Mark Reading Plan – W2D5 | Crossroads Grace Community Church

Pray

Thank God for something in your life and ask Him to speak to you through your reading and reflection today.

Bible Reading (read these verses three times slowly)

We finished reading Mark 2 yesterday, so we’re taking a break from Mark today and reading from Isaiah 55:1-9.

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Reflection & Questions

Yesterday, we read that Jesus is looking for far more than rule following or check boxes – he’s looking for a relationship. Today in Isaiah 55, we read God’s invitation to Israel (and to us all), to listen to Him, to be in relationship with him. “Give ear and come to me. Listen that you may live.” Too often, we busy ourselves with many things, rather than slowing down to hear God. Sometimes, we avoid slowing down because when we do, we can have a lot of mixed emotions. But if we will slow down to listen to God, He says this will “delight”, it will be words that are the “richest of fare”.

In this moment right here, invite Him to speak to you and listen. His voice is gentle; His words are truthful and non-condemning.
What do you hear? What is He saying that your soul may live?

Pray

Pray in response to what you’ve read and heard today.

Worship Song

Praise God for his love through this song.

Bible Reading

We finished reading Mark 2 yesterday, so we’re taking a break from Mark today and reading from Isaiah 55:1-9.

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Reflection & Questions

Yesterday, we read that Jesus wants far more than rule following – He’s looking for a relationship with us! Today in Isaiah 55, we read God’s invitation to Israel (and to us all), to listen to Him, and to be in relationship with him. In the passage we read – “Give ear and come to me. Listen that you may live.” Do you ever try and listen to God? It can be hard sometimes, especially if we have too many things going on in our life. Think about it, isn’t it so much harder to listen to what you parents are telling you, while you’re in the middle of a video game? Or in the middle of your sports practice? Or on stage at a music recital? If we’re too busy doing something, it can be hard to listen to anyone, including God! Sometimes, we need to slow down, stop what we’re doing, and listen to God! You can do that through praying, through reading your Bible, or through talking about Jesus with someone! There are lots of ways that you can listen to God, we just have to make sure we’re focused and we’re listening.

When we say ‘listen to God’, do you think that it’s a big giant voice that comes from the sky? What are some ways that you can ‘hear’ from God?
What are some of the ways that you have tried to hear from God in the past?

Prayer

Talk to God and ask Him to help you hear Him more often!

Bible Reading

We finished reading Mark 2 yesterday, so we’re taking a break from Mark today and reading from Isaiah 55:1-9.

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Devo Focus

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Question

Remember that one time you totally thought you were absolutely right and it turns out, you were wrong?

Have you ever debated something with a friend. Promising up and down that you were right. No need to google it you were just plain right and the other person was absolutely dead wrong. Only to find out that whoops, you were wrong? Kinda a bummer right?

There are people that live their entire lives thinking that they know better than God. Funny isn’t it? I mean he’s the God of the universe, he didn’t just make people, he made the planet and everything in and on it. That’s pretty crazy. That level of knowledge you would think that we would just trust him but we don’t why? Because we think too highly of ourselves. We think we’re pretty awesome. We think we got this thing called life figured out and we don’t need answers from God, our parents, our friends, anybody. We got life on lock and nobody is going to tell us differently.

How about you?

That’s not you is it? Chances are, when we take a good clean look at ourselves, we all make the mistake of thinking we know better than God.
How are we going? Do you ever think you know better than God?
Do you sometimes break the rules and think, “Meh I got this?”
Ask God to show you ways that you try and think your ideas are better than Gods.