With Summer here, GeNESIS takes a month to rest.  We choose to pause so that we can recharge our batteries for another season.  In that rest, we encourage all youth to embrace some summer reading and establish spiritual disciplines.  Summer is a great chance to solidify practices such as quiet time, bible reading, and prayer.  We embrace these disciplines so that our relationship with Christ can increase.  The following is a list of materials to help you grow spiritually during the time of rest that we are taking as a community.

• Step 1: Morning Quiet Time. Spend 30 minutes alone with God.  No cell phone, ipod, or anything electric on.  Just you and your bible.  Read a chapter in Proverbs that corresponds to that day.  After you have read that chapter, read 5 Psalms.  Example: If the date is July 1st you would read Proverbs chapter 1 along with Psalms chapter 1-5.
• Step 2: Daily Bible Reading.  Proverbs and Psalms are great but don’t stop there. After your done reading the chapter in Proverbs and the Psalms, read one chapter from John, Hebrews, or any other book of the Bible that sparks your interest.
• Step 3: Outside Bible Reading. Bible reading and morning quiet time are key.  Alongside with your reading, check out some of these books for personal growth outside the Bible: If God Loves Me, Why Can’t I Get My Locker Open? by Lorraine Peterson, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan, CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH by PHIL CHALMERS, Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex Harris, Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen… by C. J. Mahaney, Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, and Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Lo… by Elisabeth Elliot.  Read these at night before you go to bed or in the afternoon when you have some down time.
  
• Step 4: Journal.  A good idea for the summer reading is to record what God is teaching you by writing everything down in a journal.  Be sure to include your thoughts on what you read, what your learning, prayer requests, and other thoughts that jumped out at you on the pages you are processing.  This journal will be a great way to talk to others about the things God is teaching you.
• Step 5: Prayer.  Don’t forget personal prayer.  Spend time alone talking to God and listening to Him.  Use your journal to help with this discipline.

Remember young men and women that there are people out there who are older who want to walk along side you as you establish these disciplines and deepen your walk with God.  Seek out someone who can help to keep you on track as you grow deeper into the Word of God daily!

-Jordan