Saturday, May 28, 2022

2022 Bible Reading #21


Bible reading week of 21 - 27 May 2022.

I am reading the NKJV Single Column bible for my Book of Common Prayer daily offices.
  • Psalm 105-131
  • Proverbs 21-27
  • 1 Kings 
  • 2 Kings
  • Isaiah 1-30
  • 1 Corinthians 15-16
  • 2 Corinthians 
  • John 1-9

I am reading the New English Bible for my morning tea devotions.
  • Exodus 
  • Amos
  • Obadiah
  • Jonah
  • Micah
  • Nahum
  • Habakkuk
  • Zephaniah
  • Haggai
  • Zechariah
  • Malachi
  • Psalm 119-150
  • Job 
  • Mark 

I am reading the King James Version for my afternoon devotions.
  • 2 Kings 
  • Acts 12-28
  • 1 Chronicles 
  • 2 Chronicles 
  • 1 Timothy

I have TWO ongoing year-long 30 Day MacArthur plans going.
  • In May I will be reading Isaiah 23-27 thirty times: CSB, Living, KJV, NASB 95, LSB, NRSV, LSB, 
  • In May I will be reading Titus thirty times: CSB, Living, KJV, NASB 95, LSB,  NRSV, LSB, 

My miscellaneous Bibles:

Great Bible 1539
  • 1 Corinthians
  • 2 Corinthians
  • Galatians
  • Ephesians
  • Philippians
  • Colossians
  • 1 Thessalonians
  • 2 Thessalonians
  • 1 Timothy
  • 2 Timothy
  • Titus


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Saturday, May 21, 2022

2022 Bible Reading #20


Bible reading week of 14-20 May 2022.

I am reading the NKJV Single Column bible for my Book of Common Prayer daily offices.

  • Psalm 71-104
  • Proverbs 14-21
  • Joshua 7-24
  • Judges
  • Ruth
  • 1 Samuel
  • 2 Samuel
  • Romans
  • 1 Corinthians 1-14

I am reading the New English Bible for my morning tea devotions.
  • Jeremiah 24-52
  • Lamentations
  • Ezekiel
  • Daniel
  • Hosea
  • Joel
  • Psalm 90-118

I am reading the King James Version for my afternoon devotions.
  • Judges
  • Ruth
  • 1 Samuel
  • 2 Samuel 
  • 1 Kings
  • Luke 13-24
  • Acts 1-11

I have TWO ongoing year-long 30 Day MacArthur plans going.
  • In May I will be reading Isaiah 23-27 thirty times: BSB, NASB 77, KJV, BSB, BSB, NKJV, ESV, 
  • In May I will be reading Titus thirty times: BSB, NASB 77, KJV, BSB, BSB, NKJV, ESV, 
My miscellaneous Bibles:

Great Bible 1539
  • Acts
  • Romans

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Friday, May 20, 2022

20. The Lord's Prayer


The Lord's Prayer: Learning from Jesus on What, Why, and How to Pray. Kevin DeYoung. 2022. 160 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Is there any activity more essential to the Christian life, and yet more discouraging in the Christian life, than prayer? We know we should pray. We want to pray (or at least we want to want to pray). And yet when it comes to actually praying, most of us feel like failures. 

Books on the Lord's Prayer is nothing new. That is what you might be thinking. And, you've got a point. So is this new book by Kevin DeYoung on the Lord's Prayer worth reading? I definitely think so. 

DeYoung, like many before him, goes through the Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase. But I appreciate his insight. It isn't so much that the information is completely new or out of the blue, it's just so foundational that it is a blessing to read. Almost devotional, but not in that stereotypical fluffy way, but a substantive, thought-provoking way. 

I wasn't expecting this much nourishment in 'just another' book about the Lord's Prayer. I was completely wrong. I definitely benefitted from this one. 

Quotes:
  • It is the prayer that teaches us how to pray every other prayer. Obviously we don't have to include these exact words or rigidly follow this structure in every prayer, yet every Christian prayer ought to be informed and shaped by the Lord's Prayer. 
  • The first set of three requests focuses on God's glory--his name, his kingdom, and his will. The second set of three requests focuses on our good--our provision, our forgiveness, and our protection. Of course, the two sets cannot be separated. God is glorified as he gives us what we need, and when we ask for what we need, we must always do it with an eye to God being glorified. That's a helpful way to think of these sets of petitions, God's glory and our own good. God is glorified as he gives us what we need, and when we ask for what we need, we must always do it with an eye to God being glorified. That's a helpful way to think of these two sets of petitions, God's glory and our good. 
  • We would be greatly presumptuous to think that we could give God a new identity and a new name without doing violence to revelation and usurping God's divine prerogatives.  
  • The vitality of prayer lies largely in the vision of God that prompts it. Drab thoughts of God make prayer dull. J.I. Packer
  • What is important to God is that we rest in his will of decree, we obey his will of desire, and we trust that he is directing our lives through wisdom and good counsel, even when he doesn't show us the exact next step to take.
  • Coming from a humble heart, the word give is not just acceptable to God; it is pleasing to him. When we pray, God is not glad for demands, but he is glorified in our dependence.
  • What God wants us to see is that we are more fragile than we think, and he is much kinder to us than we imagine. 
  • Today's grace is for today's trials, and when tomorrow's trials come, God will have new grace waiting for you there. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
  • Anxiety is living out the future before it gets here.
  • We seldom realize the danger we are in and sometimes not until it is too late.
  • The last thing Jesus wants to teach us in the Lord's Prayer is that we need our Father's help because we are full of danger within us and stalked by danger around us.
  • Our prayer is not for the courage to fight but for our heavenly Father to be our refuge, our rock, and our rescue. 


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Saturday, May 14, 2022

2022 Bible Reading #19


Bible reading week of 7 - 13 May 2022. 

I am reading the NKJV Single Column bible for my Book of Common Prayer daily offices.

  • Psalms 35-70
  • Proverbs 7-13
  • Leviticus 8-27
  • Numbers
  • Deuteronomy 
  • Joshua 1-6
  • Mark 
  • Hebrews 8-13
  • 1 Peter
  • 2 Peter

I am reading the New English Bible for my morning tea devotions.

  • Isaiah
  • Jeremiah 1-23
  • Psalm 50-89

I am reading the King James Version for my afternoon devotions.
Deuteronomy 
Joshua
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Luke 1-12
1 Corinthians 8-16
2 Corinthians

I have TWO ongoing year-long 30 Day MacArthur plans going.
  • In May I will be reading Isaiah 23-27 thirty times: BSB, KJV, NASB 77, ESV, KJV, BSB, NRSV,
  • In May  I will be reading Titus thirty times: BSB, KJV, NASB 77, ESV, KJV, BSB, NRSV, 
My miscellaneous Bibles:
Great Bible 1539
  • Luke
  • John

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

19. In Honor's Defense


In Honor's Defense. (Hanger's Horsemen #3) Karen Witemeyer. 2022. [June] 384 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Invisible people rarely received correspondence. A fact Damaris Baxter had accepted long ago.

In Honor's Defense is the third book in the Hanger's Horsemen trilogy by Karen Witemeyer. This historical romance focuses on Luke Davenport (aka "Preach"). He is our hero; and he's made appearances in the previous books. He's come to town to help a rancher find the rustlers responsible for stealing his cattle.

But who is our heroine??? 

Damaris Baxter has recently moved from St. Louis to Texas to become the guardian of her (now teenager) nephew, Nate. He's angry and bitter. He feels that his father's death was not accidental but instead murder. His heart is so full of anger, hurt, bitterness that there's just not much room to love an aunt he barely knows. Damaris ("Aunt Maris") loves fiercely and unconditionally. He may not be ready to love her, but she loves enough for two. She'll be there patiently waiting--no matter how long it takes. Even if he never quite loves her back. 

The meet cute for this couple is adorable. Nate has trapped Damaris in the cellar. Luke has come to pay a visit to this "spinster" aunt. Perhaps Nate has seen or heard something about what's going on on their neighbor's ranch. Regardless, it won't hurt to get another perspective on the situation. But instead of a spinster aunt and nephew, he finds a seemingly empty house...except he hears someone yelling for help.  The spinster is so NOT a spinster. And absolutely nothing follows is as he could have predicted....

Circumstances soon have Luke spending a LOT of time with Damaris and Nate. And he doesn't see that changing any time soon. He senses the two are in great danger...and it may take all his wits (plus calling in some favors from his friends) to keep them safe.

I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED every single minute of this one. I liked the first book in the series. I really loved the second book. Like I thought there was no way to top the second book. But I think this third book may just be my favorite in the series. Maybe. I'd have to reread the second book to be absolutely sure. But then chances are I'd end up rereading the third book again just to double check. It might just be a never-ending cycle of me trying to make up my mind. 

I loved Luke. "Preach" has always been such a great character. And getting to know him in this one was great. 

Damaris. What can I say about Damaris???? She was the big surprise for me. I always have a feeling that I am going to "love" the hero in Witemeyer's romances. But Damaris, well, I just ADORED her. Together these two just made me GIDDY with glee.

The book definitely had lots of SWEETness. But it also had some intense moments that were action-packed. 

Quotes:
  • Yet when one reached marriageable age, invisibility became a significant disadvantage. 
  • Not only was Damaris on the shelf, she was in the back corner behind the knickknacks, collecting dust.
  • To be chosen for herself--it was the secret desire of her heart. To be important to someone.
  • Not everything could be beautiful...Yet a thing's outward beauty should not determine its value.
  • Someday he would accept her affection. Return it, even. After all, love was the strongest force on earth. Because it wasn't of earth. It was divine. God's very nature. It would win the day eventually, if she held true to her course. [Damaris thinking about Nate, her nephew]
  • Grief couldn't be outrun, though. It would catch him eventually, and when it did, he'd need the very thing he swore he didn't want--his aunt. [Damaris and Nate]
  • What would it be like to have someone in her life who could be counted on always to be there, always to take her side? One who saw her even when she was at her most invisible?
  • Contentment isn't chained to a certain set of circumstances, Luke. It's portable. You can take it with you wherever you go.
  • She's swallowed her pride so many times, all the edges had been worn smooth. [Damaris and Nate]
  • Unfortunately, banishing her feelings for him was not an option. They were sprouting far too fast to cut down. And if she were honest with herself, she'd have to admit that she didn't want to cut them down.
  • I didn't ask you to tell me who you were, Luke. I asked you to tell me who you are.
  • Luke had kept his hands to himself, but the intimacy between him and Damaris just kept growing like the plant shoots undeterred by cobblestones, winding through tiny crevices to sprout green in the midst of a stone street. 
  • No story bound in paper could compare to the one she longed to live in the real world. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Saturday, May 7, 2022

2022 Bible Reading #18


Bible reading week of 30 April - 6 May

I am reading the NKJV Single Column bible for my Book of Common Prayer daily offices.

  • Psalm 144-150; Psalm 1-34
  • Proverbs 30-31; Proverbs 1-6
  • Exodus
  • Leviticus 1-7
  • Ezra
  • Nehemiah
  • Esther
  • Haggai
  • Daniel
  • Zechariah
  • Malachi
  • Matthew
  • James
  • 1 Timothy
  • 2 Timothy
  • Titus 
  • Philemon
  • Hebrew 1-7


I am reading the New English Bible for my morning tea devotions.
  • Genesis
  • Psalm 1-49
  • Matthew 

I am reading the King James Version for my afternoon devotions.
  • Leviticus 11-27
  • Numbers 
  • Psalm 140-150
  • Proverbs 
  • Mark 8-16
  • Romans 
  • 1 Corinthians 1-7
  • 2 Thessalonians

I have TWO ongoing year-long 30 Day MacArthur plans going.
  • In May I will be reading Isaiah 23-27 thirty times: NRSV, BSB, NASB 77, NASB 95, BSB, ESV, RSV,
  • In May I will be reading Titus thirty times: NRSV, BSB, NASB 77, NASB 95, BSB, ESV, RSV, 
My miscellaneous Bibles:
Great Bible 1539
  • Matthew 
  • Mark 


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible