Monday - Genesis 7
Tuesday - Judges 3
Wednesday- Psalm 32
Thursday- Isaiah 36
Friday- Micah 5
Saturday- John 20
Sunday- 1 Thess 2
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In pastures green He leadeth me. Join me on the journey.
What's Going on Here?
We are reading our way through the bible one chapter per day. The idea behind my personal reading plan is to read through books chronologically, but not solely one book at a time. Thus on Monday we read from the books of the law, Tuesday the books of kings and judges, Wednesday the books of Jewish History, Thursday Books of Wisdom, Friday the Prophets, Saturday the Gospels and Sunday the Epistles. The next Monday we pick up at the chapter we left off in ancient history. You may think that this would be disjointed and would cause you to "lose your groove" but I have found the contrary to be true, the threads of promise, redemption and grace show up more clearly as I make my way slowly through these books in a parrallel fashion and when I pick up where I left off a week before I am reminded of things that stood out to me from last week's reading. Journaling is a big part of my processing scripture and fixing particular tidbits in my mind for the purpose of life application. I would love to have you join me!
Basic Reading Plan
Mon (Law): Genesis-Joshua
Tues (Rulers): Judges-Chronicles
Wed (History): Ezra-Psalms
Thurs (Wisdom): Prov-Jer
Fri (Prophets): Lam-Malachi
Sat (Gospels): Matthew-Acts
Sun (Epistles) Romans-Revelation.
The theme I have given each section is general. Joshua is not a book of the law and Psalms is not a book of history. The main chunk of reading in each section is, however, suitably classified as the theme it is under. In order to make the sections even out to have the same general number of books/chapters, this was the closest I could come. Otherwise one would be reading through certain sections (like the Law) for instance, much more often than the wisdom books, etc.
Posts
A Place of Fellowship....
(Fellowship is) an expression of both love and humility. [It] springs from a desire to bring benefit to others, coupled with a sense of personal weakness and need. It has a double motive – the wish to help, and to be helped; to edify, and to be edified. It has a double aim – to do, and to receive, good. It is a seeking by Christian people to know God better through sharing with each other what, individually, they have learned of Him already. J.I. Packer.
A few introductory words of encouragement....
Think of your time feeding on God's Word as a vital aspect of your health and wellness. You wouldn't go a week without brushing your teeth, or eating physical food, don't treat the nourishing of your soul by the Word of God with any less care.
Don't cram multiple chapters if you fall behind of plan, but *do* "back-read" if you have the passion and earnest desire to do so. My habit if I miss a chapter is usually to leave it until that book comes up again the next week (based on my own reading plan) and then read two consecutive chapters rather than the one I am scheduled to read.
Don't be legalistic about the when and how. If you don't get a quiet time in the morning, THAT'S OKAY. Find a moment in the afternoon to grab a drink, sit down and put your feet up, and soak up a chapter. And if that doesn't happen, THAT'S OKAY. Take 15-20 minutes at the end of the day to plump some pillows up in your bed and soak it up before you go to sleep. And if that doesn't happen, IT'S OKAY. Tomorrow is a new day. Don't let the enemy discourage you from spending time in the word TODAY because you didn't YESTERDAY. That's just dumb. Did you get that? DUMB.
If you don't have time to read, meditate. Allow God to bring a passage of scripture to mind and allow yourself to listen. Take time to be quiet in your spirit. While you are washing dishes, folding laundry, vacuuming... cleaning bathrooms.
Spruce things up. Get yourself a PRETTY journal and jot down little things that stand out to you. Use your favourite mug or a pretty glass to pour your favourite drink. Sit in your favourite spot (this could change from day to day and depending on the time of day you read. A sunny spot on the porch in the morning, a wing back chair and a blanket if it's chilly, a garden swing in the shade on a hot afternoon, or plumped up in bed with soft lamplight in the evening. Again, don't be legalistic about the location, pick a happy spot that fits the moment/opportunity.) Oh, and DON'T wait for the pretty journal. Plain lined notepaper or even a crumpled scrap paper will work just FINE until you get one....
Remember while you read, God's word is FOR YOU. yes, it was written to a particular audience in a particular time in history and for a particular reason. But it was also written with YOU in mind, TODAY in mind, and is designed to give you strength and wisdom for the journey.
Claim ONE part of the passage and take it to heart. Read through the chapter without too much introspection at first and see what part most stands out to you. Go back and look at that part more specifically and ask yourself what is in there for YOU?
Ask relevant questions. I usually look at a passage with 2 questions in mind. 1. What does this passage tell me about God's character? 2. What does this passage tell me about humanity (ie, ME, in relation to God? a final and very important question to ask is "What does this passage require of me on a practical level?" Write down one attitude, practice or truth you want you live out TODAY in light of what God has just revealed to you. This is how we take ownership of the Word of God and allow it to relate to us and shape us on a personal level.
Build yourself a monument. As I ponder a passages relevance to me I journal the thoughts that arise. Jotting them down somehow cements my convictions in my mind, almost like laying out stones in a monument so I can go back to that place later and be reminded. I also use those notes to come here and share my thoughts later with others.
Keep your actual quiet time concise. This will help make it more likely the habit will continue to happen on a regular basis. Better to spend 15 minutes in the word daily, than 1 hour once a week.
Don't require absolute "alone" and uninterrupted time (without kids around). If they are around, they can learn to not interrupt you for 15 minutes, just like you spend time with other people when they are around, you can spend time with the Lord with them around too.
Think of God’s Word as a love letter to you. When you read stories of God’s wrath in the Old Testament, think about WHAT love paid the price for all that wrath and how a hand that once smote anyone who dared touch the ark of His covenant now beckons YOU to draw near to the throne of grace. Read everything in light of who God is and how much He loves mankind that in spite of our being so deprived, His love story reaches out, encompasses us, washes us clean, and seeks to draw us near.
May you seek Him, may He be found by you, and may you be blessed on the journey.
Don't cram multiple chapters if you fall behind of plan, but *do* "back-read" if you have the passion and earnest desire to do so. My habit if I miss a chapter is usually to leave it until that book comes up again the next week (based on my own reading plan) and then read two consecutive chapters rather than the one I am scheduled to read.
Don't be legalistic about the when and how. If you don't get a quiet time in the morning, THAT'S OKAY. Find a moment in the afternoon to grab a drink, sit down and put your feet up, and soak up a chapter. And if that doesn't happen, THAT'S OKAY. Take 15-20 minutes at the end of the day to plump some pillows up in your bed and soak it up before you go to sleep. And if that doesn't happen, IT'S OKAY. Tomorrow is a new day. Don't let the enemy discourage you from spending time in the word TODAY because you didn't YESTERDAY. That's just dumb. Did you get that? DUMB.
If you don't have time to read, meditate. Allow God to bring a passage of scripture to mind and allow yourself to listen. Take time to be quiet in your spirit. While you are washing dishes, folding laundry, vacuuming... cleaning bathrooms.
Spruce things up. Get yourself a PRETTY journal and jot down little things that stand out to you. Use your favourite mug or a pretty glass to pour your favourite drink. Sit in your favourite spot (this could change from day to day and depending on the time of day you read. A sunny spot on the porch in the morning, a wing back chair and a blanket if it's chilly, a garden swing in the shade on a hot afternoon, or plumped up in bed with soft lamplight in the evening. Again, don't be legalistic about the location, pick a happy spot that fits the moment/opportunity.) Oh, and DON'T wait for the pretty journal. Plain lined notepaper or even a crumpled scrap paper will work just FINE until you get one....
Remember while you read, God's word is FOR YOU. yes, it was written to a particular audience in a particular time in history and for a particular reason. But it was also written with YOU in mind, TODAY in mind, and is designed to give you strength and wisdom for the journey.
Claim ONE part of the passage and take it to heart. Read through the chapter without too much introspection at first and see what part most stands out to you. Go back and look at that part more specifically and ask yourself what is in there for YOU?
Ask relevant questions. I usually look at a passage with 2 questions in mind. 1. What does this passage tell me about God's character? 2. What does this passage tell me about humanity (ie, ME, in relation to God? a final and very important question to ask is "What does this passage require of me on a practical level?" Write down one attitude, practice or truth you want you live out TODAY in light of what God has just revealed to you. This is how we take ownership of the Word of God and allow it to relate to us and shape us on a personal level.
Build yourself a monument. As I ponder a passages relevance to me I journal the thoughts that arise. Jotting them down somehow cements my convictions in my mind, almost like laying out stones in a monument so I can go back to that place later and be reminded. I also use those notes to come here and share my thoughts later with others.
Keep your actual quiet time concise. This will help make it more likely the habit will continue to happen on a regular basis. Better to spend 15 minutes in the word daily, than 1 hour once a week.
Don't require absolute "alone" and uninterrupted time (without kids around). If they are around, they can learn to not interrupt you for 15 minutes, just like you spend time with other people when they are around, you can spend time with the Lord with them around too.
Think of God’s Word as a love letter to you. When you read stories of God’s wrath in the Old Testament, think about WHAT love paid the price for all that wrath and how a hand that once smote anyone who dared touch the ark of His covenant now beckons YOU to draw near to the throne of grace. Read everything in light of who God is and how much He loves mankind that in spite of our being so deprived, His love story reaches out, encompasses us, washes us clean, and seeks to draw us near.
May you seek Him, may He be found by you, and may you be blessed on the journey.
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11 comments:
Genesis 1:1"I have seen that you are the best person among the people of this time,"
wow. what does it take to be seen as "the best" by God. Humility, Compassion, Surrender, Faith come to mind. Things to desire more of for sure.
judges 3:1 These are the nations the Lord did not force to leave. He wanted to test the Israelites who had not fought in the wars of Canaan.2 (The only reason the Lord left those nations in the land was to teach the descendants of the Israelites who had not fought in those wars how to fight.)
wow. it's always so fascinating to me to know I have read through the bible at least 7 times, so have read this before but it just hit me like a ton of bricks this morning... God leaves adversity in our lives at times for a very specific reason. To train us to be on guard and do battle. To not settle into a life of complacency and abundance, but to live alert, aware and focused.
psalm 22:9 So don't be like a horse or donkey,
that doesn't understand.
They must be led with bits and reins,
or they will not come near you."
couldn't help but picture this so clearly in my head this morning. I well trained and gentle horse will be constantly "alert" ears constantly turning back, trying to sense the next move of the rider. As soon as they hear their voice or sense the slightest pressure on their flanks they melt into the direction they are being led. They know who is master, they know who is deciding the way, they allow themselves to be led with suppleness and submission.
then you get the donkey or the pony. They want to be boss, they hate the presence of the rider on their back and dig their heels in and set there ears stubbornly flat back, resenting anyone trying to show them whose boss, because after all, THEY are boss. and they aren't going anywhere or they are going to bolt and seek to knock you off under low lying branches or squish you up against a barbed wire fence to make their point.
I wanna be fit for kingdom dressage :)
"13 Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria says,14 The king says you should not let Hezekiah fool you, because he can't save you.15 Don't let Hezekiah talk you into trusting the Lord by saying, 'The Lord will surely save us. This city won't be handed over to the king of Assyria.'"
demon possessed bullies. seriously. I just hate the tactics of the enemy, how he rails against the confidence God's people have in Him, seeking to break it down and leave us standing there vulnerable and insecure. A similar thing happened to me last week all though it was sugar coated with niceties, but the message I heard was one that made me feel like a 3 year old, small and weak and inadequate.
who do you think wants to make me feel that way?
Micah 5:4-5 I'm reading from the Message and the amplified these days but this caught my attention in the Message this morning;
"for the whole world will hold him in respect- peacemaker of the world!"
love it. in the message in verses 13 and 14 it really brings home the contemporary stand in for these things that we often dissasociate ourselves with (I think our eyes glaze over when the bible starts to meantion Asherah worship and temple prostitution, etc, because these things just aren't relevant to us, but the principles are. If we modernize the wording to read;
"No more taking control of the world,
worshiping what you do or make.
I'll root out your sacred sex-and-power centers
and destroy the God-defiant.
In raging anger, I'll make a clean sweep
of godless nations who haven't listened."
like Eugene Petersen does, it totally applies and is relevant to our age. As God's word always is. We live in a fallen world that has forever been lured by control, power and the lust of pleasure. Sin. That's what it is, hearts that seek to find fulfillment apart from God.
I meant to say lured by the desire for control and power and the lust of pleasure.
preamble... what I am going to ramble about here is not important in the least, but I am a details person and these details have never quite satisfied me... thus my ramblings.
there is one thing that I never understand. Why we commemorate Good Friday as the day of the crucifixion and how that lines up with the scripture accounts of Jesus rising on "on the third day" and somewhere else where it says just like Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so would the son of man be in the tomb three days and there nights. crucified Friday, buried friday means two nights and only ONE day in the tomb. So I don't get that at all. In my understanding, since he rose on the first day of the week before dawn, he would have had to have been crucified on Thursday. And that the reason to hasten the crucifixion procedures to be finished before dusk was not because it was approaching the start of the Saturday sabbath (which began friday night) but because it was approaching the start of the Passover sabbath. I know there are complications with this also, as Jesus and his disciples had celebrated the passover the night before, but that did happen sometimes there were certain groups who celebrated the passover earlier and it would make sense prophetically for Jesus to actually be being crucified at the exact time that the passover lambs were all being slaughtered by the priests in the temple compound. It would also make sense why the mob was out "looking for him" at Gethsemane on that night, why would they all be out roaming on the night of the passover. Anyway, long rambling about why I think Jesus celebrated the passover with his disciples on wednesday, was crucified on Thursday (the day before Passover) and the "sabbath" mentioned was not saturday, but the Passover Sabbath.... which would have been on Friday. So then he would have been in the tomb t, thursday night, night 1, friday day 1 and night 2 and saturday day 2 and night 3 and rose ON THE THIRD DAY, Sunday.
I love the way the Message worded verse 23 of John 20
"If you forgive someone's sins they are gone for good. If you don't forgive someone's sins, what are you going to do with them?"
this really made me think. it made me think of the possibility that this verse is not talking about the pull we have in forgiving the other person's sin for their benefit (to free them) but about the power we have to forgive other people's sins against us and free OURSELVES from the weight of carrying the hurt, resentment, bitterness, insecurity that accompanied it.
If you think of it in light of the crucifixion, some of Jesus last words were "Father forgive them, for they know what what they do." In saying that he showed he forgave them. It was through His forgiveness before repentance that man is able to be redeemed. Is it possible he is telling his disciples here to not let themselves get all tied up in rebellion towards those who had "done this" but to "let it go". forgive all the wrongs and move on for the good of the kingdom, not so that the other people would "be forgiven", but for the good of their own personal well being and spiritual, mental, emotional health. I have never thought of it in this light before and it is fascinating to me and makes SENSE, whereas the other interpretation (that God won't forgive someone if we don't forgive them, never made any sense at all).
1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 (the message) We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts.
v12 With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.
this is discipleship. this is my passion.
1 Thessalonians 2
2:13
“Paul said that the word of God continued to work in the believers’ lives. Paul knew that God’s words are not mere sermons or documents but a real source of transforming power. This Bible you hold in your hands is full of real and living power. Its words are transforming lives all over the world every day. Read it. Encourage fellow believers to read it. Encourage non Christian friends to read it. All who do so, truly seeking to learn, will be touched by its power. They will never be the same.”
>>This Bible you hold in your hands is full of real and living power. Its words are transforming lives all over the world every day. Read it. Encourage fellow believers to read it. Encourage non Christian friends to read it. All who do so, truly seeking to learn, will be touched by its power. They will never be the same.”<<
Love, love, love, love, love. *sigh*. Thanks for sharing that, Denise! Hearing what stands out to you as you seek Him blesses my heart.
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