November 2023 Edition
Hello Friends of FPM,
November hails the entry of winter weather. Snow is already in the forecast for our area. The leaves have turned, and many have fallen off the trees. Another season of life.
A special occasion launches November for my family. The matriarch of my family, my mother, turns ninety. A couple of her sisters are coming to town to spend a few days with her. Grandchildren are planning a day, and we are spending a day with her. All in all, she will be celebrated for most of the week surrounding her birth date.
Mom was a wife, mother, domestic engineer, and employed by Boeing for around fifteen years. Being that she and dad were Nebraska-born kids and lived on farms all their childhood, we always had a big garden. Added to the garden were seven fruit trees (two apple varieties, two cherry varieties, an Italian plum, pear, and a peach), there was always something ready to can. She is greatly loved. We celebrate and honor her, ninety years strong!
November also signals one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving. Caliatra and I will be spending a day with family in Oregon. I hope you will be able to spend time with your family during the Thanksgiving holiday.
First Place Ministries has much to be thankful for. The New Year will launch our 10th year of ministry. If you are not familiar with our Choose Life App, available for free at your app store, we would be honored if you would download it and check out the Choose Life Journal available every day. The Choose Life journal is a four-year plan, taking you through the entire Bible chapter by chapter. 2024 will complete our four-year plan. I hope you will join us.
The Choose Life Journal plan has a companion book which equips you with the tools to begin your own journey through the entire Bible. Books are available through either Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Blessings,
Rolland
Mountain of Spiritual Formation:
Discipleship
I recently studied a new book authored by John Bevere, titled The Awe of God, The Astounding Way A Healthy Fear of God Transforms Your Life, with a group of men. Few books have impacted my life the way The Awe of God did.
In reading the first few chapters, I recognized his format and formula. He uses the Choose Life formula of PRAAYER (Prayer, Reading, Attention, Action, Yielding, Engaging, Relationship) using all “P” words (Passage, Point, Ponder, Prayer, Profession). His “Profession” point is my “Action” point. He uses application as his secret sauce too. So, instead of journaling and studying the Bible chapter by chapter, Mr. Bevere is doing a topical study on Awe or Fear.
I appreciated how John uses the topic of the Fear of God (Awe of God) as a biblical topic to draw people into a more intimate relationship with God. Here is what he asks his audience, “Do you long for a more intimate relationship with your Creator? Does He seem distant, even elusive?” John sees the fear of the Lord as being one of the essential elements for a close and vital relationship with God. A proper fear of God also “frees us from all other fears and anxieties, purifies our inward motives and intentions, and leads us into true wisdom, understanding, and knowledge” of God (Proverbs 9:10).
In studying The Awe of God, I was faced with my inadequate concept of the fear of the Lord. A proper concept of Fear or Awe would have kept me from the lifestyle of sin in past years which represented my life.
I hope you will consider studying John’s book, The Awe of God as your next book read. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom according to Solomon. Not an end, but the beginning of an intimate lifestyle with Adonai.
I can support any efforts toward discipleship which the Choose Life Journal intentionally focuses on. Both The Awe of God and the Choose Life Journal are inviting followers of Yeshua to be discipled by the Holy Spirit. Both studies are lifestyle studies which the Holy Spirit will use to transform your life.
John and Lisa Bevere are co-founders of Messenger International.
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Choose Life App!
Choose Life App!
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