May 8, 2012

30-Day Devotional Challenge Begins Tomorrow!

In case you missed it, our One Day at a Time devotional begins tomorrow! If you’d like to spend more time reading the Bible but don’t know how to fit it into your schedule (or don’t know where to start), this is an easy approach that requires almost no time commitment. (See our earlier post to learn more about One Day at a Time.)

One Day at a Time is a bit different from most of the other email devotionals in our library in that it only runs for 30 days (rather than for a full year or longer). The idea is to help ease you into the habit of reading a bit of Scripture each morning. By the end of the 30 days, Bible reading should be part of your everyday routine—and you’ll be ready to tackle one of our heftier Bible reading plans (or chart out your own Bible reading).

So if you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time—visit our Newsletters page, check One Day at a Time, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to enter your email address.

We hope you enjoy it, and that it helps you devote a few extra minutes of your day to God’s Word!

Filed under Devotional, Newsletters

May 8, 2012

The Bible in 100 Days (or 90, or 365, or…)

We talk a lot at Bible Gateway about the value of reading through the entire Bible. And we’ve done our best to make reading plans and other tools available to make that task easier. But ultimately, everyone’s approach to reading through the Bible is going to be a bit different. Each of us has a different daily schedule, possesses a different level of knowledge about the Bible, and is drawn to different themes in Scripture.

All this to say: it’s fascinating to see how different people chart out their own journeys through the Bible. Currently I’m enjoying following along with The Bible in 100 Days, a Tumblr project by Craig Kanalley that aims to read 1% of the Bible every day for 100 days. (He’s currently 57% of the way through the Bible, and still on track—most impressive!)

If you want a Bible reading challenge similar to the one Kanalley has undertaken, our Bible in 90 Days reading plan restarts in just a few weeks (June 1). But regardless of the plan you follow (if you follow a plan at all), I hope you’ve found a way to read Scripture regularly that fits your own personal schedule and approach.

How would you read through the Bible?

Filed under The Bible

May 7, 2012

Monday Morning Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:3-17

How does the “Good News” of Jesus Christ relate to the holy Law of the Old Testament (for example, the Ten Commandments)? Does the forgiveness and grace we receive through Christ render the Law obsolete? These are important questions, and in 1 Timothy 1, Paul explores the relationship between law and grace:

1 Timothy 1:3-17 (CJB)

As I counseled you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus, so that you may order certain people who are teaching a different doctrine to stop. Have them stop devoting their attention to myths and never-ending genealogies; these divert people to speculating instead of doing God’s work, which requires trust. The purpose of this order is to promote love from a clean heart, from a good conscience and from sincere trust. Some, by aiming amiss, have wandered off into fruitless discussion. They want to be teachers of Torah, but they understand neither their own words nor the matters about which they make such emphatic pronouncements. We know that the Torah is good, provided one uses it in the way the Torah itself intends. We are aware that Torah is not for a person who is righteous, but for those who are heedless of Torah and rebellious, ungodly and sinful, wicked and worldly, for people who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral — both heterosexual and homosexual — slave dealers, liars, perjurers, and anyone who acts contrary to the sound teaching that accords with the Good News of the glorious and blessed God.

This Good News was entrusted to me; and I thank the one who has given me strength, the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, that he considered me trustworthy enough to put me in his service, even though I used to be a man who blasphemed and persecuted and was arrogant! But I received mercy because I had acted in unbelief, not understanding what I was doing. Our Lord’s grace overflowed to me with trust and love that come through the Messiah Yeshua. So here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted: the Messiah came into the world to save sinners, and I’m the number one sinner! But this is precisely why I received mercy — so that in me, as the number one sinner, Yeshua the Messiah might demonstrate how very patient he is, as an example to those who would later come to trust in him and thereby have eternal life. So to the King — eternal, imperishable and invisible, the only God there is — let there be honor and glory for ever and ever! Amen. — 1 Timothy 1:3-17 (CJB)

Questions to Ponder

  • Can you relate to Paul’s experience of receiving grace “because [he] had acted in unbelief”? What do you think it means to receive grace even as an unbeliever?
  • What do you think is the modern equivalent of focusing on “myths and never-ending genealogies” and “speculating”?
  • What role does the Law (“Torah” above) play in our journey to God?

Filed under Monday Morning Scripture

May 4, 2012

One Day at a Time: Take the 30-Day Devotional Challenge

Do you read the Bible each day? Do you wish you did?

When we’ve asked Bible Gateway visitors in the past about their daily Bible reading habits, many of you have told us that you want to spend time each day reading God’s Word, but for various reasons you aren’t. We all know those reasons well: life is very, very busy. And not every part of the Bible is easy to read and understand (Books of Moses, I’m looking at you).

If you really want to make daily Bible reading a part of your life—and the benefits of doing so are tremendous—then you’ve got to cultivate it as a habit. Start small, with the goal of making it part of your everyday routine.

We at Bible Gateway want to help you do that. We’ve put together a 30-day email devotional that will help you spend just a few minutes each day exploring the Bible.

One Day at a Time is a 30-day devotional that begins on Wednesday, May 9. Each morning, you’ll receive a short devotional that contains:

  1. A link to a short Bible reading (usually just a few verses).
  2. A short, one-paragraph reflection on the reading, to help you think through what you’ve read.

That’s it! No gigantic readings or burdensome time commitment. Just a few minutes reading the Bible before you start your day.

Click here to sign up for One Day at a Time. Just check the appropriate box near the top of the page, then scroll down to the bottom of the page to submit your email address and subscribe.

We’re confident that by the time you’ve gone through 30 days of One Day at a Time, daily Bible reading will be a habit. (And at that point, we’ve got other Bible reading plans and devotionals you might want to try out.)

One Day at a Time is drawn from the NIV Once-a-Day Bible, and we’re grateful to Zondervan for partnering with us to craft this special 30-day devotional.

Filed under Devotional, Newsletters

May 3, 2012

Five Biblical Prayers That Teach Us How to Talk to God

Today is National Day of Prayer in the U.S. To mark the occasion (and encourage our readers to spend time in prayer—not just today, but every day!), we’ve gathered up five of the most interesting, powerful, or otherwise memorable prayers in the Bible.

#5: Hannah’s Prayer for a Son, 1 Samuel 1

Heartbroken by her inability to conceive a child (and tormented by a rival who mocked her for it), Hannah turned to God in prayer so intensely that a priest who saw her thought she was drunk:

In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty , if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

As she kept on praying to the Lord, [the high priest] Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” — 1 Samuel 1 (NIV)

God answered Hannah’s prayer, and her son Samuel became one of the great prophets of ancient Israel.

#4: Daniel’s Prayer of Confession, Daniel 9:1-19

God’s people had sinned—and were under His judgment. Rather than blame God, make excuses, or simply despair, the prophet Daniel instead voiced one of the most moving prayers of repentance recorded in the entire Bible:

Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant with those who love Him and keep His commands — we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from Your commands and ordinances. We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, fathers, and all the people of the land. [....]

All Israel has broken Your law and turned away, refusing to obey You. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against Him. He has carried out His words that He spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us so great a disaster that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not appeased the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to Your truth. So the Lord kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all He has done. But we have not obeyed Him. [....]

Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of Your servant. Show Your favor to Your desolate sanctuary for the Lord’s sake. Listen, my God, and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city called by Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You based on our righteous acts, but based on Your abundant compassion. Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for Your own sake, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name. — Daniel 9:1-19 (HCSB)

#3: Habakuk Rejoices, Habakkuk 3

The prophet Habbakkuk’s prayer is both a song of praise and a plea for mercy, and is the perfect picture of a believer recognizing God’s power while earnestly asking for that power to defend God’s children from hardship:

Lord, I have heard your reputation.
I have seen your work.
Over time, revive it.
Over time, make it known.
Though angry, remember compassion. [....]

[God] stops and measures the earth.
He looks and sets out against the nations.
The everlasting mountains collapse;
the eternal hills bow down;
the eternal paths belong to him. [....]

Though the fig tree doesn’t bloom,
and there’s no produce on the vine;
though the olive crop withers,
and the fields don’t provide food;
though the sheep is cut off from the pen,
and there is no cattle in the stalls;
I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will rejoice in the God of my deliverance.
The Lord God is my strength.
He will set my feet like the deer.
He will let me walk upon the heights. — Habakkuk 3 (CEB)

#2: Jehoshaphat Prays for Deliverance: 2 Chronicles 20:5-12

Faced by an overwhelming force of enemies bent on his destruction, the king Jehoshaphat called out to God with a prayer that acknowledges his own powerlessness, and entreats God to intervene. His closing statement “We don’t know what to do, so we’re looking to you” could be the motto of any Christian faced with challenges:

In the new courtyard at the Lord’s temple, Jehoshaphat stood in front of the people. He said, “Lord God of our ancestors, aren’t you the God in heaven? You rule all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess power and might, and no one can oppose you. Didn’t you, our God, force those who were living in this country out of Israel’s way? Didn’t you give this country to the descendants of your friend Abraham to have permanently? His descendants have lived in it and built a holy temple for your name in it. They said, ‘If evil comes in the form of war, flood, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple and in front of you because your name is in this temple. We will cry out to you in our troubles, and you will hear us and save us.’

“The Ammonites, Moabites, and the people of Mount Seir have come here. However, you didn’t let Israel invade them when they came out of Egypt. The Israelites turned away from them and didn’t destroy them. They are now paying us back by coming to force us out of your land that you gave to us. You’re our God. Won’t you judge them? We don’t have the strength to face this large crowd that is attacking us. We don’t know what to do, so we’re looking to you.” — 2 Chronicles 20:5-12 (GW)

#1: The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13

Is there any prayer more simple yet complete than Jesus’ own prayer? Asked to teach his disciples how to pray, Jesus demonstrated how to pray with a model prayer that is characteristically concise and memorable:

You, therefore, pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven!
May your Name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Give us the food we need today.
Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
And do not lead us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.’ — Matthew 6:9-13 (CJB)

Filed under Bible Study

May 3, 2012

What the Feeding of the Five Thousand Teaches Us About Community… and Food

Are you familiar with the Biblical story of the feeding of the five thousand? It’s one of Jesus’ most famous miracles, in which he takes five loaves of bread and two fish and uses them to feed an entire crowd. Here’s the account:

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. — Matthew 14:13-21 (ESV)

Reading this story got me thinking about a mini-feast that I participate in each Thursday. I work out of a shared office with a bunch of other remote employees, freelancers, and contract workers. It’s a mishmash of people on laptops typing away at programs, novels, blog posts, marketing plans, and other work for employers around the globe. It’s a friendly bunch that has banded together to save ourselves from the boredom of being holed up in a coffee shop or home office.

Every Thursday we meet together for a potluck organized around simple themes like Salad, Soup, or Sushi. A few of us walk down to a local store; others pull parcels from home out of laptop bags or check on a crockpot they’d filled with meat and vegetables earlier in the day.

A wonderful little moment that happens around 12:10 every Thursday. The preparations coalesce and we gather around a table overflowing with food—enough to feed everyone, plus a bit for leftovers.

Everyone grabs a plate or a bowl and fills it up. We talk about what’s happening in our lives, in local politics, what’s being chatted about on Twitter, or just catch up. A crowd of folks who may have been perfect strangers a month ago sit down to share a meal we prepared for each other together.

There’s a healthy power in this act of community. “Hi, I’m Chris. Did you try the soup that Sandy made? Have some chips and salsa. Tell me about things. How did you get here? Where are you going?”

The group I eat with on Thursdays is full of all religious stripes, but they’re doing something that Jesus modeled when he fed the five thousand. He didn’t send the crowds home to eat individually or behind the doors of their own homes. He didn’t ask each person or family to bring their own food and eat it by themselves. He instead made it possible to slow down and spend time eating together. Food is a need that can be met with money, by returning to your home and feeding yourself, but Jesus taught us that sometimes it’s more than that. Sometimes the food is just an excuse to get a few people together to have a feast.

Filed under General

May 2, 2012

Does God Ever Refuse to Hear Prayers?

Most of us believe that when we “cry out” to God—that is, appeal to Him through prayer—He always hears those prayers. “Ask,” we read in Matthew 7:7, “and it will be given to you.” But what about Bible passages that suggest that sometimes God doesn’t listen to our prayers?

Consider Psalm 66, in which the author gives thanks that God answered his prayer, but suggests that God might not have done so in certain circumstances:

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me! — Psalm 66:16-20 (ESV) (empahsis mine)

And in Jeremiah 11, God warns a wayward people that He won’t listen to their cries:

So now I, the Lord, warn them that I am going to bring destruction on them, and they will not escape. And when they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them. — Jeremiah 11:11 (GNT)

What are we to make of such passages? Will God always hear our prayers or not? What, if anything, might result in God rejecting a prayer?

For an answer, I turned to the Questions Answered devotional. Here’s what it has to say:

God sees, hears and knows everything—including our prayers. Nothing escapes his attention. Why then did God say he would not listen to the people’s cries for help? There are several possible reasons.

In this case, God did not respond because judgment was unavoidable. Judah had disobeyed God’s laws and ignored his pleas for so long that judgment was, in effect, already on the way. Their cries were too little, too late. God even told Jeremiah not to pray for the people (see Isa 14:11–12)—that not even Moses and Samuel could have persuaded him to offer further compassion to them (see Isa 15:1).

It’s also possible that people sometimes sabotage their own prayers. The Bible mentions several attitudes and actions that can short-circuit our prayers: sin (see Ps 66:18; Isa 59:2; Jer 14:10–12), disobedience (see Pr 28:9), hypocrisy and insincerity (see Isa 29:13; Mal 1:7–9), wrong motives (see Mt 6:5–6; Lk 18:11–14; Jas 4:3), lack of faith (Heb 11:6; Jas 1:6) and even marital problems (see 1Pe 3:7).

Finally, what sometimes appears to be no answer to prayer may actually be a delayed answer (see Da 10:12–13). Other times God may deny our request in order to give us something better than what we knew to ask for. — “When Does God Refuse to Hear Our Prayers?, from the Questions Answered devotional

(The question is further explored in a separate devotional essay as well.)

If you’ve ever had the experience of praying for something and receiving no clear answer, it’s natural to wonder whether or not God heard the prayer in the first place. Did He ignore the prayer? Should God’s silence be taken as a “No” answer?

The good news is that the Bible doesn’t leave us wondering. The Bible passages above give each us a way to weigh our thoughts and motivations to discern whether or not we’re going to God in prayer with the right heart. And when we do approach God earnestly, we can rest confidently on this promise: “The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.”

Filed under Bible Study

April 30, 2012

Monday Morning Scripture: 1 Kings 17:7-24

Have you ever felt stretched to the limit… yet God asked for more? Did you respond with anger and bitterness, or with faith that God would provide?

This might seem an academic question to many of us, but it was a very real, immediate problem for the widow in 1 Kings 17:7-24. How would you have acted if you had been in her place?

1 Kings 17:7-24

Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to [the prophet Elijah]: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.” — 1 King 17:7-24 (NIV)

Questions to Consider

  1. At the beginning of this passage, God tells Elijah that He has directed a widow to provide for him. When Elijah arrives, the widow makes no mention of this. What do you think God meant?
  2. Why do you think the widow agreed to prepare food for Elijah, despite her own dire situation? What do you imagine went through her mind when her food stores weren’t used up, as she expected?
  3. Why do you think the widow was angry at Elijah when her son grew ill? Do you find her attitude baffling, or understandable?

Filed under Monday Morning Scripture

April 25, 2012

Holman Christian Standard Bible Verse of the Day Now Available!

Our Verse of the Day email is now available in the Holman Christian Standard Bible! Sign up today!

The Verse of the Day email is a daily verse (well, occasionally we cheat and choose a short multi-verse quote) from the Bible sent out each morning. It involves almost no time commitment (just one short verse or quote) and is a great way to get your day started on a positive, Bible-focused note.

The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) is a relatively recent and popular Bible translation that has become a favorite of many Bible Gateway users since we added it to our library of online Bibles. Its translators employed a translation philosophy known as “optimal equivalence” to strike a balance between literary precision and emotive clarity—in other words, it’s an accurate translation of both the words and thoughts behind the Bible text. We’ve talked about the HCSB here on the blog, and you can read about its history and translation philosophy on Bible Gateway.

We hope you enjoy this new Verse of the Day email. Stop by our Email Newsletters page and sign up today!

Filed under Verse of the Day

April 24, 2012

What Should We Make of the Discrepancies Found in the Bible?

Is it true that the Bible contradicts itself? This essay, drawn from the Investigating the Bible email newsletter, addresses a tough question about the Bible’s reliability.

What Should We Make of the Discrepancies Found in the Bible?

Skeptics often charge that the Bible’s historical books hopelessly contradict each other. And if that’s the case, they charge, then the Bible cannot be trusted in anything it says. Take, for example, 1 Chronicles 2:13–15, which states that Jesse had seven sons, while 1 Samuel 17:12 indicates Jesse had eight sons.

On the surface, the Bible’s historical books can appear to disagree. These range all the way from very minor variations in wording to the most famous apparent contradictions. But once you allow for paraphrase, abridgment, explanatory additions, selection and omission—acceptable techniques even in many of today’s writing styles—the books are extremely consistent with each other by ancient standards, which are the only standards by which it’s fair to judge them. As in the case of Jesse’s sons, it’s important to realize that the reference to the fewer number of sons appears in a genealogical section of the Bible. If one of David’s brothers died without leaving an heir, he would have been properly omitted from the list.

For another example, consider the writings of the New Testament. Ironically, if the events recorded in the Gospels were identical to each other, word for word, this would have raised charges that the authors had conspired among themselves to coordinate their stories in advance, and that would have cast doubt on them. If the Gospels were too consistent, that in itself would invalidate the gospel writers as independent witnesses. People would then say we really only have one testimony that everybody else parroted.

Simon Greenleaf of Harvard Law School is one of history’s most important legal figures and the author of an influential treatise on evidence. After studying the consistency among the four gospel writers, he offered this evaluation: “There is enough of a discrepancy to show that there could have been no previous concert among them; and at the same time such substantial agreement as to show that they all were independent narrators of the same great transaction.”

German scholar Hans Stier has concurred that agreement over basic data and a divergence of details suggest credibility, because fabricated accounts tend to be fully consistent and harmonized. “Every historian,” he wrote, “is especially skeptical at that moment when an extraordinary happening is only reported in accounts which are completely free of contradictions.”

This question and answer is adapted from an interview with Dr. Craig Blomberg, as featured in the Investigating the Bible email newsletter. You can sign up to receive it for free at our Newsletters page.

Filed under Bible Study, Newsletters