M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
10 Then Samuel took a bottle of oil and poured it on Saul’s head. He kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord chosen you to be a ruler over His land? 2 When you leave me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s grave in the land of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you went to look for have been found. Now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and is worried about you, saying, “What should I do about my son?”’ 3 Then you will go farther and come to the oak tree of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you. One will be carrying three young goats. Another will be carrying three loaves of bread. And another will be carrying a bottle of wine. 4 They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will take from their hand. 5 Then you will come to the hill of God where there are Philistine soldiers. When you come there to the city, you will meet a group of men who speak for God coming down from the high place. They will have harps, an object to beat sounds of joy, and a horn. And they will be speaking God’s Word. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you with power. You will speak God’s Word with them and be changed into another man. 7 When you see these special things, do whatever you find that should be done. For God is with you. 8 You will go down before me to Gilgal. Then see, I will come down to you to give burnt gifts and peace gifts. Wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do.”
9 When Saul turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart. And all these special things happened on that day. 10 When they came to the hill, a group of men who speak for God met him. The Spirit of God came upon him with power, so that he spoke God’s Word with them. 11 People who had known him before saw him doing this and asked one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul one of the men who speak God’s Word?” 12 One of the men there answered, “Now, who is their father?” So it became a saying: “Is Saul one of the men who speak God’s Word?” 13 When Saul had finished speaking the Word of God, he went to the altar at the high place.
14 The brother of Saul’s father said to him and his servant, “Where have you been?” And Saul said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they could not be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 The brother of Saul’s father said, “Tell me, what did Samuel say to you?” 16 Saul said to his father’s brother, “He told us that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him what Samuel had told him about being king.
17 Then Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. 18 He said to the people of Israel, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel out of Egypt. I saved you from the power of the Egyptians, and from the power of all the nations that made it hard for you.’ 19 But today you have turned away from your God, Who saves you from all your troubles. You have said, ‘No! Have a king rule over us!’ So now come before the Lord, by your family groups and by your thousands.” 20 When Samuel brought all the families of Israel near, the name of the family group of Benjamin was drawn. 21 Then he brought the family group of Benjamin near by its families, and the name of the Matrite family was drawn. Then the name of Saul the son of Kish was drawn. But when they looked for him, he could not be found. 22 So they asked the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” The Lord said, “See, he is hiding among the bags.” 23 They ran and brought him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of them. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? For sure there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people called out and said, “Long live the king!” 25 Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the king and his nation. He wrote them in a book and laid it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. 26 Saul went home to Gibeah. And the strong men whose hearts God had touched went with him. 27 But some men of no worth said, “How can this man save us?” They hated him and did not bring him any gift. But he kept quiet.
8 Now, because of this, those who belong to Christ will not suffer the punishment of sin. 2 The power of the Holy Spirit has made me free from the power of sin and death. This power is mine because I belong to Christ Jesus. 3 The Law could not make me free from the power of sin and death. It was weak because it had to work with weak human beings. But God sent His own Son. He came to earth in a body of flesh which could be tempted to sin as we in our bodies can be. He gave Himself to take away sin. By doing that, He took away the power sin had over us. 4 In that way, Jesus did for us what the Law said had to be done. We do not do what our sinful old selves tell us to do anymore. Now we do what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. 5 Those who let their sinful old selves tell them what to do live under that power of their sinful old selves. But those who let the Holy Spirit tell them what to do are under His power. 6 If your sinful old self is the boss over your mind, it leads to death. But if the Holy Spirit is the boss over your mind, it leads to life and peace. 7 The mind that thinks only of ways to please the sinful old self is fighting against God. It is not able to obey God’s Laws. It never can. 8 Those who do what their sinful old selves want to do cannot please God.
9 But you are not doing what your sinful old selves want you to do. You are doing what the Holy Spirit tells you to do, if you have God’s Spirit living in you. No one belongs to Christ if he does not have Christ’s Spirit in him. 10 If Christ is in you, your spirit lives because you are right with God, and yet your body is dead because of sin. 11 The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. If the same Holy Spirit lives in you, He will give life to your bodies in the same way.
12 So then, Christian brothers, we are not to do what our sinful old selves want us to do. 13 If you do what your sinful old selves want you to do, you will die in sin. But if, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you destroy those actions to which the body can be led, you will have life. 14 All those who are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God. 15 You should not act like people who are owned by someone. They are always afraid. Instead, the Holy Spirit makes us His sons, and we can call to Him, “My Father.” 16 For the Holy Spirit speaks to us and tells our spirit that we are children of God. 17 If we are children of God, we will receive everything He has promised us. We will share with Christ all the things God has given to Him. But we must share His suffering if we are to share His shining-greatness.
18 I am sure that our suffering now cannot be compared to the shining-greatness that He is going to give us. 19 Everything that has been made in the world is waiting for the day when God will make His sons known. 20 Everything that has been made in the world is weak. It is not that the world wanted it to be that way. God allowed it to be that way. Yet there is hope. 21 Everything that has been made in the world will be set free from the power that can destroy. These will become free just as the children of God become free. 22 We know that everything on the earth cries out with pain the same as a woman giving birth to a child. 23 We also cry inside ourselves, even we who have received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the first of God’s gifts to us. We are waiting to become His complete sons when our bodies are made free. 24 We were saved with this hope ahead of us. Now hope means we are waiting for something we do not have. How can a man hope for something he already has? 25 But if we hope for something we do not yet see, we must learn how to wait for it.
26 In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us where we are weak. We do not know how to pray or what we should pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays to God for us with sounds that cannot be put into words. 27 God knows the hearts of men. He knows what the Holy Spirit is thinking. The Holy Spirit prays for those who belong to Christ the way God wants Him to pray.
28 We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are chosen to be a part of His plan. 29 God knew from the beginning who would put their trust in Him. So He chose them and made them to be like His Son. Christ was first and all those who belong to God are His brothers. 30 He called to Himself also those He chose. Those He called, He made right with Himself. Then He shared His shining-greatness with those He made right with Himself.
31 What can we say about all these things? Since God is for us, who can be against us? 32 God did not keep His own Son for Himself but gave Him for us all. Then with His Son, will He not give us all things? 33 Who can say anything against the people God has chosen? It is God Who says they are right with Himself. 34 Who then can say we are guilty? It was Christ Jesus Who died. He was raised from the dead. He is on the right side of God praying to Him for us. 35 Who can keep us away from the love of Christ? Can trouble or problems? Can suffering wrong from others or having no food? Can it be because of no clothes or because of danger or war? 36 The Holy Writings say, “Because of belonging to Jesus, we are in danger of being killed all day long. We are thought of as sheep that are ready to be killed.” (A) 37 But we have power over all these things through Jesus Who loves us so much. 38 For I know that nothing can keep us from the love of God. Death cannot! Life cannot! Angels cannot! Leaders cannot! Any other power cannot! Hard things now or in the future cannot! 39 The world above or the world below cannot! Any other living thing cannot keep us away from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
God Speaks through Jeremiah about the Philistines
47 This is the Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the man of God about the Philistines, before Pharaoh won the war against Gaza. 2 The Lord says, “Waters are going to rise from the north and become a flood. They will flow over the land and everything in it, the cities and all who live in them. The men will cry out. Every person living in the land will cry in a loud voice. 3 Because of the noise of the feet of horses running, the noise of war-wagons and the sound of wheels, fathers have not turned back for their children. Their hands have become too weak, 4 because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines. And all those who helped Tyre and Sidon will be destroyed. For the Lord is going to destroy the Philistines, those who are left of the land of Caphtor by the sea. 5 All the hair is gone from the head of Gaza. Ashkelon has been destroyed. O you who are left of their valley, how long will you cut yourselves? 6 O, sword of the Lord, how long will it be before you are quiet? Return to your holder. Be at rest and do not move. 7 How can it be quiet, when the Lord has given it work to do? He has sent it against Ashkelon and against the land by the sea.”
The Lord—Our Shepherd
23 The Lord is my Shepherd. I will have everything I need. 2 He lets me rest in fields of green grass. He leads me beside the quiet waters. 3 He makes me strong again. He leads me in the way of living right with Himself which brings honor to His name. 4 Yes, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid of anything, because You are with me. You have a walking stick with which to guide and one with which to help. These comfort me. 5 You are making a table of food ready for me in front of those who hate me. You have poured oil on my head. I have everything I need. 6 For sure, You will give me goodness and loving-kindness all the days of my life. Then I will live with You in Your house forever.
The King of Shining-Greatness
24 The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, the world, and all who live in it. 2 For He has built it upon the seas. He has set it upon the rivers. 3 Who may go up the mountain of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart. He who has not lifted up his soul to what is not true, and has not made false promises. 5 He will receive what is good from the Lord, and what is right and good from the God Who saves him. 6 Such is the family of those who look for Him, who look for Your face, O God of Jacob.
7 Lift up your heads, O gates. And be lifted up, O doors that last forever. And the King of shining-greatness will come in. 8 Who is the King of shining-greatness? The Lord strong and powerful. The Lord powerful in war. 9 Lift up your heads, O gates. Lift them up, O doors that last forever and the King of shining-greatness will come in. 10 Who is the King of shining-greatness? The Lord of All. He is the King of shining-greatness.
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