Studies, reading plans and every single day within them, alongside devotionals and articles. Search by title, book of the Bible, passage or topic.
Bible Memory collection
The Bible does not promise that you will feel strong. It promises a God who strengthens the weak, which is a better arrangement. Philippians 4:11-13 Paul says he has learned to be content in whatever state he is in, knowing how to be humbled and how to abound, and then he writes the famous line: I…
Chapter study
…to leave behind. A vine, a husbandman, and a claim only Jesus makes Verses 1 to 2 Jesus opens with the seventh and final 'I am' statement in John's Gospel: I am the true vine. Israel had long been pictured as God's…
Chapter study
…that garrisons the heart and mind), and finally his own biography (verses 11 to 13, where he says plainly that he was not born content but taught himself, or rather was taught, in both directions, plenty and hunger). So…
Chapter study
Psalm 23 is one of the most quoted passages in the Bible and one of the least observed. Many people carry it in memory without ever slowing down to notice how carefully every sentence is arranged. David is not writing…
Chapter study
…one verse at a time. There is no reason to hurry through thirty nine verses that have carried the church for two thousand years. If I am still a sinner, how can I be certain God will never turn away from me? Romans 7…
Chapter study
…this chapter. Genesis 22 is one of the most important passages in the Bible, and without it much of the New Testament loses its depth. Some chapters can be read quickly without much loss. This is not one of them.…
Chapter study
…are part of the writing. This is the first murder recorded in the Bible. It is not the first sin recorded in the Bible, and the chapter does not claim to record everything that happened in these generations. Why did God…
Chapter study
…songbook. Read it first as one piece. The psalm describes one person in verses 1 to 3, denies all of it of another in verses 4 to 5, and closes in verse 6 by naming two ways. Everything in the study below comes out of…
Dig Deeper
…The context is having and not having. Paul lists four conditions in two verses: abased and abounding, full and hungry. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. All these things is the…
Verse study
…με panta ischyo en to endynamounti me Greek Ischyo means to have strength or ability; endynamoo, to empower, appears in the present tense, describing ongoing rather than one-time strengthening. What 'all things' means…
52 Week Journey
Scripture never treats sickness or weakness as if they carry no weight. It records real suffering, real pleading, and real healing, and it also records unanswered requests to be healed. Both are part of the honest…
Dig Deeper
…defined by God, and it is not only material Paul has already shown in verses 11 and 12 that he has known hunger as a Christian, so verse 19 cannot mean that a believer will never lack. The letter itself rules that…
Dig Deeper
…Paul writes this with his own case unresolved, in custody, chapter 1 verses 12 to 14. What is promised is a guard on the heart and mind, through Christ Jesus. The word rendered keep is used of soldiers holding a city.…
Bible study
…had led the church in their absence. Roman adoption law stands behind verses 15-17. An adopted son in Rome received a new name, new debts cancelled, and full inheritance rights that could not be revoked. Paul's readers…
Dig Deeper
…have been true, but it would not have carried him through the next five verses. What he needs is not a distant sovereign but someone who notices when one animal is missing. This is why the psalm is written in the first…
Daily reading
…not once the thorn goes. Power is made perfect, not merely visible, in weakness. The Grace resource explains why unanswered requests are not evidence of an absent God. Paul is heard three times and refused three times,…
Devotional
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. WEB This is the most misquoted verse in the New Testament, and its real meaning is better than the slogan. Read verses 11 and 12 first. Paul has…
Dig Deeper
…the promise actually covers The psalm answers its own question in the verses that follow. What the shepherd guarantees is pasture, water, rest, restoration, direction, presence in the dark, a welcome at his table and a…
Dig Deeper
…to a brother rather than about him. am-i-my-brothers-keeper Does the Bible answer Cain's question, Am I my brother's keeper? Cain asks it as an evasion. Scripture answers it at length, and the answer is action rather…
Christian Living
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. WEB philippians 4 The verse is quoted as a slogan for ambition, but its context is learning to live with plenty and with hunger. All things means…
Topic study
…the timing, and even the timing is in faithful hands. That is why the Bible can speak of hope as something a person holds fast, something that does not make a person ashamed, something laid up in heaven. A wish cannot…
Topic study
…petition, lament, intercession, and silence held in his presence. The Bible never presents prayer as a technique. It presents it as the ordinary language of a covenant. God has spoken, and prayer is how the person who…
Word and phrase
…together. 2 Corinthians 12:9 Shows grace as ongoing sufficiency in weakness, not only the initial gift of salvation. Romans 5:20 Where sin increased, grace increased far more, which is Paul's answer to anyone who thinks…
Christian Living
…to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. WEB 2-corinthians 12 Paul asked…
Christian Living
…which tells us biblical waiting is active rather than passive. Strength is promised inside the wait, not after it. Lord, I am tired of waiting and tempted to take matters into my own hands. Strengthen my heart. Teach me…
Biblical concept
…commanded at that moment. John does not explain the hard sayings of verses 53-58 as a ceremony; he places them alongside verse 35, where coming to Jesus and believing in him are the terms he himself uses for what he…
Word and phrase
…it. Length without relationship would be a strange kind of hope. The Bible offers unending life precisely because it is unending life with God. One of the more striking features of John's gospel is how often eternal…
Biblical concept
…oppressor, so kingship in Scripture is measured by what happens to the weakest person in the land. Because the gap between the promise and the actual kings creates the longing the Gospels answer. Every reign that ends…
Bible question
…He is describing a settled disposition he has learned, as he says a few verses later, 'in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.' That context keeps the command from sounding like a demand for cheerfulness and…
Bible question
…to abound and to be in need. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. WEB I have learned, twice. Contentment is treated as a taught thing, and the curriculum included both abundance and hunger. Verse 13…
Bible question
…afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. WEB Read the command with the reason still…
Bible question
…afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. WEB Do not be afraid, for I am with you. God…
Bible question
…opened the way. Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered. Paul…
Bible question
…shows what it sounds like to name the worst and still name God as your strength. The disciples in the storm Mark 4:35-41 Experienced fishermen were convinced they were about to drown, and Jesus was asleep in the boat.…
Bible question
…guards us. Romans 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered. He who…
Bible question
…seen has not been made out of things which are visible. WEB This is the Bible's own definition. Faith is assurance and proof, words borrowed from the world of evidence, which means biblical faith is confidence resting…
Bible question
…our record twice in one sentence. Romans 5:6-8 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would…
Bible question
…I will sing to Yahweh, because he has been good to me. WEB The Bible itself asks how long God will hide his face. This psalm gives the question a place inside prayer rather than outside it, and then ends in trust…
Bible question
…has just called rebellious, corrupt and laden with iniquity in the verses before it. There is no sin named in the chapter that the promise does not cover. David's forgiveness after adultery and murder Psalm 51:1-2 Have…
Bible question
…jar of meal did not run out and the oil did not fail until rain came, verses 14 to 16. God's care reached the smallest household budget in the account. It is worth noticing that the supply was daily rather than…
Bible question
…Whatever you do leaves nothing outside. The audience in the surrounding verses includes household slaves, so this is addressed to people with the least interesting and least free work imaginable. Genesis 2:15 Yahweh God…
Bible question
…told my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9. The man who wrote in nothing be anxious carried real concern for people. Scripture distinguishes care that we carry to…
Bible question
…the church a Gospel. Luke's stated aim was certainty about Christ. The Bible's authorship question exists for the sake of knowing him reliably. It is the fairest question a newcomer can ask. If a book claims to be from…
Bible question
…would not fail, and told him that when he had turned again he was to strengthen his brothers. After the resurrection Jesus restored Peter personally by the Sea of Galilee, asking him three times whether he loved him. A…
Bible question
…know the certainty of what he had been taught. Wanting certainty is not weak faith. Luke's Gospel exists partly because someone asked. The Bible is ancient, and we are used to checking sources. Asking whether it can be…
Bible question
…the alternative theories before they have read the accounts, which reverses the order in which the evidence should be met. Paul, writing to Corinth roughly twenty to twenty-five years after the events a mixed Greek…
Bible question
…and to be hungry, and that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. The man who wrote Philippians 4:19 had gone hungry. That is the strongest evidence that supply every need does not mean a life without…
Bible question
…unforgiveness spreads into. Forgive and forget The phrase is not in the Bible. God's promise to remember sin no more is covenantal language about not holding it against us, not divine amnesia. You may remember what…
Bible question
…and the chapter opens with mountains and hills called as witnesses. Verses 6 and 7 put words in the mouth of an anxious worshiper who assumes God's will must be secured through bigger and costlier offerings, ending with…
Bible question
…describes. Ezekiel 13:10 Ezekiel pictures false prophets daubing a weak wall with untempered mortar, covering real danger with a false sense of safety, a vivid image of teaching that hides rather than exposes problems.…
Bible question
…Luke 22:31-32, and told him that once he had turned again he should strengthen his brothers. The failure began before the courtyard, in the hour when he did not pray. Willingness is not the same as strength, which is…
Bible question
…his own face. Correct study ends in obedience, not information. The Bible records readers as well as writers, and shows what careful and careless reading look like. Ezra, who set his heart to it Ezra 7:10 Ezra worked…
Bible question
…and then says God has come so that his fear may be before them. The Bible distinguishes terror from reverence in a single sentence. Psalms 130:3-4 If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But there is…
Bible question
…It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body. WEB The…
Bible question
…guilt he admitted freely. Jesus promised him paradise that day, on the strength of nothing but faith spoken from a cross. The moment after death, for those who trust Christ, is being with him. Nothing about the timing…
Bible question
…Joel 2:13 and Jonah 4:2, which is one of the clearest examples in the Bible of Scripture interpreting Scripture across many generations. Exodus 34:5 Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and…
Bible question
…of redemption. Grief is something only a person feels. The surrounding verses list bitterness, harsh words and dishonesty, so the way to grieve him is ordinary sin against other people. He is spoken of as a person, not…
Bible question
…to suffering that leaves God unmoved has already left the text. The Bible answers this question with people as well as with doctrine. Each of these men suffered without being given a full explanation, and each was met…
Bible question
…that believers were united with Christ in his death and resurrection, verses 3 to 5. That is why the command in verse 11 is consider, or reckon. The believer is told to count something true that God has declared true,…
Bible question
…in a status he laid aside, not in a nature he lacked. Does the Bible teach the Trinity, or is that a later invention? The word is later; the material is in Scripture. One God is affirmed throughout, and Father, Son and…
The Sunday Study
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.