Looking for reading material to compliment my Bible reading.

I have been attempting to read the Bible, cover-to-cover in chronological order and so far I've done pretty good for the last month. So far I have reached the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament to the point that Ezekiel is prophesying Egypt's ruin. However; this is a guesstimation as my daughter managed to get a hold of my phone and changed a bunch of stuff, and apparently also removed the last bookmark I had on my e-Bible on my iPhone. Oh well, the word is worth reading over in certain parts or maybe I have missed a lesson somewhere.

I have considered the offerings by Dr. Charles Stanley after running across him while flipping through the TV looking for something to watch. Now, I don't normally sit and watch religious channels all day, but I had heard about this guy from a close friend of mine and I thought I would just sit down, hear him out, and give him a chance. So, I just prayed 'Lord, You know as well as I that this isn't what I normally watch, but if You will have me to watch this, please open my mind and my heart to hear what You have to say through Dr. Stanley.' So I was watching his preaching on Daystar TV and it was on Patience in Prayer. I actually learned a lot more than I thought I would.

Here's what I noted in my mind that was said:
1. God answers prayer in 3 ways - 'Yes', 'Wait', or 'Prepare yourself by removing things in your life so that I can answer your prayer.' That's a good way of putting it, so if your prayer isn't answered - you might have gotten the last two answers so it should be a time of self-examination rather than self-desperation. I wish I had taken the time to jot down the scripture references but perhaps a look on his ministry web site might reveal this.

2. Prayer doesn't just have to be full of prayer requests to be effective. I usually pray to God during my mid-day work at the chicken house when I am alone with just 12,000 chickens and the Lord. Yes, this sounds crazy, and no I don't pray out loud for all of you inquiring minds. Well, the other day, I did my prayer and I could not think of a single request so I literally spent the entire 30 minutes just praising and thanking the Lord for who He is and what He has done. I just felt like He needed to be praised more than sending Him 10,000 request right after the standard prayer opening. I felt better and renewed in a different kind of way. Dr. Stanley pointed out during his presentation that prayer needs to also be a time of fellowship with the Lord. When he said this it was just like 'Wham! You're on the right path here." So many times when I hear people pray it literally starts out with:
"Lord, I/We come humbly before You now. We praise You and thank You for all of Your blessings and all that You have done on the cross...." then they immediately go into the five million requests they have. I am just as guilty of this as the next person, but prayer isn't just about requests and confession of sin, but it is also a time of fellowship with the Lord. I wonder if my prayer life would be deeper and more effective if I spent more QUALITY time thanking and praising the Lord rather than spending the large chunk of it for requests. This isn't to say that these requests aren't important because they are and we are called to pray for each other and to pray for any situation we find ourselves in. I just wonder if the praise has become all too routine or redundant for most of us (maybe even myself?). I just wonder if God would be made more joyful if we praised Him with as much urgency and meaning as we bring our requests to Him. Just a thought and I'm glad that it was brought up in the Dr. Stanley program.

3. Fellowship and daily confession and repentance of sin. I have had this explained to me time and time again by Sunday School teachers, friends, and so forth but Dr. Stanley just explained it in a way that I totally understand and I am able to actually apply to my life in a practical daily basis. Salvation cannot be lost - once saved, always saved. Signed, sealed, delivered, He's ours and we to Him. Nothing breaks this bond. Daily confession and repentance of sin brings us into fellowship with Him so that we can get to know Him on a deeper level. The best layman analogy I can come up with is this:

Your father never stops being your father just because you have done wrong. Nothing can change the fact that you do have a father (whether he was actually there or just a sperm donor). To be out of fellowship with Him is like not being on speaking terms with your earthly father until you have come to some sort of reconciliation and admitting you have wronged your father by not obeying him (this is just an analogy, not a real case scenario for those with deadbeat daddies) or your father has wronged you. By admitting and confessing your wrongdoing, you are confessing, apologizing and making a promise to obey by repenting. This isn't how you get into Heaven, but this is an act of daily obedience to God because God commands this to us. By daily confessing and repenting we are being obedient to Him and His calling and therefore are remaining in fellowship with Him on a daily basis.

With those three points I was just like OK God, I am willing to give this man a chance, I am ready to listen to what You have to say through Him. That led me to my iTunes iBook store searching for his books. I was surprised - there are 77 total available books by Dr. Charles Stanley on the iBooks store. With so many, my head nearly spun as to which to start with. I may contact my friend and ask her if I can borrow one of her Dr. Charles Stanley books to start with and go from there. I plan to eventually start complimenting my Bible reading with works from noted Christian authors so that I can begin to have a deeper understanding rather than just a head knowledge and the basics. Eventually I would like to have a devotional that could steer me on the right path in my journey with Christ.

Staying the course,
Cheyenne