Daily Bible Discipline

I know you have, at some time or another, made a personal commitment to read the whole Bible. I am sure that you have determined to read some of the Bible every day. I am also certain that you have fallen short of your goals.

"Not so!" you excliam. "I did read the whole Bible in 1996!"

Well, me too and since then I have read some off and on from time to time. The fact is, if we are to have a dynamic relationship with God, we will need to pray often and spend regular, daily time in His word.


Last summer, I made a discovery that has kept me in the word just about every day. It is a podcast called "The Daily Audio Bible". If you search for it under Religion and Spirituality, it will be the most popular podcast available, for a good reason. It is done very well.

The Daily Audio Bible is the brainchild of Brian Hardin, a music producer living in Nashville, Tennessee. He felt God's call to "podcast the Bible". He assumed this was God's way of keeping him going through the whole thing. Quoting from the bio on his sight, Brian says:

By the first of that next year, I posted my name and email address and invited anyone to join me for the Bible readings honestly thinking about five people would listen. I had about 250 emails before the end of the first day, had 200,000 downloads in six months and now we’re nearing the 40 million download mark.


The original podcast has grown to a website with community chat and forums, a Windfarm 24/7 prayer initiative that has people from all over the world praying continually, a physical Windfarm Cafe that is a coffe shop through the week and a church on Sunday where special speaking events take place, and now an iPhone/iPad app that pulls all of it together.

Every day, he sits down to read, record and publish the podcast. There is a section of Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs, followed by a bit of reflection on what was read, prayer, relevant announcements and a posting of a couple of the community prayer requests that have been called in. I make it my morning commute to work each day. It is usually just under 30 minutes.

I would be inclined to batch record them once a week or so, but that is not how it is done. He is asking you to listen to God's word every day, so he reads it every day, one day at a time.

When you hear it, you may be tempted to dismiss it and tell yourself, you don't need it, or that you don't like it for some reason, but I challenge you to give it a week. Listen every day for one week and you will look forward to listening every day. As a side benefit, you will be spending quality time in God's word every day, stick with it and you will get all the way through the Bible in the most painless way ever created, and most importantly, you will grow your relationship with God.

The website is: www.dailyaudiobible.com
The podcast is: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/1-year-daily-audio-bible/id111065122

Let me know what you think in the comments. I know you are gonna love it.

God Wants To Hear From You

I have gone to church most of my life and I am still going to church. Over the years the churches have changed a few times and through different seasons I have faced them differently and I have had different specific needs as my walk in Christianity has evolved over the years.

Some of the churches were very good for education or motivation. Some are huge social clubs.

I have realized that I spend a lot of time volunteering and getting involved in events and allowed my spiritual life to languish in all the activity. What's missing is something I have allowed to slip out of my relationship with God - actually slowing down to talk to Him! How much of a relationship is it when you never call or visit someone? Do you realize God wants to hear from you?

I have a spiritual hunger for more. There are prayers in church, but do they really teach you how to pray? We sing songs but do we really worship?

I believe sincere, worshipful prayer is the path to a richer and more dynamic relationship with God. I like to go off by myself after sunset to a discreet part of my yard. I need space to pace back and forth. Most of it is praise and worship. I get so caught up in how amazing God is and all of the things He has done. There is really no end of things to give God praise for and you can never run out of personal blessings in your life to thank Him for. This leads to a time of just preaching to myself as I marvel at how good He is. Finally I share what is on my heart. I will talk to Him intimately about how I feel, what I fear and where I think I am missing it. All of this will take anywhere from a half an hour to an hour.

I am not saying this is any type of recipe or the "correct" way to talk to God. It is what I do. I wanted to share it with you as an example of what I mean by sincere, worshipful prayer. God made you unique. Your time with Him should be as unique as you are. You have your own voice and God wants to hear it.

If you don't regularly set aside time to pray, I challenge you to try it.