Week 4 January 22 - 28

Sisters,
Here we are completed week 4.  Amazing!!  It was a hard week for me to "catch up" on my reading as I got a few days behind.  But I am on today's reading and back on track.  
Please check out the area where it says Fellow Readers.  Pray for others who are reading this week.  I went through the list and prayed for each and everyone of you. So please be encouraged you aren't alone. We have each other and Most importantly we have Jesus!!

Genesis
Sarah dies.  Isaac marries.  Isaac moves family to Garar because of famine and told people that Rebekah is his sister (history repeating itself as Abe did this 2 times to Sarah).

Jacob and Esau
Stolen birthright and blessing, Jacob flees to mothers family to find a wife. Marries Leah and Rachel. Also has children with each of their maidservants. 
Glad we aren't being tested on each of the names and genealogy and how to spell them all and their order of birth.
* In Gen 28 there is a 2nd reference (in our reading so far) of giving the Lord a 10th.  
Jacob made a vow to give God a 10th.

Jacobs life and children. His return home.  
Life of Joesph. Being sold to Egypt and how the Lord was with him. The Lord blessed him no matter where he was.  Good thing to remember.  We may not be where we want to be but keep the Lord first, He will watch over us and bless us.  He won't leave you or forsake you. 

Joesph went before his family (even though it was by force) to Egypt and prepared a place for the family.  God knew that they would need to go to Egypt so Joesph was sent there and gained favor with the Egyptians. 
After death of Jacob the brothers thought that Joesph may "get back" at him for what they did to him but his response was...
Gen. 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 

People may do terrible things to you or your family, but we don't know the full plan of God.  Things may be meant to be evil against us but always look for the God spot in it.  Maybe it is for the good of others or just maybe the good for yourself.

Praise be to God for He is so good and so worthy of being Praised!
Lord make me a women that is worthy of Your Great and Awesome Name!

Happy Reading Love Jeannie

Week 3

Hello Sisters.  Okay, I'm a little slow in getting "involved" here.  This is my first post ever on anything.  I wanted to share what a great thing this reading schedule has been for me.  My reading before this was pretty hit and miss and life was seeming rather surface.  Just being in God's Word daily (or almost daily) has really deepened my walk with Him and given me a greater hunger and thirst for His Word.  So, I want to encourage you to keep on with it, even if you're a little behind or you can't do it all each day.  His Word is all we need for life and godliness, so let's help each other stay in it.

Col 3:16
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Here is a link to a song that is a beautiful prayer about God's Word.  Where it says "Oh God reveal your glory through the preaching of your Word", we could also sing "Oh God reveal your glory through the reading of your Word"  I know you will be blessed.

Click here to listen to the song.

About Job's "friends", These guys did it wrong, but I want us to be encouraged that just because these guys gave us a bad example, we should not avoid going to our brothers and sisters altogether.  In fact, if we are to love one another, we must. 

Galatians 6:1-2
Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.  Bear on another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 

We all have times when we are weak spiritually, then times when we are stronger, and someone else is weaker.  We need each other in the body so much.  But unlike Job's "friends" our goal should be restoration, and we need to come with a humble and gentle spirit, knowing that tomorrow, it could be us.

Great to be with you dear sisters ~

Week 3 January 15 -21

Well here we are week 3.  Hope you all are keeping up with the reading.  I have gotten a couple days behind myself.  So be encouraged that we all get busy and have "stuff" going on.  Our time with the Lord - praying and reading is so very important.  I will be praying for you all as we read this year and please pray for me as well as your sisters in Christ to read as well. 

The account of Job continues...
Job says he is righteous and "friends" say "How can you be when you are full of sin?" They call him wicked and he is getting what he deserves.  How terrible to say to a friend.  That is why I wrote it "friends". 

If we GOT what we deserved it would be death.  Sin = Death.  But Jesus paid that price for us. 

Job was a good man but he is justifying himself at this point not God.  Then when God speaks Job listens and I am sure the "friends"  had their ears open and listening too. In Ch. 39 God spoke about how He made the animals and how they do what they do because He made them that way.  All they do and  have is because of Him.  Their strength isn't because people feed them well or when they give birth it is because the Lord PUT it there.  I was humbled by this.  ALL Power, ALL Might, ALL Things are because of HIM!!!

Job confesses and is forgiven.  God also spoke with the friends.  Job prayed for them and was blessed.  What does this tell us.  Pray for our friends, pray for those who bother us, pray for those who we may even call an enemy.  We will be blessed.   Jobs life was restored even more so than it was before.  Job died after many more full years.

Abraham
A Man Of Faith - We first start out reading how Abe is told to move.  So he packs and moves.  (I am told to move and I sit on it and say "are you sure?") 

Abe had an amazing amount of faith yet I always ponder when Abe told the Pharaoh and the King that Sarai was his sister. So he wouldn't be killed and it would go well for him. I think it is funny how he told the King that, "Well you see King -  she is my half sister because she was borne from my father just not my mother, so really she is my sister.  I didn't completely lie."

Abe is told he will have a son and he laughed. Gen 18:14 "Is anything too difficult for the Lord?"

Sodom is destroyed.  Lot was living in Sodom among the filth and wickedness.  But he did believe and protect the men of God. He was obedient and left.  Only his wife looked back on that life and "Poof" turned into a pillar of salt.  

Isaac - The account of Abe taking his one and only son to offer him as a sacrifice is such an amazing account of faithfulness. 
-He woke up early and went
-Had Isaac carry his own wood for the sacrifice
-He traveled 3 days (I cant imagine this.  Just walking with my son thinking about what I was to do)
   Of course Abe KNEW God Would Provide.
Sometimes we may be told by God to do something and be obedient.  It may take some time to "walk" and complete the task. But we have to have confidence in Him to know that He will ALWAYS provide and will never leave us on our own. What a great part of scripture to encourage us.

Week 2 January 8 - 14

Week Two

Job
Job can be a tough book to read through.  Jobs "friends" aren't very comforting to him at all, just accusing. They wanted him to confess sins that he didn't commit. 
I can't imagine how Job must have felt. In pain and then feeling like his friends continued to tear him down. He still believes that God is Almighty.

Job 28:28 Behold that the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

I have always asked the question "How long did Job suffer?" I felt like I got some clarity on this in 
Chapter 29:2 "Oh that I were as in months gone by, as in the days when God watched over me....."
Job was thinking that, just months ago he was watched over by God and things were good. So my thought is that Job may have suffered for "months".  How many I still am not certain.  But I felt like it clarified that it wasn't "days" or "years". 

I read in a commentary that Job truly was a righteous man, as we read in the beginning of Job. God said, "Have you considered My servant Job? There is none like him, upright and blameless, God fearing and turns away from evil." However when his "friends" started accusing him of sin he got defensive and started to justify himself rather than God. 

What I can take from Jobs account is that when friends are suffering - pray for them, encourage them.  If you feel like it is because of sin in their live you better pray and ask Lord for guidance and seek Him before condemning a friend. 
Always remember the scripture Matthew 7:4-5 Or how can you say to your brother," Let me take the speck out of your eye," and behold, the log is in your own eye?  "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brothers eye.
Regardless of sin or not sin in a friends life.  We should approach in Love and with Gods word.  What a better way to do this than by getting equipped by reading the bible through the year. 

I'm so glad to read with you all. Please make comments on this page and let me know what you think and how God spoke to you through this weeks reading.   Happy Reading  Love Jeannie