RYP Stories: Word of the Day, Day 4, Reading and Key Verses

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Word of the Day, Day 4, Reading and Key Verses

A Prayer for each day and each time we open the Word of God, the Holy Bible:

~*~

Psalm 19:14 New Living Translation (NLT)

14 May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing to you,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

--New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

~*~

DAYS, DATES, AND READINGS

Day 1 = 04.18.2015. Romans 1:1-4.

Day 2 = 04.19.2015. Romans 1:8-12.

Day 3 = 04.20.2015. A Day of Prayer.

Day 4 = 04.21.2015. Romans 1 and Book of Romans 1-16 Reading.

~*~

BIBLE READING FOR DAYS 1 AND 2

It is important for us to keep reading and prayer journaling the verses we have already read. After all, it keeps the material fresh in our minds so we can remember it and apply it in our lives. Hence, let us review what we have already read.

~*~

Romans 1:1-8 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

1 From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and appointed to spread the Good News of God.

2 (God had already promised this Good News through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. 3 This Good News is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In his human nature he was a descendant of David. 4 In his spiritual, holy nature he was declared the Son of God. This was shown in a powerful way when he came back to life. 5 Through him we have received God’s kindness and the privilege of being apostles who bring people from every nation to the obedience that is associated with faith. This is for the honor of his name. 6 You are among those who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.)

7 To everyone in Rome whom God loves and has called to be his holy people.

Good will and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are yours!

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for every one of you because the news of your faith is spreading throughout the whole world.

-- GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

~*~

Prayer journal your thoughts. What has jumped out at you today and in this reading? Why?

Did you notice something new?

What has God said to you? What have you said to God?

~*~

FIND A KEY VERSE EXERCISE

Find a key verse or two from each day's reading that you want to focus on and remember in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. Do this with each day's reading.

It's up to you the verse or two you want to remember, read repeatedly, ponder (meditate on or contemplate), prayer journal about, and apply. It can be a favorite verse or one that summarizes the most important material of that reading. I recommend the latter, but the choice is up to you.

Also, there is no wrong answer. Pick the one God tells you to pick. Make sure to pray on it and listen to Him.

~*~

DAYS 1 AND 2 KEY VERSES

What is your key verse for Day 1, Romans 1:1-4? Write it out in your prayer journal in your favorite version of the Bible or use the EXB in order to gain as much meaning as possible for that verse.

What is your key verse for Day 2, Romans 1:5-8? Write it out in your prayer journal.

~*~*~

MY KEY VERSES

I have decided to share mine as inspiration and to help jog our memory and help us think on and prayer journal the Word.

~*~

DAY 1:

Romans 1:3-4 Expanded Bible (EXB)

3 The Good News is about God’s Son. ·As a man [or With reference to his earthly life; L According to the flesh], he was born ·from the family [a descendant; L of the seed] of David [2 Sam. 7:11–14]. 4 But through the Spirit of holiness [C a Jewish way of referring to the Holy Spirit] he was ·declared [or designated; appointed] to be God’s Son with great power by rising from the dead [C though eternally the Son of God, Jesus was appointed such “with power” at his resurrection; see Ps. 2:7; 110:1–2]. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

-- Expanded Bible (EXB)

~*~

DAY 2:

Romans 1:6-7 Living Bible (TLB)

6-7 And you, dear friends in Rome, are among those he dearly loves; you, too, are invited by Jesus Christ to be God’s very own—yes, his holy people. May all God’s mercies and peace be yours from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.

-- Living Bible (TLB)

~*~*~

READING ROMANS 1 AND THE BOOK OF ROMANS (WHOOPS)

I wish I would have thought before I jumped right in (whoops), but this exercise of reading through Romans 1:1-8 made me think how important it is to read through Romans 1, and not just that, but the entire Book of Romans. First. Before we study four verses at a time day by day. This exercise will give us a more proper context and will help us get even more out of our reading.

Forgive me for not thinking of this sooner.

So, today, let us read Romans 1 twice and then read the rest of the book all the way through, all 16 chapters.

We will now do this once a week. Pick a day to read the Book of Romans, all the way through, once a week. If that day differs than the day you are on now, then re-read all previous Bibe readings and blog posts and think on them, journal the Word, and pray them.

For one of the two readings today of Romans 1, read the version I have listed today two sections from now.

~*~

WHAT TO DO WHEN READING A CHAPTER OR BOOK OF THE BIBLE:

TAKE NOTES, PRAYER JOURNAL, AND ANSWER THE DAILY QUESTIONS

Pray Psalm 19:14.

Take notes.

Jot down anything that grabs your attention, any questions you have, key verses, what you want to remember, what you want to study more, etc.

Prayer journal your thoughts throughout your reading and for at least ten minutes after you finished your reading.

Answer the Daily Questions (found here: http://journaltheword.blogspot.com/2015/04/daily-questions-for-journal-word.html). Answer each of the Daily Questions for your reading of the chapter as a whole, then again when you read the entire Book of the Bible.

Make sure to write out a prayer at the end of your reading. Then, take all day, moment by moment, to listen to God and what He has to say. Get that in your journal.

~*~

Romans 1 The Message (MSG)

1 I, Paul, am a devoted slave of Jesus Christ on assignment, authorized as an apostle to proclaim God’s words and acts. I write this letter to all the believers in Rome, God’s friends.

2-7 The sacred writings contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God’s Son. His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master. Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ! And I greet you now with all the generosity of God our Father and our Master Jesus, the Messiah.

8-12 I thank God through Jesus for every one of you. That’s first. People everywhere keep telling me about your lives of faith, and every time I hear them, I thank him. And God, whom I so love to worship and serve by spreading the good news of his Son—the Message!—knows that every time I think of you in my prayers, which is practically all the time, I ask him to clear the way for me to come and see you. The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache. I so want to be there to deliver God’s gift in person and watch you grow stronger right before my eyes! But don’t think I’m not expecting to get something out of this, too! You have as much to give me as I do to you.

13-15 Please don’t misinterpret my failure to visit you, friends. You have no idea how many times I’ve made plans for Rome. I’ve been determined to get some personal enjoyment out of God’s work among you, as I have in so many other non-Jewish towns and communities. But something has always come up and prevented it. Everyone I meet—it matters little whether they’re mannered or rude, smart or simple—deepens my sense of interdependence and obligation. And that’s why I can’t wait to get to you in Rome, preaching this wonderful good news of God.

16-17 It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”

18-23 But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

24-25 So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

26-27 Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.

28-32 Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!

-- The Message (MSG)

~*~

Now, do what I shared earlier in the section of: "What do when you read a chapter or book of the Bible" (take notes, prayer journal, answer daily questions) for Romans 1, if you haven't already.

Then, read Romans 1-16. As you do, take notes, prayer journal, answer daily questions.

Enjoy! This should be a special time getting to know the Book of Romans.

~*~

RYP Stories

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Word of the Day, Day 4, Reading and Key Verses

No comments:

Post a Comment