Bible Blog

Mark 5:29

2007-05-29T13:48:00.000+12:00

(Summary of previous few verses: The woman had been bleeding for twelve years, she came up behind Jesus touched his cloak and...)
"Immediately her hemorrage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease."

Not only had this woman had the faith to know that Jesus could heal her - and that he could heal her just by a touch of his cloak - but then when she was healed, she had the faith to know it and believe it. To know, immediately that this was it, she was healed of her disease. No "immediately she thought "this is a good day, I wonder what tomorrow will be like?""
Pretty cool!

Revelation 1: 17b18

2007-05-05T11:33:00.000+12:00

"Don't be afraid! I am the first and the last, the living one. I was dead but now I am alive forever. I have the keys of death and hell."

The various and broad ranging descriptions of God and Jesus in Revelation and fantastic. Opening up our eyes, minds and hearts to new and different ways of imagining them, praising them, worshipping them, understanding them.

I'm slowly working my way through Revelation at the mo so expect more of the same!

Titus 3:4-5

2007-04-15T15:31:00.000+12:00

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savious appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."

I read this passage this morning. As I'm still working on my understand of grace and so on, it struck a note. One thought in particular, which is partly brought on by doctorwoman's Easter post, is the word "appeared" and all that carries with it. God brought his goodness and loving kindness to us through Jesus - we didn't have to go hunting, he "appeared".

2 Timothy 6:11-12

2007-03-28T16:16:00.000+12:00

"But you belong to God, so you must run away from all this. Instead, chase after justice, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness. Fight the noble fight of the faith, get a firm grasp on the life of the coming age, the life you were called to when you made the noble public profession before many witnesses."

Mostly, I just really like the word "chase" in this translation! Very inspiring. :)

Zechariah 4:6

2007-03-26T14:00:00.000+12:00

"He said to me, 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts.'"

Zerubbabel was the topic of a sermon in our church back in January and we used this verse before the sermon as a memory verse (by playing bible verse hangman, a great game in church!). And it has stayed with me to a greater or lesser degree ever since. In so many situations, especially when God is asking us to do something new, it seems impossible to us. And yet we strive away trying to manage it in our own strength. Instead, we should turn to the Spirit for our help and strength.

1 Timothy 4:14

2007-03-23T12:17:00.000+12:00

"Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders."

This really challenged me a few weeks ago when I was feeling like giving up on various things. Yes, the verse is very specific to Timothy's situation and all about him but it serves as a good reminder that God gave us gifts for a reason. Yes, some of them might only be for a season but that is up to God, not up to me.

Galatians 5:4

2007-03-23T12:14:00.000+12:00

"You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."

I've been reading a book about grace recently and it has been phenomenal. I'd never realised before how much I didn't really get grace. I haven't managed to change my fundamental ways of thinking yet, they are so deep routed, but I'm really excited about the possibility that I might finally understand Christian joy as more than a vague, slightly comical concept.

Change of tack

2007-03-23T12:12:00.000+12:00

I'm changing how I'm making use of this again. I'll not make an explanation again as frankly, none of the previous versions have lasted so why would this one!?
So, just read along and see if I actually keep updating this time!

Luke 2:21-40

2006-12-21T11:39:00.000+13:00

Get the reading here.
I actually spoke on this passage the other week at church so it is kinda hard to look at it again so soon. So just a few condensed thoughts from the sermon really (if you want to see the full notes (that won't make much sense...) let me know). First, everyone in the passage was doing what God wanted them to do. Mary & Joseph were acting according to the law; Simeon and Anna were prompted by the Holy Spirit and followed that prompt. Second, Simeon ACCEPTED Jesus as he was. He didn't have any doubts or questions for God (like I was expecting a warrior not a baby...) - I think we'd probably like to change a few things about Jesus if we could, make him a bit more comfy to live with but Simeon just accepted, accepted God's plan.

Luke 2:1-20

2006-12-07T15:45:00.000+13:00

Get the reading here.
v10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people"

These words are so familiar it is easy to miss what they actually say - the news is good, it is full of joy, great joy, and it is for all the people.
During the beginning chapters of Luke, we get a few indications (particularly in Simeon's prophecy which comes next) that this isn't just for the Jews but for everyone, as the angel says here. I think we can get a bit selfish with the gospel sometimes, wanting it to be what we want, not what it really is, wanting to cling on to it, not share it with EVERYONE.

Luke 1:57-80

2006-12-07T15:38:00.000+13:00

Get the reading here.
vv63-66: He (Zechariah) asked for a writing tablet and wrote "His name is John." And all of them were amazed..All who heard them pondered them and said, "What then will this child become?" For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

People can be really surprised just by us doing what God asks - although it may seem small, if it is in God's plan the impact can be huge.
The people were open to amazing things and to signs from God - they expected great things from John because of this God-inspired beginning.

vv76-77 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.

Just a lovely few verses. Yes, Zechariah is giving God's message but he is also speaking to his beloved son. Makes you think how God must feel about you!

Hmm & Luke 1:39-56

2006-11-19T15:32:00.000+13:00

Hello again. Well, as you may have noticed, I've not been overly prolific here! It turned out to not be working for me soooo much. So I've decided to change tack a little bit and not try to write so much on a passage but just throw out the odd thought. Thus I hope it will happen a bit more regularly and be more useful to me. (I don't know if it will be useful elsewhere or who is reading this so...!)
Right so, Luke 1:39-56. Get the reading here. (Please note, I've started using the NRSV on Mad Medea's advice, however Bible Gateway don't seem to have it so I've stuck to NIV there. So if there are little differences, that's why!)
So a couple of verses that spoke to me in this passage:
v45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.
This is Elizabeth speaking to Mary, prompted by the Holy Spirit. When we do what God asks of us, we will be blessed. I find being blessed kind of an interesting concept because we try to pin it down to things - financial gain, health, happiness, whatever - but God has the bigger picture. I'm not sure we always recognise what our "blessings" really are. Another thought - all Mary had to "do" in this instance to be in God's plan and thus to be blessed was to believe.
vv46b-50 My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has looked with favour on the lowliness of His servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name. His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation.
This is Mary's immediate response to what Elizabeth has said. Great praise of God, it tells us what has been done that is worthy of praise, it tells us of the character of God and it gives a response, "my soul magnifies the Lord...my spirit rejoices". Partly because of my job now I am aware of ways in which praise can be structured to make it more useful for us, more fantastico for God. I think this is a good structure for praise.

Luke 1:26-38

2006-10-25T14:52:00.000+13:00

Get the reading here.
As with many gospel passages, particularly Christmas and Easter ones, this passage just seems too familiar sometimes. I read it and just thought "Cool." So I plugged away for a while to come up with something more expansive than just "cool" (though in some respects maybe that would be the most useful thing to write?!) and have a few little thoughts for you.
Luke maintains his detailed account (sorry I'm harping on about this a bit - I hadn't properly considered the differences between the gospels before and am now struck by the littlest things!) by giving us contexts of time, place, people.
We get our second angelic visitation here. And again, we get the "classic" angelic statement - do not be afraid! Verse 30 is interesting - Mary is not to be afraid: she has found favour with God. We aren't told how or in what way, just simply that God favours her. And because God favours her there is no need for fear. Interesting thought?
Gabriel then gives a sweeping account of the rest of the history of time! First starting off with a few details "you are to give him the name Jesus" and finishing up with "his kingdom will never end". We have no idea how much of this Mary really took in or grasped. The bit she is recorded as having questioned is the practicalities - "I'm a virgin!" Does that mean she just accepted the rest of Gabriel's statement without confusion, concern or doubt? Not necessarily - but what she did do was accept the role that God gave her (vs38) and got on with it. Perhaps she was aware of what she needed to know and understand there and then (you're going to have a baby) and what she could learn to understand in the future (and he'll reign on David's throne forever). Do we struggle to understand too much of God's plan NOW rather than waiting for Him to reveal things to us when the time is right?
I'm reading a historical novel at the moment set in courts of various kings and queens of Europe around 1500. Mary's attitude really strikes me of that kind of attitude and responsiveness to the king. The submission and readiness to serve. Perhaps another way for me to come to understand God's kingship? How much time do I spend saying "Ok, God, I'm your servant, my will is your will"? And how much "Ok, God, I'd like to be your servant but wouldn't it be rather nice if my plans worked too"?
And one final thought...shall we all get verse 37 tattoed to the inside of our eyelids? I seem to be rather good at forgetting it: For nothing is impossible with God.

Luke 1:5-25

2006-10-06T19:20:00.000+13:00

Hello all, sorry this has been a lot slower than I intended. Partly it has been a little harder and partly "things" have been a little harder so I have been lacking in the old energy/jollity thang. But that improves! So here we go...
Get the reading here.
Luke begins his account in true detailed style. He gives us good context for the story, detailing Zechariah, Elizabeth and the event he is about to explain.
Three big themes came out of this passage for me (after I'd spent a while trying to pick away at every word...)
1) Healing
2) Angels & God's glory
3) Faith & Trusting God
So...number one...
Why was Elizabeth barren to start with? Why did she need healing? And why did God choose this time to heal her? How's that for three unanswerable questions?!
Elizabeth and Zechariah are described as blameless and upright in God's sight. As some of you will know, there are various things going around at the moment that tie certain illnesses to certain sins. I am not a fan of that thinking and heard an excellent comment in a sermon the other week on illnesses or conditions or whatever. Sickness (of any sort) is in the world because of sin. But it doesn't go around only picking on the really naughty people to have the worst diseases. No, sin let sickness in but now it does not discriminate. It picks on all of us and I would go as far as to say apparently randomly.
Now in this passage Elizabeth receives healing or release from her barrenness and becomes pregnant. However, we've all known plenty of times when prayers haven't been answered as we'd hoped in this kind of area. But that doesn't give us a reason to stop praying. More of that in part 3...
Two! Angels and God's Glory. There are a couple of verses in this passage that I just really enjoy and am uplifted by for different reasons. The first is v11. An angel appears and stands there and that's that. Matter of fact. As if it happened everyday. Of course, we know from verse 12 with Zechariah's fear and the like that it wasn't so common but it does make me consider how we view the supernatural aspect of faith and whether we should feel more matter of fact about it.
The other verses I really like are 19 & 20. Gabriel has come and told Zechariah all this good news and detail and so on and Zechariah has managed to get over his fear enough to say "Yeah right!". Typical human behaviour! And in verses 19-20, Gabriel responds. What I have found useful about this section is that it somehow reflects a sense of God's majesty for me. It is always hard to grasp all the sides of God's character (as it is with many people!) and at the moment through various things, I am trying to increase my awareness of God's majesty and kingship. Somehow, the seriousness of these verses convey that for me - Gabriel stands "in God's presence". That phrase alone has me imagining heaven and all the angels waiting on God's command and and and! The result of Zechariah's doubts also show that this is serious, God means what he says and will act. However, the verse also keeps us alongside the God who cares intimately for us - the God who sent his angel to Zechariah to tell him this news - that the prayers had been heard.
Which brings us on to number 3. Faith and Trusting God. We see two different demonstrations here. Zechariah, who we know is upright and blameless, I think had run out of steam. He was still serving God and following him but I think on this issue he'd perhaps given up. I don't think he was praying anymore for this. Perhaps it had made him pull back a little from God. So when the news is delivered he can't just accept it.
Elizabeth I think had not given up hope. I think she was praying, praying, praying. Trusting God and not giving up so when the news comes to her she says straight away "The Lord has done this for me." No question, this is what has happened.
We all have times when we feel like Zechariah or like Elizabeth. Perhaps we even feel like both of them at the same time but on different issues. There are times when we have the faith, the energy to keep plugging away asking, asking, asking. And there are times when we just get worn down. When we can't keep fighting away all the time. And God knows our limits. He answered Zechariah's prayer even though, perhaps, he had given up hope. I find myself less and less like Elizabeth so perhaps my next prayer needs to be to ask for more consistency and more energy in my prayer life? Hmm...

Luke 1:1-4

2006-09-19T19:59:00.000+12:00

Get the Bible reading here

Each of the four gospels has its own spin - not as in politics in the putting a rosy glow on things but rather it’s own angle, their personal perspective on the events they witnessed. This comes out in writing style and in the events from Jesus’ life that they choose to include. I’ve read things that even tell you which personality type is most likely to appreciate which gospel most! (what a sentence!)
Luke is writing as the person he is (doctor, accompanied Paul on missionary journeys) and is writing to someone in particular, Theophilus. We get a very clear starting point with Luke, an explanation of why he is writing and to an extent where he is coming from. He tells us in these verses that he has “fully investigated everything from the beginning”. Although he says “the things that have been fulfilled among us”, he has gone and done his research. He talks of those who were “eye witnesses from the first”. And that is his starting point for information gathering. We don’t know who he has spoken to or how long he has taken to write his gospel precisely but we know that his intention has been to give as full an account as possible. Luke indicates the factual nature of his character/writing style throughout the book - I can’t remember the precise number but there are something like 200 medical terms found throughout Luke showing his desire for the factual and accurate. And now that he’s got his facts, he doesn’t want to keep them to himself but to share them with Theophilus and through him, many others.
We don’t know exactly who Theophilus was - a Roman, probably an official, probably a convert of Luke’s from one of the missionary journeys with Paul. I imagine Theophilus to be at the kind of post-Alpha stage - he’s become a Christian, he’s got a good starting point but he still needs to put the meat on the bones of his faith. And that is where Luke has come in, writing first his gospel and then the book of Acts to help Theophilus understand.
I had a letter from a friend this morning and it was a good letter. I was very pleased to receive it and it contained lots of information about how they are and also just some chit chat that made me feel a little less like I was thousands of miles away from them. I was so excited to receive this letter that I actually saved it up for a while. I did some jobs, tidied up a bit, made lunch and a cup of tea and got all sorted and settled before I opened the letter. Imagine receiving a gospel! Luke’s gospel was probably in the format of a book rather than a letter but still! Can you imagine how exciting it would be to receive this gospel and read it for the first time? Do we get that excited about hearing from God? I do get excited but sometimes I struggle with the intangibility of it… This letter was in my hands and I could read the words and know something of my friend from it. But we don’t always hear from God in so concrete a way. But God is just as capable of speaking to us through Luke’s gospel as he was of speaking to Theophilus. So I’m gearing up for some major hearing-from-God-ness through reading this gospel. And I’m planning on being excited about it - even if perhaps Luke was not so excitable himself, with his “orderly account” (v3)!

First Post - An Explanation

2006-09-19T19:51:00.000+12:00

This blog is for me. I’m not sure whether anyone else will want to read it or if they do whether they will gain anything from it. I want to use it to give some direction to my bible study, to give an aim to aid me in my study. Yes, I will miss speaking this year while I’m in a temporary setting (I don’t expect anyone to trust me enough on first meeting to let me speak to their church!) and that is part of it but there is more to it than that. I am still entirely unsure where I am headed in life (though had an interesting bible study the other week with new house group about vision and direction and the general census seemed to be that actually we couldn’t cope with too much vision and God just gives us bite sized chunks. This seems to be a lesson that I keep learning! Or rather, failing to learn…) and one of my purposes of this year is to spend a lot more time with God and get involved in a church while I’m not working too much. (I’m looking at working 1-3 days a week on average I reckon. Sadly it is more at the mo.) A lot of the spending time with God part will be private but I know I’m better able to really knuckle in to study if there is a fixed goal - yes, I’m an exam girl rather than a coursework girl and I think that applies to my spiritual life too.
So my first goal that I’m setting myself for this “public” study is Luke. I bit ambitious length-wise I fear but I suddenly realised that I haven't ever REALLY studied a Gospel, I'm always going for New Testament letters or Old Testament Prophets. I will spend time with the Bible and with other resources (currently rather lacking there due to having left all my books at home boo hiss but will see what the internet and library can do for me) and have some thoughts and put them up here.
So that should explain it for anyone who knows me but a quick bit of history for anyone who doesn’t know me who has stumbled across this page… I have recently moved to New Zealand from the UK for a year. At home, I was in the privileged position of being allowed to speak at my home church. I am not a vicar, I am not a lay reader, I have had no formal training just some experience of spending time with God, listening to what he has to say and sharing it with other people. I have been brought up in a Christian family and have been a Christian most of my life (there have, of course been ups and downs) and am on the lookout for new ways to express my love of God and to expand my knowledge of Him and relationship with Him. So…let’s see how it goes!