Discipleship is a relational journey—a daily walk with Jesus empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit—taking us more deeply into a love relationship with the Heavenly Father, a more compassionate love for our fellow man, and increasing likeness, in sum and substance, to the Son, Jesus Christ.
It is also an intentional and strategic activity on our part. There are certain things that disciples actively do to grow—it doesn’t just happen passively. And nothing is more vital to a growing discipleship than reading and reflecting on the Word of God in a deliberate and consistent way.
I hope you have a plan for that in 2012. I do…as does the fellowship where I serve as pastor. I want to invite you to adopt the plan that I will use this year, and join me in this exciting journey of growth.
The plan calls for weekly, intentional and strategic engagement in the Bible…and it is two-fold. It calls for reading key passages and memorizing key verses. Here is how it will unfold:
The Essential 100
The Essential 100 Challenge (E100) helps you get an overview of the Bible… without getting bogged down. The Plan guides you through 50 Old Testament passages and 50 New Testament passages — The Essential 100 — so you can see the big picture of God’s Word, and form a daily Bible reading habit in the process. Below is the link to this creative plan:
http://www.pcctoday.com/life-learning/bible-reading-plan/
You can take the challenge and read these passages during the first hundred days of 2012. Or you can slow it down a bit and work through these 100 passages at a pace of two per week, enabling you to complete this challenge in one year. That’s what I plan to do. And if you like, you can link your reading to this blog, which will follow the plan throughout 2012. Two blogs will appear each week, one on Wednesday and one on Friday, as I work my way through the Essential 100.
Project 52
Project 52 will help you to hide one key verse from God’s living and active Word in your heart each week during 2012. Imagine that … 52 verses committed to memory this year! Sounds like an elephant-sized task; but as the old saying goes, you can eat an elephant—one bite at a time.
Join me in committing these verses to memory. And to get them rooted deeply in our hearts, I will write a devotional blog each Monday on the selected verse for that week. I am looking forward to this project—and to doing it in partnership with you!
You can find the verses we will be memorizing in the same location as the reading plan:
http://www.pcctoday.com/life-learning/bible-reading-plan/
You can also grab a Memory Verse Desktop Wallpaper each week for your computer to help you meditate each day on the scheduled verse. Check here to see our first screensaver verse: http://www.pcctoday.com/_img/wp/Desk_1024_768.jpg
I am stoked about my walk with Jesus in 2012. With the ever-present help of the Holy Spirit and a few intentional practices on my part, I plan on looking a little (hopefully a lot) more like Jesus by the end of next year.
Happy New Year! May God perfect everything that concerns you in 2012.
Ray
Pastor Noah Thanks for sharing about our E100. You might find it interesting that a recent study by the Willow Creek Association found that Reflection on Scripture wast the most effective method people found helped them grow as Christians. So reading the Bible combined with thinking about what you are reading has the greatest impact. Blessings Bruce from SU