Through the Seasons

I’ve recently begun attending a Beth Moore Bible study at a local church.  It’s her new one called “Stepping Up” and it goes through a series of Psalms called the Psalms of Ascent. 

It’s about going to the next level with God.  On the video tonight Beth Moore was talking about how we react when someone makes us angry or hurts our feelings.  She said that we should take the high road instead of getting on that low road with that person.  We may want to react in our emotion and fight dirty but we need to step up from that.

I was reminded of something a pastor said in one of his sermons:  “Don’t play in the mud with the pigs.  You’ll both get dirty but only one of you will like it.” 

Well put.

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I told you I’m not good at finishing Bible studies.  Errr…  But actually this time I found a GREAT Bible study that has replaced the first one I mentioned.  I found a precept study on Daniel – the whole book of Daniel!  I’m so excited!  You can download it for free on the Precept website.  I think you’re supposed to follow along with her on the radio which we obviously can’t.  The broadcasts are somehow available for download online (or you can buy the CD set) but I’m going to try it without all that to save on costs.  The text version takes you through it pretty completely – just without any commentary from precepts so it’s worth a try.

So far I have gone through the introduction in the study which has you read the whole book in one sitting to get an overview.  During my first time through the book I marked every reference to the author, as suggested, who I discovered was Daniel himself.  Then I read through the book again marking all references to time.   Now I’m ready to drill down into the first chapter.  They give you key terms to mark as well as cross-references to look up.  They also list questions that help you think through what you’re reading.

Daniel is a great book!  I love it so far!  Parts of it are very hard though and I found myself sympathizing with Daniel.  After one of his visions (maybe his first, I can’t remember) he said that he was exhausted and lay ill several days.  Then he said that the vision troubled him and was beyond understanding.  Well, I agreed with him there.  I sure didn’t get it.  Later, Gabriel (I think) comes to explain the vision to him.  Daniel doesn’t say this but I thought, “That explanation doesn’t help much.  It appears to be beyond understanding as well.”  But hopefully it will become more clear as I spend time in study.  One chapter at a time…  God’s Word never goes out in vain!!

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I have been sorely missing in-depth Bible teaching. I tried to find something that I could download online but there were very few options. Few? I think I found two. They were both Beth Moore and would both cost me an arm and a leg. I thought about it… but then decided to pass. I do only have 5 more weeks here and I plan to come back with plenty of Bible studies.

As I told Jonathan about my dilemma, he remembered he had Bible software on his computer from his seminary days and included in them are a few commentaries and a couple little Bible studies. He found a 12 session study called “The Essentials of a Dynamic Quiet Time”.

For whatever reason I hate the term “quiet time”. It seems made-up. Who decided to call it that? Anyway… I’ll overlook that and see how it goes. I tend to have a hard time sticking all the way through a long Bible study so I’m telling you about it. You can be my accountability. I’m going to do my study on Sundays and Wednesdays which will have me finishing the week I get home as long as I stay on track.

I’ll let you know how it’s going and if I learn anything earth shattering. It’s getting late so I better get started on lesson 1 now. Until tomorrow…

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