As Christians, whatever stage we’re at in our journey, one thing that is key to maintaining forward progress is our own personal relationship with God. When it comes down to it, no matter our circumstances, no matter our church environment, or our age, or our relationship with other Christians - if we don’t spend any time just us and God, it is incredibly difficult (I might even say impossible) to continue to grow in our relationship with him and be made more like Jesus.
One way in which we do this is by intentionally carving out time every day to read his word in the Bible. We believe that ‘All scripture is God-breathed’, and that God planned that it would not only equip and serve those for whom it was originally written, but that it would also equip and teach us! You and me! Today! When we spend time reading God’s word every day, and allowing him to speak to us, it is the equivalent of arming ourself with a sword with which we face the battle that is the rest of life (Ephesians 6:17).
But here’s the thing, it’s not always easy to do that! It seems crazy that we can so firmly believe that the best thing for us to be doing is to be spending personal time with our heavenly father (which I would hope most of us do), and yet be so bad at prioritising it! I am not throwing stones here, I am exactly the same, but one thing that has helped me over the past year to better prioritise reading God’s word, is the Community Bible Reading (CBR) Journal.
The CBR Journal has just one aim, and that is to get people reading scripture, and it does just that, by encouraging people to do 3 very simple things.
Read 1 chapter of the Bible every day (Either New or Old Testament, if you want you can read both!)
Pray. Being led by the scripture you have just read, pray following the ACTS (Adoration - Confession - Thanksgiving - Supplication) model. This means focusing on the passage you’ve just read, and identifying what it told you about God (Adoration), in what ways it convicted you about your own life (Confession), how it encouraged you to give thanks to Jesus (Thanksgiving), and what it stirred you to ask of God (Supplication). You may also want to write these sections down to help you to visualise the 4 sections.
Share. The community aspect of the journal involves discussing with a small group of friends the key point that you felt was most obvious to you when reading the passage.
That’s it. Simple right?
Well I’ve got good news for you, starting next Tuesday (the 28th of April) we will be encouraging everyone at Redeemer to do the CBR together! Don’t worry, you won’t need the physical journal, the reading plan is online at thecbrjournal.com. But in reality, you probably won’t need that either, as our plan is fairly simple! We are going to read a chapter of 2 Corinthians together, every week day, starting with Chapter 1 on the 28th of April, and finishing with Chapter 13 on the 14th of May.
Every day we’ll be releasing videos on our social media pages at 9am each weekday morning, with members of the Redeemer family detailing their takeaways from the passage. We’ll also be publishing daily blogs which focus on the day’s reading, and feature other recommended resources to help you study the passage in greater detail if you want to. So keep your eyes peeled!
What do I need to do?
Get in touch with a small group of Christian friends, and ask if they want to follow the CBR plan with you over the next few weeks.
Figure out the time of day that works best for you to read the bible (the morning is my preferred time), and commit to reading one chapter of 2 Corinthians at that time every day.
Make sure you are subscribed to our Youtube channel, following us on instagram, and keeping an eye on this blog, so that you don’t miss any of the videos & other resources we’re releasing to help you over the next few weeks.
Be expectant! We believe that as we read the bible and cultivate a deeper and closer personal relationship with God, he will lead us both as individuals and as a church, into new and exciting adventures with him!
I so look forward to reading the bible alongside all of you, and seeing what seeds God wants to plant and water in us, and the fruit he wants to bring out in all of our lives!
