Motivation tips please.

Thank you for your reply Grandpa and I like your metaphor. It makes total sense to keep reading and keep my focus on God. And I believe the pressure is off me with fellow Christians reassuring me to pray and read. God bless you.

I would have been a nominal Christian many years ago until one beautiful morning when it all changed or more importantly I changed without really knowing what was happening. The experience was so immediate, so definite and came with such an impact that everything internal and external changed so my point of departure for a journey through life was marked from that day on. In short, what existed as the word of the Bible that had been in the background through my participation in denominational Christianity transformed into the Word of the Johannine community as a Way opened up that I never knew existed.

We live in a fortunate era where the internet has so many commentaries of those who passed along the same way and the challenges and victories they encountered. Depending on your courage and that wonderful curiosity you have, you will find your own favourite Christians in finding yourself encompassed by the Eternal spirit/inspiration.

I always love St Francis of Assisi and St Paul as followers of Christ and Christianity in loving what is part of us but does not belong to us-

" Above all the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his friends, is the grace of overcoming oneself, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt; for in all other gifts of God we cannot glory, seeing they proceed not from ourselves but from God"
St Francis of Assisi

http://www.missa.org/joie_parfaite_e.php

All I can say is that even though Im not really qualified to speak on your experience I do hope that Christ is with you always.

Hi
I just wanted to emphasize the importance of the Bible.

It is our only safeguard.
Feeling and emotions will come and go. Temptations and trials will continue while sin is present.
But Jesus used the word, the sure scriptures, when He was tempted.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

There are so many christian teachings that do not line up with the Bible.
By prayer and perserverance the Bible will guide you.
👍

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

James 1:6

6But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Matthew 7:14

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter.

I Love Him and He loves me in worship and prayer. I always want to have prayerful contact with Him and a worshipful spirit. (I do not always succeed!)

I want to humble myself before Him like Mary Magdalene and the Publican because He is humble and loves us so much that He became a sacrifice for us. God will reject me and give me nothing if i am not humble and i have a large ego!

If you follow one simple principle, everything should work out. The principle is:
A SPECIFIC SPACE FOR EACH THING, AND EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE.

You could also tell yourself "Since I am an organized person, why is there such a mess?"

Me too. I have heard that when we pray for others, God blesses us as well, so let's pray for one another.

He definitely appreciates our one-on-one time with Him.


Job 42:10

“And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”


.

But my house is a very organized mess, you see.

as a suggestion. find a bible reading partner. i find that encourages each other to committ to a time.

When i first started the journey i would read at night as i lay in bed. then my last thoguths were of that scripture.

just two suggestions

Everything in its place….maybe?

When i wake up i have a more or less set agenda: listen to streaming hymns while i shave and try to focus on worship.

That followed by 30 min or so of sitting listening to hymns to focus and remember who He is and greet Him. Many times He loves me and responds to me. Not always!

I no longer worship Him to enjoy His wonderful company, i worship Him because He is worthy, no matter how i feel.

That does not stop Him from invading no matter what i am doing…..I do enjoy that…loves me to distraction and i don’t want to do anything else but be with Him. That can happen anywhere, at someones wedding, when I go to an orchid show. Anytime Master, you are welcome, please let me always have your felt presence (in reality He never leaves)

Pray my written list of who to pray for

That’s followed by audio-bible.com bible chapter (reading and hearing)

Followed by (right now)
Page of St. Chrysostom
Few paragraphs of St Anthony
Ligonier video series on Christianity in America

Listen to streaming hymns any and all the time i have during the day.

Tune into christian chat…what are you all saying???????

Listen to a chapter of Bible in a year when i go to the gym

Hug and Love everyone that is close to me. Appreciate the people God has given me to share life with and all He has given me. He has certainly been way too generous and way over loving. When i think of Him i am melted to nothing, which is truthfully what i am, nothing. He is everything.

I am not such a great prayer warrior but usually if i pray its to tell Him how i am at wonder at what He has created and thank him.

I enjoy people that are warm and open…where it seems our spirits and hearts touch each other….amazing! I cant exactly quantify it but its a loving communication between our spirits?

Haha…but not likely true!

are you offering to be my bible reading partner? 😊😁

I listen to the One Year Bible on YT by Molly Sparling. I make sure the close caption is on so I read it as she speaks it. It's really nice and with this is my second voyage through the Bible this way.

Ok deal !
Now who are you ?

Should I run and hide now 😀

So happy to have met someone who wants to read the bible together . Looking forward to some learnings !!
Thankyou friend

Agreed. Even just reading through to each other taking turns out loud helps get you through it.


I don't personally know anyone that I'd read with one-on-one but I've been meaning to get a group together (and attempted) a "popcorn" session where we just take turns chapter by chapter and read for an hour or so once a week. Seems like a great idea.

I get very tired of reading in general and reading out loud alone feels awkward.

Another option is to record yourself and then put it on CD or what have you and play it back later in the car, etc. "If" you can stand to listen to yourself that is

and can be an amazing way of making a special friend. sharing the bible with one another could be best date you can have

Oh I don't disagree the idea has quite a bit of appeal. I've thought about it as something I'll definitely do if I ever meet someone.

A good reader and a good voice make scripture loads more fun. Not that anyone shouldn't bother if you don't have either of those two things. Learning to read well out loud is a practiced skill for most and inflection/diction/delivery/etc. can also be learned.


Reading the bible out loud is akin to singing worship songs. It matters how you sound if you are being super lazy but if you aren't the best singer, that's OK.



My main thing if I had trouble reading out loud would be to read over it first and then read instead of going in blind. Definitely doesn't work well reading the KJV blind when recording...all it takes is me getting to an unexpected phrase like "the hoary head" and then...uh...welp, the pacing is now shot lol.