Hi! We're here to share with you our family's L.I.F.E. thoughts, tips, and stories about raising boys and girls (and that includes me and my husband.) May what you find here be a blessing to you today.
Love,
Carmen Gutierrez 💜
If ever you’d like to try reading
The Bible, HOW to start?
It's GCQ already but all the how-to’s that we're looking for about it kind of makes us more anxious than equipped, restricted than free to go, afraid than secured, noh?
But now that you’re here, I’m so glad! Because for me, this is the BEST HOW-TO TOPIC that I mega promote you search about lalo na in this discouraging times—reading the Bible ♥️
And I’m so hopeful for you to be encouraged and refreshed by it!
This is why I wrote this for you...and/or for your friend whom you want to help to start reading her Bible. 🙂 What I will share here are the tips & lessons GIVEN TO ME by the people who helped me to know my God more, and to find rest and security in Him. Methods na nagawa ko na mismo that I’ve proven helpful. SOME of those are written here, plus a little kwento of my mood swings, laziness, stubbornness, pride and unbelief, kaya nagiging on-and-off ang pagbabasa ko ng Bible.
But first, I have patikim verses for you to warm up with!
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. - Psalm 34:8
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Pag kay Lord daw tayo umasa para sa safety natin, blessed tayo!
But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
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No to feeling like a dry plant! We want this—to be like a well-watered, fruitful plant!
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. - John 10:10b
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Hindi lang pera, asawa, anak, dream house, or fame ang sagot sa needs ng heart mo. A full life...an abundant life!
Keep this (Bible) always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. - Joshua 1:8
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It says here, the Word of God is the KEY to being prosperous and successful! It's our true self-help book!
Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. - Deuteronomy 11:19
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We’re told to teach God’s word to our kids as part of our responsibilities. How do we do that if we don’t know it? That’s why I’m glad you're headed this way!
You’ll know more and love more when you start reading on your own! 💜
I was once like you—started with just plainly being CURIOUS. Those who’ve led me to knowing Jesus, they taught me these methods and I did them. . . paminsan minsan nga lang. Wala pang inestablish na habit eh. From time to time I stopped cos of the usual excuse: TOO BUSY with other things.
Someone would encourage me again so I did various methods again, tapos hindi na ulit whenever I’m lazy, then I read again whenever I’m down, stopped again when I’m distracted or feeling strong, I read again when I realized God’s word is my sustenance, then get lazy again when I think I know pretty a lot already, feeling like I know the Bible enough. Then back at it again whenever I realize IT TRULY IS LIFE. The Word of God IS LIFE.
Now I’ve fallen in love with it. I know that as you put your mind and time into this... YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH IT, too. For where your treasure is (time/energy/money) there your heart will be also. 💜
Here they are naaa!!! I’ll give you 5 beginner's choices to start with! 🖐🏻
Ulitin ko lang, these are NOT STEPS po, okay? Ito po ay iba’t ibang paraan ng pagbabasa ng Bible. You can choose 1 method a day/week or do combinations. Parang meal plan! After all, it’s the true food for your soul. 🙂
OR DO ALL!!! Mixed methods in a week kung malikot ka like my husband and son! 🤣
1. Download the free YouVersion Bible App!
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It sends to you the VERSE OF THE DAY, a one-liner you can stick with the entire day or can lead you to read the entire chapter!
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What I love about this app is that it has push notification on settings that you can set to send you the verse of the day KAHIT OFFLINE KA! I love this feature kasi sa gabi I turn off my wifi before sleeping so that I can avoid social media notifs lining up on my screen the moment I wake up!!! Kagigising pa lang hinihila ka na agad to your FB/IG. 😒 I’ve fallen for this so many times and my mind gets filled up with various input of other people that either burdens or clutters my head with the many connections I need to process, eh kay aga aga pa! 🤦🏻♀️ This habit of seeing the WORD OF GOD FIRST THING in the morning when I grab my phone is a great energizer!!! It often leads me--naturally, not just scheduled--to praying or reading the whole chapter before getting up from the bed.☀️
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They also have PLANS and Topical Reading. But for these features, you just need internet connection. Download mo na and explore! 😊 You can even choose translation versions of the Bible to whichever would help you understand the text more. I recommend ESV, NIV1984, NLT, or NCV. May Filipino translation din dyan.
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Now when you're on it, I highly suggest you take actions to avoid distractions like mag-log out ka po muna sa mga social media accounts mo when you’re reading. Or else one drop-down notif can take you away and wala na, hindi mo na nabalikan. Please maniwala ka. 😆
2. One Proverbs chapter a day, keeps the doctor away!!! 🍎
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The book of PROVERBS interestingly has 31 chapters! You can read 1 chapter a day per month! 😉 These are the wisdom snippets compilation. Your daily dose of quotable quotes na swak sa hugot!
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What I often do, I read a chapter every night when I'm already in bed. This is the habit I've been sustaining so that I won't end my day with social media. I have done that so many days of my life--FB/IG/Messenger before sleeping--and it almost always leads me to be puyat and restless. That's just me ha? I've just come to realize that my days are so much better when I start them with God's word and end it that way too.
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Tip: Pick 1 favorite proverb per week, chew and chew and chew on it in your thoughts till you memorize it. Or write it on a post-it, and stick it on your ref!
3. Just go dive in and read from “In the beginning . . . ”
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Walang keme. Just go get your own Bible and start reading from Genesis! Whether you buy a cutesy one in your fave color with flowers or get a nerdy one with the study guide or just borrow the one you found in your house when you did ECQ general cleaning! (At napa “meron pala tayo nito???” ka) Or pwede din sa Bible app—makakapili ka pa ng version na gusto mo like ESV/NIV/NLT mga ganyan.
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There are so many Bibles for sale online if you’d prefer not to go out for it. Alam ko uso ang pagbili ng bicycle ngayon pero eto din, it's a worthy investment.💜
Here's a sample find of a hardcopy Bible: https://shopee.ph/English-Bibles---ESV--TEV--NLT--NIV--NKJV-i.17030512.5409861134?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt6fp6I3O6QIVScEWBR30jw_SEAQYDCABEgKhdfD_BwE
(Disclaimer: NOT my shop at hindi ko po yan kilala 😅 it’s really just a sample find.)
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What I love about this option is that you'd start FROM THE BEGINNING. It'll give you the historical context of God's original design for us and how we people keep on destroying that design in thinking we know better. You'll also encounter why The Ten Commandments had to be given to us, stories of how God chooses imperfect people to carry out His mission of saving us, details of how God makes things excellently, and many, many more!
4. Start with the “Jesus books!”
(Don’t quote me on that, hehe. That’s just how I like to call the 4 books about Jesus’ walk with His disciples on earth.) They’re more often called the Gospel Books.
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Open your hardcopy Bible or your app, (but believe me... the hard copy is better!) then go the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. You’ll realize halos pareparehas sila ng stories cos most of them have witnessed the actual events and wrote them down for us. Yung perspectives nila bilang iba’t ibang klase sila ng tao yet talking about the same things that happened are so interesting! Read and try comparing their stories! 😊
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These are all about the life and death of Jesus--the man and God you've been hearing about all your life as a Filipino yet you never really got to know Him. These books are your BEST resource!
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Also, what I love about starting off from here is that it's filled with stories of miracle after miracle, lessons on good deeds, loving others, and mysteries explained plainly, all by Jesus, directly teaching his disciples.
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Here you'll encounter how Jesus selected people who are supposedly not qualified to speak about God's Word, but called them out to follow Him anyway.
5. The One2one Booklet!
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Since you’re here, that’s most probably because you want to know God more or His promises or blessings or plans for your life or all of those! But those are all given in the context of a relationship with Him, of a life surrendered to Him. If you’re willing to be in that relationship, then this option is one of the bests if not yet the best—to do One2One with you! 🤗♥️
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“ONE 2 ONE is a seven-lesson follow-up and discipleship guide to help facilitate conversations to jumpstart your walk with God.
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The topics in ONE 2 ONE are:
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Salvation
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Lordship
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Repentance
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Baptism
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The Bible and Prayer
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The Church
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Make Disciples
For those of you who’ve been wanting to share your faith with your friends and family, ONE 2 ONE is a simple tool for you to do so. You can help your friends and family know more about Jesus and follow Him through personal follow-up and discipleship.” (Source: https://victory.org.ph/tag/one-2-one-booklet/)
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I did this walk-through with some girls that I've journeyed with in my relationship with God, and I'm currently doing it now with another friend. I know a looooot of people who love doing the same with someone. Including this person who shared this article with you today! 😉 You can just chat with me, him or her so we can get connected!
There you go! Please let me know which of the 5 methods you’ve picked for this new journey, okay? Excited for you!
