Friday, January 5, 2018

#Biblegoals

With it being the beginning of the year, I thought I would to a Bible reading push with a reposted blog written by a question Bishop Abbott asked us in his preaching one time!!! Buuuuuuuut before I do that repost, I thought I would also share with you all something really neat that Bishop Abbott did with us recently at church...
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He read with us the last two chapters of Revelations to finish up his Bible reading for the year, HOWEVERRRRR, this was a very significant moment he shared with us because it was his 50th time reading the Bible through in his life and he wanted to complete his 50th time, WITH US!!!
#Biblegoals
I thought that was superrrrr cool and just wanted to share that with you all!!! Its very inspiring to push us to strive and be better with our Bible reading. I've read the Bible all the way through two times now, my sister completed her first time this year!!!
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My personal tip for completing Bible reading is this: I started reading it like I would any other book, in the sense that I stopped using a Bible reading program and started just reading it straight through and book marking it when I stopped for the day! I always got so frustrated if I got behind a day and then I would just give up for the year when I got TO FAR behind and couldn't catch up, buuuuut I thought, when I'm reading a good book, If I missed reading it one day, do I just STOP READING IT??? NO...I just start reading it again right where I left off and when I started that, that was when I ACTUALLY read my Bible ALL THE WAY THROUGH!!!
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One thing that PUSHED me to ACTUALLY read my Bible all the way through was from a story Bishop Abbott would tell us in his preaching growing up. It was about a man that was fighting something in court to do with his religious freedom and the judge asked him, Sir, Have you ever read your Bible all the way through and the man had to say NO he had not and because of he had never read it through the judge couldn't grant him favor, That story stuck with me, I've always thought, I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO ANSWER NO!!! Even tho I never read my Bible through til I was an adult, that story was the inspiration that ALWAYS pushed me to read it through!!! In a year??? NO, but ALL THE WAY THROUGH??? YES!!! 
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It's never too late to start and you may be saying, OH i'm THIS OLD and I was raised in church and I still haven't read it all the way through, don't beat yourself up, just START NOW!!!
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Annnnnd now THE REPOST...
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What is MORE important...???? That is the question that Bishop Abbott asked us one day while he was preaching.
What is MORE important praying or reading your Bible?!
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He said, that so often we think that prayer is MORE important than reading your Bible and he said that while prayer IS indeed VERY important,  JUST REMEMBER, when we pray, it is, US talking to God, (OR with God)THE BIBLE is ALL GOD TALKING TO US!!!
Christian humor
NOT that God can't or doesn't talk to us while we pray, BUUUUUT praying still involves us talking, while the Bible is THE WORD OF GOD, and ALL OF IT IS GOD TALKING!!!  I think that it is pretty safe to say that they both go hand in hand and work together for the GOOD!!! The WORD of God will be enlightened even more to us when we pray.
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 Yet at the same time, We will find the very answers to our prayers IN THE WORD OF GOD!!! Furthermore, the Bible will even begin to show us WHAT we need to praying about!!!
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 Quite awhile ago, I was havin a conversation with fellow Apostolics,  and in the group someone stated, "oh I just wish there was a book that told us ALL the answers to the questions in life." I'm standing there thinkin ummmmmmm HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOO....So I'm like not wantin sound like a halier-that-thou-self-righteous-NO-IT-ALL...but I'm just like, well there is, its called THE BIBLE!!! (Like ...ummm...DUH!!!)Sometimes we think that life is soooo complicated that we need something MORE instructional that the Bible...buuuuut NO, the BIBLE IS GOD'S WORD TO US!!! Every single part that you read has the annointing of God on it! It is the INSPIRED WORD OF GOD...imagine, THE BREATH OF GOD breathing down your back...READ YOUR BIBLE...IT HAS THE ANSWERS!!! 
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 Get your Bible and begin to read...JUST THNK, Today, YOU have the opportunity for God talk to you!!!! Start your year off THE RIGHT way...
PRAY AND READ YOUR BIBLE!!!

Mary Frances :)