Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 130; Hebrews 10
When I was little, I loved the Sesame Street book, The Together Book, which features pairs of things that need to be together. A wagon needs wheels. A milkshake needs a straw. A sled needs a hill. And Grover needs Big Bird to push him on the swing.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV
I love how these verses pair these two ideas together: hold fast to the confession of our hope and meet together with other believers.
We need to hold fast to our faith, and we hold fast to other believers.
We need to cling to the gospel, and we need to cling to our sisters and brothers.
We need to keep our hope in God, and we need to keep the encouragement of our faith family.
Sisters, I need you, and you need me, and we both need God and the gospel. Let me encourage you, and please come encourage me. We need each other.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for the hope that is mine because of what Jesus did for me. And thank You for giving me sisters to encourage me when life is hard, for You knew that life would be hard. I pray for my sisters who aren’t active, participating members of a local fellowship of believers. Please show them their need for encouragement and exhortation, and please direct them to a local Bible believing, Bible preaching community of Christ-followers. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 124; Hebrews 4
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Hebrews 4:12-13 NASB95
I remember when I had my “jubilee year” physical, and my doctor told me that it was time for my first colonoscopy. Friends, I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to be on a liquid diet and tethered to the toilet for 24 hours. I didn’t want to be put under anesthesia, and I most certainly didn’t want to have my bottom examined by strangers. But, it was the right thing to do, because those unseen things inside me needed to be exposed and inspected, so that whatever impurities needed to be removed could be clearly seen.
So, I did it, even though I didn’t want to. And now, looking back, I’m glad I did. Even though it was painful, it was for my good, not for my harm
Friends, do you believe that the Bible you are holding in your hands is the very Word of God, that the God who spoke the world into existence, the One who holds your life and eternity in His Almighty hands, is the very God who breathed out the words of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, as well as Matthew, John, and Hebrews? Do you believe that God’s written Word is as powerful as His spoken Word?
If you do indeed believe that, then take a moment to ponder how that should affect your life.
If God’s spoken word can cause lands and seas to appear, and birds to fly across the sky, then surely His written word can cause the dead to be born again. If God’s spoken word can cause soldiers to fall to the ground (John 18:6), then we ought to trust that God’s written word can convict even the hardest heart and bring them to repentance. If God’s spoken word can change the world, then we should trust that God’s written word can change your heart and life.
Sometimes we’re afraid to go to the doctor because we don’t want to hear the bad news.
Sometimes we refuse to be put under the knife, because we don’t want to go through the inevitable pain that will follow.
Oh, but friends, just like I’d tell you to go to the dermatologist for that suspicious spot on your nose, I’m telling you to get your nose into the Word. You need it. I need it. We need the double-edged sword of the Word.
Like a scalpel in the hands of an expert surgeon, God’s Word can root out the cancerous diseases of pride and selfishness and sin. God’s Word has pierced my heart time after time. Each time it hurts, but each time it’s good.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving us Your Word. It is indeed living and active. It is life-giving and powerful. It reveals truth to me and it pierces my soul. I pray for my sisters who are afraid, who don’t want to read it, who know that they need heart surgery, but are running away in fear. Please remind them of Your goodness and mercy, that You are the perfect physician and judge who wants for their good and not for their harm. Help us to hunger for You and to find You in Your written Word. May we not perish for lack of knowledge while Your Word sits unopened on the shelf. In the name of Jesus, the Living Word we pray, Amen.
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Your Words are Wonderful (Psalm 119) – Sovereign Grace Music
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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 123, Hebrews 3
Depending on what translation you’re using, Hebrews 3:13 might say that we need to encourage or exhort one another every day, that none of us would be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This English word for “encourage” or “exhort” is the Greek word “parakaleo,” a verb that literally means to call near or to call to one’s side.
I love this idea of encouragement or exhortation literally meaning to call near or to call to one’s side. It’s not standing behind you, pushing you forward, commanding you to get going. It’s calling you up to walk with me.
Come on, friend. Come with me. Walk this journey with me. Hold my hand. Let’s walk together. God is with us. He will give us the strength that we need. Jesus has walked this road before and given us an example. We can persevere by His grace and His Spirit at work in us.
This is your call to persevere. It’s easy to drift downstream, but it takes effort to fight against the current. If we want to go upstream, we have to put our paddles in the water and do the work.
But we are not called to row alone. Let’s get in the boat together. When we both put our hands to the oars and pull together side by side, we can go farther and accomplish more than we ever could on our own.
Who in your life needs some encouragement?
Who can you parakaleo – call to your side – today?
In what area of your life is God calling you to persevere?
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for the gift of encouragement we have in Your Holy Spirit. He is our paraclete, our helper and advocate. We are not alone. You are always with us. I pray for each of my sisters and brothers who are feeling lonely, who feel like they are rowing all by themselves in the middle of a vast ocean. Lord, help them to remember that You are with them, and that there is a vast army of believers surrounding them, rowing alongside them. Please place your lonesome children into a body of believers who can parakaleo them, rowing with them and encouraging them to keep going until the final finish line, until the moment they hear Your voice saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” In the name of Jesus Christ, our advocate, we pray. Amen.
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When Christ our Life Appears – Sovereign Grace Music
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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 119:1-40; Leviticus 20
The Israelites were to be a set apart people in Egypt and now they are to be a set apart people in Canaan. God pulled them out of a nation of idol-worshippers, and now He’s sending them into a new nation of idol-worshippers.
God has always been – and will always be – holy. It is His very nature. To be holy, by definition, means to be set apart.
From the beginning of creation God separated. He separated the light from the dark, the water above from the water below, the land from the sea, the day from the night. He made animals of different kinds and He designed the animals to reproduce after their own kinds.
From the beginning of the nation of Israel, God desires His people to be separated from the nations. And when God gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle, He told Moses to hang a veil to separate the Most Holy Place where the priest would meet with Him. (Exodus 26:33)
Yet, mankind doesn’t like to be separate. We like to mix and mingle. We like to be part of the crowd. We like to fit in.
So God says,
You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine.
Leviticus 20:26 ESV
Heavenly Father, please give us the strength to be separate, to stand out from the crowd. Help us to remember that even when we feel alone, You are with us. Please place like-minded believers into our lives who can encourage us and hold up our arms when we feel weak. We especially pray for our children and other young people who have to learn to swim upstream in a current that wants to pull them down. Make us holy for You, our Creator and Father, are holy. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Genesis 1:4 ESV — And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:6 ESV — And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
Genesis 1:14 ESV — And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,”
Exodus 26:33 ESV — And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 118, Leviticus 17-19
Reading through chapter after chapter of unlawful practices and their consequences can feel irrelevant or confusing, but tucked in their midst is this gem:
Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:18b ESV
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, recorded Jesus uttering these very words and Paul and James repeated them in their letters. What if we read all of Scripture through the lens Leviticus 19:18, “love your neighbor as yourself”?
Don’t steal. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Don’t lie. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Don’t commit adultery. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Help the poor. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Speak encouraging words. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Make disciples of every nation. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Do you love God? Then love the people that He made. Remember, they’re created in His very own image.
Heavenly Father, help me to love others the way that You have loved me. Help me to love others as much as I love myself. Help me to do good to others even when they hurt my feelings – because that’s how I want to be treated. Help me to speak the truth and speak it with love. I can’t do it on my own, Lord. Please do it through me. In the name of Jesus, my Lord, Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 117, Leviticus 15-16
Yesterday I wrote about the Levitical laws about leprosy and Jesus healing the leper… Now we come to Leviticus 15, the Levitical laws about bodily discharges and menstruation and other discharges of blood. Ugh. Well, I’ve never been a leper, but I had times of menstrual uncleanness for over thirty-five years.
First, I was reminded of Genesis 31:34-35 which takes on a whole new depth of meaning in light of these laws (which hadn’t yet been given, at least not in writing). “Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. And she said to her father, ‘Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.’ So he searched but did not find the household gods.”
But then I was reminded of the woman who had suffered with a discharge of blood for twelve years. You can read her story in Matthew 9, Mark 5, and Luke 8.
“And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, ‘Who was it that touched me?’
When all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!’
But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.’ And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed.”
Luke 8:43-47 ESV
How lonely she must have been. How desperate for healing. Twelve years is a long, long time. And how terrified she must’ve been that she might get in big trouble for touching the rabbi.
Yet, Jesus was not angry with her for touching Him. Rather He spoke these tender words to her,
“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
Luke 8:47
Are we tender like that with those who need healing, or do we join in ostracizing them and putting them outside the camp?
Do we go to Jesus and grab hold of the fringe of His garment when we need healing ourselves?
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, there are men and women in our midst who need healing. Help us to see their need and respond tenderly to them. Help us to introduce them to Jesus, the only one who can heal them. Father, we all need healing in various areas of our life – healing from bitterness, healing from emotional pain, healing from physical ailments. We come to You, the Great Physician, and lay all of our needs at Your feet. Help us to reach out to You and cling tightly to You. It is in the Almighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 116; Leviticus 11-14
A few years ago, on a Sunday morning, as I was sitting in our church women’s Sunday school class, I was overwhelmed by the deep sense of love and community that I felt from the women gathered there. Earlier that week I had been told that I had a stress fracture in my right foot, and I’d have to use a boot for several weeks until it healed. The women gathered there were all asking about me and listening intently to what I had to say. I felt genuinely seen and heard and cared for.
It’s hard to explain, but it’s something I had never experienced before being a part of the body of Christ. These women loved me for just exactly who I was – not some fake, cleaned-up version of myself … but me.
Reading about the Levitical laws for those afflicted with leprosy broke my heart. Listen to these verses and imagine how that must have felt,
“The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.”
Leviticus 13:45-46 ESV
And now imagine this scene between a leprous man and Jesus.
When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Matthew 8:1-3 ESV
He touched him. He could’ve just spoken a word. He could’ve told him to go wash himself far away in the river … or go roll around in the dust outside the camp … But, no, Jesus touched him. Intentionally.
Jesus didn’t have to worry about becoming unclean. The leprous man’s disease couldn’t contaminate Him – and neither can yours.
Jesus came close to me. He touched me and cleansed me and made me whole. Has He done that for you? He can.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your loving touch and care for me, a sinner. Thank You for bringing me in from outside the camp, for welcoming me in while I was a stranger, lonely and alone. Thank You for making me a member of Your body, filling me with purpose and meaning and hope for a brighter tomorrow. I pray for the many people in our world who are still living their lives outside the camp. Alone. Please send Christians into their lives to welcome them in and to share the hope of the gospel with them. In the name of Jesus – the Ultimate Welcomer – I pray. Amen.
He Touched Me – Gaither Vocal Band
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Read Through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 107; Exodus 36 – 37
Why did God lead Moses to list all these details in His Holy, inspired Word?
Why do we need to know all about the curtains and the rods and the clasps and the ark and the table for the bread and the table for the incense?
Why do we need all these details about the lampstands and the altar and the basin?
Well, here’s one thing that was made more clear for me by the incredible amount of detail Moses shared:
He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.
Exodus 36:12-13 ESV
The tabernacle was made of all these various things, things that were donated and constructed by various people, yet the tabernacle was a single whole. God wanted all these golden clasps, wooden frames, silver bases, and blue and purple curtains to fit together perfectly to make the tabernacle a single whole.Unique and United again.
There is one God, and there is no other. The perfect unity of Father-Son-Holy Spirit, one God eternally exists in three persons.
And, what about the bride of Christ, the wife of the Lamb, the church?
“Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed– on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb….
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day–and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 21:9-14, 19-27 ESV
Christ only has one bride, but this one bride is made up of thousands upon thousands of individual, unique souls who have been coupled together by God’s Holy Spirit and washed in the blood of the One Lamb Jesus Christ.
The tabernacle was a single whole, made of many parts, and so is the body of Christ.
Are you a member of that very special body? If not, what is holding you back? If so, how then shall you live? What does being a member of the body of Christ mean to you in your daily life?
Heavenly Father, Thank You for making me Your bride, for inviting me into this holy union between You, Holy Almighty God, and Your bride. Thank You for the beauty that is found in communing with You. It is a precious, priceless gift of infinite worth. I pray that I would be eager to contribute to the building of this sanctuary – to spend my time, talents, treasures, and testimony for the building up of this body, Your bride. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 105; Exodus 34
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”
Exodus 34:29 ESV
His face was shining, not because he had just married the woman of his dreams, or because he was holding his newborn son, or because he’d successfully led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, but because he had literally been in God’s presence.
I know that my face will not physically radiate light from my time with the Lord … but how I wish for my countenance to radiate the joy, peace, and hope that comes from having communed with Him that day. It reminds me of 1 Peter 3:3-4, “Do not let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear– but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”
And 2 Corinthians 3:7-18,
“Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:7-18 ESV
Heavenly Father, May my face radiate Your glory. May my countenance reflect the joy that fills my heart. Let Your glory flow into me and out of me, that people would see YOU when they look at me. May they see my good deeds and give glory to You, my Father in Heaven. To the glory of Your Name we pray. Amen.
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery – Keith and Kristyn Getty
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 103, Exodus 32
Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.
And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”
What do I live for? My own comfort and pleasure? The praise of man? Wealth or fame? or the Lord God?
Like the sons of Levi, I have been ordained for the service of the Lord. I have been enlisted in the Lord’s army. I have become a member of the priesthood of believers.
What will this service cost me? Time wasted scrolling on my phone? A dear relationship that is pulling me away from the Lord?
It reminds me of Matthew 10.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 10:32-39 ESV
Whatever your commitment to Christ might cost you, let me encourage you with this: He is WORTH IT! True joy will never be found in your phone or on a plate. True happiness will never come out of a sinful relationship. True peace is only found in the arms and at the feet of Jesus. Is He Your Lord and Redeemer? If not, may today be the day.
Heavenly Father, You did not send Your Son to bring peace to this earth. You warned us that there would be division even within our own households. Let me not love anyone more than You. Make me willing not only to die for You, but also to live for You. You are worthy! Help me to remember that true joy is found only in Your arms and at Your feet. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Redeemer I pray. Amen.
Teach What is Good 
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