Blessings Saints! We are back online now that our family vacation time is over. I have had time to pray and meditate on the next steps.
I feel an urgency to “hide God’s Word in my heart” and to read through the entire Bible before the end of 2020. So we plan to listen to scripture 45 minutes a day either via a website like Biblegateway.com or by reading out loud as a family. I am highlighting what stands out as we go and then going back through privately before bed to copy out key passages and meditate on them or write notes in the margins of my Bible. Perhaps there are others who would like to “join us” in the Spirit and share the highlights here of what you see each day or each week.
This week we are starting with Jeremiah and then we plan to do Ezekiel.
This will build up unity in our community and grow oneness in our thinking as well.
Easy steps:
- Listen to scripture for 45 minutes per day, 5 days per week
- Underline and highlight as you go
- Review what you have underlined and either copy or write notes in the margin
This process should get us through the entire Bible before the end of December 2020.
So for anyone who has ever thought reading through the whole Bible is something they would like to do, this is a perfect time to share the journey with others.
Healing and Discipleship 
“Average Reading Time
Genesis – 3.5h
Exodus – 3h
Leviticus – 2h
Numbers – 3h
Deuteronomy – 2.5h
Joshua – 1.75h
Judges – 1.75h
Ruth – 15m
1 Samuel – 2.25h
2 Samuel – 1.75h
1 Kings – 2h
2 Kings – 2.25h
1 Chronicles – 2h
2 Chronicles – 2.5h
Ezra – 40m
Nehemiah – 1h
Esther – 30m
Job – 1.75 h
Psalms – 5h
Proverbs – 1.75h
Ecclesiastes – 30m
Song of Solomon – 20m
Isaiah – 3.75h
Jeremiah – 4h
Lamentations – 20m
Ezekiel – 3.75h
Daniel – 1.25h
Hosea – 30m
Joel – 12m
Amos – 25m
Obadiah – 4m
Jonah – 8m
Micah – 20m
Nahum – 8m
Habakkuk – 9m
Zephaniah – 10m
Haggai – 7m
Zechariah – 40m
Malachi – 11m
Matthew – 2.5h
Mark – 1.5h
Luke – 2.5h
John – 2h
Acts – 2.25h
Romans – 1h
1 Corinthians – 1h
2 Corinthians – 40m
Galatians – 20m
Ephesians – 20m
Philippians – 14m
Colossians – 13m
1 Thessalonians – 12m
2 Thessalonians – 7m
1 Timothy – 16m
2 Timothy – 11m
Titus – 7m
Philemon – 3m
Hebrews – 45m
James – 16m
1 Peter – 16m
2 Peter – 10m
1 John – 16m
2 John – 2m
3 John – 2m
Jude – 4m
Revelation – 1.25h”
from http://www.travisagnew.org/2016/11/14/how-long-does-it-take-to-read-each-book-of-the-bible/
Jeremiah 2:4-9 “The priests did not ask where is the Lord” I am deeply convicted by my study of Jeremiah so far. A predominant theme I am hearing is “you wonder why the world looks the way that it does, but this is nothing to wonder about”. Through these passages I hear God pleading with man to turn back to Him, to sincerely and seriously submit to Him and obey Him, so that He can bless us abundantly. “Wasting your time no nonsense”NLT. More and more I am convicted of so much of what I do with my time has no fruit or value for the Kingdom, this deeply challenges me to consider everything in my days and weighing them against what the Word calls me to do with my time. More and more my heart and eyes are fixed on treasures in heaven and the things that have eternal value. “Against you and you children’s children” God is absolutely the just Judge AND He is perfectly merciful. He therefore pleads with us to change our course and meet the legal requirements that He has laid out in His Word so that He can bless us abundantly.
Jeremiah 2:11B “Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols..” The world is facing God sized problems… and after reading these first portions of Jeremiah, in humility, I must say I believe that we have brought these things on ourselves (See Jer 4:18). 2 things people have done “forsaken” God and taken things into their own hands “digging cracked cisterns” creating solutions that are not capable of fixing the issues. The underlying issue is that blessing cannot exist in a world that God has been excluded from as He is the source of every good thing. More and more I am seeing that we have become gods in our own estimation and rarely turn to God other than to blame Him for the state of the world… The irony of this, “I am mad at you even though I have crowded you out, neglected my relationship with you and ignored the bulk of what you have to say and often ignored your counsels” while then flipping it and accusing God with things like “I don’t know how a good God would permit these terrible evils in the world. therefore he must not exist”. I am deeply humbled and crying out for restoration of “Fear/Reverential respect for the Lord” and deep, God-honouring relationships to be restored with each of His dear ones.
Jer 2:17 “brought this on yourselves by rebelling against the Lord Your God when He wanted to lead you and show you the way”. A relationship with God requires submission and admitting to and realizing that our logic and ways of thinking humanly speaking are far inferior to the Lord’s. We are in an era where science and humanism as the ultimate authorities have hit an all time peak. I have a song reframe in my head “If it makes you happy, than why are you so sad” from Sheryl Crow.. secular song that was popular in my pre Christ days.
Not recommending the song but that particular section of lyrics is powerful