Enjoy Proverbs read by 144 women around the world for the Christ Church Bible Reading Challenge through the What Have You Podcast and New St. Andrews College.

To learn more visit christkirk.com/biblechallenge.

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¡Hola, hola! Welcome to week 21 of our Bible Reading Challenge! Woohoo! How abundant are His mercies to those who believe, right? Think of these mercies, for example:  The gift of hunger. The gift of thirst. The gift of God Himself drawing us to Himself. The gift of being willing to come. The gift of knowing that we can’t persevere on our own. The gift of undeserved grace.  The gift of being able to read. The gift of the Bible -printed in our own language, in our favorite format (large print, with wide margins, light weight, with notes, without notes, etc.). Yes, all is gift flowing from His Grace. And so with hearts overflowing with gratitude we come and take the book of God and read it. One more verse, one more chapter, one more book, one more day and we drink and drink and we find out that our soul is starting to learn to be satisfied in Him and in Him alone.

“But wait,” some of you may say, ”yes to what you said in that first paragraph, Becky, I get it. It sounds beautiful and great. But …. it is just hard to consistently make the time, to actually make it happen every single day. Finding the time, you know? I guess you just don’t understand because you don’t see me running around every day.” So to you I write now, Friend. Yes, the season in my life might be very different than yours today, but our Father is the same. And our Mediator, Jesus Christ, is the same. He knows our frame and our specific circumstances. He is the God who sees, who hears, but He is also the God who comes and meets us where we are to give us the strength we need to do what He has commanded us to do. We cannot choose the terms of our coming to Him. Have we forgotten that He is God and we are not? He bids us to come to His throne by faith and in Jesus’ name and we must then come in prayer and in His Word to meet Him. Friends, our obedience is never dependent on our circumstances. The devil and our flesh are clever and when you put together those plus feminine hormones and two pinches of self-pity you have the perfect recipe to bake the most understanding excuse for not getting up earlier to meet with your Creator and Redeemer.  So what now? Repent and believe. Repent of your indifference. Repent from thinking that God can be accommodated into your busy schedule some days… and that if it doesn’t happen, “He will surely understand.” Repent from living as if you were God, the sole owner of your days and times.  And believe that in Christ there is forgiveness from all our self-pity, our poor management of time, our complaining. Believe that His Word is powerful and it can indeed change you and bring you joy when you are downcast, that it can bring you strength when you have none, that it will strengthen your hope in the long days of waiting for answered prayers. Believe that He was not yet finished His work in you, but that He will indeed complete it. Believe that His love for you is so immense that nothing can separate you from it. He wants you to come, so why would you not come?

This week we will finish reading 2 Kings and on Tuesday we will have a happy catch-up day (I can see you are already smiling). For those who are current in their reading and want a suggestion, I say read the book of James and Romans 10, I believe it will be a wonderful way to wrap-up the book of Kings and continue reading the book of Proverbs. We will start reading the Minor Prophets on Wednesday and I cannot begin to tell you how much I love these books in the Bible. They have been living water to me many times. I have learned so much from the character of God in these books, so much from my own nature too, and so much about living the Christian life that I pray you will enjoy swimming deep in those waters next week. On Wednesday we will read Joel along with Acts 2 and psalm 138, and you really don’t want to miss it! I will be sharing more about these Minor Prophets and some of the lessons we don’t want to miss on our weekly webinar on Monday, January 29 at 10:00am PST. I hope you can join us.

May our prayer this week, “Lord, I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what you will say to me.” (Heb. 2:1a)

Under His Sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

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¡Hola, hola! Welcome to week 20 of our Bible Reading Challenge. Isn’t that great? We have been learning how to wear this new habit, every day we feel more comfortable wearing it, and I trust that people around us are starting to notice how we are wearing it every day. Because this is what this challenge is about: owning our time in the Word and in prayer. It is not about feeling guilty for not having read a day, but about not wanting to miss a day. It is not about checking boxes, but about the joy of taking the Book and reading it, one more verse, one more chapter, one more book. This is not a challenge about feeling good about ourselves for reading the Bible consistently, but about realizing that coming to the Word every day is our life line.

This past week I was thinking about a few books I have recently read, and how each author retells what the Word of God did to them.  Rosaria Butterfield in her book “Openness Unhindered” talks about how reading her Bible, in large chunks of whole books at a time, transformed her and set her free from her sins. She makes it clear that the more she read the Bible, the more the Bible worked in her. It impressed me as a vivid testimony of what the Lord said of Hs Word: “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” How encouraging, Friends. Let’s keep reading the Word of the Lord, Friends, knowing that every time we open it, it is accomplishing something in us. The other book I want to mention is one by my friend Hannah Grieser, “The Clouds Ye So Much Dread.” In her book she narrates how, when her family endured the hard Providence of knowing that one of her sons had been diagnosed with Leukemia, she pleaded with God for him: “The Psalms and hymns that I had sung for years and committed to memory  -sometimes without much thought – were now surfacing in my head and heart and providing to be both priceless and indispensable. All this pictures as God as a refuge, as a fortress, as a rock, as a tower, as a physician, as a friend now meant something far more concrete. Here was comfort beyond imagining. Here was peace beyond understanding.” How this testimony should encourage us to persevere in the Word! The Word of the Lord is food for us today but we must not forget that when we read it, and pray it, and mediate on it regularly we are filling our head and heart with it so that, when difficult times come, the Holy Spirit will draw it back to our memories to strengthen us and give us hope. So Friend, be encouraged! Take the Book and read it!

This week we will continue reading the book of Kings. We will finish I Kings on Wednesday and Thursday we’ll start with II Kings. We will read some Psalms (140 and 139) and Proverbs (4-7). Note that on Tuesday, we will be reading James 4-5. That is not a mistake. I purposely decided to do that because I want you to keep seeing how the Bible is all unified. James is, in a way, the Proverbs of the New Testament. In Proverbs 5 we will read Solomon’s warnings against adultery and the same day we will read James’ warnings agains worldliness, covetousness, and and anxiety. Keep your eyes opened to see how all these warning are intrinsically related.

It will be a great week filled with great readings. We will read of the lives and ministries of Elijah, a type of John the Baptist, and of Elisha, a type of Christ. Also, Friends, pay attention when you read James 5, because in it we’ll see what is the lesson we must learn form Elijah. Isn’t it wonderful to know that the New Testament is the inspired commentary of the Old Testament?

May our prayer this week be, “Yes, Lord.”

Under His sun and under His grace,

Becky Pliego and the team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

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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

Read Full Article

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

Read Full Article