The Valley of Vision is a collection of Puritan prayers, and one of the most helpful and refreshing resources on prayer I have found. It’s one of two or three books on prayer that I regularly recommend to people who want to grow in the discipline. I have benefitted from reading and praying through the book so much over the years I wanted to find a way to maximize its usefulness, and get the most out of it for my own spiritual growth. So, a couple years ago I developed a schedule and rhythm for my personal use of the Valley of Vision.

I rearranged the prayers into 3 daily readings, five days a week, and scheduled them to be read/prayed at 9am, 12pm, and 3pm Monday through Friday. This method took me through the entire Valley of Vision in 13 weeks, only repeating two prayers one time.

To stay on top of the discipline I used the calendar/alarm feature on my phone to alert me when it was time to pray (otherwise I would forget), and with those alerts I would stop whatever I was doing, pull out the Valley of Vision, spend a moment in prayer with the assigned reading, and then return to work. If I was in a meeting, I would excuse myself, step outside or even hit the washroom, and meet with God. Occasionally I found myself in a situation where I simply had to wait before I could get away, but most of the time I could slip away without a problem.

I found that when using this schedule, my days were rich with an awareness of God’s grace, and I was encouraged me to look to God throughout the day in a new way. I looked forward to these appointments/interruptions and my prayer life is better because of it.

I thought others might benefit from the exercise, so I asked Brian Malcolm to design a printable version for download. He was able to fit the entire schedule onto one page so you can easily print it and tuck or tape it inside your own copy of the Valley of Vision. He has created versions for the leather bound edition, as well as the paperback (page numbers and sizes are different).



You should consider this guide and approach to prayer as one tool to help you seek God and maintain a posture of prayer throughout the day. It should not be the totality of your prayer life. Think of this as a means of fueling your meditation on Scripture, dependency on the gospel, and exercise of faith in and love for Jesus. I have used this schedule a few times now and have been richly rewarded. I hope it’s a blessing to you as well.

To download the Walking Through The Valley of Vision prayer guide head over to its dedicated page here. 

If you don’t already have one, you can order your copy of The Valley of Vision here (leather), or here (paperback).

Thanks to Joe Thorn for his time to create a plan for saints to grow!
http://www.joethorn.net/2010/09/30/walking-through-the-valley/

As Christians we are called to be growing in our sanctification and holiness and are also called to walk by the Spirit. The only way this can be done is by growing closer to the Lord. In order for this end result to happen, 2 things must take place. Christians are to be reading Scripture everyday. Matthew 4.4 says, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” This is important because the only way to know about who God is, is by reading scripture. Paul also tells us that we are able to not sin. How is this possible? Christians are to be walking in the Spirit. While in Prayer and in Scripture daily, your minds are continually set on the things above. Thus creating a strength from God to help you overcome and confront sin.

Because these two keys, Scripture and prayer, are so important in the Christian life I would like to share with you some tools that have helped me grow in my walk and hope that you all may benefit from then as well. The first one will be the Bible reading plan that I use. If this sounds complicated or you have any questions please feel free to contact me and I would be more then willing to help you get going on this amazing journey. This reading plan has been wonderful and I see scripture more and more, which allows me to see how so much of scripture is Christ centered. Enjoy!

Bible Reading Plan

Click the above link above for the reading plan.

For those who are interested in a scholarly review of Rob Bell's book, James White is taking the heart of Love Wins (chapter 4) and breaks it down. James White is a well known Reformed Apologist and uses his skills to show where Rob Bell is in error.

Actually, millions of people in America have been warned through Camping’s radio program and by means of the more than 1,200 billboards his ministry has put up across the nation. According to press reports, Family Radio has put up 2,000 billboards in other nations, as well.

Camping is no stranger to controversy, but this one has caught national and international attention. He was wrong before, but this time he is absolutely certain that he is right. As he told New York magazine:

“God has given sooo much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all. There’s nothing in the Bible that God has ever prophesied — there’s many things that he prophesied would happen and they always have happened — but there’s nothing in the Bible that holds a candle to the amount of information to this tremendous truth of the end of the world. I would be absolutely in rebellion against God if I thought anything other than it is absolutely going to happen without any question.”

If you know the Bible and this statement confuses you, you are in good company. Harold Camping believes that God has revealed to him the exact dates of biblical events and the timeline of the judgment. He says that God revealed some “exquisite proof” that enabled him to determine a “finished product” timeline that ends on May 21, this coming Saturday.

As Michael S. Rosenwald of The Washington Post explains, Camping “says he came up with the very precise date of May 21 through a mathematical calculation that would probably crash Google’s computers.” Further, Camping’s mathematical formula “involves, among other things, the dates of floods, the signals of numbers in the Bible, multiplication, addition and subtraction thereof.” As many have noted, the math seems to make sense only to Harold Camping.


Yet, in a strange way, this just serves to affirm Camping in his teaching. On his website he states:
However, it was not until a very few years ago that the accurate knowledge of the entire timeline of history was revealed to true believers by God from the Bible. This timeline extends all the way to the end of time. During these past several years God has been revealing a great many truths, which have been completely hidden in the Bible until this time when we are so near the end of the world.
These “true believers” turn out to be Harold Camping and his disciples. Others, even professing Christians, will be in big trouble when Saturday comes, he believes.

The Christian church has seen this kind of false teaching before. William Miller and his Adventist followers (known, surely enough, as Millerites) believed that Christ would return on March 21, 1844. In the 1970s, popular Christian preachers and writers predicted that Christ would return on various dates now long in the past. All this is embarrassing enough, but now we have the teachings of Harold Camping to deal with. Given the public controversy, many people are wondering how Christians should think about his claims.

First, Christ specifically admonished his disciples not to claim such knowledge. In Acts 1:7, Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” In Matthew 24:36, Christ taught similarly: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

To state the case plainly, these two verses explicitly forbid Christians to claim the knowledge of such dates and times. Jesus clearly taught that the Father has not revealed such dates and timing, but has reserved that knowledge for himself. It is an act of incredible presumptuousness to claim that a human knows such a date, or has determined God’s timing by any means.

Second, the Bible does not contain hidden codes that we are to find and decipher. The Bible has been given to us in order that we might know the truth, and the truth is clearly revealed in its pages. We are not to look for hidden patterns of words, numbers, dates, or anything else. The Bible’s message is plain and requires no mathematical computation for its understanding. The claim that one has found a hidden code or system in the Bible is an insult to the Bible as the Word of God.

Third, Christians are indeed to be looking for Christ to return and seeking to be found faithful when Christ comes. We are not to draw a line in history and set a date, but we are to be about the Father’s business, sharing the Gospel and living faithful Christian lives. We are not to sit on rooftops like the Millerites, waiting for Christ’s return. We are to be busy doing what Christ has commanded us to do.
In Hebrews 9:28, we are taught that Christ will come a second time “to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” That is the faithful Christian response to the New Testament teachings about Christ’s coming. The church is not to be arrogantly setting dates, but instead to be eagerly waiting for him. Of that we can be truly certain.

For more information on this issue take a look at Robert Godfrey’s five-part blog series:
1. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 1
2. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 2
3. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 3
4. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 4
5. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 5

http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/05/16/the-end-is-near-the-false-teaching-of-harold-camping/

For all of you Basketball/Sports Fans, you will enjoy this. Sho Baraka did awesome with all the sports references! Great stuff, hope you all enjoy!

I am currently reading the complete works of E.M. Bounds On Prayer and a few nights ago I was reading the section called Prayer and Humility and there was a quote that really caught my attention and wanted to share it with you all.