“TROUBLE”

“I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.” – Psalm 38:18

THE CROSS

“‘COME TO ME,

Matthew 11:28

Intr.:

ALL YOU WHO ARE

A.  WEARY AND

B.  BURDENED,

End:

AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.'”

Flowers at Lake Taupo

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – Second Corinthians 5:21

One more flower

“And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple.” – First Kings 8:11

THE CROSS

“‘AS FOR YOU,

First Kings 9:4-7

I.  if you

a.  walk before me

aa.  in integrity of heart and

bb. uprightness, as David your father did, and

b.  do all I command and

c.  observe my

aa.  decrees and

bb.  laws,

End:

I will establish …'”

II.  “‘But if you or your sons

a.  turn away from me and

b.  do not observe the

aa.  commands and

bb. decrees I have given you and

c.  go off

aa.  to serve other gods and

bb. worship them,

End:

then I will cut off Israel from the land …'”

“You can do it!” it says at the top on one of the last pages of the Slimline Edition Holy Bible I received for my last birthday. (New Living Translation)

Reading that reminds me of the time when I was not able to do it.

Underneath “You can do it!” is a picture of The One Year Bible. (NLT) It says there also “The entire New Living Translation arranged in 365 daily readings.” On one of the first pages of the Slimline Edition Holy Bible I find also a One Year Bible Reading Plan.

What do I mean by “that reminds me of the time when I was not able to do it?”

I could say quite a bit about that time, but here is the summary: I was not able to read the Bible  systematically, from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation. We read books from the beginning to the end, don’t we?

But I am also reminded of the time when I learned to read the Bible from cover to cover, every word, and there was one year when I read the Bible twice from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation, every word.

In his book HUNGRY FOR GOD Ralf Martin writes in the last chapter of his book about carrying things out in our own strength and depending on the power of God to carry things out.

I don’t know if I stopped reading the Bible systematically in my own strength and started depending on the power of God; but I know that a miracle happened in my reading of the Bible. It can also happen in your life, if it has not happened already. Praise the Lord!

“AS SOLOMON GREW OLD, HIS WIVES TURNED HIS

 AFTER OTHER GODS, AND HIS

WAS NOT FULLY DEVOTED TO THE LORD HIS GOD, AS THE

OF DAVID HIS FATHER HAD BEEN.” – First Kings 11:4