First-hand Faith

The God who created the universe has written your name on the palms of His hands. It’s a permanent tattoo, engraved, not written in pen- it’s carved into His palms.(Isaiah 49;16) He knows your name. He knows every thought in your head and every desire in your heart. He knows your deepest secrets, your biggest fears and every dream in your heart. He knows every hurt in your heart and every scar in your soul. He is crazy about you and He wants to know you- personally and intimately. He wants a deep and real relationship with you. And the only way for that to happen is for you to read the book He wrote just for you- the Bible. To know Him, you must spend time with Him and in His word, to get to know him personally and intimately. The Bible is a book by God about God. It clearly reveals who God is on every single page from Genesis to Revelation. We must shift from studying the Bible to learn about ourselves and what we should do and instead read it learn who God is.

First hand: from the original source or personal experience; direct.

Second hand: owned or used in the past by someone else: learned or heard about from someone else rather than directly from the person involved. 

Your faith can’t be second hand. Your faith can't belong to your pastor. Your spouse. Your friends. Your parents. Your Bible study teacher. Your Church. It must be yours and yours alone. Instead of imitating others, we must own and believe our own faith.

What has radically changed my faith and made it my own is the process of reading God's word chronologically as it is written and doing so with a group of fellow believers to discuss it with. My sweet friend Christy Jordan (from the awesome Southernplate.com) has a group that I started back in October that does just that. My post recently about 2nd hand faith received more comments and messages on my blog, Instagram and Facebook than any I can ever remember. Clearly there are many of you who long to make your faith first hand and get to intimately know our heavenly Father. After getting Christy's blessing and praying about it, I've decided to start my own Bible reading group, First-hand Faith on Facebook.

How will First-hand Faith work? 
New members will be added with membership for the year closing at the end of month. A new plan will be posted prior to the beginning of a new month. Each morning I will  post with the reading for the day along with some of my notes and links to the reading online as well as a few other resources. Members will do the reading each day and then share their thoughts, questions and ah-ha's for the reading in the comments of the daily post. Once (or more) a week I'll post a Live video with some of my thoughts about our readings for the week. I'll also post all the plans on my blog here:
http://www.swtblessings.com/p/first-hand-faith.html

How do I join First-hand Faith? 
If you are interested, just go to First-hand Faith on Facebook, answer the three short questions asked and apply to join the group. Once I've approved you, you'll be in the group where I'll start adding information, helpful hints and details over the next few days.

When does the Bible Reading Plan start? The first day of reading will be next Saturday, January 11, 2020.

What do I need to join First-hand Faith? 
A willing heart that is seeking to know the Lord first-hand, a Bible and the commitment to spend time with Him daily is all that you need. We make time for what is important to us so although it may be difficult at first, it's a daily practice you'll ultimately grow to love and wish you had more time for each day. We have every moment of time we need to do all that God is calling us to do. So if God is calling you to commit to this, you'll find the time in your day!

Are the readings EVERY single day? 
Yep. No days off because honestly, do you want God to take a day off loving and caring for you? I sure don't so we will read every single day. If you get behind, not worries, just start again. 

Bible Study 101: Online Resources

I often get questions regarding what Bible I use and how I go about studying the Bible. 

I decided to do a couple of blog posts regarding this topic so 

when someone asks, I can easily reference this list and send them a link.

Previous posts on the topic are listed below: 

BIBLE STUDY 101: STUDY AND READING SUPPLIES

Today I am going to share a little detail about the online resources that I use and LOVE!
Now these are not the only resources out there, 
there are TONS of resources out there online that are fabulous- 
these just happen to be my favorite! 

Two quick things regarding Bible study and tools: 

1. We should never rely solely on other's knowledge of the Bible. 
We MUST read it ourselves! 
Bible studies and commentaries are great 
but we need to learn God's word firsthand, not secondhand!

2. We need to be sure not to read verses in isolation. 
For context, reading the whole chapter 
(sometimes the whole book) is so important
in order to truly understand it.


Resource #1: Bible Gateway

Bible Gateway is a site I use all the time for reading different

 translations as well as reading commentaries. 

They also have some fabulous devotionals and reading plans! 

I use Bible Gateway to read various translations when I don't have my Bible handy 
and when I'm working on a scripture writing plan. 

Here's how that works: 
When you search for and find a verse in one translation, click on the Add Parallel icon (looks like two pieces of paper siting side by side) at the right side of the passage. 

Doing so adds a second translation that you can select from the drop down menu

and you can see the translations side by side!

If you click the icon again, you'll see a third translation. 

You can also click on the listen to icon (speaker icon) to have the scripture read to you. 

There are lots of other great things to check out on the site, 

especially those under the Study tab. 

There's also a great  Bible Gateway app that you can use- 

although I usually just use it in the browser, even on my phone. 

Resource #2: Blue Letter Bible

Blue Letter Bible has some incredible resources including some of my favorite commentaries.

Just like Bible Gateway, you can search and read any Bible verse/chapter. 

But what I love to use is the text commentary feature. 

Search for the verse and click Go. 

To the right of the verse click the Tools icon to reveal a bunch of options. 

My favorites are Interlinear and Commentaries with Cross Refs as a close third. 

Interlinear is the first tab and is a list of all the words from the scripture in Greek and Hebrew. 

(The definition of Interlinear is written or printed between the lines of a text)

You can even click on the icon on the right to listen to the pronunciation. 

Learn more about how to use Interlinear  HERE. 

Cross-Refs lists words that are in the scripture and used in other places in the Bible. 

Commentaries lists audio, video and text commentaries. 

Commentaries are a series of comments, background, 

historical details, etc by biblical scholars. 

I typically use the Text Commentaries. There are lots of great ones

 but my favorites are Matthew Henry and David Guzik.

Clicking on one takes you to the commentary for that verse. 

Each is set up like an outline. 

It starts with a short summary and is followed by the text in dark red. 

Below that are thoughts, details, and historical facts related to the scripture. 

I like to think of reading a commentary as sitting down with a Biblical scholar 

who is explaining the scriptures and giving me additional background. 

If you are ever struggling to understand a scripture or 

want more information or context, 

a commentary is for you!

I will warn you that reading commentaries is a little addicting. 

The more I read them the more I want to read them and learn more!

Learn more about reading commentaries on BLB  HERE. 

The Dictionaries tab shows different words from the scripture 

and their definitions in different dictionaries. 

Learn more about the Dictionaries HERE. 

There is a ton more to learn about on BLB and you can check out their 

Help section HERE or check out their awesome video tutorials  HERE. 

Bible Study 101: Study and Reading Supplies

I often get questions regarding what Bible I use and how I go about studying the Bible. 

I decided to do a couple of blog posts regarding this topic so 

when someone asks, I can easily reference this list and send them a link.

Today I am going to share the supplies I use when doing Bible study. 

There are tons of products out there for Bible study (and I've bought my fair share of them!) 

but what I have found works best for me are simple, basic supplies. 

When doing a Bible study I use all or most of the following:

My Bible

I have lots of different bibles but my preference is a dual NIV and the Message Bible. 

I love this Bible because it has both translations on the same page. 

I used to use two separate Bible but love this so much more. 

Mine came from Amazon and you can find it HERE. 

A notebook

 Although there are tons of options for Bible study journals and notebooks out there, 

I use a good old-fashioned spiral notebook when doing a Bible study. 

I usually grab mine at Target or Walmart- just looking for one that 

is cute and college ruled. This is the one I am currently using. 

A binder

When I am doing verse study, I use a simple three ring binder with dividers. 

Instead of regular notebook paper, I buy loose leaf graph paper 

from Walmart but notebook paper would work just great too.

Pen

My favorite is the G2 black pen.

Bible highlighters

I have several sets and my two favorite are below.

THESE from Amazon and I love them because there are two of each color in the set. 

I have one set in my purse and the other with my Bible study stuff in a bag.

I also have THESE from The Daily Grace Co and love them. 

They don't bleed through the page and they are precious!

 (While you are there, check out all of their things- 

so many cute products and GREAT Bible studies!) 

Sticky Notes

I use sticky notes to write notes and place in my Bible. 

Usually just to jot down something I don't want to forget. 

Online Commentaries & Study Guides

My favorites are Bible Gateway and Blue Letter Bible. 

I'll explain more about how I use these sites in an upcoming post, 

but below are some basics about them. 

Bible Gateway is a site I use all the time for reading different

 translations as well as reading commentaries. 

They also have some fabulous devotionals and reading plans! 

I love that I can check out different versions side by side. 

Blue Letter Bible has some incredible resources including some of my favorite commentaries.

I'll follow up in a few days with another post showing HOW I use these items! 

Stay tuned!

Bible Reading Plans

A fairly common resolution that I think is FABULOUS is the resolution

 to read through the Bible in a year. 

I can think of no better way than to spend time reading through God's word completely.

There are tons of great plans out there so I thought I would share a few that I think are great 

as well as a printable version that I created after a blog reader asked for one. 

YouVersion

 has some fabulous plans online including: 

 Walk Through the Bible 365

Bible in One Year

The One Year Chronological Bible

These plans are great because you can follow them on your phone 

or computer and you can do them alone or with friends. 

I'm actually working on one of these plans myself! 

Bible Gateway 

(which I LOVE) has several plans as well including 

a Chronological Plan, 

(allows you to read the Bible in the chronological order in which its stories and events occurred), 

a Beginning Plan, 

(allows you to read the Bible from start to finish, from Genesis to Revelation.)

and a Historical Plan 

(allows you to read the books of the Bible as they were written historically, 

according to the estimated date of their writing).

I love the Bible Gateway plans because they allow you to: 

1. Have reminders sent directly to your email
2. Record your reading progress
3. Pause your plan any time to read at your own pace

Bible Study Tools

also have some great options for reading plans including

Reading Plan Book Order, Reading Plan Chronological, 

and Classic Reading Plan. 

Ligonier Ministries has a great list of printable plans HERE 

including some that are just five days a week and some that are chart form. 

I had a blog reader request a printable plan so I've created a simple one that you can print out HERE. 

{Just a reminder, don't try to print the images below or they will be blurry. 

Be sure to click the link to download a PDF copy!}