read the gospels, then read Romans. then genesis
read about Jesus' divine
birth, How God loved us so much, He rather give up His
precious only begotten Son than to be seperated from us for
eternity.
Read about how Jesus, leaving the glory of heaven, and becoming
a small cell in a woman's womb. How Jesus leaving the splendor of
heaven, and becoming a human baby in a cold, damp, smelly manger in
a stable.
From needing absolutely nothing, to needing air, food, water,
warm clothes, and salts for his tired feet.
From being everywhere, going anywhere, at anytime, to being
limited in movement, going only where his feet and stamina can take
him.
From being the ultimate authority of the universe, to submiting
to human authority, meeting the demands of cranky customers at his
carpentry shop who wanted everything yesterday, but can't pay for
anything until tomorrow.
Read about Jesus' life and
ministry, His passion, His grace, His love to all sinners.
Read about his declaration about himself, how he condemned the
hypocricy of religious leaders and reached out a loving hand to a
woman who lived a life of sin whom they were about to stone and
kill.
Read about how he searches the hearts of those who seek him,
affirms the discouraged, heal the sick, comfort the sorrowful, and
protect the shamed.
Read about how he delivered his messages of love and peace, and
watch how he delivered those who are demonically oppressed.
While you're reading about his
divinity, read about his humanity, he suffered hunger, loss,
sadness, joy, fear, abandonment, and death.
Read about his death,
every painful stroke of the whip tearing into his flesh, tearing
apart his back. The crown of thorns crueling shoved into his face,
before the roman soldiers forced him to drag the crushing weight of
the cross on his torned back. Read about how the soldiers abused
Jesus, despite only being given the order to whip him. How they
played games with Jesus, punching him and asking him to guess who
did it, spitting on his face, an act not to injure the body, but
injure the soul.
and then finally, hear the thud of each stroke of the heavy
hammer driving the coarse nail into God's hand.
Read about how Jesus, hanging from the cross at the top of the
mountain surrounded by demons all around, choose to stay silent,
while legions of angels were begging to Christ to just speak the
word, and they would immediately be at his side, to save him and
destroy all who laid a hand on him.
And hear the resounding verdict in the hallowed halls of heaven,
pronouncing the sins of every slut and sailor since Adam and Eve,
and hear the cry of Jesus, weak, but victorious, proclaiming that
"It is finished".
Read about what happened to the temple at the point where Jesus
finally died, the cloth seperating the tabanacle in the holy of
holies (where God's presence resides) was torn into 2, from top to
bottom, symbolizing that now, everyone who puts their faith in
Jesus can come into the holy of holies without worrying about being
slain for their sins.
After reading about His death, go ahead and read about His ressurection, how death
is trumphed. We have every reason to believe, to have hope, is
because of Jesus' ressurrection.
In the ancient times, a priest stands before God on behalf of
the people, representing the people. If the priest was clean, the
people are blessed, if the priest screwed up, the people miss out
on God's blessings, as accordance to the old covenant, do good, get
good, do bad, get beat.
Read about how Jesus is now the high priest for all of us,
forever perfect, forever holy, representing us. He understands all
our problems, how exactly we feel when things go bad, and
intercedes for us.
essentially it's good to read
about the past in the old testament also,
from genesis, since Jesus fulfilled the laws, so u must
understand how sin and the law came about, etc. and the bible says
we inherit the blessings of abraham, so what was the covenant of
abraham, why is he called a man of faith, despite him doing so many
faithless things etc.
read how the earth was created, how everything that God made was
good. Remember that everything that God created is good.
Read how satan fooled adam and eve into sinning against God,
introducing sin into the world, and turned everything that God
created to be good, to become bad.
read and understand what does a covenant mean, why must the
animal be slain, why must there be shedding of blood?
read how moses led the israelites out of eygpt, reflecting how
Jesus lead us out of bondage.
read how God slowly, but surely prepared for Jesus' arrival all
the way from genesis to matthew.
Read how powerful God
is, with His mighty
hand, toppling the tower of babel, splitting the red sea, ushering
in the 10 plagues on eygpt, providing manna and quail, and with the
same hand, opening up for the nail of the cross for our redemption
because of his love which matches His power.
Read about king david,
the man after God's heart, how his faith in God toppelled the giant
goliath, how a sling and 5 stones rivaled against the babylonians
who monopolized metal swords and weapons.
Read about the wisdom of king
solomon, the king
who wrote the book of proverbs
Read psalms, my current
fav book.
Read the epistles, the
book of letters by all the apostles to the growing churches.
and when you're up for it, read
revelations, how God is going to end it all and finally we
will live with Him. We will be His people, and He will be our
God.
haha basically read
everything. =)
don't just read intellectually, read and pray, because God
speaks to His children in a personal way. The bible is His love
story for you.
