1 Samuel 10

• 1. Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul's head. He kissed Saul on the cheek and said, "I am doing this because the LORD has appointed you to be the leader of his people Israel.
• 2. When you leave me today, you will see two men beside Rachel's tomb at Zelzah, on the border of Benjamin. They will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father is worried about you and is asking, `Have you seen my son?'
• 3. "When you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming toward you who are on their way to worship God at Bethel. One will be bringing three young goats, another will have three loaves of bread, and the third will be carrying a skin of wine.
• 4. They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves, which you are to accept.
• 5. "When you arrive at Gibeah of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the altar on the hill. They will be playing a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre, and they will be prophesying.
• 6. At that time the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you with power, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.
• 7. After these signs take place, do whatever you think is best, for God will be with you.
• 8. Then go down to Gilgal ahead of me and wait for me there seven days. I will join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. When I arrive, I will give you further instructions."
• 9. As Saul turned and started to leave, God changed his heart, and all Samuel's signs were fulfilled that day.
• 10. When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, they saw the prophets coming toward them. Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and he, too, began to prophesy.
• 11. When his friends heard about it, they exclaimed, "What? Is Saul a prophet? How did the son of Kish become a prophet?"
• 12. But one of the neighbors responded, "It doesn't matter who his father is; anyone can become a prophet." So that is the origin of the saying "Is Saul a prophet?"
• 13. When Saul had finished prophesying, he climbed the hill to the altar.
• 14. "Where in the world have you been?" Saul's uncle asked him. "We went to look for the donkeys," Saul replied, "but we couldn't find them. So we went to the prophet Samuel to ask him where they were."
• 15. "Oh? And what did he say?" his uncle asked.
• 16. "He said the donkeys had been found," Saul replied. But Saul didn't tell his uncle that Samuel had anointed him to be king.
• 17. Later Samuel called all the people of Israel to meet before the LORD at Mizpah.
• 18. And he gave them this message from the LORD, the God of Israel: "I brought you from Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all of the nations that were oppressing you.
• 19. But though I have done so much for you, you have rejected me and said, `We want a king instead!' Now, therefore, present yourselves before the LORD by tribes and clans."
• 20. So Samuel called the tribal leaders together before the LORD, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen.
• 21. Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the LORD, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared!
• 22. So they asked the LORD, "Where is he?" And the LORD replied, "He is hiding among the baggage."
• 23. So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else.
• 24. Then Samuel said to all the people, "This is the man the LORD has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is his equal!" And all the people shouted, "Long live the king!"
• 25. Then Samuel told the people what the rights and duties of a king were. He wrote them down on a scroll and placed it before the LORD. Then Samuel sent the people home again.
• 26. When Saul returned to his home at Gibeah, a band of men whose hearts God had touched became his constant companions.
• 27. But there were some wicked men who complained, "How can this man save us?" And they despised him and refused to bring him gifts. But Saul ignored them.

Romans 8

• 1. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
• 2. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.
• 3. The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
• 4. He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
• 5. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
• 6. If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.
• 7. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will.
• 8. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
• 9. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.)
• 10. Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God.
• 11. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.
• 12. So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
• 13. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.
• 14. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
• 15. So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family--calling him "Father, dear Father."
• 16. For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children.
• 17. And since we are his children, we will share his treasures--for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
• 18. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.
• 19. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
• 20. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse.
• 21. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
• 22. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
• 23. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
• 24. Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it.
• 25. But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.
• 26. And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
• 27. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.
• 28. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
• 29. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.
• 30. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.
• 31. What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
• 32. Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
• 33. Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself.
• 34. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
• 35. Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death?
• 36. (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep." )
• 37. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
• 38. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away.
• 39. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jeremiah 47

• 1. This is the LORD's message to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines of Gaza, before it was captured by the Egyptian army.
• 2. This is what the LORD says: "A flood is coming from the north to overflow the land. It will destroy the land and everything in it--cities and people alike. People will scream in terror, and everyone in the land will weep.
• 3. Hear the clatter of hooves and the rumble of wheels as the chariots rush by. Terrified fathers run madly, without a backward glance at their helpless children.
• 4. "The time has come for the Philistines to be destroyed, along with their allies from Tyre and Sidon. Yes, the LORD is destroying the Philistines, those colonists from Crete.
• 5. The city of Gaza will be demolished; Ashkelon will lie in ruins. You remnant of the Mediterranean plain, how long will you lament and mourn?
• 6. "Now, O sword of the LORD, when will you be at rest again? Go back into your sheath; rest and be still!
• 7. But how can it be still when the LORD has sent it on an errand? For the city of Ashkelon and the people living along the sea must be destroyed."

New Living Translation: 230 of 365 days.