We know that Northview people love to be in God’s Word and often ask for direction on different devotional apps and reading plans.

While there are several good options available through various sources, we’d like to encourage you to join in our Northview Devotional Guide which will guide you to read and reflect on the passages preached in our weekend sermons! We hope this will unite our congregation around the study of God’s Word, and help us to more readily absorb and apply the great teaching provided by our preaching pastors. Each week we’ll be providing a suggested schedule for working through a passage slowly (15 minutes a day). You’ll need a Bible and a notebook or blank paper to record your observations.

Each day we include a reminder to pray. If you are new to the Adoration / Confession / Supplication method, here are some questions to help guide you as you pray:

  • Adoration: What can you praise God for today?
  • Confession: What thoughts / attitudes / actions might you need to confess to God today?
  • Supplication: What will you ask God for today?
Printable Version

DAY ONE – UNDERSTAND THEIR STORY

  • Read Isaiah 40:1-11
  • What clues do you get in the text about what the original audience is experiencing? 
    • What do they need, according to God? (v 1)
    • What have they experienced? (v 2)
    • How are people described? (v 6-8)

 

Pray in Supplication. Ask God to sustain you and encourage you in the midst of your own frailty.


 

DAY TWO – UNDERSTAND THEIR STORY

  • 2 Kings 17:1-6 explains the historical background behind the words in Isaiah.  What has happened to the nation of Israel according to these verses? 
  • In 2 Kings 17:7-18, the narrator explains why God allowed the Northern Kingdom to be destroyed by Assyria. What reasons are given?   
  • Re-read Isaiah 40:1-11 and the answers to yesterday’s questions to refresh your memory regarding what God’s people are experiencing. What do you understand now about yesterday’s reading that you didn’t before?

 

Pray in Confession. This text teaches that God is not to be mocked; He will eventually punish those who willfully disobey Him and refuse His way of salvation. Is this you? Search your hearts for unrepentant sin which may lead you away from Him.  


 

DAY THREE – CONNECT TO HIS STORY

  • Read Isaiah 40:1-11
  • What words or concepts in this text convey information about God’s ability and willingness to save His  people?
    • Who will come and travel on the way / the highway? (v 3)
    • What will happen when this person appears? (v 5)
    • How does God compare Himself to His people? (v 6-8)
    • What hope is communicated? (v 9)
    • What contrasting & complementary pictures do you see of God’s ability and willingness to save in verses 10-11? 

 

Pray in Adoration. What can you praise God for today, based on what you’ve learned in these verses?


 

DAY FOUR – CONNECT TO HIS STORY

  • Luke 2:25 alludes to Isaiah 40:1-2.  
    • Read Luke 2:22-35. What is happening in this text?
    • What event was Simeon waiting for in Luke 2:25?  
    • How is Isaiah 40:1-2 fulfilled in Luke 2:22-35?
  • All of the gospels quote Isaiah 40:3-5  (see Matthew 3:1-3, Mark 1:1-4, Luke 3:1-6, and John 1:19-23)
    • Who is “the one calling”?
    • Who is “the one calling” making the way for?

 

Pray in Adoration.  God kept his promises to comfort, and to reveal himself in Israel by sending his son, Jesus to earth. Praise God for his plan of salvation! 


 

DAY FIVE – APPLY TO OUR STORY

  • Read Isaiah 40:1-11, and review your answers for Day 1 & Day 2. 
    • Although we are not experiencing life in exile, what common human experiences do we share with those to whom this text was written? 
  • Read Isaiah 40:1-11 again, and review your answers for Day 3 & Day 4.
    • What encourages you most today as you consider God’s ability and willingness to save, in light  of the challenges you are currently facing?

 

Adoration / Confession / Supplication