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sharing resources I’ve found personally helpful

5 Ways to Revive Your Prayer Life

“When was the last time you found yourself flat on your face before the Almighty? When was the last time you cut off circulation kneeling before the Lord? When was the last time you pulled an all-nighter in prayer?” Mark Batterson
When a guy asks questions like these you know he is taking prayer pretty seriously. And if you can’t answer these questions with recent occurrences you know you aren’t. The questions are from Mark Batterson’s recent book The Circle Maker. This book on prayer is the best I’ve read in years.
If your prayer life is missing a beat, on life support or has given up the ghost, this book, like an AED, is guaranteed to shock it back to life. Covering nearly every facet of prayer while using many faith-building stories it will inspire and revitalize prayer in your life once again.
The book’s title and guiding illustration for effective prayer is based on the true story of a first Century BC praying Jew who lived in the generation preceding Jesus’ birth. At that time a devastating drought threatened Israel. This eccentric sage by the name Honi with a six foot staff in his hand drew a circle around himself and kneeling inside that circle prayed “Lord of the universe, I swear before Your great name that I will not move from this circle until You have shown mercy upon Your children.” And immediately rain began to fall.
Launching forth from this story the author does a masterful job of awakening faith in the reader as he unfolds what it means for us today to pray Circle Making prayers. He divides the book into three key topical challenges to true circle-making prayer: Dream Big, Pray Hard and Think Long.

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213 Ways to Read the Bible

One of the greatest resources I know of for help in selecting and keeping to a Bible reading plan is the YouVersion website.

At last count it had 213 Bible reading plans arranged by five categories: Topical, Youth, Devotional, Partial Bible and Whole Bible. There are Bible studies here for everyone, no matter what your age, status in life, relationship with God, Bible knowledge, time availability or reading ability.

This website removes every excuse for not reading the Bible. There are plans of varying lengths ranging from as short as 3-5 days and 1-3 weeks to everything from 40-280 days all the way through one to two years.

YouVersion provides 27 different Bible translations to choose from with 10 of the most common versions available in an audio format for easy listening while you read or are on the move. There are mobile apps for all smart phones that give you access to your daily readings and help you track your progress. And amazingly 75 different language translations are also just a click away.

The Topical Reading Plans have studies focused on over hundred and twenty five different topics – something for every taste and interest. It is a great place to begin for building a Bible reading hunger and habit into one’s life.

It includes many 7 day studies on topics like Bible Introduction, Parenting, Decisions, Job Loss, Reconciliation, Prayer, and Relationships. There are overview studies of key topics in the Bible such as Major Beliefs, Major Themes, Major People (all 65 days in length). It also has various Old Testament focus studies on such topics as the Life of Abraham (10 days) The Books of Moses (10 weeks), Books of History (90 days), Books of Wisdom (10 weeks) and the Major Prophets (60 days). And there are seasonal Bible reading plans for 40 Days of Lent, Words of Jesus During Passion Week (12 days) and Rediscovering the Christmas Season (1 month).

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5 reasons why no one should miss the Dead Sea Scrolls

I recently spent an afternoon at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul visiting The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit now on display. It was a deeply impacting time for me. My wife Susan and I visited Israel and toured its length and breadth several years ago. Although we saw the caves of Qumran on the Northeast coast of the Dead Sea we were unable to visit the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem where the scrolls are housed because the museum was closed for renovation. I was disappointed at the time in not seeing them first hand.

Now after visiting the exhibit available here through October 24, 2010, I would strongly recommend everyone taking advantage of this amazing opportunity right in our backyard. You will not regret it.
Here are my 5 reasons why no one should miss the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.

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Devotional website favorites

Here are some of my favorite websites that I use for my daily time with the Lord.    YouVersion http://www.youversion.com/  is my most used website for my daily devotional reading.   It has 16 different English translations (plus many foreign languages) of the Bible including the NIV which I’ve been using for years and the New Living Translation

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