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.