Cheri Fuller - The One Year Praying through the Bible: Experience the Power of the Bible Through Prayer (One Year Bible)

Dedicated to the memory of

FLO PERKINS,

faithful intercessor, prayer mentor, loving friend

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One Year and The One Year are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

The One Year Praying through the Bible

Copyright 2003 by Cheri Fuller. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph of stairs copyright Alex Gorham/Unpslash.com. All rights reserved.

Designed by Timothy R. Botts

Edited by Susan Taylor

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the first edition as follows:

Fuller, Cheri.

The one year book of praying through the Bible / Cheri Fuller.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-8423-6178-1 (sc)

1. Bible Devotional use. 2. Devotional calendars. I. Title.

BS390 .F85 2003

242.2 dc212003012633

ISBN 978-1-4143-6180-2 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4143-2031-1 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4143-7894-7 (Apple)

Build: 2021-04-21 22:33:16 EPUB 3.0

How marvelous that although everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory (Romans 11:36), yet the Lord gives us the opportunity to partner with him in his purposes! I am grateful for those who partnered with me on this project. Thank you, Peggy and Earl Stewart, Suzie Eller, Treasure Frosch, Lisa Cronk, Phama Woodyard, Kendra and John Smiley, and Vickey Banks, for your prayers, support, love for Gods Word, and contributions to this book.

Special thanks to Jon Farrar, Susan Taylor, and the Tyndale House team for all their efforts on behalf of The One Year Bible and this devotional book, and for their commitment to helping Gods Word come alive to people all around the world.

Thanks also to Janet Page and Jo Hayes for their ongoing prayers, and also to those who have prayed for and encouraged me along the journey.

Thanks and love to my husband, Holmes, who has stood by me, been my constant intercessor, and cheered me on in a variety of ways.

And most of all, thank you to the Living Word, Jesus, for giving his life for us that we might know him and for gifting us with the precious Word of God.

Seventeenth-century French writer Franois Fnelon once said, Listen less to your own thoughts and more to Gods thoughts. When my heart reconnected with God in a renewing, enduring way when I was in my late twenties and I stopped listening to my own thoughts and focused on Gods thoughts, I grew by leaps and bounds in my appreciation for the Bible, his love letter to us. Day by day as I studied and read his Word, I was amazed at the truth and grace it contained.

When I began reading through The One Year Bible each year, I found countless verses I could pray for my children, my husband, my own life, and those I regularly interceded for. The Bible began to shape my prayers, and I discovered that it was the best prayer manual of all, showing us how to pray and what to pray, and most of all through the Holy Spirit, providing constant inspiration for our prayers.

As I prayed Gods Word, I was filled with confidence and faith in Gods ability to answer and to act because I wasnt praying out of my own understanding or imagination but out of the Lords heart and his intentions and desires for us, his people. As I prayed Gods Word, fear, doubt, and discouragement left, and his peace renewed my heart and mind. I discovered the Bible contained promises concerning Gods plans for our lives, for our children and loved ones and the body of Christ, the provision he has available and what he has in store for us both in this life and in the life to come. He wants us to pray these promises and verses, meditate on them, and trust in the Authors ability to move on our behalf.

What great gifts God has given us in the Bible and prayer! What a gracious invitation the Lord offers to bring our deepest concerns, our greatest needs to the One who cares for us affectionately and watchfully. And what an incredible supply of power is released when we pray. Prayer is meant to be our first resource, not a last resource, and it is our lifeline in uncertain times, in the best of times, and in the worst of times. Prayer is the greatest influence we can have on our childrens lives and the best resource God has given us for making a difference and shining his light in our homes, our neighborhoods, our schools, our world. Watchman Nee, a classic prayer theologian said, Our prayers lay the tracks on which Gods power can come.

In The One Year Praying through the Bible each devotional highlights a passage from that days reading in The One Year Bible and contains a devotional thought, a prayer drawn from those verses to act as a springboard for your communication with God, and an insightful quote by a classic Christian.

Because The One Year Praying through the Bible is meant to be used as a companion book to The One Year Bible, you may choose to read both at the same time of day. However, if doing so seems like more of a time commitment than youre prepared to make all at once, consider reading The One Year Bibles daily reading in the morning and The One Year Praying through the Bible in the evening to help you go deeper into a portion of what you read in the morning. Another option is to read the devotional in the morning and then TheOne Year Bible in the evening to cement the idea and context of your morning reading in your mind.

In whatever way you approach your reading, as you read and pray through The One Year Bible and this devotional, I pray that you will be drawn closer to your Savior, that you will hear his voice and experience his presence and power in your life. As you pray along with the prayers of Paul, Isaiah, Hannah, Nehemiah, Jesus, and others from the pages of the Bible, may your heart be filled with hope and faith and your prayer life soar. As you pray prayers for help and prayers of praise, as David did in the Psalms, may God empower you to enjoy and worship God in new ways. May your life be increasingly yielded to the Lord so that he can live through you and love others through you. And as Gods Word shapes your prayers, may you know him, follow him, trust him, and serve him with joy not just for this year but for a lifetime!

Cheri Fuller

They delight in doing everything the Lord wants; day and night they think about his law. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper.

Psalm 1:2-3

This psalm, in which the wicked are contrasted with the godly, never fails to lead me to prayer both for others and for myself. It is also the source of an ideal prayer for the new year that we would delight in doing Gods will, that his Word would be continually in our thoughts, and that we would bear fruit in the year ahead and in each season of our lives. None of this happens apart from Gods Spirit and power working within us. But fruit bearing is the inevitable by-product of opening our hearts and lives to the power of his life within us. As we abide in Christ and his Word, our roots go down deep in Christ, keeping us close to him, just as the roots of trees planted along the riverbank sink into the water source so that their leaves stay green and dont wither. And when we pray, the Spirit releases this wonder-working power that draws us to God, roots us deeper in him, and causes our faith to mature. Be assured of Gods promise that as you draw near to him today and each day in the year ahead, he will draw near to you (James 4:8).