Category Archives: Daily Reading

Post with each day’s reading.

2012 Day 18 – John 5

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

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The lame man being healed at the pool is a story that has always bothered me. Ever since I was a little boy I remember how troubled I was that it took him 38 years to be healed. For 38 years no one helped this man get into the “healing pool” and it took Jesus to come along to finally heal him. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that this man’s life was put into place to ultimately glorify Jesus. He was asked by God, unknowingly I’m sure, to live out his life for the sole purpose of helping to shine a light on the Messiah. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand suffering for more that 5 minutes, much less 38 years. I was reflecting with someone today about how easy it is to be an American. We have everything at our fingertips and when we suffer just a little it seems like the whole world is coming down on us. We must accept the life He has given us and know that all circumstances are for His purpose and not ours. I think it is also important to remember that our lives, whether in prosperity or in suffering, is put in place for the sole purpose of glorifying God.

2012 Day 17 – Mark 2

17 Tuesday Jan 2012

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Mark 2:17 is a verse that always stands out to me, “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”” Jesus did not come for the healthy, He came for the sick. The biggest obstacle we face is recognizing we are sick in the first place. Most people, myself included, wait until they can’t take the suffering anymore before they go to the doctor. It is why a lot of people have to be broken to come to Jesus in the first place. The really sad part is that even believers sometimes need to be broken in order to come closer to God. For this reason, it is important we realize it’s about having a relationship with God. The closer I am to God and the more I include Him in my daily life, the less I will feel like I need to get closer to Him when crisis strikes because I will already feel His arms of protection.

2012 Day 16 – John 4

16 Monday Jan 2012

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One of the notes in my Bible really made me think about verse 34, ““My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”” Jesus makes a very good point about where He has gotten His nourishment. He got it from giving. How many times have I short changed myself from God’s blessing by simply receiving and not giving of myself to others. How much more fulfilled would I be if I gave as much as I received?

The other passage that got me thinking is the story of the government official and his faith in Jesus’ promise. When Jesus said, “You may go. Your son will live.” the man did not hesitate. He simply left and took Jesus at His word. I need to be more like that. I need to be the one who takes Jesus at his word, knowing He will always be with me.

2012 Day 15 – John 3

15 Sunday Jan 2012

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A couple of passages stood out to me today. The first is verses 14-15, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” When the Israelites were suffering through their plague of deadly snakes, they needed to turn their eyes to the bronze snake that Moses had made in order to be healed. With Jesus, we must do the same thing. We must turn away from ourselves and turn to the one who has given us eternal life. I think I do that sometimes, but I need to do that on a consistent basis. It is easy to forget how much more He must become in my life. Which brings me to the second verse I loved in today’s reading, verse 30, “He must become greater; I must become less.” I love how humble John the Baptist was to recognize the greatness of Jesus. It really does come down this; I must humble myself to allow His light to shine through. Others should see less of me and know it is because of Jesus in my life.

2012 Day 14 – John 2

14 Saturday Jan 2012

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The story of Jesus turning water into wine is always a favorite of mine. However, this time, I noticed something different as I read it. When Mary asked Him to do something about the wine shortage, she was not necessarily asking Jesus to perform a miracle. When you read verse 5 it says, “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”” which very well may have been Mary asking Jesus to help solve the problem. In either case, I think we are like that with God sometimes. We want God to solve our problems like its some sort of puzzle we got stuck on. The reality is that God is capable of performing a miracle that may or may not be within our comprehension and He is capable of making it better than we could have ever imagined.

The other section of our reading today was when Jesus took a whip to the money changers in the temple. I think there are a lot of areas in our churches today that Jesus would lose it over. While I love the comfort of knowing I have a place to go each Sunday, I’m not really sure some of the things we spend money on is really what God intended when He talked about the “Church”, do you?

2012 Day 13 – John 1

13 Friday Jan 2012

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There are some great passages in the very beginning of this first chapter of John. When I read John 1:12-13 which says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” In reading this passage I realize how much God loves me. By accepting Jesus as my savior, God gave me the right to be called His child.

The second part of this first chapter is actually entertaining to me. These first few interactions with each of the disciples begins to show some of their personalities. When Jesus sees Nathaniel, He already knows who Nathaniel is and what he said in verse 46 about Jesus, ““Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked….” The same is true for me. Jesus already knew me before I ever accepted Him. More importantly He knows me today as well; He knows my struggles, my victories, and sadly my sin. But He is always with me through it all. There is no hiding, there is simply accepting the fact that He has accepted me.

2012 Day 12 – Luke 5

12 Thursday Jan 2012

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There is a lot of information to sift through in Luke 4 and if I commented on all of it I would be here all morning. The one thing I will focus on is Luke 5:37-38 where it says, “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” I’ve read this passage a hundred times, but I didn’t fully understand it until recently when a pastor named Stan Mitchell explained it in one of our Devos at work. Jesus was simply saying that the traditions and rituals that were in place up until that time were to rigid to hold the new message He was bringing. Very much in the same way, we need to be very careful that we as a “modern” day church don’t become so rigid that we can’t adjust to the needs of this ever changing world.

2012 Day 11 – Luke 4

11 Wednesday Jan 2012

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While today’s reading is the same story from yesterday in Matthew, there were a couple of observations I made in the first part of this chapter. The first is at the end of verse 2 where it says “He was hungry”. This struck me today because this clearly shows the humanity of Jesus. It is why He was able to be tempted in the first place. The second observation is in verse 6, “And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.” Make no mistake when you read the phase “all authority and splendor… has been given to me”, the devil is 100% correct in saying this world belongs to him. We can not take for granted that, while God has full control, this world is the devil’s playground. To further my thought, the second part of verse 34 it says, “…I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” The evil spirit who has possessed the man in this passage knows exactly who Jesus is. In the end, I have to be honest and say that Satan having so much authority over this world makes me a bit uneasy. However, there is a lot of comfort in knowing that God has the ultimate power over any evil I may ever face.

2012 Day 10 – Matthew 4

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

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In reading the first part of Matthew 4, we see that Jesus truly is a man because He is able to be tempted. He is also clearly the Son of God and is able to overcome the temptation of Satan. This is a good reminder that, while I am human and do not have the same abilities as Jesus, I do have the same strength through Him if I just trust in Him and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading.

In the second half of Matthew 4, it shows Jesus’ beginning to His ministry. I love the way the disciples follow Jesus. It is almost humorous to see them drop everything and follow Him. At the same time, it is a great example to us to know How we should follow Jesus. We aren’t supposed to put our affairs in order or wait to fix our lives, we are simply supposed to trust and follow Him. Everything else is fixable through His power, mercy, and grace.

A quick note here… We will be jumping around quite a bit as we read the book of Matthew. Parts of Matthew are written based on topic rather than chronological order, so it will seem like we are all over the place. Also, if you are following the reading plan I posted, I need to make some adjustments because I have a couple chapters listed twice. This is because some chapters are supposed to be broken in half since the events of the chapter are not chronological. I should have these adjustments done in the next day or so. Sorry for any confusion this may cause.

2012 Day 9 – Luke 3

09 Monday Jan 2012

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I had a couple of observations in today’s reading. First, in the last part of verse 22 where it quotes God’s voice saying , “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” It never gets old reading those words. I think of my dad, especially in the last few months I got to spend with him and I constantly wondered whether he looked at me and was “pleased” with the man I’d become. For Jesus, as a man, it must have been an incredible feeling to hear those words directly from His Father’s mouth. All I know, is it was always amazing when I heard it from my dad.

The second observation is the last part of the chapter where it goes over Jesus’ genealogy. This one is different from the one at the beginning of Matthew because it goes all the way back to Adam. There are no mistakes or coincidences in God’s word which establishes that Jesus is tied to all of us by being directly related to the created father of all mankind. I love knowing that!