Prayer Psalm: 42
Prayer Point. Spiritual dryness and general sadness can either drive us to our addictions that dull our emptiness, or we can allow that thirst to fuel our pursuit of God. Pray Psalm 42 today, that the emptiness and brokenness in your life will drive you to Jesus.
John 4:27-42
Pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what you are reading.
Read. Read the passage slowly either alone or in a group and answer the following questions:
Listen. What is the passage saying? What are the main points? You can use the following background to guide you.
Background. How does the Samaritan woman, a woman who was known as a sinner, respond to Jesus? How does the rest of the community respond? Jesus starts talking about a harvest, what harvest is he referring to?
Obey. What is God asking me to do?
Repent. How have I failed to obey what God is asking me to do? Confess those failures to God and ask for his forgiveness.
Believe. Which of God’s promises would I need to believe in order to obey and share what I have read?
Share. What can I share and with whom can I share it?
Final Prayer. Pray for the faith to believe the promises of God so that you might obey and share what you have learned.
Hebrews 7:18-28
Pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what you are reading.
Read. Read the passage slowly either alone or in a group and answer the following questions:
Listen. What is the passage saying? What are the main points?You can use the following background to guide you.
Background. A covenant is simply an agreement between two or more people. A marriage, a peace treaty and the US Constitution are all examples of covenants. The covenant in this passage speaks of a special relationship between God and his people, Israel. With each covenant there are requirements, blessings if the requirements are kept and curses if they are broken. You can think of the Old Testament Law as the requirements that Israel must fulfill in order to receive God’s covenant blessings.
Pay close attention to …
- Why the old Covenant, the former Law and its regulations, is weak and useless.
- Why Jesus is the guarantee of a better covenant.
- What makes Jesus a permanent priest and what that means for us.
- What makes Jesus a greater high priest than all the others.
Obey. What is God asking me to do?
Repent. How have I failed to obey what God is asking me to do? Confess those failures to God and ask for his forgiveness.
Believe. Which of God’s promises would I need to believe in order to obey and share what I have read?
Share. What can I share and with whom can I share it?
Final Prayer. Pray for the faith to believe the promises of God so that you might obey and share what you have learned.
Genesis 12:9-13:1
Pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what you are reading.
Read. Read the passage slowly either alone or in a group and answer the following questions:
Listen. What is the passage saying? What are the main points?You can use the following background to guide you.
Background. Abram is prompted by events to do something. What is it and why does he do it?
Abram is prompted by a famine to go to Egypt for a time. No where does the scripture tell us that the LORD told him to go to Egypt.
What “shady” thing does Abram tell Sarai to do before they get to Egypt? What family trait will this have begun?
Abram tells Sarai to claim that she is Abram’s sister and not his wife. She does this because Abram realizes that Sarai is quite beautiful and he thinks he would be killed just to get him out of the way if someone wanted his wife. The family trait begun here is that of deception. Abram will play this card again. In time Abram’s son Isaac will also do a similar thing.
How does this “shady” thing work for Abram?
Just as he predicted, the Egyptians found Sarai quite beautiful and reported this to Pharaoh who then took her into his palace (which I suppose is a euphemism for “harem”). As a result, Abram is made quite wealthy by Pharaoh in terms of livestock, slaves, and camels.
What is the downside of Pharaoh’s deal with Abram?
It becomes clear that the Lord was not pleased about Abram’s business dealings with Pharaoh. Pharaoh and his household are afflicted with diseases because of Sarai.
Another day of reckoning. Abram is summoned to Pharaoh’s presence. How does that turn out?
Pharaoh gives Abram a tongue-lashing about this deception and deports him from Egypt, but allows him to keep all that he had gained. Abram then returns to Canaan (in the region of the Negev – a desert area in the southern part of Canaan.
Obey. What is God asking me to do?
Repent. How have I failed to obey what God is asking me to do? Confess those failures to God and ask for his forgiveness.
Believe. Which of God’s promises would I need to believe in order to obey and share what I have read?
Share. What can I share and with whom can I share it?
Final Prayer. Pray for the faith to believe the promises of God so that you might obey and share what you have learned.
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