Hey everyone! I have mentioned the reading the Bible over Christmas break a few times here at Holy Aspirations. Well, those of us doing it have decided to start a blog for it. christmasbiblereading.wordpress.com Check it out. It’s still in the starting process, but we’re getting it sorted out 
Reading the Bible Over Christmas Break
Bible Reading
Some of you might remember that last year I read the Bible over my two weeks of Christmas break, along with a bunch of awesome people. Well, this year we are doing it again 
. However, this year, I am changing my plan around and doing it in chronological order. This way the reading will be benifical to me because I will get to see where everything fits, comparted to it being devided up as it is put in most Bibles. Here is the schedule that I will be using this year:
Generation Joshua’s 2nd Annual Reading the Bible Over Christmas Break December 2009
December 20: Genesis 1-11; Job 1-42; Genesis 12-50; Exodus 1-3
December 21: Exodus 4-40; Leviticus 1-27; Numbers 1-15; Psalm 90; Numbers 16-17
December 22: Numbers 18-36; Deuteronomy 1-34; Psalm 91; Joshua 1-24; Judges 1-7
December 23: Judges 8-21; Ruth 1-4; 1 Samuel 1-17; Psalm 11; 1 Samuel 18-20; Psalms 59; 1 Samuel 21-24; Psalms 7, 27, 31, 34, 52, 56, 120, 140-142; 1 Samuel 25-27; Psalm 17, 35, 54, 63, 18; 1 Samuel 28-31; Psalm 121m 123-125, 128-130; 2 Samuel 1-4; Psalm 6, 8-10, 14, 16, 19, 21; 1 Chronicles 1-2; Psalm 43-45, 49, 84-85, 87; 1 Chronicles 3-5; Psalm 73, 77-78; 1 Chronicles 6, Psalm 81, 88, 92-93; 1 Chronicles 7-10; Psalm 102-104; 2 Samuel 5:1-10; 1 Chronicles 11-12
December 24: Psalm, 133, 106-107; 2 Samuel 5:11-6:23; 1 Chronicles 13:16; Psalm 1-2, 15, 22-24, 47, 68, 89, 96, 100, 101, 105, 132; 2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17; Psalm 25, 29, 33, 36, 39; 2 Samuel 8-9; 1 Chronicles 18; Psalm 50, 53, 60, 75; 2 Samuel 10; 1 Chronicles 19; Psalm 20, 65-67, 69-70, 2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Chronicles 20; Psalm 32, 51, 86, 122, 2 Samuel 13-15; Psalm 3-4, 12-13, 28, 55; 2 Samuel 16-18; Psalm 26, 40, 58, 61, 62, 64; 2 Samuel 19-21; Psalm 5, 38, 41, 42, 2 Samuel 22-23, Psalm 57, 95, 97-99; 1 Chronicles 21-22;2 Samuel 24, Psalm 30, 108-110; 1 Chronicles 23-25, Psalm 131, 138-139, 143-145; 1 Chronicles 26-29; Psalm 127, 111-118; 1 Kings 1-2; Psalm 37, 71, 94, 119:1-88; 2 Chronicles 1; 1 Kings 3-4; Psalm 72, 119:89-176
December 25: Christmas day – Catch up if necessary
December 26: Song of Solomon 1-8; Proverbs 1-24; 2 Chronicles 2-3; 1 Kings 5-6; 2 Chronicles 4; 1 Kings 7; 2 Chronicles 5; 1 Kings 8; 2 Chronicles 6-7; Psalm 136, 134, 146-150; 2 Chronicles 8; 1 Kings 9; Proverbs 25-29; Ecclesiastes 1-12; 2 Chronicles 9; 1 Kings 10-11; Proverbs 30-31; 1 Kings 12-14; 2 Chronicles 10-16; 1 Kings 15-16; 2 Chronicles 17; 1 Kings 17-21; 2 Chronicles 18; 1 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 19-23; Obadiah 1; Psalm 82-86; 2 Kings 1-4
December 27: 2 Kings 5-13; 2 Chronicles 24; 2 Kings 14; 2 Chronicles 25; Jonah 1-4; 2 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 26; Isaiah 1-8; Amos 1-9; Isaiah 9-12; 2 Chronicles 27; Micah 1-7; 2 Kings 16-17; 2 Chronicles 28; Isaiah 13-27; 2 Kings 18:1-8; 2 Chronicles 29-31; Psalm 48; Hosea 1-14; Isaiah 28-39; Psalm 76; Isaiah 40-48; 2 Kings 18:9-19:37; Psalm 46, 80, 135; Isaiah 49- 66
December 28: 2 Kings 20-21; 2 Chronicles 32-33; Nahum 1-3; 2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35; Zephaniah 1-3; Jeremiah 1-40; Psalm 74, 79; 2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36; Habakkuk 1-3; Jeremiah 41-52; Lamentations 1-5; Ezekiel 1-19
December 29: Ezekiel 20-48; Joel 1-3; Daniel 1-12; Ezra 1-6; Psalm 137; Haggai 1-2; Zechariah 1-14; Esther 1-10; Ezra 7-10; Nehemiah 1-13; Psalm 126; Malachi 1-4; Luke 1; John 1: 1-14; Matthew 1; Luke 2: 1-38
December 30: Matthew 2; Luke 2:39-52; Mark 1; Luke 3; Matthew 3; John 1:15-15; Matthew 4; Luke 4-5; John 2-4; Mark 2; John 5; Mark 3; Luke 6; Matthew 12-21; Matthew 5-7; Luke 7; Matthew 8:1-13; Matthew 11; Luke 11; Matthew 12:22-50; Luke 8; Matthew 12:22-50; Luke 8; Matthew 13; Matthew 11; Luke 11; Matthew 12:22-50; Luke 8; Matthew 13; Mark 4-5; Matthew 8:14-34; Matthew 9-10; Mark 6; Luke 9:1-17; Matthew 14; John 6; Mark 7; Matthew 15; Mark 8; Luke 9:28-62; Matthew 17-18; John 7-10; Luke 10-17:10; John 11; Luke 17:11-18-14; Mark 10; Matthew 19-21
December 31: Luke 18:15-19:48; Mark 11; John 12; Mark 12; Matthew 22; Luke 20-21; Matthew 23; Mark 13; Matthew 24-25; Mark 14; Matthew 26; John 13; Luke 22; John 14-17; Mark 15; Matthew 27; John 18-19; Luke 23; Mark 16; Matthew 28; John 20-21; Luke 24; Acts 1-14; James 1-5; Acts 15-16; Galatians 1-6; Acts 17:1-18:18; 1 Thessalonians 1-5; 2 Thessalonians 1-3; Acts 18: 19-19:41; 1 Corinthians 1-14
January 1: 1 Corinthians 15-16; 2 Corinthians 1-13; Romans 1-3; Acts 20:1-3; Romans 4-16; Acts 20:4-28; Philemon 1; Colossians 1-4; Ephesians 1-6; Philippians 1-4; 1 timothy -6; Titus 1-3; 1 Peter 1-5; Hebrews 1-13; 2 Timothy 1-4; Jude 1; 2 Peter 1-3; 1 -John 1-5; 2 John 1; 3 John1; Revelations 1-22
January 2: Catch up day
Scriptores Pro Christo
Ok, so I am going to have a few seconds here to sell you all something. But don’t worry, since it doesn’t cost anything. And I should have the right to do so, because this is after all my blog. Then again, you have the right to leave this page right now and go no further. That’s your right.
But of course, by now you are curious, and have to at least see what I’m talking about first… so you’ll scroll down and read a little farther. Skim, as it were. Well, hopefully a few of you will check it out.
There is an interent sight that I am part of. Scriptores Pro Christo. Writers for Christ. It’s simply a few of us who have gotten together to share and support eachother in our writing endeavours.
Right now the forum is very slow, because we have so few members, but we are working on that. Unfortunatly, outsiders aren’t allowed to view the forum board, so when you click the link below, you won’t be able to see anything.
http://scriptoresprochristo.freeforums.org
If you are interested in joining, sign up. It’s free. And meeting fellow Christian writers with whom you can share and get feedback on your work is a great experiance. Enjoy!
Christmas
Lights are out, stores are hanging out their happy holiday signs and perhaps you yourself are starting to sing the carols of the season. Then there is the cookies and of course eggnog and… wait a minute, back up a bit. Happy Holidays?! Hmm… This seemingly innocent two words are actually two sneaky little enemy agents! Well, ok, maybe tools by the enemy would be a better way to say that, but you get the point.
You see, when people say Happy Holidays, or Holiday Tree (where did that come from? I hadn’t heard that until this year) or Holiday lights, or Holiday stroll, or anything of that nature, they are spreading the propoganda of the world. It’s not what’s there, it’s what isn’t there. What every happened to Merry Christmas, or Christmas Tree, or Christmas anything? Well, I’ll tell you what. The world hates Christ. Having him associated with one of the biggest holidays of the year, if not the biggest, makes them angry. So slowly, but surely, they have taken their agents of the world and started to change that.
This is wrong! Taking Christ out of Christmas is a way that the world is using to silence us christians. We need to stop this, we need to avoid this.
How? First, refuse to say Happy Holidays. Make a point to say Merry Christmas. To store clerks, on your Christmas cards, in regular conversations. Everywhere. Avoid Happy Holidays.
Another thing you could consider would be avoiding stores in your Christmas shopping that say Happy Holidays. We need to support people who support us. If we want to get our message out to the world, we need to be different. When we avoid the stores that say Happy Holidays, we take away quite a chunk of money out of their pockets. If enough people did that, we could have our Christmas back.
Shall we?
Victoria
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow, Thanksgiving is here already. Ok, so it’s not untill tomorrow, but it is right around the corner! This time tomorrow there will be a turkey in the oven, and I wil be rushing around the kitchen getting other things preped. And there is some Pre-Thanksgiving cooking to do too. Lots of pies are giong to find their way into our oven today! Yummy yum!
Does the above paragraph sum up your Thanksgiving? It does mine. But that isn’t a good thing.
You see, somewhere along the line of hundreds of Thanksgivings, we have lost something. The thanks part. It is after all “Thanks”+”giving”. I’m not sure how the equation “Thanks” + “Giving” = Turkey is legit, but it seems it is, or at least, we act like that.
On Thanksgiving, lets remember what we are thankful for. Lets tell someone how much we love them, lets tell someone how much they mean to us. Lets give a little, maybe if it is just a little thing like letting someone else have that last piece of pumpkin pie. (Then again, that might not be a little thing in your family.)
Here are some things I am thankful for this year:
1. My Creator and Savior, without whom there would be nothing to be thankful for.
2. My parents. They have taken the time to teach me and raise me the way I need to. They have spent hours that they never got payed for with me, completely being unselfish. I love you two! ♥
3. My siblings. There are times that I argue with them, but you two mean so much to me. Without you childhood would have been a lonely place. Jenna, you have always been there for me, and all our late night adventures I will never forget. And Christian, you can make me laugh so hard! The time we spend together, even just watching Hogans Heroes and The Beverly Hillbillies, is precious.
4. My friends. This is for my friends here with me, and the ones online. All of you guys help me get through the day.
5. I know I just mentioned online friends, but GenJ friends are worthy to be mentioned again. You guys rock! I wish I could meet you. You mean so much to me, when I’ve been lonely or frustrated I can go to the chat and forums and feel like I belong. You all are totally amazing.
There is more of course, but I don’t want this post to be as long as it could be with all of them. The sunshine, the rain, the mountains over the horizen, all are wonderful aspects of God’s creation and all I am thankful for! Don’t forget them in your lists.
Victoria
Striving for Excellence
We came across this thought in a Bible study we were having. Haven’t we all been to that point one time or another where we ask ourselves, “Is this right?” “Should I be doing this?” “Is this really a modest thing for me to wear?”. We aren’t sure if we should or shouldn’t be doing something. We don’t think it’s wrong, but we don’t know for sure.
The issue is that we often live boarder line to sin. I do it, at least, and I can’t be the only one. We keep ourselves right next to a very thin line of sin and not sin.
This is why we should stop pushing the boarder line. If we strove for excellence, for not pushing that boarder, we would not have to ask ourselves “Is this right?” We need to strive for being and acting and doing the best we can for God, not just sitting along the boarder.
Victoria
God Knows Us
In my Oswald Chambers dailey reading, I came across a phrase that has really struck me.
“No human being knows human beings like God does.”
Think about that. No matter how much you know someone, or even how much you know yourself, God knows you better. He knows your weaknesses, your pains, your joys, your hard trials, and your life more then even you know yourself. Isn’t that amazing? God is a caring God, who knows your worst fears and your secret hopes, and He loves you, even when you sin and fall short of the mark.
What a wonderful God we serve!
Victoria
My Utmost for His Highest
Ok, for a book club I am currently doing, we have been reading Oswald Chambers book My Utmost for His Highest. It is a daily devotional that is really amazing. If you really sit down and put time into it (and by time I mean 3 to 5 minutes, the material is only a few paragraphs long) and think about what you have read, you can take a lot from it. Check it out here: My Utmost for His Highest
Cursed is…
So, after writing my last post on Blessed is the Man, I thought I might go to the opposite side of the scale. There might not be as many verses to chose from as there are when you look for blessings, but these still contain potent words of what we are not to do. So, a sampling of the verses I found:
‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him.
‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ “And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’
‘Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
‘Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
‘Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
‘Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
‘Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
Thus says the LORD: “ Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.
Blessed is the Man…
While reading my bible, I realized that I often come across the phrase “Blessed is the man” and other phrases like it. I decided to look them up, and found that they were great verses with loads of instruction on how we should live. The verses may be short, but they are filled with some good words that we could all learn from, so I decided to post them here. There are many more verses like this, and I encourage everyone to do some studying of their own. So here goes!
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust,And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
Blessed is he who considers the poor;The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O LORD,And teach out of Your law,
Blessed are those who keep justice,And he who does righteousness at all times!
Praise the LORD!Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments.
Blessed are the undefiled in the way,Who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,Who seek Him with the whole heart!
Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,Who walks in His ways.
“ Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways.
Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors.
Blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
“ Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
