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
Obedience in the New Testament flows from love and from grace, never toward earning them. These verses hold that order in place. John 14:15 If you love me, keep my commands. Jesus makes obedience the natural expression of love for him. Matthew 16:24 Jesus tells his disciples that anyone who would…
Bible Memory collection
Faithfulness is God's character seen over time. These passages were written by people who had waited long enough to test it. Lamentations 3:22-23 In the middle of a book of grief over a ruined city, Jeremiah says the Lord's loving kindnesses do not cease, that his compassion does not fail, and…
Bible Memory verse
Samuel tells Saul that God delights in obedience more than in sacrifice, and that to obey is better than the fat of rams. It exposes religious activity used as a substitute for actual obedience, a trade we still make. Micah 6:6-8 Hosea 6:6 Isaiah 1:11-17 Lord, I will not offer you activity in…
Bible Memory verse
Moses tells Israel that the Lord their God is the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. The number is deliberately beyond counting. It stretches God's faithfulness past your lifetime. What he promised your…
Bible Memory verse
Children are to obey their parents in the Lord, honouring father and mother, the first commandment with a promise attached. Fathers are told not to provoke their children to anger but to nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. It gives both sides of the house something to obey.…
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
Do not merely listen to the word, do what it says, or you are like someone who looks in a mirror and forgets what he saw. It confronts the danger of informed Christians who never act. Hearing without doing is self deception. Matthew 7:24-27 Luke 8:21 John 13:17 Father, do not let me be a forgetful…
Bible Memory verse
Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Submission comes before resistance. It gives the order right. Resistance without surrender to God is willpower, and willpower loses. 1 Peter 5:6-9 Ephesians 4:27 Matthew 4:10 God, I submit to you first, and in your authority I…
Bible Memory verse
If you love me, keep my commands. Jesus makes obedience the natural expression of love for him. It settles the relationship between affection and action. Love that never obeys is only sentiment. 1 John 5:3 John 15:14 Luke 6:46 Lord Jesus, let my love for you show up in what I actually do today.
Chapter study
Do not rush into 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…
Chapter study
Psalm 1 does not pray and does not praise. Nobody is addressed as God anywhere in it. It teaches, which is why it belongs with the wisdom writing of Scripture even though it stands at the head of the songbook. Read it…
Dig Deeper
Genesis 22:1 After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.” The Hebrew verb is nasah, to test or put to the proof. It is the same verb used of Israel in the wilderness, where…
Dig Deeper
Genesis 22:2 He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.” The land of…
Dig Deeper
Genesis 22:7-8 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will…
Verse study
אֱלֹהִים יִרְאֶה־לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה Elohim yireh lo ha-seh Hebrew Literally God will see for Himself the lamb. Hebrew joins seeing and providing in one verb, so the sentence claims that God has already looked ahead on…
Verse study
הִנֵּנִי hinneni Hebrew Behold me. A single word made of a presentational particle and the pronoun I. It reports availability without asking what will be required. A word that gives no conditions Hinneni is not a…
Verse study
εἴρηκα ὑμᾶς φίλους eireka hymas philous Greek Philous comes from phileo, love marked by warm affection and companionship, distinguished from the more general agapao used elsewhere for love as command. The difference…
Verse study
תַּחַת בְּנוֹ tahat beno Hebrew Tahat means under, in the place of, instead of. It marks an exchange of position rather than a rescue by escape. Something still dies The chapter does not end with the knife lowered and…
Verse study
יְהוָה יִרְאֶה YHWH yireh Hebrew The LORD will see. Because God sees ahead, He sees to it. Provision in Hebrew begins as vision. A name earned on a mountain Abraham has known God as El Elyon, God Most High, and El…
52 Week Journey
It is possible to talk about loving Jesus and never once ask what He said to do. It is also possible to keep a long list of rules and never once love the one who gave them. Scripture will not let those two things…
Verse study
לֹא חָשַׂכְתָּ lo chasakta Hebrew You did not hold back or spare. The verb describes keeping something in reserve, out of reach. Genesis says Abraham kept nothing in reserve. What God says He now knows Now I know that…
Devotional
Genesis 22:3 Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which…
Devotional
Exodus 19:8 All the people answered together, and said, "All that Yahweh has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to Yahweh. WEB This vow comes before the Ten Commandments are given in chapter 20.…
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 Hebrews 12 whole. The race in verses 1 and 2 turns into discipline in verses 5 to 11, and the same love is behind both. What is laid aside: weight first, then sin. Not everything that slows you down is wickedness.…
Daily reading
Read Genesis 22 and then work through the Audela chapter study. Follow the order of the narrative: Abraham speaks of God providing the lamb in verse 8, the ram is provided in verse 13, and the place is named in verse…
Devotional
James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. WEB James does not say hearers without doing harm other people. He says they deceive themselves, which means the danger of hearing…
Devotional
Hebrews 11:8 By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. WEB The verb at the centre of this verse is obeyed.…
Devotional
Luke 9:51 It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem. WEB From this verse, Luke's gospel turns and begins moving deliberately toward Jerusalem.…
Devotional
John 14:15 If you love me, keep my commandments. WEB The sentence is a condition, not a threat. Jesus does not say keep my commandments so that I will love you. He says love produces keeping, the way a tree produces…
Devotional
Luke 1:38 Mary said, "Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word." The angel departed from her. WEB Mary has just heard something that will cost her reputation, her engagement, and…
Devotional
Isaiah 55:11 so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do. WEB Isaiah compares God's word to rain…
Devotional
Mark 10:21 Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross. WEB…
Article
1 Thessalonians 4:11 and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you; Paul's ambition for the Thessalonians is strikingly…
Devotional
1 Kings 11:4 For it happened, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, as the heart of David his father was. WEB Solomon began his…
Devotional
Exodus 24:7-8 He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that Yahweh has spoken will we do, and be obedient.” Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people,…
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
Jeremiah 31:33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and…
Devotional
Genesis 22:14 Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.” WEB Abraham has climbed Mount Moriah with his son and the wood for a…
Devotional
Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross. WEB Paul is not primarily teaching doctrine here; he is asking the Philippians to think like…
Devotional
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. WEB John, writing near the end of his life, closes the loop that began in John 14. Love for God is defined, not…
Reading plan day
The psalm calls Israel to worship, then turns without warning into a caution: do not harden your hearts as you did in the wilderness, when your ancestors saw God's works and still refused to trust him. Worship and…
Reading plan day
This short psalm commands joy and thanksgiving rather than merely describing them, because gladness before God is treated here as something you choose to do, an act of obedience, not only a feeling that shows up on its…
Reading plan day
This opening section of the longest psalm in the Bible describes someone who delights in God's law rather than merely obeying it out of duty, and hides God's word in his heart specifically so he will not sin against…
Reading plan day
Struck silent for months for doubting the angel's word, Zechariah's tongue is loosed the moment he obeys and names his son John, and his first words are a song of blessing over what God is doing through his child and…
Reading plan day
Joseph, planning to quietly break his engagement to the pregnant Mary, is asked by an angel to trust an explanation he could not verify and take her as his wife anyway. His obedience, given with no fanfare, is what…
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…
Biblical concept
In Exodus 12 each household killed a lamb, put its blood on the doorframe, and ate in haste. Where the blood was, the destroyer passed over. Israel was not spared because it was better but because it was covered. The…
Word and phrase
Righteousness in Scripture is relational as well as moral. It means conformity to God's standard and standing accepted before him, and Romans 3 says all have fallen short of it. Romans 1:17 speaks of a righteousness of…
Christian Living
John 14:15 If you love me, keep my commandments. WEB john 14 Jesus joins love and obedience so tightly that neither can be claimed without the other. Obedience is not how a person earns His favour, it is how love…
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
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? WEB God has already spoken about his will. Read that first, because…
Bible question
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape,…
Bible question
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. WEB Let God's own words set the terms before the study begins. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t…
Bible question
John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” WEB Read three passages before any argument. One is a claim Jesus made, one is what his hearers understood by it, one is what a disciple said to his face. John 8:58…
Bible question
Luke 9:23-24 He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake,…
Bible question
1 Timothy 6:9-10 But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of…
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
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
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.