Especially His: February 2020

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Enjoy Reading Your Bible

I want to give you a path into the Bible, to help you enjoy it for your first reading. This will be especially helpful for you if English is not your first language.

The Bible, as you may know, is not one book even thought it appears to be one. It is not written like a novel. It is instead sixty-six separate books.

39 books in what is called the Old Testament,
27 in what is called the New Testament

It was written to share the Good News to the world from the beginning of all things. It was also written by a variety of individuals and over vast amounts of time.

So where should you begin to read!?

When I got my first Bible, I just thought it was a book; I started reading it from the beginning. It was a long and difficult slog for a nine-year-old. Much of it did not make much sense and by the time I finished, the Old Testament, I was thoroughly mad at God for killing so many animals!

Should you ever manage to read all the Old Testament you will understand. It is quite an important observation, but more about that another day.

You can start reading anywhere. For someone just beginning to read it, I would recommend you begin in Mark. This is the second book in the New Testament section. It is short, energetic and provides a good understanding of the reason and the way Jesus came to minister to this world.

Here is an overview of the Book of Mark

by 'The Bible Project' to get you started

Click the picture above or

copy and paste this link into your browser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGHqu9-DtXk

Or search YouTube for ‘Overview: Mark' by The Bible Project

To begin, you may want to read only one chapter a day, so you have time to think about what you have read. Mark has only 16 chapters.

Progress Tool

A. Get an index card, a piece of paper or start a Bible reading notebook (more on this in another segment).
B. Draw a table (see below) with 16 squares.
C. Write the numbers 1 through 16 in each block.
D. Cross off each chapter as you complete reading it.

This is a great tool you can use to encourage you to keep reading.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16

What Bible Version Is Helpful to Start With?

If you do not have a Bible, consider buying or borrowing a copy of The Life Application Bible (LAB). It comes with many notes, illustrations and maps that make the geography, individuals and customs make sense, plus it offers some ideas of ways you can apply what you learn to your everyday life.

Each book of the Bible in this annotated version comes with an introduction and various important features of each book. These help you grasp what you are reading, such as key thoughts, keywords, characters and verses, etc.

You can either read the introduction or simply dive right into the story.

What Translation?

A good translation to begin with (especially if English is not your first language) is the New Living Translation. There are many different translations (and I'm happy to explain them someday).

This translation is easy to read. It does not use old-fashioned, Elizabethan English (‘thee’ and ‘thou’, ‘didst’, ‘knowest’, etc.). Finally, the NEW Living Translation is a true translation, accurate to the original manuscripts – so trustworthy to study.

Enough for now. Please email me anytime with questions (darlenerichard@gmail.com ) and I will happily respond.

Intro Statement of Faith

Why "Especially His"? It comes from a closing statement in the WeakDay Devotions that I have been writing nearly every morning since 1999. Each day I close with this:

"Take care with love, especially His"

Although it is shared with many others around the world now, it seems each day's entry is written specifically for me and for what I am experiencing because I am, as the closing says, "especially His".

Over my lifetime I have been writing and teaching Bible-based studies and wanted a way for these teachings to reach a wider audience -- and hopefully be my legacy to a future generation. We all benefit from fellowship and good teaching and motivation that comes through prayer and reading our Bibles!

On this site you will find a variety of Bible-based and Christ-focused materials. My prayer is that they will help you grow and help you as you help others grow.

Modern-day Evangelism

Something amazing I learned as a young follower of Jesus Christ was that most of the efforts of modern day evangelism have little lasting effect, other than exposing an increasing number of people to God's Word. And as it says in Isaiah 55:11:

"So Shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

Yet, many are not ready, have hard hearts, are surrounded by influencing family or peers and they slink away into the warmth and darkness of unexpected despair.

We Need Ways

I do not minimise the value of canned methods or fancy printed tracts or little gimmicks like colourful beads strung on a leather bracelet or origami-folded coloured cards. We all need to have a way to share our faith in a way we are comfortable using.

I myself, was brought to the Cross through a tract called "Peace With God" published by the Billy Grahame Evangelistic Organisation, and I have trained in most of the methodologies for sharing my faith with another. I even wrote one that focuses on how Jesus evangelised and is based on the four Gospels.

But while being discipled under a wonderful Navigator couple (Don and Elaine Lanier) I also learned a statistic that makes so much sense. It goes like this:

"If each one of us, won one person per year to Christ, and we spent that one year discipling them in the basics, every person in the world would hear the Gospel message of Salvation in just thirty-three years."

Earmarked from the Beginning

Our lives are drawn to deciding to or not to follow Jesus from the moment we are conceived. This journey is as unique as our DNA (yes I do know about identical twins).

The journey after we come to understand the grace of the Father is furthermore unique until we die and begin eternity with our heavenly Father.

Statement of Faith

There is more to come, but want you to know just the core basics of my beliefs.

1. I believe God made man in His image and loves him and desires fellowship with him (Genesis 1:26-27, I John 4:10, John 3:16).

2. I believe there is no other way to Eternal Salvation than through knowing I am helpless against my sin nature and choice of sin. (Romans 5:6-8; 6:23).

3. There is nothing I can do to be acceptable in Heaven (Romans 3:20).

4. The only possibility is to accept the freely-offered gift of Jesus Christ paying the price for my sins by His death and resurrection. (I Corinthians 15:3-6; John 14:6).

5. I believe that the gift of Salvation is just that a gift and it is a gift by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and because this is a gift of grace, there is nothing I can do to make God love me more than He does once I accepted His salvation and there is nothing I can do to make God love me less.

6. That my salvation is not transitory according to my behaviour and that He holds me firmly in the palm of His hand (John 10:29).

7. That from the moment of Salvation, my life is a personal journey of growth that He has designed just for me (Psalm 139).

8. That the Bible is His Word to help me grow daily. II Timothy 3:16. (The translation I use for all quotes, unless otherwise specified, is The New American Standard Bible, ©The Lockman Foundation.)