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
The Spirit is not an influence or an atmosphere. He is God with us, working holiness in ordinary people. These verses keep that clear. John 14:26 The Father will send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name, and he will teach the disciples all things and remind them of what Jesus said.…
Bible Memory collection
…Learn these three and you can follow the line from Genesis to the Gospels. Genesis 12:2-3 God promises Abraham a great nation, a blessing, and that in him all the families of the earth will be blessed. Paul says this promise was the gospel preached beforehand to Abraham. 2 Samuel 7:12-13 God tells…
Bible Memory collection
Christian assurance grows from the character of God's love rather than the temperature of our own. These are the passages to have ready on your worst day. Romans 8:38-39 Paul lists everything that might separate us from God's love and concludes that none of it can, because that love is in Christ…
Bible Memory collection
A promise is only as strong as the one who gives it. These passages teach both the certainty of God's word and the promises worth carrying daily. 2 Corinthians 1:20 All God's promises find their yes in Christ, and through him we say amen to the glory of God. Joshua 21:45 Not one word of all the…
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
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 that…
Bible Memory collection
Holiness is the first thing heaven says about God, and it is the reason sin is serious and grace is astonishing. Carry these passages and the rest of the Bible reads differently. Isaiah 6:3 The seraphim call to one another that the Lord of Armies is holy, holy, holy, and that the whole earth is…
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 collection
…Psalms 56:3-4 David admits fear and then answers it: when I am afraid I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, I will not fear. Romans 8:28 God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. The good is defined in the next verse as…
Reading plan
…Luke and John. Reading them side by side is the whole point. The same God who made the promise is the one who kept it, and you get to watch both halves. The prophetic passages come from roughly the eighth to the fifth…
Devotional
…Your presence. Amen. Matthew's Gospel opens by calling Jesus Immanuel, God with us (1:23), and closes with Him promising to be with His disciples always. The book is framed by presence, and the Great Commission sits…
Devotional
…continual presence. Matthew's Gospel opened by naming Jesus Immanuel, God with us, in 1:23, and it closes with that same presence promised for the entire task ahead. Matthew 1:22-23 The Gospel opens naming Jesus…
Devotional
…before it is given. Matthew's gospel opened by naming Jesus Immanuel, God with us (1:23), and closes with his promise, I am with you always, forming a frame around the entire book. The presence promised at his birth is…
Devotional
…truth. WEB John has just spent thirteen verses on the Word who was with God and was God, and through whom all things were made. Then comes the sentence that no other religion says: the Word was made flesh. Two things…
Reading plan day
God offers King Ahaz a sign to prove his word is trustworthy, and when Ahaz refuses to ask for one, God gives one anyway: a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us. Isaiah…
Chapter study
…uphill, a substitute provided at the last moment, and a name for God that Israel never forgot. It also sits near the centre of the Bible's story of redemption. Genesis 3 promised that a seed would come. Genesis 12…
Chapter study
…in John's Gospel: I am the true vine. Israel had long been pictured as God's vine, in Psalm 80, in Isaiah 5, in Jeremiah 2 and Ezekiel 15, almost always in the context of a vineyard that disappointed its owner. Jesus…
Dig Deeper
…us all things? The argument runs from the greater to the lesser. If God has already given the costliest thing, the smaller gifts are not in doubt. Romans 8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather,…
Dig Deeper
Philippians 4:19 My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Need, not wishes, and the measure is His riches in glory. The word but ties the promise back to the gift the…
Dig Deeper
…own later summary of the same teaching. Confidence in prayer is tied to God's will, which is the ground of the confidence rather than a limit on it. Read the whole sentence Most misuse of this verse comes from quoting…
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
…so that anyone finding him would not strike him. Cain names a fear, and God answers the fear with a limit on further killing. What the text says God appointed a sign, and the verse states its purpose: so that anyone…
Dig Deeper
…the expression on his face fell. Read it slowly. The verses say what God did and do not say why he did it. Hebrews 11:4 By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony…
Dig Deeper
…the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together. Isaac asks about a lamb, and Abraham answers about a…
Dig Deeper
…a temple, and David does not set that aside. He simply insists that the God of the whole nation attends to one man in one field. What the title claims about God To call God a shepherd is to say three things at once.…
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
…as 'an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.' The promise that follows is Paul's confident conclusion for a church that has just given generously, likely out of its own limited resources…
Verse study
…of a problem Verse 6 asks believers to bring every anxious care to God in prayer. Verse 7 does not promise that the prayer will be answered the way the pray-er wants, or even that the circumstance will change at all. It…
Devotional
…you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you. WEB The covenant with Abraham includes land and descendants, but this verse names something deeper…
Devotional
…of Israel, and tell them, 'You shall be holy; for I Yahweh your God am holy.'" WEB Leviticus 19 is a chapter of remarkably practical commands, honesty in business, leaving gleanings for the poor, honoring the elderly,…
Devotional
2 Timothy 3:16 Every writing is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness WEB Paul writes this to Timothy about the Hebrew Scriptures Timothy…
Devotional
…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 crucifixion, holds…
Devotional
…has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. WEB Paul is raising money for the poor in Jerusalem, and he takes real care over the spirit of the giving, not just the…
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
1 John 4:9-10 By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to…
Devotional
…and rivers in the desert. WEB Isaiah 43:19 is spoken in the context of God promising deliverance to His people. The verse emphasizes His initiative: He says, “I will do a new thing,” and describes Himself making a way…
Devotional
Genesis 2:2-3 By the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from…
Devotional
1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, WEB Paul is answering false teachers in Ephesus who supposed that godliness was a means of financial gain. His correction redefines gain entirely: the real…
Devotional
1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, WEB This verse follows directly from yesterday's, and it moves humility from a posture toward people to a posture…
Devotional
…for I know their sorrows. WEB Before Moses receives his commission, God states what has already happened: He has seen the affliction, heard the cry, and known the sorrow of His people. The action that follows in the…
Devotional
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any…
Devotional
Genesis 16:13 She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?” WEB Hagar is a servant driven into the wilderness by Sarah's harsh…
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…
Devotional
…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 after watching Jesus die, not after any miracle he performed while…
Biblical concept
The incarnation is the entry of the eternal Son of God into human life as a real human being. John 1:14 states it in a single sentence: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. Philippians 2:6…
Biblical concept
…is subtracted from either. The verb dwelt is literally to pitch a tent. God is not visiting from a distance. He settles among his people the way he once settled in the tabernacle. John 1:14 This verse is the first place…
Christian Living
1 Timothy 6:6-8 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be content with that. WEB 1-timothy 6…
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 it…
Biblical concept
John the Baptist points at Jesus and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Lamb is sacrificial language. It means a death in place of the guilty. The phrase takes away is one word in Greek…
Biblical concept
In the gospels Son of God is not a title of honour handed round freely. When Jesus uses it of himself his hearers understand a claim to equality with God, which is why John 5:18 records the reaction it caused. The…
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
…to his will, he listens to us. WEB Before anything is explained, hear God speak about your prayers in his own words. 1 John 5:14-15 This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to…
Bible question
…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 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is…
Bible question
…heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. WEB Three passages together give the promise, its measure and…
Bible question
…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 most of what we want to know is answered there. Micah 6:8 He has shown you,…
Bible question
…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 lean on your own understanding.…
Bible question
…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 assembled by people. It begins…
Bible question
…the glory which will be revealed toward us. WEB This question deserves God's words before ours. Read these passages slowly, because the explanation that follows only tries to open what they already say. Romans 8:18-23…
Bible question
…long shall my enemy triumph over me? Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death; Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; Lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall. But I…
Bible question
…also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God. WEB The reason given is the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High, not a marriage. Therefore ties the title to how this child comes to be born,…
The Sunday Study
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.