Starting this week we are going to be diving into the kings of Israel in the Old Testament! I am really really excited about this study!! To help us along, we will be reading the same chapters and reading through the stories in chronological order! Here is the order we're reading :)
Week 1
1 Samuel 1-3
1 Samuel 4-8
1 Samuel 9-12
1 Samuel 13-14
1 Samuel 15-17
Week 2
1 Samuel 18-20
1 Samuel 21-24
1 Samuel 25-27
1 Samuel 28-31; 1 Chronicles 10
2 Samuel 1-4
Week 3
1 Chronicles 1-2
1 Chronicles 3-5
1 Chronicles 6-8
1 Chronicles 9-10
2 Samuel 5:1-10; 1 Chronicles 11-12
Week 4
2 Samuel 5:11-6:23; 1 Chronicles 13-16
2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17
2 Samuel 8-9; 1 Chronicles 18
2 Samuel 10; 1 Chronicles 19
2 Samuel 11-10; 1 Chronicles 20
Week 5
2 Samuel 13-15
2 Samuel 16-18
2 Samuel 19-21
2 Samuel 22-23
2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21-22
Week 6
1 Chronicles 23-25
1 Chronicles 26-29
1 Kings 1-2
1 Kings 3-4; 2 Chronicles 1
1 Kings 5-6; 2 Chronicles 2-3
Week 7
1 Kings 7; 2 Chronicles 4
1 Kings 8; 2 Chronicles 5
2 Chronicles 6-7
1 Kings 9; 2 Chronicles 8
1 Kings 10-11; 2 Chronicles 9
Week 8
1 Kings 12-14
2 Chronicles 10-12
1 Kings 15:1-24; 2 Chronicles 13-16
1 Kings 15:25-16:34; 2 Chronicles 17
1 Kings 17-19
Week 9
1 Kings 20-21
1 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 18
2 Chronicles 19-23
2 Kings 1-4
2 Kings 5-8
Week 10
2 Kings 9-11
2 Kings 12-13; 2 Chronicles 24
2 Kings 14; 2 Chronicles 25
2 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 26
2 Chronicles 27
Week 11
2 Chronicles 28; 2 Kings 16-17
2 Kings 18:1-8; 2 Chronicles 19-31
2 Kings 18:9-19:37
2 Kings 20-21
2 Chronicles 32-33
Week 12
2 Kings 22-23
2 Chronicles 34-35
2 Kings 24-25
2 Chronicles 36
I am really excited about this study and I can't wait for Sunday! If you have any questions/comments than please share :)
Monday, October 10, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Eyes Opened
Yesterday I was so excited- my sister bought her plane tickets to fly out here for Christmas and we were making plans. I realized that I LOVE making plans, not just about things in general, or even just vacations, but about my future and I realized too that one of the reasons I've felt so down the past few months is that I am back to having no plans for my future. Then I talked at God for a while.
I told him that it felt like everyone around me was moving forward and that he'd forgotten me here, in the middle of this road, and that I couldn't move anywhere because He wasn't letting me. I told him that I am stuck in a dead-end job and that I really hate telling people about my work because I know that my work is nothing. I have no future in this job with this company and every time I've tried to look at other places the doors slam in my face and I'm stuck lying on my back afraid to move. I told God that I felt like he had no plans for me, that I was just passed over when he was doling out the positions. I told God too that I knew that this was all not Truth; I knew that in my head, but that didn't change how I felt in my heart. (Side note- that is why we are told not to rely on our feelings because they do not reflect Truth, only our own selfish hopes or fears). I asked God to help me refocus because I knew that all of this was a lie but I couldn't find the Truth.
Slowly, as I calmed down and actually started talking WITH God, as opposed to talking AT Him, He showed me his heart. He showed me that I was looking at my life from the world's viewpoint- according to the world, I am stuck in a dead-end job with very little hope for that to be changed and, with those standards, I pretty much am a loser and will continue to be one. But I am not of the world. I have been set apart. God showed me that I have been so focused on trying to do something with my life that I have been blind to what He has been doing through my life. This job that I don't love does not define me, but the work that I do for the Kingdom, and can continue to do because of this job that I don't love, that defines me. I was called to a very specific ministry a long time ago and the only way that I've been able to accomplish that ministry is with the help of this job- the lax hours, the relationship I have with everyone I work with, the high standing I have with my supervisors- all of these things have contributed to my being able to be in youth ministries like Young Life and T6 and have enabled me to go on the missions that I felt called to all those years ago.
I think its ironic that I've been letting my job define me after all of the times these past few months that we've been teaching the teens in our youth to find their identities in Christ. I know that HE is what defines me, I just sometimes lose sight of that and that's not happiness. Thank you my Lord for showing me Truth. Thank you for your patience as I yelled and cried and wallowed before I was able to actually hear you. Thank you for speaking to me through it all, comforting me, cherishing me, guiding me ever down the path to your feet, to your cross. I love you Lord and I know I don't always show it and I know I get distracted by shiny things, but when it all boils down, no matter how shiny the things of the world appear, your love is the one constant that has been in my life, guiding me, keeping me safe, keeping me sane, holding me and never letting go. I know that you are with me Dad, as you always will be. I love you Jesus, thank you.
I told him that it felt like everyone around me was moving forward and that he'd forgotten me here, in the middle of this road, and that I couldn't move anywhere because He wasn't letting me. I told him that I am stuck in a dead-end job and that I really hate telling people about my work because I know that my work is nothing. I have no future in this job with this company and every time I've tried to look at other places the doors slam in my face and I'm stuck lying on my back afraid to move. I told God that I felt like he had no plans for me, that I was just passed over when he was doling out the positions. I told God too that I knew that this was all not Truth; I knew that in my head, but that didn't change how I felt in my heart. (Side note- that is why we are told not to rely on our feelings because they do not reflect Truth, only our own selfish hopes or fears). I asked God to help me refocus because I knew that all of this was a lie but I couldn't find the Truth.
Slowly, as I calmed down and actually started talking WITH God, as opposed to talking AT Him, He showed me his heart. He showed me that I was looking at my life from the world's viewpoint- according to the world, I am stuck in a dead-end job with very little hope for that to be changed and, with those standards, I pretty much am a loser and will continue to be one. But I am not of the world. I have been set apart. God showed me that I have been so focused on trying to do something with my life that I have been blind to what He has been doing through my life. This job that I don't love does not define me, but the work that I do for the Kingdom, and can continue to do because of this job that I don't love, that defines me. I was called to a very specific ministry a long time ago and the only way that I've been able to accomplish that ministry is with the help of this job- the lax hours, the relationship I have with everyone I work with, the high standing I have with my supervisors- all of these things have contributed to my being able to be in youth ministries like Young Life and T6 and have enabled me to go on the missions that I felt called to all those years ago.
I think its ironic that I've been letting my job define me after all of the times these past few months that we've been teaching the teens in our youth to find their identities in Christ. I know that HE is what defines me, I just sometimes lose sight of that and that's not happiness. Thank you my Lord for showing me Truth. Thank you for your patience as I yelled and cried and wallowed before I was able to actually hear you. Thank you for speaking to me through it all, comforting me, cherishing me, guiding me ever down the path to your feet, to your cross. I love you Lord and I know I don't always show it and I know I get distracted by shiny things, but when it all boils down, no matter how shiny the things of the world appear, your love is the one constant that has been in my life, guiding me, keeping me safe, keeping me sane, holding me and never letting go. I know that you are with me Dad, as you always will be. I love you Jesus, thank you.
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