Today is the 1st day of the 90 days Bible Challenge with 'LadyMay & Friends". We read from the book of Matthew, chapters 1,2 & 3. Trust me when I say I've had so much fun studying God's word today.
Below is a summary of my personal study and interesting
contributions from friends all over the world. Please feel free to share your
thoughts and ask questions either on this blog or on the 90 days Bible
Challenge event page on facebook (Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1401407546773424/)
Matthew Chapter 1
I don’t know about you but genealogies are not my favourite things to
read in the bible. For many years I used to skip them simply because I didn’t
understand how things like “Salmon begat Boaz” could add anything meaningful to
my life. Let’s just say all those years I was only reading the bible not
actually studying the word in depth.
Thank God for the 90days challenge, we are going to dig deep into the
word! While I was doing my quiet time today, I took time to look at
the different names mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. Jesus’
ancestors as listed in this passage where from different nations, they had
different experiences with God…some were well known for good things,
some were known for bad things while some were not even known for anything at all.
This makes clear that if God could use all kinds of people in bringing Jesus to
the world, He can use you and I for great things in our world today if only we have faith in Him.
I also noticed that even though Matthew was tracing Jesus’ paternal
lineage, he included a few ‘interesting’ women e.g. Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba and
Rehab. Now if you know anything about some of these women, this genealogy
account should make you think about how good, gracious, merciful and loving God
is. But for God’s undeserving love and mercy towards men, how could a well
known prostitute like Rehab have become one of Jesus’ ancestors?
Christ did not come from a lineage of sanctified, consecrated, 100%
obedient and dedicated worshippers of God. He came from a lineage of sinners.
One of his fore-fathers was an adulterer and murderer! Another one was a
womaniser. Mean Manasseh and Rehab the harlot were part of his
ancestors and this makes me know that God can still use you for His
glory no matter how nasty your past it only if you let Him.
By the way, who on earth is Hezron? As far as I am concerned He was just
an ordinary man, he didn’t do anything extraordinary that was recorded in the
bible yet God chose this ordinary nobody to be one of Jesus’ fore-fathers. Finally,
Ruth was from an idol worshipping nation, she only knew God through her
mother-in-law Naomi but because she chose to serve Naomi’s God, her life
changed for good.
The take home lesson for me from this chapter is that God can use
anybody for great things…No matter your history God can make a beautiful story
out of your life and He’ll use you for his glory only if you let Him have His
way.
Matthew Chapter 2
Reading chapter 2 of Matthew kind of reminded me of the birth of the
Royal Prince George Alexander Louis of United Kingdom. I remember when
his mum went into labour and the nation almost stood at a standstill, the
hospital was surrounded with pressmen, paparazzi and well wishers…People were
out excited, waiting to receive the little prince but this wasn’t the same for
the King of kings. There was no town-crier present to announce his birth, no
multitude of well wishers, just a wicked king who sought to kill him and the
wisemen who travelled from far to come worship him. (Till date many people are
still paying more attention to earthly things and they are not sensitive to
spiritual things)
As soon as the wisemen saw the star in the east, they recognised that a king
had been born and immediately they made their way to Bethelem to come
worship Jesus. Nobody had to force them, they just knew what was right to do!
I think they were called ‘wise’ men for many reasons but one of the reasons
that stood out to me today is that even though when they got to Bethlehem,
they saw the ‘King’ they had travelled all the way to see lying in
a degrading manger, they recognised Jesus as King and still worshipped
Him without being told or forced.
We all know the opposite of wise is foolish and the bible says it’s only a fool
that will say there is no God. I personally believe it’s a bigger fool that
will accept that there is a God somewhere but still choose to live and act like
God doesn’t exist. The wisemen were indeed wise! They recognised a king
had been born but didn’t stop at that, they travelled all the way to worship
Him with their gifts.
Lesson for we Christians:
It is not enough to have the knowledge of Christ, even the devil knows
Christ. We should learn from the wisemen by worshipping God with all we have.
We shouldn’t be forced to serve God, serving God should be something we do
voluntarily and happily even when it costs us.
Also when you hear the name ‘Jesus’ what comes to your mind? Many people
saw Jesus when he was a baby, many watched him grow up and many heard so
much about him but only a few recognised him as the Messiah/King of Kings/
saviour of the world.
Who is Jesus to you? Have you honestly had a personal encounter with Jesus? If
yes, I congratulate you but if you haven’t had an encounter with him yet,
I challenge you to seek him genuinely over the next 89days and see what happens
next.
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart.”- God (Jer 29:13)
Another lesson to learn from Matthew 2:1-21 is that God speaks! God
isn't just some big creature chilling in a cosy corner in heaven, He is a
loving father and He cares so much about us. God is interested in making sure
we are fine, safe and secure at all times. Like every loving father, God loves
to communicate with His children.
If you are a true child of God, God will speak to you directly! Even in
this present day and age, God still has direct conversations with His people
(and NO! They are not the extra-special or weird christians, they are normal
people like us). God can chose to communicate with you either audibly,
through a still small voice or through dreams like he did with the
wisemen and Joseph.
As Christians we have to be sensitive...Every child of God should know
how their heavenly Father communicates with them. If you are not sure about how
God speaks to you, please take time out during this 90days challenge to find
out.
We should also note that it is one thing for God to speak and another
for us to listen. God is like a gentleman, He won't force his opinion down your
throat. When God tells you to do something, He leaves you to exercise your
freewill and gives you room to choose whether to obey or not.
When God speaks to us we have to obey completely. Sometimes what God is
telling us to do might not make sense but because He knows te end from the
beginning, it is much better to do exactly what He says. Incomplete/Partial
obedience is disobedience and all our actions have consequences. Imagine
the wisemen chose to obey Herod's orders instead of obeying what God had told
them in their dream...It would have been disasterous because Christ would have
been killed.
As you start the year 2014 what is God saying to you? Do you know
exactly what God wants you to do this year? find out directly from Him and obey
completely.
Rhema from my little cousin Tobi
While studying the book of Matthew 1-3 in our 90days bible challenge
group, a question was asked " WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MATTHEW 2:12?
After so many correct answers relating to the fact that if God hadn't
warned the wisemen never to return to Herod, Baby Jesus would have been killed,
my little cousin stepped in and shared something I had never seen in that
passage before.
She said " The lesson to be learnt here is that you don't get to
meet Jesus and go back the way you came. There has to be a change in direction
and change in your life...or else what's the point?"
WoW! Rhema! I still haven't gotten over that yet because it is so so so
true. What she said sums up the entire reason Christ came to the world.
He brought CHANGE to the world. He changed our relationship with God and
changed our status from sinner to son/daughter of God! He changed our direction
and eternal destination from hell to heaven. He came to change us from being
slaves to sin/satan to becoming kings and Priest reigning on earth. In Christ
we are new creatures, changed, called and chosen to show forth the praises of
He who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.
READING PLAN FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT IN 90 DAYS (starts 2nd Jan 2014)
Day 1 Matthew 1-3
NEXT------>>>>Day 2 Matthew 4-6
Day 3 Matthew 7-9
Day 4 Matthew 10-12
Day 5 Matthew 13-15
Day 6 Matthew 16-18
Day 7 Matthew 19-21
Day 8 Matthew 22-24
Day 9 Matthew 25-27
Day 10 Matthew 28 Continue here: http://ladymay4real.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/hny-ladymay-friends-read-through-new.html
N.B If for one reason or the other you skip a day, please don’t be discouraged...just try to catch up with us in your spare time. It’s much better to finish a little later than to start and not finish at all.
