Yay, Praise God, today is the day! We made it, June 1st is here! Our Summer Bible Reading Plan starts today! (For those of you still in school, or joining later feel free to hop in at any time! You are never behind. His mercies are new for us every morning!)
Okay, so here we go! Today in The One Year Bible, we are starting our reading in 2 Samuel 18:1-19:10, John 20:1-31, Psalm 119:153-176, Proverbs 16:14-15.
As we begin our time with the Lord, remember that we want to start in prayer! Reminding ourselves that this is not just a summer reading plan, but this is a time that we are going before The Creator of the universe, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And, we always want our time in the Word to be about God, and with God. So let’s begin by praying to Jesus that He would fill us with His Holy Spirit; and, that God would open our eyes, heart, and mind to understand and desire His Word.
We are going to follow the ABIDE method to help guide our daily quiet time with the Lord.
I love writing in a journal during my quiet time with the Lord. It’s another great tool that can help us keep track of our time spent with him, record our prayers, and can also help us hide His word in our hearts. So, I definitely recommend using one also.
Since, I love starting my quiet time praying through the Psalms, specifically Psalm 119, it’s totally a God thing that our reading plan is starting here! So, flip to Psalm 119:153-176, and begin by praying to the Lord.
A is for Ask in prayer:
Lord Jesus, we come to You this morning. We love you and pray that this morning and this entire summer will be fruitful as we seek You! Please bless this time and our hearts as we read Your Word. Help us discover You and Your will for our lives this summer. Help us to lay down our lives to truly be Your disciples. Thank you Lord for another day getting to seek You. Amen
Psalm 119:153-176. This is such a perfect Psalm to start our summer and cultivate our hearts in seeking The Lord through His Word.
“Lord, how great is your mercy; let me be revived by following your regulations.” Psalm 119:156
“Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.” Psalm 119:163
And, the entire section from 169-176, is so amazing!
Wow so amazing, right? Have you ever felt like a lost sheep that has wandered away? (Verse 176) I know I have, but I am so thankful to the Lord that He sought after me and rescued me! The Lord is there to rescue you too! Praise the Lord that He is always there to give us a helping hand, and that His Word provides the instructions for our lives.
Lord, I pray that You would listen to our cries, and give us discerning minds! I pray that You would rescue us from our sins as You have promised. Let our tongues sing praises about Your Holy Word. Lord, let Your instruction be our delight. Thank you Lord that when we wander like lost sheep You come and find us. Help us to always seek You and not stray. Amen
B is for Bible. Open your Bible and read today’s passage. Select a verse that sticks out to you and write it down.
Yay! We are already done with the 1st section of our reading, Psalm 119:153-176. So we can now move on to today’s Proverb 16:14-15: “The anger of the king is a deadly threat; the wise will try to appease it. When the king smiles, there is life; his favor refreshes like a spring rain.”
Praise the Lord, that by His grace we are saved. When we give our life to Jesus as Lord by believing on Him alone to forgive our sins, we are saved! Our sins are washed clean when we repent to Him. And, our King smiles on us, because He sees Jesus as the forgiveness of our sins. We are saved from His wrath and brought into His favor forever. There is only life to the full in Christ, and as believers in Christ we have become new creations in Him from when we first believed and for eternity!
Okay, now we can begin the main readings of our plan: 2 Samuel 18:1-19:10 and John 20:1-31.
The One Year Bible, actually selects a daily highlighted passage, so you can write that passage down if you wish, or whatever verse speaks to your heart. Ask the Lord to help you memorize His word, and apply it to your life. Today’s highlighted verse is:
‘But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name. The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.’ John 20:30-31
You can see above that I wrote down part of our Proverbs verse 16:15, and John 20:30-31, but write down whatever the Lord puts on to your heart.
I is for Investigate.
This is the part of our time with the Lord where we want to spend a few minutes investigating the Word of God. Ask the Lord to help you discern what are these passages teaching you? Investigate what does this teach us about:
- God?
- The People in the Account?
- Yourself?
- How does this point to Jesus Christ?
- Other verses that come to mind?
I love that these questions bring us back to focusing on God 1st! I’ll save the reasoning for each question for a later time, but for now, we will use them as a guide to understanding God and His word. We can answer each question individually, or use them as a guide to help summarize what today’s overall reading is teaching us.
2 Samuel 18:1-19:10. Absalom’s defeat and death. We are jumping right into learning about King David, and his son Absalom. This is the tragic end of David’s 3rd son, Absalom. Catching us up quickly, in 1 Samuel we learn that King David has an amazing heart for the Lord, and he often seeks to honor Him; however, David is still a desperate sinner, and his sin has drastic consequences. The prophet Nathan warns David in 2 Samuel 12:11 that his own sons would rebel against him, and we see this played out in Absalom’s life. Absalom was blessed with handsome looks, charm, and being a prince to the throne; yet, this wasn’t enough for him! Absalom craved more power, and sought the death of his own father, King David, so that he could be king! Absalom had everything going for Him, but we see that everything without the Lord, ends in nothing but despair. Absalom suffers a humiliating death as his hair gets caught in a tree, and despite a promise to keep the young prince alive, Absalom is murdered by Joab. King David is absolutely distraught over the death of his son, despite his son’s disobedience and attempts to have him killed. Joab, the leader of David’s army, urges David to pull himself together and get back out there and congratulate the troops for defeating the enemy. And, the fickle crowd of Israelites, that had broken their allegiance with King David to follow Absalom, end up wanting David to come back and be their king.
John 20:1-31. The Resurrection. We join in John 20 at almost the very end of the 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). We find Mary Magdalene coming to see Jesus’ tomb in the early morning, and she finds that the stone had been rolled away! As Mary weeps, because not only has her Lord been murdered; but also, His body is now missing. She thinks a gardener asks her a question, “Who are you looking for?”; When she realize that she is actually speaking to a resurrected Jesus! Jesus tells her to go and find the disciples and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” v17. Eight days later, when Thomas was with the other disciples, Jesus appeared again, and He said to Thomas. …“Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” v 27b-29
So, what does this teach us about God, the people, ourselves, point to Jesus Christ, and other verses that come to mind? There are SO many lessons here, and I pray that the Lord places exactly what He wants to teach us on our hearts. As I ask the Lord what He is teaching me about Himself, this is what I see:
Our King Jesus, unlike King David, is ALWAYS sinless. In fact, this is why He was able to pay the price for our sins. King David’s son died a sad death due to his own selfishness and vanity; but, our Heavenly Father’s Son died for us, selflessly, so that we could be freed from our sin and brought into an eternal inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. (1 Peter 1:4). When we place our faith in the unseen God, we are not only blessed; but also, we are given eternal life, by the power of Jesus Christ’s name.
Other scripture that comes to mind:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. – 1 Peter 2:9
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ”and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, -1 Peter 1:3-4
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. -2 Corinthians 4:18
What did today’s reading teach you?
D is for Dwell. How can we apply the truth from God’s word into our lives? It’s easy to see how a selfish life like Absalom’s ends in destruction. I pray that we would seek to honor God, and place our faith in Jesus Christ to experience the power of His name in our lives! And, praise the Lord that we ARE spending time in His Word. By reading His Word and giving our hearts a chance to meditate on it and pray to Him, we are giving the Lord an opportunity to speak to us. I pray that the Lord will reveal all the areas we need to submit to His Word and obey.
E is for Engage in prayer. I encourage you to end your time with the Lord in prayer. We can praise God for who He is, and all that we have learned about Him today. I am so thankful that the Lord fulfilled His promise to us through King David, to bring His son Jesus to rescue us for eternity. Use this time to confess your sins to the Lord, and bring any requests that you have to Him.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9
Lord Jesus, I pray that this time will be fruitful for whomever seeks You through this plan. I pray that You and Your Holy Spirit will lead us by reading Your Holy Word, and by our prayers to You. Thank you for Your life-giving Word. We love you Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
Abiding Together in Christ 
One thought on “YAY!! SUMMER BIBLE READING STARTS TODAY!!”