Daily Bible reading

When I was deciding how to restructure my quiet times, I decided that it would be profitable to have a sytematic plan for my Bible readings.  I had previously used a One Year Bible, like this.

The principle of it is good.  It is laid out so that you have a portion from the Old testament, New Testament, Psalms and a few verses from Proverbs, for each day.  So, you systematically read through the Bible.  However, it is set specifically to dates - so, it starts with Genesis 1 on January the 1st, and so forth.  I found that if I missed a day, it could be hard to catch up.  I also found it hard going going through some books of the Bible.  As much as there was always some New Testament to read as well, you could spend quite a long time in one book (think Chronicles here!...)  Also, if you start using it, say, in July, you don't start at the beginning, in Genesis.


My copy of it was also quite a large and bulky paperback.  It wasn't the most practical thing to use.  You can, however, now get a compact hard-back copy, which is much better.


My other frustration was, if I read something and wanted to cross-reference with another scripture, it's NOT easy to find it in there! Simply because everything is all jumbled up, and books spread out through it.  I found myself having to get another Bible out to find what I wanted, or else I would spend ages looking for things.  When time is already precious in the mornings, before the children waken, speed is of the essence!


I'm sure it works for many people (I KNOW it does!), but i was looking for something different.


Then I found it!


Again, it's a "read-the-Bible-in-a-year" format.  However, I work with a printed guide for a start. Then, you can use whichever Bible you have on hand.   I have it in my Prayer Journal, although I plan to put another copy in my small Bible that goes everywhere with me.  It was put together by someone who had struggled to complete other Annual Bible reading plans.  Each day of the week, you read between one to six chapters out of a different part of the Bible. Each week I cover one or more chapters out of each major area of the Bible - Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels.  It provides some variety by changing the area you read from every day.  There is an element of consistency insofar as you still read through each book systematically, albeit on a weekly basis, rather than a daily basis. I am certainly enjoying it, and enjoy the variety.  


You can find it here.



On that page you can also find a PDF version which you can print off.  Alternatively, the passage to be read each day can also be emailed to you!


Here's my printed version, in my Journal.

  I think that it is important to have the Bible as the backbone to our Quiet Time each day.  Devotional books are great as an extra, but I don't think they should be a substitute for getting into God's Word.


I think that any other studies should be in ADDITION to the reading of God's Word.


Some other day I will share HOW I study through - what I try and draw our from my readings, to apply to my life.


So, how do YOU study through the scriptures?  I would love to hear!


Link up, if you have a Blog, and comment below, if you haven't!


  

Menu Planner

I was discussing menu planning with a group of friends on Facebook, and I said I would share my menu planner.

I have only been doing this for 3 weeks - this one will be my fourth.  It has been working really well for me.  It helps me with my online grocery shop - it helps me to be more organised in my daily routine. Now I often will get dinner ready before breakfast, whether we are eating dinner in the middle of the day, or at the end of the day.  It saves me from rushing around trying to get things ready, either whilst I am trying to do school in the morning, or when Elijah is getting grumpy at the end of the day (or we are calmly running about, getting tidy before Daddy gets home!).  The day definitely runs more smoothly if dinner is sorted earlier in the day.

I would really like to start using my slow cooker more, as well, but that's a whole other blog post!....:-)

I have a master list of dinners that I make.  I first of all check my diary for the week, and see if there are any strange or startling dinner plans for the week (read "going out, people visiting, giving the children ravioli from a tin, sorry, special dinner for Robert and I and an alternative dinner for the children....").  Then, based on my general plans, I devise a menu from my master list of meals.  Rule of thumb seems to be that I always have 1 chicken dinner, 1 minced beef dinner, 1 pasta dinner, and fill in the gaps with whatever else I feel like having!  I will add here - THERE IS NO PLAN FOR A SUNDAY.  WHY?   Because we ALWAYS have a roast on a Sunday, so no planning involved (other than remembering to take the joint out first thing on a Saturday so it is defrosted in time....oh yes, and making sure you know what it is first, before taking it out of the freezer, so you don't THINK it's going to be pork, only to find out it's gammon, when you had written roast gammon into the menu for Wednesday already.....oink oink.....*whistles* ).  Also, tea time on Sunday only involves the children, and once a month we have tea at Church. (Actually, I don't usually have the same lunch as the children anyway, as mine involves lovely weight loss items like Ryvita, which doesn't work well with PB&J or chocolate spread on it....) Breakfast time on the Lord's Day is also less formal, and often the children just eat as they appear out of bed.  The rest of the week is more set in stone, but that's a whole other blog post.....(I think I may end up saying that a LOT....?)

Ok, back on to topic.  Where was I?....yes, master list, filling in meals around commitments.  Yes, so there we have it.  I try and make sure I don't always have the beef on the same day, or the chicken, or whatever.  I don't like to be that predictable!....There ARE certain meals that we would happily eat every week, however. Bolgnaise and pasta feature regularly, although we may vary the form of the pasta....spaghetti, fusilli, lasagne.....or in my case, always whole wheat, and whatever is on offer....why?...well, that's a whole other....yes, as I was saying.....

Macaroni cheese is another firm favourite.  We have it with bacon in it. Yum, yum.

This week I threw in a chicken dinner that I loved growing up.....Caribbean Chicken.....I'm afraid it went down like the proverbial lead balloon, much to my dismay.  And my children are NOT picky eaters.  Sad, heartbroken Mummy. Will be scrapping THAT one off the master list.

Onto the menu plan.  Voila.

Menu Planner

I created it from a basic grid design on Word, of course choosing my favourite colour of green as my border! Something Cath Kidston-ish would have been preferable, but unfortunately Microsoft Word doesn't seem to have that as an option.....pah.....You should be able to use it, edit it, and just change the content to your own lovely dishes of delight!  If you can't, let me know!

Ah, yes, you can see I have a section for adding any notes, or items I need to get in my shopping which may be different from the "norm".  

I have it in A5 format, as that fits nicely into my Binder once I trim it up.  I keep them in a zipper file in my Prayer Journal/Home binder, so I can get them in and out easily, but still see through the plastic.  

tada....

So, there you have it.  If I left out any crucial elements in my tired, 1/2 an hour to midnight, over-an-hour-later-than-my-normal-bed-time state, then please tell me!  Nicely.  Please.

I trust this may be of use to someone, somewhere.  And, never say I don't try and do things for those who ask nicely......;-)

Prayer

I had shared with some of my friends, from my Good Morning Girls group, about my Prayer Journal.  I had been having a very consistent and methodical "Quiet Time" since the beginning of the year.  Getting up earlier, so that I had spent time with the Lord, before anything else in my day.  It truly has been a time of blessing, challenge and praise, as I have studied God's Word in greater depth.

However, having got my study of scripture more in order, I realised that I should be getting my prayer life more organised.

Now, let me clarify.  I know that prayer can be lifted to the Lord at any time, and in any place.  However, there are so many examples in scripture of very specific times of prayer, with a pattern that would be beneficial to follow.

I think that there are several things we can observe about prayer in the Scriptures.

1.  IT SHOULD BE CONTINUAL
I Thessalonians exhorts us to "pray without ceasing".  Obviously, our lives cannot only be spent in only prayer.  We have work to do, as we carry out our God-given duties in life.  I think it is more a command to constantly be inclined to pray - to lift our praises and petitions to the Lord all through the day, as an integral and reflexive part of our life.  As simple and unconsidered as breathing.  Lifting our hearts to the Holy One, when things come into our mind.  Thinking about family and friends, and asking the Lord to bless and be with them.  Remembering someone in need, and petitioning the Father to meet that need as we think about it.  I always pray for people when I look at, or use, something they have given me.  Every time I scrub my potatoes, instead of dreading it, I pray for the dear sister who gave the potato scrubber to me (you know who you are!.....).

2. IT SHOULD BE A TIME ALONE
We are told to enter into the closet - a quiet place apart from the presence of others, in order to come to God in prayer.  We need to separate ourselves from all that is going on around us - just as the Lord did.  Matthew 26:36 finds us being told that the Lord withdrew himself from the disciples in order to pray.

"Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder."


He didn't simply pray in front of the disciples, rather he withdrew from them to be alone with the Father.  He IS God, and didn't need to humanly GO anywhere to talk with the Father, but it is an example to us.   


And again, in Matthew 14:23


"And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone."


After the busyness of the day, He went to be with the Father alone.  Likewise, we must come before our Heavenly Father, alone, as well.

3. WE SHOULD SET TIME APART FOR PRAYER
As much as prayer should be lifted up to the Lord at all and any time, we should set time apart to talk with Him in prayer.  To commune with Him.  To pour out our heart to Him.  Maybe, like me, you like that quiet time in the morning, before the household wakens up, when you can pour out  your soul before the Lord.  Perhaps you set time apart when your children have a nap.  The quietness of the evening, before you sleep may be the perfect time for intercession with your Heavenly Father.  Whenever it is, you need to MAKE time to pray.  Just start with a few minutes, and you will find that you want to spend more and more time with the Lord.

Psalm 55:17  Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. 

Psalm 5:3  My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.


4.THE LORD WANTS TO HEAR OUR PRAYERS
We can know, beyond all doubt, that the Lord wants to hear our prayers. We are His children, whom He loves, and He longs to hear our prayers.  Our Praise to Him - the confession of our sins - the thanksgiving for the many blessings He bestows - the supplication for those things which we have need of.  How can we have a relationship...a friendship....a close communion...with someone to whom we do not speak with?

Proverbs 15:8 : but the prayer of the upright is his delight.


I am sure there are many more reasons, but these are just a few I thought of.

Next week, I will post some pictures and some information about how I put my Prayer Journal together.  I may also share some of the instances where we find people praying in he Bible, and see what what we can learn from them. (I have got rather sidetracked down "bunny trails" as I looked up verses about prayer!!!)

In the meantime - PRAY!

Oh, and let me add a sung version of Psalm 5, which I really love.

drawing deep and singing strong

How easily we go along life's journey, knowing that we are saved - knowing that we have a future with the Lord, in glory - but

FORGETTING....

to give thanks to the One who saved us

FORGETTING....

the pit from which we were digged 

FORGETTING....

that we have our strength 

ONLY 

because     of        our     salvation.

This morning I was reminded.

 "Behold, God is my salvation; 

I will trust, and not be afraid:

 for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; 

he also is become my salvation. 

 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 

 And in that day shall ye say, 

Praise the LORD, 

call upon his name, 

declare his doings among the people, 

make mention that his name is exalted. 

 Sing unto the LORD;

 for he hath done excellent things:

this is known in all the earth."  Isaiah 12:2-5

What is my duty today?

I am to REMEMBER...

that He has lovingly, 

graciously 

and wonderfully

  SAVED ME

REMEMBER...

that I have no need to fear

 because I am trusting in God and His salvation

REMEMBER...

that ALL the strength I need for this day,

 is found in Him alone

REMEMBER...

to sing, and praise His name

 for His goodness and His salvation

I have wells of salvation as my source.  Wells that are so deep that they are unfathomable and can fill me and refresh me and give me that strength needed for all that comes my way...EVERY day.

I need only dip in and draw that water - the source is there  - I need to simply take it.  

And, then, what must I do?.....

shout it from the rooftops - express my satisfaction.

Praising God, first and foremost, calling upon Him in a prayer of thanksgiving to His name.

Declare it to others - do those around me know how good God is to me?  Do I exalt His name?

SING IT! praise Him in song - make the song of the birds seem empty, without the words of thanks that we can bring.  (can I hear you singing yet?.......)

WHY....because HE HAS DONE EXCELLENT THINGS!

Lord, how great Thou art....

Praise the Lord with me today, for His great salvation.  

draw deep and sing strong

what an inheritance!

Do you ever think about your inheritance? Do you ever wonder about what the future holds for you, and what you may have left to you in the future? Will I have enough money to live? Will I have a home, an income, provision of things that you need?

I am sure we all think about it. We may see people who are left a large inheritance. Who maybe have wealthy family or are an only child who will inherit everything. We may see injustices where some family members get a lot and others nothing at all. Or, we may just leave it in the hands of the Lord, and not give it much thought!

However, in my daily readings today, I came across a verse that really puts things into perspective. It's found in Joshua 13:33

"But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them."

All of the children of Israel had conquered the land of Canaan, after many battles, with the Lord giving them the victory. The land was being divided between all of the tribes, all of them being given their allotted portion of inheritance. However, the Levites were those chosen to be the priests - those in the Lord's service. They were not given any land - no inheritance for them. No place to inhabit and occupy as "Levitical" land. nothing to pass down through the generations, family to family.

However, look at what THEIR portion was! The other tribes got allotted portions all over the country. Who wants large portions of land? Who wants productive soil, where crops can be grown and money made? Who wants a house by the seaside, where trading can be done? Who wants any of these things, when the Lord God of Israel is your inheritance?!

How that puts things into perspective for me! I have the Lord as my inheritance. I have a Heavenly Father who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He clothes the lillies and feeds the sparrows. How much more will He care for ME?

"Therefore I say unto you, 

Take no thought for your life, 

what ye shall eat, 

or what ye shall drink;

 nor yet for your body, 

what ye shall put on. 

Is not the life more than meat, 

and the body than raiment? 

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns;......

 yet....

your heavenly Father feedeth them.     Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment?

Consider the lilies of the field,   

how they grow; 

they toil not, neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you, 

That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, 

which to day is,

 and to morrow is cast into the oven, 

shall he not much more clothe you, 

O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? "  Matthew 5:25-31

The Levites were given a place of service.  That was their priority.  Not working the land - not building up money or status.  Simply serving.  What a privilege!

And the verse that follows on from that portion in Matthew sums it up, I think.

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

We are to simply serve.

Seeking the things of God.

 Not the best paid  job.
  

Not the biggest house.  

Not the nicest clothes.  

Not the best pension package.  

Simply, the kingdom of God.

God's righteousness.

Things spiritual.

Not temporal.....

and then what?  What about all my temporal needs...surely they are of SOME importance?

"....and ALL these things SHALL be added unto you...."

If we seek His kingdom first.

The Lord...our inheritance....and WHAT an inheritance.

Praise God!

my journey to 1000 gifts

I have been reading the book by Ann Voskamp, called "One Thousand Gifts".  In it, she challenges us to "count our blessings" - to look at our life, and see everything as a gift.....a blessing.  To write down each detail, in which we can give thanks, and see God's hand in our lives.  The beauty that can be taken for granted - the moments spent with family - the glimpses of God's goodness in unexpected ways.  She challenges, through her beautiful writing.  She draws us to a closer knowledge and awareness of the presence and peace of the Lord around us.

We need to draw our thoughts from the mundane, and see the majestic.  From murmuring to magnifying. From panic to peace.  From distress to delight.

See her writing here.

Here are some of my gifts, as I share on the journey.

146. the way Elijah points to things and garbles, after waking from a nap
147. finding out someone was praying, unknown at the time, just as prayer was needed
148. peace, after turmoil of mind
149. generosity of donated toys for the children, which we could never have bought ourselves
150. ripening grain with splashes of poppies
151. a whole hour of time alone with the Lord, whilst the household slept
152. the blessing of recorded preaching
153. having a son old enough to bless his aunt with his help and strength
154. children singing heartily along with the hymns, on the Lord's day
155. fellowship with the family of God's people

If you can, read the book. You will be challenged and blessed in your soul.

Without murmuring

Murmuring?  Grumbling?  Disputing?

Is this a post about my children?  Well, it could certainly be.  But it's not.  Yes, they do all of the above (which child doesn't????....and please don't tell me mine are the only ones who do!), but I am thinking more about myself.

I listened to a great sermon today, by one of my favourite Preachers... Pastor Al Martin.  You can listen to it here. He deals with the verse from Philippians 2:14 "Do all things without murmurings and disputings". I had given someone else a copy of this sermon - they had wanted some sermons for their ipod, so I volunteered to load them on for her.  I chose some from Philippians, rather at random, based on the fact that I am memorising the book of Philippians, so it was relevant to me at the moment.  (see my blog about my scripture memory here. ).

This was one I chose for her.  She told me it was great, and I had to confess that I had not actually listened to it myself! So, I promptly downloaded it today, knowing that we had a long car journey, with a perfect opportunity to listen to it.  (On a side note - I explained to the children that we would be deviating from our usual hymn's/songs/story CD's, as I wanted the chance to listen to a sermon without interruptions.  Daniel fell asleep whilst it was on, and when we got in the car to come home, later on, he said "are we listening to the "service"?".  I had to inform him we already had, and he missed it....he was thoroughly disappointed, which I thought was lovely! :-) )  Anyway, listen to it, we did.  What a great message!  It really got me thinking.

Don't we so easily grumble?  Yes WE.  Not the children.  Us - the adults. When we have to do those things in our home that we don't particularly enjoy, do we grumble?  We may grumble with our mouths - "oh, I really can't stand doing the ironing".

We may grumble in our hearts - where no-one else sees or hears...ah, but the One who counts above all others still sees and hears! "I wish my children didn't make so much mess for me....I wish my husband didn't leave his socks inside out".  Even little murmurings are still murmurings! We can murmur and complain by our attitude.  Procrastination can imply that we don't want to do something, ergo, we are murmuring about having to do it at all.

Apart from anything else, any murmuring from us is a bad example to our children.  If we can cheerfully (yes, cheerfully) do all that is within our realm of responsibility, then we are showing our children how they are to do what they have to do.  The verse that follows on tells us "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;"  Lights in the world! How we behave gives us the opportunity to shine.  A characteristic of those who do not love the Lord, is one of bitter complaint and grumbling about their lot in life.  Forever trying to find a better life and new ways to satisfy.  Our satisfaction is in Christ.  In all that we have in Him - in all that He gives to us.  In His perfect and sovereign will FOR us.  Which includes EVERY thing that is given to us to bear in our life.  Every situation.  Every hardship.  Every joy.  Every responsibility.  Every providence whether cheerful or a trial.  To grumble questions the very providence of God.  Yes, even the little things, because everything is allowed in God's providence.

ALL things....without the murmuring.