For 2008, one of my goals is to grow closer to Christ and I felt that I a new perspective was in order to help with that. Thanks to Brian Bailey who shared about Solo: The Uncommon Devotional in this post. It is a very different but interesting approach to studying God’s Word. I have been enjoying its easy of use and its daily format which is broken into four parts of:
- Read
- Think
- Pray
- Live
It is easy to use which is especially important to helping me be more constant with it. It allows you to dive into the scripture, but encourages you to really dwell on what the Lord is saying to you and allow the message of it to really come alive. One of the things it encourages you to do is to keep a prayer journal. Being someone who can usually express my thoughts and feelings better in writing, I do find this especially helpful to me. Being the natural geek, I have also found it easier and more meaningful for me to keep my prayer journal in the form of a blog (which I keep private) that I can access anywhere (and even post to from my mobile phone).
Along with this I have also started using the new online Bible, YouVersion, from the guys at LifeChurch.tv. I’ve added their intro clip below in which Bobby Gruenewald and Terry Storch talk about what it is all about, but in summary it is a very interesting way in which you can not only study the Bible in many different versions but also share your thoughts with others and make links to video, pictures and other sites that help you relate to the passage. It is a revolutionary new method to Bible study that allows you also grow and learn from others. I’d recommend giving it a try – nothing to loose when the price is FREE!
Organize – YouVersion empowers you to organize the content that’s important to you!
Share – Simply share meaningful content with anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Community – YouVersion makes it easy to connect and collaborate with others.
Contribute – With YouVersion you have the power to share your content with your closest friends, family, or anyone online!
I hope you find the method that works for you and that you allow the Word to get into your heart and mind so that your ministry will be all that it can be in 2008!