Contemplative Bible Reading

James 1:2 (New Living Translation) Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. This is one of the more annoying verses in the Bible. How did God put it in here? I suppose I am to put the emphasis on the word opportunity. That […]

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James 5:19-20 (New Living Translation) 19 My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, 20 you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. One way that I […]

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1 Peter 2:24 (New Living Translation) He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Why did Jesus the Messiah die on the cross? One of the reasons is so that I can […]

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1 Peter 2:10 (New Living Translation) “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” Who am I? What is my title? What do people call me? What is it I want people to call me? What identity do I […]

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Philippians 2:3-4 (New Living Translation) 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. This may be an odd take on these verses. Let’s say the majority of persons in […]

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John 15:14-15 (New Living Translation) 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. An acquaintance of mine grew up on a farm, […]

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John 15:7 (New Living Translation) But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! I remain in God and His words remain in me. I pray that my mother will be healed, but she isn’t. So, what’s the deal with […]

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Philippians 1:9-11 (American Standard Version) 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; 10 so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ; 11 being filled with the fruits […]

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Philippians 1:9 (American Standard Version) And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; I delve back into the American Standard Version translation as I find its wording fascinating here. It seems that love is part of discernment. I believe that “discernment” here means the ability […]

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Luke 24:24 (American Standard Version) And certain of them that were with us went to the tomb, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. I am using the American Standard Version of the Bible for today’s verse. It has a certain twist to the words that struck […]

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