My day begins with a phone call; a phone call from mom who has graciously agreed to give Brian and me a wakeup call each morning. I have found that if I am going to have a quiet time, it has to happen before the boys wake up in the morning.
For my devotions I have just started a new plan. Growing up, Dad always encouraged us that the goal of the spiritual disciplines is to "make your soul happy in God" and to preach the gospel to yourself--not to finish a book. He wanted to make sure we didn't feel obligated to complete a book we had begun if it was not feeding our soul.
So for this reason I stopped reading the commentary I had been using to study a particular book of the Bible and have begun a "read through the Bible" plan along with Brian. By reading through the Bible together, we hope we will experience even deeper fellowship in our marriage.
We are using the books For the Love of God Volume 1 and Volume 2 by D.A. Carson. This plan takes you through the entire Bible and then the New Testament and Psalm twice in one year. To accomplish this, you read four chapters of the Bible a day. However, I am only attempting two chapters per day and going at my own pace!
Like Janelle, I read Morning and Evening each day, as well as The Valley of Vision during my prayer time. And I am also currently reading Christ our Mediator by my dad, because I always need to be reminded of what Christ accomplished on the cross in my place. Today, this particular selection affected me:
"As we watch Jesus pray in agony in Gethsemane, He has every right to turn His tearful eyes toward you and me and shout, 'This is your cup. You're responsible for this. It's your sin! You drink it.' This cup should rightfully be thrust into my hand and yours.
Instead, Jesus freely takes it Himself...so that from the cross He can look down at you and me, whisper our names, and say, 'I drain this cup for you--for you who have lived in defiance of Me, who have hated Me, who have opposed Me. I drink it all...for you.'
This is what our sin makes necessary. This is what is required by your pride and my pride, by your selfishness and my selfishness, by your disobedience and my disobedience. Behold Him...behold His suffering...and recognize His love."
C.J. Mahaney, Christ our Mediator (Portland, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2004), 57-58.
