S.T.A.P.L.E
Click the link below marked “52 Week Devotional” to download a printable bible reading plan.
This plan will take you through the bible in 1 year! (you will require Adobe Acrobat Reader, or other pdf viewer to open the file).
ALL ABOUT S.T.A.P.L.E
We all need good, nutritious and healthy foods that form our ’staple diet’ to help us maintain good health physically and indeed to help us to grow. So too with our spiritual state, we need a ’staple diet’ here also. The dictionary describes staple as ‘being an important principle, material or commodity’. Our ’staple diet’ to help us grow in our walk with the Lord should consist of spending time fellowshipping with the Lord both in the Word and in prayer. This is where our spiritual health and growth come from – the Lord Himself as we fellowship with Him.
Some, even long-term Christians, have great difficulty reading the Bible and spending time in prayer. Many simply don’t know where to start, they have fed solely on hearing messages from others rather than receiving from the Lord themselves. Others see little change or growth. Here is a simple tool to help you get into this important area and indeed see growth in your relationship with the Lord. It is a conviction that some practical assistance can take most people a long way in their walk with God. With God’s help (and a sincere decision on your part) you will quickly discover the satisfaction that comes from hearing God ’speak’ to you through his Word and in subsequent times of prayer. This is not meant to be for only an elite few, but for everyone who has entered into a relationship with the Lord. As you are about to find out, getting into it is quite simple, and the benefits are immense as you unlock a doorway to your daily spiritual growth.
What Is S.T.A.P.L.E and what does it stand for?
Scripture – All Scripture is God-breathed – the very words of God, and is useful for our training and equipping (See 2 Timothy 3:16-17). We need to spend time with the Lord in His Word to learn of Him and His ways.
Teaching – We shouldn’t just read the Word though, but come and meditate on it, as you ask ‘Lord, what are You teaching me today?’ To meditate in a Christian (not new age) way is to reflect prayerfully on biblical truth so as to understand and apply it to your life. It is the way to let the things of God filter from your thinking into your living. It is filling up rather than emptying – it is to your spirit what eating is to your body. The godly art of meditation is a time-honoured habit: For example, Moses commanded Joshua to meditate on God’s words taking special care to live by them as the key to a prosperous and successful journey into the Promised Land (Joshua 1:8). Psalm 1 reads “Blessed are those who… meditate on the word of the Lord day & night; they are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in season, & their leaves do not wither. In whatever they do they prosper.” You haven’t really grasped a truth in the Bible until it shapes your behaviour. Maturity develops as you act in faith on what God teaches you.
Application – As we come to an understanding of what we are reading, we then as a natural flow on need to apply it to our lives. James 1:22 says ‘Do not merely listen to the Word but do what it says’. God gave us the Bible not for our information, nor for our consideration, but for our transformation, and this comes through a Spirit empowered application to our lives. Without this important step we just become full of knowledge but are void of power and fruit – a real danger.
Prayer – We then need to bring what we have received from the Lord before Him with thanksgiving, giving Him praise as well as offer our prayers of confession and intercession etc. as the Spirit leads us in prayer. We also need to humble ourselves and ask Him to help us walk this out as with the empowering of His Spirit, knowing that His grace is sufficient, His power is made perfect in weakness.
Listening – A key part of prayer and indeed fellowshipping with the Lord in a living relationship is listening. We are to be still and wait upon the Lord and indeed hear from Him (See John 10:4, 16, 27 for example). This is a vital part of relationship. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word from the mouth of God – both the LOGOS (written) and RHEMA (Spirit) word.
Encourage – King David encouraged himself in the Lord (we only have to read the Psalms) and we should do likewise. The devil wants to steal our joy and indeed our faith, and we need to as we go out, go out with praise, thanksgiving and reminding ourselves of who God is, and what He has done. God is faithful and totally trustworthy.
So what are you waiting for? Take a notebook and make it into a journal and go on your journey with the Lord, spending time with Him, listening to Him and receiving what He wants to reveal to you. Make room for an index at the front of your journal so you can refer back to it at anytime in the future, reminding yourself of what the Lord has been saying to you. This is a really good thing to do, which is why the Lord through the prophets continually reminded the Israelites of what He spoke and did in the past. Looking back at times helps us to walk forward.
Take a step on from here in faith, and share what the Lord has been saying to you. It is encouraging for not only yourself, but the Body of Christ as each one shares what the Lord has been saying to them – which is Biblical by the way. You never know, others might even be hearing the same thing! In starting, you can use the daily devotional readings attached, or you can work through Scripture yourself. It doesn’t really matter, the main thing is that you are spending time with the Lord both in His Word and in prayer, hearing from Him personally as a Father speaks with His child. God’s desire is that you would grow and be changed from one degree of glory to another. He has great and mighty plans for you. He wants to work through you for His glory. This is all a work of His Spirit, but we are called to partner with Him in this, just like we are to partner with one another. As you move one, may you be encouraged by these words of truth.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith–that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.(Ephesians 3:14-21)