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(The following are reflections from the writer’s personal journey through The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble – a Bible reading plan to read the Bible chronologically in one year. To learn more about The Bible Recap, visit thebiblerecap.com. Find more posts from this series at lifeword.org/thebiblerecap.)
Day 358: Read 2 Timothy Chapters 1-4
My Takeaways:
“I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
This book, friends, is perhaps among Paul’s last books/letters…and he is doing something all throughout it: building up the next generation.
He pours into Timothy, encouraging him to fulfill his ministry. He saw faith in Timothy’s grandmother, in his mother, and in Timothy, and he is spurring him on to live out his faith in a way that impacts more generations.
Paul relays something Timothy already knows: there is suffering for the Gospel, but there is also the power of God amidst all that. Paul encourages Timothy that whatever persecutions he faced, God rescued him from all of them. Paul says that there is much deceptive teaching and he is to avoid those people who say they are believers but don’t have any evidence of true belief in their lives. He tells Timothy to guard the good deposit of the Holy Spirit who lives in all believers. (In other words, keep believing God and living it out!)
For Timothy, and all of us believers, we are called to be prepared to preach, rebuke, correct and encourage. That people won’t like what we have to say, but we are called to exercise something that sets us believers apart: self-control. This self-control will help us all fulfill our ministry. (And yes, we all have a “ministry”—whoever is in your sphere of influence, they are your ministry!)
Paul shares how God stood with him and strengthened him so that he could preach the Gospel. He was rescued from the lion’s mouth and will continue to be, whether that is rescue on earth or to heaven.
But, above all, Paul tells Timothy this message: Faith is a fight. It isn’t going to be easy. Be prepared. Fight to trust God is with you, He stands with you, and He strengthens you to face whatever is in front of you. Live out the Gospel. Keep fighting the good fight of faith. He’s worth it.
My God Shot lies in the first chapter: “For God has not given to us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” For YEARS, I lived in fear. For years, I was held captive to it. I prayed that I would believe this verse and live it out. That as Christians, we are called to live on faith, not in fear. Every person who believed this did the impossible in the Bible! I want that. I want to live knowing there is resurrection power in me, and God’s power comes out through me when I live in confidence of this. He gives me a sound mind and a water-walking spirit. May I, and all of us, live that out each and every day. And, may we pass that on to the next generation.
Day 359: Read 2 Peter Chapters 1-3 & Jude Chapter 1
My Takeaways:
Two men—both close to Jesus, both betrayed Jesus—wrote these books today with a serious message: Be on guard.
They warn us to stay away from those false prophets who skew God’s message to their advantage and avoid those who seek out sin, those who are entangled by sin.
These people love the wages of wickedness. They are slaves of corruption, springs without water, mists driven by a storm, dangerous reeds, shepherds looking to watch only after themselves, waterless clouds, wild waves of sea, and wandering stars. Phew! Such vivid metaphors!
THEY WILL FACE JUDGMENT. If God punished the angels who sinned, Noah’s generation, Sodom and Gomorrah, He will punish the ungodly. Guaranteed. It’s His promise.
And if He saved the righteous, like what He did for Lot, He will rescue the godly from trials. Guaranteed. This is also His promise.
His Word shows us His character: sin must be punished! If people reject His Word—the Truth—of Jesus Christ, they are under the judgement sin deserves: death. (And listen, this is an eternal punishment, friends. It is being punished not once—but for ALL eternity.)
The salty personality in our Peter comes out when he calls these people, “Bold, arrogant people” who “reject the way of righteousness” after hearing it, like a dog returns to its vomit. He doesn’t mince words, does he?
Peter and Jude are passionate on warning believers then, and now, about the deception of sin and how cunning people can be to dupe us into their message, their skewing of the Scriptures—how they can take Scripture and twist it to their own destruction.
They call us to grow in our knowledge—that will lead to self-control and self-control will grow into endurance and endurance will grow into godliness and godliness will grow into brotherly affection and brotherly affection will grow into LOVE. It’s always been about love—God’s agape love and our receiving of His perfect love. It’s about living out that love to others.
These two men both had failings in life—Peter betraying knowing Jesus upon His persecution and Jude in initially believing his brother is the Messiah. Both feel very compelled to warn people how easy it can be to be deceived. Both are adamant in their exhortations to believers to grow with God and mature in the faith so that they can discern godly from ungodly, truth from lie.
These messages were so important. For Peter, it was his last words before dying for his faith. He was crucified for his preaching. Friends, he didn’t feel worthy enough to die like Jesus. He asked to be crucified upside down. Did Peter grow from his mistake? You’d better believe it. He spent the rest of his life proclaiming the name of the One who forgave him and restored him.
May we all do the same.
My God Shot lies on the words of Peter: With the Lord, one day is like 1,000 years and 1,000 years is like a day. He does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but to come to repentance. We wonder why some people don’t get “busted” for their sin, why some seem to revel in sin…maybe God is just giving them more time to turn to Him with a repentant heart because once this life is done, it’s done. No redos. No reincarnation. No second chances. It’s eternity after our earthly tents are finished.
And, on a deeper level, if God has promised you something you have yet to see fruition of, He does not delay. It will come in His perfect timing, whether now or in eternity.
Day 360: Read 1 John Chapters 1-5
My Takeaways:
It’s all about love.
That feels like the heart of John’s letter today. This letter drew me in and captivated me! I took so many notes over it! It was rich in description about who Jesus is and what believers’ lives should consist of.
It’s so interesting that Peter’s letter we read yesterday was about warning people about deception–it was something he was so passionate about! And John’s letter was passionate about how God showed His great love for us and how we accept that perfect love. John, in the book of John, referred to himself as the disciple who Jesus loved. He was with Mary at the foot of Jesus’ cross, and he was the one Jesus commissioned to take care of His mother. Oh yes, John loved Jesus, and his letter brims with it!
So, according to John, what is love? Well, he describes it. God is love. It’s not a trait or a characteristic of God—it’s WHO He is. When we accept His perfect sacrifice as offering for our sins, we walk in His light. Walking in the light of God’s love is shown through our words and actions. We confess sin. We love one another. We shine His light wherever we go. We can’t be in God’s light if we hate others or live in unrighteousness. He calls us to remain in God just like he did in the book of John—abide in Him. Abiding is having deep and meaningful relationship with Him. God is the vine and we are the branches—as a result, we will bear much fruit. Accepting God’s great love compels us to live it out. God’s perfect love casts out all fear. As one who lived in fear for years, I can tell you that though I loved God, I didn’t fully trust Him and that’s why fear had such a grip on me. When we fully love God, we trust Him, we surrender to Him. We don’t let fear control us, but rather we submit to God’s leadership in our lives.
And that’s my God Shot, friends. God is love. It’s always been about love. It always will be. It’s about the authenticity that comes from a heart that loves Jesus so much, it craves God’s light and walks in it through obedience each day. It’s a heart that confesses sin and a heart that pours that same love into others.
It’s a heart that says, “I trust you Lord. Your will, not mine.”
It’s a heart that compels us to walk in God’s light each and every day, no matter how many times we stumble and fall or get lost.
Day 361: Read 2 John Chapter 1 & 3 John Chapter 1
My Takeaways:
Walking in the light of God’s love.
That’s my title for today’s reading. John uses the metaphor of walking to describe this journey of faith—it’s not a sprint, it’s not a run, it’s a daily decision to follow Jesus.
This journey has two companions: truth and love. What Jesus said was truth—living that out is love. Just like any walk, there’s bound to be potential potholes, obstacles, and potential thieves (“deceivers”) on the way. John calls us to be aware and watch ourselves against these deceivers. Jesus is the key—anyone who lives by Jesus’ truth is legit! John calls us to imitate what is good because what is good comes from God.
Walking in the light of God’s love is a one-step-at-a-time journey of being intentional to obey God with our words and actions. Are we going to mess up? Sure! Will we get sidetracked along the way? Possibly. Could we get lost? Yes. But, we have the good Shepherd who leaves the 99 to search for us. His Spirit leads us by saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
My God Shot comes through John’s call to love one another. This has been God’s command since the beginning: love God, love others. It hasn’t changed throughout the whole Bible. It’s always been about love. If we don’t love God, how can we truly love others? His agape love compels us to see others through his lens and to extend his love to them.
Love is spelled T-I-M-E; you can’t love someone you don’t spend time with. Spending time with God in his Word and in prayer help us to get to know him more. Getting to know God’s ways helps us to know his character. And knowing God’s character helps us TRUST him.
This is key in our walk with him—when the way ahead of us is dark, we take an unexpected fall, or we encounter rogue wildlife, we know He’s with us. He’s got this. We know we are more than a conqueror through Christ and that with Jesus’ strength, we can face anything.
When we know and trust this, come hell or high water, come giant or lion, our rock and our refuge will see us through.
Day 362: Read Revelation Chapters 1-5
My Takeaways:
“You are worthy.”
This is my title for today. In our reading today, we have a beautiful scene reminiscent of the scene we read about in Isaiah, where John visits the throne room of God. In the throne room, God was seated, surrounded by a rainbow. Around Him were 24 elders with crowns upon their heads.
Living creatures, peals of thunder, flashes of lightning come from the throne room. And these living creatures (the same ones Isaiah saw) celebrate the holiness of God saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God the Almighty who was, who is, and who is to come.”
And the elders fall down in worship, casting their crowns before God.
There is a scroll in God’s hand…and an angel who said, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
But no one could…until the elders proclaim that there was one who could: the Lion of Judah, the root of David. A slaughtered lamb appears amid this throne room. It is the only One worthy to take the scroll out of God’s right hand. Upon taking the scroll, the slaughtered lamb ignited beautiful worship amid the 24 elders who fell down before Him, singing a new song, one that begins with “You are worthy…”
And then, all of heaven—countless angels and living creators and the elders—join together to sing this beautiful song: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
And they worshiped the Lamb, who took away the sin of the earth.
Oh friends, my God Shot is the absolute holiness of this throne room, the beautiful worship of Jesus Christ, our slaughtered lamb. If all of heaven celebrates Him, and elders cast their crowns at Him, just imagine our worship of Him. He is worthy. His sacrifice upon that cross for my sins will allow me to worship Him just like this.
And it’s Jesus who will come back to earth one day, where every eye will see Him, those who persecute Him, all of the tribes of earth and know He is real…and they rejected the lamb of God.
We forget about the holiness of God. We forget about how sacred that cross is. God isn’t our “homeboy,” He is the Almighty One, the Creator of the Universe who had a plan to woo a bunch of sin-flawed people on earth, to create a family that learns to live by His laws and learns to love the One who created them. As an expression of His love, He sent Jesus to become the slaughtered Lamb to take away our sins and open up heaven’s door to any who believe.
He is the initiator of relationship and the family we belong to today. He didn’t give up on His kids through out the Bible and He doesn’t give up on us now. He is faithful. He is worthy. He is worthy of our respect. He is worthy of our fear. He is worthy of our worship.
Oh friends, we miss this so much today. May we live our lives casting our crowns at His feet always remembering that He is worthy.
Day 363: Read Revelation Chapters 6-11
My Takeaways:
Yikes!
That is my overall thought about this reading! Yikes…and wowza! Friends, all I have to say is this: Thank the Lord we won’t be around to see and experience all of this! (Listen, I know there’s all different thoughts about the Tribulation. I am going with the thought that saints will be taken to Heaven in the rapture before all of this death and destruction will happen—about 3ish years into the Tribulation.)
Amid the first seals, there will be no peace on earth—there will be famine, plagues, and attacks from wild animals. Death and destruction will reign.
Stars will fall, earthquakes will level mountains, and the moon will appear like blood. People will hide in caves, in essence hiding from God.
A third of the earth will be burned up, the salty sea and freshwater supplies will be devastated and pestilent. A third of our light sources will be darkened and terrifying creatures (“locusts”) will be released to inflict torture on the people for 5 months-they will seek death but not find it. Plagues (from angels) will kill one third of mankind…and here’s the part that floors me: those surviving STILL WON’T TURN TO GOD! They won’t repent.
And God, still not giving up on His wayward children, will send two prophets (possibly Moses and Elijah!) to the earth to prophesy! They will even breathe fire on their enemies! (Okay, I kinda want to see this part—ain’t no one coming near them again!) When their time of preaching is over, God will allow them to be killed (like Jesus)…and THREE DAYS LATER (like Jesus), God will resurrect them in front of all to see and call them up to heaven! They will ascend on a cloud for all to see!
CAN. YOU. IMAGINE?!
Amid such chaos and devastation, there is a great multitude who worship God in heaven. And it’s not just them—it’s the angels too! Amid the multitude (or maybe these people are the multitude) are those people who turned to God for salvation during the Tribulation. They are in white robes, washed clean from the blood of the Lamb
They will no longer hunger, thirst, or be tortured by the elements of this tribulation. The Lamb will shepherd them. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
That’s my God Shot, friends. Those people were unbelievers…and amid The Great Tribulation, they realized that God is real and turned to Him with repentant hearts. They suffered amid this tribulation, but God was their prize upon death.
You guys, it has never been easier for us to love and follow God…but for these people, they will give their lives for their faith amid the worst years in human history. This is grace. This is mercy. This is the beauty of Jesus Christ.
Why does God let evil seem to reign so? So that more people can come to Him. He is the prize…and MANY will miss it and reject it.
Day 364: Read Revelation Chapters 12-18
My Takeaways:
Can we just recap this reading with, “I am so thankful I am on Team Jesus?”
The symbolism is heavy in our reading today amid the woman who gives birth (Israel) to a child (Jesus) but the Dragon does what he does best: seek and try to destroy. He was thrown out of heaven, along with a third of angels-turned-demons, and he knows his time is short. He comes to earth with a fury for God’s kids—those who keep His commands and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus.
Satan is so cunning, he will stir up the heart of a person to be his spokesperson—a Nero or Stalin or Hitler of some sorts—who will have great authority. He will also receive a fatal wound…one in which he survives! (My former preacher once spent a year preaching through Revelation. He insinuated perhaps this is a demonic possession of some sorts.) After he is “resurrected” Satan will raise up another leader (this reminds me of a priest/prophet—some sort of sidekick to promote the leader) who can imitate Elijah’s calling fire from heaven. He creates some sort of image for people to worship—one that can kill those who don’t worship it. One that makes every person receive the mark of the beast—666—to buy or sell anything.
God’s angels dole out punishment to those on earth—ones that remind me of the plagues of Egypt, except 1,000 times greater! Sores, blood in the sea and freshwater rivers, a sun that scorches people, complete darkness, and a great and devastating earthquake (that seems to level the city) with 100 pound hailstones.
We have another woman—this time, this woman is a negative image. She represents Babylon and all of its sins…and then after that, Babylon is destroyed within an hour, for God has remembered her crimes. All on earth will mourn her downfall, for they profited off of her.
Amid all of this symbolism and destruction, there is encouragement tucked in. John calls his believers to have wisdom—that those who endure such times will be blessed for dying for faith in Jesus! We see 144,000 who had been redeemed from earth, those who had not defiled themselves with women. (This reminds me of Eunuchs.) They were blameless and standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion. They have names on their foreheads and they sang a new song before the throne.
Throughout this reading, we have songs of worship and praise for God. We have angels justified of God’s punishment. We have opportunities for people to turn to God in repentance, and yet don’t take it. God is giving everyone on earth, up to the last minute, a chance to repent. Sin must be punished and God is doing it on a BIG level to grab attention.
My God Shot is that God is always in control—amid all this death and destruction, God allows it to play out, but has control every step of the way. Satan is on a leash and is lashing out in his last hour as much as he can, because he knows: it’s all about to come to an end. God trumps evil and Satan and any beasts created to thwart God’s people.
God wins. Every time.
Day 365: Read Revelation Chapters 19-22
My Takeaways:
My recap for today could be summed up in John’s words in the last few verses: “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
The plagues and destruction are mostly gone in these chapters—that was a great breath of fresh air! Instead, we began with worship and celebration in heaven.
A rider on a white horse, called Faithful and True, came from heaven with fiery eyes and many crowns on his head. His robe was dipped in blood and his name is the Word of God. Heaven’s army rode behind him and a sword came out of his mouth—judgment was coming to the beast, his false prophet, and all their armies. The beast and the prophet were thrown into the lake of fire, the rest were killed with the sword, and the birds ate their fill of flesh from the dead. Satan was bound for 1,000 years on the abyss.
It seemed like the tribulation saints reigned with the new heaven-come-to-earth for 1,000 years. I believe that those living saints, at the time of Christ came back, continued to live in human bodies and procreate during these 1,000 years. Life was perfect—the devil was bound. Heaven had come to earth…and yet, rebellion still existed in people’s hearts. You see, those saved entered this new period of peace, but they had generations of kids who were not saved. These kids, amid perfection, still had sinful hearts that needed salvation. There was no need to have faith—because faith became sight for them!
And yet, there were enough of them who rebelled against God in their hearts whose number was like the sand on the seashore! Can you imagine?! When the 1,000 years were up, Satan was released and he stirred up these people to wage war over Heaven-on-earth. They came in an army to the gates of Jerusalem ready for a fight.
Then, God did what God does best: he rained down fire on them. There was no fight. Just God’s judgment. Satan was thrown into the lake of fire forevermore.
Then, the Great White Throne judgment. Oh friends, every person will stand before God and answer for their works. Believers won’t be judged—they will be rewarded for their deeds on earth. Unbelievers will be judged and shown evidence throughout their lives where they rejected Christ. Moments when God revealed Himself to them and they turned away from Him. I know there’s no sadness or tears in heaven, but I feel this will be a very sad moment indeed. We will see our family members, friends, coworkers, etc. miss heaven. We might even have pangs of regret for not witnessing to them. Oh, friends, let’s make our time count here on earth. Let’s be willing to live out our faith in such a way, it saves others.
Then, a heaven and earth are created, a heaven where God will wipe away every tear, death will be no more, pain will be no more, and crying will be no more. God will make all things new.
There is a new Jerusalem with no sun—because God will be the sun! He is the light and will be the light source in all of heaven and earth! We will all walk by the light of God! And the gates will never be closed, for nothing evil will exist on the perfect environment. We will have new names on our foreheads—ones that God will give to us!
My God Shot is this: in heaven, faith will be no more. We will see God and all His glory. We will see the Lamb who took away the sins of mankind. We will live in perfection. We will see those beloved saints who had passed away already. We will worship God. We will have jobs in Heaven. We will eat in heaven! We will no longer have temptation in heaven!
Like John, I say, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
Copyright © 2022 by Amber Spencer @ Lioness Legacy Facebook Group No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org