“The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return.”‭‭Mark‬ ‭13:34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It’s day thirteen of “Mark, one chapter a day for Easter.” here at Refocused Bible Study. If you missed the details of the study, you can find them here. We’d love for you to join us!

Today we are reading in chapter thirteen and I was mostly drawn to verses 32-37. I’m sharing today following the quiet time pattern below. Try it in your own personal study and see if it helps you find focus and structure to help His Word come alive in your life! See the image here: 
My verse:  “It’s like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch.” Mark 13:34 MSG

Application: Sometimes life can get complicated and our “assigned tasks” can get blurry. When it’s hard to know what to focus on, we can always revert back to the greatest commandment, to love the Lord and love others. The Lord also reminded me of the great commission to “go and make disciples.” Take time to ask the Lord if you are doing the good work he prepared for you in advance in Ephesians 2:10.

Review: Jesus is coming back. He has left us with purpose and anticipation; this wonderful hope that cannot be taken from us – that he is returning! The sun swill be darkened, the moon will give no light, the starts will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then, JESUS will come, on the clouds with great POWER and glory.

Kneel in prayer: Lord, we praise you, our Creator, Savior, and Master. Here we are, looking for your return with sweet anticipation Please help us all to stay focused on the work you’ve given us to do through your power. Help us keep our eyes and heart set on that moment, when you return in all your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

What was your verse today? Easter is only a few days away! Let us continue to remember the reason we celebrate. ❤ It will look different this year. Praying that means it is more heartfelt than ever before.

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”

Mark 12:30-31

It’s day twelve of “Mark, one chapter a day for Easter.” here at Refocused Bible Study. If you missed the details of the study, you can find them HERE: https://amydterry.com/2020/03/27/read-mark-a-chapter-a-day-for-easter/

We’d love for you to join us!

Today we are reading in chapter twelve, and I was mostly drawn to verses 30-31. I’m sharing today following the quiet time pattern below. Try it in your own personal study and see if it helps you find focus and structure to help His Word come alive in your life!

My verse: It was easy for me to choose verses 30-31, because the greatest commandment simplifies scripture and the law Jesus came to fulfill. Falling more in love with Jesus and giving him more of our heart will start a progression of obedience, and we won’t have to tell ourselves to “do this” or “not do that” because we will be so focused on loving him and full of his love that it will overflow onto others.

How do I fall more in love with Jesus?

Take time to study how much he loves you.

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Ephesians 3:18-19 NLT

I wrote a bible study to help grow in the knowledge of how much he loves you, you can find it HERE: https://amydterry.com/2017/02/02/our-real-life-valentine/

Application: This week, as Easter approaches, we can see how much he loves us. We see Jesus, enduring the suffering we deserved, feeling the pain, and staying in it so that we could be free and invited to live free of the curse of death and sin humanity was once held captive to . We don’t have to enter into his presence after killing an innocent animal or going through a ceremonial cleansing. This alone should make our hearts swell with a love for him that moves us to be willing to do whatever he wants, whatever he prompts us to do: to give generously to his kingdom, to love others sacrificially, to welcome in and protect the vulnerable orphans and widows. It is all an overflow of a heart full of Jesus’ love. His love compels us.

Review: In this chapter, Jesus was answering the Pharisees and Sadducees about different questions as they were trying to trap him and condemn him. But of course, Jesus had these amazing answers that none of them could come up with a rebuttal. (He was God of course, so who could outsmart him?!) He sees the reason and the entire picture and we see only a speck of the paint. Every answer and reasoning boils down to an all encompassing love for God and others. Jesus shows one of the religious teachers that when he was asked which commandment was the most important. Focusing on how much God loves you and loving him and others will always simplify life and give lasting purpose to all the work we do on this side of eternity. Without love, we are all bankrupt and our works mean nothing.

Kneel in prayer: Love Himself, we thank you for showing us true, selfless love by leaving heaven and walking on this sin filled earth. Help us to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love others as ourselves. Amen.

I’d love to hear your verse today. Easter is only a few days away!

It’s day ten of “Mark, one chapter a day for Easter.” here at Refocused Bible Study. If you missed the details of the study, you can find them

HERE: https://amydterry.com/2020/03/27/read-mark-a-chapter-a-day-for-easter/

We’d love for you to join us!

Today, I’d like to set a challenge before you.

A challenge to have WILDLY CHILDLIKE FAITH.

A faith that looks like the faith a child has in their parent at a young age, before their eyes are disillusioned and see that we human parents are sinners.

We see this kind of faith in chapter ten of Mark. Jesus calls the children close, and uses them as an example of the way we are to receive the Kingdom of God.

So today, I leave you with this challenge: talk to God like he is your good, good daddy, even if your earthly father left you or was far from the image you’d like to have of a good parent.

Father,

Help us embrace your design for childlike faith. May we never outgrow a faith in our Father to just take care of us. You never cut ties and turn us loose to try and do life by ourselves without you. You ask us to keep childlike faith. Help us to stay wildly childlike, to never grow up and think we’ve got it all figured out and can do it on our own. Help us keep a childlike trust in you that helps us to never worry, but to only trust you.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

What’s the Lord speaking to you today? Trust his word like it’s from the Father that will never let you down, because it is! ❤

Before Daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Mark 1:35 NLT

It’s day one of the series “Mark, a chapter a day for Easter” here at Refocused Bible Study. If you missed the details, you can find them here.

Whatever way you came across this post, I’m glad you are here and I pray you’ll join us! There is so much good stuff in every chapter, it is hard to pick one verse to focus in on! However, this one about Jesus going off to pray by himself made me fall in love with him all over again.

Jesus was fully God and fully man, yet still went off by himself to intentionally cultivate a connection with the Father through prayer. Did he do this to model spiritual discipline for us? Maybe. Did he do this because

HE LOVED THE FATHER AND WANTED TIME ALONE WITH HIM?

I think so. The day before, Jesus had been healing people and casting out evil spirits. Ministry was busy. He knew another busy day of serving and healing was ahead of him. So he got up while it was still dark to go spend this time one on one with his heavenly father. If Jesus did this, how much more do we need to do this? He was one with The Father, and yet he still carved out time from the rest of the day to go and talk to him one on one. Do you know what I’ve been telling myself instead of waking up early to spend time with The Father?

YOU NEED SLEEP, AND THE LORD KNOWS IT. YOU CAN PRAY LATER DURING THE DAY.

But, ladies, how I’ve been missing this time with Him! Time alone with God in the morning just cannot be replaced. There is nothing like it. Plus, it’s easy to see that Jesus sacrificed sleep to go and be alone with God, even in the thick of a very busy few days of ministry.

During the days leading up to Easter, let’s follow Jesus’ example and set our alarms just 30 minutes earlier. Let’s go and pray to Him and see how it changes our hearts and our days. Following the pattern for prayer that Jesus shows us is a good place to start: “This, then, is how you should pray:

“ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:9-15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I look forward to hearing what your verse for chapter 1 is! Let me know in the comments below. ❤

Did you miss the first post about the Mark Study? Find the details and print out your goodies HERE!