Wandering Disciple

I can't believe I read out loud the entire Bible in 30 episodes. I swear, the more I read the Bible, the more I realize I know nothing about it. Every single page in the New Testament fascinates me and nearly makes me weep. Revelation is like being on some terrifying yet comforting alien planet. Peter and John and Jude are like the heart of a concerned father laid bare on an operating table. Just tender, and bloody, and beating and beautiful.

It astounds me how Paul didn't marry and had no children, but was as utterly a tender, compassionate, instructional, loving father as anyone will ever meet.

Nothing so clearly defines why our world is in the condition it is in than today's portion of Scripture.

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the believers waited for His Holy Spirit to be given to them. Then once His power fell, we see the early church explode! Miracles everywhere, raising from the dead, the sick and blind and crippled cured, the first martyrs Stephen and James, and Saul turned from Christian hunter to mighty apostle and preacher of Christ in his miraculous conversion and personal call to ministry by Jesus Himself.

I love the tiniest personality differences in the way the Gospels are written among the men.

Wow. Just wow. The pure, unspeakable beauty and joy I get out of reading the actions and words of Jesus and the way He was with people. The hours went by as mere minutes during this recording.

I can't describe to you how relieved and overjoyed I was to make it to the New Testament today. All my life if you asked me which one I prefer, I would say Old Testament every time. But lately, I've just been longing for the words of Jesus.

Whew, covered a lot of the minor prophets. My favourite love of all time being Jonah, of course. Gosh, he's such a rebellious and bratty prophet, but so lovable because he's so relatable and real.

Daniel, other than Genesis is probably my favourite book in the Bible. I love how many times he's told how dearly loved he is by God. Of course today was utterly action-packed! Finishing up Daniel, we had all the exciting things! Daniel gets to tell one of the kings of Babylon that he's going to go crazy, lose his kingdom for a while, and go eat grass in the field like an animal for 7 years, but begs him to repent of his arrogance so that it won't happen, he doesn't listen and it happens anyway. Daniel being thrown into the pit of lions who can't eat him. His three friends being thrown into a blazing fire so hot it actually killed all the strongest men who threw them in, and then they were just walking around in the fire with Jesus like they were on a summer stroll and not in a raging furnace. Then Daniel is taken up in the Spirit and shown the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient world being conquered one after another. Oh, and the iconic scene where Gabriel shows up face to face to tell Daniel he totally wanted to come sooner in answer to his prayers, but he got caught up fighting some prince of darkness in Persia for a few weeks. How awesome is that? And then we began the first two chapters of Hosea, one of my most beloved and endearing prophets in the Bible. My heart goes out for him. God commanded him to marry a whore who would constantly cheat on him no matter how much he loved her, to raise her bastards, and to keep chasing after her with love regardless of her actions. All of this to represent God's endless love for His people who keep running away from their covenant marriage with Him.

We're in the home stretch now. This is day 21 out of 30 episodes of recording the entire Bible out loud. I found Ezekiel a lot smoother and faster reading and more enjoyable than Isaiah and Jeremiah. Even though Isaiah had so many lovely insights into Jesus prophesies you can't really find anywhere else in Scripture. Still, Ezekiel was interesting. Some verses that stood out to me today. Still the bleeding heart of a loving God calling to His Bride: 3:18-21-If I say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you do not give him warning or speak to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered yourself. Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and some gift or providence which I lay before him he perverts into an occasion to sin and he commits iniquity, he shall die; because you have not given him warning he shall die in his sin and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he is warned; also you have delivered yourself from guilt. 11:18-21-And when they return there, they shall take away from it all traces of its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart an new heart and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take awy the stony hardened heart out of their flesh, and give them a new heart of flesh sensitive and responsive to My touch. That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart yearns for and goes after their detestable things and their loathsome abominations, I will repay their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord. 16:8-Now I passed by you again and looked upon you; behold you were maturing and at the time for love, and I spread My skirt over you and covering your nakedness. Yes, I plighted My troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord, and you became Mine. 16:14,15-And your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty, for it was perfect through My majesty and splendor which I had put on you, says the Lord. But you trusted in and relied on your own beauty and were unfaithful to God, played the harlot because of your renown, and you poured out your fornications upon anyone who passed by and your beauty was his. Sounds like our world now. 16:49,50-Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters'; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominable offenses before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw fit. 18:4,5...9-Behold all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine; the soul that sins it shall die. But if a man is righteous and does what is lawful and right.... and Who has walked in My statutes and kept My ordinances, to deal justly; then he is truly righteous, he shall surely live, says the Lord God. 18:23,24- Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord, and not rather that he should turn from his evil way and return to his God and live? But if the righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die. 18:32- For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord. Therefore turn and live!

Who knew reading out loud and recording the entire Bible in 30 days could be so easy? And yet so few people in the world have done it. This is day 20, ten more episodes to go.

Isaiah in an ending chapter caught my eye, particularly because I am reading the entire Bible while on a 40-day water fast. So each day almost corresponds (I read and record 5 days a weeks with weekends off, so even though the fast will be 40 days, there will be 30 recordings) with how long I've gone without food while gorging myself 3 hours a day on God's Word. These last several verses caught my eye, and made me check my own heart before I went on reading: A ridiculously idolatrous and sinful people are demanding of God why doesn't He appreciate their hypocritical outward signs of obedience to Him and reward them for it. Isaiah 58:3-5 Why have we fasted, they say and You do not see it? Why have we afflicted ourselves, and You take no notice of it? Behold, O Israel, on the day of your fast when you should be grieving for your sins, you find profit in your business, and instead of stopping all work, as the law implies you and your workmen should do, you extort from your hired servants a full amount of labor. The facts are that you fast ony for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Fasting as you do today will not cause your voice to be heard on high. Is such a fast as yours what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself with sorrow in his soul? Is true fasting merely mechanical? Is it only to bow down his head and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him to indicate a condition of heart he does not have? Will you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? It made me truly pause and ask if I'm doing this completely unto the Lord. 65:17-For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. And the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. After so many thousands of years of misery and suffering and sin. God's world of peace makes living today somehow seem bearable. 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy Mount, says the Lord. It seems no surprise to me at all that we have so much confusion and sin and idol worship today, 66:4- So I also will choose their delusions and mockings, and I will bring their calamities and afflictions, and I will bring their fears upon them-because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they did not listen or obey. But they did what was evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.

An interesting one today. It's Isaiah, so a Lot of bad news because of the constant evil and rebellion of the Israelites, with some blessings sprinkled in. And more prophesies directly about Jesus than one would remember. Traditionally, Isaiah was sawed in half by the evil son of King Hezekiah who was a genuinely decent king. God told him he was going to die early, but unfortunately Hezekiah humbled himself and prayed and begged God to let him live because it is implied that he has no sons to take the throne after he died, and it was honestly the worst thing that could have happened. God said he could live 15 more years. And sons were born to Hezekiah. And nothing but immense grief resulted. One of his sons, Manasseh, became an absolutely evil and disgraceful idolator running his kingdom into the ground for an abusive 45 years, and again, as tradition would have it, he murdered his father's friend and counsellor, Isaiah. Some really beautiful verses that stuck out to me today. 17:7,8-And in that day will men look to their Maker, and their eyes shall regard the Holy One of Israel. And they will not look at the idolatrous altars, the work of their hands, neither will they have respect for what their fingers have made... Screw the nonsense climate change depopulation lie. 24:1-6-Behold the Lord will make the land and the earth empty and make it waste and turn it upside down and scatter abroad its inhabitants. And it shall be-as what happens with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; ... The land and the earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly pillaged; for the Lord has said this. The land and the earth mourn and wither, the world languishes and withers, the high ones of the people languish, The land and the earth also are defiled by their inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, disregarded the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the land and the earth, and they who dwell in it suffer the punishment of their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the land and earth are scorched and parched under the curse of God's wrath, and few people are left. 25;8,9-He will swallow up death in victory; He will abolish death forever. And the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces; and the reproach of His people He will take away from off all the earth; for the Lord has spoken it. 26:9-My soul yearns for You O Lord in the night, yes, my spirit within me seeks You earnestly; for only when Your judgments are in the earth will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

So much wisdom in Proverbs against the evil and the foolish man. Ecclesiastes, it's such a reflection of the futile and meaningless lives the majority of the world are currently existing. Song of Solomon, my love, I can scarcely ever read without weeping. Isaiah is a strange breath of fresh air. Some proverbs kicked me in the eye today: 5:21-For the ways of man are directly before the eyes of the Lord, and He Who would have us live soberly, chastely, and godly carefully weighs all man's goings. 11:17-Ther merciful, kind, and generous man benefits himself for his deeds return to bless him, but he who is cruel and callous to the wants of others brings on himself retribution. 11:23-25; The desire of the consistently righteous brings only good, but the expectation of the wicked brings only wrath. There are those who generously scatter abroad, and yet increase more; there are those who withhold more than is fitting or what is justly due, but it results only in want. The liberal person shall be enriched, and he who waters shall himself be watered. 12:22-Lying lips are extremely disgusting and hateful to the Lord, but they who deal faithfully are His delight. 12:28-Life is in the way of righteousness, and in its pathway there is no death but immortality. 13:19-Satisfied desire is sweet to a person; therefore it is hateful and exceedingly offensive to fools to give up evil upon which they have set their hearts. 19:22-That which is desired in a man is loyalty and kindness and his glory and delight are his giving, but a poor man is better than a liar. (Dear God, how deeply I understand that now after loving an utter monster.)

I've often struggled with Psalms, while of course finding them relatable. Proverbs are a breath of fresh air as always.

Long one today.

Three distinctly different books today. Nehemiah has always impressed me. He was pretty high ranking in the king's service. He was the cup bearer. If anything was poisoned, he was going to die first. But at the same time, he had to be someone the king actually liked, otherwise, would you ever want to constantly drink the backwash of someone you hated? Something to think about. So when Nehemiah was looking sad in front of the king's face, for the first time in his entire career, it made the king ask him why. God's grace was on Nehemiah. King Artaxerxes decided to not only give Nehemiah permission to rebuild the walls and the temple of his hometown, he also agreed to fund it. They had lots of enemies and plots to ruin the rebuilding, but the scene my entire life has always amused me when the verses describe the builders working with one hand, and grasping a sword in the other, and never taking their clothes off, even sleeping in them, ready to defend at all times. Esther. A pretty neat orphan-to-Queen dream of a life. What little girl in the world wouldn't wish for the same thing? And she also gets to save her entire race throughout her husband's kingdom. Of course, the most quoted verse in the entire book, it's beautiful, and never gets old: "For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your father's house will die. Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?.... Go, gather together all the Jews that are present...and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I also and my maids will fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; if I perish, I perish." Job. Good night! This book has always broken my heart. The utterly confounding thing is that God blatantly offered and volunteered Job's livelihood, body, health, children's lives, and everything he ever loved to be utterly destroyed by satan BECAUSE he was faithful and righteous before God. The only thing Job ever wants is to know why. But he doesn't get an answer. In some way, it's kind of a magnificent explanation for why life is so hard sometimes, even if we have been running after God with all our heart. I can so relate with so many of the gut-wrenching things he says, and having his character constantly and viciously attacked by people who pretended to love him, even after he had done nothing wrong. After I found my mum dead, I spent a long time wanting to die, but for some reason God wouldn't let me. And I was nowhere near as righteous as Job.

Slowly approaching the halfway mark, today's reading really started off with a bang. I appreciated the deeper stories and having more time with the kings of Judah that were mostly just mentioned in Kings. After hearing so much about the evil kings, it was nice hearing about some of the good things Jehoshaphat did, Josiah, Joash, Amaziah kind of tried... Uzziah did until he started doing really well and no longer thought he needed God, I really liked Hezekiah for the most part when he sent letters pleading his people to come back to God "Do not be like your fathers and brethren, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that He gave them up to desolation, as you see, Now don't be stiff-necked , as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come into His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, that He may turn His fierce anger away from you." ... but the people laughed them to scorn and mocked them. King Josiah was lovely, too. God asked a great question, "Thus says God, Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you." The surprising thing in Ezra was multiple Persian kings who were stirred up by the Lord, as their captors, actually commanding and funding the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem of the very people they had helped destroy for a God they didn't themselves believe in.

Continuing on with reading my entire Bible and recording it in 30 episodes. Starting with 1 Chronicles 4, it was a Bunch of genealogies, they're useful and God put them there for a reason and you learn a lot when you study the meaning of the names in order, which usually tell a story in and of themselves. And then it shifts slightly in telling about the names of the villages and where each family in each tribe lived. By chapter 10, Chronicles circles back to its version of some of my favorite characters in the Bible. Chronicles seems to focus on less-family-drama versions of their stories and doesn't address much of the betrayal, lying, murder, throne-grabbing, etc. Here we spend a lot of time learning about David's band of mighty soldiers who fought and died with him and for him. There were so many beautiful verses of praise to God's character in the passages today: "O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His wondrous works and devoutly praise them! Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!" "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and lovingkindness endures forever!" David passes the torch to Solomon while he is still alive, and charges him to build God's house during his reign. "And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father[have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him.] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you will seek Him[inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever!" "If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land." It took twenty years to build God's house and Solomon's house. But grand they were. Walls and doors laid in pure gold. Solomon's beginning reign was blessed and full of wisdom and riches and fame. People from allover the land came to see him and bring him gifts and hear him speak and astound them. But later in life his rebellion against God probably in some way encouraged his son not to follow after the Lord either after Solomon died.

Coming...

Things just keep getting juicier. 2 Samuel 22 begins with a gorgeous song David wrote in praise of the Lord. In that song are some of the most famous verses in 2 Samuel. "My God, my Rock, in Him will I take refuge; my Shield and the Horn of my salvation; my Stronghold and my Refuge, my Savior-You save me from violence. I call on the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. In my distress I called upon the Lord; I cried to my God, and He heard my voice from His temple; my cry came into His ears. .... He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of great waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth into a large place; He delivered me because He delighted in me." Anything God does for us is because of His love. I find it heartbreaking how often I talk to atheists who say they would never serve a hateful God who punishes humanity. But a loving parent punishes a child they love. Always. And my very favorite for the end of the chapter "No, I will buy it of you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which costs me nothing." Kings begins with David being quite an old man with all his myriad of wives and countless servants, for some reason he Needed a young virgin to cook for him and cuddle with him to keep him warm. Must be a cultural thing. Okayy... moving on. The problem with multiple wives and loads of half siblings, they end up hating each other. While David's dying, another one of his buck-wild children tries to take the throne away from David before his body is even cold. Solomon's mother and the prophet to the king put a stop to the coup just in time, and Solomon later has his brother killed. David ends with giving his son the new king a list of grievances he has with some unruly people from his past who need to be dealt with. And tells Solomon things will Only go well for him and his kingdom if he serves God alone. Well, great. The first thing Solomon goes out and does is marry a foreign idolater and makes an alliance with Egypt, one of the places Israelites were strictly charged with staying away from. He does one of his most famous acts. God comes to Solomon in a dream and asks him what he wants. And Solomon asks for wisdom so he can rule his people better. God grants his request and Much More. Then in one of his most famous rulings between two women fighting over a baby, both claiming it's theirs. He orders the baby to be cut in half and each half be given to each woman, to sniff out who the real mother is, the one obviously against the baby being cut in two. Solomon begins work on the temple for the Lord to store the ark of His Presence, and builds a palace for himself, among a few other things. He lives in vast luxury, and if he hadn't screwed up with one bad marriage, he decides to marry 700 more, with other princesses and 300 concubines. And then he figures it would be a great idea to become an idolater and worship his wive's gods, too. It ends Very badly and starts a cascade of vile bloodshed, division of the kingdom, and almost all of what Solomon built being utterly destroyed in one or two generations. Lots of horrible, short-lived kings except one, Asa. He wasn't perfect, but he was the best they got. Enters Elijah, one of my favorite characters of all time, except after he butchers the idol worshipers, and outruns the king's chariot over twenty miles, and goes and whines and has a little pity party because he's made an enemy of the evil king Ahab. And God basically fires him after the greatest success of his entire career. Go get your replacement, Elijah, you're done... Ahab and Jezebel do the exceedingly-evil stuff, and Elijah scolds them for it saying dogs will eat their blood and says you're pretty much done for.

Some seriously good stuff today! We're in my favorite parts of the Bible. It has it all! Again though, all apologies for any terrible pronunciation of those brutal Old Testament names. Egad! We pick up where we left off yesterday. David (not yet truly king) is running for his life again(he does that often) from Saul. We get a few glimpses of the most beautiful bromance to have ever existed on earth. Ohh, Jonathan and David, not a hint of impropriety, just a wonderful, and deep, and real admiration for each other. 1 Samuel 20:17 "And Jonathan caused David to swear again by his love for him, for Jonathan loved him as he loved his own life." At first Jonathan tries to argue that King Saul, his father, isn't trying to murder David or get him killed somehow. But then he puts his dad to the test and he comes to the conclusion , Oh, Davide was right. Soo, you should run for your life, Dad is Definitely trying to kill you. David pops into to visit a priest while on the run, and asks for food and weapons, the priest consents albeit to his detriment. The king finds out the priest helped David and gets himself and everyone he knows slaughtered for his accidental treason. The Lord tested David's heart several times while on the run. King Saul was within his arm's reach in vulnerable situations, where David could easily have killed him and Taken the throne which was rightfully his anyway, but he didn't. He knew better than to take revenge or to take the throne by force. Saul being spiteful, gave David's wife away. But don't worry, David seemed to have a knack for collecting women and ended up with a dozen others instead. Tired of running from Saul, David went to the enemies of Israel, the Philistines, as in the same people whose hero he killed. Remember Goliath? You'd think they wouldn't appreciate that, considering songs were written about how many of their people David had killed. But nonetheless, the king of the Philistines welcomed David with open arms and even gave him a whole city. In utter desperation, Saul is terrified of the fight he's about to engage in, so he goes to a medium and asks her to summon from the dead his old prophet. Samuel scolds him wildly for his past sins and possibly this one for waking him, and tells Saul he and his sons will die tomorrow. 1 Samuel ends with the death of Saul in battle and three of his sons, tragically including Jonathan. 2 Samuel begins with David finding out his friends are dead and weeping a lot. David does a LOT of crying in this book. One of Saul's remaining sons assumes the throne. There's constant political tension and lines crosses in terms of loyalty by several people who server both David and Saul's son king. Lots of betrayal and selfishness. David pretty much screws up the rest of his life for himself and his family with this one stupid and infamous act. He steals the wife of a righteous man, gets her pregnant, and then murders the truly good and wholesome soldier. Their first son together dies. God curses David's household because of the evil he committed against an innocent man. One of David's sons kills one of his brothers, goes into exile for a little while, and then comes back and decides he wants to be king instead of his dad, and after gathering an army for himself to kill his dad, he decides to have sex with David's unattended harem on the rooftop for Israel to see. David's son, the usurper Absalom eventually dies in battle, and David goes back to his palace. There is a 3-year famine and David learns it is the result of a divine judgement because of some people Saul screwed over previously that David has to make right. The demand the death of seven of Saul's relatives, whom David hands over promptly. And the final chapter for today ends with a bunch of giants being killed, relatives of Goliath, one amazingly with six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot. That's a real thing you know, a family in Brazil all have them. Youtube it.

Another action-packed section! I have always adored the books of Samuel from start to finish. But Judges and Ruth don't get enough attention. Today began with the exciting birth of Samson. Who didn't love him? Huge tough guy, does whatever the freak he wants, mostly to his detriment, including his constant problems with women and gullibility. Later on, there's basically a replay from the much earlier scene of Sodom, but here there's no angel to come to the rescue and a woman gets raped to death. And it starts a war, with one of the tribes nearly being wiped to extinction. Judges ends with the funniest ways of getting a wife that is ever found in the Bible; just find one in the garden at the dance party and grab her and run off with her. Bam, WIFE! Ruth is a beautiful story of pan and loss, hard times and hard work, redemption and love. I adore the people God chose to be the bloodlines of His Son. In Ruth, God uses the love story of an old man and a widowed woman with probably few prospects if any of marrying again, who go on to become the great grandparents of King David(the same David who slew Goliath). Next we have a barren woman begging God and praying fervently for a child, and the priest shouting at her thinking she's drunk in the temple because her heart was praying and her lips were moving but no sound was being made. The saddest verse of the day sums up a lot of Samuel and the nations problems: "And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken to the voice of the people in all they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected ME, that I should not be King over them." ALL of the problems on the planet stem from this one verse. The sin, the suffering, the pain and death. To all who choose to be separate from God being King on the throne of our life.

Pretty action packed today. With Moses dead, Joshua is appointed to take his place as leader. Israel goes around following wherever God clears out the people before them, seizing the towns and villages. They do the famous march around Jericho, the walls fall, and they invade and take the city seemingly quite easily. Joshua dies, and judges(kind of like kings) come up one after the other. For most of them, the Israelites do okay, then as soon as the judge dies, they throw themselves headlong back into sin. This constant cycle of freedom, sin and rebellion and idolatry, and slavery, crying out to God Who for some reason refuses to give up on them rescues them again, over and over again the same cycle.

I few beautiful verses stuck out to me today. The most beautiful one of course, Deuteronomy 6:5 "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your mind and heart and with your entire being and with all your might." Never gets old. Deuteronomy 7:9-10 "Know, recognize , and understand therefore that the Lord your God, is God, the faithful God, Who keeps covenant and steadfast love and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays those who hate Him to their face, by destroying them; He will not be slack to him who hates Him, but will requite him to his face." There are many who will never repent, no matter how obvious the destruction is in their life. Deuteronomy 7:26 "Neither shall you bring an abomination an idol into your house, lest you become an accursed thing like it; but you shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is an accursed thing." When I was in Israel a few years ago, archeologists found these dirty little clay sex dolls in almost 100% of houses they dug up. Just because we can hide our sins and idols better through internet searches and digital means, doesn't mean that it isn't responsible for destruction in your life. Put that stuff down, and run away from it forever.

I've finished my whole first week through reading and recording the Bible over 40 days. Some verses stuck out to me today. Admittedly not too many of them, it was mostly the Israelites whining about their problems, being face to face with God and wanting to be slaves again because they were too busy romanticizing their past as they wandered around in the desert rebelling against God and the constant cycles of screwing up, getting punished for it, and repenting. Numbers 15:15- "There shall be one and the same statute both for you of the congregation and for the stranger who is a temporary resident with you, a statute forever throughout your generations: as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord." Sometimes God's laws don't seem fair in the Bible, looking at it through ignorant gentile eyes. And especially through women's eyes, but the fairness of this verse brought me joy this morning. Balaam after being scolded by his donkey who spoke to him, he is hired to curse Israel but blesses them instead, and his words still ring true. With Jews being the most blessed and powerful race of people on the planet, he said in Numbers 24:8-9, "God brought Israel forth out of Egypt; Israel has strength like the wild ox; he shall eat up the nations, his enemies, crushing their bones and piercing them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion and a lioness, who shall rouse him? Blessed of God is he who blesses you, who prays for and contributes to your welfare an cursed of God is he who curses you who in word, thought, or deed would bring harm upon you." Today in general, a man's word doesn't man much. In a world full of lairs and selfishness, it doesn't diminish the value God places and will always place on promises. Numbers 30:2 : "If a man vows a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break and profane his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth." As God's daughter, I long with all my heart to claim this one for myself. Deuteronomy 2:7 "For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked for nothing." Deuteronomy 4:29-31 "But if from there you will seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you truly seek Him with all your heart and mind and soul and life. When you are in tribulation and all these things come upon you, in the latter days you will turn to the Lord your God and be obedient to His voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them."

Several scriptures stuck out to me during my Bible reading today. It's always interesting how you can read something in the Bible so many times, but then suddenly He highlights something to you and it hits deep as if you've never seen it before. I want to share a few thoughts. This was the first one this morning that kicked me in the heart. I was in the middle of this recording, and had this massive urge to begin weeping. I had to pause it for a few seconds and recover. The purpose of humanity and more importantly of believers genuinely following a sincere Christian walk with the Holy Spirit could be summed up with this verse: Leviticus 20:26 "You shall be holy to Me; for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine." God wants what belongs to Him. Period. We were created to be His. To love Him, to grow in Him, to be loved and taken care of by Him. And ultimately to be holy as He is holy so we could stand and worship in His Presence. And while Leviticus seems to ramble on and onnn... rule after rule, and you can catch yourself thinking it's quite boring and what's the point in all of these words and names and numbers...? Firstly, They Matter to God. That's why they're there. And if you claim to belong to and love Him, then the pursuit if your life in Christ should be the violent and eager racing towards becoming like the Person He loves most. So this verse slapped me in the face: Leviticus 22:31 "So shall you heartily accept My commandments and conform your life and conduct to them. I am the Lord." If you're worldly, which means unsaved or a completely fake carnal Christian pretending to be saved, I am a nightmare to be around. I don't watch new films, I don't watch the news, I don't watch television. Period. The second I hear even One vulgar word or see even ONE unacceptable scene, I will walk out of the room, and if I drove there, I will leave without so much as a goodbye. A lot of problems in this world would be solved if we were to uphold this ONE law of the Old Testament. Put anyone to death who blasphemes God's Name. Then this one: Leviticus 24:16 "And he who blasphemes the Name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him; the stranger as well as he who was born in the land shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name[of the Lord]." Leviticus 26:15-21: "And if you spurn and despise my statutes, and if your soul despises and rejects My ordinances, so that you will not do all My commandments, but break My covenant, I will do this: I will appoint over you sudden terror, even consumption and fever and waste the eyes and make the life pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I the Lord will set My face against you and you shall be defeated and slain before your enemies; they who hate you shall rule over you; you shall flee when no one pursues you. And if in spite of all this you still will not listen and be obedient to Me, then I will chastise and discipline you seven times more for your sins. And I will break and humble your pride in your power, and I will make your heavens as iron yielding no answer, no blessing, no rain, and your earth as sterile as brass, And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield it's increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. If you walk contrary to Me and will not heed Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins." And it this not Exactly what has happened to every Caucasian nation on the planet, who were once the conquerors of the world? We ARE Indeed being ruled over by those who hate us in Britain, Europe, Canada, the US, Australia, South Africa... Especially Britain, Europe, and the US used to produce the greatest Christian men on the planet, are now being overrun with godlessness and sin and being destroyed from within by a culture and people who hate God.

Normally these are the pages of the Bible I have found least enjoyable. But on this journey to read and record the entire Bible in 40 days, I don't know if there is more grace than usual, or if the Holy Spirit is revealing something deeper in the old laws. All I see is a deeply loving God Who only desires for us to be holy and like Him. About two hours in, my upstairs neighbours decided to replace a tile and leave about 10 seconds of an awkward drilling background noise, but I took a break and finished recording the rest in peace.

Join me on an adventure through the entire Bible in 40 days!

It is my intention to read and record the entire Bible in the next 40 days. This is day 1. You can just leave it playing as you start your day. Some say my voice is soothing. Hey, give it a try. And forgive me for any pronunciation errors. Those Old Testament names are something else.

Whether you know Him or not, God sees you in all you are, all you were, and all you ever will be. We waste so much of our lives hiding behind facades of who we want the world to think we are, and sometimes we even lie to ourselves, but if you have the slightest understanding of God's omnipotent omnipresence it is preposterous to be fake at all with Him: He knows what you think to yourself when you're alone in the shower, He knows about the dimple on your bum you don't like, He knows the things you say about the neighbour you hate, and on and on. But these disguises damage the intimacy God desires with us that is found only in complete, honest transparency. (For some reason, I took one and only selfie in the borrowed car from that day, and I managed to find it.)

Sometimes a soul is placed in our hands for but a moment in time. More often than not, we spit on that opportunity instead of revealing the heart of Christ.

I used to have a joke before tossing myself casually from terrifyingly-high cliffs around the world, "Dying is easy; it beats paying rent." We're called to a much greater death.

You're worth dying for. God looks at us and sees someone He loves. Real love will cost you everything you are. Love doesn't put a price on its own life, but on yours. "In matters of laying down our life for others, we can't afford to ask, 'What will this cost me?' But instead what will it cost them if I don't?"

I've recently moved back to Hawaii, and last night I was invited to a documentary viewing about modern day slavery in the fishing industry overseas. It was fiery afterward, opinionated, political, and as someone not personally involved in the industry, it was a little boring. I didn't give my opinion about it as we drove away, but my heart was burning and I was more than ready for battle and to respond to the issue, just not in the way my friend would have thought. As I sat there in the discussion after the documentary was played, my heart actually went out more to the ones hosting the event. They were so passionate... passionately wasting their lives fighting the wrong war and they didn't even know it. If I had said it out loud, I would have been surely beaten off the stage and flogged. It is a truth people don't want to hear. The truth is. THIS WORLD NEEDS MORE SLAVES.

God in His infinite love will often bring us to a place where He knows we'll almost be miserable, but it's in those places of great and even painful challenge where He knows we'll grow faster in a short period of time of than we would mature in years in a place where we're comfortable.

One of my silly pet birds one day taught me a powerful lesson about the way satan sometimes operates.

While visiting a small country church for the first time, the Cry of my soul was to know the heart of God. He showed me my first prophetic vision and one-third of it came true moments later. And then the pastor called me out of the congregation to tell me what he saw and it was the exact copy of what I'd seen of me in the park holding out my hands. Then an hour later another pastor said the same thing, thrice confirming it to me in the same day.

Without starting directly at the Glory of God, this side of eternity, none of us can ever truly understand how much Jesus paid for our sins. But as believers we have the Holy Spirit of God living in us Who is willing to teach us as much as we can finally fathom si that we can stop living with a worldly mindset and with an eternal one instead.

I went to China to meet one of my friends. In such an intimate setting, our personalities didn't work well together. And instead of using my unbearable loneliness to seek Holy Spirit, I used it on myself and ended up permanently damaging a friendship that took three years to build. I had failed them all.

Sometimes we only get one chance to be the love of Christ in someone's life before they're gone, and to love people for who they are without any expectations. If we truly understand we have the Hope of the world living inside of us, we have to love people enough to tell them about Him everywhere we go.

Wrapping things up and Giving you the results of what actually happened in my life when I gave away everything I made and God utterly poured Himself out into my life and blessed me in ways I could never imagine.

The absolute joy God gave me through a dare I made with Him and the lessons He taught me rocked the very foundation about money and my own heart I had been falsely leaning on.

What I learned about money, the kind of attitude we need to have before God can use our gifts, and how giving actually changes us.

I had the night off from work in Hawaii one evening and no matter what I tried to amuse myself, I couldn't get any peace. Finally, the Holy Spirit waited for ne to ask what He actually wanted me to do instead. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

As a girl who has spent the last ten years traveling the world off and on, the last two years continuously, for several years I've passionately sought a relationship with Jesus, and along the way Holy Spirit has used me when I've obeyed Him, and at other times I've walked away and sinned and failed miserably. For months, just now running back to Him after much rebellion and brokenness, I've been pouring out my soul to Him and asked what He wants me to do. He said, "Tell the world." I've put it off, avoided it, begged for something else, tried to reason with Him, and He's been completely silent. My pastor used to say, "If the Lord isn't speaking to you, go back and do the last thing He told you to do, because He's not going to give you more instructions if you don't even obey the first ones." Either way, I truly believe the more transparent I am with you in my successes, the more you will see the work of God in my life, and the more I share my sins and what they have cost me the more y