Day 122, 31st December: Joshua, John and Psalms
Be Radical
By Robin Killick
Today’s readings
Joshua 21:20-22:34
John 3:1-21
Psalms 55:1-11
How’s your year been? What were your highlights? Looking back, do you feel amazed, pleased, satisfied, disappointed, ashamed, or are there elements of each? How is your relationship with God? Today’s passages are an absolutely fantastic way to end 2012.
They contain amazing truths and challenges. I will focus on one of each. One amazing truth is that God Loves You – John3:16 says it clearly. He values you so much that he sent Jesus so that the world (which definitely includes you) could be saved. Looking back, it doesn’t matter about what you’ve done in the past, whether you’ve screwed up badly or grown dramatically in your faith.
We’re given a choice about Jesus – believe, or don’t believe. Having made that choice however, we need to be born again. Don’t misunderstand this as Nicodemus did – it’s spiritual, not physical. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that his affect on our lives is clear for all to see. As I look outside, snow is swirling all around. The effect of the wind is obvious. Is the work of the Holy Spirit obvious in your life?
The New Year brings a new opportunity to answer that question. Having been ‘born again,’ the challenge for all Christians is to live it out, which comes across clearly in Joshua. It seems a long time ago since Numbers 32, but two of the tribes of Israel had asked to be given land on the east side of the Jordan River, not the west with the rest of the nation. Moses granted this request if the men promised to help until the rest of the Promised Land was won. Now their task is completed – God is giving them their Promised Land, and peace (verses 1-4). God always keeps his promises (Joshua 21: 43-45). They did a great job! Joshua blesses them, but also issues a challenge – “keep it up! Love God, keep his commandments, commit to him and serve him with all your heart and soul.” (verse 5)
As I write, England are 1-0 up in the Ashes cricket series against Australia. Great stuff, but the challenge is to keep it up. The same can be applied to us. What might Joshua’s challenge look like in practice? Make some New Years Resolutions – it would be a great opportunity to apply it in your life. Pray, think carefully, and be radical!
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Today’s picture was taken by…
Mummy Snuggs. Thank you and Happy New Years Eve!
If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.
The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!
Day 121, 30th December: Joshua, John and Psalms
What are you for?
By Andy Croft
Today’s readings
Joshua 19:1-21:19
John 2:1-25
Psalms 54:1-7
The time between Christmas and New Year always feels a bit like limbo land. The end of one year but not quite the beginning of another. It’s a like a stop-over when you’re on some long-distance flight; you’ve left but you haven’t quite arrived. Sometimes this waiting can seem a bit aimless but in this time of rest and reflection we can discover purpose for the year ahead.
What’s going on in Joshua today is a continuation of what God’s been up to for the past few chapters – He’s dividing up the land among the Israelites. He’s also setting apart cities where they can go to find safety if they’ve done something wrong. What I love about these allotments of land and cities is that they were permanent. The Israelites would have known what boundary was for what tribe and which city to run to if necessary. What we do for a job, where we live, even who we’re dating may change in the coming year but there’s also a real need for some permanent boundaries and principles for each of us during our lives.
One of the things that always amazes me about Jesus is he always seems to know what the right thing to do is no matter what the situation. Take our stories today, on the one hand he’s chilling out at a wedding turning water into wine; on the other he’s getting edgy in the Temple. We couldn’t have two more different scenes and yet Jesus responds perfectly in both. I think more than anyone else Jesus was a man who knew clearly and deeply what he was about.
What naturally happens to all of us as time passes is that we forget our reasons for doing the things we do. We might start a year full of good intentions about living this or that way but as the year begins to drag, things get busy and life is tough those reasons can fade into the background. I’m all for last minute, spur-of-the-midnight decisions for a radical New Year’s resolutions but there’s also a place for a considered, thoughtful beginning to the year. It’s a both/and.
Why not spend the next day or so, before the clock strikes midnight, reminding yourself what you live for and why? Pray about it, ask God to speak to you again about your priorities for the coming year. What is your life about? Is that shown through what you spend your time on? Ask God to remind you what the most important things are to Him; who are the people He’s placed in your life for a reason; what are the challenges He’d like you to rise to?
There’s a whole year ahead. It’s going to be busy and full. Take some time now to rest, reflect and listen.
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Today’s picture was taken by…
Sarah Macfaden. Thanks Sarah!
If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.
The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!
Day 120, 29th December: Joshua, John and Proverbs
Just Clicked
By Jason and Rachel Gardner
Today’s readings
Joshua 17:1-18:28
John 1:29-51
Proverbs 10:31-11:8
Sometimes I stare at strangers.
I’m not weird, it’s just that the back of someone’s head in front of me in a queue in Tescos or the way someone is walking down the street makes me think that they are someone I know. And I get that little leap in my heart and almost call out, ‘Hey mate…’ before I realise it’s not someone I know but a stranger who is giving me evils!
In today’s John passage we read about a couple of guys who know each other really well (they are related), but then something happens that changes their relationship forever. The guys in question are John and Jesus. John sees his cousin, Jesus, walking towards him. He’s about to call out, ‘Hey, cous…’ but in that instant he gets it. This guy he has grown up knowing is actually the Saviour he has been preparing Israel to meet. (John 1:29-31)
How crazy must that have been for John? One day Jesus is just Jesus, and the next John sees Jesus for who he really is. Later a cynical bloke called Nathanael gets to meet the Jesus his mate Philip has been going on about – and is promised the chance of seeing ‘greater things.’
Is that a bit like your story? Did you have a moment when it clicked for you and the guy you had heard stuff about, became the Saviour and Master you pledged your life and heart to?
In the UK it’s pretty hard not to hear about Jesus. People use his name as a curse or a joke – but look what they’re missing out on! As John stands there in the lake, seeing who Jesus is for the very first time, God sends a dove to land on Jesus’ head. It’s a sign that’s recognisable to John as evidence that the Spirit of God is on him and he is destined for big things.
John has a revelation of Jesus and he is transformed. Can you remember a moment or series of events when you had a revelation of who Jesus is? Did you open your life to God’s Spirit and notice your attitudes and behaviour slowly changing? Are you still committed to looking for the ‘fruit’ of a transformed life that shows you hang out with Jesus? Is following Jesus your daily choice and your great reward?
2011 is fast approaching and it’s a fact that next year God plans to extend his kingdom of light and love all over the world – and he wants you on board. He is looking for godly men and woman who are, ‘like trees that bear life-giving fruit.’ (Proverbs 11:30)
The people of Israel in today’s Joshua reading were so obsessed with a kingdom; their own. They were all about the chunk of land Joshua was allocating them. All they were looking and working for was a bit of earth they could call home. When Jesus called the first disciples he promised them a great inheritance, but not the kind that goes in a bank or you can build a block of flats on. Instead, he promised them that he would walk with them wherever they went.
And he promises that to you too. As 2010 ends, surrender everything again to Jesus and make him your very great reward.
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Today’s picture was taken by…
Lauren Hollingum. Thanks Lauren!
If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.
The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!
Day 119, 28th December: Joshua, John and Psalms
Far More Amazing
By Jason and Rachel Gardner
Today’s readings
Joshua 15:1-16:10
John 1:1-28
Psalm 53:1-6
Heroes transported to a fantastic world to battle with evil witches or wizards. Kind of interesting.
Giant robots kicking each other into oblivion and laying waste to city blocks in the process. Sort of exciting.
Alien spaceships hovering over head threatening to destroy the earth with a deadly array of weapons. Ho hum.
We’re so used to seeing amazing scenes produced by special effects up on our cinema screens that they can become a wee bit dull.
Hollywood really has to step it up in order to impress these days. That’s why pretty much every blockbuster film has gone 3D of late. What’s better than the eye candy of the latest sword and sorcery Christmas special? Seeing it all reach out from the cinema screen to tip over your popcorn and all you have to do is wear some dodgy looking specs for a couple of hours.
Our ability to create fake worlds for movies and video games has never been better.
But we wonder if we’re so captivated by the fake magic in the movies that we miss the wonder filled life that God has for us.
One of today’s key passages is the first chapter of the gospel of John.
In the opening to his book John talks about things that are far more amazing than anything any film director or special effects guru could come up with.
He starts by saying that Jesus ‘the word’ existed before everything we see around us. And not just that but that everything in this cosmos, every planet, every sea, every moon, every molecule is here because of him.
‘Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made.’
Stunning stuff but it doesn’t stop there. The God who creates black holes and starfields, the God who walks the deep trenches of the ocean, the God who created brain, heart and lungs, this God doesn’t just dream up fantastic worlds, he speaks and they come into existence.
He creates the most wonderful story of all- this universe and everything that is in it. Even more remarkable than this is that he then steps into the story in human form.
This gigantic God, as Eugene Peterson puts it, ‘takes on flesh and blood and moves into the neighbourhood.’
John wakes up to just how amazing this is, John who knew Jesus personally, knew God made human says ‘We have seen his glory the glory of the one and only who came from the father full of grace and truth.’
Just as amazing is the fact that you are written into this story too. Today you’ve been reading the words of those who knew Jesus as ‘the one and only’. What words will you write about him? What stories will you tell about him? What adventures will you live out because you follow him? The story has only just begun and it’s more amazing than anyone – be they Steven Spielberg or J.K. Rowling – could imagine.
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Today’s picture was taken by…
Luke Johnson. Thanks Luke for the photo of the amazing cake version of the Bi1Y! It looks good enough to eat!
If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.
The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!
Day 118, 27th December: Joshua, Luke and Psalms
Fighting Fit
By Jason and Rachel Gardner
Today’s readings
Joshua 13:1-14:15
Luke 24:36-53
Psalm 52:1-9
Is it true that before the age of 16 we spend a lot of our time trying to look older? Maybe if you’re a boy you try wearing different make up, if you’re a girl you try and grow a beard as soon as you can. Maybe that should be the other way round but hey who knows?
Anyhow we certainly remember trying to appear older than our years. Not just to try and get in to see films for which we were too young but to try and appear more ‘mature’! Whatever that means.
The weird thing is so many people after the age of sixteen spend all their time trying to look like a teenager again. We watched a film with a particular actress in recently. The film we watched was from the middle of the 1980’s. We watched the same actress in a film from 2009, you’d think that she was the only slighter older sister of the girl in the 1980’s film!!
People spend an absolute fortune on trying to look young.
Is that because we don’t look forward to getting old? Do we think that the old have nothing to offer the young? Do we think that anyone over the age of 35 is past it??
Well then you need to meet Caleb. Caleb rocks. We love this passage because, ahem, we’re getting on in years and Caleb inspires us.
We hope that when we’re 85 we’re saying ‘I’m still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out!’ That’s forty years earlier.
85 years old and Caleb is still kicking ass and we’re not talking about his Donkey.
Now why can Caleb still show those young warriors a thing or two at the age of 85?
It’s because his trust in the LORD never faltered. You might remember that back in the day Caleb was one of the 12 spies sent out to check out the promised land to see what they could see.
Ten of the spies said ‘wow it’s amazing, fantastic for growing stuff, big grapes all the rest but the warriors there are huge they are going to totally annihilate us.’
2 of the spies said ‘Yeehahh!!! Let’s get going God is going to total them no problem so we can take the land.’
Caleb was one of the two. Because of that the LORD said, the rest of Israel aren’t going to see the promised land but Caleb you and Joshua [the other faithful spy] are.’
So here he is in Joshua 14 still saying, ‘Yep, there are still giant soldiers [Anakites] that we need to drive out but come on – God’s still on our side so let’s get going!’
Keep trusting in God: keep trusting him and you’ll be fighting fit and winning amazing victories for him way into old age. Old age is grand and we should embrace it because with God life just keeps getting better and better.
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Today’s picture was taken by…
Emma Bosworth. Thanks Emma!
If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.
The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!
Day 117, 26th December: Joshua, Luke and Psalms
Boxing Day:Promise Kept
By Andy Croft
Today’s readings
Joshua 11:1-12:24
Luke 24:1-35
Psalm 51:10-19
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Today’s picture was taken by…
Lucy Knight . Thanks Lucy and Happy Boxing Day!
If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.
The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!
Day 116, 25th December: Joshua, Luke and Proverbs
The Twelve Days Of Christmas: Day 12
By Andy Croft
Today’s readings
Joshua 9:16-10:43
Luke 23:26-56
Proverbs 10:21-30
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Today’s picture was taken by…
Rebecca Lauder. Thanks Rebecca and Merry Christmas!
If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.
The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!
The Bible in One Year with Soul Survivor 