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Robyn's Bible Reading Strategies Applied
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1172. 1. A Call to Faithfulness Today's Passage: Malachi 2:10-17 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 8th strategy. Choose three important verses that speak to you today.
10. Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors? 11. Judah has been unfaithful, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem The men of Judah have defiled the LORD'S beloved sanctuary by marrying women who worship idols. 12. May the LORD cut off from the nation of Israel every last man who has done this and yet brings an offering to the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 13. Here is another thing you do. You cover the LORD'S altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn't accept them with pleasure. 14. You cry out, "Why doesn't the LORD accept my worship?" I'll tell you why! Because the LORD witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows. 15. Didn't the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart: remain loyal to the wife of your youth. 16. "For I hate divorce!" says the LORD, the God of Israel "To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife." 17. You have wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the LORD'S sight. and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, "Where is the God of justice?" Malachi 2:10-17 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn
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1171. 1. A Warning to the Priests Today's Passage: Malachi 2:1-9 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 21st Strategy. (And, But, So) the LORD says/said:...
1. "Listen, you priests — this command is for you! 2. Listen to me and make up your minds to honor my name," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken my warning to heart. 3. I will punish your descendants and splatter your faces with the manure from your festival sacrifices, and I will throw you on the manure pile. 4. Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites can continue," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 5. "The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and that is what I gave them. This required reverence from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6. They passed on to the people the truth of the instrucitons they recevied from me. They did not lie or cheat; they walked with me, living good and righteous lives, and they turned many from lives of sin. 7. "The words of a priest's lips should preserve knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 8. But you priests have left God's paths. Your instructions have caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 9. "So I have made you despised and humiliated in the eyes of all the people. For you have not obeyed me but have shown favoritism in the way you carry out my instructions," Malachi 2:1-9 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn 1170. 1. Unworthy Sacrifices Today's Passage: Malachi 1:6-14 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 5th strategy. A simple strategy: Building Blocks
6. The LORD of Heaven's Armies says to the priests: "A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am you father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! "But you ask, 'How have we ever shown contempt for your name?' 7. "You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. "Then you ask, 'How have we defiled the sacrifices?' "You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect. 8. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn't that wrong? And isn't it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!" says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 9. "Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?" asks the LORD of HEAVEN'S Armies. 10. "How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "and I will not accept your offerings. 11. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 12. "But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it's all right to defile the Lord's table. 13. You say, 'It's too hard to serve the LORD,' and you turn up your nosess at my commands," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?" asks the LORD. 14. "Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but, then sacrifices a defective one to the LORD. For I am a great king," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies,' and my name is feared among the nations! Malachi 1:6-14 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn 1169. 1. The LORD'S Love of Israel Today's Passage: Malachi 1:1-5 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. We see God in nature. We can worship him as we see him there. But, we hear God through his words. Worshiping him in this intimacy of conversation with Him is relationship. Eastern forms of meditation encourage an emptying of the mind. A release. This is not scriptural. We can find scripture that warns of leaving ourselves empty. "Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me. When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, 'I will return to the person I came from.' So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before." Luke 11:23-26 So Biblical meditation refers to placing the Word of God in our minds and thinking about that. Reflecting on what has been read and reread from the word. Not on emptiness. But instead, the Word of God. We do not ponder our navels. Instead we ponder the words that He has given us to get to know Him. A chant or a mantra although very powerful, they have not the power of God's written words. God speaks when we listen, but as you cannot hear an orchestra's beautiful music when you are not in the concert hall, we cannot hear his words without opening the bible. We can see him in nature, but we hear him through His Words. We can and should worship Him in both ways. But for our purposes we speak of the benefit of worshiping through reading His Word. 3. 2nd strategy Meditation in WORSHIP God is able to speak to us through those words that we read and reread, as we think about what we have read and ponder those words infiltrate our minds and change us. They give us a better understanding of what God is saying in His word. Through that better understanding we begin to think differently, and our attitudes and lives change. Even our actions toward ourselves, others and the world change to be more Christlike. And isn't that what Christians desire? To be Christ like. To be Christ followers. To know God. With these precepts or tenets in place, let us begin with WORSHIP.
1. This is the message that the LORD gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi. 2. "I have always loved you," says the LORD, But you retort, "Really? How have you loved us?" And the LORD replies, "This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob, 3, but I rejected his brother, Esau, and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau's inheritance into a desert for jackals." 4. Esau's descendants in Edom may say "We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins." But the LORD of Heaven's Armies replies, "They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again. Their country will be known as the "The Land of Wickedness,' and their people will be called 'The People with Whom the LORD is Forever Angry." 5. When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, 'Truly, the LORD'S greatness reaches far beyond Israel's borders!" Malachi 1:1-5 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn 1168. 1. Think of Excellence — Today's Passage: Philippians 4:1-23 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 3rd strategy For Familiar Passages. Read Anew! Read the passage from Last to First! Sometimes we have read a passage of Scripture so many times we can't see it with new eyes. How can we change the passage without changing the meaning? What would we see if we take a passage and begin with the last verse and read the verses from for example: Let's say you are Reading Chapter 3:10-1.
1. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the LORD. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. 2. Now, I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche, Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. 3. And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two, women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. 4. Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again — rejoice! 5. Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7. Then you will experience God's peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me — everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. 10. How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn't have the chance to help me. 11. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. 14. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. 15. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. 16. Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. 17. I don't say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. 18. At the moment I have all I need — and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. 19. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 20. Give my greetings to each of God's holy people —all who belong to Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you their greetings. 22. And all the rest of God's people send you greetings, too, especially those in Caesar's household. 23. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Philippians 4:1-23 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn 1167. 1. The LORD Will Rule the Earth — Today's Passage: Zechariah 14:1-21 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 4th strategy. Is this a who, what, when, where, or how passage?
1. Watch, for the day of the LORD is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! 2. I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city. 3. Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. 4. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. 5. You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all his holy ones with him. 6. On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, 7. yet there will be continuous day! Only the LORD knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light. 8. On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter. 9. And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one LORD — his name alone will be worshiped. 10. All the land from Geba, north of Judah, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become one vast plan. But Jerusalem will be raised up in its original place and will be inhabited all the way from the Benjamin Gate over to the site of the old gate, then to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. 11. And Jerusalem will be filled, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed. 12. And the LORD will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13. On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the LORD with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand. 14. Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be captured — great quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing. 15. This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps. 16. In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the king, the LORD of Heaven's Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. 17. Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Heaven's Armies, will have no rain. 18. If the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the LORD will punish them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go. 19. Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don't go to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. 20. On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: HOLY TO THE LORD. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the LORD will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar. 21. In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Heaven's Armies. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders in the Temple of the LORD of Heaven's Armies. Zechariah 14:1-21 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn 1162. 1. Future Deliverance for Jerusalem — Today's Passage: Zechariah 13:7-9 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 5th strategy. A simple strategy: Building Blocks
7. "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, the man who is my partner." says th eLORD of Heaven's Armies. "Strike down the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the lambs. 8. Two-thirds of th epeople in the land will be cut off and die, " says the LORD. "But one-third will be left in the land. 9. I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them, I will say, 'These are my people,' and they will say,'The LORD is our God.'" Zechariah 13:7-9 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn 1165. 1. Future Deliverance for Jerusalem — Today's Passage: Zechariah 13:1-6 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 16th strategy. Repeating Sentences or Themes in the Text
1. "On that day a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and impurity. 2. "And on that day," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "I will erase idol worship throughout the land, so that even the names of the idols will be forgotten. I will remove from the land both the false prophets and the spirit of impurity that came with them. 3. If anyone continues to prophesy, his own father and mother will tell him, ' You must die, for you have prophesied lies in the name of the LORD.' And as he prophesies, his own father and mother will stab him. 4. "On that day people will be ashamed to claim the prophetic gift. No one will pretend to be a prophet by wearing prophet's clothes. 5. He will say, 'I'm no prophet; I'm a farmer. I began working for a farmer as a boy.' 6. And if someone asks, ' Then what about those wounds on your chest?' he will say, ' I was wounded at my friends' house!' Zechariah 13:1-6 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn 1162. 1. Future Deliverance for Jerusalem — Today's Passage: Zechariah 12:1-12 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 13th strategy. Foreshadowing, Promises, and/or Fulfillment of Promises
1. This message concerning the fate of Israel came from the LORD: "This message is from the LORD, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit. 2. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. 3. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves. 4. "On that day," says the LORD, "I will cause every horse to panic and every rider to lose his nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of their enemies. 5. And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, 'The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the Lord of Heaven's Armies, their God." 6. "On that day,I will make the clans of Judah like a flame that sets a woodpile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in Jerusalem remain secure. 7. "The LORD will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah. 8. On that day the LORD will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the LORD who goes before them! 9. For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10. "Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. 11. The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megididdo. 12. "All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself, and with the husbands separate from their wives. The clan of David will mourn alone, as will the clan of Nathan, 13. the clan of Levi, and the clan of Shimei. 14. Each of the surviving clans from Judah will mourn separately, and with the husbands separate from their wives. Zechariah 12:1-14 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn 1162. 1. The Good and Evil Shepherds Today's Passage: Zechariah 11:4:17 Get to know your bible. It will become a good friend. Or find the passage NASB version on Bible Gateway here. You can search for other versions there as well. Versions even in foreign languages. Or, for your convenience I have typed the verses below from the New Living Testament (NLT). 2. Thank You for meeting me, LORD. I welcome you into this place. Please prepare my heart Jehovah. Thank you for insight. 3. 7th strategy. Repetitive Reading
4. This is what the LORD my God says: "Go and care for the flock that is intended for slaughter. 5. The buyers slaughter their sheep without remorse. The sellers say, 'Praise the LORD! Now I'm rich!' Even the shepherds have no compassion for them. 6. Likewise, I will no longer have pity on the people of the land," says the LORD. "I will let them fall into each other's hands and into the hands of their king. They will turn the land into a wilderness, and I will not rescue them." 7. So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter — the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd's staffs and named one Favor and the other Union. "I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month. But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too. 9. So I told them, "I won't be be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!" 10. Then I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11. That was the end of my covenant with them. The suffering flock was watching me, and they knew that the LORD was speaking through my actions. 12. And I said to them, "If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to." So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13. And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter" — this magnificent sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the LORD. 14. Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it in two, showing that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken. 15. "Then the LORD said to me, "Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd. 16 This illustrates how I will give this nation a shepherd who will not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed with the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves. 17. "What sorrow awaits this worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword will cut his arm and pierce his right eye. His arm will become useless, and his right eye completely blind." Zechariah 11:4-17 NLT 4. Thank you for coming today. Please leave your initials and a comment. Don't forget to check the box underneath your comment, so replies will be directed to you. And remember, I pray for you every day. And I will be back here tomorrow, I hope I will see you here too. ~Robyn |
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