July 7th One Year Bible Readings

1 Chronicles 4:5-5:17 ~ Acts 25:1-27 ~ Psalm 5:1-12 ~ Proverbs 18:19
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~ Listen to today's Scripture on DailyAudioBible.com (podcast) or OneYearAudioBible.org ~

Old Testament - Today in 1 Chronicles 4 verses 9 & 10 we will read 2 verses that modern-day author Bruce Wilkinson wrote a best selling book upon called "The Prayer of Jabez: “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.” I’ll start off with a pretty high level question for you here – Why do you pray? How do you pray? What should we pray? Does God want us to pray? Did Jesus pray? Should we model Jesus in praying? I guess I’m coming to think more and more that we of course should pray. Often. Every chance we get really. “Pray without ceasing” ideally. But I’m starting to believe that we pray primarily to discern God’s will and God’s heart – to hear God’s still small voice – rather than to ask for stuff. I mean, I think it is certainly okay for us to ask for stuff on occasion – if it is within God’s will and plan for our lives. But I don’t think we should pray to God as if he was some cosmic slot machine, and that the more we pray, the more blessings & stuff we will get. I think we should be cautious to not view prayer as a “magical” thing that will produce “magical” results in our life. I believe we pray to know the heart of God. I believe we pray for intercession for others. I believe we do pray sometimes to ask for blessings within God’s will and plans for our lives – and I stress “we” and “our” here, as a collective community of the body of Christ. Why do you pray? Do you pray to “listen” to God? Do you pray to intercede on the behalf of others in need?

New Testament - We see continued incredible wisdom displayed by Paul in today's readings!  His appeal to Caesar may look like on first glance he was trying to save his life.  Many commentators believe that Paul was actually doing this strategically to get to Rome so he could preach the Gospel in Rome!  Yes, he'd be arriving in Rome as a prisoner, but, if we know Paul at all, we know that being a prisoner will not stop him from preaching the Gospel!  I love this whole scenario.  Paul certainly seems a bit "down and out" on the ways things are going in his life.  He's been imprisoned for two years, he is barely avoiding being killed or beaten, and yet he's continuing to think of every way to preach the Gospel and advance the Kingdom of God!  I wonder about this in our lives today?  Are we like Paul in this regard?  Are we constantly thinking of ways to preach the Gospel and advance the kingdom?  My hunch is that most of us are living very nice lives - no real threat of being killed or imprisoned.  And I sometimes wonder if our comfort is maybe the real enemy?  Are we not focused on preaching the Gospel or advancing the Kingdom of God because we are simply too comfortable?  I do think one of the devil's greatest tricks is to simply distract us.  Not to get us to do evil.  But to distract us.  Make us too comfortable perhaps?  I don't know...  I'm just so impressed with how Paul was so focused on the Gospel and building the Kingdom, in the midst of all his challenges.  And I worry about why we are not so focused - and I think it might be our comfortable distractions...

Below is a great image of Festus' conversation with King Agrippa about Paul's case from verses 21 & 22: "^"But Paul appealed to the emperor. So I ordered him back to jail until I could arrange to send him to Caesar." "I'd like to hear the man myself," Agrippa said. And Festus replied, "You shall--tomorrow!"

Bible.org's commentary on today's Acts readings titled "Paul's Appeal" is at this link.

Psalms - I love Psalm 5 verse 3: "Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly."  This is a great reminder to pray in the mornings - before we start the hustle and bustle of the day.  I know that many of you are reading the One Year Bible readings in the morning, which I think is a great way to start your day!  I do see a huge positive difference in my day if I do pray to God in the morning and pray specifically about the upcoming day - and pray for others that I will interact with that day as well.  Praise God for the morning!

Actually, while I'm talking about the morning here, let me go off on a tangent if you don't mind... :)  I honestly have lived much of my life as a "night owl."  I went to bed late and woke up late.  And I had all kinds of good "reasons" of why I was a night owl.  But, I will be honest here - I don't think being a night owl was good for me.  I honestly believe there is so much wisdom in the old adage of "early to bed, early to rise, helps make a person healthy, wealthy and wise."  I personally think that being a night owl was a lack of discipline on my part.  I don't mean to say all this to make you other night owls out there feel guilty...  :)  But, I do want to encourage you, in that if you think you are stuck being a night owl the rest of your life, I don't think it is true.  I believe you can make the transition to being a morning person.  I am an example of someone who has transitioned from being a late-night person to an early-to-bed person.  (well, yes, I'm still a bit in the transition phase sometimes it seems...)  And I am here to tell you, mornings rock!  Early mornings are so beautiful and peaceful!  They really are an amazing time of the day to connect with God...   Praise God for the morning!

Proverbs - Proverbs 18 verse 19 is very timely in my life... "It's harder to make amends with an offended friend than to capture a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with iron bars." Recently I received a voicemail from a friend that made me so angry when I listened to it!  And I thought to myself, "that is absolutely no way to talk to me.  I'm gonna call him back right now and set him straight on this!"  And then after settling down a bit, I decided this voicemail was not worth the argument.  I had every apparent "right" to take up an argument because of tone of the voicemail, but something inside of me (thanks God!) encouraged me not to do so.  And I ended up calling this friend back later and didn't address the voicemail tone, and things have been great ever since.  Did I do the right thing?  Should I have called him out on the voicemail tone?  Should I have started up an argument?  For some reason I didn't.  And this Proverb seems to make me think I did the right thing.  If I had taken up the argument about the voicemail, I just might have been clicking a "lock" that would have separated us for a season... Have you ever had an experience like this where you didn't allow your anger or frustration with a friend flare up in order to protect the friendship? Is this wise to do? Is there a time to allow the anger or frustration to not be held back?

YouTube Video: Today's readings remind me of the Michael W. Smith song on the radio called "Mighty to Save:"

Do you believe our God is mighty to save?  Click here for Might!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture this week: "My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. " Psalm 7:10 (NIV)

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

Comments

[Laura]

Mike, I agree with your response and the way you handled your friend that sounded rude on your voice message. I have had opportunites when I could of and felt very justified to speak my mind. To say things out of anger and fustration. I have found that this is a very good time to pray. I've prayed away anger before and even asked God to help me handle the person that has made me angry or is difficult to deal with. When I have been obedient in responding the way He has asked me, the outcome has always been positive. Believe me, this is not always as easy as it sounds. For me anyway.

One time at work I had an issue with a rude condescending supervisor, who I felt very justified to be rude back to. Instead, when I went on my break I prayed about it. After that my anger discipated. In my prayer, God had told me to apologize,which if left up to me, would of been the last thing on my mind. After apologizing things got much better between us.

It seems we do get a little distracted in our daily lives and that we might forget about God when things are going smoothly. I don't feel that I would of understood the blessings, had I not gone through some trials. He taught me many of lifes lessons during difficult times in my life. Praise God!!!!

[Doug]

mike, I'm one of the night owls due to being on the night watch. I work from 11p to 7a 5 nights a wk.
This is not bad as with my job I have time to read and study my Bible and pray as I am the only one here at night. It is usually very quiet and My Father God and I have many good conversations.
Enjoy the Bible blog.
Doug

[Ramona]

1 Chronicles 4:5-5:17

Hmmm, the following verse caught my eye and led me to do some digging,

And his wife Jehudijah bore Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Socho, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took. (1 Chronicles 4:18 KJV)

In trying to figure out who was this Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh that so intrigued me I discovered upon looking in some commentaries that scholars believe she was the women who “drew” Moses, which means, “drawing out,” out of the Nile River. Was Pharaoh’s daughter an admirer of the Jews? It seems she not only adopted Moses as her own but in her marriage to a Jew, she must have had an understanding, or at least acquired one, of Jewish culture and history. So not only was Moses trained in all the arts of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22), he was exposed to Hebrew culture.

I know have greater respect for her because she did not try to make Moses into an Egyptian. She loved him enough to step down from her societal privileges and marry a “slave.” Funny thing though: after Moses had run away to Midian to escape from those looking to kill him after killing the Egyptian, his future wife and her sisters called him an Egyptian (Ex 2:19). Do we really know who people are or do we just think we know. How many people think Jesus was just a good man who helped people?

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[Arielle]

I totally agree with mike on "comfortable distractions"

There are lot of times when things are going smoothly in my life that I find excuses to skip prayer.

I sometimes question my love for GOD? Is it not deep enough to spend some time with him? I don't know!!

I pray earnestly asking GOD to give me the passion and desire to worship HIM in spirit and in truth.

Is this only me or are there others out there who are constantly struggling with comfortable distractions?

I hope most of you could pray for me that I develop a much more passionate bond with GOD each day of my life. Receiving HIM more and more each day - Thanks