| The Divine Mentor : |
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Healthy friendships are a result of time spent together enjoying common interests, supporting one another in crisis and encouraging each other in the pursuit of life's challenges and goals.
A healthy relationship with God matures in much the same way as our friendships. Making space for personal time reading the Scriptures and journaling allows God to “mentor” us through the lives of historic people of faith. The life experiences of those who have lived before us “inform” our own understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. The discipline of a personal time in the Bible allows us to discover how much we have in common with the people we read about.
God offers us “wisdom” to apply in daily life. The characters of the Bible become our teachers, our mentors. We learn from their mistakes and their accomplishments.
Some thoughts on getting started:
Yes, making time for reading and journaling is a “discipline”, but it is not to be viewed institutionally or as a program. We can fail at a “program” of daily devotions – but how can we fail at a relationship? “How” you view the commitment is everything. The goal is not associated with a reading quota – the goal is relationship.
If you miss a day or more, don't worry about “catching up”, instead focus on getting fed from today's reading . You can make up some of the readings if you don't want to miss something – but remember… the benefit doesn't come from succeeding at a reading schedule. The benefit is gaining wisdom from your “Bible Mentors”.
The Plan…
S.O.A.P. – Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer!
Read the text for the day, record your observations on a portion of the text, write down how it applies to you, and then pen a brief prayer about it.
This can be done in about 40-60 minutes. In a group setting – you can read for 20 minutes, journal for 20 minutes, and discuss for 20 minutes.
The Tools…
Bible, Journal, pen/pencil, calendar book
Why the calendar book? Because you may get distracted by something that you need to write down – you can deal with it and get back to your devotional time.
Are you ready?
Click on the following link (bookmark it if you wish) and let the mentoring begin!
http://www.lifejournal.cc/ |
