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
Grace is not God lowering his standard. It is God meeting his own standard on our behalf. These passages keep grace free without making it careless. 2 Corinthians 12:9 God tells Paul that his grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in weakness, so Paul chooses to boast in weakness…
Bible Memory collection
Every list of gifts in the New Testament comes with the same purpose attached: the good of the church. Learn these and you have the rule for reading the rest. 1 Peter 4:10 As each has received a gift, serve one another with it as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. The word for…
Bible Memory collection
Most wrong thinking about our lives begins with wrong thinking about God. These passages let God describe himself in his own words. Exodus 34:6-7 God passes before Moses and names himself compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, forgiving yet not leaving guilt…
Bible Memory collection
The gospel is news before it is advice. These passages give you the message in its apostolic shape, so you can tell it without drifting into moral improvement. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 Paul hands on what he received as of first importance: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was…
Bible Memory verse
God tells Paul that his grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in weakness, so Paul chooses to boast in weakness instead of hiding it. It is the answer to the thorn God does not remove. Sufficient grace is often given instead of the change we asked for. 2 Corinthians 4:7 Isaiah 40:29…
Bible Memory verse
God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times you have all you need to abound in every good work. Grace supplies generosity. It is the verse behind Christian giving that is glad rather than pressured. Philippians 4:19 Proverbs 11:25 1 Chronicles 29:14 Generous…
Bible Memory verse
Salvation comes by grace through faith, God's gift and not the result of works, so that nobody can boast. Paul does not stop there: we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works he prepared beforehand. Grace saves us from working for standing, and then sends us into the works…
Bible Memory verse
God introduces himself as the Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt and out of slavery, and only then says they shall have no other gods before him. Rescue comes before requirement. It sets the shape of all biblical obedience: God saves, and then he commands. Learn the order and the law stops…
Bible Memory verse
Our high priest was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, so we can come to the throne of grace with confidence and find mercy and help. It is the verse for the moment you feel too weak to pray. His sympathy is informed, and his throne is a throne of grace. Hebrews 2:17-18 Isaiah 53:3…
Bible Memory verse
We are told to approach God's throne with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. It gives grace an address. When you are failing, the throne is still a throne of grace and you are still invited. Ephesians 3:12 Romans 5:2 James 4:6 Father, I come with…
Bible Memory verse
God gives more grace, for he resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. James quotes Proverbs, and both Peter and he apply it to life in the church. It shows that pride is not merely unattractive but opposed by God himself, and that humility is where grace lands. Proverbs 3:34 1 Peter 5:5-6…
Devotional
Lamentations 3:22-23 It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Jeremiah writes these lines with…
52 Week Journey
Grace is the word Christians use most and understand least. It is easy to say God is gracious and still, quietly, live as though His favor must be earned by good behavior or lost by bad. This week looks directly at…
Devotional
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. WEB This psalm follows David's affair with Bathsheba and the death of Uriah, and the title says as much.…
Devotional
Romans 7:24-25 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! WEB Paul spends Romans 7 describing a war within himself: the good he wants to do,…
Devotional
John 13:14-15 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. WEB Jesus draws…
Daily reading
Read Matthew 11 whole. The invitation arrives after John's doubt and after towns that refused, which makes the gentleness in verse 29 remarkable. Jesus answers John's doubt with evidence rather than rebuke. Come to me,…
Daily reading
Read 2 Corinthians 12. It is Paul's strangest boast, because the thing he stops hiding is the thing that keeps him close to God. He asked three times, which is the same number as Gethsemane. Sufficient is present…
Daily reading
Read Romans 8 slowly, then read the Audela chapter study on it. This is the longest study in the library because the chapter carries the whole Christian life from no condemnation to no separation. The three groans in…
Daily reading
Read Psalm 23, then open the Audela chapter study. Six verses, and the opening line does not change when the path enters the valley. The pronouns move from he to you in verse 4, exactly where the valley begins. The…
Devotional
Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ WEB Paul does not describe unsaved people as…
Devotional
Acts 2:23 him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hands of lawless men, crucified, and killed; WEB Peter, preaching to the crowd only weeks after the…
Devotional
John 1:16-17 From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. WEB John does not set law and grace against each other as though…
Devotional
Romans 5:20-21 The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly; that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal…
Devotional
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and…
Devotional
Exodus 34:6-7 Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving…
Devotional
James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. WEB James writes this after warning against favoritism, and the principle he states cuts both ways: those who show…
Devotional
Leviticus 19:15 “‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness. WEB The command cuts both ways.…
Devotional
Ephesians 2:8-9 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. WEB Paul is careful here almost to the point of redundancy: by…
Devotional
John 21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know…
Devotional
Malachi 3:7 From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ WEB God…
Devotional
Romans 3:21-22 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who…
Devotional
1 Peter 4:10-11 As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. WEB Peter assumes that every believer has received something worth putting to…
Devotional
2 Corinthians 12:9 He has said 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…
Devotional
Luke 15:20 “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. WEB The father sees the son while he is…
Devotional
Exodus 20:1-2 God spoke all these words, saying, "I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." WEB Before a single commandment is given, God identifies Himself by what…
Devotional
Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, WEB Peter is speaking to the crowd after healing a lame man, and…
Devotional
Romans 3:25-26 whom God set forth to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance; to demonstrate his…
Devotional
Romans 5:8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. WEB Paul has just made a comparison in verse 7: a person might conceivably die for a good man, though rarely…
Reading plan day
John's gospel returns Advent to where it began: the eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, full of grace and truth. The whole season of waiting and promise arrives at exactly this:…
Reading plan day
God invites everyone who is thirsty to come to the waters, and whoever has no money to come and buy wine and milk without cost. It is an invitation to receive grace freely, not to earn it, extended to a people who had…
Biblical concept
A covenant is a formal bond with promises, obligations and a sign. God's covenants with Noah, Abraham, Israel and David each carry a sign or an oath, and each is initiated by God. Jeremiah 31 promises a new covenant…
Word and phrase
Grace is favour that is not earned. Ephesians 2:8 says salvation is by grace through faith, and that it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. Scripture also uses grace for God's ongoing help. 2…
Christian Living
1 Timothy 4:7-8 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables. Exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life which is now, and…
Christian Living
2 Corinthians 12:9 He has said 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…
Christian Living
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. WEB 2-peter 3 Growth is commanded, which means it is not automatic, and it is growth…
Bible question
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. WEB Let God answer this before anyone comforts you or frightens you about it. 1 John…
Bible question
John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is…
Bible question
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you. WEB God speaks about forgiveness before we explain it, and his words set a standard no…
Bible question
Romans 10:9 that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. WEB This is the passage where Paul answers the question directly,…
Bible question
Romans 6:12-14 Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as…
Bible question
John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.” WEB Jesus explains this himself, so read his words before ours. John 3:3-8 Jesus answered him, “Most…
Bible question
Ephesians 2:8-9 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. WEB Grace should be heard from God before it is defined by…
Bible question
1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. WEB Rather than starting with a list of behaviours, Scripture gives definitions. Three passages define sin from three angles. 1 John 3:4-6…
Bible question
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, WEB The gospel is a message God delivered, so read his wording before ours.…
Bible question
Acts 16:30-31 and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." WEB The question in the title of this study…
Bible question
Exodus 34:6 Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, WEB Scripture does not begin with a definition of God…
Bible question
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” WEB Three sentences of stated purpose, two from Jesus and one from Paul. Read them before any explanation, and notice that each one names the…
Bible question
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. WEB God explained the cross before it…
Bible question
Romans 7:19 For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. WEB Paul described this struggle himself. Read his words before any explanation of them. Romans 7:18-25 For I…
The Sunday Study
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.