Spiritual Emphasis Month January 2019

Spiritual Emphasis Month
January 2019
A Walk with the Lord

Welcome to Spiritual Emphasis Month! What follows is like a spiritual discipline buffet. As with all buffets, you don’t have to eat everything! Read through this booklet and commit what your part will be to prayer. Next sit down with a calendar or piece of paper and map out what you will be doing for the month of January. Stretch yourself a little bit.

Spiritual Disciplines to Practice
Pray daily and Prayer Services
Meditation and scripture parts
Bible
Fasting
Worship daily
Service
Solitude
Fellowship
Prayer
Pray daily. If you already spend time in pray daily, then look for ways to extend your prayer time. Make a list, ask for prayer requests, and pray for others. Here are some things and ways we are told to pray for in the New Testament:
Pray for enemies, pray in secret, pray an hour, pray that you avoid temptation, forgive other in prayer, ask and believe, pray for those who mistreat you, pray as the Lord prayed, Pray at all times and don’t lose heart, pray gathered together, lay on hands, pray to receive the Holy Spirit, pray continually, pray for those in prison, fast and pray, pray and sing praise, pray for all in attendance, pray for healing, pray in the Spirit, pray with understanding, pray to be perfected and complete, pray for enlightenment, pray for love, knowledge and discernment, pray for knowledge, wisdom and understanding, pray for opportunity, pray without ceasing, pray to be worthy of your calling, the spread of the gospel, with hands lifted up, to act honorable, if you are suffering then pray, have elders pray for you, pray in faith, pray earnestly and pray that we prosper and be in good health.
Scriptural models of prayer:
Hannah prayer, 1 Sam 1:1-18
Daniel’s Prayer of Confession, Daniel 9:1-19
Habakkuk Rejoices, Habakkuk 3
Jehoshaphat Prays for Deliverance: 2 Chronicles 20:5-12
The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13
Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, John 17
Prayer services Please attend one
Saturday 6-7 pm, Sunday 5-6 pm, Corporate Tarrying Service 6-7
Tuesdays Facebook Prayer Service 6:00-6:30 pm
Weekday Prayer in the sanctuary 11 am to 1 pm
Monday January 14 Women’s Prayer 6:30-7:30

Meditation
Psalm 77:12…I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds.
Psalm 119:15–16…I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.
Psalm 145:5…On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
Christian meditation is overlooked quiet often. Many have surrendered it to eastern religion when in fact the patriarchs in the Old Testament first practiced it. Whereas eastern meditation seeks to empty the mind, Bible based meditation is to fill the mind.
Primarily we fill our mind with God’s works and deeds. This is done by appreciating Him by seeing Him at work in creation and in His blessings in our lives. What He has done for all and what he has done for you. Spend quiet time with God.
Next, we meditate on precepts, statutes and word. For our purposes this is memorizing and mulling over scripture. Not just reading it, which is important, but making it stick in your head through intensely focusing on it and its application in our lives.
Lastly, we meditate on God Himself. Who he is and what he has done. Personalize and internalize this step. What do you think about Him and His hand in your life? To help meditate on the attributes of God, here are two videos that will aid in your meditation.
“Names of God” and “He is” Go to YouTube and put these in the search bar.
Weekly scripture parts

Write these on a sticky note and put it somewhere you will see it daily. Say it every time you see it. Ask yourself how you do these things.

Week 1 - Galatians 5:16-17
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh;
Week 2 - Deuteronomy 10:12–13
…what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?
Week 3 - 2 Corinthians 10:3
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
Week 4 - Isaiah 40:30–31
…those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Week 5 - 2 Corinthians 5:7
…for we walk by faith, not by sight—
Bible
Spend 30 minutes in God’s word daily. I suggest that you get an audio version of the Bible. A free app for your smartphones is Bible.Is. A simple Google search will yield an abundance of free bible downloads.
When you get up each day turn it on and go about your morning routine. When you travel put a Bible CD in your player. You will find that if you listen while you do regular routines you will spend more than 30 minutes daily in the word. Also, it will inspire you to read portions that you have listen to for greater insight. Listed below is the order which we will read through January. Following this general guideline of 30 minutes daily it will take 37 days to go through the New Testament. If you wish to make it through in 31 days bump your time up to 40 minutes of reading or listening.
January Reading List

Jan. 1 Mark 1-8
Jan. 2 Mark 9-16
Jan. 3 Philippians 1-4 and Colossians 1-4
Jan. 4 Titus 1-3 and I Peter 1-5 through II Peter 1-3
Jan. 5 John 1-5
Jan. 6 John 6-10
Jan. 7 John 11-16
Jan. 8 John 17-21 and I Corinthians 1-2
Jan. 9 I Corinthians 3- 16
Jan. 10 II Corinthians 1-13
Jan. 11 I Timothy 1-6 through 2 Timothy 1-4
Jan. 12 I John 1-5 through 2 John 1 through 3 John through Revelation 3
Jan. 13 Revelation 4-13
Jan. 14 Revelation 14-22
Jan. 15 Luke 1-7
Jan. 16 Luke 8-14
Jan. 17 Luke 15-20
Jan. 18 Luke 21-22
Jan. 19 Acts 1-7
Jan. 20 Acts 8-16
Jan. 21 Acts 17-23
Jan. 22 Acts 24-28 and Ephesians 1-2
Jan. 23 Ephesians 3-6 and I Thessalonians 1 through II Thessalonians 3
Jan. 24 Philemon 1 Matthew 1-7
Jan. 25 Matthew 8-13
Jan. 26 Matthew 14-20
Jan. 27 Matthew 21-25
Jan. 28 Matthew 26-28 and Romans 1-5
Jan. 29 Romans 6-16 and Galatians 1-4
Jan. 30 Galatians 5-6 and Hebrews 1-9
Jan. 31 Hebrews 10-13 and James 1-5 and Jude

Fasting
Isaiah 58:1–12 is the scripture I consider to be the cornerstone of fasting. Read this passage and see what the Holy Spirit quickens to you. Some people wonder if fasting is for a New Testament believer. Jesus, our model, fasted often and before major events. He would say of his disciples, “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” And when he taught, he said “When you fast…”
Fasting is not a “look at me!” activity. You humble yourself, think of others and put what God considers righteous first. The heart of fasting is to deny your flesh and feed your spirit. Those who are physically able to fast should fast on Thursdays. You should abstain from food and engage in spiritual activity, this is known as an absolute fast. If you are not sure if you are physically able to fast, you should check with your doctor.

If you are not sure an absolute fast is for you then do a modified fast. The Daniel Fast is one type of modified fasting. The short version is to abstain from meat, white flour and sugar. You eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and unleavened or whole wheat bread. Another modified type of fasting is the Ezekiel Fast. During this fast you eat only unleavened or whole wheat bread and water. Choose to consume around a 1,000 calories per day when you perform this type of fast.

You can fast things other than food. Remember the heart of fasting is to deny the flesh and feed the spirit. If you give up something and replace it with a spiritual endeavor that is a type of fasting. An example might be if you watch the news every night and give that up and spend that time in prayer. When you are starving the flesh and feeding the spirit, that is fasting. Giving up something you desire for spiritual gain.

Worship
Ephesians 5:18–19…And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
I want us to have a lifestyle of worship. Our life should be worship to the Lord. There are many aspects of worship but this month we are going to focus on the musical aspect of worship. Create a worship set and sing to the Lord in your devotional time. Singing to our savior should not be something we only do corporately and on Sundays. During Spiritual Emphasis Month give joy by singing to our heavenly father.

Service
Romans 12:1–2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
This month involve yourself in ministry not for the sake of making your pastor happy but as a service to the Lord. When you offer up your body to the Lord to use it is for service to the body of Christ. Service done is worship, think of it that way and look for different opportunities to worship in spirit and in truth.

Solitude

Matthew 14:23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
Perhaps this is one of the hardest of spiritual disciplines. Find time to take a walk with the Lord. Practice finding lonely places to be with the Father. Spend time listening for the voice of the Spirit talking to you.

Fellowship

Invite a fellow believer to spend time with you. The activity is not important, the time spent together is what is important. Take someone shopping, watch a sporting event, have dinner. Say a quick prayer and enjoy being with your brother or sister in the Lord. I plan to be at the Java Loft from 7:00-8:00 pm on Tuesdays starting January 1. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and we will get to know each other better.