5-DAY BIBLE READING PLAN (FULL NLT TEXT)
Theme: Sovereignty, Invitation, Faithfulness
DAY 1 — Romans 9:6–16 (NLT)
6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!
7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.
8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.
9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.
11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes.
12 He calls people, but not according to their good or bad works. She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”
13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”
14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!
15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”
16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
Reflection Prompt:
How does knowing that mercy carries the promise reshape the pressure you put on yourself?
DAY 2 — Romans 9:30–32 + Romans 10:9–15 (NLT)
Romans 9:30–32 (NLT)
30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.
31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.
32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him.
Romans 10:9–15 (NLT)
9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him.
13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him?
And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him?
And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?
That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
Reflection Prompt:
Where is God sending you to be part of someone else’s story?
DAY 3 — Romans 10:21 + Isaiah 65:1–2 (NLT)
Romans 10:21 (NLT)
21 But regarding Israel, God said,
“All day long I opened my arms to them,
but they were disobedient and rebellious.”
Isaiah 65:1–2 (NLT)
1 The Lord says,
“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
to a nation that did not call on my name.
2 All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.
But they follow their own evil paths
and their own crooked schemes.”
Reflection Prompt:
Where is God opening His arms to you — and where might you be resisting?
DAY 4 — Romans 11:1–12 (FULL NLT)
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not!
I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning.
Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this?
Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said,
3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
4 And do you remember God’s reply?
“No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!”
5 It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace — his undeserved kindness in choosing them.
6 And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works.
For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is — free and undeserved.
7 So this is the situation:
Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly.
A few have — the ones God has chosen — but the hearts of the rest were hardened.
8 As the Scriptures say,
“God has put them into a deep sleep.
To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see,
and closed their ears so they do not hear.”
9 Likewise, David said,
“Let their bountiful table become a snare,
a trap that makes them think all is well.
Let their blessings cause them to stumble,
and let them get what they deserve.
10 Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see,
and let their backs be bent forever.”
11 Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not!
They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles.
But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves.
12 Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation,
think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.
Reflection Prompt:
How does God’s faithfulness to Israel strengthen your confidence in His faithfulness to you?
DAY 5 — Romans 11:17–29 (FULL NLT)
17 But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree — some of the people of Israel — have been broken off.
And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in.
So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children,
sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree.
18 But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off.
You are just a branch, not the root.
19 “Well,” you may say, “those branches were broken off to make room for me.”
20 Yes, but remember — those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ,
and you are there because you do believe.
So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen.
21 For if God did not spare the original branches,
he won’t spare you either.
22 Notice how God is both kind and severe.
He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness.
But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off.
23 And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again,
for God has the power to graft them back into the tree.
24 You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree.
So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature
by grafting you into his cultivated tree,
he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong.
25 I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters,
so that you will not feel proud about yourselves.
Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ.
26 And so all Israel will be saved.
27 “My covenant with them is that I will take away their sins.”
28 Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News,
but this is for your benefit.
Yet they are still the people he loves,
because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
29 For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.
Reflection Prompt:
Where do you need to trust that God will finish what He started?
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