A Guest Post from Debbie, a Bible in 90 Days Grad:
Last summer I signed up to read the Bible in 90 days with Mom’s Toolbox. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this was so that I could get an overview of the Bible in a short amount of time…to see how everything fits together in God’s Word. I wanted the big picture.
But there was a problem…I had only read through the Bible once in my life, and at that, it was a struggle! I had such a hard time getting past Leviticus! So how in the world was I going to be able to do this? It finally occurred to me that I couldn’t do it! But with God’s help, I could!
The Holy Spirit enables us to act like Jesus when we don’t want to and can’t. He gives us the Fruit of the Spirit to accomplish the hard tasks.
Each Fruit of the Spirit will be vital as you try to read the Bible in 90 days…
Love…you will need God to give you a love for His word.
Joy will be vital as you go on this journey…you will need joy to avoid what might become drudgery otherwise.
Peace will be important, too. You will need it so that you don’t worry about all the other things that aren’t getting done while you read. Peace helps a person to focus on the task at hand.
Patience…to get through the parts that are harder to read like the book of Numbers. (which you will begin tomorrow! )
Kindness may not seem like a need as you go through this commitment, but I found it vital to the process. I wasn’t getting everything done in life because I was spending time reading, and that was stressing me out. The stress showed up in my relationships in the form of crankiness. Having God’s kindness helped me respond to those around me appropriately.
Goodness…the willingness to do what is right. Here is where being truthful about your progress comes in. If you say that you have read through the Bible, did you really? Or did you skip a part or two?
Faithfulness…to finish what you began.
Gentleness is submission (at least that is what I learned in Beth Moore’s study on the Fruit of the Spirit!). You will need to submit to what the reading of God’s Word bring to light in your life. Will there be ways in which you will need to change?
Self-Control…this is a biggie! Desire enough self-discipline to finish the task!
When it was all said and done, the Fruit of the Spirit came through for me! I was able to finish the Bible in 61 days! Let me restate that, “God enabled me to finish the Bible in 61 days!” It really was Him guiding me and giving me the Fruit of the Spirit to accomplish the task. He will do the same for you!
Blessings, Debbie
Debbie, on of our mentors, blogs at The Architect and the Artist
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