And just like that, ¡hola, hola! from mid January! And here we are now getting ready to start week 19 in our Bible Reading Challenge because He is good to us and keeps drawing us to His Word.
By now, many of you are super encouraged to keep reading, some others, after having dropped out for a while, are back with us and some others just recently joined us. Know, Friends, that we are praying for you and are so very grateful that you are reading along. May the Lord continue giving the increase!
This past week I was thinking about the challenge of being in the Word daily, and you know what I think is the real challenge in doing this? The challenge is to keep reading the Word of God in faith knowing that it is God who is speaking to us through it. Think about it. Why do we stop reading our Bibles? It is not because we lack the time to do it, we now know that we can’t use that as an excuse. No, we stop reading our Bibles because we lack the faith to believe that God himself speaks to us through it. We stop reading it when, in our unbelief, we start living as if we were autonomous and know how to do this thing called life without any direction from the Holy Spirit. We stop reading it when, in our unbelief, we decide to listen to our troubled heart heavy with anxieties instead of listening to what God has to say in the midst of our troubles and anxieties. We stop reading it when we sin, because, in our unbelief, we think it is not profiting us or that God cannot forgive us -again. So, dear Friend, be reminded of this: the only way to battle unbelief is by being in the Word. So, keep coming, verse after verse, chapter after chapter, book after book, day after day. God will fulfill His purpose in you and will strengthen your faith as you take the Book and read it. Be encouraged! Persevere!
This week we will finish reading the book of Isaiah -and as I mentioned in the last Webinar, pay attention to the connections between Isaiah and John in relationship to the glory of God, abiding in the Word, and prayer. On Tuesday (Jan. 16), you have a combination of passages that might look strange. There is no mistake. I recommend you read Isaiah 65 and 66, Psalm 141, and Proverbs 28 in the morning, and at night, Psalm 142 and Proverbs 9. Wednesday, January 17, we’ll have a catch-up day. For those who are current in their readings and would like a suggestion, I would say read either 1 John (again!) or Ephesians (again!) because in both epistles we can clearly see the theme of “abiding.” Or maybe, Psalms 72 and 127 (those are the two Psalms that Solomon composed). On this Catch-up day, don’t forget to invite more friends to join us -or to encourage those who feel that they are way too behind to catch up with the rest of the group that are not reading their Bibles anymore to join us. Remember that after a catch-up day we start a new book, which is great because it always feels like we have this opportunity to start anew.
After our catch-up day, we will start reading 1 Kings and the first three Proverbs of Solomon. We will read about the last days of King David, the reign of Solomon, and the reign of the first Kings of the Northern Kingdom. It will be a page turner, Friends!
May our prayer this week be, “Thank you, Father, because not one word has failed of all your good promises to us…please be with us. Do not leave us or forsake us, but incline our hearts to you that we may walk in all your rules, which you have commanded in your Word.” (1 Kings 8:56-58)
“See you” next Monday on our weekly Webinar at 10:00 am PST.
Under His sun and by His grace,
Becky Pliego and the team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship
