December 28, Day 362

Dear Climbing Companion: We have almost completed our journey. I am grateful to all who joined me this year. You are welcome to invite your friends here for 2012. After conversation, I searched the wide variety of Reading Plans on YouVersion (by the way, we need to all be grateful for the wonderful service they provide) and have decided to return to the One Year Bible Plan. I love it because it allows us to read from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day. No single day is overwhelming and I love the variety. You can sign up for this plan on YouVersion on January 1. Just sign in or sign up on their website (it's free!). They even offer to email you with the daily readings for this plan!I

I hope you join us next year!

Today's Reading

Some Bibles title this book The Revelation of John. That's a mistake, because it is clearly the Revelation of Jesus Christ. John was in the Spirit and saw eternity opened to reveal the day of the Lord. God gave him messages for seven churches of that day, but clearly the messages speak to churches throughout the ages. Then John began to see the judgment of the earth and the ultimate glory of heaven.

December 27, Day 361

Dear Climbing Companion:  We have almost completed our journey.  I am grateful to all who joined me this year.  You are welcome to invite your friends here for 2012.  After conversation, I searched the wide variety of Reading Plans on YouVersion (by the way, we need to all be grateful for the wonderful service they provide) and have decided to return to the One Year Bible Plan.  I love it because it allows us to read from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day.  No single day is overwhelming and I love the variety.  You can sign up for this plan on YouVersion later this week.  Just sign in or sign up on their website (it's free!).  They even offer to email you with the daily readings for this plan!

I hope you join us next year!

Today's Reading

December 26, Day 360

Dear Climbing Companion:  We have almost completed our journey.  I am grateful to all who joined me this year.  You are welcome to invite your friends here for 2012.  After conversation, I searched the wide variety of Reading Plans on YouVersion (by the way, we need to all be grateful for the wonderful service they provide) and have decided to return to the One Year Bible Plan.  I love it because it allows us to read from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day.  No single day is overwhelming and I love the variety.  You can sign up for this plan on YouVersion later this week.  Just sign in or sign up on their website (it's free!).  They even offer to email you with the daily readings for this plan!

I hope you join us next year!

Today's Reading

I read this passage when I was in a fog of self-doubt and self-condemnation. If that is the position of your heart on this day after Christmas, please be cautious. John (the disciple whom Jesus loved and author of the Gospel bearing his name) seems to indict those of us who fail to love perfectly or who sometimes commit sin. I hope you don't get stuck in that false supposition. Instead, I encourage you to find hope (I did) in some of the verses in the last chapters. For instance, And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God's Son does not have life. (1 John 5:11, 12 NLT)

Jesus Christ is our righteousness. His puts His love in our hearts. This isn't about sinless perfection, but about exchanging our old life for His life. On this day when many are back in the stores exchanging Christmas gifts, take advantage of the greatest exchange of all: we can exchange our old, broken, sinful lives for His life of love, forgiveness and righteousness.

 

December 25, Day 359

Today's Reading

Merry Christmas!

I pray that you walk exceedingly in the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on this day that we honor His birth.

Peter and Jude (the half-brother of Christ, who didn't follow Him until after the resurrection) had lived for many years of early church activity when they wrote these letters. Both had noticed similar trends in the churches. Some people were lured into the lies of false teachers. Others had simply leaped into various sins, forgetting the holiness of God. For instance: I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4 NLT)

These letters were written to correct and to warn. They both speak of God's ultimate judgment this this world and our need to be ready for it. Jesus is the way; follow Him!

December 24, Day 358

Today's Reading

Paul, no doubt, was getting up in years. He had suffered various persecutions and he wrote this letter from either prison or house arrest. He was growing concerned about who would take the hard stand in favor of the Gospel when he was gone. Demas, one of his close associate, had deserted him and walked away from the faith. Was it possible that Timothy might do the same? At the very least, Paul seemed concerned about Timothy's courage. This letter is a strong dose of encouragement, warning and confidence-building we need when our spiritual knees feel weak. I challenge you to spend time here and let it speak to you.

December 23, Day 357

Today's Reading

What a word picture! We meet the roll call of faith in chapter 11, then begin Hebrews 12 with these words: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. (Hebrews 12:1, 2 NLT) It's as if those who modeled faith in the Scriptures are in the stands cheering us on as we follow Christ.

December 22, Day 356

Today's Reading

This is the essence of the Gospel: And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. (Hebrews 9:21-26 NLT)

How should we respond? And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22 NLT)

What a wonderful gift He has given us!