3-Day Bible Reading Plan - “Satan Hates ‘And’”
Satan and his demonic forces will use shame to attack your sense of self-worth and identity. His strategy is so effective because it is sometimes based on truth. The key to defending ourselves is completing the accusation with an “and” statement. When Satan rightly accuses us of some failure, we need to finish that statement with, “and I am forgiven and experiencing transformation.” - Pastor Paul Crandell, 11/3/24
Day 1
Featured Verse: Zechariah 3:1-4 - “Satan Standing At His Right Hand to Accuse Him”
Cross References:
Job 1:9-11 - “Touch All That He Has and He Will Curse You to Your Face”
Too many Christians place their faith in the security of their personal possessions. If God stripped you of them all, even of your family and your health, would you curse Him or praise Him? How might you prove Satan wrong with your response?
2 Corinthians 12:7 - “A Thorn Was Given Me in the Flesh, a Messenger of Satan to Harass Me”
Paul’s thorn kept him humble due to all the miraculous visions he’d had. What are some examples of thorns in the flesh and how would they keep a believer humble before God?
Luke 22:31 - “Satan Demanded to Have You, That He Might Sift You Like Wheat”
Sifting wheat separates the wheat from the chaff. God allowed Satan to sift Peter to refine him and burn away his chaff. How has the Lord separated the chaff from the wheat in your heart?
“Pirates do not use to set upon poor empty vessels; and beggars need not fear the thief. Those that have most of God, and are most rich in grace—shall be most assaulted by Satan, who is the greatest and craftiest pirate in the world.” - Thomas Brooks
Day 2
Featured Verse: Zechariah 3:4-7 - “I Will Clothe You With Pure Vestments”
Cross References:
Isaiah 61:10 - “He Has Clothed Me With the Garment of Salvation”
What can we understand from salvation by God’s comparison to new clothing?
Luke 15:22 - “Bring Quickly the Best Robe and Put It On Him”
Why did the prodigal’s father put the best robe on the son who went astray and not on the son who stayed?
Proverbs 31:22 - “Her Clothing is Fine Linen and Purple”
Fine linen is a word-picture for salvation throughout Scripture. Here, the fine linen of the Proverbs 31 woman is purple. Why is that little detail significant?
“If, when the prodigal came back to his father, there was the preparation of the fatted calf, and the music and dancing, and the gold ring and the best robe, what will be the preparation when we do not come home as prodigals, but as the bride prepared for her husband, or as the beloved children, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, coming home to the Father who shall see his own image in us, and rejoice over us with singing?” - Charles Spurgeon
Day 3
Featured Verse: Zechariah 3:8-10 - “I Will Bring My Servant the Branch”
Cross References:
Isaiah 11:1 - “A Branch From His Roots Shall Bear Fruit”
Several prophets in Scripture refer to the Messiah as “the Branch.” Why do you think God chose that metaphor to describe Christ?
Jeremiah 23:5 - “I Will Raise Up For David a Righteous Branch”
God raised up Messiah from David’s family tree. What does this tell us about the kind of man David was, and what does this tell us about the faithfulness of God?
Zechariah 6:12 - “Behold, the Man Whose Name is the Branch”
What does it mean that “he shall branch out from this place”? What does it mean that “he shall build the temple”? How has God fulfilled this prophecy?
“God beginning the kingdom of his church in the house of David, was, as it were, a new establishing of the kingdom of Christ; the beginning of it in a state of such visibility as it thenceforward continued in. It was planting the root, whence that branch of righteousness was afterwards to spring up, the everlasting king of his church; and therefore this everlasting king is called the branch from the stem of Jesse.” - Jonathan Edwards