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
Repentance is not punishing yourself, it is changing direction. These verses show God's kindness leading it and God's promise meeting it. Acts 3:19 Repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out and times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O…
Bible Memory collection
Scripture does not present God's rule as a theory to debate but as a comfort to lean on. These passages say plainly that nothing reaches you outside his hand. Psalms 115:3 The psalmist answers those who ask where Israel's God is by saying he is in the heavens and does whatever he pleases. The…
Bible Memory verse
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Forgiveness rests on God's character, not on the intensity of your sorrow. He is faithful, so confession is safe. Psalms 32:5 Proverbs 28:13 Psalms 51:1-2 Faithful God, I bring this sin…
Bible Memory verse
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, while worldly sorrow brings death. It teaches you to tell the difference between conviction and self hatred. One leads you to God, the other away from him. Psalms 51:17 Matthew 27:3-5 Luke 15:18-20 Father, give me sorrow…
Bible Memory verse
Repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out and times of refreshing may come from the Lord. It links repentance with refreshment rather than misery. Turning is the road back to relief. Isaiah 55:7 2 Chronicles 7:14 Ezekiel 18:30-32 Lord, I turn from what I have been excusing. Wipe…
Bible Memory verse
Nebuchadnezzar, restored after his humbling, confesses that God does according to his will among the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and that no one can stop his hand or ask him what he is doing. The confession comes from a pagan king, which is part of the point. It removes the…
Bible Memory verse
Because he humbled himself, God exalted him and gave him the name above every name, so that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It tells you where history is going. The confession made freely by the church now will one day be made by everyone. Isaiah 45:23…
Bible Memory verse
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. David prays this after Nathan confronts his sin with Bathsheba, and he asks for creation, not improvement, because he knows the problem is deeper than behaviour. It gives repentance its native language. David does not promise…
Chapter study
Read Genesis 4:1-16 slowly before reading anything below. The chapter is short, and most of what this study points out is visible in the text itself. Hold three things apart as you read: what Scripture states, what it…
Verse study
נַפְשִׁי יְשׁוֹבֵב nafshi yeshovev Hebrew Shuv means to turn back or return. Nefesh is the whole living self, appetite and breath and life, not an immaterial part of a person. Not a spa word English 'restore' suggests…
52 Week Journey
Repentance gets mistaken for a feeling of regret, but Scripture treats it as a change of direction. The prophets call it returning, the same word used for coming home from exile. It assumes you have gone somewhere you…
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
Luke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots. WEB This prayer is spoken while the crucifixion is happening, not after it, and…
Devotional
Matthew 3:8 Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! WEB John says this to Pharisees and Sadducees who came for baptism, and his next line questions whether they can claim Abraham as a shelter from judgment.…
Devotional
Psalm 51:1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. WEB This psalm is attributed, in its heading, to David after Nathan…
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
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
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. WEB This is spoken to the church at Laodicea, a church Jesus describes as lukewarm just a few verses earlier. Rebuke this…
Devotional
Philippians 2:9-10 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the…
Devotional
Luke 15:17-18 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have…
Devotional
Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good…
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
Mark 15:39 When the centurion who stood by, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" WEB A Roman soldier who had likely overseen many crucifixions says this…
Devotional
Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel, and bind it in bundles to burn it; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” WEB The…
Reading plan day
David wrote this after his sin with Bathsheba was exposed, and he does not soften what he did or bargain with God. He simply asks for mercy, for a clean heart, and for the joy of salvation to be restored, which is the…
Topic study
Prayer is not primarily a way to get things from God. It is the way a creature answers back to the Creator who has invited the conversation. Most people, if pressed, would define prayer as asking God for something.…
Biblical concept
The kingdom of God is God's rule, not a territory. Mark opens the ministry of Jesus with the announcement that the kingdom of God has come near, and calls for repentance and faith as the response. Scripture speaks of…
Biblical concept
Messiah is Hebrew and Christ is Greek, and both mean anointed. In Israel priests, kings and occasionally prophets were anointed with oil to mark them as set apart for God's work. John 1:41 translates the word for the…
Biblical concept
To anoint someone was to pour oil on their head and so mark them out as chosen for a task God had given. Samuel anoints Saul and then David, and in David's case Scripture says the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him…
Word and phrase
Repentance is a change of mind that produces a change of direction. John the Baptist and Jesus both open their preaching with the same call: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repentance is not mere regret.…
Biblical concept
John 1:14 says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and that we have seen his glory. Two things are held together: full deity from verse 1, and real humanity here. Nothing is subtracted from either. The verb dwelt…
Christian Living
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 acts 3 Repentance in Scripture is a change of mind that…
Christian Living
1 John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. WEB…
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
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
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 Three passages define repentance from three sides: the…
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
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…
The Sunday Study
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.