Challenge Completed! #readwithme90
Today we finished our 90 Day Read through the Old Testament. That means this community read the entire Bible in 4 months! Can you even believe that? In about 12 chapters a day, it can be done. Reading plans are here and here if you want to give it a shot.
I’ve been so blessed by your stories. Thanks for sharing them with me! Though I rarely share messages, I thought I’d share this one testimony with you (with the name blocked out!) because it was so encouraging to me and so you could share in my joy as a #readwithme90 community.
Since I have a love/hate relationship with social media and because so much of it can be phony, it’s great to know that God can use our online ministry to do His work! (As every non-techy church who had to scramble for the pandemic now knows!HAHA)
I am reminded once again to use whatever we have access to, whether it’s a tea pot, a home, a blog, or an IG account– for His glory and service.
I’m going to share a few thoughts I jotted down during the read through. I hope they encourage you.
“God wants to be known and has painstakingly written about Himself in great detail. Anything we add or subtract from His revealed character, any attributes we ascribe to Him that are made up in our imagination are fashioning a god of our own creation. It’s idolatry. “
“I was reminded once again that God does care about how I live. He cares about my loyalties, about small details, about faithfulness. This is His world and He gets the final say. “
“God cares about my spiritual work. He holds leaders accountable for how they do His work. He sees Moses’s temper, Aaron’s idol making, Miriam’s critical spirit, Eli’s indulgence of his children, Saul’s jealousy, David’s covetousness….etc. If we are leading anyone while cherishing sin in our own heart, we are, in essence, taking them by the hand, leading them away from Christ’s ways. We are harming them. While sin reigns and we go our own way, we are the wrong tool for any of His spiritual jobs and we put ourselves in a place that deserves judgement.”
“God also cares about who I “follow”. I cannot follow a leader into sin. I cannot call good evil or embrace sinful attitudes because the “leader” does. I can’t applaud, flatter, or overlook what is detestable to God or join with them. We are all responsible for our own purity, heart, actions, reactions and ultimately our obedience, whether leadership or laity.”
“God gives us each daily work. Specific tasks. He opens doors of opportunity, areas of influence, spaces of responsibility and enables us in those callings if we’ll obey Him implicitly. He ordains our place, time, and circumstances.”
“God sees and hates false worship. He knows when we go through motions. He calls out our sin as defiance and false worship. He hates injustice. He avenges the abused, sees and pities the fatherless, widow, poor, and least of these. “
“God wants us to love Him with all of our heart, so much so that we’ll forsake all other gods for Him. He is personal. This is personal. Salvation is personal. Choose Him!”
“God is our refuge and strength. The only one who can help. Am I praying to Him?”
“National Revival starts with personal revival and never the other way around. It’s recognition of sin, a calling it out, an agreeing with God. It’s asking forgiveness from God ultimately and the one you sinned against, and turning your affections from the sin towards a love of God. Revival is not a congregational affair, it’s always a personal affair and when revival dies, we must look at our own hearts first.”
Now I want to hear from you. Did you complete the readings? Did you jot down any thoughts along the way? Feel free to share in the comments or DM me on IG or FB. Looking forward to hearing what you learned!
~Sarah