Week 52 Bible Reading Review (Final)

Week 52  1 John 1:1 to Revelation 22:21

1 John 2:5  Keeping God’s word perfects His love in us.

1 John 2:15+  Loving the world is loving a fleeting thing which is why it is not of God who is eternal.

1 John 2:27  We should look to God’s Spirit to teach us, not rely on man.

1 John 3:9 “Everyone who is born of God does not sin…”  This statement seems contrary to earlier passages in this book.  Is this talking about the final spiritual state?  I like the footnote that says an alternative to saying “does not sin” would be “does not practice sin”.

1 John 3:18  Love with truth and action, not with just word and speech.

1 John 4:18  “Perfect love casts out fear”  If we are fearful we have not perfected love.

1 John 5:7  Repeated throughout this book is the concept that loving God equates with keeping His commands.

2 John 1:4  love = walking according to His commands.

2 John 1:9  Not remaining in Messiah’s teaching means you do not have God.

3 John 1:11  The one who does evil has not seen God.

Jude 1:6-7  The angels and their activity mentioned in these verses gives some credence to them creating offspring as mentioned in the book of Enoch.

Rev 7:13  Are the stars not as we have been taught by science?  Here they fall to the earth.

Rev 11:15  Yehusa / Jesus said He would return at the last trump.  This is the seventh and last trump, when the kingdom of the world becomes His.

Rev 19:8  The fine linen of the bride represents the righteous acts of the saints.  Do we have righteous deeds?

Rev 20:4-5  Here it states that the dead come to life.  This implies that they were dead / asleep until the resurrection either before, in the first resurrection or after the 1000 year millennial reign of the Messiah in the second.

Rev 20:14  Speaking of those cast into the lake of fire it is called the “Second Death” which is not alive in eternal punishment but dead in eternal extermination.

Rev 22  In the new Jerusalem there seems to still be people who need food, healing, and light.  This in context is after death has been destroyed.  There is much we don’t yet understand.

Revelation is a book of both great destruction and great glory.  There is definitely a lot of speculation people have made about it.  May you be covered by the blood of the lamb!

---

Wisdom for the week


By the grace of God I have completed reading through the Bible in one year as I have set out.  I came across a chart someone put together about the nature of God which I think sums up best what I hope to have learned going through the Bible reading.  Do we see God in all of His nature, or focus on one particular aspect more heavily than anything else?  My reading and this chart helped me to consider all His nature and see that He has perfect balance.

The Nature Of God (Bible Verse Percentages)

• God as holy  15%
• God as faithful  11%
• God as a judge  17%
• God as powerful  18%
• God as righteous  16%
• God as just   14%
• God as love  8%

Week 51 Bible Reading Review

Week 51  Hebrews 1:1 to 1 John 1:1

Heb 2:19  Believers should not fear death.

Heb 4:10  Entering His rest is resting from our own works / agenda.

Heb 10:2  Once we are purified (sins are forgiven) we should no longer have a consciousness of sin (guilt / shame / condemnation), and no further offering is needed (v18)  There is no sacrifice for deliberate sin, only judgement (v26-27+).

Heb 11:6  Without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. (2:17   Faith without works is dead)

Heb 12:3+  Anyone who thinks discipline is bad should read this passage.

Jam 1:5  We can all ask for more wisdom!

Jam 1:20  Man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.  This sounds like it is not possible for man to have “righteous anger”.

1 Pet 3:17  It is better to suffer for doing good than doing evil.

1 Pe 5:7  A good verse to remember:  Cast your cares on God, because He cares for you.

2 Pe 1:5-7  Faith->Goodness->Knowledge->Self-Control->Endurance->Godliness->Brotherly Affection->Love.  I find it interesting that love is at the end of the long list, or goal of the divine nature.  Skipping to love might make it impure.

2 Pe 2:4+  God’s judgement is just!

2 Pe 3:16-17  Warning:  Be wary of those twisting scripture and don’t be led away by the error of lawless people.

---

Next Reading:  Week 52  1 John 1:1 to Revelation 22:21

---

Wisdom for the week


I have learned a lot about the value of dreams going through an online event while it was offered for free by Christian Leadership University’s School of the Spirit website.  Below are my notes from the 10 sessions.  Hopefully you will find it of interest.

https://www.cluschoolofthespirit.com/

Session 1: Bridges to the Supernatural
With dreams you can hear from God every single night.
Dream interpretation is a skill that can be learned.
Dreams are God’s contingency ensuring He always has a way to connect with us.
God lives in our hearts, not our heads.  We want to live out of our hearts.
Observation causes transformation.  Spiritual into physical.
Be His witnesses.  Baptism of the Holy Spirit empowers us to be visual witnesses.
See and agree with spiritual visions.

Session 2:  ABCs of Dream Work
Dreams are:  Symbolic and metaphorical, rarely literal
Dreams don't typically come true the way it is played out. (95%)
Example: Joseph:  Sheaves of wheat, sun and moon bowing.  Brothers understood it referred to them.
Other cultures honor and understand dreams.
Things and people in dreams often represent something else.

Dream Decoder:
1. Setting - what is the setting, what is going on in my waking life right before this dream.
    a. Setting is a decoder for the dream.
    b. What are you praying about, thinking about, in waking life?
2. Action - key action in dream, how does that match with an action in waking life?  This is the area the dream is speaking to.
3. Emotion - How are you feeling in the dream, match with the same emotion in waking life.  This is the area the dream is speaking to.

Dream symbols are personal to the dreamer.  Symbols from waking world of dreamer.

Always up to the dreamer to determine if interpretation is right, it will bear witness with their heart.

Session 3:  Scriptural Precedents
1/3 of the Bible is about dream and vision.
Do we say:  "That was a cool dream, too bad it isn't real or didn't actually happen..."
Things that happen in dreams God says count.  Solomon blessed, Abrahamic covenant…
Act on your dreams.  Jacob dreamed of striped and speckled flocks which he acted upon.

Dreams are the way God connects to our hearts.

God uses dreams to keep us on track.  See:  Job 33:14-30

Dreams help us see things from God's perspective.

Session 4 Snapshots of the Spirit and pictures and parables
“DAESI” Dream Work Method (pronounced daisy)

Dream – Start with a summary of your dream
Action - In the dream, what was I doing?
Emotion - In the dream, how was I feeling?
Setting - In waking life, what is my heart processing
Interpretation - Match up the dream action & emotion with waking life, and journal.

Why can't dreams be clearer? Why does God speak in pictures?

Pictures bypass our mind and cut to the heart.  God wants to engage our hearts, he wants to engage our emotions and feelings, pictures move our emotions which move us to Godly actions.

Example:  2 Sam 12  Nathan painted a picture that engaged David’s heart and emotions, then when he made it literal, David was already convicted as it bypassed his mind to his emotions and he then took the proper action.

God gives us dreams to give His point of view and to line up our hearts to His feelings, then we are moved to Godly action.

Pictures are better than a literal language because they engage our heart which drives our actions.
Pictures engage our emotions to align us to His way of thinking and to take the right action.

God want's our heart engaged in our obedience.  He uses our dreams to do that.  Being simply told what to do, you may obey on the surface but your heart is not in it.

Session 5:  Fun Form of Dreams
Dreams contain idioms, colloquialisms.
Multiple levels of meaning and understanding can come from the same dream.
God doesn't hide things from us, he hides things for us to discover.
Dreams are the treasures we receive in the darkness.

Session 6:  Out of our heads, into our hearts
Yeshua lives in our hearts.
Dethrone the intellect and crown the Spirit so we can live in the supernatural without effort.
Dreams can move scriptural truths from our heads to our hearts.
Knowing in our heart is superior to knowing only in our head and we are more steadfast when our heart is engaged.
We want heart revelation because then we own it.
The Holy Spirit writes words upon our hearts through visions of the night.

What a symbol represents can vary between people.  We must always use the symbol according to the dreamer because symbols are personal to the dreamer.
The dreamer is the best person to interpret their dream.  They know important details and connections.

God can guide us through dreams to where we need to be.

Session 7  Creativity and Personalized Dream Symbols
Dreams give creativity to our jobs worked on during the day.
Symbols are personal to the dreamer.
1. Symbols come from the dreamers waking world
2. Symbols can mean different things depending who is dreaming it and what their experience is from the symbol, definition must come from dreamer.

God customizes our dreams with the symbols we know.

Yeast in Bible = sin, except verse when equated with Kingdom of Heaven
Lion in Bible = Yeshua (tribe of Judah), except verse when equated with satan

Interpretations belong to God.
Trust His Spirit within you to teach you.

Don’t ask: what does this symbol mean?
Do ask: what does this symbol mean to the dreamer?

Session 8 Why all bad dreams aren't
Dreams can warn so we can repent and change our course of action.
God gets our attention so we can know where we are headed if we don't change.
Nightmares might be used by God to get our attention when we don't listen otherwise.
Nightmares might be used to expose negative emotions we have so they can be dealt with.

Dreams amplify and exaggerate things to get our attention of what in our waking life needs to be dealt with.

We should process our emotions before we go to sleep so we won’t be dreaming about it.
Go through our day before we go to bed, go to sleep in gratitude and peace, repent and surrender if needed.

Live in holy emotions.

One possible cause of nightmares is demonization - cast out demon of fear to stop nightmares.

Sexual dreams:  often symbolic and used by God to get our attention.
To a holy God, any sin is sin and he may use a more offensive sin in our mind to highlight an issue we aren’t dealing with.

Dreams can reveal God’s heart and should not condemn us.

Session 9:  Dreams Children Dream
Dreams reveal their hearts true feelings.
Dreams are messages of encouragement, prophetic, if we feel condemned and not encouraged then we don't have the right interpretation.
Dreams are a way to bring to your attention things that aren't dealt with during the day.
Provide a positive setting before bedtime.
Teach them to take authority in bad dreams.

Session 10: Practical Tips for Dream Work
    1.  Not remembering dreams.
Honor dreams (repent for dishonoring / dismissing dreams)
Ask God for dreams
Expect in faith  (God wants us to remember our dreams more than we do)
Set out pen and paper by the bed
Get 8 hours of sleep
See sleep time as Spiritual time
Awaken naturally.  Alarm clocks shatter dream recall.
Go to bed at a consistent time, use dream friendly alarm clock. (light, nature)
Pray in the Spirit as you wake up.
    2.   Remembering too much.
Keep summaries of dream (1-2 paragraph max)
All dreams in one night usually speak to the same heart issue
Record most impactful or last dream / last segment of night
    3.   Stuck on interpretation?
Keep pondering / praying until it resonates with your heart.
Journal about it.
Describe it a different way to get a fresh perspective.

You are the best person to work with your dreams.  You know the symbols and setting.
God is excited to connect with us during our sleep.

Healing in layers.  God doesn't condemn, just exposes the root.

Week 50 Bible Reading Review

Week 50  Philippians 1:1 to Hebrews 1:1

Phil 1:12+  Paul saw beyond himself, his imprisonment and suffering, to the good it was producing in others.

Phil 2:14  Do everything without grumbling or arguing to be blameless and pure.  This is a good reminder and goal to strive for.

Phil 3:19  Do we focus on earthly things?  Is our stomach our god?

Phil 4:8  What to think on.  Food for our brain!

Col 2:3  All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Messiah.  Don’t waste time seeking elsewhere.

Col 2:16-23  One may think this passage is addressing God’s laws and commands, but in context it seems to be addressing man’s addendums to God’s instructions.  It is better to obey God than man.

Col 3:4  Love is the perfect bond of unity.

1 Thes 5:18  God’s will for you:  Give thanks in everything!  This means we are out of His will when we don’t.

2 Thes 2:4  Does this verse indicate that God’s temple will be rebuilt before the “antichrist” declares himself God to the world?

2 Thes 3:10  “If anyone isn’t willing to work, he should not eat”.  Free handouts may not be the best policy.

1 Tim 1:9  The law is meant to expose sin and should not be our focus.

1 Tim 4:1-5  This passage may seem like anything can now be eaten, but in context v5 says that which is sanctified (set apart) by the word of God is what defines our food.

1 Tim 4:7  Training ourselves in godliness should be our focus, not the pursuits of this world.

2 Tim 2:21  The dishonorable (person or vessel) can become honorable by purification.

2 Tim 2:23  This verse is one of many admonitions to not quarrel.  V26 equates quarrelers with doing the devil’s will.

2 Tim 3:12  All those who want to live godly will be persecuted.

Titus 3:10  A divisive person, after being warned should be rejected.  Doing so should eliminate divisions in the church.

Some of the books by Paul, in particular Philemon, seem odd to be included in the Bible.  Was it just because Paul wrote it, with little regard to its useful content to Bible readers?

---

Next Reading:  Week 51  Hebrews 1:1 to 1 John 1:1

---

Wisdom for the week

I found this post from Dale Cresap helpful this past week.

Gender

There are a few gender related terms in the Bible. Do you find that women struggle with the references to Sons of God, and men with the idea of being the Bride of Christ? I tell you not to stumble over these concepts. The vast majority of my word is not gender specific, and that includes these passages. References to the Sons of God apply to women as much as to men as do the references to the Bride of Christ. In Christ there is neither male nor female. I’m trying to reveal eternal and transcendent truth to you. Don’t make it hard for me.

Week 49 Bible Reading Review

Week 49  1 Corinthians 15:1 to Philippians 1:1

2 Cor 3:6  The letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.  We need His Spirit to interpret the letter correctly.  We cannot properly understand the Bible without His Spirit.

2 Cor 8:14-15  The parallel to the manna gathering indicates that those who gathered much gave to those who did not.

Is Paul saying that the law (God’s instructions for us on how to live and love our neighbor) is no longer necessary for our lives?  If so this would be contrary to many verses in the Bible, including ones that say God does not change.  I offer another perspective below in that it is not the law that was removed, but that the price (penalty) was paid for our transgressions.  We must consider all scripture together as a whole.

Gal 4:5  God’s son sent to: “redeem those under the law”  To redeem is to pay the price.  The law was made because of transgressions, (Gal 3:19) to define the penalty.  This redemption paid for our transgressions, releasing the law’s penalty (subjugation).  Being under the law returns when one continues in sin without repentance.  This is why we need to continually seek redemption, less we trample the blood and again are under the law.

Gal 5:14  The fulfillment of the law is loving your neighbor as yourself.  If the law is “done away” then we also have no need to love our neighbor, as well as no need for a redeemer.  This illustrates that no longer being under the law does not mean the law is removed, just that the penalty for breaking it has been paid. (Redemption)

Gal 5:18  If we are being led by the Spirit, then we are not under the law penalty because we will not be carrying out the fleshly desires. (Not committing transgressions of the law)  This is why there is no law against the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:23) because there is no fleshly transgressions or sin being done.

Gal 6:2  To fulfill the law is to obey it.

Eph 2:15  To make of no affect the law is the same as saying removed the penalty by redemption.  Again, we cannot be removing the law because there are too many other verses showing the value of it.

---

Next Reading:  Week 50  Philippians 1:1 to Hebrews 1:1

---

Wisdom for the week

I really enjoy Dale Cresap’s short wisdom packed blogs that he gets from God.  So much so that I even made an Android program (with Dale’s permission) that is free on Google play which contains his blog entries in a nice little searchable app.  This week’s selection from Dale’s blog posting is extra special to me.  I believe this is the third time that I have been pondering or struggling with questions that God chose to answer for me the next day through Dale’s blog that came in my email.  With this one I was thinking about my sense of value and God addressed it in the blog below the very next day!  What makes this even more amazing is that understanding from working with Dale for the app I know that Dale is about a year ahead on his blog postings.  So each blog post he sends out is something he wrote around a year ago!  That means God coordinated the time to the answers of my questions at least a year in advance!

Self-Esteem

Have you noticed that low self-esteem is always considered a problem and that high self-esteem is a desirable trait? This is contrary to Biblical wisdom. Can you find anything in the Bible that tells you to think more highly of yourself than you otherwise would? Yet there are many admonitions to humble yourself and to esteem others better than yourself. High self-esteem is inherent in the human race and it is a big part of your problem. The conflict between this and reality is mistakenly called low self-esteem. A mature Christian has a proper understanding of his own nature and position. He is content to be accepted and beloved by me, and has nothing to prove about himself to himself or to others.

Week 48 Bible Reading Review

Week 48  Romans 4:1 to 1 Corinthians 15:1

Romans 6-7  These chapters talk about the law, sin, grace, and righteousness.  Paul does not despise the law but rather exalts by saying that it is spiritual (7:14), holy and good (7:12), and meant for life (7:10).  It is as if our flesh is a slave to sin, and the law is needed to define sin as evil.  The law is actually necessary, for without the law we would have no need of a Savior, for without the law we would have no sin. (7:9)  6:11-12+  The law gives sin its death hold, but grace (dying in Christ) releases that death grip and we can then rise to a new Master and become a slave to righteousness.  Grace does not excuse further sinning. (6:1-2)

Romans 8  Serving righteousness gives us freedom from serving sin which is death as defined in the law.

Romans 12  A good read for what we should strive for.

Romans 14  A good reminder to accept differences and not be judgmental.

1 Cor 5  We are not to judge the worldly sinners but to be a light.  At the same time we are not to tolerate sinners who are professing Christians.  This stance would strengthen the church's purity and drive sinners to repentance.

1 Cor 7  Paul does not demand separation from an unbelieving spouse.  Compare this with Ezra 10:3

1 Cor 8:10  Paul repeatedly says up to this point that what he is writing is his opinion.  Here I disagree with his statement that eating in an idols' temple is acceptable.  Regardless of what I think or “feel” about it, what God says stands, “Thou shall have no other Gods before me”.  What Paul states here seems to contradict what he says later in chapter 10:18-22 which is more agreeable to me.

1 Cor 9:20  I find it interesting that some manuscripts omit “though I myself am not under the law”.  Was this added or removed for the original letter?

1 Cor 11  The head-covering discussion is confusing at best.  Verse 15 says a woman’s hair is her covering.  And then the discussion ends in verse 16 with:  If anyone wants to argue about this, we have no custom regarding this.  Is this more of Paul’s opinions being expressed?

Conclusion from the last few chapters in this section:  Do everything decently and in order with love.

---

Next Reading: Week 49  1 Corinthians 15:1 to Philippians 1:1

---

Wisdom for the week

Here is my choice post from Dale Cresap from this past week.

Off The Hook

Are you familiar with the idea of letting someone off the hook? If you have a case or a complaint against someone and decide not to pursue it this is a common expression used to describe your releasing them from judgment. Have you ever heard people complain about unfair treatment from me? Perhaps you have done this yourself. People assume that I am to blame for all the calamities and tribulations they encounter in life, and in many cases become bitter against me. These experiences may leave you with some difficult questions to struggle with about my sovereignty but the way you resolve them may lead you to false conclusions. You can start by letting me off the hook.