Category Archives: Calendar Reading Notes from The WORD

Testifying

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A quick personal testimony to you. 

This is a special year for me; I can tell it already. 
It’s the year to think before I start and when I start to finish – projects I mean. 
To choose projects wisely. Are they worthy of completion? Do you have the means to complete them?
These are questions I am asking myself. 
There’s a Biblical foundation for this. Really.  Luke 14:28-30

I hesitate to call it a project but for purposes here I am. 
Reading a prescribed Chapter of Scripture daily. 
It’s revolutionizing my understanding and my love for GOD’s Word!
The people on the pages live, walk, breathe and teach me! 

It’s a marvelous journey. 

If you are reading this from a desktop, laptop to your right is a sidebar (yes that’s what WordPress calls it).
Presently it reads this way:

January 16-22, 2022
Weekly Planner Reading
Sunday/ Mark 5.
Monday/ Mark 6.
Tuesday/ Mark 7.
Wednesday/ Mark 8.
Thursday/ Mark 9.
Friday/ Mark 10.
Saturday/ Mark 11.

This is my third week using this system in my 2022 planner.
Now, using a planner is new to me because I am a limited planner and scheduling?  Are you kidding?
Many days will be blank BUT the chapters listed at the top oh I am sold on them! 


You see today I am reading Mark 6. And because I read Matthew 3 and Matthew 4 last week when I read verse 12 today a light bulb appeared!

Scripture reading.
My testimony to you today is other than praying there isn’t a better thing you can do for yourself all day than reading Scripture! 

Mark 6:12.   Matthew 3:2    Matthew 4:17 
Check it out for yourself.

And you know if you don’t have such a planner for prescribed chapter reading – you can use the sidebar information and read along with me if you like. 
I’d be pleased and honored to have you along with me this year. 

Just Keep It Up!

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Mark 5

A well familiar verse with Christians, right? 
I hope I can adequately show you in Mark 5 how well it is demonstrated. 
Mark 5 says of the woman:

27 She had heard about Yeshua, so she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe; 
28 for she said, “If I touch even his clothes, I will be healed.”
29 Instantly the hemorrhaging stopped, and she felt in her body that she had been healed from the disease.  source

Do you see the progression? 
She HEARD about Yeshua and she BELIEVED what she heard. That’s FAITH.
But that was not enough for her — it should not be for us either.
She ACTED on what she heard; she acted on her faith. That’s TRUST. 
She got out of the house (which I have been told was forbidden for her to do – she was considered unclean).
She got out of the house anyway and went looking for JESUS because she heard He was nearby. 
When we hear JESUS nearby, we need to seek Him out immediately! 

Jarius was the same. Look with me.
22 There came to him a synagogue official, Ya’ir [Jarius] by name, who fell at his feet
23 and pleaded desperately with him, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please! Come and lay your hands on her, so that she will get well and live!”  source 
The man had heard, the man believed and because of his belief, he came looking for JESUS. 
And The LORD rewarded him!
If you go to Verse 35 you will see the word is brought to Jarius that his daughter is dead and he is ‘counseled’ to stop bothering JESUS with it — she’s dead. 
What does JESUS say to Jarius?
36 Ignoring what they had said, Yeshua told the synagogue official, “Don’t be afraid, just keep trusting.” source 

Just keep on TRUSTING!
And he did! 
If you read more you will find the unbelievers were not allowed to see JESUS raise the daughter from the dead. 
Their unbelief caused them to be shut out of the room.
I don’t want that ever! Do you? 

Father, there is a lot I have left unwritten; more parallels I see and could draw but I think I shall not for now. I am asking You, Holy Spirit, to bring Your Word alive for my Readers. Turn the LIGHT of understanding on brightly for them  –  it will mean so much more and give them so much more delight if You point out those parallels – those I see and those I have missed. Thank You for Your WORD – alive, nourishing, and beautiful to us! 
And, Father, I don’t know the requests, the cries, or the needs of my Readers here but You do and so I bring them before Your Throne of Grace and I ask You in the Merits of Your Son, our LORD JESUS to attend each and every one. Amen and amen.

Harried and Helpless – Not!

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Matthew 9:36 Complete Jewish Bible
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  source

This is an avenue under construction; let me give you what I have so far.

How does GOD see people?

Clearly here He sees people who have yet to come to Him for salvation and relationship as sheep without a shepherd; as harried and helpless. 
What is harried, anyway? 

Harried people are marked by disturbance, distress, exhaustion due to demands, criticism, harassment. 
Battered and buffeted. source

That’s well descriptive, isn’t it? 

And helpless too.

Sheep without a Shepherd.

No wonder JESUS came. 
He could not bear to see us without help and hope. 

What is it like for sheep without a shepherd?

Allow me to list what little I know and then let me invite you to seek THE SHEPHERD for what more He has to say to you. 

Sheep with no shepherd have
no protection from predators
no protection from the elements (wind, rain, heat, cold, etc.)
no help finding food or water
no healing from parasites, nose flies, and other injuries and diseases.

How does that translate to people without JESUS?

No defense against the accusations of the evil one
No shelter – no refuge from the coming storm, or eternal damnation because of sin
No Healer for all the harried-ness in this world
No Helper with the buzzing in our heads

What would you add to that list? 

Do YOU have The Shepherd?

Is Psalm 23 YOUR Psalm?

Three Score and Ten

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Luke 9. 

Are you ready?

23 Then to everyone he said, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake (cross) daily and keep following me.
24 For whoever tries to save his own life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his life on my account will save it.  source 

Death. 
There are various ways to die and most of those ways will kill you, all but one.

Interested?

What was Yeshua saying in these verses? 
May I give you my KWT paraphrase? My understanding of it?

Verses 23 and 24 tell me that all people, myself included, who want to LIVE must die. We must die to doing this earthly Three Score and Ten our way; our carnal, depraved human nature way. 

If we want to live, really live here on planet earth and in eternity there is a decision that we must make now. 

let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake (cross) daily, and keep following me. 

If we hold on to our lives, if we refuse to surrender our day-to-day breathing in and out to The Messiah, we are going to die, not just once, but for eternity.
GOD does not lie. 
In the natural, we humans like to make our own decisions without any input from GOD.
i.e. We SAVE our lives for ourselves. 

How do we save our lives for ourselves? 
Let me be blunt.

We eat what we want. 
We drink what we want.
We copulate with who we want.
We hate who we want.
We refuse to forgive who we want. 
We take what we want even if we have not earned it.
We withhold truth and we put forth untruths.
And the list goes on  — the list is as long as there are sins to commit. 

Doing our own thing, living this earthly life as we please will, yes indeed, will destroy us.
It will destroy our body and soul in the here and now and march us right into hell when we draw our last breath. 

So what are we to do? 
How do we destroy our lives for JESUS sake? Verse 24

First, when Holy Spirit tells us we are hell-deserving sinners and we need a Saviour, we don’t argue with Him, we agree. We humbly and gratefully give thanks that He would even let us know that we need a Saviour and there is ONE ready, willing, and able to save us! From ourselves, from sin, and from hell.

Does that mean we will never do some of those things listed above and many of those not listed? 

NOPE!
But it does mean we will immensely enjoy saying NO to those things, more and more, day by day as we learn from and follow JESUS.
And one day when we see JESUS Face to face we will never have to fight sin again. 
We will be free for all eternity. 

If that appeals to you — excellent! You are on your way. 
If it doesn’t, I fear you have not yet met this JESUS who loves you enough to live and die and live forever for you.  
Holy Spirit, please favor those who are presently saving their lives for themselves, with conviction, grace, and faith to be saved from self-destruction.  Amen and amen.

We were made for this,

Please know your honest questions are welcome here, via comment or email.

Flavor and Spice

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In my considered opinion, the world has a way of ruining the use of certain words; perhaps you have noticed that too.

I came across one of those words in my Bible today. 

Luke 11.

8 But I tell you, even if he won’t get up because the man is his friend, yet because of the man’s hutzpah he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
source

Do you see it? 
Hutzpah. 

It’s a strong word. With much flavor and spice. 

But let’s gets some history. 

Yeshua is teaching and as He often does, He is sharing a parable for those with ears to hear. (Mark 4:33-34) In this parable, He is teaching the art of persistent asking (that is we must persist in asking until we get His answer) and He uses the word hutzpah. 

Now the world has taken this word and used it to mean arrogant, obnoxious, and other such unpleasantries.  [Yes. It’s the same word some add a C, some do not]

Do you see what I mean?

Now let me share with you a different slant and the one JESUS surely meant. 

Boldness, Audacity, Insolence. Nerve. Gall OR a combination thereof weighted according to the situational need.  (from the glossary of my Complete Jewish Bible)

Now let’s see the TEXT.  Let’s see how JESUS illustrates the word.

9 “Moreover, I myself say to you: keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who goes on asking receives; and he who goes on seeking finds; and to him who continues knocking, the door will be opened.
source

He is not saying don’t take no for an answer. 
He is saying don’t stop until you get HIS ANSWER. 

And don’t you love, I do, the first 6 words of verse 9? 
“Moreover, I myself say to you:

I Myself He said. I Myself am saying to you. How AWESOME is that? 
JESUS is saying to us: ask Father.
Ask Him with hutzpah. With full intent of asking until He gives you His Answer. 

And know this please, Father does not wait long with His answers so He can see how long we will ask; He waits so WE will see how long WE will ask.
How much hutzpah do we really have?
We do need to know! Don’t you think?

We were made for this, 

Please know your honest questions are welcome here, via comment or email.