The Bible is a compilation of the writings inspired by God that covers God’s
dealings with mankind from Creation through to the formation of the Church
in the years following the time of Christ. The center of the Bible is the period
when Christ walked this earth living a sinless life and was ultimately
crucified, paying the debt and penalty of our sin.

It is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. We have t
Old Testament in common with the Jewish faith. It gives us the story of
God’s dealings with man from creation and through the line of Abraham till
several hundred years before Jesus.
The New Testament gives us the story of Jesus Christ from his miraculous
birth through to His crucifixion and His resurrection from the dead. It
includes the stories of how the apostles established the church through
persecution and contains letters written by Paul, Peter, John and others that
developed the theology of the church and instructed and encouraged the
church in various locations in their new life in Christ.
In the Old Testament we see images and prophecies of the coming Christ
and in the New we see the revelation of the Messiah fulfilling of the Old
Testament.
God speaks to us through the Bible. In it we see His great love for us. We
learn what we now have as believers in God and how we should live in
response for the great things He has done for us. As John wrote in 1 John
4:19 “We love Him because He first loved us.”
We also find out about how to pray

Prayer is simply talking with God. Have a conversation with your heavenly
Father listening for his responses, which usually come as an impression
from the Holy Spirit – often not something you would have thought of
yourself.
Fancy words and being in the right frame of mind or in the right place don’t
come into it.
Jesus gave the disciples the pattern of prayer that we know as the Lord’s
Prayer or the Our Father (Matthew 6:9-13). It is not a prayer to learn by rote
but a pattern starting with praise and worship of God before asking for our
needs, forgiveness, help in life and concluding with thankfulness and
worship.

Often, we pray “in Jesus’ name” as He encouraged in the Bible. Traditionally
prayer concludes with “Amen”, which just means “so be it”.
The main thing is to pour your heart out to God being dependent on Him,
listen for His response and develop your personal relationship with Him.

God Bless.

OFJ