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Going deeper...to go further

Daily Bible reading strengthens our relationship with God, nourishes our spirits and equips us to live a fruitful, effective life for Him.

This month we're looking at the different things Paul writes about in Romans chapter 12 which we encourage you to read regularly throughout the month. To help unpack the truths found in this chapter we've put some passages that you can meditate on alongside this to help you apply the Word to your life. As we read the Word it’s important that we apply what we read and pray it out over our lives. One of the way you can do this is by using the acronym SOAP. To find out more about SOAP watch this video.

Below you’ll see what we’re reading today. To go forward or back a day in our reading plan use the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons.

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James 3

Proper use of your tongue1My dear brothers and sisters, not many of you will aspire to be teachers of God's Word if you realise that we who have been given the responsibility to teach will be judged more strictly than other believers.2All of us fail in many ways. For if anyone claims he is never wrong in what he says, then he must be perfect, with complete control over every aspect of his body, especially his tongue.3We place bits in the mouths of horses so we can control them, making them obey us by turning in any direction we choose.4Or think of how a ship is guided. It can be very large and driven by strong winds; yet the pilot uses only a tiny rudder to steer the ship in whatever direction he chooses.5In the same way, the tongue is only a tiny part of your body, but it can do great harm. A forest fire can be started by a small spark!6And the tongue is like fire, for it can give rise to such evil that it is able to corrupt your whole life. It can ruin the whole course of your life when it is set on fire by the fire of hell.7-8Man has tamed a variety of animals, birds, reptiles and sea mammals; but no one has ever succeeded in taming the tongue. It can be an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison.9We use the tongue to praise our Lord and Father and yet we can also use it to speak curses over people whom God has made in His image.10So out of the same mouth comes both praise and curse. My brothers, obviously this should not be the case.11How can fresh water and salt water flow out of the same spring?12My friends, is it possible for a fig tree to produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Well, it is impossible for a salt spring to produce fresh water.Wrong motives lead to disorder13So who among you has wisdom and understands these things? Let him demonstrate that this is the case by the good life he leads, the positive actions he performs while maintaining the humility that is an expression of true wisdom.14But if your heart is bitter, full of envy and selfish ambition, do not boast about being wise, neither deny the truth.15For that kind of so-called 'wisdom' has certainly not been given to anyone by heaven. No, it is earthly, unspiritual, a work of the devil.16For there is disorder and all kinds of evil whenever people are motivated by wrong and selfish ambition.Heavenly wisdom17-18The true wisdom that comes from heaven is totally different. First of all it is pure. Then it promotes a life of peace. It makes people considerate towards others and submissive to those in authority. Wisdom inspires people to be merciful at all times and produces good fruit in their lives, causing them to be impartial and sincere; so they become peacemakers, sowing seeds of peace that produce a harvest of doing what is right.

1 Samuel 15

1Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” 4So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites. 7Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed. 10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. 12Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.” 13When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” 15Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” 16“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”“Tell me,” Saul replied. 17Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” 20“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” 22But Samuel replied:“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.23For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” 24Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.” 26But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” 27As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. 29He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” 30Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord. 32Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”Agag came to him in chains. And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33But Samuel said,“As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.”And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal. 34Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
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