The Lord has really stirred me (Pastor Aaron) to step up my prayer life and look into how we can increase our prayer life as a church.  Here is something I found helpful:

10 Tips to Help Your Prayer Life

If praying does not come effortlessly for you, try these tips for making your prayer life more focused and effective.

By: Gregory Koukl

For a few hardy prayer warriors, talking with God is as easy as breathing; it happens almost effortlessly. When you ask them how they do it, they simply shrug and reply, “I just pray.” Unfortunately, that’s about as helpful as John McEnroe saying “I just hit the ball,” when asked for some tips on more effective tennis. It may be easy for him to “just hit the ball”, but most of us hackers need a little more fundamental instruction to get the job done. With that in mind, we’ve included here some practical guidelines that might make your time with the Lord more fruitful. Not all of the suggestions will apply to your particular situation, but if you begin by incorporating a few of them, I’m confident your prayer life will improve.

1. Choose a specific place to pray away from distractions so you can concentrate. Ringing phones and crying children will sabotage your “quiet time” before it gets started.

2. Pray at the same time every day, if at all possible. Make it part of your regular routine and it will become habit. Write it into your schedule and then treat it just like a daily appointment.

3. Pray out loud. Many people can pray under their breath or in their minds for long periods and still maintain intensity, but for most of us it’s a quick ticket to dreamland. When we pray out loud we have to form intelligent sentences. We have to concentrate more on what we’re praying about.

4. Keep a note pad handy so you can jot down different things that come to mind while you’re before the Lord. Sometimes you’ll get great ideas totally unrelated to what you’ve been praying about. If you jot them down you can quickly get back to the topic at hand without being too distracted.

5. Make a list to keep track of your prayer needs. This can be done several ways. Prayer needs can be listed by category like “Church,” “Family,” or “Unsaved friends.” Or they may be listed by the days of the week. Each day you pray for a different set of needs. You may want to include prayer everyday for a different area of society that has a tremendous influence on the direction of our nation. These seven categories include 1) the church and religion, 2) the family and the home, 3) the media, 4) government, 5) education, 6) business and commerce, and 7) the arts and entertainment.

6. Redeem time for praying out of unused corners of your schedule. Those who have to drive to work can use the time talking with the Lord instead of screaming at traffic (just don’t close your eyes!). Busy homemakers can combine prayer with housework, especially if the task doesn’t require a lot of concentration. Joggers, swimmers and cyclists can use their workout time for prayer. Sometimes my best times with the Lord have been chats during long, early morning walks or jogs along the beach.

7. Change the pace during your prayer time. Include praise, thanksgiving and singing as well as petition. Spend some of your time reflecting on the Scripture, meditating on it and digesting its meaning.

8. Keep a prayer journal. Here are two variations of this idea. The first is to keep track of what you prayed for and when you prayed for it. Leave a space to jot down the answer when it comes. This will help you to keep alert to God’s answer so you can thank Him promptly. Sometimes prayer answers come in the back door and you don’t want them to slip by you. The second variation is to write the entire prayer in your journal. Make it a personal letter to the Lord on a daily basis. Just write “Dear Lord” instead of “Dear Diary.”

9. Pray with someone else. Though some prayers can only be said in solitude, there will be times when you’ll want to join hearts with another person in prayer. If you commit to meet on a regular basis, the accountability can really help build consistency. Such prayer trysts can become powerful, life-changing events.

10. Pray one-sentence prayers. If the thought of laboring over a topic wears you out, pray short, sincere prayers instead. A sentence or two may be all that’s needed to exhaust the topic for you for the time being. If so, just move on to the next item without feeling guilty for your brevity.

Thought this was an interesting read about the state of the country in relation to their Biblical knowledge:

Americans and the Bible: Bible Ownership, Reading, Study and Knowledge in the United States
by Michael J. Vlach (see in its original context here)

The Christian Bible continues to be a revered book in the United States. In fact, no other book comes close to having been read and re-read as much as the “Good Book”. Every year, millions of Bibles are printed in this country. Researcher George Gallup points out that so many Bibles have been printed in the United States “that even rough estimates of the total number published to date do not exist.” 1

How do Americans use the Bible and what do they know about it? Recent research has produced important information about Bible ownership, reading, study, and knowledge in the United States.

Bible Ownership
Most Americans own a Bible. In fact, 92% of households in America own at least one copy. Of those households that own a Bible, the average number of Bibles is three. This includes not only the homes of practicing Christians but hundreds of thousands of atheists as well. 2

Bible Reading
Although most Americans own a Bible, use of the Bible varies significantly. In a poll taken by the Gallup Organization in October, 2000, 59% of Americans reported that they read the Bible at least occasionally. This is down from 73% in the 1980s. The percentage of Americans who read the Bible at least once a week is 37%. This is down slightly from 40% in 1990. 3 According to the Barna Research Group, those who read the Bible regularly spend about 52 minutes a week in the scriptures. 4 Barna, “The Bible,” data is from 1997.

Which gender is more faithful at reading the Bible at least weekly? The prize goes to the women. Women (42%) are more likely than men (32%) to have read the Bible in the past week. What version do people prefer? As of 1997, those who read the Bible preferred the King James Version to the New International Version by a 5 to 1 margin. 5

Bible Study
When it comes to going beyond merely reading the Bible to actual study of the Bible, the numbers decline sharply. Only one in seven Americans report an involvement that goes beyond just reading the Bible. Fourteen percent of Americans currently belong to a Bible study group. 6 This is down a full one-third from 1990 when 21% said they were involved in a Bible study group. 7

Bible Knowledge
How about knowledge of the Bible? According to Gallup, “Despite the impressive statistics concerning Bible reading and study, it is apparent that ignorance about its contents is widespread.” 8

He gives evidence for this conclusion:

• Only half of adults interviewed nationwide could name any of the four Gospels of the New Testament
• Just 37% of those interviewed could name all four Gospels.
• Only 42% of adults were able to name as many as five of the Ten Commandments correctly.
• Seven in ten (70%) were able to name the town where Jesus was born, but just 42% could identify him as the person who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. 9

Researcher George Barna has also documented the lack of Bible knowledge in the United States:

• 38% of Americans believe the entire Bible was written several decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection (While this is true of the New Testament, the entire Old Testament was written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ).
• 12% of adults believe that Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc.
• 49% believe that the Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil. (The love of money is said to be the root of all types of evil).
• 75% believe that the Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves. 10

George Lindbeck, the famous Yale theologian, has commented on the decreasing knowledge of scripture from a professor’s perspective: “When I first arrived at Yale, even those who came from nonreligious backgrounds knew the Bible better than most of those now who come from churchgoing families.” 11

Recent research highlights the decreasing influence of the Bible in the United States and the importance of serious Bible study by Christians. As our society becomes increasingly pluralistic and subjective in its worldview, the more important it will be for Christians to know and study their Bibles. Only by doing so can we intelligently present a biblical worldview to those who know so little of the Word that is able to save their souls.

1 George Gallup, Jr., The Role of the Bible in American Society (Princeton: The Princeton ReligionResearch Center, 1990)
2 Barna Research Online, “The Bible,” www.barna.org. This information is based on 1993 figures.
3 Alec Gallup and Wendy W. Simmons, “Six in Ten Americans Read Bible at Least Occasionally,” TheGallup Organization, www.gallup.com, October 20, 2000.
4 Barna, “The Bible,” data is from 1997.
5 Ibid., data is from 2001.
6 Gallup, “Six in Ten Americans Read Bible at Least Occasionally,”
7 Gallup, The Role of the Bible in American Society, 17.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Barna, “The Bible,” The information is from the years 1994, 1997, 1994, and 2000 respectively.
11 George A. Lindbeck, “The Church’s Mission to a Postmodern Culture,” Postmodern Theology: ChristianFaith in a Pluralist World (San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1989) 45.

For those who are taking the Sunday night class or anyone else that would like it, my study guide on Judges can be downloaded here.  I hope it is helpful to you understanding of the book and how to take apart a biography.  Blessings

Pastor Aaron

Sometimes the Bible seems like a really daunting task to tackle.  People often get imitated out of even trying to know the whole thing.  I am challenging my class to read the whole book of Judges this week.  I have the Bible on CD and the book of Judges could be read or listened to in a week with only taking just 14 minutes out of your day.  Don’t be fooled.  There is a lot of truth there, but it is not unmanageable.  In fact, you can get through the entire Bible in one year by only listening to it for 13.8 minutes a day.  Our GCBI students do it in 8 days!  Don’t believe the lie that you cannot know the content of that book.

We have just finished up our introductory materials on the Principle Approach to Scripture.  We will be moving into a detailed study of how to study a biography and will begin with some of the Judges.  If you haven’t had the chance to some on Sunday nights this coming week would be a good time to jump in.  Join us Sundays at 6 PM in 101 in Wiley Hall.