Digging deeper - an action plan

So, I want to dig deeper into my bible. Here is my action plan - each morning I am going to post a passage onto the blog and read it, I’ll try to use the five steps I outlined last month to understand the passage a little better, if anyone wants to join me in this regularly (every day would be sweet) please do and leave your comments regarding what God is saying to you through it. Hopefully we can encourage each other in some spiritual productivity. If I don’t manage to post the passage before noon you can assume I haven’t read it, so you can keep me accountable, I think this could be useful for me.

Here are the five steps:

• What words or sentences stand out to me as I read?
• What does this passage say to me about the character of God?
• What is God trying to say to me?
• How do I act in response to what God is saying to me?
• How will what God has said impact or change me?

‘I am ready, I am ready, I am ready, I am.’

Matthew 6

¹ “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ in front of others, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Prayer

⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

¹⁴ For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.