Does God Still Speak?

Photo Credit: Jo Naylor

In my quest to read through the Bible, I found a key that is helping me achieve this goal: read twelve minutes a day, every day.  Until now, my efforts eventually bogged down with detailed lists of Bible chapters to read on certain dates.  My start date habitually was January 1 – a New Year’s resolution – which petered out as I gradually fell behind.

This time I bought a One Year Chronological Bible and just started at the beginning on the date the inspiration kicked in (this past September).  A visiting preacher to our church said the average reader can finish the Bible cover to cover in one year if he or she reads daily for twelve minutes.  So unfettered by complexity, I am reading through the Bible and giving myself plenty of grace when I miss a day or so along the way.  I just grab the Book and find the bookmark and off I go!

Unexpected joy rebounds in this dutiful spiritual discipline.  God is speaking to me and to my specific circumstances through the planned readings.  I don’t have to close my eyes and let the Bible fall open to a certain page to receive revealed truths for my heart and soul.  I don’t have to search the topic for which I need answers in the index.

At the halfway point – actually in Proverbs, I bogged down because my little brain couldn’t absorb more than a chapter at a sitting.  Freedom means I can slow down and soak in, too.  No hurry! I just get a big kick out of seeing the bookmark move slowly and surely to the end of the Book of Books!

On the morning before I was slated to speak to one of the largest gatherings I have ever faced, “Don’t be afraid” popped up in a very unlikely place. It’s embedded in the story of King David passing on the work of royal leadership to his son, Solomon.  I Chronicles 22: 13:  “… Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

I think the Lord is saying: “You read and I will reveal!”

http://www.tyndale.com/The-One-Year-Chronological-Bible-NIV/9781414359922#.UfqCgxbntUQ

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