Starting a WhatsApp Bible Study; Top Tips to Consider.

Keep in touch with the groups of people that matter the most, like your family or coworkers. With group chats, you can share messages, photos, and videos with up to 256 people at once. You can also name your group, mute or customize notifications, and more.

Why use WhatsApp?

WhatsApp helps people connect by sending messages and other forms of media. The fact that it’s free and in some countries uses almost no internet data makes it a tool of choice for many, especially younger people like students.

The app is widely used among professionals, family and friends. People spend a lot of time connected and chatting. So it’s a huge privilege to bring in discussions about God’s Word to a free place where we find people already ‘assembled’.

How many people?

The group size can be compared with the normal small groups of Bible study. The objective is to make the discussions possible and easy, with an opportunity given to everyone to participate. At a certain moment we had more and more people who wanted to join, and it became impossible to discuss so many questions and viewpoints.

A group of 5 to 8 people is practical. If other people are interested in joining the group, it’s better to encourage one of the experienced members to create another one and lead it.

Organization

When we started, we discussed the passage in the group, and one of us led the discussions. It was tough but interesting to reach a common conclusion about the meaning of the passage.

But having one person preparing the passage while others asked questions wasn’t the intended goal – we wanted deeper participation.  So we encouraged each person to study and reflect on the passage alone during the day. We then ‘WhatsApped’ from 9 to 10:30 in the evening to share discoveries, challenges and questions.

Obstacles

Sometimes people want to join but they are already studying another book of the Bible, so find it difficult to keep up with us. It’s good to have a daily programme that you present to people, explaining how the group works.

Another challenge is that some members don’t read and study the Bible on a daily basis, so instead of participating they simply read the discussions. The group members can agree on the regularity of the discussions, it is good to fix one, three or five days in the week to hold the discussions. On the other days other topics can be discussed. But you need to keep encouraging people to read the Word.

Facilitation

One of the great things is there is no need for a leader who does all the preparation, since everyone shares his or her discoveries. But there has to be someone who can facilitate the discussions, invite others in the discussions, encourage participation, etc. And the facilitator will have to monitor what is shared and intervene if there is a clearly wrong interpretation of the passage. In this way, it is like in any normal small group.

Conclusion

Although some conservative Christians look on new technologies with suspicion, the fact that we are studying the Bible provides a solid argument for using the app. It is easy for people to join groups – they don’t have to travel and they can join in when they have time.

And young people are certainly interested in using the app in this way. Here’s what they say:

‘The WhatsApp studies are important because they remind me every evening to free a moment for meditation and to share with others.’

‘I found a good setting where I can be challenged. Other people’s point of view help me to see and deal with certain facets of my life that I’d never have thought of while I was alone.’

‘When I knew that we would share, I was prompted to study the text for myself so that I was not just discussing others’ view points, but I could share what I learned.

So… why not start a WhatsApp group to connect with your friends and God’s Word today?!

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Having a Relationship with God; What It Means.

“To all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them” (John 1:12b TLB).

Yesterday we talked about why it’s important for you to know the purpose of your life so that God can use you while you’re here on Earth. So, if this life is preparation for eternity, how do you do it? How do you use your life here to prepare for eternity?

First, you get to know Jesus Christ.

The Bible says, “To all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them” (John 1:12b TLB). Notice that not everybody’s a child of God —  just those who receive him into their lives. God wants you to establish a relationship with him by trusting in him.

You establish a relationship with God the same way you establish any relationship. If I want to have a relationship with my wife, Kay, what do I have to do? First, I have to spend time with her. I have to show her that I’m invested in getting to know her by making time for her and making the time count. You cannot have a relationship with somebody you never spend any time with.

That’s the same way you develop a relationship with God. You make time in your schedule for him. In fact, you make him the first and most important part of your day through a daily quiet time. You get alone with God and worship him and learn from him. You spend regular, significant time with him.

The second thing you’ve got to do to have a relationship is talk. There are a lot of ways to be more intentional about your prayer life. Maybe you need to start a prayer journal of requests and answered prayer. You could make a prayer card using Scripture and put it on your bathroom mirror or on your desk at work so that you are reminded to pray God’s Word. Or maybe your family needs to have a set time of prayer together each day. Whatever it is you need to do to increase your conversation with God, do it!

You will never regret investing your time, your energy, and your life in getting to know God better. Take the first step today in getting ready to be used by God by spending time with him and talking to him.

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The Revival We Need

"My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word."—Ps. 119:25. "I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word."—Ps. 119:107. "Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word."—Ps. 119:154. These Scriptures give us the definition of a true revival, the dire need of such a revival, and a simple description of how to get it.

I. THE TRUE REVIVAL DEFINED

A true revival is a quickening according to God’s Word, not according to some man’s magnetism or eccentricity. A talented evangelist may swoop down upon a community and make a stir by sharp, striking sayings, draw large crowds and quicken a kind of interest; but such a quickening may be according to the evangelist, not according to the Word of God. 

Now, what we need is an increase of spiritual life which is in line with scriptural teaching. A revival means a giving of more life. David had life; what he wished for was life more abundant. We have love for God and men; what we need is more of the same quality; but be sure that it is love according to the Word of God. ‘This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.’ Obedience, not sentimentalism or unctuous joy, is love. 

Such obedience to God will be linked with unselfish ministry to man. A missionary by the name of Crossett died years ago in China. He was greatly loved by the Chinese people. He chose a life of poverty, because he did not have time to make money. He spent his days and nights with the sick, the poor, the anxious. He led many of them to Christ. He thought not of himself, but of others. He loved men, not because of the ties of kinship or nationality, but because they were men with immortal souls precious in the sight of God. Such love we need in abundance: a love producing a zeal that consumes us. A love that burdens us for the salvation of men. 

Faith

We need a quickening of faith; faith in the power of the God of Pentecost to convict and convert three thousand in a day. Faith, not in a process of culture by which we hope to train children into a state of salvation, but faith in the mighty God who can quicken a dead soul into life in a moment; faith in moral and spiritual revolution rather than evolution. 

Conviction

We need conviction. Looseness is in the air, and we know who the prince of the power of the air is. There is a charity prevalent which rejoices not in the truth. We need men and women who believe something definite and are willing to live and die for their faith. Is there on earth today a John Knox, willing to face a Queen Mary and declare to her that she is an idolatress? Is there among our young women an Anne Askew, who, rather than profess what she does not believe, that the real presence is in the wafer, would go to the tower and have her bones crushed on the rack, then from the stake in Smithfield, go up to God in a chariot of fire? Is there among our older women an Elizabeth Gaunt, who, while the thumbscrews are on her thumbs and fingers, tightened until the blood spurts, refuses to worship saints and bow down to the host? Have we any John Philpot and John Rogers left in our ministry, who are willing to burn at the stake rather than give even silent consent to soul-destroying errors? Have we not, on the other hand, a namby-pamby, flabby sort of faith—a jellyfish conviction, without any backbone? Is not our religion too much like a ball of wax—put into any shape by touch with things about it? We need a revival of religion of solidity and substance—a religion that resists evil and error and, with the gentleness and faithfulness of Christ, is true to itself and to its Author. 

Conscientiousness

There is a great need also of a revival of conscientiousness—a religion not of the hothouse, which thrives under the heat of song, sermon and services on Sunday, but of sturdy growth, that will flourish in the soil and atmosphere of everyday business. Honest merchants, truthful lawyers, faithful preachers, loyal citizens, devoted mothers, wives and husbands, obedient children, industrious workmen are the needs of today and every day. A quickening of conscientiousness that makes us ready to do the right at all hazards is better than a season of froth and foam of feeling or rapturous joy. The grocer who went home from church and burnt his bushel, because he knew that it was a false measure, received more benefit from the sermon than if he had gone home, clapped his hands and shouted hallelujah, without thinking of his dishonesty. Such a revival as that will last. It will not be like the beautiful snowflower of Siberia, which comes up through the snow and perishes in a few hours under the withering blast of evening. The flowers of faith and joy which blossom one day and wither the next are not of the species of the rose of sharon or the lily of the valley.

II. OUR DIRE NEED OF SUCH A REVIVAL
True Revival Will Lift Us Out of the Dust and Help Us to Shake Off All That Clings to Us 

"My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word."—Ps. 119:25. Dust is the symbol of earthiness as opposed to heavenly-mindedness. David’s soul had an attraction for dust. Drooping or dead things hold dust. It will not stick so easily to living objects; and the cure for this dust magnetism is a larger infusion of life. The sick eagle wallows in the dust; it has not strength of wing to rise and shake it off. But the eagle full of life soars above the dust and gazes into the sun. Christians who are today wallowing in the dust of worldliness need an infusion of strong, healthy life that they may "mount up with wings as eagles." 

The True Revival Will Sustain Us Under Life’s Burdens 

"I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word."—Ps. 119:107. Dust mars and hinders life, but it is not heavy. There are Christians not covered with dust, living consecrated lives, who have on them heavy burdens of responsibility, calamity or sorrow. Such as those need quickening, that they may have strength to bear their burdens. David was afflicted very much. 

This word afflicted has a wider range than bodily disease, but he does not pray for a lessening of the burden. What he wants is more life to carry what he has and to assume larger burdens. Burden-bearing develops a strong, healthy man, while it crushes the weak and sickly. We need more life under these burdens, that they may develop us rather than crush us. Responsibility, disappointment and sorrow make men despair. They give up the conflict, sometimes on the very verge of victory, for the lack of life to bear up. A man in California had spent his little fortune seeking gold. Every dollar was gone, and he was in debt. Disheartened and demented by his despair, he left his drill one day, went to his cabin, shot his wife and child, then killed himself. Such wickedness! Such tragedy! Such misplaced values! His friends, who pulled up his drill, found on its point the richest kind of ore. If he had held out but a day longer, he would have been rich. Thus we may be on the very verge of great success, yet fail for the lack of the life that bears disappointment. 

The True Revival Will Break All Bonds That Enslave Us 

"Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word."—Ps. 119:154. 

This reveals to us a condition of bondage. "Deliver me"—set me free. This freedom comes through a revival—a quickening according to God’s Word. Some of us are bound by hab-it—the habit of doing evil or the habit of doing nothing good. It is difficult to tell which is worse—the habit of doing what is wrong or the habit of neglecting what is right. Oh, for the quickening that will deliver us from these do-nothing bonds! 

Others are bound by the fear of men. When the apostles were filled with the Spirit, they spoke the Word of God with boldness. They feared neither the face nor the sword of their enemies. Many are bound by self-interest. They are afraid to offend those out of whom they make profit. They will not be out-and-out Christians lest some who read not the Bible and care nothing for religion will not be pleased. The social circle in which they move is not an atmosphere of religion. The opinions of their friends do not encourage active work for Christ. We need a quickening that will give us strength, like Samson, to break the cords which these Philistines of the world have put upon us. 

III. HOW TO GET SUCH A REVIVAL

Pray for it. Every text is a prayer: "Quicken thou me according to thy word." It is a personal prayer. It is well to pray for the pastor, for the church and for the world, but it is better to begin by praying for one’s self. "Quicken me." If you are quickened, somebody else will be. If the fire begins in your soul, the flames will catch the combustible material about you. You need to strike the spiritual match that can burn up a city. The fact is, all quickening must be individual. The Lord does not quicken the crowd. 

The tongues of flame at Pentecost sat not upon the crowd but "upon each of them." A revival that comes in answer to prayer is God-given, the only kind worth having. A revival gotten up is soon put down. A revival produced by a series of mechanics, whether of song or invitation or eccentricity, can be destroyed by an opposite course of mechanics. It is simply a battle of force with force, with which God has nothing to do. 

The revival which we call the Reformation was born in prayer. Luther’s habit was to pray three hours a day. The knees of Melanchthon were found after his death to have been made callous by kneeling. Pentecost was preceded by ten days of supplication and prayer. Peter and John were in the spirit of prayer on their way into the temple, when the other great revival in which many were converted was commenced. After Christ had cast out the devil from the demoniac, He said, ‘Such as this cometh out only by prayer.’ 

Oh, for Elijahs who can break up the spiritual drought by praying rain out of the skies! Jonathan Edwards preached "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" many times, but only on one occasion was it signally blessed. He read from a manuscript, holding it up awkwardly to the light; yet while he read, the people took hold of the pews, fearing that they were sliding into Hell. What was the secret? A little company of his members had met the Saturday before, remained together without supper, continued in prayer all night, and forgot their breakfast next morning as they pleaded with God for His hand of power upon their pastor. 

John Wesley carried an old man around with him to pray for him. The secret of his vast power was doubtless the intercession of this godly man. Chiniquy was converted on a Saturday evening, and he spent the whole night in prayer and praise. No wonder when he stood up before his large congregation the next day and preached Jesus Christ, the gift of God, a thousand souls were converted. What we need now for quickening is not so much money and wisdom as the spirit of supplication. Pray for yourself until the new life is infused. When that new life comes, it will lead you to pray for others. 

The servant girl in a New England town prayed all night for the salvation of her mistress. That mistress, unable to sleep, convicted of her sin, not knowing the cause, urged her husband to go out and get some preacher to pray for her. Then, reflecting that the servant girl was a Christian, they went to her room, and before opening the door they heard these words: "O Lord, bless Mistress. Have mercy on her, for she is good to me." Opening the door gently, husband and wife knelt down by the side of their servant girl and asked her to pray for them. We need not riches nor honor nor position to have the ear of the King. 

The weakest may be made powerful by the quickening of the Spirit. If you cannot pray, then try David’s petition: ‘Quicken Thou me, and I will call upon Thy name.’ Pray for the grace to pray; pray for the spirit of prayer; and the God of all mercy and grace will show forth His power.

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Who Are You Depending On?

By Rick Warren

If you want God’s blessing on your relationships, career, studies, finances, and health, you have to humbly depend on God instead of yourself. 

So how do you do that? And, how do you know if you’re really trusting God well in your life? Here are five ways to depend on God and a practical test to rate yourself in each area. 

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AWARENESS OF DIVINE TIMING

The manifestation of the success that God has purposed for you requires a healthy respect for time. Any moment of time that you don’t attach a definite purpose to will be lost. Time is so mysterious that it slips out of the fingers of a lot of people.  Attach an assignment to every moment of your life otherwise it will be lost. In the book of Joshua 13:1, the Bible says “Now Joshua was old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” This was a report sheet marked FAILURE  literally meaning your time is up and you have not done your work. To avoid this kind of report at the end of your earthly sojourn, you must attach importance to every moment you spend on earth.

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ANGRY WITH EVIL

Question: I realize that love and humility are Christian virtues, but what about when you see injustice? I sometimes get so upset when I read about some of the terrible things going on in the world. Is it always wrong to be angry?

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Jesus calls us and Loves us

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.
(1 Peter 4.10 NRSV)

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12 Keys to a More Powerful Prayer Life

Years ago, an old saint shared with me twelve prayer principles from the life of Jesus Christ. It made such a difference in my personal prayer life. There are only 17 references to Jesus praying and most of them are in the book of Luke.

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Separation Unto A Higher Life And Destiny

Separation Unto A Higher Life And Destiny

Everybody will perform when it is required of them but leaders perform consistently under self-initiation; they move themselves to do the needful well. That is the distinguishing mark of a leader and if you read our text carefully, you will see something that you can refer to as separation for elevation. If you are going to rise high in your life, vocation or calling, you must separate yourself. There were eleven people that got on the mountain with Jesus but He left eight of them behind and didnt tell them anything. He only required them to sit down while He went yonder to pray and then

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