A Bible Reading plan I want to share with you

Hello Friends!

I'm going to give you Bible Studies to follow on a daily basis, so you can read through the Bible in a year!

My life changed when I started giving God a permanent place for Him to talk to me and teach me from, each and every day. It made me very much closer to Him.

I believe it can do the same for you.

Each and every month I will post the studies for the next month, before that new month begins. I usually try to post them 1 or 2 days before they will be needed, so that you can print them if you'd like.

Remember: A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't.

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Heavenly Father, in the stillness of the day, I wait to hear You speak. I praise You for Your Holy Word, it brings me the hope and strength and knowledge I need for each and every day. I thank You for the gift of this new year. Please show me how to use each precious day wisely and for Your Glory. Always have me to remember that with the passing of each day, I'm that much closer to being Home with You. My heart truly delights in You, Lord. With love I thank You. Forever I'll thank You.

In Jesus' Name I pray. amen

January's Studies of The Holy Bible

Where do I start? I think the beginning's always the best spot. Let's start there.

[Can't you just feel The Lord's arms around you?]

January 1^st - Genesis 1-3 & Matthew 1

January 2^nd - Genesis 4-6 & Matthew 2

January 3^rd - Genesis 7-9 & Matthew 3

January 4^th - Genesis 10-12 & Matthew 4

January 5^th - Genesis 13-15 & Matthew 5: 1-26

January 6^th - Genesis 16-17 & Matthew 5: 27-48

January 7^th - Genesis 18-19 & Matthew 6: 1-18

January 8^th - Genesis 20-22 & Matthew 6: 19-34

January 9^th - Genesis 23-24 & Matthew 7

January 10^th - Genesis 25-26 & Matthew 8: 1-17

January 11^th - Genesis 27-28 & Matthew 8: 18-34

January 12^th - Genesis 29-30 & Matthew 9: 1-17

January 13^th - Genesis 31-32 & Matthew 9: 18-38

January 14^th - Genesis 33-35 & Matthew 10: 1-20

January 15^th - Genesis 36-38 & Matthew 10: 21-42

January 16^th - Genesis 39-40 & Matthew 11

January 17^th - Genesis 41-42 & Matthew 12: 1-23

January 18^th - Genesis 43-45 & Matthew 12: 24-50

January 19^th - Genesis 46-48 & Matthew 13: 1-30

January 20^th - Genesis 49-50 & Matthew 13: 31-58

January 21^st - Exodus 1-3 & Matthew 14: 1-21

January 22^nd - Exodus 4-6 & Matthew 14: 22-36

January 23^rd - Exodus 7-8 & Matthew 15: 1-20

January 24^th - Exodus 9-11 & Matthew 15: 21-39

January 25^th - Exodus 12-13 & Matthew 16

January 26^th - Exodus 14-15 & Matthew 17

January 27^th - Exodus 16-18 & Matthew 18: 1-20

January 28^th - Exodus 19-20 & Matthew 18: 21-35

January 29^th - Exodus 21-22 & Matthew 19

January 30^th - Exodus 23-24 & Matthew 20: 1-16

January 31^st - Exodus 25-26 & Matthew 20: 17-34

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May God richly bless you in this.
yours in Christ, -Rev. Deb*

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Max Lucado always delivers:

It Began In A Manger

Curious, this royal throne room. No tapestries covering the windows. No velvet garments on the courtesans. And, instead of a golden scepter, the king holds a crudely whittled olive-wood rattle.

Curious, the sounds in the court. Cows munching, hooves crunching, a mother humming, a babe nursing.

It could have begun anywhere, the story of the king. But, curiously, it began in a manger. Step into the doorway, peek through the window.

He is here!

The Arrival

The noise and the bustle began earlier than usual in the village. As night gave way to dawn, people were already on the streets. Vendors were positioning themselves on the corners of the most heavily traveled avenues. Store owners were unlocking the doors to their shops. Children were awakened by the excited barking of the street dogs and the complaints of donkeys pulling carts.

The owner of the inn had awakened earlier than most in the town. After all, the inn was full, all the beds taken. Every available mat or blanket had been put to use. Soon all the customers would be stirring and there would be a lot of work to do.

One’s imagination is kindled thinking about the conversation of the innkeeper and his family at the breakfast table. Did anyone mention the arrival of the young couple the night before? Did anyone comment on the pregnancy of the girl on the donkey? Perhaps. Perhaps someone raised the subject. But, at best, it was raised, not discussed. There was nothing that novel about them. They were, possibly, one of several families turned away that night.

Besides, who had time to talk about them when there was so much excitement in the air? Augustus did the economy of Bethlehem a favor when he decreed that a census should be taken. Who could remember when such commerce had hit the village?

No, it is doubtful that anyone mentioned the couple’s arrival or wondered about the condition of the girl. They were too busy. The day was upon them. The day’s bread had to be made. The morning’s chores had to be done. There was too much to do to imagine that the impossible had occurred.

God had entered the world as a baby.

Yet, were someone to chance upon the sheep stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem that morning, what a peculiar scene they would behold.

The stable stinks like all stables do. The stench of urine, dung, and sheep reeks pungently in the air. The ground is hard, the hay scarce. Cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a mouse scurries across the dirt floor.

A more lowly place of birth could not exist.

Off to one side sit a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor, perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him—so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.

Near the young mother sits the weary father. If anyone is dozing, he is. He can’t remember the last time he sat down. And now that the excitement has subsided a bit, now that Mary and the baby are comfortable, he leans against the wall of the stable and feels his eyes grow heavy. He still hasn’t figured it all out. The mystery of the event still puzzles him. But he hasn’t the energy to wrestle with the questions. What’s important is that the baby is fine and that Mary is safe. As sleep comes, he remembers the name the angel told him to use . . . Jesus. “We will call him Jesus.”

Wide awake is Mary. My, how young she looks! Her head rests on the soft leather of Joseph’s saddle. The pain has been eclipsed by wonder. She looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty. At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. She can’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God. So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel,
“His kingdom will never end.”

He looks anything but a king. His face is prunish and red. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. And he is absolutely dependent upon Mary for his well-being.

Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.

She touches the face of the infant-God. How long was your journey!

This baby had overlooked the universe. These rags keeping him warm were the robes of eternity. His golden throne room had been abandoned in favor of a dirty sheep pen. And worshiping angels had been replaced with kind but bewildered shepherds.

Meanwhile, the city hums. The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility.

Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking.

Little has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?

I saw this today and think it's so cool!

One movie I've always liked is 'The Princess Bride".  I'm sure a lot of you remember it  (or maybe even still have it!) This is Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya) talking about what his favorite line in the show was.
Maybe it's not the line we all remember....