Bible Reading
Exodus
What is your Egypt, what did God lead you out of?
Before having a relationship
with God, I often felt invisible in the crowds. By this I mean, feeling not
important or relevant in society. But when I read the bible and learned more
about Jesus, I realized that I shouldn´t feel this way. I was in a drought, I
was not alive. And Jesus brought water into my body, replenishing, life into my
soul. He took me to a place where I can have a new identity, it´s the daughter
of God.
What´s the Promised Land you’re going towards?
I feel like I am going to a
place where God will decide my next steps. In a way, the Promised Land is the opportunity
to live life within His will, being obedient, and chasing what He wants to
accomplish in me. The more I think about it, the image of a hand holding me is
what I understand for what I am going towards, stability inside of His grip.
Why did the magicians failed?
The magicians failed because
God wanted to proof something to the Israelites and the Egyptians: He is
powerful, way more than magic, and no human or evil force can compare to His
power. In attempting there will be failure and death. There are certain verses
in Exodus that go “… and the Lord hardened” “… and the Lord knew they would” do
this or that. God allowed it and then he didn´t. He is stronger, He is who He
is.
Romans
Strengths of the Church
1.
Peace
with God through faith (5:3-5)
2.
The
faithful witness (16:19)
3.
Obedience
(6:17-18)
Weaknesses of the Church
1.
Claiming
to know God but acting differently (1:20-25)
2.
How
the law is not the way to salvation (2:17-21)
3.
Judging
(2:1)
Ephesians and
Philippians
Picture this: soldiers marching, wrapped in
gold and silver, swords and shields up front. This picture excites me, and it´s
the way Paul describes Spiritual Warfare in Ephesians, as a war:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the
strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to
stand against the schemes of the devil. For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of
truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for
your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all
circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all
the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the
Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Ephesians
6:10-18
After reading Philippians a phrase comes to my
mind: Christian Lifestyle. Paul speaks about the attitudes and behaviors that
the followers of Jesus should adopt or have if they call themselves as one.
Words like pray, pure, suffer, obedient, rejoice and fruit pop out of the text
in my point of view.
As for key verse I feel it would be 4:8
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever
is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever
is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of
praise, think about these things.”
Acts
When you read the book of Acts you can tell the Holy Spirit was the one who joined all events together, like a chain, bonding characters and occurrences into one story that would change the outline of church forever.
It intrigues me how it continually says “then, filled with the Holy Spirit”, “full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty”, “They could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking”, “walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it multiplied”, “the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away”, among many other phrases remind me of a particular characteristic:
He´s kind of a pusher. The Holy Spirit, I mean. It´s the one that pushes you and guides you into things, without Him you are just wandering around aimlessly.
Matthew
This week we had to read Matthew in groups, outloud. An exercise that I consider spiritually healthy. In this way, we had the opportunity to analyze the most important subjects through the book, the most repeated, the focus that the author made and the timeline of the book.
As we read the book, I couldn´t help but to picture Matthew sitting with a feather, writing, anointed in the Holy Spirit.
Considering the situation—being miles and miles away from home—chapter 10:37-39 continues to strike me every time I read it:
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”
And then chapter 19:29-30
“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name´s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first”
This made me meditate on the fact of what it means to live for Jesus. The words obedience and compromise came to mind after we finished reading. I could feel something inside me stir as I prayed on these words, I want to be ready, I want to live like this.
