Christian Paradigm Shifts

  Today's reading was about Jacob working for Laban for seven years in order to marry Rachel. But when his time was complete, Laban gave Jacob Leah instead of Rachel.   Jacob had been tricked!! Needless to say, he was not a happy camper and complained to Laban. Laban agreed to give Jacob Rachel only on the condition that Jacob work for another seven years Jacob agreed.   Needless to say, two sisters marrying one man only means trouble will be brewing.   Here is the text I want to focus on:   When Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She pleaded with Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” 2  Then Jacob became furious with Rachel. “Am I God?” he asked. “He’s the one who has kept you from having children!” 3  Then Rachel told him, “Take my maid, Bilhah, and sleep with her. She will bear children for me, and through her I can have a family, too.” 4  So Rachel g...

    Today's reading was about Abraham's intercession or prayer for Sodom, the city's destruction and the rescue of Lot and his family.   I want to focus on the following portion: 23  Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon. 24  Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25  He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. 26  But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt. 27  Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord ’s presence. 28  He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace. 29   But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the...

  Today's reading from the NLT Year Chronological Bible was about Noah and his family entering the ark.   Here's the part of the passage I'd like to concentrate on:    8  Then God told Noah and his sons, 9  “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10  and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11  Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.” 12  Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13  I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14  When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15  and I will remember my covenant with yo...

As I am reading through the NLT One Year Chronological Bible, I am looking for signs of God's grace toward the people He made in his image. Grace is God's unmerited favor towards people.   I came across two individuals that God showed grace towards ~ Cain and Noah.   You may be saying to yourself, "I can understand grace toward Noah but Cain? Didn't he kill his brother and was cursed by God?"   Yes, Cain was cursed by God for killing his brother but even God's judgment was tempered with grace.    Here's the passage:   8  One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him. 9  Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?” “I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10  But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from th...

Unfortunately, after several attempts to notify the winner of the giveaway, she has not come forward to comment on the blog or to contact me in anyway in order to claim the prize. Therefore, I have again used random. org's true random number generator to chose another winner. The new winner is....Fearfully and Wonderfully Made!!! Please contact me within 24 hours to claim your prize. You may leave a comment on this post to claim your prize. If I do not hear from you within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen from those who have already entered the contest. Thank you.

I am so excited!! The giveaway is closed and it is time to give everyone who entered comments on the their number. I will input the number of entries at random.org. It will generate the winning number. I will announce the winner this evening at 6:00 so be on the lookout of the announcement.   Entries: 1.           Fearfully and Wonderfully Made 2.           Tamara Sallee 3.           Yasmin Alberto 4.           Yasmin Alberto 5.           Yasmin Alberto 6.           Yasmin Alberto 7.           Yasmin Alberto 8.           Yasmin Alberto 9.           Maddie 10.   ...

As a way of saying thanks to all my current readers, facebook  and twitter   followers, I'm having a giveaway of the NLT Chronological Bible. I will giveaway ONE NLT Chronological Bible, paperback edition. The winner will have their choice of either the regular or large print paperback edition. This giveaway will be open until January 16, 2012. Mandatory Entry: Comment about why you love reading the Bible and share your favorite Bible verse. Optional Extra Entries: ( only after completing mandatory entry) You can do any or all of the following entries below for one extra entry each. Please leave a separate comment below for each one you do. Don’t forget to leave your email so I can contact you if you are the winner! “Like” Teach Me the Ancient Paths on Facebook or tell me you already do. Mention this giveaway on Facebook using the share button below. Follow me on twitter   or tell me you already do. Tweet this giveaway using the button...

Today's post is based on the NLT Chronological Bible reading for January 7th. I want to focus on the following verses from Genesis 22:9-14 ~ When they arrived at the place where God had told them to go, Abraham built an alter and arranged wood on it. Then he ties his son, Isaac, and laid him on the alter on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham! “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”   “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”   Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.  Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the L ord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a prove...

God is my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer, my God, my Strength, my Shield, my S alvation, my High Tower. ~ Psalm 18:1-2 "While God is the owner and possessor of all things, He freely invites us to be possessive over Him as we desire." ~ Beth Moore I would like to share two videos. The first is by Wendy Pope ( www.wendypope.org ) on January 6 2011. She encourages women to remember what the Lord has done for each and every person who has put their trust in Jesus. The second video is the song "Jesus is Mine" by Alvin Slaughter. Remember all the day long to sing your song ~ Jesus is mine, Jesus is mine, everywhere I go, everywhere I be; oh Jesus is mine.

Per my December 29th post, I am about to begin another journey with the NLT One Year Chronological Bible. I did a portion of this last year. Unfortunately, Wendy Pope of Walking with Women Through the Word, is not leading an updated study of the NLT this year. She is beginning a new study on the Psalms, which I will also be following. One can sign up for the new Psalm study on her website -http://wendypope.org/psalm-study/. She has, however, made the archived videos of the NLT study available. She has a link at the top of her website under online studies. Click that link and a drop down menu will appear. Hover over Read Thru the Word and click on RTW - 2012. I thought I'd share the first archived video in case any of my blog readers would like to do this NLT Chrono study. Here are links to the instructional videos for reading through the word - http://youtu.be/qYm-0CmCzng   and http://youtu.be/haYEJFkk478