This year of 2016 I'd love to be a time when we dig into God's Word together. (If you have not read my article, A Journey Together, I encourage you to do so: http://www.river47.org/blog). I am inviting all of us to participate in the reading plan of reading through the New Testament together twice in 2016. Every other week I will send out the reading plan for that two weeks (5 days of reading per week). Also included below are some questions to help facilitate a personally deeper engagement with God's Word. Soon I will also be sending out some prayer aids that can help us prayerfully enter into our reading of Scripture. For these first two weeks I invite you to spend a couple of minutes of prayerful silence, before you begin to read, as you open your hands (a sign of your receptivity to God), and say, like the young prophet Samuel, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening" (1 Samuel 3:9,10).
Looking forward to being on this journey through Scripture with you! Let's begin!
Week 1 (January 11-17)
Day 1- Matthew 1-2
Day 2- Matthew 3-4
Day 3- Matthew 5-6
Day 4- Matthew 7-8
Day 5- Matthew 9-10
Week 2 (January 18-24)
Day 1- Matthew 11-12
Day 2- Matthew 13-14
Day 3- Matthew 15-16
Day 4- Matthew 17-18
Day 5- Matthew 19-20
Questions to help reflection:
(For those who journal, or for those who would like to try to start the practice, it could be very beneficial to write down your answers to these questions in a journal. As you look back at the end of the year you might be surprised at the insights and revelations that came to you. Even if you just answer one of these questions a day that would be 260 journal entries over a year's time.)
1. What is this passage showing me about who God is? How is this passage expanding my vision of who God is?
2. Is there anything that the Holy Spirit is asking me to do through my reading?
3. How is this reading leading me to personal growth in Jesus' image? Is there any area of my life that the Holy Spirit is showing me I need to grow in? Is there any area of my character that needs to change?
4. Is there a verse(s) from my reading that is speaking to my heart and which I should write down and keep close to me today, meditate on, and try to memorize?
May God bless you as you open yourself to the riches of His Word!
With love,
Bryan