Daily Reading Accountability Week 1 (8/12/13-8/18/13)

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auntsammy88
auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
Here is where we will post daily:

a. Verses I Read
b. Something I learned/ would like to share with the group about my reading.

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  • auntsammy88
    auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
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    a. Today I read John 10: 1-21 This is about Jesus and the Parable of the Good Shepherd

    b. An interesting thing that I read was in vs 16, where Jesus mentions having other sheep that he must bring in to become 1 shepherd, 1 flock. I believe this is a reference to Gentiles. I love how this passage shows God's power to connect and save us all. I'm so happy that Jesus is our Shepherd and our Gatekeeper.
  • Exodus109
    Exodus109 Posts: 9 Member
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    a. Today I read John 10: 1-21 This is about Jesus and the Parable of the Good Shepherd

    b. An interesting thing that I read was in vs 16, where Jesus mentions having other sheep that he must bring in to become 1 shepherd, 1 flock. I believe this is a reference to Gentiles. I love how this passage shows God's power to connect and save us all. I'm so happy that Jesus is our Shepherd and our Gatekeeper.
  • Exodus109
    Exodus109 Posts: 9 Member
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    a. today I read Matt. 18:32
    " I forgave thee all that debt BECAUSE thou DESIRETH me".

    b. See, if we desire the Lord, then we will not allow any unforgiveness to stand in our way. We forgive because we want the Lord!. It is like any other sin, I don't want unforgivenesss to be a hinderance in my love affair with Him :)
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
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    Today I'm "Chewing" (meditating on) Psalms 119

    Verses: ALL of them, but especially:

    103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

    104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

    105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
  • Fayelle1
    Fayelle1 Posts: 55 Member
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    Matthew 26: 41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

    This is a scripture that at least our spirit is willing. Our flesh is weak. My commitment to Heavenly Father to quit over eating is my strength. I joined a 12 step group...where it is fast becoming apparent...that the reason...I over ate in the first place...is that I would run to food with my problems instead of God. I have learned a lot...
  • auntsammy88
    auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
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    I'm loving reading these snippets of your daily reading. Keep 'em coming group!

    Fayelle: We all sometimes lean on things we should not instead of God. It is a learning process and you are excelling in that. Congratulations on 22lbs lost and relearning to run to God!

    New: I love your use of "chewing" for meditating. The Bible is definitely our spiritual food.

    Exodus: Forgiveness isn't always easy (forgiving ourselves included), but you are absolutely right. If God has forgiven us of everything, who are we to not forgive ourselves and others. This is something I struggle with, but so very important.
  • Erithil
    Erithil Posts: 52
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    I've been going through Job, so today I read Job 20. It is one of Job's stubborn friends who keeps talking about how "God punishes the wicked" while Job is suffering, but not because of sin.

    This book I always loved when I was little because it mentioned a dragon at the end haha. It is good to read it more closely and see what is really going on. It is still a bit hard for me to understand, I think, because I know Job's friends are in the wrong, yet to me it seems that everything they say about God is true - He is holy and good and righteous, and will bring all evil to judgement. Thankfully for me, He already brought my sins to judgement by placing them on Jesus and the cross! But anyway, the study Bible explains that Job's friends are in the wrong because obviously not all sufferings mean that the sufferer is guilty of a sin. They write "God chose Job to be one of His suffering servants, an instrument through whom to accomplish a spiritual triumph." They also say that Job's "heartless counselors used by Satan to accuse him falsely" considered the depth of Job's suffering to be adequate evidence that his sin was great." My favorite part of the book is coming up in chapters 38-42, where God speaks (and where dragons or leviathans are mentioned haha. I always loved imagining the possibility that dragons were real).
    Anyway, since I basically just wrote about the whole book there, so I don't know if I'll have anything else to add over the next few weeks.
    Personal application... :P Bad at these.... maybe to make sure to be a comfort to people around me before anything else. (:
  • auntsammy88
    auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
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    Today's reading for me was : John 10:22-42. It continues where the good shepherd left off. There are many doubters who are trying to stone Jesus,etc for blasphemy. When you read things like this you wonder why people don't see what is right under their noses, but then I think about the expectation of what the Messiah should be (a warrior). Jesus was definitely not who they were expecting. My Jewish new testament also mentions that it could be suggested that they thought Jesus was violating monotheism (That God is One). Just a lot to think about.

    One of my favorite verses from this section was vs 38

    John 10:38 (NRSV): "But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

    This makes me think of the beauty of Jesus being in the Father, The Father being in Jesus and The Holy Spirit being in us. I love how through the Holy Spirit we are connected to Jesus who is connected to the Father. Warm fuzzy thoughts of love and connectedness and family.:flowerforyou:
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
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    Today's Scripture text I'm "chewing" meditating on:

    Romans 15
    King James Version (KJV)

    15 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
    2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
    3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
    4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

    5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
    6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.


    7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
    8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:

    9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.

    10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
    11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.
    12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.

    13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
    *******************************************************************************

    The Holy Spirit has been sweetly remindly me..."The God of Patience" The God of "Hope" and when I think of that, as I HUMBLE myself (self spelled backward--drop the H is flesh) as I humble myself and believe that there is NO good thing in me, that is my flesh and that Patience and Hope--two Godly attribute that I so desperately want and need to rule and reign in my heart and mind--when I see that "True" Patience & Hope is of God, and these are just a couple of His Attributes that He shall freely give me--that these are His Fruits He shares with me--WOW:love: ...how much Awe, Gratitude and JOY unspeakable and HOPE He gives me. This text of Scripture is like a FEAST for my spirit! This text of scripture is like a "Lamp to/for my feet (daily guidance/direction) AND a Light to my path(gives me real/hands-on/DOABLE application BY HIS SPIRIT of course--NOT by our way or trusting in ourselves)! This "Word of Life" helps (Encourages, Inspires, Empowers) me daily/practically to Walk in His Spirit and Way--towards others as well as in my own flesh and way...WOW:heart::drinker: :heart:
  • Erithil
    Erithil Posts: 52
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    It was Job 21 for me today. Job is showing his heartless friends that God does not always judge the wicked immediately, God does things in His own time. Who are we to tell God how to do things? For "Can anyone teach God knowledge?" vs22. Even though at times it may seem that evildoers are getting away with much harm, and we are tempted to wonder "where is God?", we can remember that God is soverign, His plans are righteous, and it may simply be that He has not chosen to open our eyes to them yet. Because of this we can trust and remain faithful, even at the darkest times.
  • auntsammy88
    auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
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    Today was my Wednesday bible study (studying the Jewish Roots of our Faith). Right now we are going through all the places in the New testament where Isaiah is quoted, reading it in context, and then reading the chapter where the Isaiah quote is.

    Today's reading was: Luke 2:25-35 which is when Simeon speaks to Mary about Jesus being a "light to reveal God to the nations" (vs 32).

    Vs 32 is a quote from Isaiah 42 and 49. We read Isaiah 42 and discussed what the Jewish people might have thought it to be about (They did not know about Jesus, obviously and didn't think that Messiah would be God in the Flesh. They may have wondered how Israel would be a light to the nations (gentiles).

    God has definitely made Israel a light to the nations (gentiles) through Jesus who was an Israelite. Amazing!
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
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    15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

    16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
    17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
    18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
    19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

    20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

    21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

    22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

    23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

    24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
    25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
    26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
    27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
    28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
    29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.


    ***********************************************************************************
    Today...I am "Selah" (that means PAUSE and MEDITATE on THIS) Matthew chapter 7--ALL of it, but particularly the text above.

    How KIND, HOLY and Awesome of The Lord God to warn us and give us a "heads-up" on this eternally important matter--sooo many of us would "swear" that we KNOW Jesus...but the question truly is...DOES HE KNOW US?!?

    How "natural" it is to read such Words of Way, Truth and Life and think you y/ourselves...so and so REALLY needs to hear and do this--and NOT understand nor believe that these words are NOT for someone us...but for US-particularly and especially for/to us! Jesus is talking by His Holy Spirit directly to US (you and me). How EASY it is to reject this warning and not take it personally. Lord, God Help us to see YOU and KNOW you and help us to SEE that there is a way that "seemeth" right unto us, but is the way of death! Proverbs 14:
    12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.


    If I am basing my personal relationship with the Lord on "second hand knowledge--listening to "others" and NOT seeking God for Himself and allowing The Holy Spirit to teach us ALL", our leaning on/trusting in and on correct doctrine, on our works on anything else, besides The Lord Jesus Christ Himself (seeking His FACE and not just His hand). Is it JESUS ALONE that I am after or something else? If I lean to my own understanding and way---Jesus warns us that we are NOT in Him and He will reject us, period. My relationship MUST be my LOOKING unto Jesus...the author and finishers of my faith and nothing else. This is impossible to do in/of myself--but with God ALL things are possible. That's what I'm chewing today--SELAH!
  • auntsammy88
    auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
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    Tonight's reading was John 11:1-16. It is the beginning of the story of Lazarus, where Jesus is told that he is ill and decides to return to Jerusalem. The things that struck me in this passage were:

    a. That Jesus mentioned that Lazarus' illness/death was to bring glory to God. We all suffer in one way or another and we often ask God why this suffering exists. This shows that often the purpose of our suffering is to bring God glory. On a personal note, had I not had my pulmonary embolism I would not have seen how God could heal both my body and my anxiety. I would not have grown closer to him.

    b. Jesus' love and Compassion for Lazarus. The disciples ask him why he would want to go to Jerusalem if he was just nearly stoned to death there. He did so to be with Lazarus "whom he loved". If Lazarus was a man who Jesus loved and he was willing to risk his life to heal/raise him from the dead, how much more must he love us that he ACTUALLY died and rose himself from the dead for us!

    My meditation is a summary of these points: we suffer for God's glory. We are healed because of his love.
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
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    My "Meat" for today is thus:

    :love: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :heart: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :love:

    John 15
    King James Version (KJV)

    15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
    2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

    3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

    4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
    5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
    6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
    7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

    8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

    9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
    10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
    11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

    12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
    13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

    14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

    ]15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

    16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

    17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
    18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
    19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
    20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
    21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
    22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

    23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

    24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
    25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
    26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

    27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
  • auntsammy88
    auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
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    Tonight was 11:17-57. It tells of Jesus resurrecting Lazarus and the plot to kill Jesus. I love how he says that those who believe in him will never die, even after Lazarus has died and then proceeds to resurrect him. A great foreshadowing of his own death and resurrection.
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
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    Today I'll be "chewing" on this:

    1 Corinthians 15 (King James Version)

    35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
    36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
    37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
    38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
    39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
    40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
    41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
    42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
    43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
    44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

    45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
    46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
    47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
    48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
    49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
    50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

    51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
    52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.


    53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
    54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
    55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
    56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

    57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

    58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
  • auntsammy88
    auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
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    Tonight was John 12:1-19. It covers the anointing of Jesus, the plot to kill Lazarus, and Palm Sunday. The basic premise of these verses is that people are FINALLY starting to believe in Jesus following the resurrection of Lazarus. They say "Hosanna" to rejoice for Jesus' coming. Let's rejoice daily that Jesus is always with us!
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
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    Today's Text I'm "chewing" is Colossians Chapter 1...but especially these verses:

    26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
    27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
    28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
    29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
  • auntsammy88
    auntsammy88 Posts: 401 Member
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    Thank you all for joining me during this first week of accountability. I pray that more people would find this group and post daily as a way to stay accountable and to share God's word with us. I pray that we can get to know him better through this group, and that everything we do here would glorify Him. Please remember to post tomorrow's post in the topic for week 2.

    Today's reading was John 12:20-50. The end of the chapter is so powerful to me, that I will let it speak for itself.

    44 Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47 I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, 49 for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”

    ETA: John 12: 44-50 (NRSV)