Sunday Salon #14

Bible Reading

This week I finished the KJV Large Print Journal the Word Bible and I began a new KJV Bible (Cambridge Clarion). 

KJV LP Journaling

• 2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 1 Thessalonians
• 2 Thessalonians
• 1 Timothy
• 2 Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon
• Hebrews
• James
• 1 Peter
• 2 Peter
• 1 John
• 2 John
• 3 John
• Jude
• Revelation

NASB 77

• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi
• Daniel
• Ezekiel
• Matthew 1-18

KJV (Clarion) 

• Genesis
• Matthew 1-18

NKJV

• Psalms 35, 54, 63, 18, 121-130, 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 21, 43, 44, 49, 84, 85, 87, 
• 1 Samuel 28-31
• 2 Samuel 1-4
• 1 Chronicles 10, 1-2, 3-5; 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

30. Screwtape Letters

30. The Screwtape Letters. C.S. Lewis. 1942. HarperCollins. 224 pages. [Source: Bought]

First paragraph: I note what you say about guiding your patient’s reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend. But are you not being a trifle naïf? It sounds as if you supposed that argument was the way to keep him out of the Enemy’s clutches. That might have been so if he had lived a few centuries earlier. At that time the humans still knew pretty well when a thing was proved and when it was not; and if it was proved they really believed it. They still connected thinking with doing and were prepared to alter their way of life as the result of a chain of reasoning. But what with the weekly press and other such weapons we have largely altered that. Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to have a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily “true” or “false”, but as “academic” or “practical”, “outworn” or “contemporary”, “conventional” or “ruthless”. Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don’t waste time trying to make him think that materialism is true! Make him think it is strong, or stark, or courageous—that it is the philosophy of the future. That’s the sort of thing he cares about.

I definitely enjoy rereading C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters every few years. These 'letters' are from 'Uncle Screwtape' to his nephew 'Wormwood.' Both Wormwood and Screwtape are demons. That should tell you a little something about this topsy-turvy Christian fantasy. 

Wormwood's human has just become a Christian. But with a little help from his uncle, Wormwood hopes to change that, to reverse the damage, to keep him *his*. Readers only view Screwtape's letters to Wormwood, so, we have to piece together the rest of the story, in a way. Readers can piece together that there is a world war going on. Also perhaps that Wormwood's human dies in a bomb raid. 

Screwtape's letters are packed with advice on how to keep Wormwood's human from being an effective Christian. How to keep him from praying, for example, to name just one. What Screwtape and Wormwood fail to understand is the futility of their efforts. True, C.S. Lewis may not have known how futile himself. Since Lewis most likely believed that one could 'fall from grace' and 'lose salvation.' But. Putting all that aside, one knows from Scripture that isn't the case.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:39-40

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:27-30

Can believers benefit from reading Screwtape Letters? I think so. The letters are engaging, and, give readers plenty to think about. 

From the first letter: "Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. [The stream of immediate sense experiences]. Teach him to call it 'real life' and don't let him ask you what he means by 'real.'" (2)

From the second letter: "He has not been anything like long enough with the Enemy to have any real humility yet. What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness, is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these 'smug' commonplace neighbors at all. Keep him in that state of mind as long as you can." (6)

From the third letter: "You must bring him to a condition in which he can practise self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself which are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked in the same office." (7)
"It is, no doubt, impossible to prevent his praying for his mother, but we have means of rendering the prayers innocuous. Make sure that they are always very "spiritual," that he is always concerned with the state of her soul and never with her rheumatism. Two advantages will follow. In the first place, his attention will be kept on what he regards as her sins, by which, with a little guidance from you, he can be induced to mean any of her actions which are inconvenient or irritating to himself. In the second place, since his ideas about her soul will be very crude and often erroneous, he will, in some degree, be praying for an imaginary person, and it will be your task to make that imaginary person daily less and less like the real mother--the sharp-tongued old lady at the breakfast table." (8)

From the fourth letter: "It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out" (11).
"The simplest is to turn their gaze away from Him towards themselves." (11)

From the fifth letter: "In wartime not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever." (15)

From the seventh letter: "All extremes except devotion to the Enemy are to be encouraged" (20).

From the ninth letter: "Never forget that when we are dealing with pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy's ground." (26)

From the twelfth letter: "Do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing....Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." (36)

From the sixteenth letter: "Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighborhood looking for the church that 'suits' him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches." (46)

From the nineteenth letter: "Nothing matters at all except the tendency of a given state of mind, in given circumstances, to move a particular patient at a particular moment nearer to the Enemy or nearer to us." (56-7)

From the twenty-first letter: "Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours." (61)

From the twenty-fifth letter: "What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call 'Christianity And...' (73)

From the twenty-seventh letter: "Anything, even a sin, which has the total effect of moving him close up to the Enemy makes against us in the long run." (79)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

3. KJV, Large Print, Journal the Word Bible

KJV Large Print Journal the Word Bible. God. 1769. 2016 pages. Thomas Nelson Publishers. [Source: Bought] [5 stars]

First sentence: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

I spent months looking for the 'perfect-for-me' wide-margin and/or journaling Bible. There were two things I was unwilling to compromise on. First, I wanted a font size LARGE enough to comfortably read. This eliminated probably eighty to ninety percent of the Bibles out there. This Bible is 10 point font. There is another wide margin Bible that is 9 point font. But I decided against that once since the margins in that one were maybe-maybe one inch. Second, I wanted a margin size that a 'normal' person could write in comfortably. Many wide margin Bibles simply have margins of one inch--even if that one inch is at the top, the side, and the bottom. It just felt too impossible to be realistic. This one is single column and allows for wider margins. Definitely wider than one inch. I'm not absolutely convinced it's two inches. But  it is definitely wide enough for anyone to use. 

This one is the KING JAMES VERSION. It is wide-margin. It is single column. It is red letter. The paper is on the creamier side--not perfectly white. 

I started this one on December 24, 2024. I finished this one on March 31, 2025. 

I love the King James Version. I don't love red letter. However, that is something I find myself compromising on most of the time since most King James Version Bibles are red letter more often than not. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday Salon #13

Bible Reading

KJV

• Psalms 110-150
• Acts
• Romans
• 1 Corinthians

NASB 1977

• 1 Kings 3-22
• 2 Kings 
• Isaiah 54-66
• Jeremiah 
• Lamentations
• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah

NKJV

• 1 Samuel 21-27
• Psalms 91, 7, 27, 31, 34, 52, 56, 120, 140, 141, 142, 17, 73

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

29. The Big Picture Story Bible

29. The Big Picture Story Bible. David R. Helm. Illustrated by Gail Schoonmaker. 2004. Crossway Books. 451 pages. [Source: Review copy] [5 stars]

First sentence from the Old Testament section: The Bible is God's story, and it begins with these big words: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Do you know how God created everything? Simply by speaking words. Imagine, making the world with words! Strong words. Powerful words. With words God created everything!

First sentence from the New Testament section: Years passed without a single word from God. And the years turned into many years, and the many years turned into hundreds of years. And the great promises of God seemed to fade away. Israel became less important in the world. Other nations became great--strong nations, powerful nations, whose kings ruled over God's people. One such king...was Caesar Augustus.

The Big Picture Story Bible is one of my favorite bible story books. Why? Because it presents the Bible not as a series of entertaining, informational, educational, inspirational stories but as a unified story. The Bible does in fact have a big picture. If you miss the big picture, you miss the point. By understanding--grasping, appreciating--the big picture, you are enabling yourself to appreciate the smaller as well because you can see how everything fits, everything belongs.

The Big Picture Story Bible has twenty-six illustrated stories. Together they tell one big story. These stories build upon one another. They are interconnected. Everything is building up to the big climax--the appearance of Jesus Christ. The first eleven stories cover the Old Testament. The remaining fifteen stories cover the New Testament.

The Bible is for believers young and old. The story it tells is grand, glorious, but above all TRUE and TRUSTWORTHY. Yet people of all ages can struggle to read the Word for themselves. Perhaps because it seems so strange and otherworldly. Perhaps because it is intimidating. Perhaps because they don't know where to begin. A familiarity with the BIG PICTURE of the Bible could be the very boost one needs to begin to ACTUALLY read the Bible.

The Big Picture Story Bible gives readers of all ages the orientation they need to grasp not only the story but the theology behind the story. It covers the basics of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. It is not so thorough and comprehensive that it would ever--could ever--take the place of the Word itself. That would be silly. But by showing you the structure of the Word, how everything fits together, how every story belongs to the whole, it can be a considerable help.

I think this one is for readers of all ages. I definitely think parents with children should have this one in their homes. (Christian parents and grandparents). Parents have an awesome responsibility to teach and instruct their children in the faith. It isn't anyone else's responsibility to do so for you. It is a great task, but it isn't an impossible one. It's never too early. It's never too late. You might feel overwhelmed, but you can learn alongside your children. You can go on this glorious, wonderful journey together.

But I also think adults without children could benefit from this one as well. There are a million excuses why believers don't read the Bible. Grasping the big picture and holding onto the big picture could be a great stepping stone into actually reading the Bible and tasting for yourself the sweetness of the Lord.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

28. Remember Heaven

28. Remember Heaven: Meditations on the World to Come for Life in The Meantime. Matthew McCullough. 2025. [May] 176 pages. [Source: Review copy] [christian living, christian nonfiction, 5 stars]

First sentence (from the introduction): Another Christmas just came and went, along with a wonderful week away with our extended family. 

Matthew McCullough shares 'meditations' on WHY remembering heaven helps us to live 'in the meantime' with hope, peace, and joy--even in the midst of troubles and hard circumstances. These meditations are not daily meditations--like a devotional book--but instead a series of longer chapters. Each chapter is a different way of looking at the subject. The book is not meant--and the author discloses this--to be an exhaustive book of reasons to remember heaven in light of our 'groans and moans.' 

A few of his reasons to remember heaven:

• grounds our lives as Christians
• reframes our dissatisfaction in the meantime
• overcomes our feelings of inadequacy in the meantime
• empowers our battle with sin in the meantime
• relieves our anxiety in the meantime
• makes our suffering meaningful in the meantime
• makes our grief bearable
• sets our mission in the church 

I found the book helpful and encouraging. It didn't always go in the direction of my preconceived notions, HOWEVER it always went in a direction that surprised me and ultimately proved engaging. I had not pieced together how HOPE in heaven or 'remembering heaven' could be connected with inadequacy and anxiety. So there were chapters that were JUST the medicine I needed. I think the book will be relevant for just that reason. I think each reader will have his or her own 'favorite' chapter(s) that speak to them in their need. The Holy Spirit is good like that.

I would definitely recommend this one.

Quotes:

• Hope matters. We can't live without it. But what we hope in matters even more. We need a hope strong enough to bear the weight of our lives in the meantime. And that is precisely what we have in the hope of heaven.
• Many Christians simply aren't thinking about heaven at all and, if asked, couldn't say why they should be.
• Meditating on heaven, Richard Baxter argues, is how we use our understanding to warm our affections. It throws open 'the door between the head and the heart.' 
• How we spend our moments is how we spend our lives.
• The only way to long for a place you've never been is to long for the person whose presence makes that place what it is to you.
• Love for Christ anchors us to the future we've been promised, and it reshapes how we live here in the present.
• Pride is the poison our culture doles out as medicine. 
• We are anxious when we feel responsible, as if all the outcomes depend upon us. But God is responsible for this future. Everything depends on him. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

27. Praying the Bible

27. Praying the Bible. Donald S. Whitney. 2015. Crossway. 112 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Since prayer is talking with God, why don’t people pray more?

Donald S. Whitney argues that Christians struggle with praying because prayer is boring. Why is prayer boring? Because Christians tend to pray for the same old things in the same old way--in other words, their prayers use the same words, same patterns, day after day, week after week, etc. He writes, "Prayers without variety eventually become words without meaning."

Christians tend to treat prayer not as a two-way conversation but as a one-way conversation.

Of course, another reason people struggle--and Whitney acknowledges as well--is distraction.

He has a solution for both 'problems'. That solution is praying the Bible. In this little book, he teaches readers how to pray through the Psalms and passages of the New Testament. Though any passage can be prayed--Genesis through Revelation. His goal is to get you started and the easiest--the best--place to start is the book of Psalms.

To pray the Bible, you simply go through the passage line by line, talking to God about whatever comes to mind as you read the text. See how easy that is? Anyone can do that. Just speak to the Lord about everything that occurs to you as you slowly read his Word. What does the text of Scripture tell us to pray about? Everything, right?  Every person, every object, every issue, every circumstance, every fear, every situation—everything in the universe is something we may bring before God. So every thought that enters your mind as you are reading a passage of Scripture—even if that thought has nothing to do with the text before you at the moment—is something you may bring to God...
If you are praying through a psalm, you simply read that psalm line by line, talking to God about whatever thoughts are prompted by the inspired words you read. If your mind wanders from the subject of the text, take those wandering thoughts Godward, then return to the text. If you come to a verse you don’t understand, just skip it and go to the next verse. If you don’t understand that one, move on. If you do understand it but nothing comes to mind to pray about, go to the next verse. If sinful thoughts enter in, pray about them and go on.
You may read twenty or thirty verses in that psalm, and yet on a given day have only five or six things come to mind. No problem. Nothing says you have to pray over every verse. Nothing says you have to finish the psalm...
Talk to God about the words you read in the Bible, and you’ll never again pray the same old things about the same old things. 

He makes distinctions between reading the Bible, praying the Bible, and studying the Bible. The methods you use for praying the Bible are not necessarily sound methods for teaching or preaching through the Bible.  

Correctly handling the Word of God does not permit making the text say what we want. To understand the Bible accurately—which is essential for right belief and living, for truthful sharing with others, and for authoritative teaching and preaching—we must do whatever is necessary to discover (or “exegete”) the single, God-inspired meaning of every verse before us. The text of the Bible means what God inspired it to mean, not “what it means to me.”
Bible reading is secondary in this process [of praying the Bible]. Our focus is on God through prayer; our glance is at the Bible. And we turn Godward and pray about every matter that occurs to us as we read. Do you see the distinction?

I have enough confidence in the Word and the Spirit of God to believe that if people will pray in this way, in the long run their prayers will be far more biblical than if they just make up their own prayers.

Without the Scripture to shape our prayers, we are far more likely to pray in unbiblical ways than if we pray the thoughts that occur to us as we read the Scripture.

The book is practical. He has a plan in mind for you to put this into practice.

With the Psalms of the Day you take thirty seconds or so to quickly scan five specific psalms and pick the one that best leads you to prayer on that occasion. While reading five psalms a day is a great practice that many enjoy, that’s not what I’m advocating here. What I’m suggesting is that you take half a minute to quickly scan five psalms and pick one of those five to pray through. Here’s how it works. The first psalm is the one that corresponds with the day of the month. 

Day of the Month	Psalms to Skim
1	1, 31, 61, 91, 121
2	2, 32, 62, 92, 122
3	3, 33, 63, 93, 123
4	4, 34, 64, 94, 124
5	5, 35, 65, 95, 125
6	6, 36, 66, 96, 126
7	7, 37, 67, 97, 127
8	8, 38, 68, 98, 128
9	9, 39, 69, 99, 129
10	10, 40, 70, 100, 130
11	11, 41, 71, 101, 131
12	12, 42, 72, 102, 132,
13	13, 43, 73, 103, 133
14	14, 44, 74, 104, 134
15	15, 45, 75, 105, 135
16	16, 46, 76, 106, 136
17	17, 47, 77, 107, 137
18	18, 48, 78, 108, 138
19	19, 49, 79, 109, 139
20	20, 50, 80, 110, 140
21	21, 51, 81, 111, 141
22	22, 52, 82, 112, 142,
23	23, 53, 83, 113, 143
24	24, 54, 84, 114, 144
25	25, 55, 85, 115, 145
26	26, 56, 86, 116, 146
27	27, 57, 87, 117, 147
28	28, 58, 88, 118, 148
29	29, 59, 89, 119, 149
30	30, 60, 90, 120, 150
31	Psalm 119

And if you will take thirty seconds to review five psalms every day, it is uncanny how one of them will express something that is looking for expression in your heart.

I love how Whitney guides you through this method. I love how he encourages you to try it. I definitely got a Green Eggs With Ham vibe! His passionate pleas to actually pray were compelling and persuasive.

I also love how he quotes some great theologians throughout the book--men, for the most part, who have learned that praying the Bible is transformative in their lives.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible