Author: Ron

This author has written 102 articles

How to Begin Reading the Bible, Meditation and Prayer

I have a question for you. Do you see reading the Bible, meditation and prayer as three separate things? If so, are you struggling to consistently do one or two of these on a regular basis, much less all three of them? How do you begin reading the Bible, meditation and prayer without overload?

Most Christians struggle with Bible reading and prayer and pretty much miss out on the meditation. What if you could do all three of them without adding more of a burden to your daily schedule?

Yes, that’s a lot of questions to think about, but I hope I have your interest. If you’ve listened to any of the episodes on the First Fifteen podcast, you might already have an idea of what I’m talking about. If not, and you’re a audio learner or someone who likes to listen on the go, head over there and download/listen to season 1’s first episode.

But maybe you’re a visual person. I have something for you too. Check out the new video on Youtube that demonstrates a process you can follow (it’s also less than 15 minutes).

https://youtu.be/VF4-XhJdFts (the direct link)

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How to Pray with Your Breath

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Life in the Spirit is freeing! “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17) One of the best ways to experience that is through prayer, breath prayer specifically.

Wind, like the Spirit, moves wherever it wills mysteriously

The word for spirit in both Hebrew and Greek (the two primary languages scripture is written in) is also used for wind and breath (ruach in Heb, pneuma in Grk). While that may surprise or puzzle an English speaker (given we have several distinct words for these different things), it points us to a common perception. For ancient people, things of the spirit or of the spiritual realm were related to and often illustrated by the breath and the wind, two things that are unseen but are vital to life and existence.

Stay with me on this. Jesus actually drew out the comparison in his own teaching. In John 3, Jesus taught Nicodemus about the new birth and in the process he gives an analogy for how the Spirit moves like the wind–and we really can’t explain either one very well (John 3:5-8). It’s also not a mere coincidence that when the Holy Spirit came with power on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 there was a sound like a mighty roaring windstorm (Acts 2:2).

Further, after his resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples several times. On one occasion that John records, he speaks a word of peace on them, then he breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22) Again, it’s not just a coincidence because God is the one who first breathed the breath of life into Adam after making him out of clay. (Gen 2:7)

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What is the gospel?

“The gospel” is another word for the Christian message or the central teaching about God’s work in and through Jesus. In Koine Greek, euangelion (ευαγγελιον) means “good news.” In early Christian communities of the first century, those the apostles started, the gospel was the central message of their faith. Paul summarizes in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 what he understood to be the gospel: Christ died for our sins as the Scriptures said, he was buried and then raised from the dead on the third day, and he was seen by many eyewitnesses including Peter and the other apostles, over 500 of his followers, and also by Paul (in a vision).

In time, Christians came to use the word “gospel” to refer to one of the written works centered on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, probably starting with Mark (see Mark 1:1) and eventually including Matthew, Luke and John. There were other books after these four bearing the name “gospel”, but these have not gained wide acceptance in the ancient, medieval or modern church.

Is a gospel by any other name still the gospel?

There is a third sense in which people use “gospel” today in everyday speech and even outside of faith circles. If something is “gospel”, it’s a true word that you can count on, like when someone raps and says, “That’s gospel!” They mean it’s not a lie, it’s the truth. There are obviously other uses of the word too, such as describing a type of religious music.

Maybe you’ve come across other uses of “gospel” than what I’ve mentioned. What is the point? Is the gospel (message) and gospel (book) really different?

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Making Prayer Easier When Life is a Struggle (Psalm 143)

Life is a struggle sometimes.  Prayer can be a struggle.  It doesn’t have to be.  When prayer seems hard I turn to the Psalms.  I’ve done that for nearly 30 years since I was a young single man living far from home in a foreign land and the Psalms have led me closer to God.  Through centuries and millenia God’s people have used the Psalms to express their cries to him.  I shared the following psalm (143) last Sunday with my family a day after my oldest son left home and landed on the other side of the world and now I’m sharing it with you.

1 Yahweh hear my prayer. Give ear to my requests.  In your faithfulness and your righteousness answer me!

2 Do not enter into judgment of your servant, for no one living can be upright before you.

3 For the enemy pursues me and crushes me to the ground.  He  makes me dwell in darkness like those who are long dead.

4 So my spirit is overwhelmed inside me and my heart is desolate within. 

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