For those of you reading in just the NT, how do you like the book of John? It is one of my favorite books of the Bible. I hope you enjoy it!
For those of you who are reading the whole Bible, today we finish up in the book of Deuteronomy. I hope you have heard God's love for his people and his heart of those who seek after him.
The next book of the Bible is Joshua. I hope Deuteronomy left you hungering for more of the story of God's love and protection of his people. I am really looking forward to meeting Joshua and seeing what kind of a leader he is with the stubborn people of Israel. Joshua means, "The Lord saves." The book of Joshua is really a book of conquest.
This book tells of an exciting period for the Israelites. They were rescued from Egypt 40 years before then wondered the wilderness for 40 years. Abraham was promised this land by God hundreds of years before. At the opening of the book of Joshua the people are waiting to enter that Promised Land which has taken a long time to see the fulfillment. Do you think the people have learned their lessons? Do you think they will live a life of faithfulness to their faithful God?
WB READING FOR WEEK 13:DAY ONE, MARCH 26 - DT. 33-34
Chapter 33
Compare this blessing to the one that Jacob gave his sons in Genesis 49.
What things strike you about the various parts of the blessing?
Chapter 34
What wonderful things were said of Moses in this "eulogy."?
What do you want your eulogy to say?
What "credentials" did Joshua have?
DAY TWO, MARCH 27 - JOSHUA 1-2
Chapter 1
What are Joshua's instructions for success?
What instructions are applicable for you today?
How do the people pledge their allegiance to Joshua?
How much instruction and counsel do you seek from godly people that God has put over you?
Chapter 2
How does God bless Rahab for helping the spies? Also look in Matthew 1.
Where do the spies go and how are they helped?
How have you seen God's protection in your life?
What do the people on Canaan know about God and how do they feel about him?
Can others see the supreme God in your life?
DAY THREE, MARCH 28 - JOSHUA 3-5
Chapter 3
How are the people to respond and prepare themselves for God's presence and his wonders?
What is one of the reasons God is giving Joshua success?
When will the flow of water be stopped?
What does this say about stepping out in faith when God asks us to do something?
Chapter 4
What are the people to do with the stones?
What are the people to say when their children ask them what are the stones mean to you?
What are some of the memorials in your life that tell the story of God's faithfulness to you and he power in your life?
Who are you told about those events?
Chapter 5
How do the events in this chapter show how important God's covenant relationship is with his people?
What started again at this time and what stopped at this time?
Who do you think Joshua met by Jericho?
DAY FOUR, MARCH 29 - JOSHUA 6-8
Chapter 6
What did God tell Joshua to do in order to conquer the city of Jericho?
What interests you about this event?
Who was spared?
How important is obedience in this story?
Chapter 7
What happened to the warriors who fought against Ai?
Why were the people defeated?
How seriously does God take it when people dishonor the holy things of God?
What could be a similar kind of an action today?
How do the sins of some effect others around them?
Chapter 8
How does God show his favor on Israel now that the "trouble" was cleaned out of the nation?
What does God tell Joshua to do to conquer Ai?
What covenant was this a rededication of (HINT: the end of Deuteronomy)?
DAY FIVE, MARCH 30 - JOSHUA 9-10
Chapter 9
What did the people rely on to discern if the travelers where telling the truth?
Who should they have consulted?
How do we often rely on the wisdom of the world without consulting God?
What were the consequences of not consulting God?
Chapter 10
What does God do for Joshua and the fighting men to make sure they had enough daylight to fight?
Who gave the Israelites the victory?
From whom does all our victories come yet today?
The conquering of the Promised Land is very bloody and brutal. It is hard to read. We often wonder why a God of love would have the Israelites do all this killing. But remember that if the Israelites don't destroy the pagan people, they begin taking on their customs and worship.
DAY SIX, MARCH 31 - JOSHUA 11-14
Chapters 11 and 12
What encouragement does God give the Israelites in verse 6?
Because the Israelites acted in obedience on that encouragement, what was the result?
How have you receive encouragement and victory from God in your life?
Take out a map and see if you can figure out how far the land of Israel extends now.
Chapters 13 and 14
Again using your map, where are each of the tribes to live?
Why does Caleb get special land allotment (HINT: think back to the 12 spies into the Promise Land)?
What land is given to Caleb, what is it like, and what is Caleb like?
DAY SEVEN, APRIL 1 - JOSHUA 15-17
Chapters 15 through 17
This continues the land allotment. Keep working with your map.
What interests you about the land allotment?
| DAY ONE | Mar-26 | John 7 |
| DAY TWO | Mar-27 | John 8:1-30 |
| DAY THREE | Mar-28 | John 8:31-59 |
| DAY FOUR | Mar-29 | John 9 |
| DAY FIVE | Mar-30 | John 10 |
| DAY SIX | Apr-1 | John 11:1-27 |
| DAY SEVEN | Mar-25 | John 11:28-57 |
Always begin your time of God with prayer. Ask him for understanding and insights. You can pick out a verse, thought or feeling from the passage and think on it (mediate) on it all day. Meditating on God's word means to digest it, put it into your mind, think on it, and concentrate in different ways on the passage.
Some ways you can do this is:
1. Put yourself into the scene.
2. Emphasize different words in the verse.
3. Paraphrase the passage in your own words.
4. Pray the passage back to God if it is a prayer, song, poem, etc (personalize it).
5. Use SPACE PETS acrostic to ask some standard questions.
S - Sins to confess? Do I need to make restitution?
P - Promises to claim? Have I met the conditions(s)?
A - Attitudes to change? Am I willing?
C - Commands to obey? Even if I don't feel like it?
E - Examples to follow? One to copy or avoid?
P - Prayers to pray? Is there something I need to tell God?
E - Errors to avoid?
T - Truths about God or the Bible I need to believe?
Adapted from 12 Dynamic Bible Study Methods (Chapter 1) by Richard Warren and William A. Shell.