Daniel'sWeeklyDevotions

This has been an interesting year.  I have been sticking with the 1-year reading plan (for the most part, but catching up when I fall behind).  It’s been very enjoyable, but I almost feel like the pace is too fast to really let things sink in.  As I read, I’ve been making notes of certain verses that stand out, places to which I want to return and dig deeper.  Additionally, the Lord has provided some paid work (hallelujah!), which has taken up some of the time I would have used to formulate coherent devotionals.  Don’t take the lack of posts as a sign that this site has been abandoned; there’s a lot kicking around in my mind that I hope to unpack and explore in the next few years here.

As an aside – if you follow either my personal blog or my tech blog, you’ve already read the “We’re back on WordPress” posts.  This blog is included; it’s now back to running WordPress after a year on BlogEngine.NET.  All the old links should redirect to new ones, and the goal is that you wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t said anything. Â

I leave you with a quick word of encouragement from yesterday’s sermon.

¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.— John 15:10

Have a great [period of time until we meet again]!

On the suggestion of a friend, I subscribed to the Daily Audio Bible (DAB) podcast.  In this podcast, Brian Hardin reads the Bible through each year – 2010 is the fifth year.  It’s been a blessing to me to listen to God’s Word, as well as enjoy some of his comments as well.  (I’ll have to own up to skipping a good bit of the commentary, especially when I was trying to catch up a few days.)  It was great to be able to listen while I did other things; however, this was a mixed blessing.  I found that I would sometimes get distracted with the “other” thing that I was doing, and would mentally check out of the podcast.  During one of these distracted times, I felt the Lord telling me that it was time to take the next step.

For this reason, beginning 2 Jan 10, I’ll be beginning a 52-week Bible reading plan, reading it the old-fashioned way, off words printed on paper.  My main Christmas gift this year was an ESV Study Bible, and this will help put that to good use.  One of the aspects of DAB that I liked was the community; I knew that, although I might be the only one listening to my computer, there were thousands others that were listening to Brian.  Although my participation in that community could be described, at best, as a lurker, it encouraged me to have it there.  To help encourage others, I’ve created a group on Facebook called Read the Bible in 2011.  This group will function as a community where we’ll encourage each other along this journey.  I’d like to invite you, my reader, to join me in this journey.  The group is closed, but if you request access, just send me a separate message so I’ll know who you are.

While the goal is to read through the Bible in a year, we don’t want to go so quickly that we don’t have time to stop and listen to what God is trying to tell us in the passage of the day.  So, the stated goal of reading through the Bible in 2011 is not really the goal; it is merely the means to the greater goal of allowing God to speak to us.  I’m looking forward to it – won’t you join me?

Cross-posted at Daniel J. Summers

I’ve been thinking a good bit about where this blog is headed, and I thought I’d share these thoughts with you.

When I started this, I had what turned out to be very lofty goals for it – a devotional week-in, week-out, well-thought-out and based on what I was currently studying in the Bible.  With other responsibilities and activities that I have, I simply have not been able to meet that goal.  This isn’t to say that the goal isn’t a good one; I just have fallen short of it.  Weekly devotions will remain the goal (and the name), but there will be a change.  While Wednesday at 7am will remain the unofficial schedule, each devotion will appear when I have completed it; if I complete it early, it’ll be on time, but it may be late.  The best way to keep up with this is via the RSS feed.  I also will post links via my Twitter account, and the NetworkedBlogs application automatically posts entries to my Facebook profile.

I’ve also been doing some research regarding versions of the Bible.  I still like the Holman Christian Standard Bible, but over the summer, I was introduced to the English Standard Version.  While the HCSB’s goal is a more contemporary English sentence structure, word-for-word for the most part but thought-for-thought where the word order may be confusing, the ESV is a literal word-for-word translation, similar to the way the King James Version was translated.  Far from confusing, I have found it to speak to me in a way the HCSB has not.  Beginning in 2011, I will switch to using the ESV as the default version for my devotionals.

I am grateful to have seen God use these devotionals to bless people that I have never met.  I will post what I feel He is leading me to post, when He enables me by providing the thoughts about which to write and the time to pull it together into a coherent post.  I pray that, as we head into 2011 and beyond, that God will use this site to bring others to Him, and encourage His own to a deeper relationship with Him.

Welcome to version 2.0 of Daniel’s Weekly Devotions!  I’ve cleaned out the cobwebs, put on a fresh coat of paint, and gotten it ready to return to being an active part of the Internet.

The first change is the URL.  This used to be under my personal blog, which made configuration more challenging.  The new URL is devotions.summershome.org.  I’ve implemented redirection for all the old category and post links, as well as the RSS feed.  Anything that this doesn’t catch will be redirected here to the main page.  If you run into a link that didn’t redirect the way you thought it should, please let me know.

The next change is the theme.  The previous theme was based on the famous Kubrick theme, which was the default WordPress theme for many years.  This theme is called Fresh Citrus, and it has its sidebar on the right; the comments now support Gravatars, country flags, and a different background for comments by the post author.  I’ve also updated ShareThis to the latest version and changed the icon layout.

The third change was a move from WordPress to BlogEngine.NET.  While WordPress has served me well, I really like where BlogEngine.NET is headed.  The migration was quick and easy; I spent more time customizing the theme than I did moving the data over.  I plan to put migration details over on the DJS Consulting Tech Blog at some point in the future.

There you have it – a summary of what’s new here.  Devotions will resume 25 Aug 10 with a look at Romans 3:16.

Regular devotions will resume in December. 

However, I have been very, very busy with several different projects.  This hasn’t gone the way of the dinosaurs, I’ve just got to wrap up some things so I’ll have time to finish writing the next few entries in the “3:16′s of the New Testament” series.  Devotions should resume sometime this month, posting on Wednesday mornings as before.

I go from “On Hiatus” to “On Mission” – you should probably get a refund for this site.    From the end of January through the first part of April, I’ve been and will continue to be working with Not So Extreme Makeover: Community Edition, a community-based project in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I talk about it a little more on my personal and technical blogs.  Regular devotions will resume in April.

Happy Easter!

Things have been very, very busy here over the past few months.  Between vacation, holidays, medical issues, and some college classes that I need to finish, there’s not much time for organizing my studies into coherent devotionals.  However, new devotionals will resume on February 6th.

My apologies for the lull in new devotionals – we’ll be picking up this Wednesday with Philemon.

Welcome to Daniel’s Weekly Devotions. The devotions here come from my own personal Bible study; one of the best ways to learn something is to read it, re-read it, and write it down. In doing that, I come up with a good bit of raw material. Putting polish on them and posting them here helps me internalize the subject, and allows me to share what I’m learning with you.

(NOTE: The following paragraph is somewhat outdated; see this post for updated schedule and version information.)

There is a new devotional posted each Wednesday morning at 7am Mountain Time. Each devotional is short to moderate in length, balancing Scripture with Scripture and applying the precepts found. They are categorized by topic and book of the Bible, and can be searched from the sidebar. (Categories are added as devotionals are posted, so all categories except the headings should have at least one entry.) Scripture references are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, and will be linked to BibleGateway.com, where you can view the cross-references and footnotes. (There may also be times where other things will be posted between the normal “Wednesday at 7″ schedule.)

Comments are allowed on all posts, and if there is a topic or passage that you would like to see addressed, just let me know. I pray that you will find something here to bless your life and encourage your walk with Christ. If something encourages you, and you feel so led, let me know that as well.

I pray that God will richly bless you in your walk with Him. If you do not have a personal relationship with Christ, I’d be happy to share with you how you can know Him for yourself.