The 90 days New Testament Challenge DAY 1 summary.

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.