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
Temptation is not sin, and it is not unbeatable. Scripture gives both the escape route and the sympathetic priest who walked it first. 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation is beyond what others have faced, God is faithful, and he will provide a way out so you can endure it. Hebrews 2:18 Because Jesus…
Bible Memory collection
The New Testament's picture of spiritual conflict is mostly a conflict about truth. Deception is the enemy's usual method, so these passages are the usual answer. John 8:44 Jesus says the devil was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because he is a liar and the father…
Bible Memory verse
No temptation is beyond what others have faced, God is faithful, and he will provide a way out so you can endure it. It removes both excuses and despair. There is always an escape, and being tempted does not make you unusual. James 1:12-14 2 Peter 2:9 Hebrews 2:18 Faithful God, show me the way out…
Bible Memory verse
Because Jesus himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. It gives you a helper who is not distant from the fight. He knows the pull from the inside. Hebrews 4:15 Matthew 4:1-11 Luke 22:31-32 Lord Jesus, you were tempted and did not sin. Help me now in the…
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
Jesus says the devil was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because he is a liar and the father of lies. Jesus names lying as the devil's native speech. It tells you what to expect. Temptation usually arrives as a plausible sentence rather than as an obvious evil.…
Bible Memory verse
Answering the tempter, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy: man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God's mouth. He meets a real temptation with a remembered verse. It is the reason Bible memory belongs in this category at all. Jesus used Scripture he already knew, in a…
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
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…
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…
52 Week Journey
Every believer meets two related but different pressures. One is the trial that comes from outside, the hardship, loss or opposition that tests whether faith will hold. The other is temptation, the pull from within to…
Devotional
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,…
Devotional
Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. WEB Paul writes this right after describing how to restore someone caught in a fault, in verse 1. Bearing burdens is not abstract goodwill; it…
Devotional
Matthew 4:4 But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" WEB Jesus says this to the devil after forty days without food, at the exact…
Devotional
Ephesians 4:30 Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. WEB Paul places this command in the middle of a list of practical instructions: put away lying, do not let the sun…
Devotional
James 1:13-14 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. WEB…
Devotional
Jude 1:24 Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy WEB Jude has spent his short letter warning against those who twist grace into…
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
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
Genesis 3:5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. WEB The serpent's temptation was not primarily about fruit. It was about status. Eve and…
Devotional
James 4:7 Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. WEB James gives resistance an order. Submission to God comes first; resisting the devil follows from it, not the other way around.…
Devotional
James 4:7 Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. WEB James gives resistance a specific order. Submission to God comes first, and resisting the devil follows from it, not the…
Devotional
Matthew 6:33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. WEB This sentence sits at the end of a passage about anxiety over food, drink and clothing. Jesus…
Devotional
Matthew 4:4 But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" WEB Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit, fasts forty days, and is…
Devotional
James 1:12 Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him. WEB James 1:12 pronounces a blessing on the one who…
Devotional
Mark 10:14-15 But Jesus, when he saw it, was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. Most certainly I tell you,…
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
Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that you don't enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. WEB Jesus says this to Peter, James and John after finding them asleep while He prayed in anguish…
Devotional
1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks. WEB Paul is candid about how the cross sounded to its first hearers: an offense to Jewish expectations of a…
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
The righteous falls seven times and rises again, the chapter says, which means the mark of righteousness is not never failing but always getting back up. It is a promise for anyone tempted to believe that one failure…
Reading plan day
The wicked flee when no one pursues them, but the righteous are as bold as a lion, the chapter says, describing a courage that comes from a clear conscience rather than from bravado or bluster. Proverbs 28:13 Confess…
Reading plan day
The chapter describes temptation the way it actually works: patient, flattering, and aimed at someone who is not paying attention. The son is told to bind wisdom's words on his heart in advance, because the moment of…
Biblical concept
Scripture holds people answerable for their own acts. In Genesis 3:11 to 13 God questions the man and the woman one at a time, each answers by pointing elsewhere, and neither answer removes what follows. Genesis 4:7…
Biblical concept
Temptation in Scripture is the pull toward evil. James 1:13 to 14 states the source plainly: God tempts no one, and each person is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desire and enticed. Scripture also speaks of…
Biblical concept
John opens his gospel by saying that the Word already was in the beginning, that the Word was with God, and that the Word was God. Three claims are made in one sentence: the Word is eternal, the Word is distinct from…
Christian Living
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
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
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
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.