Devotional
…the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, WEB Paul is writing this while listing real suffering: hunted, struck down, carrying about the dying of Jesus in his body, verses 8-10. He…
2 Corinthians 4:17 · Suffering, Hope
Devotional
Romans 5:3-4 Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope. WEB Paul does not say suffering is good in…
Romans 5:3-4 · Suffering, Hope, Patience
Chapter study
…4:19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The mountain of provision became the mountain of the temple, and the temple's whole calendar of substitutes was fulfilled just…
Genesis 22 · Faith, Obedience, Worship
Chapter study
…15:8 The purpose of that fruit and that prayer is named as the Father's glory. Notice what condition sits inside the same sentence as the promise, before treating it as unconditional. From vine to love: the command that…
John 15 · Love, Suffering, Holiness
Chapter study
…The circumstances Paul has just named: full and hungry, abounding and suffering need. Philippians 4:13 The strength promised, standing inside that discussion rather than apart from it. Read verse 13 without separating…
Philippians 4 · Contentment, Prayer, Worship
Chapter study
…who may ascend the hill of the Lord. The three read as a sequence: the suffering one, the shepherded one, the enthroned King. Placed between agony and coronation, Psalm 23 refuses to be a sentimental interlude. It is…
Psalms 23 · Hope, Fear, Peace
Chapter study
…why he spends the middle of the chapter on the Spirit, why suffering appears before glory, and why he ends with a list of everything that might separate a believer from God. Notice also who is speaking. Paul had watched…
Romans 8 · Hope, Suffering, Salvation
Dig Deeper
…spent ten verses on groaning, futility, bondage to corruption and the suffering of the present time. He is not a man pretending that pain is a blessing in disguise. It does not promise a comfortable outcome either.…
Romans 8:28 · Salvation, Love, Suffering
Bible study
…is produced by the Spirit, not manufactured by effort. v.18 The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Paul does not minimise suffering; he weighs it. The…
Romans 8:1-39 · Salvation, Identity in Christ, Holy Spirit
Dig Deeper
…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. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in…
Philippians 4:11-13 · Prayer, Worship, Peace
Verse study
…the same truth for every believer, in every century. God does not waste suffering. He redeems it. He shapes His children through it. What good means, according to verse 29 Paul does not leave the word good undefined.…
Romans 8:28 · Salvation, Love, Suffering
Reading plan
…comfort and restoration. Isaiah 53:1-6 Substitution Isaiah describes a suffering servant, despised and rejected, wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, so that we could be healed by his wounds.…
Isaiah · Hope, Salvation, Peace
Devotional
…persecution at this early date. Peter addresses real, present suffering directly rather than offering comfort detached from their situation. The phrase living hope uses the same word for living that describes Jesus as a…
1 Peter 1:3 · Suffering, Hope
Devotional
…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 Paul is specific about the number of times he asked. This was not a passing…
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 · Suffering, Strength, Healing
Devotional
…The request in Mark 10:37 asks for seats at Jesus' left and right in glory, and He answers with the cup He must drink and the baptism He must undergo, pointing toward suffering rather than honor. Verse 42-44 contrasts…
Mark 10:45 · Suffering, Sin, Purpose
Devotional
Romans 5:3-4 We also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope. WEB Paul does not say suffering is good in itself. He says it…
Romans 5:3-4 · Suffering, Patience, Work
Devotional
…and I will give you the crown of life, the same phrase in a letter to a suffering church. 2 Timothy 4:7-8 Paul at the end of his life speaks of finishing the race and a crown of righteousness laid up for him. What trial…
James 1:12 · Patience, Suffering, Temptation
Devotional
…teaching they find hardest to accept. The cloud recalls the cloud of glory that covered Sinai and later the tabernacle, Exodus 24:15-18 and 40:34-35, the visible sign of God's presence. Its appearance here signals that…
Mark 9:7 · Hearing God's Voice
52 Week Journey
The Bible does not promise a life without suffering, and it never pretends pain is small. Job loses everything, David writes psalms from the pit, and Paul catalogues beatings and shipwrecks. What Scripture offers…
Romans 5:1-5 · Hope, Suffering, Discipleship
52 Week Journey
…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 witness of the Bible.…
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 · Strength, Discipleship, Healing
52 Week Journey
…Christ they are yes, and through Christ the church says Amen to God's glory. The Seed of the Woman The first promise in Scripture is already about Him. Genesis 3:15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and…
2 Corinthians 1:20 · Identity in Christ, Discipleship
Bible study
…quoted by Jesus on the cross, and Psalm 24, the psalm of the King of glory entering his gates. Read together they trace a movement from cross, to care, to crown. Shepherd ro'eh (רֹעֶה) One who pastures, feeds and leads;…
Psalm 23:1-6 · Hope, Peace, Faith
Dig Deeper
…into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. Two chapters earlier Paul has explained the union: the believer is joined to Christ's…
Romans 8:1 · Salvation, Love, Suffering
Devotional
…transgressions, for our iniquities. The promised rescue comes through suffering, not around it. Isaiah 53 was written for people waiting long before the event. Healing here is chiefly spiritual: by his wounds we are…
Isaiah 53:5 · Suffering, Identity in Christ
Verse study
…It pleased the Lord to bruise him; the Father's purpose in the Son's suffering. John 3:16 God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. Romans 5:8 God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were…
Romans 8:32 · Salvation, Love, Fear
Devotional
…tension the Bible refuses to resolve cheaply. Jeremiah does not say the suffering is small, and he does not say God had nothing to do with it. He says both that the Lord has afflicted him and that the Lord's mercies do…
Lamentations 3:22-23 · Hope, Suffering, Grace
Verse study
…precisely 'My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.' The standard of supply is God's own glorious riches, an extravagant measure, and the channel is Christ Jesus specifically.…
Philippians 4:19 · Prayer, Worship, Peace
Verse study
…by the believer's worst week. What this means for fear, doubt and suffering For the believer struggling with fear, the list is medicine because it is specific. Paul does not say do not be afraid. He names the things…
Romans 8:38-39 · Salvation, Love, Suffering
Dig Deeper
Romans 8:32 He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? The argument runs from the greater to the lesser. If God has already given the…
Romans 8:31-39 · Salvation, Love, Suffering
Dig Deeper
…4:19 My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Paul writes this to a church that had just sent him money while he sat in prison. He says need, not comfort, and he says it…
Psalm 23:1 · Hope, Fear, Faith