Monday: Genesis 25
Tuesday: Judges 21Wednesday: Psalm 50
Thursday: Isaiah 54
Friday: Zechariah 5
Saturday: Acts 18
Sunday Titus 3
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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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12 comments:
thinking about Esau today... his impetuousness, self gratification, where his choices led him. they turned him into an angry, short tempered man, self consumed man whose relationships suffered. I think he must have learned a few lessons with age due to the way he received Jacob upon his return later in life, but oh to learn those lessons early. The Life Application Bible says to direct your anger at your poor choices towards changing your life, and not towards other people or situations.
It says "Common sense isn't all that common. In fact, the common thread in many decisions is that they don't make sense. Esau's life was filled with choices he must have regretted bitterly. He appears to have been a person who found it hard to consider consequences, reacting to the need of the moment without realizing what he was giving up to meet that need."
which led to anger over choices, and the following comment.
"Your greatest need is to find a focal point other than "what I need now." The only worthy focal point is God. A relationship with him will not only give an ultimate purpose to your life, it will also be a daily guideline for living. Meet him in the pages of the bible."
Judges 20
“In reporting the events in Gibeah, the man conveniently left out the fact that he had handed over his concubine to satisfy the mob’s demands. He wanted justice for the threats made against himself rather than placing any value on the life of the woman or holding himself partly responsible for her death. How easy it is to give only partial facts or twist events to remove our own culpability when we are seeking to shift blame to someone else. This incident reveals the depths of perversion and violence that develop when a culture abandons God’s ways.”
I love your comments from yesterday PC. I am feeling selfish and grumpy today and your reminder that our relationship with God is what is most important was appreciated. This was emphasized as I pulled my Bible out from UNDER my pile of things to do.
"In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes." v25
this is the problem with patterning our lives after our own worldview of right and wrong... we lose the plumb line. The anchor. The foundation and compass for right living. Only God is righteous. Only God can give us the guide book for righteous living. If we try to get there any other way we will fall short, and completely miss the mark. This is my concern with people "meditating" and reading self help books but not spending time regularly in the Word. Only God's word can lead us to truth and teach us to walk in righteousness.
Psalm 50:14 "make thankfulness your sacrifice to God... 23giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me."
beautiful. how often do we see God as one who is so demanding of us. What He wants is for us to have a right spirit so that we can experience true joy. He doesn't want our worship for His benefit, but for ours. He doesn't want us to serve others because of what that does to the OTHER person, but because of what it does to US. All of the things He asks of us are for the "renewing of a right spirit within us."
Isa 54 what a beautiful chapter.
v10"for the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken.' says the Lord who has mercy on you."
one of the verses I claim in prayer for my children, v 13 "I will teach all your children and they will enjoy great peace."
The only way to peace is peace with God. The only way to peace with God is knowing Him and understanding His will and character and eternal truths. The only way to know Him is to spend time with Him. "All I have on earth is you and you are all I desire." May this be true of myself, and my kids to follow.
zech 5. This chapter requires some study in order to understand. I want to go and look at the study notes on it later, but this morning I just went off on my own ponderings based on v11.
"To the land of Babylonia where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal."
Something was vaguely niggling at my brain about that verse but I couldn't put my finger on it. I thought about it and thought it about it and it has something to do with culture (Babylonia), temple (worship) and pedestals (idols). I don't know how to form it into clear words, but I will try. First culture and worldview. We all worship something (this temple building). Mark Driscoll says we can tell what we worship but what we spend the most time thinking about, what we give the most time to, and what we spend our money on. There may have been more, but that's what I remember from a few years past sermon. Made sense when I thought about it. So in our culture we worship things like income, food, entertainment, appearance, to name a few for starters. We build temples to those things, and we spend our time there, and those things get placed on pedestals in our lives and take the place of devotion reserved for God. The things in themselves are not wicked... the wicked is the amount of attention and devotion we give to them if and when that attention and devotion crowds attention and devotion to God right out of our lives.
Zech 5
Your comments helped me to understand this chapter PC. Makes sense. Although I was wondering how much time devoted becomes "worshipping" - yes, to the point of crowding God out, I understand that. My first thought for my work break was to check FB, glad I chose to read my Bible instead! Perfect example!
yeah, I warned you I was going to have a hard time formulating it into words. Of course there are things we HAVE to give lots of time to and that doesn't necessarily make them idols, but when you look to where your thoughts are quick to go, your money is quick to go, and your free time is quick to be given to it is a good analysis of where you are putting your values in life.
I just went back to search for that sermon in case anyone was interested, I highly recommend it.
http://marshill.com/media/1st-corinthians/resisting-idols-like-jesus
Acts 18:25 "He (Apollos) had been taught the way of the Lord and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he only knew about John's baptism."
This verse stood out to me. Apollos was a good student of the the scriptures, and he understood the message of repentance that John preached, and shared it enthusiastically. He was doing the best with what he had been "given". But there was so much he didn't know! How true of each of us, we passionately receive one message, having our eyes opened to it's truths and importance, but so important to keep a meek and humble attitude of all that has not yet been revealed to us!
So many good examples of people being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and working together in harmony
I was referring to Acts 18, by the way.
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