Faith is not an emotion, ie. feeling good about God.
• Faith is not a blind leap in the dark, in spite of the facts.
• Faith is not a universal force that you wield that allows you to get the things you want in life. (i.e. the force in Star Wars…Luke use the force!)

Unfortunately, these ideas of faith are even being taught today in some churches.

Hank Haanegraff in his book Christianity in Crisis tells the story of Larry and Lucky Parker who withheld insulin from their diabetic son, because they were told that if they merely had faith (if they merely used the force) then he would be healed. Tragically, their son lapsed into a diabetic coma and died. Rather than conducting a funeral, they held a resurrection service, believing that if they had enough faith, that is, if they said the right things and simply believed hard enough without showing any signs of doubt, then the force of faith would bring their son back from the dead. Larry and Lucky Parker were later tried and convicted of manslaughter and child abuse. Why? Because they had the wrong idea of faith.

The gospels in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) show that the disciples were also often confused about faith. However they were wise enough to ask Jesus about it. In Luke, chapter 17, you see the disciples asking Jesus to increase their faith. And here was Jesus’ response to them:

“If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” Jesus’ response is interesting. Notice He doesn’t say some of the things that we’ve become accustomed to saying in the church. Jesus didn’t say, “You just need to try harder.” Nor did Jesus say, “You just gotta believe.” Jesus’ response reveals an important truth about the nature of faith. The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds. Jesus used that fact to illustrate that it isn’t the size of your faith that’s important. Rather…the power of faith rests in the reliability of its object, not in how confident you may be.

Let me illustrate what I mean. Suppose I’m standing on the edge of a lake during the first cold weeks of winter in the Northeastern part of America. The lake is frozen over with a very thin sheet of ice. Being filled with faith and confidence I take a step to walk across the newly formed layer of ice. Unfortunately, even though I am extremely confident and “full of faith” the result would be a cold, wet shock. As long as the ice is thin, it doesn’t matter how much faith I have. The ice is not reliable.

Now imagine a few months later, after the cold winter has taken effect. The ice is now several feet thick as I stand at the edge of the lake. Because of my past experience, I’m extremely cautious as I think about walking across the ice. I’m not sure whether the ice will hold me. After all, it didn’t before. Even though I’m frightened and have “less faith” than I did before, the smallest most hesitating step will be rewarded by the feeling of a firm footing. What’s the difference? The object is more reliable.

It’s true that the power of faith rests in the reliability of the object. However…

The degree of faith one places in an object is directly proportional to the knowledge of the object.

For example, consider a man terrified of flying. When he first arrives at the airport he buys insurance at one of those coin-operated insurance policy machines. He has his seat belt buckled twenty minutes before take-off and is sure to listen carefully to the routine “emergency instructions.” He has no faith in the ability of the plane to get him to his destination. But, as the journey progresses, the passenger begins to change. He first unbuckles his seat belt, then has some lunch, and pretty soon he’s talking to the person next to him and joking. Why the change? What happened? Is there more faith at 36,000 feet? Of course not. The more he learned about the object of faith, the plane, the more faith he exercised in that object.

It’s the same in the Christian life. The more we learn of the Lord, the more faith we can place in him. Learn to live by the facts of God’s Word rather than your feelings. Spend time in the Bible just observing, asking God to show you more of who He is. There are many places where you could start. Psalms 145, 146 and 147 are three wonderful chapters describing who God is. In all of the Bible, ask God to teach you more of Himself and notice specifically how He wants you to trust Him. In any given situation, ask God, “What about You would be helpful for me to know, as I trust You in this situation?” Go to the Bible and become a student of God and His relationship with you.

D.L. Moody once said, “I used to pray daily for the Lord to give me faith. Then one day I read Romans 10:17, which says ‘faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ So, I began to read my Bible, and faith has been growing ever since.”

by Dan Hayes

I know prayer is important. All the godly people I’ve ever met testify to the crucial nature of prayer in their lives. So I understand I should pray, but . . .

Well, let me be honest. It can seem that our motivation for prayer is results-oriented, simply to get answers. Prayer can feel like a grocery list: “Our Father, who art in heaven . . . Gimme, gimme, gimme!” This is sort of a “shop ’til you drop” way of praying. But somehow I cannot see that as the prime (and certainly not the most satisfying) reason to pray.

So I began to study how and why Jesus prayed, and discovered five very motivating reasons to pray.

• Prayer builds my relationship with Jesus
• Prayer helps us overcome temptation
• Prayer is crucial in determining God’s will
• Prayer accomplishes God’s work
• Prayer is a weapon of spiritual warfare

Prayer Builds My Relationship with Jesus

I am first called to prayer because it is a key vehicle to building my love relationship with Jesus Christ. Hear me now -this is important. Christianity is not primarily rules. It is relationship.

Certainly Christ has standards, but we don’t become Christians because we receive standards. We become Christians because we receive Christ, who loves us, died for us, lives in us daily.

What I need, then, is to build my love relationship with Him. I have to learn to allow Him to embrace me, to care for me, to point out my needs to me (and how He fills them). I need to listen to Him, and I desperately need to talk to Him.

In Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul prays, “that you may be able to comprehend . . . what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge . . .” “Know” in this passage is the same word used for the intimate closeness of a husband and wife in sexual embrace. Paul is praying that you and I will experience that kind of love with Christ – not sexual, but intimate, deep, close, unfettered. It is so deep that Paul later says it “surpasses knowledge.”

One place we can experience this is in prayer. When we “get down and get honest” before God, we are on His turf in a unique way. Seldom do we get closer to Him than in prayer. When we pray, we can pray to experience this love, to be bathed in it, to learn how to give it back, to learn how to let it seep into the dry cracks and crevices of our lives.

I think that the chief reason for the gift of prayer is that we learn to receive, experience, and return His love in genuine relationship. Prayer is one place when God can get at us (and we think prayer is for getting at Him!) and speak to and minister to us. That is why David prays in Psalms 18:1, “I love you, O Lord, my strength.”

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Prayer Helps Us Overcome Temptation

Prayer is an important instrument in our overcoming sin and temptation. Perhaps no experience in the earthly life of Christ is more instructive on prayer than in Luke 22:39-41. Luke sets the scene. It is the night before Jesus’ death. Jesus and His apostles have left the upper room and have navigated the winding path they knew well, up the Mount of Olives to Gethsemane. Jesus knows that great temptations are soon before them – His capture, His trials, His scourging, His mockery, the lure of their denial, His Crucifixion.

Mindful of their need for fortitude, He addresses them: “He says, “pray [in order] that you may not enter into temptation.” What did He mean? Simply that their antidote to yielding to the temptations that fear, discouragement, and horror would soon present, was prayer. Prayer would fortify their trembling faith and courage. How could He know this? Because He, too, faced His own darkness. Looming in the next few hours were insults, torturous beatings, being nailed to a cross. Beyond that, He would bear all the sins of humanity, including the sins of all the child molesters and mass murderers and the Adolph Hitlers of all the ages. Can you imagine the terror that must have clutched at His throat? We are naive if we think it did not occur to the humanness of Jesus, to abort His mission, to look for another way.

So what did He do? He modeled exactly what He had told His disciples: He prayed so that He could defeat temptation. We are told by Luke that His prayers were so heartfelt, His struggles so intense, that His sweat was bloody, pre-figuring the flow that would come tomorrow. He began His prayers with, “Father if there is any way that this cup can pass from Me…”At the end of that hour, He rose from prayer, having settled with His Father, “not My will but Thine be done.” Prayer had been the means of His victory. He returned to His men to find them . . . asleep! He had told them to pray. Instead, they followed the college students’ motto: “When in doubt; sack out!” He confronts their tiredness, their crankiness at being awakened, and says again (verse 46), “pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Notice that He commanded this in the beginning of this passage, then He demonstrated it in the body of this passage, and He reiterated it at the end of this passage. When you face temptation, PRAY! That is what will see you through. But instead, usually we pray only after we have yielded. What about seeing prayer as our first option so that God can give us courage and strength prior to our temptations? If we would pray more, we would yield less!

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Prayer Is Crucial in Determining God’s Will

We pray because prayer is crucial in determining God’s will. “Now you’re talking,” you say. Here’s something you might hear from Christians: “I pray about my choices, and when I have ‘peace’ about one of the options, then I go with it.” Yet, how askew is that from God’s Word. Prayer certainly is vital in determining His will, but not because it gives us peace. Let me show you how faulty such thinking is.

I asked a group of Christians once, “How many of you have ever shared your faith, witnessed to another person about Jesus? Well, right before you shared your faith, which was almost certainly God’s will, how many of you felt this warm, calm sense of ‘peace?’ Hold up your hands. Hmmm. No hands! Weren’t you rather scared, nervous? Perhaps your palms sweated. Shoot, your hair sweated. No great feeling of peace there, but you did it anyway because it was God’s will, right?” God’s real will often produced scary feelings, not warm fuzzy ones. So wait. How does prayer help determine His will then? Jesus again gives us a demonstration in Luke’s gospel. Read Luke 6:12-16. Here, He prays all night about choosing from the hundreds who followed Him, a special group of disciples whom we now know as the Apostles.

How did prayer help? It helped in the way John Wesley described. “I find,” he said, “that the chief purpose of prayer in seeking God’s will is that prayer gets my will into an unbiased state. Once my will is unprejudiced about the matter, I find God suggests reasons to my mind why I should or should not pursue a course.”

The chief purpose of prayer, then, is to get our wills unbiased! The purpose is not to give us an ethereal sense of comfort. Thus, we pray to God about His will in some area, knowing that we probably are already leaning in a certain direction. We implore Him first to help our wills to move back to the center -that is, willing to do whatever is His will. Once we arrive there (and it may take some time), He shows us through our minds why one alternative is better than another and therefore is His will for us.

This is conjecture, but Jesus must have had a long talk with the Father regarding individuals and who to select for His closest followers. Jesus talked to the Father all night about this. Maybe Jesus had preferences for His followers. He probably had a list – at least a mental one. Perhaps Peter was already on it, but perhaps Andrew was not. Thomas certainly wouldn’t have been on mine, and neither would Simon the Zealot. Maybe they weren’t at the top of Jesus’, either. Yet, through the work of His Father and His own yielded nature in intercession, the reasons came clear to Him why all three of these men plus nine others should be tapped.

Our searching out of God’s will can be the same. We pray so that our wills (not our emotions) can be yielded to the Divine “whatever.” Then II Timothy 1:7 becomes alive: “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and sound judgment.” As we spend time with God in prayer, He will guide us to ideas, thoughts, reasons, Scripture, which will reveal His will to us. It might be over days, weeks or sometimes months…but to know God’s will requires talking to Him about it.

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Prayer Accomplishes God’s Work

Here is a major accelerator to my motivation to pray, and it stems from one of the most amazing statements Jesus ever made. It is found in John 14:12-14. It would be good to open your Bible there because you’ve got to see it to believe it.

It is the night of the Last Supper, and Judas has left to betray Jesus. His leaving allows Christ to pass on some of the most sublime of His earthly teachings to the remaining faithful. In the context, He is discussing His deity, His union with the Father, and the works of God in the world. Suddenly, He makes this statement: “Truly, truly . . . he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he shall do; because I go to the Father.”

Look at that statement. Savor it. Regard it. Study it. “He shall do.” Jesus did not say, “they shall do.” He did not say, “the corporate body all combined together will do.” He used a singular pronoun meaning one person. “The very works that I do and greater than these” is His statement.

What works did our Lord do on earth? Oh, just a few: cleansed the lepers, healed the sick, proclaimed release to the captives, taught tens of thousands, led thousands to salvation, raised the dead, healed those born blind. Piece of cake! Yet the plain fact of Jesus’ statement is that the only qualifier to doing such works is “[the one] who believes in ME.” How?

Verses 13 and 14 relate directly to verse 12. “And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” And, since He knew they wouldn’t get it the first time (and neither would we), He repeats it: “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

Prayer is the way His greater works get done! Most of us will not be worldwide evangelists, though a few will be. Most of us will not be gifted in healing, though some will be. Most of us will not be great preachers and teachers, though some will be. But every one of us can kneel down and pray. We can pray, asking Jesus to touch the lost masses of earth and help snatch them from eternal darkness to eternal life. Through prayer, we can participate in Christ’s healing power spreading both medically and miraculously across the earth. Every one of us can pray, asking Jesus to stop the forces of moral degeneracy that threatens to engulf the depth of the human spirit. Every one of us can do these things through our prayers!

Today, if I will, I can spend 15 minutes on peoples’ behalf, influencing them for God and for good. Today, I can spend 20 minutes touching the entrenched Muslim minds of the Mullah’s of Saudi Arabia or the ascetic Buddhist Monks of Nepal. Today, I can stand against pornography and rape and incest and child abuse in the far-flung towns of this country. Because, when I talk to God in my living room, or office, or church, He is the same God who reaches into families, into Nepal, into Arabia, into the Kremlin, into homes. I participate with Him, not only through my efforts and works in my geographic location, but also throughout the world in accomplishing His works through my prayers. It matters not what type of gifts, talent, or personality I have; it matters only that I take this time to cooperate with Him in my prayers. And that is all that matters for you, too. May we “get it” before much more time passes. Jesus said, “…greater works than these he shall do; because I go to the Father.” Anything that brings the Father glory, Jesus said, “ask Me…I will do it.”

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Prayer is a Weapon of Spiritual Warfare

Prayer is a major weapon in fighting the spiritual battle. Ephesians 6:10-20 reminds us that ultimately our struggles are not against humans, but against powerful spiritual beings and forces. The picture here is that of a war. Life as a Christian is not a playground; it’s a battlefield.

We are instructed by Paul, an experienced soldier in this combat, to be appropriately prepared for our struggle. Modeling a Roman warrior, we put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, loins girded with truth, feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel, shield of faith, sword of the Spirit (the Word of God).

Now, it seems we have a complete set of armor and weaponry. And if I were writing this passage, I would say, “Now get out there and fight the battle!” But interestingly, Paul does not say that. In fact, he waits until verse eighteen to get to the heavy artillery of this arsenal of God… persistent prayer. Notice what he says: “With all prayer and petition pray . . . with all perseverance and prayer . . . and pray . . .”

In two verses, we are commanded to pray five different times. Do you think he (and God) are trying to make a point? He is attempting to seize our attention concerning prayer’s power in the defeat of Satan and his tactics. Parallel to this text is 2 Corinthians 10:3,4: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”

The weapon of prayer softens up Satan’s fortress. It is the cannon, reducing the wall to rubble so that the troops can go through. Too often, the gospel moves slowly because the softening-up process of prayer has been neglected. When practiced, however, prayer “puts the wind at the back” of Christ’s soldiers.

For example, a few years ago, at a prestigious American university, one powerful administrator was blocking the placement of additional full-time Christian workers on campus because of his own disbelief in the gospel. The Christian students on campus resorted first to prayer. Feeling that no one had the right to keep students from hearing about Christ, they prayed that God would either change this man’s heart or remove him from his position. For six months they prayed faithfully.

Suddenly, for no “apparent” reason, he was transferred to a different position and a replacement named. Among the first questions the replacement asked was this: “Why aren’t there more Christian workers on campus?” The workers came, and the gospel flourished. Prayer is key to fighting this spiritual battle.

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By Tom Virtue

For the past few years I’ve made it a practice, consistently for the most part, of taking a 1/2 day each month to spend with the Lord. It has turned out to be a rewarding, growing experience serving as a checkpoint in my walk with the Lord. Occasionally I’ve walked away with specific action points of change that I seek to implement. More often I feel refreshed and refocused spiritually and emotionally as I’ve had some time to read, reflect, listen, and examine.

In a short amount of space I will seek to give a few of my thoughts on how to go about spending a 1/2 day, or, what the heck, maybe you would want to make it a full day to spend with God.

First, we start with God. Psalm 139 talks about the greatness of God – that He knows and is aware of everything, that He is everywhere we could go, and that God will always be there to guide us. The writer of Psalms, after considering God’s greatness and care toward us, then asks God:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalms 139:23,24)

That’s a great way to start a time with God:

1. Be reminded and refreshed in the greatness and transcendence of God.
2. Be reminded that God relates and cares for you as an individual.
3. Seek God’s examination of your heart, thoughts, and life and His guidance in your life.

Practically, that’s how I try to start out each extended time with the Lord, but of course, not always with Psalm 139. I find that any formula loses its impact on my heart after one or two times of use. But I will prepare for my times with God. I’ll try to decide on a passage of scripture, an article, a chapter from a book, or maybe a collection of music to start out my half day with God.

After having a planned “start” the rest of my times are unplanned and unstructured.

Maybe I’ll…

• read through a whole book of the Bible (short one) and take note of some simple applications at the end.
• be prompted to journal about my life, struggles, relationships and seek God’s wisdom in a particular area.<.li>
• take a walk and pray for some of what is on my heart currently.
• review my schedule for the past month and see how God has worked in ways that I haven’t noticed in the rush of doing things.
• ask God to give me some specific action points in terms of focus and direction for the coming couple of weeks.

FAQs:

Where should I go?

My favorite place is a coffee place about a block and a half from the beach. It feels like I get away, I can take a walk on the beach easily, and some of the interesting people in a beach town remind me that this time with the Lord isn’t totally separated from reality. Whatever God says to me or how He directs me needs to be connected to real life, not me being in the middle of a desert somewhere.

Should there be people around?

All of us are different. I concentrate better and keep more focused if there is activity around to provide stimulus. For me, loud music or loud people don’t help, but continuous activity and people around help keep me focused. You may be different. Learn over a period of time how and when you can focus the best.

What if I go to sleep?

I wouldn’t get too concerned. Who do you think is going to be offended? God? It may be a pretty good indication of your fatigue level and that you need a bit of rest before you can focus in on the Lord. Some of my better times with the Lord have included times of nap followed by a good insight and understanding. The Lord is with you even when you sleep, so don’t get down on yourself. Thank the Lord for the good nap!

What if I choose a place and a big distraction develops?

I think God won’t mind moving with you to another place where you can concentrate more. Or maybe, He wants you to pray for the people who are distracting you and gain some understanding of what peoples’ lives are like without hope (assuming the distraction is being caused by annoying people).

What if I run out of things to do, read, pray about, or think about?

Praise works anytime, so simply turn to a place in Scripture and thank God for what Scripture tells us is true of God, example: Psalms 138 “I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness…When I called, you answered me…though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly…the Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.” (verses 2, 3, 6) Or, just listen to a favorite CD and allow it to stimulate praise.

What if it takes me the whole time to quiet my heart?

Don’t assume you need Ridalin. Maybe all God wanted to do in this time with Him was to get you to a place where you could be quiet before Him. Occasionally we just get overly distracted so it will be a challenge. This process becomes easier with time so allow yourself to grow at it.

I hope that something comes across loud and clear in this short article. I would hope that it’s clear that this time is with God. It’s more about God than it is about us. It’s not about our expectations, needs, demands, or pictures of what should happen. It’s about getting alone with God and letting Him work in your life. I’m surprised sometimes. Sometimes I’m a little blah. Sometimes I’m as ecstatic as an introvert gets. But one thing stands out to me. I’m better off as a follower of Christ for having built in these times in my schedule. I highly recommend the discipline of marking off time that is sacred to be spent with the living God no matter how long your “to do” list is, or what demands are crowding in on you!