{"id":6809,"date":"2011-04-27T19:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T00:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/?p=6809"},"modified":"2011-04-26T23:43:16","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T04:43:16","slug":"blogging-through-the-gospels-matthew-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/blogging-through-the-gospels-matthew-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogging Through the Gospels: Matthew 24"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The reading for Thursday is <strong>Matthew 24<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>We  are adding a new step, so if you haven&#8217;t been using a notebook or  recording your thoughts somewhere, please consider starting that now.  When you record your thoughts, you will begin to hear more and you can  reflect back on what you have heard.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Okay, now that your notebook or computer or whatever is ready, let&#8217;s move on&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>When it is time to read, please start first by praying and thanking God for His many blessings. Be specific.<\/p>\n<p>Record your thank you&#8217;s on paper or on the computer.<\/p>\n<p>Next present your requests to Him. Ask Him for whatever you want and  need. As you do, record your requests and questions on paper or on the  computer.<\/p>\n<p>Third, ask Him to guide you in your reading, so that you will hear his message for you today.<\/p>\n<p>After you read, record your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/what-is-soap\/\" target=\"_blank\">SOAP observations<\/a> and then listen for three minutes. Set a timer and just\u00a0 listen to what  he might be sharing. Don&#8217;t ask. Don&#8217;t thank. Just listen. (You can pray  more after you listen, if you like.)<\/p>\n<p>Today we have another Bible in 90 Days grad as our guest SOAP&#8217;er. Here is what Daenel heard in the reading:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scripture<\/strong>: <strong>Matthew 24:36<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Observation:<\/strong><br \/>\nAlthough Jesus gives his disciples all the signs that point to His return, He warns that no one knows the exact date so we are to always be ready.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Application:<\/strong><br \/>\nI love reading about the return of Christ because it gives me hope for the future and it reinforces my belief that better things are yet to come. \u00a0However, it&#8217;s hard not to get wrapped up in the here and now and focus on &#8220;worldly&#8221; things.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes during my day, there are shows that come on television or songs that come on the radio and I have to stop and think, would I want to share this experience with Christ? \u00a0Would I be comfortable having this conversation with Jesus at the table? \u00a0If Jesus was in my Twitter stream would I retweet that comment or &#8220;Like&#8221; that status if he were my friend on Facebook? \u00a0I know these sound like silly, maybe even extreme examples, but I think this is how God wants us to live. \u00a0We are to be Christ-like in all things&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>We &#8220;know&#8221; he&#8217;s always there but do we always act as if we know? \u00a0Do we behave and speak as if he could show up at any moment?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prayer:<\/strong><br \/>\nDear Heavenly Father, thank you for your love and grace. \u00a0Thank you for your word that guides me in my day-to-day living. \u00a0Help me to keep my focus on you and to live my life as if you may come at any moment. \u00a0Help me to keep my conversation pure. \u00a0I don&#8217;t want to be caught unaware, but I want to be found walking in your perfect will and according to the example that you&#8217;ve set. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daenel T\u00a0is a married mother of five who blogs about faith, family, books and shopping at\u00a0<a title=\"Living Outside the Stacks\" href=\"http:\/\/livingoutsidethestacks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Living Outside the Stacks<\/a>. \u00a0You can find her on Twitter ~<a title=\"Twitter ~ @DaenelT\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/DaenelT\" target=\"_blank\">@DaenelT<\/a> or Facebook ~\u00a0<a title=\"Facebook ~ Living Outside the Stacks\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LivingOutsidetheStacks\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook.com\/LivingOutsidetheStacks<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>What about you? What did you see and hear in your reading   of <\/em><\/strong><em><strong>Matthew 24<\/strong><\/em><strong><em>? Please share with the rest of us, if you are comfortable   doing so. <\/em><\/strong><em>Feel free to leave your thoughts, or a link   to post with your thoughts, in the comments. If you do link a post,   please include a link in your own post back to this post so your readers   can see what others had to say, as well, and potentially join us.<\/em><em> <\/em><strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Didn&#8217;t start reading or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/29\/blogging-through-the-gospels-with-momstoolbox\/\" target=\"_blank\">Blogging Through\u00a0 the Gospels<\/a> with us? That&#8217;s okay, join in anytime. Each Sunday evening I post the   reading schedule for the week ahead and each evening I post the next   day&#8217;s reading assignment and devotional. Feel free to jump in where we   are anytime and blog or journal along using the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/what-is-soap\/\" target=\"_blank\">SOAP format<\/a><\/em><em>.<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><em>If you would be interested in sharing your own SOAP observations on  MomsToolbox as a guest SOAP&#8217;er, please send me an email using the  contact button on the top right. I&#8217;ll be in touch soon to discuss the  details.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The reading for Thursday is Matthew 24. We are adding a new step, so if you haven&#8217;t been using a notebook or recording your thoughts somewhere, please consider starting that now. When you record your thoughts, you will begin to hear more and you can reflect back on what you have heard. Okay, now that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[682,229,672],"class_list":["post-6809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging-through-the-gospels","tag-blogging-through-the-gospels","tag-matthew","tag-soap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6809"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6921,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6809\/revisions\/6921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}