I recently undertook to read through the entire Bible, preferably in a year. This is of course not a novel idea, and there are books, web sites and apps devoted to helping people achieve this goal. I settled on YouVersion and their iPhone app, and I'd definitely recommend them if you're interested in something similar.

The thing is, I'm always really concerned with motivation. Am I reading the Bible just because I said I would, like my attempts to plow through War and Peace? Or am I trying to learn something while I read through the entire text? Honestly, I think it's a little of both, depending on the content for the day or how far behind I've fallen in my quest. This plan I'm on looks like this: 2-3 chapters of the Old Testament, 1 chapter of the New Testament, 1 Psalm and like half a Proverb every day. Add some milk and sugar, stir occasionally, and voila! the recipe for a holy life, right?

Well, like most modern Christians I know, I think I just assumed that the New Testament would hold all the relevant truth I needed, and I'd just slog through Leviticus and the "begats" as the price I had to pay for completing my noble mission of reading all of God's Word. As opposed to, you know, wanting to read it. But a funny thing happened within the first week of my reading. They say God can take bad situations and work them for good; I say He takes even our good intentions and works them for His good. In my mind, I had perfectly valid motivation for my reading; I couldn't have foreseen how perfectly God could synchronize the text with my life. Let me explain:

Over the summer, as I mentioned previously, I spent two weeks in Slovakia with high school students. Now Slovakia isn't a place where believers are persecuted or hunted or anything, but there's definitely a challenge to being a Christian there. In America, there's a sort of grudging acceptance that church exists in a community, and might even help out its neighbors once in a while, so it's not so bad. In Slovakia, you sense a real effort is needed to keep Christianity relevant. Now imagine how tough that is on a 16- or 17-year-old that may be just learning the basics of the faith while also trying to just be a teenager. Needless to say, faith, confidence, and a need to "hear His voice" are common prayer requests from my friends there.

On "Day 10" of the plan, I found myself in Genesis 24 and Matthew 8. In Genesis, Abraham sends his most trusted servant ("the man in charge of his household") on a quest to find a suitable wife for his son, Isaac. What I like is that the servant prays very specifically for a sign (v. 12-14). When it comes to pass, there is no question that God has answered his prayer. Lesson alert!! Today, we pray so vaguely for things like faith and God's will; of course in our limited wisdom we'll struggle to see that prayer answered! And of course, in the story, Abraham's servant has his faith rewarded, and he finds Rebekah and brings her home to marry Isaac.

But that's not all. In Matthew 8, Jesus is in Capernaum and encounters an officer in the Roman army, who begs Jesus to heal his son. One of my all-time favorite passages because this guy has SO much faith that he essentially challenges Jesus for something bigger. Jesus offers to come to the officer's house and heal his kid, but the Roman tells Jesus that all that is needed is just a word from Him. And Jesus comes through, and even remarks that He has never seen such a great example of faith in action (v. 10).

The consistency of Scripture is such a cool thing, huh? The two stories gave me a great takeaway: that we should pray confidently and specifically. That no matter how far away God may feel, we can trust in His power and ability to provide. And this is my advice and encouragement to my friends in Slovakia, as well to all of you here at home. Give it a try in the next week.

Next week, I tackle the concept of wisdom and accessing God's word in a modern world.