Walking with the Way

We are done! I really enjoyed that summer reading plan!! I hope you did too. It was great to be able to read about the rise of Israel with the first of their kings, Saul, David and Solomon (boy, that seems like a long time ago that we read about that!).  And then, it was sad to read how Israel split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, and all the subsequent kings who didn't want to follow in the way of the Lord.   As a result, Israel is completely wiped out and then Judah, in short order, falls as well.  Yet, after all that sad reading, we were left with a slight ray of hope!!!! Did you notice how the reading ended?  2 Kings 24 says that Jehoiachin is taken captive and brought to Babylon.  He was 18 years old when that happened.  Then 37 years later.....the King of Babylon released him from prison!  What??... what came over that foreign king to speak "kindly" to Jehoiachin and give him a seat above the other seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon? (25:28)  I tel

 Did anyone else feel a sense of wistfulness for Israel when reading chapter 17? Looking at all the sad faces next to the kings of Israel, it's clear to see that the end was coming, but I wish it could have been different.  I wish they hadn't become so "stubborn" and stayed in their unbelief (17:14).  I wish they could have had a couple good leaders like Judah had.  Judah had some bad kings, but then some good...that would get the people back on track. Why weren't there any good kings in Israel line?  And then, the final blow came during the time of King Hoshea. 😞 The Assyrians attack Samaria; the end arrived.  It sounded so utterly final.  "The people of Israel continued in all the sins that Jeroboam committed; they did not depart from them until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he foretold through all his servants the prophets.  So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day." (2 Kings 17:22-23) Boom! End of game! It ma

 I don't know about you, but I had to start diagramming out the family tree of all those kings we have been reading about!  Next to each name I wrote a smilie face or a sad face depending if the King did what was right in God's eye or not.  My notes are way too messy to share, but I found a great chart that is neat, sharable and basically what I scribbled in my note book.  ! I put the smile or sad face on the kings we have read about up to today.  It's interesting how some kings got carried away in their own sin and then turned from the Lord, like Solomon did, yet others turned back to the Lord and tried to live right.  I found myself wondering what the influential factors were to get some to turn back to God.   Today's reading kind'a gave me the answer!  Joash became king at 7 years old and reigned for 40 years.  I loved this line, "Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him." (12:2) What a profound i

 Happy Monday to you all!   I am looking at the reading plan and notice that I failed to put the chapter to be read each day after I got to August 20th😝.  Well, at this point, you know the routine.  One chapter a day until the last day where you will need to read the last two chapters to finish on Sept. 10, or read one and finish on the 11th.  So what did you get out of the reading this past week? The story of Naaman in chapter 5 stood out to me. This highfalutin commander of an army, needs to go humbly before Elisha (the man of God).  I am sure Naaman was expecting Elisha to come out of his house, maybe give Naaman some sort of honor for being a commander and then give him some sort of secret potion, chant or complicated dance to perform or a prescription of some sort of sacrifice (i.e. 100 ox or maybe his own child),  in order to be healed.  This makes me think of those prophets that Elijah taunted as they were dancing around and cutting themselves trying to get their fake god to re

 I sure did get some applicable gems out of this weeks reading!  One gem that stood out to me was, where one lives has a big influence on their world view!   You better not let your culture sway you from a pure devotion to God!       Remember Jeroboam fled to Egypt and lived there for  awhile (11:40).  He was surrounded by polytheism when he lived there.  When he came back to Israel, he should have known better!  Earlier in his life the prophet told him,  "If you listen to all that I (God) command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you," (11:38). But his time in a polytheistic culture made him forget God's standard. So what does he do when he comes back from Egypt? He makes two golden calves for the monot heistic Israelites to worship! (12:28) 😲 Unbelievable!  Well, God doesn't put up with that and ultimately takes Jeroboam out of the picture entirely (14:10)! God

I think that 1 King 11 is the saddest chapter in all our summer reading!  How can wise, old Solomon be so stupid at the end of his life?!  Well, the chapter tells us exactly how that happened! His wives and concubines "turned away his heart" from the Lord. (1 Kings 11:3) 😟 1 Kings 11:9 stood out to me, "Then the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord commanded."  😫 I just wanted to cry when I read that! There are so many practical life lessons that can be learned from Solomon! These are a few I thought of: 1.  Wealth, prosperity,  even wisdom, doesn't guarantee a committed heart to the Lord.  I read in Proverbs (amazing to think that Proverbs may have been written by Solomon!) where it says, "..give me neither poverty nor riches, but Gove me only my

Ecclesiastes has a lot of choice morsels I could comment on, but for some reason, I am really drawn to ponder that temple Solomon built for the Lord.  Way back in Exodus (chs. 35-40), Moses got the instructions from the Lord on how to build the tabernacle, (the portable tent/temple), that was broken down and set up every time the Israelites moved and changed camp sites. When it was built, "the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40:34) The directions were soooo specific!  And now, 480 years later (1 Kings 6:1) Solomon is given the task of following the careful instructions as well. Why were the instructions so specific?.....Because the temple specifications represented heavenly things!  Romans 8:5 says,  "They (the priests) serve at a sanctuary that is a copy  and shadow  of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned  when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” I fin

 It sure is fun to be reading Ecclesiastes again!  It's been awhile since I last read this!  There is sooo much good stuff in there!!  Was there one verse that stood out to you?  One verse that hit me hard was found in chapter 7, "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other.  Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future." (7:14) Why is it that whenever we have it good, we can "see God's hand in our lives", but when things go wrong we think he has abandoned us?  The verse above reminds me that God sets up both circumstances.  He is with us ALL the time and watches to see how we respond to the circumstances he sets up.  Will we be faithful regardless of our daily life circumstances?  God is super concerned about the genuineness of our faith.  To him our faith is worth more than gold!!! (1Peter 1:7) Therefore, he uses both the good times and the bad to refine our faith (Psalm 66:1

I have to be honest, I paused a long time contemplating Joab last week!  I liked Joab!  He was so loyal to David....or so I thought.....😞 I guess the old saying rings true, you can't judge a book by it's cover! I tried hard to follow all the names that were listed in the chapters related to Joab.  It turns out, he was David's nephew! (1 Chronicles 2:13-17) Remember, David was the youngest of 7 brothers? He also had two sisters. If you take the time to draw out the family tree, you will see a lot of relationships between David and his warriors. Joab, the son of David's sister may have been close in age to David if David's sister was older than those 7 brothers. So, it makes sense that David would have loyal family members helping him, and have them in high positions.  As I read, I did think it was strange and even bad that Joab did some killing of close family members (Absalom, Abner and  Amasa).  But, I thought he was doing it to secure King David's position!  

I love reading the Psalms that David wrote that correlate to the Samual reading!  Early this week we read how Nathan rebuked David for the sin he committed by having an affair with a married woman and then covering it up with a murder. 😱 It's interesting to read the narrative in 2 Samual, but it is absolutely fascinating to get a "behind the scene glimpse" into what David was thinking at the time!   I am so glad David "kept a diary" of sorts, because we get to see his contrite heart, the type of heart that God likes! Remember Samual said, "the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart" 1 Sam 13:14, referring to David.  The thoughts of David recorded in Psalms give us an idea of what that means! David did not respond with the pride of a king, like Saul's responses to his sin, rather he begged for mercy from God (Psalm 51:1) He acknowledged his sin. 51:3 He understood the consequences of sin. 51:4 (That's why he begged for mercy) He asked to

 Hello all, Confession here.  I am in a motorhome traveling across the country so writing the blog has been a bit more difficult for me. BUT, I am keeping up with the reading! How about you?  This blog should have been posted 3 days ago so you may not remember what stood out to you last week, but I wanted to quickly share what stood out to me.  2 Samual 7:14-15, “I will be to him a father, and he will be me a son. When he commits an equity I will discipline him with the right of men, with this stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.” Obviously, God is talking about Solomon (and maybe even foreshadowing Jesus as far as saying David’s throne will be established forever), but, I can’t help focusing in on how God said, when he (Solomon, you and me) do something wrong, we will be disciplined (suffer the consequences, just as David did in chapter 12), but God’s “steadfast love will not depart from hi

Hello Old Testament Readers!  Just a quick note to say that I believe the Blogger site I use will stop sending emails when I post.    They are changing the way they are doing things starting this month, therefore emails will be stopping.  ☹️ I hope you continue to read even though you won’t be getting my reminders.    You can always check in to my blog using the “walkingwiththeway.com” site to see what I have posted and comment about your reading.  On that note, what did you get out of the reading last week?  There is much to say about the reading, but one thing that stood out to me was what David said about Saul and Jonathan after they died. In 2 Sam. 1:23, he says, “In life and death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.”  What an honoring eulogy David gave!  What struck me about it is what he said about Jonathan.  Now, we know from out reading that Jonathan gave his father the benefit of the doubt and had a tight relationship with his d

Hello all, I hope you had fun celebrating the dads in your life today!  So,...wow!.. I found there was so much to comment on in this weeks reading! We read the story of David eating the consecrated bread that was meant only for priests. I remember that Jesus referred to that story in Mark 2:25!  Now, I can see why Jesus referred to that story of David, when the Pharisees were giving him a hard time for doing something unlawful on the Sabbath. David and Ahimelek understood that the laws given were to benefit man, not to harm them. So David technically did something “unlawful”, but it was done to save lives. Jesus was reminding the Pharisees of this fact by bringing up David’s “unlawful act”. God desires “mercy over sacrifice”. (Matthew 12:7). Another thing I thought interesting in the reading this week was how David asked God what would happen....and God told him!    (1 Sam 23:11-12) Therefore, due to what God said, David did something different, to keep that from happening!   Isn’t tha

 Hello to all who are reading 1Samuel with me!! My intention has been to post something every Sunday  to keep those reminders being sent to you to keep reading.  However, what’s the saying?.... “Even the best of intentions mean nothing.  It’s  what you do.”😜 So, now it’s Wednesday and I now have the time to reflect back on last week’s reading. I must say, I think Saul represents the average Joe pretty well. 😳 He knew what God expected of him, yet he chose to do things his own way. Sadly, I can relate. How about you?  In chapter 13,  you might have wondered what Saul did that Samuel said was so foolish and would result in him losing the kingdom.  After all, it sounded good that he wanted to seek the “Lord’s favor”, didn’t it? He offered a burnt offering (vs. 9).  That sounds good doesn’t it? Well,.....it’s never good if you do things your way and not the way God wants it!  If you recall....Saul was a Benjamite (9:21). Who were allowed to do the offerings for the people? The Leviticus

 Wow!  Only one week into the summer reading and we have already read 12 chapters!!  Some people think that the Old Testament is full of stories, without much practical application for today.  I just don't see it that way!! I got a lot of practical tid bits out of the reading this week that were good reminders for me on how to live my life in a God honoring way. One major theme I pulled out of the reading was to ask myself, who do I have as king of my life?  God wanted Israel to keep Him as their king, but they chose to have a human king instead.   God is asking me the same question of me.  "Who do you want to have charge over your life? Me, you or someone else?  If you chose me, then serve me with all your heart" (12:20)  If I am serving myself with all me heart, I have chosen to make myself king of my life!  That's like choosing to have Saul as my king.   I know I want Jesus as my king , (especially since I know how all this ends, from my recent reading in Revelati

Do you want to dig into some Old Testament reading?   I have the perfect plan for some "light" summer reading.  It's only one chapter a day, but, by September, you will have read through 5 books of the Old Testament and a few of the Psalms!  I say that sounds like a good plan! I hope you join me!! The reading starts today!!! If you sign up to receive my weekly posts, you will get a reminder to where you should be in the reading each week.  I also hope you post a response once in a while, to let me know that someone "out there" is reading along with me! 😉 I recommend you go to the "Spiritual Fervor" tab to print out the plan so that you can follow along easily. I am excited to get started!! I hope you join me! Happy Reading!!

Hello all of you New Testament Readers!!   We would probably all agree that Revelation can be confusing with all the symbolism and, frankly, maybe even a bit scary!  Those descriptions of judgement make me want to be a post-millennial!  Haha!! If you don't get what I am say, then you should watch this video 😁: https://youtu.be/-9SzsO4xWBI I am attaching below a worksheet the group used to follow along with my talk.  It might help understanding the different perspectives by having a visual.     Sharon did a fabulous job reminding us of God's grace seen through out Revelation.  Listen to her talk and be encouraged!   https://youtu.be/eKssOc3GTw0

Hello all you New Testament Readers!! We are deep in Revelation now!  How exciting!   Yesterday, we heard of the different ways people interpret prophesy. Here is that link if you missed it:  https://youtu.be/dz-Dv4Ecxws Then, Michelle did a good recap on the messages to the churches and how we can apply those letters to ourselves.  She also points out that, even though Revelation can be confusing, there are somethings we can know with certainty! https://youtu.be/-ji2_TrSfSM Can you believe we are almost done with the whole New Testament?!  Enjoy reading Revelation 8-14 this week!

Hello New Testament Readers !   Can you believe we only have one book to go and we are done?!! Kim gave a great talk on God's definition of love.  (It's very different than what the world thinks!)  Enjoy:  https://youtu.be/WQ5HCCYLVoQ Have a great week reading Revelation!

Hello New Testament Readers!! I hope you are enjoying your week so far!   Have you noticed we only have a few more books to go and then we are done with the whole New  Testament?   Keep up the reading!!!  Persevere! 😉 Here are the links from this past Tuesday: History portion:  https://youtu.be/-7egmkVaVIs Sharon's talk:   https://youtu.be/sqwScbtxXUI Enjoy your Cinco de Mayo!!   🌮🇲🇽🌯 😋💚 ❣️

Hello New Testament Readers!! Can you believe how far we have come in our reading?!  We are done with Hebrews and now we only have 8 books left before we are finished with the whole New Testament!!! Wow! Here are the links to the talks done today.  The bottom line, to both talks, is the same the writer of Hebrews gave....persevere!!! History portion:  https://youtu.be/zdN2zSZruNw             Kims talk:  https://youtu.be/8hiNlFqb7QY Have fun reading James through the start of 1 Peter and have a great week!  🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓😋

Hello to all you New Testament Readers!! Here are the links to yesterday's talks. The history portion talks about who the "Hebrews" are. https://youtu.be/t59hhtwlk5Y Sharon's portion is a good review of who Jesus is!  https://youtu.be/3HeTCfZLQ_s May God bless your reading this week as we continue in Hebrews! 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Happy Holy Week to all of you New Testament Readers!! Wow! The week of reading had a lot in it! But, that's not surprising. Each verse of God's word is chuck full of good stuff!  It's so glad we are doing this reading so that we can heed Paul's advice to Timothy, to watch for false doctrine (1:3-5).  How are we to watch for it if we don't know correct doctrine?   That is why reading the Bible every day is paramount to increase our understanding of "doctrine". Paul says, if we persevere in them (correct doctrine) we will save both ourselves and others!!  I want to encourage you (like Michelle reminds us to do in her talk) that you are doing the best thing by being in your Bible more than other human writers.   Good job and kept going! We only have 9 weeks left of the reading plan!! History/Religion lesson:  https://youtu.be/vZph2FcL91g Michele's talks of encouragement:  https://youtu.be/3qwGt5jvUP0

 Hello Fellow New Testament Readers! We are in Thessalonians and there is sooooo much to get out of these letters!  Hope you enjoy the videos if you so chose to watch them! The history portion talks about Satan's tactics https://youtu.be/AOGkPaPXlMA Kim gives a great reminder of the hope we have in Christ: https://youtu.be/x_ihtRYWHc4

Hello New Testament Readers! Here are the links from Tuesday.  The history portion talks about fire and brimstone!  😳 https://youtu.be/iLJhtVc4rSY Judy's talk is on being thankful even during the hard times. 😌   https://youtu.be/4ttr7n001JQ Have a great week reading 1 & 2 Thessalonians!! ☘️💚☘️ 💚☘️💚☘️💚☘️💚☘️💚☘️💚

Hello New Testament  Readers! Here is the link to today's talk for the history portion of the day at CBR. Sorry it is a little longer than normal.  It was just so full of lots of good info, I didn't know how to make it shorter.   https://youtu.be/vkZjDs6euek Let me know your thoughts when yo are done watching!! Have a great week!

Happy Tuesday to all of you! How fun to be in a new month!  ☘️💚🍀 How are you doing with the reading?   Are  you keeping up?  I hope so!!! Spring is just around the corner!  That means summer is coming and I LOVE SUMMER!  😄   🏖 History portion: https://youtu.be/MNNCWsvyNiM Devotion portion: https://youtu.be/yelzW3uvqVc Today we start reading Ephesians.   Have fun with that and talk tp ya soon!! 💚 Anita

Hello New Testament Readers!! I was out of town this week so I was not a part of Community Bible Reading.  However, I am keeping up on the reading!! How about you?  Are you keeping up?  I alos watched these videos and they are good!! Here are the links to the morning. Hope you enjoy! CBR #21- History portion with Judy: https://youtu.be/yz0PeOvqwW8 CBR #21-2 Corinthians 6-12--Kim speaks on Suffering part 2 https://youtu.be/xgPQeZgL7gaM

Hello New Testament Readers!!!  📖 Today was a "re-introduction" sort of day at CBR  We have had many new-comers to over the weeks, so I thought it would be good to take some time to reintroduce the (growing) steering team and small group leaders. In addition, I wanted to remind everyone that CBR is a "Bible Reading", which is different than a Bible Study.  Our group time is meant to be like a "book club" where we share what we got out of the reading.  God's word is powerful, alive and active! What an awesome opportunity to share with others what  God impressed on you, yet also use the time to seek clarification to what he says in His word.  Together we are "iron sharpening iron" (Prov. 27:17)  ⚔️ So, there is  no  "history" portion for today.   One of the new members of the speaking team is Judy Starr. 💫  We are so blessed to add her to the rotation!   She did her talk on "suffering", (something we can all relate to) and

Hello New Testament Readers!! Here are the links from yesterdays CBR: The history portion gets into the Blood Mary. https://youtu.be/aMHS1r93Cuk Sharon focuses on the unique gifts God gives us.  https://youtu.be/eY-Qyi4IQBM Have fun reading 1 Corinthians 15- 2 Corinthians 5.  I look forward to seeing you next week, and in the meantime have fun celebrating the one's you love on Valentines this Sunday!!  ❤️💛❤️💛❤️ Anita

I have a confession. I love to ski! 🎿 And when a trip comes up, I get so carried away in planning and going, I forget other things!! That is my excuse  for completely forgetting  to send out the links to last Tuesday’s talk History portion was a Q/A time r/t "rewards": https://youtu.be/jYNX3MRwENk Michelle talked on division in the church and Paul emphasizing "Christ crucified" in his teaching. https://youtu.be/EGsDsqrH82s Have a wonderful rest of your week reading 1 Cor. 8-14! 🌷Anita

Sorry this post is a little late!  This week, at CBR, was a Q/A time related to the reading we have done so far. But, since the questions that came in where pretty profound, only one question was addressed. Haha!!  Let me know what you think of the answer!!  https://youtu.be/kyVWnT36aSE Kim’s talk does a great job of explaining what “dying to self” means.  https://youtu.be/Mx7DP-mYebY Happy Reading!!