Devotional: For Easter

He is Risen!

We rotate who does the weekly women’s Bible devotion at work - we have been working through learning from the women of the Bible.  I was given Mary Magdalene.

I had things I thought I knew about her but what I found out proved to show that she is an excellent women to study the week before Easter!  

Who was Mary Madalene?

She was a Christ follower!  (Mark 15:41)

Her name lets us know that she was probably from Magdala in Galilee

She was healed from 7 demons (Luke 8:2)

She was a key witness to Christ’s:

Death:                          (Matt. 27:56)

    Burial:                          (Mark 15:47)

Empty tomb:                      (Luke 24:1-10)

First one to encounter the risen Christ:  (John 20:18)

As a women and a disciple of Christ myself, I always love when I find gems like this in God’s word.  

Here was a women so devoted to Christ that she was there at the cross.  I can only imagine that once Mary Magdalene was healed she recognized who Christ was and that was the only place she wanted to be was near Him.  

Can you imagine suffering with “7 demons”  it may have been a number of physical or mental illnesses, or it could have been actual demons but regardless she was free from her infirmities.  She was healed, she was forgiven and she knew that Jesus was worth her devotion.  

She was a witness at his Death - there at the cross.  Can you imagine the oppression when Jesus took our sin upon himself and died.  The weight of all that sin darkening the sky, the utter darkness.  I can’t really even imagine it.  When all the weight of the world’s sin was paid by the ultimate sacrificial lamb and the curtain in the Holy of Holy’s was rendered from top to bottom.  Only God could have done that!  

When the body was taken away and she saw it laid in the tomb and she knew because of the Sabbath she couldn’t treat Jesus' body the way she would have wanted. So she went home and waited for the Sabbath to be over.  

When she approached the empty tomb, wondering how they could roll away that heavy stone.  Wondering - thinking about all she had learned as she followed Jesus - what did He mean, “In three days I will...?”  What did he mean by that.  Grief stricken and then the stone is already rolled away.  Running inside and - He is gone.  Where is He she asks the gardener.  

“Mary!” (John 20:16)

Not a gardener - but her Lord!  Rabboni!  

Clinging to Him - not wanting to let Him go ever again.  But his quiet voice saying tenderly, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father...” John 20: 17.

What I am struck by here is Mary not recognizing Jesus until He says her name.  Then she knows that this is her beloved.  The lover of her soul.  She knows without a doubt who He is and her immediate reaction is to cling to Him.  

In John 10: 1-3 it says:  “Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.  But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.  To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

He calls his own sheep by name and the sheep hear his voice!

She heard his voice call her name and she knew this was the one to cling to.  Here was truth in the flesh, risen from the dead, worthy of her utter devotion. 

He told her what to do - John 20:17  ...”go to My brethren and say them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” 

And what does she do - she runs to the disciples announcing,  John 20:19 ...

”I have seen the Lord...”

This is what our own response to our own encounter with the risen Christ should be.  We are also witnesses to His work in and through us.  Here was a women utterly devoted to Christ, she followed Him, she learned from Him and she told about Him.  She is a awesome example for me as a disciple of Christ’s to share with others...

“I have seen the Lord.”

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

My Bible Reading Plan

I've used many plans to read my Bible.

The current plan that I am using is  Professor Grant Horners Bible- Reading System.
How is that for a title?




What Professor Grants suggests to do is read 10 chapters a day.  Yes, I said 10.  He says to get one Bible and stick with it.  Read the 10 chapters briskly but with understanding.  Don't get bogged down, don't journal.  Not that your not thinking but your going to be coming back over these books quicker than in any other Bible reading plan you've ever done.  Your going to become so familiar with your Bible as you continue with the plan.

So what are the 10 chapters
1.  The Gospels you read through them over and over.
2.  Genesis - Deuteronomy
3.  Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
     Philipians, Colossians and Hebrews
4. 1 & 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon,
     James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude and Revelations
5. Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon
6. Psalms
7. Proverbs
8. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings,
    1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
9. The Prophets
10. Acts

What I like about it - I like that there are no dates on this plan.  I don't ever have to feel behind.  I pick up where I left off and read as much as I can.  Some days I don't read all 10 in one day.  I might read 5 one day and 15 the next or I might end up reading 3 chapters in one book because I just love it so much and in the end I end up reading 9 chapters total but not of the whole 10 list.  This is a flexible plan you could read 5 in the morning or 5 at night.  I do jot notes down - right in my Bible though I know some people would be aghast to do that.  I have nice wide margins and my Bible was made as a study bible to be written in and highlighted with symbols and colored pencils.   I've been using this plan since January and I plan to stick with it for a long time.

Other "systems" I have used in the past are:

The One Year Chronological Bible NIV (One Year Bible: Niv) is one that I used for many years.  This was my devotional Bible not the Bible I brought to church with me.  Since it was in Chronological order I found it really helped me focus on the Bible as one whole historical account not just random books.  There is a logical sequence of events.
  

The One Year Bible NLT (One Year Bible: New Living Translation-2)  I would do this one when I got tired of doing the Chronological Bible this is not my favorite format but it is good to get you in the habit of reading the whole Bible in a year.

I once did something similar to Horner's system which was to read:
1. The Books of the Law
2. Everything between the Law and Psalms
3. Psalms
4. Proverbs
5. Everything after Proverbs up to the Prophets
6. The Prophets
7. The Gospels
8. The rest of the New Testament

I did this for a period of about 3 months then my life changed and I dropped it and went back to the Chronological Bible.  I think that Horner's suggesting of reading Acts each month is a good one since it is such a missional book.  He says if you don't know why you should read through Acts each month - that just shows why you should read it every month.

Developing the habit of reading through the Bible in a year was one thing that really grew me as a Christian and my walk with the Lord.  I can't say I have less questions but I do have a richer understanding of God and my relationship with Him did deepen.  

Surprised by Grace

The Big Fish - Phillip Ratner

I'm almost finished with this book Surprised by Grace - about the account of Jonah - You know the one about the prophet that doesn't want to go, the boat, the storm, the big fish, three days in the belly of the beast and then spit out on the shore.

Most of us have heard about Jonah or seen the Veggie Tales movie but have you ever really thought about it?

Well Tullian Tchividjian has.  As he walks us step by step through the account weaving into his retelling historical artists paintings, sculptures and from Herman Melvill's Moby Dick  he extrapolates on Mapple's sermon he helps us to see what God is telling us through Jonah's life - his human life, someone who loved God yet ran from him, a sinner, a prophet, and ultimately shares something about God and ourselves.



A quote from the book:

"God owes no explanation to Jonah (or to us) for what he has done with the Ninevites.  But in his overflowing grace, he works to help Jonah (and us!) to understand it all better.  God is still coming after Jonah (and us!) to teach us more about his grace.

"God never gives up on you.  There's no one whose patience and forbearance toward you will ever be greater or longer lasting than God's.  Your wife or husband won't be this patient with you - your kids won't, your friends won't, your coworkers won't, your pastor won't.  They'll all fail you at some point.  You'll feel dehumanized, cheapened, discouraged, depressed, or radically disappointed by everyone and everything in this world.

"But not by God. Nothing and no one will ever be as patient and forgiving toward you as God is.  In all of existence, God is the only reality who refuses to give up on those he knows.

"In unforgettable events and imagery, the story of Jonah reveals how this perfectly patient God pursues fugitives - a God who has every right to give up on rebels like us and to move on, but doesn't.  It's a story that reveals forever the heart of God for sinners from every race, every age, and every social class."
- Tullian Tchividjian in his book Surprised by Grace -  (pages 138-139)



Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels

Video from Author

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

I just finished reading this devotional - you can download it free from here:
Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

I really liked this walk through of who Christ is.

He isn't a hippy Jesus that we can contain in our pocket bringing Him out to comb His flowing hair like some kind of Ken doll. He is the Savior, He is Mighty, in Power and He is worth knowing. Not inventing our own version of who He is but loving Who He really is. This is a very Biblical look at Jesus. Come See and Savor Him.

Devotional: Psalm 34:8

God and His sense of Taste

How can we Taste and Know Him?

Psalms 34: 8

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

God and the sense of Taste

When taste is mentioned in the Bible it is often paired with the word honey there seems to be a metaphor  between the taste of honey and our relationship with God.  

What is the figurative meaning of this honey? 

I’m always struck by the imagery in Revelation 10:10 of the account of the scrolls and honey in.  I always imagine this giant angel straddling a lake holding this huge scroll.  That I am there - in the position of (John)  and I have to eat that scroll.  For whatever reason the scroll is easy to eat as it tastes good like honey but when it hits my stomach it gives me the worse heart burn.  The taste is then bitter.  What were the words in that scroll?  The bitterness did it come from the knowledge of the world turning it’s back on God?  Was it about our time or was it about biblical times?  Or could it be about both?  How would that sit in your stomach?  How did that sit in John’s?  That knowledge?  I imagine it is me and how it would sit in mine.  

Okay so what? 

God wants us to taste Him, through his word.  To develop a liking for his word even when it is bitter.  The knowledge given to John by the words on that scroll were sweet.  God wants us to know him, to taste him through his word - The Bible.  To taste and know that the Lord is good.  Better than honey, better than the sweetest honey comb.  

My response to this is what

How can I taste God, what can I physically do.  With my mouth with my body to be a living sacrifice to him.  Tasting God ....

For some reason I am thinking of: 

The prodigal son. 

I’ve been thinking about this - since hearing my husband read the account to my daughter Lucy from one of our children Bibles.  The story illustrates how the son asked for his inheritance and left and then after experiencing the world, realizes how good he had it with his father and goes back to him ready to grovel and be a servant in his house.  The father has missed his son and when he sees him from a long way off runs to him and embraces him.  

How good of a Father - he throws a cloak of a master on him, kills the fatted calf and has a party.  He is ecstatic his son is home.  

That is such a picture of our world and God.  God is the father - we are his “Sons.”  He came and died for us all and we can all have part of his inheritance.  There is in fact two inheritances.  We have the gift of this world from our Father and then if we choose we can take part in the gift of our inheritance in heaven.  

Like this prodigal son - we can reject the Father’s heavenly inheritance and take what we can get right here and how.  We can reject his authority in our lives and live the way we want and forsake the inheritance of heaven or we can live under our Father’s loving authority working for him and gain not only the inheritance of heaven - the treasure that we are storing there - but we can enjoy a loving relationship with our Father.  

So what does this have to do with taste?

Taste and see the Lord is Good - 

Taste and see that God has your bests interests in heart.

If you are not a prodigal - don’t be like the older brother - jealous of those who come into relationship with God after living a life of sin.  Rejoice with the Father at their coming home.  Seek to find those prodigals and introduce them to your Father and spread the gospel of Christ. 

We can live our lives with a bitter taste in our mouths or we can taste the honey that is from God’s word and live as a sacrifice to God.

Our taste gives us such joy - lets use it to taste the Lord and see how Good He is.