Journey Through Scripture - Day 4

The Journey Through Scripture  posts are written for the ladies in the small group that I am leading. We are spending the next year together reading through the entire Bible.

Day 4: Genesis 10-12, Matthew 4

I would encourage you to complete the reading before you read the blog posts :)

 

Genesis 12, Verse 1 -- God told Abram to leave and to go. God said that He would show Abram his destination but first Abram would have to begin on his journey. In verse 4 we see Abram's obedience. And I wonder, how many times has God called me to begin something, to set out on a journey with Him and I ignored Him? Are we listening for, are we heeding God's call to us?

 

Verse 2 -- God promises to bless Abram and that as a result, Abram would be a blessing to others. Do we recognize God's blessings on us? Am I only looking at or focused on the things that God has not given me?? Am I using the blessings that I have received to turn around and bless someone else?

Verse 13 -- Here we see Abram's humanity -- he tells his wife to lie for him. I am both saddened and relieved when I read this; saddened because he lied and so relieved to realized that God has never been about calling perfect people. He calls people who are willing (verse 4). Am I willing? Are you willing to be called?

Matthew 4 -- When Satan comes to tempt Jesus, Jesus does NOT argue with him. He doesn't even get into a discussion with him. Jesus simply quotes Scripture. Notice that Satan also quotes Scripture. Yes, he has studied it and knows it very well. That is why it is so important that we know it too!!

Verses 210 & 22 -- the disciples immediately left their lives behind and went to follow Jesus -- like Abram in Genesis 12.

Continue on in your reading ladies!! I am so proud of you all for coming on this adventure with me!

God Bless ~ Shannon

Journey Through Scripture - Day 2

The Journey Through Scripture posts are written for the ladies in the small group that I am leading. We are spending the next year together reading through the entire Bible.

Day 2: Genesis 4-6, Matthew 2

I would encourage you to complete the reading before you read the blog posts :)

Genesis 4:3 -- Cain brought some of his fruit as an offering. He didn't choose the first or the best.

Verse 4 -- Abel brought an offering from the firstborn of his flock.

God looked with favor on Abel and his offering. This made Cain upset, perhaps even jealous. Verse 7 says 'If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?' They were each given the same choice, the same opportunity to bring an offering that would be acceptable. They each knew what an acceptable offer was and Cain chose not to offer it. So what was really the difference in their offerings?? Does God just require robot-like obedience? I believe that their offerings reflect the condition of their hearts and show us the state of each of their relationships with God. Abel's heart was in a state of worship as he came before his creator with his offering. I am not sure where Cain's heart was when he came before the Lord, but he was not *Worship* focused.

I want to challenge you to think about this:

Do you more closely identify with Cain or with Abel?

Are we like Abel? Giving God the best of ourselves? The best of our talents and what we have to offer? 

Or are we like Cain? Do we hold back the best of ourselves from God and then get bitter and upset when He doesn't bless our 'efforts'?? 

I think if we are honest with ourselves, we are alot more like Cain than we care to admit. 

I pray ladies that you are keeping up with the reading and that God is blessing you through His Word!

Journey Through Scripture - Day 1

The Journey Through Scripture posts are written for the ladies in the small group that I am leading. We are spending the next year together reading through the entire Bible.

Day 1: Genesis 1-3, Matthew 1

I would encourage you to complete the reading before you read the blog posts :)

Genesis ch.3, verse 1 -- By asking Eve 'Did God really say ...?' Satan is trying to cause her to doubt God. He still does this to us today. Any area of our life where we doubt God, is an area where our faith is weakened. This doubt even caused Eve to mis-quote what God had said by adding that they were told not even to touch the tree (verse 3). She was shaken by this attack on her trust in God. In verse 6 we see Satan's bag of tricks: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. This is the very same technique that he used on Jesus when we tempted Him in the wilderness (Matthew 4). Jesus combated this attack by quoting Scripture to Satan. It is so important that we KNOW what the Bible says so that we have it as a tool against these attacks on our faith. It is so important that we don't make the mistake that Eve made by not knowing EXACTLY what God has said. And by being aware of the tricks that Satan is trying to use against us, we can ready ourselves to stand against it!

Matthew 1 -- Men and women, Jews and Gentiles are listed in the genealogy of Christ. God's plan was always to include everyone! I always used to wish I was Jewish so that I could be one of God's chosen people. If only I would've read the Bible sooner, I would've realized that I have been one of His chosen since before my birth! And so are YOU! I am so thankful for that!!

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On a life note: after I had written in my notebook this morning about Satan trying to cause us to doubt our faith, I was given the opportunity to put that into practice. Colin's father asked this morning if Colin could spend the night tonight. (He is supposed to come back home at 5). I said no but now I am wondering if he will bring him back at 5 or not. I know that this is just the devil trying to play a mind game on me. I also know, that he doesn't want anyone reading their Bible and that I will be under some Spiritual attack for leading you through reading it. But I still choose to lead the group. I still choose to trust that God loves Colin and has some wonderful and amazing plans for his life. I am choosing to hand my concerns over to God in prayer and to spend the day NOT WORRYING!

I pray that you all have a Blessed Day today!!

I love you ~ Shannon

Journey Through Scripture

We have small groups at our church, which we call Community Groups. This year I am very blessed and humbled to have the privilege of leading one of these groups! The focus of these groups is to build community - become Family with each other, and to study the Bible. It is about so much more than just Bible study -- it is about the relationships we have and how we glorify God through those and help each other in our Faith Walks.

My group - I call it my CG, short for Community Group -- has two verses as our sort-of purpose statements. The first one is 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up. If we miss the mark on this one, we have totally missed the mark. Our study of Scripture will mean NOTHING if we cannot fulfill this verse. Our second verse is Job 34:4b Let us learn together what is good. The focus of the 'study' part of our group will be to read through the Bible together in a year. We have a reading plan that we will follow which consists of 365 daily readings from both the Old and New Testaments. Tonight will be our first get-together and tomorrow we will begin with Day 1. I am super excited!

So, what does all this  have to do with the blog?? Well, I am afraid that I will have far too many words on my heart for sharing in our time together. (Believe it or not, I am a talker! LOL) I want to hear what the other ladies are getting out of their reading. So, I am going to use the blog as a place for sharing my thoughts as I read through - a place where the ladies in the CG can come, read and be encouraged. Each time that the post is designed for our CG, the title of the post will say Journey Through Scripture. I will list what 'Day' reading we are on and I will also list the verses so that you can follow along with us.

May you each be blessed as you seek to know Him better! And let me encourage you in this: if you have not read your Bible yet today -- GO DO IT :)

God Bless ~ Shannon

I am almost ready to start writing on the blog again. I know this because this morning, I wrote a post in my mind :)

I feel like I've been gone for a  really long time but it's only been just over two weeks. I have had a lot of things change in life since I was last here so I am interested to update you all. Also, I think maybe my approach to the blog will change some too. That's still just an idea though.

I pray you are all doing well and I will leave you with this photo that I took recently:

God Bless ~ Shannon