HERE'S HOW:
Grab a Bible. If it fits your style, also grab a journal to write in.
Which Bible version is best? The one you read! If you don’t have one, let us know! Print, Online, and Apps are available.
Invite family or friends to join you.
Pray! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you as you read. HE WILL.
Check to see if there is a video to watch today
Look up and read the assigned reading for the day.
Look up the assigned Psalm that day: pray it out loud.
Pray! Ask the Father to apply those readings to your life and to help you join Jesus where He is already working. HE WILL.
Participate in Worship on Sunday!
July 29
Read Ezra 4-7, then Pray Psalm 48. From our perspective, knowing that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament, reading these chapters create mixed emotions for us! The return of the people combined with the goal of rebuilding the temple was supposed to mean restoration (Hebrew: SHALOM) but nothing was turning out quite right.
July 30
Read Ezra 8-10 (skip the names!), then Pray Psalm 49. Ezra was seeking to be faithful to God’s Word (specifically the first five books) but compare his actions with Galatians 4. Israel still wasn’t getting the point.
July 31
Read Nehemiah 1-3, then Pray Psalm 50. Nehemiah joins Ezra in seeking to be faithful to God’s Word. But this time it will be about getting those walls built.
August 1
Skim Nehemiah 4-6, then Pray Psalm 51. Not everyone agreed with Nehemiah’s plan. But Nehemiah (whose name means: “Yahweh comforts”) continued his mission, all while trying to do the right thing for each group he dealt with. The whole time, Nehemiah was driven by His faith, even unto completion of the wall!
August 2
Skim Nehemiah 7-9 (skip the names!), then Pray Psalm 52. The celebration of their accomplishments was rooted in the reading of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Most of these people were unfamiliar with the Scriptures, only knowing bits and pieces from their time in exile.
August 3
Read Nehemiah 10-13 (skip the names!), then Pray Psalm 53. The ending of Nehemiah shows us how much the Messiah was still needed. It shows us how powerless the law is, the people had promised again they would be faithful this time, and yet…
August 4
Read Esther 1-5, then Pray Psalm 54. This book is sort of a “Meanwhile, back in Babylon” (which is now the Persian Empire!) moment from the perspective of just having read Ezra and Nehemiah. This is an important perspective about how God is working everywhere, all the time, amidst all people!