My Daily Bible Reading
Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:
Ephesians 1,2,3,4
Scripture
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9, New King James Version)
Observation:
When the Apostle Paul was asked how we could be saved,“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30 KJV),Paul shared with the jailor, ” And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:31 KJV). Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, stated Himself,“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”(John 14:6 KJV).
We can go to church, we can read our bibles, we can do community acts, but if we, ourselves, personally, have yet to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, no amount of good work or intentions that we do, will ever be enough because it’s not about what we do, but a simple, acceptance that He is our Lord and Saviour.It’s a simplicity that I think makes it so difficult, because it doesn’t involve jumping through any hoops.
Our Heavenly Father already has paid the price and its a “FREE GIFT” with no strings attached; No requirements that we do this or that, just a simple:
A. Admit you are a sinner.
“There is no one righteous, not even one … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:10,23. (See Romans 5:8; 6:23.)
Ask God’s forgiveness and repent of your sins.
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13
B. Believe in Jesus
(put your trust in Him) as your only hope of salvation.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (See John 14:6.)
Become a child of God by receiving Christ.
“To all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12 (See Revelation 3:20.)
C. Confess that Jesus is your Lord.
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 (See verse 10.)
No one between you and Him. No one…It’s just you. It’s just Him.
Simple and waiting for you. A free gift to the taking.
Application:
This is just a reminder to me, to us, that it’s so easy to get caught up in the act of doing and thinking this supplements what has been done by our Heavenly Father and a reminder that the Pharisess knew the laws and the regulations and how to worship, but what they didn’t have, was Him, in their hearts.
From “Avoiding the Spirit of the Pharisees“, the following 10 things were shared that we should keep watch ourselves:
Jesus identified 10 main areas of corruption within the Scribes and Pharisees tenure of control and these are areas that we as ministers of God today are still susceptible to and must avoid at all costs.
- Doing things to be seen by men
- Putting heavy burdens upon the people of God
- Seeking the best seats
- Devouring widows houses
- Failure to discern holy things
- Neglecting the important issues of their role as the priesthood
- Focussing upon external laws rather than internal change
- Claiming righteousness with God while opposing His will
- Exalting mans tradition above the commandments of God
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, Thank You for this beautiful Friday and I pray that others will come to know You and the gift of salvation that You have to offer; Lord, keep me humble and learn discernment as I seek and apply Your word. I pray that Your words change me willingly, internally and not to be an external faith but an active living faith that is applied in all areas of my life.
Amen.
****Purpose of this post****
Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.
That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.
I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in Heaven is seeking to reveal.
Either way.
Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.
If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.
Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.
Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.
There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.
This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.
It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.
To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.
Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.
Taking away the key of knowledge
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