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Bible Reading Plan
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Going deeper...to go further

The more rooted we are in God and in His Word, the more fruitful we become in His purposes

This month we’re focusing our daily readings on scriptures about Thankfullness alongside reading a chapter from Genesis each day and a chapter from the New Testament.

Let’s spend some time everyday reading, applying and praying these scriptures over our lives so that we can go deeper and further in His purposes for us. Below you’ll see what we’re reading today.

What is S.O.A.P.?

In order to go further in the mission God has given us, He said we need to go deeper in our relationship with Him. As with any tree or plant, the fruit is determined by the health and depth of the root. One way we have been going deeper is by reading and journaling through the Word every day. We’ve called it S.O.A.P.

[S]cripture - Read the Word
[O]bservation - Write down what God is saying/showing you
[A]pplication - How do we apply this in our lives?
[P]rayer - Pray through and over your life

As we read the Word (Scripture), listen to the Holy Spirit (Observation), discover how to apply that to our lives (Application) and pray these things over our lives and those in the Church (Prayer) we’re going deeper in our relationship with God so that we can go further in the mission He’s given us.

Throughout the rest of the year we’ll be continuing our Bible Reading Plan to press deeper into God so that we can go further in His purposes. Get yourself a Bible, a journal and a pen and SOAP your way through the scriptures!

Today we are reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:18

18Give thanks to God, regardless of your circumstances. All this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE TRUTH VERSION. Copyright © 2009 by Colin Urquhart. All rights reserved worldwide. (The Truth New Testament)

Today we are reading: Philippians 3

Righteousness through faith in Christ1My brothers, rejoice in the Lord! I do not consider it a burden to remind you of this again and again for your own good. Keep rejoicing in the Lord!2-3Be on your guard for those who want to draw you away from the truth. They are no better than dogs. All they want to do is mutilate the flesh, whereas we are those who are truly circumcised by the Spirit working in our hearts. It is by the Spirit that we worship and our glory is in Christ Jesus, not in what is done to the flesh. We put absolutely no confidence in the flesh.4If it would be justifiable for anyone to put confidence in these outward physical things, I would certainly be the first to qualify!5-6Yes, as a Jew I was circumcised on the eighth day; I certainly belong to the people of Israel. I belong to the tribe of Benjamin, a true Hebrew of the Hebrews. I kept the law like a good Pharisee and was full of zeal in the way I persecuted the church. And I was perfect in my legalistic righteousness!7I used to think all these things were to my credit, and yet now I have Christ I realise I gained nothing from them.8-9So I now regard those things as worthless compared to the greatest privilege of all, of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. For His sake I left everything of the past behind and considered those things rubbish, so that I could have Christ and live in Him. Seeking my own righteousness through obeying the law was futile when compared to the righteousness I have now through faith in Christ. This is the true righteousness that comes as a gift from God and can only be received through faith in Christ.10-11I want to know Christ and His resurrection power. I am prepared to be at one with Him by sharing in His sufferings. Like Him, I am ready to die for the truth and then somehow by His power be raised from the dead.Aim for the prize12I do not claim to have received all that God has for me, neither have I yet been made perfect. But I am always moving forward to take hold of everything that Christ Jesus had planned to give me when He laid hold of my life.13My brothers, I know I have not yet appropriated everything; but I maintain my focus. So I forget what lies behind me in the past and I reach out with longing for what lies ahead.14Yes, I press on towards my goal, which is to gain the prize that God has for me when He calls me home to heaven in unity with Christ Jesus.15If you are mature in the way you view spiritual things, then you will think in the same way. If you believe differently, God will bring the correction you need and make everything clear to you.16At least continue to live in the good of what you have already received and do not slip back.Citizens of God's heavenly Kingdom17So, brothers, join with those who follow my example and learn from those who adopt the pattern of life we showed you.18I repeat now with tears in my eyes what I have already told you in the past. Many face destruction because they live as enemies of the cross of Christ.19They make their stomachs their God and are even proud of the shameful ways in which they live. They are obsessed with earthly things.20By contrast, we know that we are citizens of God's heavenly Kingdom. This is why we await eagerly the time when the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, will return to earth from heaven.21Then He will transform these earthly bodies of ours by the power by which He is able to bring everything under His control. Then our bodies will be like His glorious body!

Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE TRUTH VERSION. Copyright © 2009 by Colin Urquhart. All rights reserved worldwide. (The Truth New Testament)

Today we are reading: Genesis 27

1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”“Here I am,” he answered. 2Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” 5Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.” 11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” 13His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” 14So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. 18He went to his father and said, “My father.”“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?” 19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” 20Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied. 21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.” 22Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24“Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.“I am,” he replied. 25Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” 27So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.28May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine.29May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” 30After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” 32His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.” 33Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!” 34When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!” 35But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” 36Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?” 37Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” 38Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. 39His father Isaac answered him,“Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above.40You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.” 41Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” 46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”

Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online)