You've heard it said the Old Testament is "Jesus Concealed" and the New Testament is "Jesus Revealed." Each year as you read the Bible in a format that allows you to read the Old and New Testaments at the same time, the revelations become more vivid. The prophets--whom God spoke through--often have a very close relationship with God. When Jesus comes, He speaks. He heals. He is compassionate. He loves. He forgives. As we get to know God through Old and New Testaments we are able to better make Him known. Granted, there will ALWAYS be unanswerable questions, mysterious situations, or completely foreign-to-our-way-of-thinking circumstances.
At those junctures, I encourage you to either go online and peruse a few commentaries OR purchase a set of Bible dictionary/commentary/resources that will explain what you might not understand. For my daily devotional, Sacred Obsession, I used my husband's Bible Commentaries -- that brought some illumination, but they did not sway me always observing/listening/watching and even asking God WHILE I'm reading His Word, "What do you want me to know/learn from this?"
The Word of God is living, and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. Let God TALK to you!
Be encouraged...stay focused on your relationship with God 7/7 days this week...
Becky
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I am hanging in at 7/7- I start my work day with reading. It's been great. It causes my mind to focus. I ran into 2 dear sisters today one who was claminimg God's healing for her Diabetes and One who taught me to be grateful for my "daily bread". I did not have to see these ladies with my earthly eye's. I could feel the Glory of the risen Lord.
ReplyDeleteThe reading this week had made me focus on the Love God has for his creation. How he provides for his creationg in an ongoing basis. The Psalms have come to life this week along with Proverbs. David is honest in what he is praying. It is interesting to hear the difference between the world's voice and the Lords voice.
With Proverbs I again here the two voices that we hear everyday. The voice of the world and the voice of God. However, In this book the wisdom from God is the louder voice. My problem is taking it and being able to see it in today's terms.
I got a Kindle for Christmas- I have my 365 day bible on there. I love it in that I can make notes / thoughts as I read and underline as I read. It's all together.
Becky, thank you for the good advice and encouraging words. When I begin the day with prayer, Bible reading, and journaling, I find that God really does seem to speak to me; I'm so glad to get back to this routine. This morning I was once again reminded of how much like the old testament figures we are today; human nature hasn't changed very much in thousands of years. I wrote the following in my journal:
ReplyDeleteThroughout today's reading I see human beings trying to do things their own way--i.e., Isaac lying about his wife Rebekah, just as his father had lied about Sarah--all to protect themselves. Their lies were discovered, though, and those to whom they had lied did not understand why they didn't simply tell the truth. How like us today! If we just do our best to live right, seek God when we are fearful or anxious, and listen for His will, we will be fine. Again the phrase "trust and obey" comes to my mind.
GiGi, you are so right when you speak about the difference between the world's voice and Lord's. We really do need to "tune our ears" to God's voice and block out the "noise" of the world, don't we? Sometimes it is hard to do, but when we do, we see that God's way is always the better one!
Have a great week, everyone! I'm looking forward to the call and hope I'll get to listen live tomorrow. (Like my students, I think I'll wear my pajamas inside out and backward in hopes of a snow day!)
Hello everyone. I'm at 7/7.
ReplyDeleteFirst, this week I have had such a desire to dig deeper. It started with the reading of Genesis when Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord; she said “You are the God who sees me.” Then when the Lord appeared to Abram and said “I am El-Shaddai – ‘God Almighty.’” Last when I was reading Psalm 20:7 and it said “… but we trust in the name of the Lord our God,” I have this hungry to know God more intimately and gain knowledge of the names of God.
Secondly, I kept hearing the word “daily” after reading Matthew 6:11. Here is my understanding of why this word was so important this week: my flesh needs to die DAILY, I am to encourage others DAILY, I am to persevere and press on DAILY, and the Lord hears my burdens and I hear him DAILY.
GiGi – thanks for the one more DAILY – I need to be grateful for my “daily bread”
WandaT – Your comment “Throughout today's reading I see human beings trying to do things their own way” was dead on – I tried it MY way on Friday. On Saturday I was reminded that my way was not the right way while I was reading a devotion. The Scripture it referenced was Luke 6:27-28. I have my orders and I am following them now. (I might have to try your pajamas trick to stop the snow here. My girls are going on the 3rd snow day tomorrow. They now have to go on Saturdays to make them up.)
Good night! Have a blessed week.
Genesis 26:28 "We can plainly see that the Lord is with you."
ReplyDeleteDo others see that our Lord is plainly with me? Am I compelled by Love that is flowing through me because I am an ambassador of God? because I have the Holy Spirit living and guiding me? Something to ponder.
7/7
7/7
ReplyDeleteThankfully study God's Word daily has been a habit for me for nearly 30 years! I am enjoying doing it in community this year!
I have to say that lately applicable verses come to mind at the most appropriate times. I'm so thankful for God's amazing mercy and grace.
Hello from Pam in Texas! For Week Two I am 7 for 7, and love hearing more and more from God about his desire for me to righeously seek wisdom through my prayer and study.
ReplyDeleteThank you Becky for affirming that God speaks to us from our own place. Often I have not "heard" or "captured" what others share and felt I was misunderstanding the word of God.
Matthew 6: 33-34 speak the loudest for me this week as I am reminded to "first seek his kingdom and righteousness...and all things will come to me...so I do not have to worry."
Our 28 year old only daughter has been diagnosed with a Schwannoma Tumor and will begin radiation therapy. Trying to finish a master's degree, our family needed this lesson.
7/7 but I can't seem to get my post to post...I will try again.
ReplyDeleteThis week, god shared with me his desire that I work for him, that I must correct my destructive thought patterns and work on delayed gratification...no small order,
but I believe he showed me what he wants me to do...
first, the clear message to choose a word from our time together each day...this week...shine, actions, newness grace and protection. You see as I struggle to get my thoughts in control, I know I should use a verse, but I need something faster than that, so I go to the word that god has given me...once I have settled on that, I can redirect myself to a verse, but it works like my own personal stop sign and seems to help me really stop the walk down the slippery slope of nonproductive thoughts. the other thing that become clear to me is that much of what I want to accomplish is actually more about a way a life...things that will never truly get marked done, but will always build me up to be all god wants me to be...eat right, exercise, read the bible. It is easily to thing the daily action doesn't matter, so I have made up calendars, and give myself gold stars. A calendar for each habit...so I can begin to see if my actions are matching my goals. becaus sometimes, when I eat right, I dont lose the weight...that doesn't mean I failed...it may mean I need a little more time to lose the pound...or if I clean the house it is so easy for it to get back into a state of chaos...the chart lets me eveluate if I am taking the correct steps and I think will help me develop perseverance.
Paige what a great post. You said exactly what has been on my heart but didn't know what to do or how to do it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI am 7/7 but it was a hard week at work which I usually carry over to my home. I don't like doing that but Satan knows that when I am mentally tired I am easy prey and he pounces like a lion.
What I wrote down in my journal this last week is that God sees my sorrows and provides what I need. He knows that my prodigal daughter breaks my heart with her decisions. But if I do not trust Him, he can't bless me.
I really enjoy the the story of Jacob. Even though he had been deceitful with is father and brother, God still blessed him. I am so thankful that our Father God is so loving and forgiving. His love gets me through each day, even when I fail miserably, I know he will be there to pick me up again.
Oh, Lorraine! In your second paragraph you said just what was on MY heart after I woke up this morning! This has been a really tough week. It was the last week of classes before exams, meaning the kids were hounding teachers about grades and excited about the coming 2-day semester break after exams; add to that some snow, causing an early dismissal one day and a late opening the next, and you have the recipe for a challenging week.
ReplyDeleteThis was also the first week of my last online college course in graphic design. The second assignment was so involved that it took me from right after dinner Thursday until 1:30 a.m. to complete, leaving me only three hours of sleep before getting up on Friday morning.
Keeping my commitment to begin the day with prayer and Bible reading, I read and marked the passages and prayed for God's help in dealing with students, but I had no time to journal. The review sessions in my three English classes went exceptionally well; however, I ended the day with a not so pleasant encounter with one of my yearbook editors and went home angry and frustrated. She is a wonderful girl, and we've grown very close over the last 2-1/2 years. She is dealing with some family problems at home and finds my room a "safe haven"; twice this week, however, she abused the privilege and managed to get another teacher to let her into my locked room while I wasn't there. I didn't mind her being in there by herself, but when I came back and found she had let a half-dozen of her friends in there, too, I was really upset and told her she could no longer spend lunch there.
After dinner last night, I sat down at the computer once more to work on the third assignment for the week. All evening, I kept having difficulty getting to the online classroom and spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what was wrong with my computer. Finally, I called Tech Support and learned that the problem was not here, but at the college.
When the classroom was still not available at 10 p.m., I went to bed feeling miserable for having ended the school week on a bad note and failing to finish Friday's assignment on time. Then I dreamed about the day's events and woke up regretting my harsh words to my editor. Your last paragraph, Lorraine, is just what I needed to read this morning! May you have a wonderful weekend, and thank you so much for writing just what I needed to hear this morning!
Wanda, what you wrote just gave me tingles, because it wasn't me writing at all; it was God working through me knowing what you needed to hear as well as what I needed to confess. What an AWESOME God we have. I just finished reading this morning in Genesis 31:50b "God will see it if no one else does." He truly knows what we are going through and what we need. Have a blessed weekend.
ReplyDeleteBehind in reading your posts, will catch up later today I hope.
ReplyDeleteBut wanted to say I'm another 7 for 7!
Wanda, as a fellow online student (for a grade:( ), I just got shut out of my course shell due to an admin mistake (dropping me from class). Over the holiday weekend, I will not be able to participate or receive assignments. ARGH:)! I empathize with your plight, encourage you to just get on your knees and experience the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit directing your steps, your day, your relationships. Apologies and humility (and forgiveness) for a believer are non-negotiable; they are actions that make us different from the world. You're not alone. Amen? B
ReplyDeleteBecky, Your comment about the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit brought to mind a book I read a few months ago, "Fresh Wind Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala. It is a great read. We are not alone. Thank you Jesus.
ReplyDeleteHi All: Enjoying and being blessed by the posts.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, I am 7 for 7 this week once again.
I'm enjoying putting the OT with the new, and personalizing the Psalms. Another author has been encouraging some of us to read daily, and I can finally tell her I am!
I am still feeling extremely on edge lately, seeking but not hearing from God.
We have no income, still drawing off some legal proceeds. I feel careerless (is that a word?), and even more helpless seeing my husband with nothing to do. Our Pastor is leaving (I have only recently joined this church to hear his teaching) and things feel so unstable.
I think this daily reading has become one pillar of stability in my day.
I'm very blessed to be in this group.
I am at a loss for words, hard to believe for those who have experienced my long posts but I wanted to respond anyway. Pam, your daughter is going to be added to my on my knees prayers. Paige, love the gold star. I try so hard to be organized and I seem to get more piles than few. My husband came into my office today and said I thought you were cleaning your desk I can't even see what the top looks like. We both had a good laugh. I need a gold star somedays that I know I have put the effort in but no results yet. I have the Fresh Wind book but who knows where I could find it.
ReplyDeleteWanda, my heart goes out to you and the week you have had. You are in my prayers too! I love your posts such an encouragement to me.
Matthew 10:42 If you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers you will surely be rewarded.
This was after I had read Jacob saying "I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown me, your servant. Gen 32:10 God has shown me mercy and grace and is asking me to show that to others.
I am going to my mothers house this week and need to have a servants heart that the love of God will show forth.
Tomorrow is the 5th week, in a row, that my husband is going to church with me.
You all will be in my prayers tonight! Good night
When I look back through this week’s readings and our interactions here, I am amazed at how clearly God seems to be speaking to each of us--and how intricately interwoven all of our thoughts and struggles and prayers seem to be. When we seek him, he finds us, doesn’t he?
ReplyDeleteAmen, Becky! Amen! I printed out your wise reminder about our “non-negotiables” and have placed it in a prominent place on my desk. Just look what happened in the Old Testament when Jacob decided to send gifts to his estranged brother Esau; he had an encounter with God that changed not only his walk, but his name and his heart, and when he finally met up with Esau, the two of them embraced, wept together, and all of their enmity was gone. Humility and forgiveness brought them so much more than jealousy and resentment ever could.
Lorraine, you wrote, "He truly knows what we are going through and what we need." At church this morning, our pastor preached a very powerful sermon (part of a sermon series on the book of Acts), and I quickly jotted down some of his thoughts: "As we walk this Christian road, we face many dilemmas. . . . We have a tendency to think our load is too heavy sometimes. . . . God says, [Acts 7:34, referring to the voice of God in the burning bush to Moses], 'I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now, come, I will send you . . . .'" Nearing the end of his message, he said, "Don't think God has forgotten. Don't think God doesn't know about our struggles. God knows!"
Pam, God knows about your daughter's tumor. Paige, he knows about self-defeating thoughts. Laura, he knows about financial stresses and lack of clarity about the future. Robbie, he knows about messy desks and misplaced books and papers. And yet he says, "Come unto me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. . . . Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."
Thank you all for sharing your insights and your concerns. All of you are in my prayers!
Goodnight!
Thanks Wanda for your words to all of us and thanks all for your rich sharing.
ReplyDeleteBtw, just as a side note, Becky and I determined we were born in the same hospital in Ohio! Yeah Berea!
7/7 and loving it!
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