Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Romans 8:37 KJV

A Christian’s goal should be to create the Kingdom of God here on earth, as it is in Heaven. Not only, to get to Heaven.

To finish the Bible in one year, Read Isaiah 26:20 and Acts 21:40-22:29

To view all previous blogs click here.

Verses for today – Listen here: For explanations

Reflection for Today.

My other websites:

Also read the verses, if you like.

Isaiah 26:20

Come, my people, enter your chambers,
    and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
    until the wrath is past.
²¹ For the Lord comes out from his place
    to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
the earth will disclose the blood shed on it
    and will no longer cover its slain.

Isaiah 27

Israel’s Redemption

27 On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

² On that day:
A pleasant vineyard—sing about it!
³     I, the Lord, am its keeper;
    every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day
    so that no one can harm it;
⁴     I have no wrath.
If it gives me thorns and briers,
    I will march to battle against it.
    I will burn it up.
⁵ Or else let it cling to me for protection;
    let it make peace with me;
    let it make peace with me.

⁶ In days to come^[a] Jacob shall take root;
    Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots
    and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷ Has he struck them down as he struck down those who struck them?
    Or have they been killed as their killers^[b] were killed?
⁸ By expulsion,^[c] by exile you struggled against them;
    with his fierce blast he removed them in the day of the east wind.
⁹ Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated,
    and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the stones of the altars
    like chalkstones crushed to pieces;
    no sacred poles^[d] or incense altars will remain standing.
¹⁰ For the fortified city is solitary,
    a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
the calves graze there;
    there they lie down and strip its branches.
¹¹ When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
    women come and make a fire of them.
For this is a people without understanding;
    therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;
    he who formed them will show them no favor.

¹² On that day the Lord will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel. ¹³ And on that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Isaiah 28:29

Judgment on Corrupt Rulers, Priests, and Prophets

28 Woe to the proud garland of the drunkards of Ephraim
    and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
    at the head of the fertile valley,
    those overcome with wine!
² See, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong,
    like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters;
    with force he will hurl them down to the earth.
³ Trampled under foot will be
    the proud garland of the drunkards of Ephraim.
⁴ And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
    at the head of the fertile valley,
will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer;
    whoever sees it eats it up
    as soon as it comes to hand.

⁵ On that day the Lord of hosts will be a garland of glory
    and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people
⁶ and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment
    and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷ These also reel with wine
    and stagger with strong drink;
the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink;
    they are confused with wine;
    they stagger with strong drink;
they err in vision;
    they stumble in giving judgment.
⁸ All tables are covered with filthy vomit;
    no place is clean.

⁹ “Whom will he teach knowledge,
    and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from milk,
    those taken from the breast?
¹⁰ For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
    line upon line, line upon line,
    here a little, there a little.”^[a]

¹¹ Truly, with stammering lip
    and with another tongue
he will speak to this people,
¹²     to whom he has said,
“This is rest;
    give rest to the weary,
and this is repose,”
    yet they would not hear.
¹³ Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them,
    “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
    line upon line, line upon line,
    here a little, there a little,”^[b]
in order that they may go and fall backward
    and be broken and snared and taken.

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
    who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
    and with Sheol we have an agreement;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through
    it will not come to us,
for we have made lies our refuge,
    and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
¹⁶ therefore thus says the Lord God,
“See, I am laying^[c] in Zion a foundation stone,
    a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:
    ‘One who trusts will not panic.’
¹⁷ And I will make justice the line
    and righteousness the plummet;
hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
    and waters will overwhelm the shelter.
¹⁸ Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
    and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
    you will be beaten down by it.
¹⁹ As often as it passes through, it will take you,
    for morning by morning it will pass through,
    by day and by night,
and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.”
²⁰ For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it,
    and the covering is too narrow to wrap oneself in it.
²¹ For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim;
    he will rage as in the valley of Gibeon
to do his deed—strange is his deed!—
    and to work his work—alien is his work!
²² Now therefore do not scoff,
    or your bonds will be made stronger,
for I have heard a decree of destruction
    from the Lord God of hosts upon the whole land.

²³ Listen and hear my voice;
    Pay attention and hear my speech.
²⁴ Do those who plow for sowing plow continually?
    Do they continually open and harrow their ground?
²⁵ When they have leveled its surface,
    do they not scatter dill, sow cumin,
and plant wheat in rows
    and barley in its proper place^[d]
    and spelt as the border?
²⁶ For they are well instructed;
    their God teaches them.

²⁷ For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
    nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick
    and cumin with a rod.
²⁸ Grain is crushed for bread,
    but one does not thresh it forever;
one drives the cart wheel and horses over it
    but does not pulverize it.
²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of hosts;
    he is wonderful in counsel
    and excellent in wisdom.

Acts 21:40

⁴⁰ When he had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the people for silence, and when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew^[h] language, saying:

acts 22:29

22 “Brothers^[a] and fathers, listen to the defense that I now make before you.”

² When they heard him addressing them in Hebrew,^[b] they became even more quiet. Then he said:

³ “I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison, ⁵ as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I went there in order to bind those who were there and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

⁶ “While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ⁸ I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth^[c] whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ I asked, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told everything that has been assigned to you to do.’ ¹¹ Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me took my hand and led me to Damascus.

¹² “A certain Ananias, who was a devout man according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there, ¹³ came to me, and standing beside me, he said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ In that very hour I regained my sight and saw him. ¹⁴ Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear his own voice, ¹⁵ for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’

Paul Sent to the Gentiles

¹⁷ “After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸ and saw Jesus^[d] saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ ¹⁹ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. ²⁰ And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him.’ ²¹ Then he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the gentiles.’ ”

Paul and the Roman Tribune

²² Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” ²³ And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air, ²⁴ the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him. ²⁵ But when they had tied him up with straps,^[e] Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman person who is uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman.” ²⁷ The tribune came and asked Paul,^[f] “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The tribune answered, “It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.” Paul said, “But I was born a Roman.” ²⁹ Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman and that he had bound him.

The complete book of Isaiah if you want to hear it all.

The complete book of Acts

Sermons by various teachers about these verses.

Catholic Daily Readings

Reading 1, First Corinthians 15:12-20

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead?

¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ cannot have been raised either,

¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is without substance, and so is your faith.

¹⁵ What is more, we have proved to be false witnesses to God, for testifying against God that he raised Christ to life when he did not raise him — if it is true that the dead are not raised.

¹⁶ For, if the dead are not raised, neither is Christ;

¹⁷ and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is pointless and you have not, after all, been released from your sins.

¹⁸ In addition, those who have fallen asleep in Christ are utterly lost.

¹⁹ If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are of all people the most pitiable.

²⁰ In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 17:1, 6-7, 8, 15

¹ [Prayer Of David] Listen, Yahweh, to an upright cause, pay attention to my cry, lend an ear to my prayer, my lips free from deceit.

⁶ I call upon you, God, for you answer me; turn your ear to me, hear what I say.

⁷ Show the evidence of your faithful love, saviour of those who hope in your strength against attack.

⁸ Guard me as the pupil of an eye, shelter me in the shadow of your wings

¹⁵ But I in my uprightness will see your face, and when I awake I shall be filled with the vision of you.

Gospel, Luke 8:1-3

¹ Now it happened that after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve,

² as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,

³ Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.

Dr. Myles Munroe

I am including a video by Dr. Myles Munroe, I’ve listened to him back in the nineties, and rediscovered him recently. Now his perspective seems to be a good way to also look at scripture. In Pursuit of Purpose – Book Highlights