February 1st - February 7th Reading Assignment

Monday through Sunday: Psalm 30-36
Monday through Friday: Genesis 21-25 and Matthew 21-25

Thanks for checking in on this weeks post. This week, instead of my writing a long post, I would like to invite each of you to leave a comment sharing your thoughts. Let us know how you are doing, and how the Lord is speaking to you through His word. Just a sentence or two would be great! Don't worry about being profound, just be real. We would all love to hear how God is blessing you this week!

Thanks,

Ken

Eye have an idea.

By this time some of you have possibly fallen behind in our reading plan, or perhaps you are joining us for the first time and feel like it is too late to start because we are already too far ahead of you. Let me present another way of looking at things. Reading the Bible is the business of a lifetime. We should never be done with the Bible because the Bible will never be done with us! Once we finish reading it through, the best thing to do is to start again. Each time we read it be it the first or the fiftieth new insights are revealed, new layers of God's unsearchable love come into focus, and we are amazed all over again! So if you are just now joining us, or have fallen more than a week behind, rather than stressing out about trying to catch up, just cut your losses and join us where we are. It would be better for you to keep reading and stay with the group, than be overwhelmed and give up reading all together! So pick up your Bibles and starting reading! Our assignment for this week is as follows:

Monday-
Psalm 23, Matthew 16, Genesis 16.

Tuesday-
Psalm 24, Matthew 17, Genesis 17.

Wednesday-
Psalm 25, Matthew 18, Genesis 18.

Thursday-
Psalm 26, Matthew 19, Genesis 19.

Friday-
Psalm 27, Matthew 20, Genesis 20.

Saturday-
Psalm 28

Sunday-
Psalm 29

So start where we are and get reading today! I look forward to hearing from you!
May God bless you all as you spend time in His word every day.

The heavens declare...
The firmament shows....

This week our reading in the scriptures will bring us to the 19th chapter of Psalms. This Psalm begins with the glorious words, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork." The chapter ends with the prayer, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer."

When we recognize the glory of God in His creation it is like seeing a beautiful painting. When we see the painting we are amazed at the skill of the artist. The beauty and creativity of the work that we see makes us appreciate the skill of the one from whom that beauty flowed. The difference however is in this, when we consider the fact that the one who created the firmament also created us, appreciation for His creative power is no longer sufficient, appreciation becomes gratitude and our hearts move from being pleased by His creation to being filled with a desire to become a creation that is pleasing to Him; thereby eliciting the response, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer."

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."

This week's reading from the Old Testament takes us through the life of Noah, a man who found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Noah's generation was very wicked, verse 5 of chapter 6 tells us that "...the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." This resulted in a world that was filled with violence and evil imaginations. Does this scenario sound familiar? How like our world today! In the midst of this wicked generation the LORD found a man who's heart was right toward Him, a man who would do "...according to all that the LORD commanded him." Genesis 7:5. Are you willing to become such a man or woman in your generation? I pray that you are!

Time to catch up!!!!!! If your reading program is still in park it is time to bump up the rpm's! Now is your chance to make up any reading that you may have missed this past week. Today your reading assignment is Psalm 7. That's it! Tomorrow your reading assignment is Psalm 8, and if you are at church on time I will read that one for you! It couldn't get much easier than that could it? So here is your chance to make up any reading you have fallen behind on. At this point you should have read Matthew chapters 1-5 and Genesis Chapters 1-5. Take some time today to make up any chapters you have not read so that you don't fall any further behind. I hope that you have enjoyed this last week of Bible reading as much as I have! Remember to tell your friends and family members about the reading program and about the blog site. It isn't too lat for them to join in on this wonderful blessing of reading God's word together! Amen? Amen!

On your mark...get set...

2010 has arrived!!! The time has come for us to begin this wonderful adventure together in God's Word! We begin this Sunday, January 3rd with Psalms chapter 1. How fitting that the word tells us how blessed we will be if we "delight...in the law of the LORD..." and "meditate day and night" in it.

I have recommended that we use this portion of our reading as a launchpad into prayer. Each day, every day, it is important that we spend time with the LORD in His word and in prayer and the Psalms can be an excellent way to enter into that time of worship and communion with the LORD!

Some of you might ask the question, "How can we use the Psalms to enter into prayer?" That is an excellent question and I would like to take a moment to offer up one example. As you begin find a quiet place if you can where you can be alone and avoid interruption. Determine to turn off your cell phone, or any other distraction if you can. Once you have found your spot you might begin something like this, "Heavenly Father, thank You for this time, thank You for allowing me to meet You here. Please bless this time and help me to draw near to You in it, communicate Your heart to me, and help me to be open to the leading of Your Holy Spirit. Amen." The exact words are not important, use your own, but ask God to lead and direct your heart as you read His word. Then read the Psalm, in this instance Psalms 1. After reading and thinking about what you have read, you can then use the Psalm as a launch pad into prayer. That might look something like this, "LORD, thank you for Your blessings. Please help me to be a person who does not listen to the council of ungodly people, please help me not to stand in the path of sinners, or to associate with the scornful! Please help me LORD to delight in Your law, help me to meditate on it and understand it. May it be in my heart and in my mind both day and night. LORD please make me like that tree that is planted by the rivers of water, may I drink deeply of Your Holy Spirit. Please LORD, make me fruitful in your service and prosper my way that I may be both blessed, and a blessing to others. Thank You Lord that You know my way, and that You have declared me righteous in Christ Jesus my Lord." Then from there, just continue in prayer lifting up to the LORD those things that are on your heart.

So there is your example, I encourage you to apply it as the LORD directs you in your prayer and Bible reading time this year. I am eager and excited to see all that the LORD is going to do in our hearts as we look deeply into HIS WORD together this year! May the LORD continue to bless you as you continue to seek His face!