This Bible reading plan takes you through most of the Holy Scriptures each weekday of the year. Each day has three Bible readings:
You're welcome to read one, two, or all three of the readings every weekday. And if you fall behind, don't worry! You can either use the weekends to catch up or you can simply dive in to the reading for that day, even if you've missed a few days, weeks, or even months!
4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot1 love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
[1] 4:20
(ESV)
We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
At the bottom of my blog is a picture of my bike. It's labelled "My Pastor's Appreciation Gift." I received that gift three years ago, but I keep that picture there because I'm still overwhelmed by it. That bike is one I could have never owned except as a gift. It's too good a bike for my caliber of cyclist. It's too expensive to purchase for myself. And it still the best ride I've ever experienced. So why did my congregation honor me with that gift? There's only one word to explain it... love.
When I received that gift I had been pastor of the congregation for seven years. I'm sure they never would have made such a gift to me when I first walked in the door. Yes, they were glad I had accepted their call, and they were pleased to have a pastor after a long search, but they did not yet love me enough to make that kind of sacrifice. So why did they do so after seven years? Because I loved them.
Now that doesn't make me a hero. I loved God's people and ministered faithfully to them not because I'm such a great guy. I did it because God first loved me and gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. Because I know the wonder of God's unconditional, undeserved love for me, it enables me to love others.
All genuine love originates with God. God is love. A lot of the time, things that we call love are very self-serving. "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." But whenever love is freely given, without any expectation of return, and without any merit or worthiness on the part of the recipient, then we see real love that flows from God. Because that's how God loved us.
We would be completely incapable of loving and serving God if He had not first loved us. The only reason we can ever choose God is because God loved us from eternity and chose us in Christ to be His very own. So whenever I ride my bike or even see that picture of it I say, "Thanks be to God!" Because unless God first loved me I never would have loved God's people, who in turn loved me and blessed me with that gift.
Do you need some love in your life? Turn to God. He loves you unconditionally. When you experience His love in Jesus, then you will be able to love someone else. And when you love someone else, some of that love will come back to you. But it all goes back to God, since... We love because God first loved us.
12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O LORD,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.1
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
18 Then the LORD became jealous for his land
and had pity on his people.
19 The LORD answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard2 into the eastern sea,
and his rear guard3 into the western sea;
the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for the LORD has done great things!
22 Fear not, you beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
23 “Be glad, O children of Zion,
and rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given the early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the latter rain, as before.
24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore4 to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.
26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
28 5 “And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
[1] 2:17
[2] 2:20
[3] 2:20
[4] 2:25
[5] 2:28
(ESV)
God's heartfelt plea to His people was: "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments." God would not be satisfied with outward acts of repentance. Joel coaxed Judah with reminders of God's character: "for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster." God's call to repentance was so crucial that no one was to be omitted, not even nursing infants. Even the bridegroom was to leave his bride to respond to the LORD's call. The priests were to weep and mourn, praying to God to spare His people. In response to those earnest prayers and Judah's sincere repentance, the LORD answered with mercy and kindness. God promised to rescue His people from "the northerner," and cause the land yield its harvest again. The years of the locusts would be replaced by years of plenty. In the restoration, Judah will praise the LORD and acknowledge that He alone is God. The prophet's attention now turns to the actual coming of the Day of the LORD. The first sign of the coming Day of the LORD will be the outpouring of God's Spirit on all people, young and old, men and women alike. Peter quoted this passage as being fulfilled of the day of Pentecost, when tongues of fire appeared on the heads of the apostles and they began to speak in tongues: "These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people." This outpouring of the Spirit also anticipates the ultimate Day of the LORD, when signs in the heavens and on earth will herald the final judgment, when "everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!
12 A scoffer does not like to be reproved;
he will not go to the wise.
13 A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.
14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
16 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD
than great treasure and trouble with it.
17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
19 The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns,
but the path of the upright is a level highway.
20 A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.
21 Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,
but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.
22 Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.
23 To make an apt answer is a joy to a man,
and a word in season, how good it is!
24 The path of life leads upward for the prudent,
that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.
(ESV)