The beginning of a new year is always a good time to pause and look over our way of life and ask, “How are we doing at honoring Jesus Christ in our day-to-day walk of discipleship?” 

Nothing is more important than drawing close to the Lord and being built up in faith by spending time reading Scripture and praying.  Through his Word God speaks to us, and in prayer we respond and pour out our hearts to him.  And that “vertical” conversation is the very heart-and-soul of the Christian life.  And so, if you’re not engaging with God via prayer and the Word, you are in deep spiritual danger—you’re unarmed for battle against Satan (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; Ephesians 6:17-18; 1 Peter 5:8)! 

I find it tremendously helpful to mix Bible reading together with prayer.  In fact, that’s what we’re doing in the “31 Days of Prayer” for January:  each day we’re reading a promise from God’s Word, and then praying in response (pick up a flyer in the Lobby listing the 31 promises, or go to goshenbaptist.org).  Here’s the idea:  

Each day READ the Bible promise indicated, and then PRAY in response in three ways:  1) For yourself, that your heart would truly rest and take joy in what God is saying; 2) for another Christian, that they’d be at peace and find their hope in God’s Word; and 3) for someone who’s not a believer, that they’d be drawn to worship Christ, let go of all false securities, rest in the life-saving promises of God, and receive the gift of eternal life!  So, you see, the basic idea is:  God speaks, we respond, and in this way we’re enriched in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  

We take a similar approach in our weekly Prayer Gathering (which meets each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.—in person and via Zoom—and you’re invited!):  first we spend time reading a few sections of Scripture and praying in ways that are prompted by those texts; and then, in the second segment of our gathering, we share prayer requests and call out to God for those specific needs.