Happy New Year of Bible Reading and Praying Together
Happy New Year, Church Family!
We start the year with thanksgiving. That God has given us another day, another year to live. Life is a gift from God and we are grateful that God has gifted us with not just life—but life in Christ. We are grateful that God has saved us and has given us each day as an opportunity to live for his glory and to enjoy him and all the blessings he has given us in Christ. My prayer is that we will “be careful how we walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15).
One of the ways to walk in wisdom and to make the best use of time is to start our day by meditating on God’s word and by praying in the Spirit. God’s word is “able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). And we pray, because “we are needy and God is worthy.” Through meditating on God’s word and praying in the Spirit, we are sanctified and strengthened to live a life of faithfulness and resilience.
I am grateful to hear the testimonies of many of you who have been reading, enjoying and impacted by God’s Word in the past year. I pray for more of that grace this year, as we continue on with our daily readings from the Robert Murray M’Cheyne (RMM) Bible Reading plan. As Jerry Bridges said, “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.” May we come to God and receive his grace through Bible reading. May we drink from the living water (Spirit of Christ) and be fed by the living bread (Word of Christ) that will nourish us and strengthen us each day. Please check out our website that gives different resources for our Bible Reading: here.
For parents who are reading Bible with your kids, I encourage you to start with The Jesus Storybook Bible. If your children have read through the Jesus StoryBook Bible and are able to enjoy more words and less pictures on the page, then try The Gospel Story Bible. I started to read it with my seven-year-old daughter and she loves it! Both Jesus Storybook Bible and Gospel Story Bible bring all the stories to Christ; I have enjoyed and learned so much, as much as my children have enjoyed and learned so much from those Bibles!
For those of you who are reading through the Bible, and would like help and guidance in your reading, I recommend ESV Study Bible. I use it for my personal studies and found it to be an invaluable resource for reading and studying the Bible. And if you have any questions from reading the Bible, feel free to reach out to me or any of our pastors. It will be our delight to talk about the Bible and learn together with you. (If you would like to buy either Jesus Storybook Bible or ESV Study Bible, you can get it from Amazon or from our church’s library for a cheaper price; please let me know if you like to buy one).
Along with Bible Reading, I invite you to pray. We are starting this new year with 21 Days of Prayer, starting tomorrow (January 4). I invite all of you to come and join!
Here are five reasons as to why we are doing the 21 Days of Prayer together as a church:
Prayer is a privilege. We have access to the throne of grace and we have the ears of God who will hear us and answer our prayers.
Prayer is a means of grace. We experience God’s grace and encounter the living God through prayer.
Prayer is an expression of our faith. In praying with faith, we anticipate the unstoppable work of the Holy Spirit. We pray because we expect great things from God who will do a mighty work that is impossible for us to do.
Praying together empowers the church through the Spirit of God for the mission of God. We cannot do ministry or mission without the Spirit of God. Without being empowered by the Spirit through prayer there is no ministry or mission that brings glory to God or does good to people.
Praying together in the Spirit unites the church. When the early church devoted themselves to prayer with one mind, the Spirit came upon them. And the coming of the Spirit led to greater unity for the church.
And here is how we will do it:
Monday to Friday—during the weekdays, we will meet from 7 to 7:30AM via zoom. Each day we will read the day’s portion of our Bible Reading plan (this month we are reading through Acts and Ezra). And then a facilitator for the day will facilitate a prayer time until 7:30.
Saturdays, we will continue to have our Saturday morning prayer (SMP) from 8 to 9AM via zoom.
Sundays, we will carve out a time during our corporate worship to pray together.
Brothers and sisters, let’s pray together. Let’s experience God and the unstoppable work of the Holy Spirit as we pray together.
As we start the new year, may the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance and give you peace.
Blessings,
Pastor Charles
