The Kettle Club :: March Meeting

Exemplify’s Kettle Club is meeting today. Head over to the blog to read up on the questions for discussion this month and to sign up at the Mr. Linky.

I’m chatting today about the following topics up for discussion:

• Do you have a certain morning system that accompanies your quiet time? If so, share it with us! A special place in your home you go to read? A special devotional or Bible you use? Do you journal, drink tea, pray out loud or have a picture board of those you are praying for?
• Share a standout lesson you’ve learned this month and why it has made such an impact on you.

I absolutely do have a morning routine that accompanies my time in the Word! Honestly, I think that having a morning routine helps keep me accountable to reading before starting my day.

I cannot think of anything I enjoy more than brewing myself a cup o’ steaming tea in my favorite mug and cuddling up on the couch with my Bible. This is how I approach each morning.

More often than not, I butter my toast, grab my tea, head for the cozy spot on my couch (or out to the balcony if I’m feeling particularly outdoorsy) and grab my Bible & journal.

For me journaling is a way to keep focused during my morning routine. Whether I focus on writing the names of those I want to pray for, the specific portions of Scripture I’ve read each morning or simply my own prayer for the day — a journal tends to keep my mind set on what I am doing. Not to mention it is an awesome tool to look back on and see just how far God has brought you! I’ve approached my Bible time this way since I was child! I’ve always read and wrote. It’s in my blood I suppose.

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This month I’ve been making my way through the book of Acts. In the beginning of the month I felt a pull to re-study this book of the Bible. I dare say when I am finished this may very well become my favorite book! Of course, I’ve read Acts before but never with the intention and focus I am reading it with now.

Can I just say that the power of the Holy Spirit blows me away?!?! Blows. Me. Away. I am in awe as I read account after account of what the Spirit did in the early Church.

It is an amazing thing to see the difference between the disciples in Acts compared to their behavior in Luke (or any of the Gospels for that matter). Such a huge difference to the way they live their lives now that we see Christ living IN them as opposed to just WITH them. This has been a huge source of my studying this month…

The Lord has also been molding my thoughts on the Church today by pointing out how the Church began. It is a beautiful thing. I hope to share some things I’ve been learning in the coming weeks.

I’m moved to the deepest parts of my heart as I read phrases in Acts that say, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47)

It is stirring up in me a desire to get out there and do this thing. To live this life for Christ’s glory and to preach the Word wherever I go. Not so much even with words all the time, simply by the way I live.

Is the way I live something the Lord can use to daily add to His numbers?

• Am I approachable to the cashier at the grocery store or am I on my phone?
• Am I willing to show my weaknesses in order to glorify God’s strength?
• Am I more concerned about how my story is going to play out in this life or about offering my life to God’s story?

I want to live like the men and women of Acts.

I would say thus far Acts 5:41 has most marked me: “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”

Wow.

What are some of your routines as you read the Bible? What stand out lessons have you learned?

I’d love to know!