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 1 – Principle: Who God is should affect how we treat others.

Read Malachi 2:10-16, and focus on what Malachi teaches about God in this text.

  • According to 2:10, what is true of God?
    • How does the 3rd question in this verse relate to the first 2 questions? (Based on your answers to the first 2 questions, how SHOULD people treat one another?)
  • According to the first question in 2:15, what is true of God?
    • What is the implication of this truth for people? (How does Malachi answer the  question?)
  • According to the second question in 2:15, what is true of God?
    • What command follows this question? 

 

Pray in adoration today. Praise God for being our Father and for creating us (2:10), and for “adopting” us, body and spirit (2:15)

 

Day 2 – Judah’s Unfaithfulness

Read Malachi 2:11-12

  • Who has been unfaithful in this text?
  • What has Judah desecrated by its unfaithfulness?
  • How has this place been desecrated?
  • What are the consequences for the man who has been unfaithful in this way?
    • This text seems to indicate that Israelite men should not marry ANY foreign women, and yet God looks with favor on Rahab the Canaanite  (Joshua 2, Joshua 6:25, Matthew 1:5), and on Ruth the Moabite (Book of Ruth, Matthew 1:5). How are these two women different from the foreign women in this text?

 

Pray in confession today.  Are you joining yourself to a person or a group of people who “worship other gods”  (whether that be other religions or simply groups which focus on the values of this world rather than the values of our God)?

 

Day 3 – A Husband’s Unfaithfulness

Read Malachi 2:13-16

  • Who has been unfaithful in this text, and who has witnessed this unfaithfulness?
  • How does the language of Malachi 2:14 reflect the LORD’s vision for marriage in Genesis 2:18 and Genesis 2:20-25)
  • What command is given in Malachi 2:15?
  • Malachi 2:16 explains the purpose of the command in 2:15. What happens when a man hates and divorces his wife? (note: the NIV translation has the most clear explanation).

 

Pray in supplication today for your own marriage, or the marriage of your parents, friends or family members.  Ask God to help people to be faithful to their marriage partners, since they belong to God in body and spirit (Malachi 2:15)

 

Day 4 – Useless Worship

Read Malach 2:10-14

  • According to 2:11-12, how has the man who has been unfaithful tried to appease God? 
    • Do these “efforts” work? Do they restore him to God according to these verses?
  • According to 2:13-14, how has the man who has been unfaithful tried to appease God?
    • Do these “efforts” work? How do you know from these verses?
  • Read Isaiah 1:10-20.  What does God despise in this text? What does God tell people to do instead?  

 

Pray in confession today: Search your heart. Are you trying to “appease” God or justify your sin by doing “Christian things” while you are actively disobeying him? 

 

Day 5 – Parting Words

Read Malachi 2:15-16

  • What command is repeated in these verses?
  • Reflect:  What would it look like for you, today, to be on your guard and not be unfaithful to God or to other people, because you belong to God in body and spirit? 

 

Pray in confession and supplication today: Are you being unfaithful to God and to others? Pray for yourself and others: that you would remain faithful to God and to one another.