Devotional Passages for Week of January 28-February 4

Monday: Exodus 5:22-7:25, Matthew 18:21-19:12, Psalm 23:1-6, Proverbs 5:22-23

Tuesday: Exodus 8:1-9:35, Matthew 19:13-30, Psalm 24:1-10, Proverbs 6:1-5

Wednesday: Exodus 10:1-12:13, Matthew 20:1-28, Psalm 25:1-15, Proverbs 6:6-11

Today’s passage to savor – Are you a Ninja?

“My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.  For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.  Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” 

Proverbs 4:20-23

Two of our camp directors were sitting in church one morning when one of them caught the other looking up into the rafters, studying them, and lost in his own daydreaming.  (Yes, it happens to us too.)  After the service the one approached the other because he thought he knew exactly what the other had been daydreaming about. 

“Were you daydreaming during part of the service?”

“Yes!”

“Were you imagining you were a ninja and discerning how you would drop from the rafters onto unsuspecting armed men who had entered the church, thereby saving all the congregation from certain doom”.

“Yes, that’s pretty much how it went.”

“I thought so.”

The truth is , many of us have great delusions of grandeur, picturing ourselves as heroes, able to save people from certain doom.  We dream of guarding our friends, our neighbors, our families from imminent attack.  Most of us will never have these dreams become a reality in life, at least in the fantastical way we daydream.  Yet, each of us are called to be the guards we dream of being.  It just looks a little different than our dreams, especially the daydreaming described above.  We are called by God to guard our hearts.  

More Savoring of God's Word

The heavens declare the glory of God...

I had not known when we started this themed week of "Savoring God's Word", that at the very center of the week, on Wednesday, we'd be reading Psalm 19. Cool how the Holy Spirit works. Read this Psalm about God's revelation to His people through creation and Scripture.  We've highlighted a couple particularly sweet and savory verses.

Continuing to Savor God's Word

Matthew 14:28-33                        

I'm sinking!!!  I'm in real trouble here!!!  This is not good!!!

I don't know exactly what was going through Peter's mind in this moment, but I do know this, his instincts to call out to Jesus were right on.  Are those your instincts?  Have you brought your troubles before our Lord and Savior?  Jesus rebukes Peter's doubt as a means to push him to grow in faith and trust, but make no mistake, Peter had stepped out of that boat in faith.  He was pursuing Jesus Christ.  This was not a man for whom Jesus was just "fire insurance".  This was not a man for whom Jesus was present just in case he got in trouble.  In the course of following Jesus, and seeking to know Him, in the course of stepping out of the boat in faith, Peter found himself in over his head.  So what do you do when difficulty arises?

A Week of Savoring God's Word

As I mentioned in our last post, one of my favorite times of the day is before breakfast when I dig into Scripture.  It is often an experience of savoring truth as I digest what God has said in His Word.  Our desire at SB2W is that you also experience the delight of knowing God and reading His Word on a regular basis.  To that end we invite you this week to follow us in the daily readings provided in the last post.  Each day this week we'll post some morsels from the reading that we found delicious.

Monday, January 21st Readings: Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:12, Psalm 18:16-36, Proverbs 4:7-10

1. Matthew 13:49-50 - "So it will be at the close of the age.  The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In what place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

• You might ask: How is this passage a sweet morsel?  

Devotional Passages for Week of January 21-28

Monday: Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:12, Psalm 18:16-36, Proverbs 4:7-10
Tuesday: Genesis 44:1-45:28, Matthew 14:13-36, Psalm 18:37-50, Proverbs 4:11-13
Wednesday: Genesis 46:1-47:31, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalm 19:1-14, Proverbs 4:14-19
Thursday: Genesis 48:1-49:33, Matthew 15:29-16:12, Psalm 20:1-9, Proverbs 4:20-27

Devotional Passages for Week of January 14-21

Monday:  Genesis 30:1-31:16, Matthew 10:1-23, Psalm 12:1-8, Proverbs 3:13-15
Tuesday:  Genesis 31:17-32:12, Matthew 10:24-11:6, Psalm 13:1-6, Proverbs 3:16-18
Wednesday:  Genesis 32:13-34:31, Matthew 11:7-30, Psalm 14:1-7, Proverbs 3:19-20

Read your Bible: Recommitting to Daily Bible Reading

One of the most precious times of my day is waking up each morning to open God's Word.  Why?  Simply stated; my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick (see Jeremiah 17:9).  My heart is not prone to wake up in a godly frame of mind.  Let's be completely honest, I'm prone to wake up selfish.  I'm prone to have my mind filled with my plans, my desires, my struggles (Me, Me, Me).  How about you?  The Bible first thing in the morning reorients me to think God, God, God.  God first right? Is that not exactly what we need, to have our mind fixed upon God, upon Jesus, that we might honor Him each day, that our joy and delight might be in Him?

We here at SB2W encourage you if you don't already have a good reading plan, to use the reading plan at www.oneyearbibleonline.com.  We often post the reading plan here on the blog for you to read on a weekly basis.  Our devotional posts are most often on a passage from that very week's reading.  If you are reading along with us then last week you read of Jesus' temptation in Matthew 4.  Let me point out something that astonishes me.  Jesus is being tempted.  He, like us, had to do battle with temptation.  How did He find victory?  He used the Word of God.  Now think with me.  Jesus is God, therefore everything that proceeds from His mouth is the word of God.  Yet, look at what He chose to do battle with temptation.  Each time He's tempted he says these words, "It is written...".  Wow!! Jesus who could have used a variety of means to defeat Satan's attacks chose to use the written Word.  He chose the Scriptures.  Why?  To show how powerful and effective the written Word of God is for any who face temptation.  To point us to the importance of knowing the Word of God that we might faithfully follow Him.  Read your Bibles friends.  Soak up time with your Lord; enjoying, listening, learning, growing, and loving Jesus Christ.  Blessings to you in this New Year.

Devotional Passages for Week of January 7-14

Monday: Genesis 16:1-18:15, Matthew 6:1-24, Psalm 7:1-17, Proverbs 2:1-5

Tuesday: Genesis 18:16-19:38, Matthew 6:25-7:14, Psalm 8:1-9, Proverbs 2:6-15

Wednesday: Genesis 20:1-22:24, Matthew 7:15-29, Psalm 9:1-12, Proverbs 2:16-22