3/15/2026 | The Holy Spirit
I pray that God would reveal to you how he’s wired and gifted you in the Spirit today, that you would find joy and deeper relationship with him in walking out your unique calling on the earth.
In the final First15 of this series on the Holy Spirit, we’re going to look at what God’s word has to say about the gifts of the Spirit. God has called and equipped each of us uniquely, and importantly to co-labor with him. I pray that God would reveal to you how he’s wired and gifted you in the Spirit today, that you would find joy and deeper relationship with him in walking out your unique calling in the earth.
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.”
1 Corinthians 12:1 ESV
Paul’s heart for the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 12:1 is God’s heart for you and me today. Scripture says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” Within the church today are defenders of multiple positions on spiritual gifts, each as staunch as the other. But God’s desire for you and me is that we would be informed directly from him about the incredible gifts of this loving Holy Spirit who dwells within us. God longs for us to receive all he has to give. He longs to teach us about the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives that we might live with greater purpose and affections for him and others. Let’s surrender our hearts and minds to God on spiritual gifts. And let’s seek out every last bit of what God has planned for us today.
The first aspect of spiritual gifts to note is that they are indeed a gift. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 says,
The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to each of us. He “apportions” them according to his perfect wisdom. Spiritual gifts are never birthed by man and never given for selfish purposes. The Spirit gives us gifts because he loves us and others. All that he does is in perfect love and is for “the common good.” Whether you’ve been given the gift of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, or interpretation of tongues, your purpose in the gift is to be the same as the Holy Spirit’s: love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (emphasis added). Spiritual gifts are all about love. Operating in a gift of the Spirit is always to be done in love. Paul is clear that gifts are annoying (1 Corinthians 13:1) and worthless (1 Corinthians 13:2-3) if they are not filled with love.
1 Peter 4:10-11 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Spend time in prayer discovering what gift the Holy Spirit has given you and how he would intend you to use it for the benefit of the “common good.” Choose to align your understanding and belief on spiritual gifts with the word of God alone. And live today operating in love with the amazing gifts God has given you, whatever they may be.
1. Meditate on God’s word about spiritual gifts. Try and align your understanding of spiritual gifts with his word. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 says:
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the gift he has given you. Ask him to show you if he’s given you multiple gifts! Reflect on your life and the ways God has used you in the past. If you know someone who you believe has a close relationship with the Spirit, ask them what gift they believe God has given you!
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to use you today for the glory of Jesus. Decide to be a believer who lives empowered and purposed with the gift God has given you. Ask the Spirit to show you ways he would use you. Stay in tune and ready to be used by the God of love today.
2 Timothy 1:6-7 says, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Keep the fire of the Holy Spirit kindled within you today by intimate relationship with him. Talk with him. Ask for his help. Stay close to him and allow him to burn passionately within you to see the lost saved, loved, and freed.
Extended Reading: 1 Corinthians 12-14 or watch The Bible Project’s video on 1 Corinthians.
Talk with him. Ask for his help. Stay close to him and allow him to burn passionately within you to see the lost saved, loved, and freed.
]]>3/14/2026 | The Holy Spirit
May you be encouraged as we open our hearts and seek sanctification in the Holy Spirit today.
In today’s First15, we’re going to explore the concept of sanctification in the Holy Spirit. Every day, every moment, God is working to mold us into his likeness. We were made in his image. And the Holy Spirit is so insightful, so good at molding us and correcting. There is so much peace in store for us if we’ll allow God to take away anything in our life holding us back from what we were originally created for, to live free from sin, free from shame, free from the weight of the world, and holy and righteous in him. May you be encouraged as we open our hearts and seek sanctification in the Holy Spirit today.
1 Peter 1:2 ESV
The word “sanctification” typically renders images of fire, struggle, pain, and toil in my mind. It makes me think of my own sin and wonder how I could ever be transformed into a sanctified child of God. I believe sanctification is one of those words commonly used within the church but often misunderstood. We might understand the definition of sanctification (the process of being made or becoming holy), but I don’t know if we have fully grasped God’s plan for the process. I don’t know if we’ve been taught on sanctification in light of God’s grace.
1 Peter 1 gives us wonderful insight into God’s heart for the process of sanctification:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
The first thing we see in 1 Peter 1:2 is that sanctification is “of the Spirit.” Sanctification comes from God working in us, not from our own strength. In fact, Scripture is clear that righteousness is ours as the result of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says, “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” And 2 Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” Sanctification comes from God’s work and power. In our own strength we can’t produce anything like sanctification because we have no holiness within ourselves. But in the Holy Spirit we have access to a vast, deep well of righteousness and godliness. Through Christ we’ve been made clean, and through the work of the Holy Spirit we are growing up into a life of holiness.
1 Peter 1 is most definitely clear that sanctification is a tough process. Dealing with our sin will never be easy. But it is a process full of the work of our merciful God (1 Peter 1:3), and it always results in rejoicing (1 Peter 1:8).
If you desire holiness, righteousness, and godliness, seek out relationship with the Holy Spirit. Open your heart and mind to his work. Allow him to reveal to you the dark places of your heart that have yet to be touched by the capable, loving hands of the God who formed you and knows you. Allow him to heal the wounds and brokenness that have tied you to the world, which you’ve been set free from through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Sanctification is ours by God’s grace and mercy. Spend time in prayer allowing God to deal with your sin and lead you to a life of rejoicing and joy where only sin and sorrow dwelled before.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to produce holiness in you by his grace, love, and mercy.
2. Open your life up to the Holy Spirit. Ask him to reveal areas that are keeping you from a life of holiness and godliness. Ask him to show you past wounds that are still hurting you today. Confess your sin to him and receive his forgiveness.
“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
3. Now ask the Holy Spirit to come and heal you. Ask him to show you where he was at times when you were wounded. Ask him to reveal to you truth that has the power to cover the damaging lies the enemy has spoken to you. Live your life healed, set free, and delivered by the power of the Spirit.
May you experience the joy and freedom that comes from receiving God’s forgiveness and healing. When we give our sins over to him and receive his forgiveness, the chains that entangled us to the cares of the world are shattered. Our portion in God is love, peace, and joy. Jesus died to set us free from the burden of sin. May you be a child of God marked by the holiness of your heavenly Father that is available in the Holy Spirit who dwells within you.
Extended Reading: 2 Peter 1 or watch The Bible Project’s video on 2 Peter.
May you be a child of God marked by the holiness of your heavenly Father that is available in the Holy Spirit who dwells within you.
]]>3/13/2026 | The Holy Spirit
May you experience the richness of God’s presence, the water of his peace, and the warmth of his love today as we seek to allow God to bear his fruit in our lives.
In today’s First15, we’re going to explore how we can bear the life-giving, world-changing fruit of the Holy Spirit. Your life is meant to be marked by love, joy, and peace. And plants don’t bear fruit by trying harder, but by simply receiving abundantly whatever they need to bear fruit. May you experience the richness of God’s presence, the water of his peace, and the warmth of his love today as we seek to allow God to bear his fruit in our lives.
Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
The fruit of the Spirit passage in Galatians 5:22-23 gives me tremendous hope for my own life. Scripture says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” When I read that list I receive a vision of who I long to be. I long to be a person full of love, joy, and peace. I long to have patience, kindness, and goodness. I long to be marked by faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Who wouldn’t? I see within those incredible characteristics the marks of a fully abundant life. I see Jesus.
At the same time, I see myself in light of these incredible fruits of the Spirit. I see all the ways in which my life doesn’t line up with what the Holy Spirit desires to birth in me. How can we, in all our sin and brokenness, live a life marked by these characteristics? How can we be a people so full of the Spirit that our very being portrays the Spirit of God who dwells within us?
God longs to tell you and me today that by his grace, a life marked by the fruit of the Spirit is entirely possible—but only by his grace. In and of myself, I can produce none of these wonderful characteristics. In my own strength, I will only produce selfishness, laziness, and pride. “But with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). The Bible calls these characteristics fruit for a reason. They are birthed out of the glorious working of God in us. They come entirely by God’s grace.
So how do we allow the Holy Spirit to work at the core of our being and produce these wonderful fruits? How do we become children of God marked by the working of the Spirit in our lives? It comes from being connected to our source, that he might plant seeds that grow within us. As we spend time with God we become like him. In his presence our heart transforms into a greater reflection of his glorious love. He can do incredible and miraculous things in us if we simply open our hearts and spend time abiding in him. The more time we spend receiving his love for us, the more areas of brokenness and sin become healed and transformed. If you want to bear the fruit of the Spirit—if you want to be a person marked by the working of God at your core—then you must spend time each day simply being loved by God.
There is no shortcut to holiness. There is no trick to godliness. Jesus has made a way for us to enter into the holy places and see the face of God. God will do magnificent things in you today if you will follow the path laid before you by Jesus and spend time resting in the presence of your heavenly Father. Receive his love. Allow the words he speaks over you to transform the way you view yourself and the world around you. Spend time in prayer meditating on his word and allowing your heart to become more like Jesus’ today.
1. Meditate on God’s desire and ability to produce the fruit of the Spirit in you. Allow his word to fill you with hope that you can be a person marked by these characteristics.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
2. Now receive God’s presence and rest in his love. Take time to simply abide in him. Rather than thinking about all the places you’re lacking, reflect on his goodness. Allow him to draw you near that you might simply rest in him.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to bear fruit in you today. Ask him to lead you to a lifestyle of love, joy, and peace. Ask him to fill you with patience, kindness, and goodness toward others and yourself. Ask him to make you a person marked by faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
It’s vital that you understand these characteristics are not something you strive toward in your own strength, but they are a natural result of being loved by God. You will never be able to be consistently faithful, gentle, or anything else good in your own strength. It takes the work of the Spirit to be marked by the Spirit. Engage with the Holy Spirit throughout your day. When you find yourself in a situation and are struggling to be a person full of the fruit of the Spirit, take a minute and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. Ask him to share with you his perspective and heart. He is with you in every moment and longs to help you live your life to the fullest. Enjoy his love today and live your life out of the abundance of God’s presence available to you.
Extended Reading: Galatians 5 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Galatians.
Enjoy his love today and live your life out of the abundance of God’s presence available to you.
]]>3/12/2026 | The Holy Spirit
May we be good students of God’s word today, and allow him to guide us into a lifestyle of learning with him. For his glory, and our good.
In this life there are constant lessons for us to learn. And in the Holy Spirit, we have been given an amazing teacher. In today’s First15 podcast we’re going to explore what it means to be taught by the Holy Spirit. May we be good students of God’s word today, and allow him to guide us into a lifestyle of learning with him. For his glory, and our good.
“But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”
1 John 2:20 ESV
We have in the Holy Spirit the same Teacher who faithfully breathed the perfect and practical words of Scripture to imperfect men across thousands of years. And Jesus said in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Not only did the Holy Spirit teach the disciples, but he also longs to teach us. He longs to reveal to us the depths of God so that we might learn what it is to be a true follower of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He longs to show us the wisdom of God so that we might live as men and women inspired by God rather than fools who find their knowledge only in the matters of the world. Let’s open our minds and hearts to receive the wisdom that can only come from God himself in the Holy Spirit.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:10, “These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” The Holy Spirit who dwells within us searches the depths of God and longs to reveal to us the ways of our heavenly Father. He longs to teach us what it is to be a lover of God in a world set in opposition to the ways of God. He longs to reveal to us the wisdom of God’s plans and show us the folly that comes from living for the world.
The Holy Spirit desires to be your Teacher today. The questions before you today are: are you willing to be his student? Are you willing to submit your understanding to the Holy Spirit and live in light of his teaching? Are you willing to appear foolish at times when the world doesn’t understand the wisdom of God? Are you willing to live wholeheartedly for the pleasure of your heavenly Father over the fleeting opinions of man? If you will open your heart and mind today to being taught by the Spirit, you will discover a wealth of truth that has the power to set you free from the bonds and burdens of this world. Scripture will begin to change your life as the Holy Spirit reveals to you how these words written thousands of years ago are entirely applicable to your life today.
Receiving the teaching of the Holy Spirit is as simple as submitting our lives to him one day at a time and making time to listen to him and study the word with him. As important and helpful as they are, we don’t have to be pastors, ministers, theologians, or scholars to understand what the Bible means. The Holy Spirit will be our teacher the way he was for the disciples. He will teach us how Scripture applies to our life and guide us into the way of truth. It’s incredibly important that we make time to study Scripture, but it’s equally important that we read the Bible along with the Spirit instead of apart from him. The Bible is a practical book meant to impact the lives of those who read it under the influence of the Spirit. It’s a manual for living life in the abundance of relationship with God, not a book to be read apart from the reality of God’s nearness. Scripture is meant to guide us into direct communication with our heavenly Father, not substitute real, direct relationship with him.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Trust in the teaching of the Holy Spirit today. Lean on his wisdom instead of your own. Acknowledge the reality of his nearness in your life. And discover knowledge that has the power to fill you with abundant life.
1. Meditate on the Holy Spirit’s desire to be your teacher.
2. Choose to be a student of the Holy Spirit. Choose to follow what he reveals to you to be wisdom over the ways of the world. Make the decision to choose his opinion and ways over man’s opinion and ways.
3. Now ask the Holy Spirit to teach you something specific about God’s character. Pray and ask the Spirit to reveal to you what wisdom he wants to show you. Take a few moments of silence, and pay attention to any ways in which God wants to speak to you today. It could be a thought or a feeling or an image that pops into your mind. Just be at peace and take a few moments to listen.
“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10
We have perfectly powerful guidance in Scripture and the Holy Spirit. The pairing of God’s written word and the very God who authored the word have the power to lead us into a life of all wisdom, understanding, and revelation. But we must choose to live this life in light of eternity. We must choose success in heaven over success in the world’s eyes. Scripture and the teaching of the Holy Spirit only have power in our lives if we follow their leadership and principles. Choose today to be a doer of the word instead of a hearer only and discover freeing and empowering wisdom that has the power to transform your life.
Extended Reading: 1 John 2 or watch The Bible Project’s video on 1 John 1-3.
Choose today to be a doer of the word instead of a hearer only and discover freeing and empowering wisdom that has the power to transform your life.
]]>3/11/2026 | The Holy Spirit
I pray that your ears would be opened to hear the loving voice of your Creator today, as we discover together what it means to pray with the Holy Spirit.
Today we’re going to look at one of the most life giving topics we can discuss, Praying with the Holy Spirit. We’ve been given an incredible gift in God that most of us fail to use enough, and that’s real communication with God himself in the Holy Spirit.
I pray that your ears would be opened to hear the loving voice of your Creator today, as we discover together what it means to pray with the Holy Spirit.
Jude 1:20-21 ESV
God loves to respond to the prayers of his people. We see him respond to the desire of Adam for a helpmate with Eve, the prayer of Abraham in saving Lot and his family, the prayer of Moses in the salvation of his people, the prayer of Elijah in sending down fire upon an altar, and the cry for a Savior in sending his only son, Jesus. And through the death of Jesus we’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit, God himself sent as our Helper. Our Helper not only longs to guide us and empower us, but also to help us pray and to pray for us.
Jude 1:20-21 says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” We’ve been given the incredible gift of praying with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who searches the deep things of God desires to help us pray. He desires to reveal God’s desires to us in the midst of our circumstances, relationships, and opportunities and longs to help us pray in line with God’s will. When we pray in the Spirit we are praying along with the will of God himself. When we pray in the Spirit we are asking God to do the very thing he desires to do. It’s crucially important that we as children of God learn how to discern the will of our Father through the Holy Spirit and pray according to that will.
Matthew 21:22 says, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” And Romans 10:17 teaches us, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Scripture tells us to pray in full faith that God will give us what we ask for because faith is always meant to begin with the word of God. Prayer is meant to be as simple as asking God to fill us with the knowledge of his desire and then praying in accordance with that desire in full faith because God will always fulfill his promises.
What’s more, when we don’t know what to pray we can trust in and lean on the groanings of the Spirit. Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Did you know that the Holy Spirit prays for you? Did you know that he intercedes on your behalf? So great is his love for you that he asks God to help you. So great is his desire for you to walk in abundant life that he intercedes on your behalf when you don’t know how to pray.
Aren’t you thankful for the grace of God? In his grace he’s blessed you with the Holy Spirit to help you pray and intercedes for you, all because he loves you. You’ve been given an incredible, powerful gift in praying with the Holy Spirit. Take time today to listen to your Helper as you enter into a time of prayer.
1. Meditate on the Spirit’s desire to help you pray and to intercede for you.
2. Ask the Spirit to fill you with the knowledge of God’s will for whatever it is you desire to pray about. Before you speak, listen.
3. Pray in line with what the Spirit has revealed to you. Ask God, in faith, to bless you with whatever you feel he has shown you. Pray along with Scripture! Rest in the assurance that God will provide you with any and everything that is in his perfect will for you when you ask him to.
“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:22
God loves to make the Christian life simpler than we often make it out to be. I used to believe that to discover God’s will I had to ask God for things and wait to see if life’s circumstances panned out in line with those prayers. But God longs to fill us with the knowledge of his will even before you ask so that we can simply pray in full faith and joy in accordance with what he already desires to do. He blesses us with a life of simplicity if we will simply, wholeheartedly follow him. Take time today to search out the will of God for your life and rest in assurance of his faithfulness as you pray.
Extended Reading: Hebrews 11 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Hebrews.
He blesses us with a life of simplicity if we will simply, wholeheartedly follow him. Take time today to search out the will of God for your life and rest in assurance of his faithfulness as you pray.
]]>3/10/2026 | The Holy Spirit
May we discover the pathway he’s laid before us to grow in friendship with him today, as we take time to experience him in a fresh way.
Today we continue our week long focus on the Holy Spirit by exploring what it means for us to grow in friendship with him. We’ll never have a kinder, more present friend than the God who dwells within us. May we discover the pathway he’s laid before us to grow in friendship with him today, as we take time to experience him in a fresh way.
“The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”
Psalm 25:14 ESV
In friendship with the Holy Spirit we begin to experience a sense of wholeness and joy unattainable through any other relationship or aspect of life. Rapid and wonderful transformation results when you discover the wealth of love that comes with continual, real friendship with the living God. In friendship with God comes peace, security, honesty, healing, and freedom. As you live your life in step with the Spirit, you experience what Adam and Eve experienced as they walked with God himself in the Garden of Eden. You discover the vast reservoir of love, affection, and perfect help that’s available to you in the Holy Spirit. Open your heart today to receive a fresh revelation of God’s desire for friendship with you through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says in John 15:15, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” God longs for friendship with his people. And through the Holy Spirit we have a continual connection with God available to us. The Spirit desires to do life with you. He wants to guide you, speak to you, and love you. He wants to satisfy your longing for relationship and can do so in greater ways than you can imagine.
John 14:16-17 says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” By God’s grace you have been filled with God himself. You have dwelling with you the same Spirit who authored Scripture, raised Christ from the dead, empowered the disciples, and hovered over the waters at the creation of all things. And Scripture says that he longs to help you! Jesus calls him the “Helper.” How incredible is the grace of our God to offer us relationship with the Holy Spirit! How great is his love that he would send his Son to die that we might have abundant life for all of eternity, including right now!
So, how do we grow in friendship with the Holy Spirit? How do we allow him to satisfy our desire for relationship? Psalm 25:14 says, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.” And Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Friendship with the Holy Spirit starts like any other true friendship. We must respect, love, and make time for him. We must learn what he likes and dislikes. And we must apologize when we do something that hurts him. The Holy Spirit has feelings like any other person. But he is also full of grace, forgiveness, and unconditional love. Friendship with him comes about by following his leadership, making time to ask him how he feels about things, and following his guidance away from a lifestyle of sin into the righteousness available to you through Christ Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is waiting right now to guide you into friendship with him. He’s excited about the idea of pouring out his love and affections on you. He longs to lead you away from the sins that hurt you and grieve him. And he longs to guide you toward a life of walking with him in relationship. Spend time in prayer being filled with the Holy Spirit afresh and making room to discover the reality of his presence in your life.
1. Meditate on God’s desire for friendship with you.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to pour his love out on you. Ask him to make the reality of his nearness known to you. Allow his nearness to fill your heart with desire to live your life in relationship with this real, tangible God who loves you.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit what he likes and doesn’t like. Open your life and let him speak to you about whatever is causing you trouble. Ask him how he feels about relationships, situations, thoughts, and perspectives you have. The Spirit loves to speak to us and help us.
Often we separate out what we think God cares about and what just seems to be normal, worldly parts of life. But God wants to be involved in every part of our lives. He wants to be there for us in everything we do. He wants to fill us with grace and joy to do all the things set before us, from taking out the trash to washing dishes to leading thousands of people in prayer. Allow the Holy Spirit to come in and work in every area of your life and discover the wealth of knowledge and love your God has to share with you.
Extended Reading: John 14 or watch The Bible Project’s video on John 13-21.
Allow the Holy Spirit to come in and work in every area of your life and discover the wealth of knowledge and love your God has to share with you.
]]>3/9/2026 | The Holy Spirit
May he reveal himself to each of us in real and fresh ways this week.
As believers, we’ve been given the Holy Spirit as a Helper, Teacher, Friend, and seal for the promised inheritance of eternal life with God. His presence, guidance, and wisdom in our lives are our greatest gifts while here on earth. Through him we have access to direct connection with our heavenly Father. Through him we receive spiritual gifts to empower us. And through him we are able to bear the incredible fruit of abundant life.
Today we begin a week long focus, looking at how we can grow in our understanding and in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. May he reveal himself to each of us in real and fresh ways this week.
Romans 8:14 ESV
Where do you need leadership in your life? What challenge, decision, or circumstance is weighing on you? Where do you need a word from God today? We have available to us the most perfect guide to lead us throughout the twists, turns, and challenges of this adventurous life. The Bible says in Romans 8:14, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” As children of the Most High God, we are granted full access to the leadership of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. No child of God is exempt from the leadership of the Spirit. We don’t earn access by our own merit. We don’t gain more favor to receive more leadership. God has given us all the gift of the Holy Spirit because he loves us. He has filled us with his Spirit because he longs to lead us into the abundant life he has planned for us. So, let’s learn today how we can better discover and follow this gift of leadership we’ve all been granted through Christ in the Holy Spirit.
First, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit and the word work perfectly together. One does not contradict the other. Both the Holy Spirit and the word he inspired are vital in living the Christian life. And God’s word says in Galatians 5:16-18, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” The leadership of the Spirit is in direct opposition to the lifestyle of the world. His desire is always to lead us away from sin that entangles us in the perspectives and pressures of the world toward a lifestyle of peace, joy, and intimate relationship with our heavenly Father. All of his leadership is purposed toward the goal of abundant life in God, of the fullness of satisfaction in God rather than the weak and fleeting pleasure in things of the world.
So how do we follow this person of the Holy Spirit toward that abundant life? Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” How do we “keep in step with the Spirit”? It all starts with spending time getting to know what the Holy Spirit is like. He has a personality. He has a voice. His leadership feels a certain way. Just as you get to know a person, you can get to know the Holy Spirit. And the absolute best way to learn about him is one-on-one. Often we wait until we are in public, or right before a highly stressful situation, to ask for the guidance of the Spirit. But it’s in the secret place that we learn what his voice and leading sounds and feels like so that we can discern his guidance out in the rush and stress of the world. It’s in the secret place that we grow in relationship with the Holy Spirit so that we can follow his steps throughout the twists and turns of our day.
John 16:13 says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” The Holy Spirit is excited to speak to you what he hears from the heavenly Father. He longs to declare to you God’s plans to love you, provide for you, heal you, transform you, and deliver you. He longs to lead you to the fullness of life available to you here. Spend time getting to know the Holy Spirit in the secret place today. As you pray ask God to reveal himself to you. Spend time in prayer resting in the presence of the God who dwells within you, who is nearer to you than the very ground beneath your feet.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to lead you into abundant life.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:14
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal himself to you. Spend time learning about who he is. Ask him to speak to you and to reveal the way his leadership feels.
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:16
3. Open up your life to the Holy Spirit. Ask him to reveal to you things he wants to lead you away from. Ask him to show you the life he wants to lead you to. And commit to following his leadership today.
When you have opportunities to indulge in the flesh, choose life in the Spirit instead. When you feel a desire to avenge yourself, promote yourself, slander someone, or engage in a sinful activity, choose life in the Spirit instead. Choose to love God and others. Live in step with the Spirit and discover the amazing life he longs to guide you into today.
Extended Reading: Romans 8 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Romans 5-16.
Choose to love God and others. Live in step with the Spirit and discover the amazing life he longs to guide you into today.
]]>3/8/2026 | Sharing God's Heart
There is nothing to fear, and God is ready and excited to use us for his kingdom purposes. Will you accept his invitation?
As we wrap up our week on being used by God, today we’ll ask God to fill us with courage to live uncomfortably. May we bare our hearts before God, and ask him to change us, to rid us of all that hinders us. There is nothing to fear, and God is ready and excited to use us for his kingdom purposes. Will you accept his invitation?
Joshua 1:9 ESV
To live as an authentic disciple of Jesus is to live courageously. Jesus didn’t call us to a life of shrinking back. We’re not commanded to sit on the sidelines. He didn’t call us to to pursue comfort, stability, approval with man, or societal status. He’s called us to love unconditionally, give sacrificially, obey him unreservedly, and to live courageously.
In John 15:19 Jesus clearly says, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” To be of God and practice the things of God is in powerful, direct opposition to the things of the world and its ruler, our enemy. For this reason God offers encouragement to those who face trial—to those who live courageously. 1 Peter 4:12-14 says:
God is calling you to a life far greater and more important than comfort and worldly pleasure. He’s calling you to live by faith, believing that true blessing and true pleasure is found in him alone. He’s calling you to step out of your former ways and live in accordance with his will that you might experience fullness of life in him.
For this reason Scripture says in Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” In the midst of any trial you can have transcendent, tangible comfort in God. In this midst of any suffering or pain you can find rest in the loving arms of your heavenly Father. And in the face of great opposition you can choose to live courageously. Your God is with you. He will never leave you. Courage comes from acknowledging the reality and power of God’s nearness.
As we finish this week on sharing God’s heart, find courage today to boldly love others. Take time to receive God’s unconditional love and grace that you might share him with a world who desperately needs transcendent comfort and peace. Live courageously today and see heaven come to earth around you. Seek life and love in God alone. May your time of guided prayer be filled with encouragement from the Holy Spirit and the word of God.
1. Meditate on the call of God to live courageously. Reflect on his promise to be with you always.
2. Assess your own life. In what ways are you seeking worldly comfort over living courageously in God? What fears do you have about sharing God’s heart that are winning out over courage from God?
3. Go to God with your fears and receive encouragement in him. Take time to rest in God’s presence. Ask him for his perspective on that which hinders you from sharing his heart and living courageously. Journal his response.
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7
When you choose to respond to God’s call in faith, know that he will fill you with courage and boldness. The disciples were not naturally courageous people. Prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit they were weak, selfish, and cowardly. But in God they were made strong. In God they accomplished the impossible. In God they were used for eternal purposes that bore fruit you and I are still experiencing. Decide today to partner with God in seeing his kingdom come to earth through your life. Decide to jump in and be an active part of the spiritual awakening happening all around us. Decide to get off the sidelines of the Christian life and share God’s heart with all those he leads you to. May your day be filled with boldness and courage in the Holy Spirit.
Extended Reading: Luke 8 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Luke 1-9.
Decide to get off the sidelines of the Christian life and share God’s heart with all those he leads you to. May your day be filled with boldness and courage in the Holy Spirit.
]]>3/7/2026 | Sharing God's Heart
After we experience his great compassion for us, may we have no choice but to mimic that with others.
As we begin to wrap up our week on being used by God, today we’ll explore what it means to live compassionately. This radical way of living will transform the people around you and expose them to the beautiful nature of Jesus. After we experience his great compassion for us, may we have no choice but to mimic that with others.
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:32 ESV
One of the most impactful ways we can share God’s heart with others is by living compassionately. To show compassion is to step outside of yourself and love another in times of weakness. And to live compassionately is to posture your heart continually toward giving grace and love to those who need it most.
Very little stirs my heart to God more than compassion. When someone sees me in my imperfection and chooses to love me rather than cast me aside, my affection for them and God is automatically stirred. Oftentimes the world is too busy or self-focused to show compassion. We get too caught up in our plans, our needs, and our image to see the hurting and share God’s heart.
But God is calling us to a life lived humbly and sacrificially. Philippians 2:4 says, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” The world is in desperate need of compassion. People need mercy and grace when they fail, show weakness, or are experiencing hard times. God’s heart is to use us that we might show mercy and grace as a reflection of his unconditional love. He’s calling us to be light in the darkness that the world might see in us the compassionate heart of our heavenly Father.
It’s for this reason Paul writes in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” You can forgive because you’ve been forgiven. You can be kind because your Father has been nothing but kind to you. And you can be tenderhearted because God was so tender in heart toward you. He was so compassionate that he gave his life to free you, empower you, strengthen you, and ground you in his grace and love.
Take time in guided prayer to receive a fresh revelation of God’s kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness. Open your heart and let him transform you to be more like him. Allow his heart to become your own. And live today in response to God’s love by showing compassion to others that they might know the tenderness and mercy of your heavenly Father.
1. Meditate on God’s heart of kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness.
2. Take a moment to receive the love of God. Open your heart to him and experience his kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness.
3. Ask God to empower you to show compassion today. Choose to live with your eyes not only set on your needs, but also on the needs of others.
“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” 1 Peter 3:8
The only way we can live compassionately is by abiding in the love of our heavenly Father. 1 John 3:17 says, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” God’s love transforms us. His heart empowers us to live differently. You can abide in the love of God today. You can live filled up with the knowledge of his grace and presence moment to moment and allow him to be your source. Don’t live as if you serve a distant God. Live today in acknowledgement that he is closer to you than your breath—nearer to you than your own skin. The Holy Spirit dwells within you and longs to empower you with his love today. May you live compassionately today and see the lives of others impacted as you reflect the heart of your heavenly Father.
Extended Reading: Colossians 3 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Colossians.
May you live compassionately today and see the lives of others impacted as you reflect the heart of your heavenly Father.
]]>3/6/2026 | Sharing God's Heart
As we assess our hearts, may we remain soft and open to the commands and will of God for us.
Today we’ll explore the concept of evangelism. There are so many fears and misconceptions wrapped up in this topic, and my hope today is that we’ll simplify it, and get straight to the heart of the issue. As we assess our hearts, may we remain soft and open to the commands and will of God for us.
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”
Mark 16:15 ESV
The idea of evangelism has always been terrifying to me. Going up to someone and interrupting their day to tell them about Jesus, no matter how real and good I know him to be, has never been comfortable for me. But you can’t read Scripture and escape God’s command to share the gospel. You can’t read through the New Testament and discount the reality that the disciples gave themselves entirely—to the point of death—that the world might come to know Jesus.
Verses like Mark 16:15-16 couldn’t be more clear. Jesus commands us, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Evangelism is meant to be a part of our normal lives. It’s not just for the few. It’s not just for pastors or the intensely extroverted. It’s for you and me.
When I assess my own heart I discover that my fears related to evangelism are entirely selfish. In fact, I don’t know if I could do something more selfish than hold back the one hope for the world just to protect my own image. Jesus is clear in Mark 16:16 that those who don’t believe in him will be condemned. It’s like I contain the cure for a deadly disease and rather than sacrificing my image to love them by sharing the one cure, I just let them continue to suffer.
In pondering my own heart I realize that the way to engage in evangelism isn’t fixing myself; it’s getting over myself. Is my image really so important that it’s worth condemnation for another? Are the opinions of others really so important to me that I would withhold from them eternal, abundant life with a God who loves them relentlessly and perfectly?
I am made to share God’s light. I have been commissioned by my King to go out and share his heart. It’s time that we obey God’s command in Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Sure, people might think I’m weird. Sure, it might be a little awkward. But God is after the hearts of his creation, and he’s called me to help. May we be those who set aside our pride, seek humility, and love others whatever the cost. May we be so bold as to set our eyes on heaven and sacrifice this life for the sake of eternity. And may the world change around us as we humbly and courageously proclaim the goodness of our heavenly Father.
1. Meditate on God’s call for you to engage in evangelism.
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20
2. What are your fears in regard to evangelism? What holds you back from telling others about the good news of God’s unconditional love?
3. Take time to humble yourself before God and others. Ask him for grace to love others above yourself. Set your eyes on him and open your heart to receive his affection.
In Jesus’ conclusion of the Great Commission he tells his disciples, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Our power for evangelism is that God is with us. He doesn’t send us out alone. His love, power, and presence are fully available to us when we seek to share the gospel with others. When you tell others about Jesus, don’t speak of him as if he’s not with you. Don’t pray as if he doesn’t move and work miracles. Instead, share the reality of God’s nearness with a world that needs to be touched by a revelation of his love. May you be empowered to share the gospel with someone today that they might come to know the power and presence of God.
Extended Reading: Matthew 28 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Matthew 14-28 and Studies on Prayer Volume 1 & Volume 2 by Janet Denison.
May you be empowered to share the gospel with someone today that they might come to know the power and presence of God.
]]>3/5/2026 | Sharing God's Heart
May you be encouraged today in your identity in Christ and freed from any unnecessary weight you’ve been carrying.
One of the best ways we can be used by God is by simply being ourselves. The identity Christ has given us as daughters and sons is meant to shine forth and be a witness to those around us. May you be encouraged today in your identity in Christ and freed from any unnecessary weight you’ve been carrying.
Matthew 5:16 ESV
Jesus’ teaching on salt and light in the Sermon on the Mount is one of my favorite passages of Scripture related to sharing the heart of God with the world around us. In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus taught:
One of the most powerful aspects of this passage is how Jesus begins by speaking identity over us. God doesn’t tell us to go get some salt and share it. He says we are salt. He doesn’t tell us to go get a light and shine it. He says we are a light. Sharing God’s heart is a part of who we are. As believers we’ve been redeemed—washed clean—that we might proclaim the excellencies of our Savior by living in line with our new identity.
The world is a dark place. It is without hope. It’s filled with the blind leading the blind and the needy seeking fulfillment from the needy. Our only hope is Jesus. The one, true Guide is the Holy Spirit.
We are called to a lifestyle of expelling the darkness around us with the powerful proclamation of God’s heart to love, provide for, and redeem all those who would simply say yes to him. We are called to respond to Jesus’ call and cease putting a basket over the light he’s placed within us.
We don’t have to be apologetic for the hope we have. We don’t have to fear the opinion of man. We can love relentlessly, offer grace unexpectedly, and sacrifice ourselves so that others might see a glimpse of God’s heart. “Let your light shine before others” today. Don’t cover up who you are in Christ. Seek to reveal God’s heart in all you do. And watch as the world around you is drawn to the light of God’s unconditional love revealed through your life.
1. Meditate on Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount. Renew your mind to who you are in Christ.
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16
2. In what ways are you covering up your light? In what ways are you living in fear or according to the ways of the world? Take time to engage in confession and receive God’s forgiveness and love.
3. Receive courage from God to live in accordance with your new identity as salt and light. Ask God how you can be light in the darkness today. Ask him for specific ways you can reveal the hope you have in Jesus to others. Journal his response.
Oftentimes we see the things of God as a part of our life. As soon as God starts trying to change the way we live day-to-day, we put a wall up over our hearts so we don’t have to change. But to sequester God is to value this life over eternity. To care more about the world’s opinion of us than who God says we are is to try and make God a servant of the world and its systems. God is the Creator. He alone is King. And he alone knows best as our loving Father. To section off your life and allow God only into parts is to live foolishly. Crown God as King over every part of you. Choose to live as salt and light. And experience life where God is allowed to manifest himself, bless you in every way he can, and use your life to change the world for the better. May your day today be filled with all the fullness of God.
Extended Reading: Matthew 5 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Matthew 1-13.
Crown God as King over every part of you. Choose to live as salt and light. And experience life where God is allowed to manifest himself, bless you in every way he can, and use your life to change the world for the better. May your day today be filled with all the fullness of God.
]]>3/4/2026 | Sharing God's Heart
Today we’ll take a deeper dive in our own hearts and examine who is actually enthroned there.
Being used by God requires inward humility and exaltation of Jesus as King. It’s the only way being used by the Lord can work. Today we’ll take a deeper dive in our own hearts and examine who is actually enthroned there.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
To declare the glory of God is to put all things in their proper place. Chaos and struggle are always the result of humanity trying to gain glory for ourselves. God alone is worthy. God alone is above all else. And God alone can handle the weight of receiving glory.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We were made to declare the glory of God. We were made to proclaim through word and deed the majesty, splendor, and worthiness of the God of heaven and earth.
Proclaiming God’s glory to the world always begins by taking a look at our own hearts. We can’t declare that God is above every other name if we’re still on the throne of our hearts. We can’t proclaim his excellencies and then seek to gain success, approval, and affirmation from others. Declaring God’s glory starts with our own humility. It begins with living a life of sacrifice to the one who’s given up everything for us.
When we remove ourselves from the throne of our own hearts we are set free to magnify Jesus. It’s when we set our eyes on our Savior King that we are freed from the weights and pressures that come from living selfishly. And in this freedom we find the life we were always meant for—a life of continual, incredibly satisfying worship.
In Revelation 19:6-8 we see a beautiful picture of heaven at the marriage supper of the Lamb. At this feast a great multitude cries out saying:
One day all of creation will see Jesus for who he is and give him the glory he is due. One day everything will be set right, and we will discover the abundant life that comes from living for God’s glory alone. But you have an opportunity to give God glory today and lead others to do the same. You have an opportunity to live with your eyes set on heaven and experience the abundant life that’s already available to you. Choose today to place God on the throne of your heart and live a lifestyle of worshiping your worthy King. May your time of guided prayer be filled with a revelation of Jesus’ worthiness and an empowering to declare his glory in all you do.
1. Meditate on the glory of God. Allow Scripture to fill you with a desire to place God on the throne of your heart and live for his glory.
2. Is Jesus enthroned upon every part of your heart today? Are there any areas in your life that you are living for your own glory—to build your own kingdom? Take time to confess those areas and receive God’s forgiveness and grace.
3. Ask God how you can declare his glory on the earth today. How can you live to see Jesus lifted up and seen for who he truly is? How can you lead others into a lifestyle of worship?
God doesn’t want glory to satisfy some selfish need. He knows that he alone can handle a throne. He alone can handle adoration and worship. And when he is magnified it is absolutely the best thing for all of creation. It’s for this reason Solomon writes in Psalm 72:19, “Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!” May the prayer of Solomon be our prayer today as we seek to glorify God in all we do.
Extended Reading: Psalm 8 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Psalms.
May the prayer of Solomon be our prayer today as we seek to glorify God in all we do.
]]>3/3/2026 | Sharing God's Heart
The weight is not on our shoulders—the pressure is off. I hope today you’re freed up to be used by God out of joy and delight rather than obligation or stress.
If we are going to be used by God, we must first acknowledge that he is already at work all around us, and that his work isn’t contingent upon us. This is not something we’re starting up. The weight is not on our shoulders—the pressure is off. I hope today you’re freed up to be used by God out of joy and delight rather than obligation or stress.
“It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:13 ESV
God is calling you and me to a lifestyle of joining him where he is already at work. Foundational to co-laboring with God is acknowledging that he is in constant pursuit of humanity. There is nowhere you can go that God won’t be. There is no one you could talk to whom God doesn’t already see, love relentlessly, and have amazing plans for.
Sharing God’s heart begins and ends with his grace. His grace empowers us to step outside of ourselves and love others. In grace he pursues us, even in our sin. Grace sent Jesus to die for us that we might have salvation through him. And it’s by grace we receive that free gift of salvation.
It’s important to understand God’s grace because without it we work in vain. If we operate under the perspective that salvation, healing, deliverance, and freedom for others hinges on our ability or our mercy, we will achieve nothing. But when we understand that we are merely carriers of God’s heart and fellow recipients of God’s lavish grace, we work from a place of power and truth.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 says, “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” And Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” You are not called to go off on your own into the darkness. God doesn’t just meet you when you read Scripture or spend time with him and then send you off to do his will. He is always with you. He is always available to you. And he always longs to empower you.
Cultivate a lifestyle of seeing where God is at work that you might co-labor with him. Ask the Holy Spirit for eyes to see the way he is pursuing people. Ask him for his heart for your friends, family, co-workers, and those you might only encounter once. God’s most likely not asking you to drop everything and move to an unreached people group right this moment. Instead, he’s asking you to be used by him to minister to others you encounter in your daily rhythms of life.
Meet God where he’s already at work today and seek to share his heart with a world that desperately needs to know a God who passionately pursues them.
1. Meditate on the truth that God is already at work. Allow Scripture to change the way you see co-laboring with God.
“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:3-4
2. Now, ask God where he is already at work around you. Ask him to bring to mind a person or a group of people whom you can minister to today.
3. Ask him how he is already at work. Ask him for a revelation of what you can do to see his kingdom advanced through your life today. Ask him for specific ways you can love others well. Journal his response and pray to receive courage and empowerment by the Holy Spirit.
Healing didn’t happen in Scripture because a disciple had a greater level of mercy or compassion, but because a disciple chose to co-labor with God where he was already at work. God is constantly loving, beckoning, and drawing everyone you know to himself. And he will work through you if you seek to join with him in his purposes. If you want to live a life of purpose that has eternal value, you need not look any further than the faces of those you see every day. May you love others as God does. May you show mercy and compassion in response to God’s mercy and compassion. And may God’s kingdom come to earth around you today as you minister with God.
Extended Reading: Philippians 2 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Philippians.
May you show mercy and compassion in response to God’s mercy and compassion. And may God’s kingdom come to earth around you today as you minister with God.
]]>3/2/2026 | Sharing God's Heart
May you discover this week that you were made to share God’s heart. And may you find joy and passion in God’s longing to use you in powerful and unique ways.
In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and restored relationship with our Creator. May you discover this week that you were made to share God’s heart. And may you find joy and passion in God’s longing to use you in powerful and unique ways.
Ephesians 2:10 ESV
Ephesians 2:8-10 says:
God’s grace is meant to be our catalyst to living passionate lives that bear fruit of eternal value. You aren’t meant to go through the motions. You weren’t created to live a normal life whose impact only lasts for this life. God in his grace and love has called you to more. You were made for a life of deep and lasting impact. You were made to share God’s heart with the world.
It can be difficult to understand God’s heart in wanting to use us. For some, we write ourselves off as too sinful, weak, selfish, or inept to be used by God. For others, we view God as a taskmaster who wants to use us solely for his motives. Still others of us believe that serving God is less fun, less fulfilling, and far stranger than anything we’d like to do. We’re fine with a God who would give us a “get out of hell free card,” but that’s about as far as we’d like him to go in relationship with him.
The truth is that your life will never be fulfilling until you allow God to use you. Ephesians 2:10 is clear that you were “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” You won’t find fulfillment in anything besides the work of God because it’s not what you were made for. Material possessions apart from the provision of God become more like weights tying us down to the cares and ways of the world than sources of satisfaction. Spending your life working to become successful, appreciated, and loved in the world’s eyes is more like a treadmill than a path to abundant life. If you want to live an abundant life you have to allow God to use you.
God longs to use you because he loves you. He’s not selfish. He doesn’t need your help. He wants to work with you. He wants your life to matter. He wants you to have eternal reward for the things you do here on earth because he’s a good Father who longs to give good gifts to his children. He wants you to stop segregating your life into “God time” and “me time” and start living in continual communion with him. He wants your time at work, with friends, at church, driving, resting, relaxing, and having fun to be filled with the fullness of life that comes from doing life with him.
Take time in guided prayer to discover God’s heart to use you. May your time in prayer be filled with a revelation of God’s goodness, grace, and loving desire to co-labor with you.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to use you. Find your true identity, not in the way you’ve lived up to this point, but in the unshakable truth of Scripture.
2. Next, how do you feel about being used by God? What in your heart needs to come into alignment with the truth that you were made for good works of eternal value? Lay down any hindrances at the feet of Jesus in confession.
3. Ask God how he wants to use you today. Ask him for a specific way you can reveal his heart to others. Journal his response. Take time to rest in his presence that you would find courage and faith in the reality of God’s nearness.
Learning to do good works is a lifelong pursuit. God has grace for you today. He has love and compassion for you in these moments. But he longs to meet you where you are that he might lead you to a more fruitful and abundant life. Allow God to transform your heart. Let him into every part of you that your life would be flooded with his grace and mercy. Allow him to discipline you, change you, and speak new identity into you. May you find joy and passion today as you allow God to use you in powerful, eternal ways.
Extended Reading: Ephesians 2 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Ephesians.
May you find joy and passion today as you allow God to use you in powerful, eternal ways.
]]>3/1/2026 | The Posture of Our Hearts
To experience the fullness of life, it’s imperative that we take up God’s perspective on all things and allow him to enlighten the eyes of our hearts. May you walk away from today with a new, eternal perspective.
Today as we wrap up our week of diving deeper into the fullness of life available to us, we’ll explore what it means to gain spiritual eyes. Our human perspective is so utterly limited this side of heaven. We see ourselves, God, and others incorrectly on a regular basis. To experience the fullness of life, it’s imperative that we take up God’s perspective on all things and allow him to enlighten the eyes of our hearts. May you walk away from today with a new, eternal perspective.
Ephesians 1:18 ESV
In order to go deeper in God, we must allow him to open the eyes of our hearts to see him as he truly is. So often we settle in our relationship with him for that which can only be seen with our physical eyes. We settle for community apart from unity in the Spirit, God’s word apart from revelation from the Spirit, and look to “open” or “closed” doors as our guide rather than making space to ask for the Holy Spirit’s leadership. It’s time for us as the body of Christ to truly live in the fullness of relationship afforded to us by his sacrifice. It’s for this reason, in Ephesians 1:16-19, Paul told the Church in Ephesus,
We need the “eyes of our hearts” to be enlightened today. We need the Holy Spirit to come and do a mighty work that we might no longer live only for that which is seen, but by faith pursue the unseen. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” God longs for us to pursue the deeper things of him in faith. He longs for us to grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit and learn to live life with his presence, leadership, voice, and love as the foundation for everything we do.
To live only by the things we can physically see is to live only for that which is temporal and fleeting. Psalm 101:3 says, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” God has worthwhile work in store for us. He has a plan to bring heaven to earth through our lives every day. But in order to make an impact on eternity we must be able to see and know the heart of God. We must become increasingly aware of how God feels and what he wants to do moment-by-moment.
Growing in our relationship with the Holy Spirit is the foundation of seeking the deeper things of God. Learning to live by and with him is the only way to advance his kingdom. Take time in guided prayer today to ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your heart. Ask him to guide you into a deeper and more connected relationship with him. And choose today to pursue a life marked by deep connection with your heavenly Father and powerful works of his Spirit.
1. Ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your heart. Meditate on Scripture and take time to rest in his presence.
2. Where have you been doing life apart from connectivity to the Spirit? Where have you been living temporally instead of for eternity?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you live connected to him today.
“Be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18
Jesus promised us in Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” When we seek all the blessings God has to give such as being loved, being known, being provided for, and being filled with the Spirit, we can know that we will find what we seek. The door to going deeper in God will always be opened whenever we come to it and knock. God will never withhold himself from us when we purely desire more of him. Have faith today in the goodness of your heavenly Father and pursue the deeper things of him that you might live in greater union with him today.
Extended Reading: Ephesians 1 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Ephesians.
God will never withhold himself from us when we purely desire more of him. Have faith today in the goodness of your heavenly Father and pursue the deeper things of him that you might live in greater union with him today.
]]>2/28/2026 | The Posture of Our Hearts
May you be encouraged instead of burdened and take whatever next steps necessary to give Jesus your all.
Fullness of life and surrender are inextricably linked. As we begin to wrap up our week on diving into the fullness of life, today we’ll explore the concept of surrendering to Jesus. May you be encouraged instead of burdened and take whatever next steps necessary to give Jesus your all.
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 10:39 ESV
Jesus makes an important and paradoxical statement in Matthew 10:39: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” What does it look like to lose your life for his sake? How is it possible to find life as the result of losing it? You and I are only truly living to the degree that we’ve surrendered our lives to Jesus. True life is eternal, kingdom-based, and fueled by the love of God. Life apart from God is fleeting and meaningless. It’s for this reason Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:14 says, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”
We have opportunity every day to lay our lives down at the feet of Jesus in response to his great love that we might experience the abundant life only he can give. Surrender positions our hearts to receive the incredible reward of being fully God’s. God won’t force his blessings on us. He won’t force his presence or his love. He patiently draws us near, hoping that in response to his overwhelming affections we will lay down our lives that we might experience all the wonders he has in store for us.
Humbling ourselves before God as our King, Creator, and Sustainer is absolutely vital in going deeper. Pride so often stands in the way of God’s conditional promises. Scripture is clear in James 4:6, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Promises like “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” found in Matthew 6:33 require a level of humility and surrender most aren’t willing to give.
We often associate humility with weakness when in reality declaring our weakness before an Almighty God is the only posture of strength we can take. It’s for this reason that Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:30, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” When we humble ourselves before God and surrender, we position ourselves to receive all the abundance of help, power, guidance, and love we could ever need.
God is an endless ocean of love, help, healing, and power. The Holy Spirit who dwells within you longs to empower you with everything you need to truly live in the fullness of life available to you. If you will choose to lay down your life in surrender to God’s plans, purposes, truth, and perfect will, you will experience a life unlike anything you’ve known. Take time today to lose your life that you may find it in God. Cast aside all pride and selfish ambition that you might pursue the wonderful, abundant life of one submitted to an Almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent, and fully loving Father.
1. Meditate on the need for surrender in fully pursuing God.
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39
2. In what ways have you been allowing pride, fear, or selfish ambition to keep you from fully surrendering to God? In what ways have you been seeking glory for yourself?
3. Lay your life down at the feet of your good and loving Savior that you might experience the fullness of his love, grace, and affection for you. Rest at the feet of Jesus. Choose the good portion today rather than spending all your energy seeking fleeting admiration and temporal possessions.
While surrender in the world results in defeat, surrender to God brings ultimate victory. When we stop pursuing our own glory and worldly acclamations, we begin building up treasure in heaven that will never be taken away from us. God’s plans for us are infinitely better than anything we could do on our own. His heavenly rewards for us vastly outweigh any sense of earthly accomplishments. Surrendering our lives completely to God releases us from the constraints of this world that we might live for the kingdom that will never end. May your life be completely wrapped up in the goodness of your loving Savior.
Extended Reading: James 4 or watch The Bible Project’s video on James.
May your life be completely wrapped up in the goodness of your loving Savior.
]]>2/27/2026 | The Posture of Our Hearts
What’s beautiful about God is that no matter where you’re at in your walk with him, there is always more.
This week as we dive deeper into the fullness of life available to us, we’ll look today at the biblical concept of understanding and how it relates to experiencing God. May God shift your perspective today and bring you into greater fullness of life in your relationship with him. What’s beautiful about God is that no matter where you’re at in your walk with him, there is always more.
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”
Psalms 145:18 ESV
For most believers, understanding and experience seem to be mutually exclusive. Theology and spirituality are believed to be separate, and while one might help the other, they don’t belong together as one wholehearted pursuit of God. The truth is that understanding and experience couldn’t be more intertwined. In fact, one does not truly exist without the other. To experience God is to have understanding. To understand God is to experience. It’s for this reason Jesus said in John 4:23-24, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
God longs for us to know him in spirit and truth, in experience and understanding. I can’t truly know someone by just reading a book about them. I can’t say that I know C. S. Lewis, Martin Luther, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer just because I’ve read a biography or some of their works. It is the same with God. Scripture is intended to give us understanding about God and guide us into a true relationship with him. Its words are intended to be an avenue to the Author who wrote them. And if we will adopt a perspective of gaining as much understanding about our heavenly Father as possible in order to know him more, Scripture will become a priceless resource to our lives we cannot do without.
Having understanding about the God we’re pursuing is absolutely vital to going deeper. Psalm 145:18 tells us, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Isaiah 26:3 says, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” And Jesus commands us in Matthew 22:37 to “love the Lord your God with all your . . . mind.” Your mind is the gateway to your heart. If you believe lies about who you are or who God is, you will never seek him fully or properly. If you don’t know of his goodness, faithfulness, and nearness promised to you by Scripture, you’ll never have a reason to pursue truly knowing God.
God longs to guide you in a process of daily renewing your mind through Scripture. The Holy Spirit longs to help and teach you the truth of Scripture that you might know the God you serve. If you will commit yourself to a process of renewing your mind, new avenues will be created from your understanding to experience. If you will truly love the Lord by giving him your understanding to be molded and transformed, the truth of his love for you will flood from your mind to the untouched, dry, and weary places in your life. Commit to growing in your understanding of the Lord today that you might grow in your relationship with your loving, near, heavenly Father.
1. Meditate on the importance of worshiping God in spirit and truth.
2. In what ways have you been pursuing experience or understanding as if they are mutually exclusive? In what ways have you allowed a head knowledge of God or an experience of God to be enough?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what it’s like to truly pursue God in spirit and in truth. Ask the Lord what it’s like to live your life where understanding and experience are never separated. Rest in his presence and commit yourself to knowing God in every part of your life.
God is after redemption and transformation in every part of our lives. Our spirit, soul, and body are not separated as if we can work on one part without developing the others. Our understanding affects both our hearts and bodies. Our emotions are impacted directly by our thoughts. And our bodies carry the weight of our stress or joy. To truly be transformed by God is to invite him into every facet of ourselves and allow his love to do a mighty and necessary work. May you experience the fullness of joy and redemption today as you invite God to transform every part of your life.
Extended Reading: John 16 or watch The Bible Project’s video on John 13-21.
May you experience the fullness of joy and redemption today as you invite God to transform every part of your life.
]]>2/26/2026 | The Posture of Our Hearts
The Lord is a firm foundation, and the only solid place to place your trust. In diving deeper today, we’re going to secure our foundation in the only steady hope—Jesus.
Are you standing on sinking sand? Or do you feel the ground firm beneath your feet? Assess your heart in this moment. Are you living in fear? Are you shaken as things appear to be falling apart? Allow your answers to be indicators of whether or not you’re placing your faith and trust in God alone. The Lord is a firm foundation, and the only solid place to place your trust. In diving deeper today, we’re going to secure our foundation in the only steady hope—Jesus.
Psalm 9:10 ESV
Where we place our faith and trust is like the currency of our hearts. We have a limited amount of faith and trust to invest and real returns to gain or lose depending on where we choose to invest them. Scripture is clear that we cannot place our faith and trust in both God and the world. We cannot choose money and God as our anchors of hope. We cannot choose both the opinion of man and God’s opinion. We cannot choose our own will and his. We must, moment-by-moment, choose where we will invest our limited, valuable currency of faith and trust.
If we as children of God truly believe that his word is truth, a vast reservoir of peace and joy is available to us today. The Bible is clear about what we get in return for placing our faith and trust in God alone. Jesus said in Matthew 6:30, “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” And then later in verse 34, Jesus said, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” What would it look like for us to truly have faith in God to the level that we really didn’t worry about tomorrow? What kind of peace would it bring to truly place the cares, burdens, and stresses of this world squarely on the shoulders of the Almighty, all-loving God?
To go deeper into the fullness of life available to us in Jesus requires putting our faith and trust in God alone. We will never experience the peace of heaven if our hope is in this earth. We will never experience the power and help of the Holy Spirit if our hope is in our own abilities, talents, and strengths. We will never fully experience the satisfaction of truly being loved if we place our hope of affirmation in the opinions of others. The only path to truly experiencing the abundant life available to us in Jesus is placing our faith and trust in him alone.
Jeremiah 29:13 promises, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Choose to place your faith and trust in God alone today that you might seek him with “all of your heart.” Place your hope in him alone for he alone is faithful. Do as 1 Peter 5:7 commands and “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (NIV). You will never find a return on your investment of faith and trust in anything of the world like you will in God. God will take your faith and trust and multiply it until your life is a perfect reflection of his loving-kindness. May you find true satisfaction, peace, and joy in God today as you crown him King of your heart.
1. Meditate on the importance of placing your faith and trust in God alone.
2. Next, what have you been placing your faith and trust in other than God? What have you put your hope in? Where have you been storing up treasure on earth rather than with your Father in heaven?
3. Confess those sins to God, and place your faith and trust in him alone. Receive his love and rest in his faithful presence. Allow him to reveal his heart for you that you might know the wonders of his amazing hopes and dreams for you.
To place your faith and trust in God alone is not to free yourself from the need to act, be responsible, and work, but rather to position yourself to receive empowerment, guidance, and grace for every action, responsibility, and work. To place our faith and trust in God alone is to humble ourselves before God as our King, Shepherd, Helper, and Provider so that all we do is done through him. May your life be filled with his loving presence, guidance, and power as you place your faith and trust in him alone.
Extended Reading: Hebrews 11 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Hebrews.
May your life be filled with his loving presence, guidance, and power as you place your faith and trust in him alone.
]]>2/25/2026 | The Posture of Our Hearts
The only path to true power and freedom comes through embracing our need and lack. May you experience that freedom and strength from God today.
As we dive deeper into the fullness of life available to us this week, looking at the concept of acknowledging our need for God is essential. We will never taste the fullness of God’s sufficient grace until we learn to live low, acknowledging our need and weakness before the Lord. So many of us are f earful of appearing weak and work our fingers to the bone to feel sufficient within ourselves. The only path to true power and freedom comes through embracing our need and lack. May you experience that freedom and strength from God today.
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26 ESV
The greatest place for our hearts to be is in constant acknowledgment of our need for God. Our God never forces his help on us. He never forces us to follow his perfect, pleasing will. And he never forces us into the encounters with him we were created for. But, as soon as we acknowledge our need of him, his love comes rushing in, satisfying every dry and weary place of our heart.
In Luke 10:38-42, we find one of the most important lessons in all of Scripture. The Bible says,
Jesus’ words here draw me to a higher calling. I long for the “good portion” that won’t be taken away. I see here a truth I so often don’t pursue. The absolute best thing I could “do for God” is to sit at his feet. The thing he most desires of me is to simply open my heart and let him love me, teach me, heal me, and be with me. Mary acknowledged her need of God and sat at the feet of Love. Mary looked to Jesus as her source, not the opinion of her sister, and got the affirmation of God himself.
How often do we allow the temporal, fleeting parts of this life to be enough? How often do we settle for so much less than what’s available to us? How often do we allow the fickle affirmations of man to be enough when we can know the thoughts of our heavenly Father toward us (Psalm 139:17-18)?
Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Let’s pursue that which is lasting and truly satisfying. Let’s set aside the ways of this world and spend our days living for the presence of God. Let’s center our lives around Jesus. Let’s acknowledge our need of God that we might receive all the love, help, healing, and transformation he longs to provide today.
Take time in guided prayer to choose the good portion and spend time at the feet of your loving Savior.
1. Meditate on the importance of acknowledging your need of God.
2. Where have you been self-sufficient? Where have you been allowing the things of the world to be enough?
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26
3. Cast aside the things of the world, the worries, stresses and fears and take time to sit at the feet of Jesus. Ask Jesus to make you aware of his nearness. Ask him to fill you with his presence. Take time to rest in his goodness.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
May Matthew 11:25-30 guide you to the rest available to you anywhere, anytime. May you experience peace that surpasses all understanding:
Extended Reading: John 15 or watch The Bible Project’s video on John 13-21.
May Matthew 11:25-30 guide you to the rest available to you anywhere, anytime. May you experience peace that surpasses all understanding.
]]>2/24/2026 | The Posture of Our Hearts
May you learn to value to honesty above all else in dealing with those around you and find joy and peace abundant.
As we continue to dive deeper into the fullness of life available to us, today we’ll explore what it means to live honestly before man. In a world of facades and striving, God wants to offer us freedom and confidence to be fully who he has made us to be. May you learn to value to honesty above all else in dealing with those around you and find joy and peace abundant.
“For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man.”
2 Corinthians 8:21 ESV
The world is right now in an identity crisis. With the global rise of social media and the Internet, we can now project ourselves to the world as anything we want. We’ve been given the option of only being partly known by countless people rather than really known by a few. We can attempt to fill a gap in our souls for love and relationship with the online world rather than being fully known in our strengths and weaknesses, our greatest faults and soaring successes. We’re in need of an awakening of honesty.
Having an honest heart before man is the only path to experiencing true liberation from the binding opinions of others. When we work tirelessly to build up a false self so that we can receive affirmation from others, we never truly experience love. For our false self to be loved is not truly love at all because we constantly have the thought, “If they really knew me, they wouldn’t love me.” We have an enemy aimed at the destruction of our greatest need: truly being loved. And exaggeration, false projections, and outright lies guide us exactly where our enemy wants us, into a lifestyle of never truly being known and therefore never truly being loved for who we are.
Throughout Scripture we see that wherever the Spirit is at work, the acts of confession, repentance, and truly being known to others are the result. Acts 19:18 tells us, “Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.” And God commands us in Colossians 3:9, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.” You see, to project a lie or exaggeration of ourselves to others is to declare that we value the opinion of man over the opinion of God. Every time we work to create a better image of ourselves, we step outside of God’s grace and work for the love of man.
The path to truly being loved starts with being honest before God and man. It starts with positioning ourselves to truly be loved by God. In his book The Furious Longing of God, Brennan Manning describes what happens when we encounter God’s furious longing for us. He says, “The praise of others will not send your spirit soaring, nor will their criticism plunge you into the pit. Their rejection may make you sick, but it will not be a sickness unto death.” God longs to set us free from the emotional roller-coaster of living for the affirmation of man. God loves you where you are, as you are. You don’t need to strive for the fleeting, burdensome affection of people any longer. The Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe is waiting right now to pour out a love so rich and true that it will set you free from ever needing what the world has to offer.
Take time in guided prayer today to meditate on the importance of being honest with others around you. Receive the love of God and be filled with courage to be fully known. Posture your heart at a place to be truly loved by God and others for who you are. May you experience the power of true, honest love today.
1. Meditate on the importance of being honest with others around you.
“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.” Proverbs 28:6
2. Confess to God any ways in which you’ve been striving for the approval of the world. Ask the Lord to overwhelm you with his love today that you might receive all you need from him. Ask him to show you how he feels about you. Receive his forgiveness.
3. Commit yourself to being fully known today. Ask God to fill you with courage to not project yourself as better or different than you are. Ask him to help you live today as you truly are, trusting that his love is all you need.
One of the most powerful ways to be free from creating a false self is to engage in consistent confession with fellow believers. Your spouse needs to know your sin. Healing and freedom comes from bringing what was in the dark into the light so that we might gain proper perspective and have victory. The enemy longs to keep our sins in the dark until the day that bringing them to the light will do the greatest damage to us and to God. Don’t allow fear to keep you from the fullness of life God has for you. Confess your sins to others today, and ask for their help in being fully known. May you have faith that God will only ever guide you to a more abundant life. And may you receive the freedom and love that comes from truly being known today.
Extended Reading: Colossians 3 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Colossians.
May you have faith that God will only ever guide you to a more abundant life. And may you receive the freedom and love that comes from truly being known today.
]]>2/23/2026 | The Posture of Our Hearts
May your relationship with God be enriched this week as you position yourself to receive all your loving heavenly Father has to give.
God’s goodness over our lives far exceeds anything we’ve experienced. We’ve only yet splashed around in the shallows of God’s deep love and mercy. In order to dive deeper into the fullness of life available to us, we must learn how to posture our hearts. May your relationship with God be enriched this week as you position yourself to receive all your loving heavenly Father has to give.
Hebrews 4:13 ESV
I’ve spent countless, exhausting hours in my fleeting life working to portray myself as a person I know I’m not. Whether in relationships with friends, family, my spouse, or God, I find myself consistently creating a facade for myself I hope others will like better than who I actually am. I feared that if I truly opened myself up to others and got rejected, I would have nothing left. If I am fully myself, will I be enough?
Hebrews 4:13 says, “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Scriptures like this used to seriously frighten me. The idea that an all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly holy God knew everything I had ever done was too invasive for me. If I couldn’t even muster up the courage to truly be myself to man, how could I handle being “naked and exposed” to my heavenly Father?
It wasn’t until I began experiencing the powerful, overwhelming love of my heavenly Father that these frail, false constructions began to fall apart brick-by-brick, lie after lie. The process God takes us through in unveiling our hearts represents his perfect kindness, patience, and pursuit of us. He waits for us to come before him, openly and honestly, patiently beckoning us with his love. He is perfectly accepting of us as long as we don’t fake it with him. As soon as the prodigal son came home in a posture of humility and honesty, he was immediately embraced, accepted, and offered intimate relationship with his Father once again.
It’s absolutely vital that we pursue honesty before God because he will not address what is not true. He will not try and help this false projection. He will not meet with that which doesn’t truly exist. Brennan Manning writes in his book Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, “The false self is frustrated because he never hears God’s voice. He cannot, since God sees no one there.” Thomas Merton says of the false self, “This is the man I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him” (Merton’s Place of Nowhere, James Finley).
To be honest before God is to invite a perfectly loving, powerful, and grace-filled Father into the places of our lives that need him the most. He longs to be asked into the very wounds we work so tirelessly to cover up. He longs to heal and transform the darkest, hardest places of our hearts we’ve hidden into fertile soil that can bear the fruit of his Spirit. He longs for us to be fully known by him in every way that we might experience the full depths of his powerful, transformational love.
Take time in guided prayer to truly open your heart to God and be honest. Tell him your doubts, fears, and failures. Open up the parts of your past that you have worked so hard to cover up. And let his love in that you might experience healing in his powerful presence.
1. Meditate on the importance of being honest before God. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with courage to be vulnerable before God in faith.
2. Open up your heart to God and be truly honest with him. How are you feeling right now? How have you acted toward him? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any places of your heart that are veiled and kept in shadows.
3. Ask God to help you receive his love in the areas of your heart that are in desperate need of him. Open up to him the places of your past that have plagued you for so long. Ask him how he feels about you that you might receive healing.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3
Making space in our lives to receive healing for our hearts from the Lord is a vital exercise in spiritual growth. We don’t have to be plagued by the wounds from our past. We don’t have to spend so much of our time and energy trying to cover up times we were genuinely hurt. The only path to growth passes through God’s healing presence. He wants to address and heal that which you might feel has formed you. He wants to tear up all the work you’ve done to harden your heart that you might truly live healed, free, and vulnerable. Pursue healing for your heart and experience the life available to you in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Extended Reading: Psalm 103 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Psalms.
Pursue healing for your heart and experience the life available to you in the power of the Holy Spirit.
]]>2/22/2026 | Honesty
Let’s open up our hearts in real, intentional ways today, as we experience the power and love of our heavenly Father.
In the last devotional in our series on honesty, today we’re going to focus simply on what it means to live honestly every day. My hope for today is that God will empower us all to continue this journey of honesty and humility on a daily basis. Let’s open up our hearts in real, intentional ways today, as we experience the power and love of our heavenly Father.
James 1:26 ESV
There is no substitute for the peace and joy of living honestly. When you find courage from the unconditional love of your heavenly Father to truly be yourself, you alleviate yourself of the pressure and stress of keeping up appearances. And when you’re free from keeping up appearances you have time and energy to devote to that which is real—that which is eternal.
James 1:26 says, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” Did you know you were capable of deceiving your own heart? James makes an incredibly strong statement here. How could my religion be worthless if I simply tell a small lie here or there? How could a little deception in my heart make my religion null and void?
This verse illustrates just how important our hearts are to God. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Your religion is only as valuable as it is true. The parts of you that are outward, e.g., your words, actions, and appearance, are only as valuable as they are a true reflection of your heart.
James is speaking here to those who think that what they say and do defines them. He’s speaking to those who believe their value and identity are wrapped up in their good works. But God flips our worldly paradigm on its head. He values actions done from the heart. He values appearances that are a reflection of the beauty in our hearts. He values words that come from a place of deep honesty and vulnerability. He values religion that is the fruit of his Spirit loving, leading, and filling our spirits.
As we close out this week on honesty, take time to truly assess whether you’re deceiving your own heart. Are you looking to that which is outward to define you? Do you see yourself related to what you do, or are your actions the result of who you are in Christ? May your time be filled with the loving-kindness of your heavenly Father and clear revelation from the Holy Spirit.
1. Meditate on what Scripture says about living honestly.
2. Are you looking to that which is outward to define you? Do you see yourself related to what you do, or are your actions the result of who you are in Christ?
3. Take time to receive revelation of how God sees you. Let him show you how deeply he values who you already are. Let him reveal his grace and loving-kindness to you. Take time to rest in a fresh revelation of his love and grace.
To live honestly is to value what God values. Only in consistently encountering God’s value of the heart can we begin to live out of who we are rather than working to become who we feel we should be. Only in seeing ourselves as God does will we value the wonderful identity we have as his sons and daughters. May your life be forever changed as you value honesty above appearance. May you find freedom and rest in the unchanging affections of your heavenly Father.
Extended Reading: James 1 or watch The Bible Project’s video on James.
May you find freedom and rest in the unchanging affections of your heavenly Father.
]]>2/21/2026 | Honesty
Any part of our lives in which we’re walking in darkness, living isolated and unknown, makes space for our hearts to be chained to thoughts and temptations God wants to set us free from. So may the Spirit lead us into the light today, and may we find the courage to follow him.
As we near the end of our week on honesty, today we’re going to discover together how there is freedom in the light. Any part of our lives in which we’re walking in darkness, living isolated and unknown, makes space for our hearts to be chained to thoughts and temptations God wants to set us free from. So may the Spirit lead us into the light today, and may we find the courage to follow him.
Isaiah 42:16 ESV
The imagery of light and darkness is used throughout Scripture as a metaphor for freedom and sin, and God and that which is without God. Jesus consistently refers to himself as the light. In reference to Jesus, Matthew 4:16 says, “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” Scripture also refers to us as the light in Ephesians 5:8 saying, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” And in John 3:19-21, Jesus describes a freedom that comes from bringing ourselves to the light:
One of the worst effects of sin is the shame it brings that causes us to hide from God and others. Adam and Eve hid from God because of the shame of the first sin. And still today, even though Christ has paid the price for every sin we could ever commit, we hide ourselves from God.
God longs for us to run to him when we make a mistake. He’s the father in the prodigal son story whose arms are eternally extended to us no matter what we’ve done. He longs to embrace us, restore us, and free us in his eternal embrace. He longs for us to step out of our shame, bring ourselves fully into his light, and be delivered from the destructive effects of our sin.
In Isaiah 42:16 God says, “I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.” Nothing you could do could cause your God to forsake you. He’s not surprised by your sin. He knows you are dust. But he longs to embrace you in your weakness. He longs to free you from the power of darkness. You don’t have to hide from him. You can come before your God honestly and live as a child of the light (Ephesians 5:8). You can experience true freedom as your sin is forgiven and times of refreshing come (Acts 3:19-20).
Take time as you enter into guided prayer to bring that which has caused you shame into the light. May you find freedom today as God reveals to you the power of his forgiveness and grace.
1. Reflect on what Scripture says about light and darkness. Allow God’s word to stir up your desire to bring yourself fully to the light.
2. What do you need to bring to the light? What is causing you shame?
3. Bring yourself to the light. Ask God how he feels about that which is causing you shame. Take time to receive his forgiveness and grace and rest in his love.
1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” When you commit yourself to walk with God throughout your day, he will guide you to the light. Jesus’ blood is powerful enough to cleanse you from the inside out. There is freedom when your heart is totally and completely his. May you be set free from shame and darkness today as you live openly and honestly before the Lord your God.
Extended Reading: John 3 or watch The Bible Project’s video on John 1-12.
May you be set free from shame and darkness today as you live openly and honestly before the Lord your God.
]]>2/20/2026 | Honesty
May God love us powerfully today as we make space to be more honest with him and ourselves.
As we continue our week focusing on honesty, today we’re going to look at how true honesty affords us the ability to be more fully loved. At the foundation of it all, we’re all searching for love. And the fullness of love can only be experienced when we allow true love to find its way into every part of us by bringing who we fully are into our relationships. May God love us powerfully today as we make space to be more honest with him and ourselves.
Isaiah 54:10 ESV
The ultimate result of honesty—the reason for being fully known—is that we might be fully loved. You weren’t made to live without a continuous, total revelation of God’s love for you. His love is the foundation. It’s the reason for being. Without his love we have nothing. And without honesty we’ll never fully experience his vast wealth of affection for us.
Isaiah 54:10 is God’s promise for you and me today. He says to us, “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.” The question today is not whether God loves us. And the question is not whether we have the ability to experience his love. Scripture commands us in Psalm 34:8, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” The question is whether we’re receiving the love already made available to us.
You see, unless we come before God fully honest we only present part of ourselves for him to love. Unless we let him in to every area of our lives, we’ll live with a separated notion of God’s love. Most of us know that he loves us when we worship. We know he loves us when we serve. We’ve experienced his love when we engage in community, read Scripture, and pray. But do we know he loves us when we fail? Do we know he loves us when we say the wrong thing, doubt him, miss an opportunity to share the gospel, or run away from him?
God doesn’t just love us part of the time. He doesn’t just love us when we succeed. His love is complete and transcendent of us. He is love. He loves all the time. Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God has loved you at your worst. If he loved you enough to die for you while you were without one ounce of good, he will love you now.
If you want to experience the full depth of God’s love for you, you must come to him fully. You must let him in to every part of your day. You must let him in to your past, your present, and your future. You must live out of a revelation of his unconditional love for you rather than living a works-based relationship with him.
May you encounter the fullness of God’s love for you today as you enter into guided prayer. And may his love for you draw you deeper into the unhindered communion that’s already available to you.
1. Meditate on the unconditional nature of God’s love. Allow Scripture to paint the picture of who God is rather than our limited, worldly perspective.
2. Come before God and be fully known. Open every part of your heart to him. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how God wants to love you today. Journal his response.
“But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” 1 Corinthians 8:3
3. Take some time to simply receive and rest in God’s love. Experience the unconditional nature of his love. Let his love lead you to a life founded on grace rather than works.
To live by grace is to choose to believe God at his word. It’s choosing to live based on Scripture over everything we’ve known from the world. Grace isn’t found here. It’s a product of heaven alone. But God has ransomed us from a life based on the ways of the world. We belong to heaven now. And we have so much more available to us than the world offers. We are totally and fully loved regardless of our weaknesses and failures. May you live out of a revelation of grace and receive God’s love in every part of your day.
Extended Reading: Romans 8 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Romans 5-16.
May you live out of a revelation of grace and receive God’s love in every part of your day.
]]>2/19/2026 | Honesty
May God replace fear with faith today as we experience his grace and love right now.
As we hit the middle of our week on honesty, today we’re going to explore how being truly honest, or living fully known, is critical to experiencing fullness of life. There may be nothing more terrifying to me than being fully known, but I also know there is nothing more liberating than being my full self with those closest to me. May God replace fear with faith today as we experience his grace and love right now.
1 Corinthians 8:3 ESV
While we absolutely serve an all-knowing, omnipotent, omnipresent God, there is a stark difference between God’s knowledge of everything and allowing ourselves to be known by him. To be known by God is a two-way street. It’s a conscious decision to open our hearts to this all-knowing God that we might experience him in even the deepest, most secret places of our lives. Galatians 4:8-9 says,
Being known by God is the birthplace of freedom. When we allow our Creator and Savior to truly know us he brings with him all his power, love, and deliverance. Only when we allow him to know the wounds of our past do we position ourselves to receive his healing. Only when we discover that he cries, mourns, laughs, and celebrates with us will our hearts be founded on the reality of true relationship with him.
Your God doesn’t just want to teach you, lead you, empower you, or use you—he wants to know you. You don’t have to go through this life on your own. You don’t have to process decisions, pains, relationships, or doubts on your own. You can be known by your Creator and know him. Unhindered relationship with your perfect, loving Father can be your source.
It is entirely possible to go through this life as a believer without letting God fully know you. As tragic as it may be, many Christians do it every day. We live as if God is distant from us. We live as if we don’t have full access to his heart, will, love, and presence in the Holy Spirit. We live as if all Christ came to do was give us a “get out of Hell free card” rather than restore us to right relationship with the Father. And when you live fully known by God you will experience a love more sure, more real, and more transcendent than any love you’ve experienced.
Take time as you enter into guided prayer to truly let God know you. Open up the secret places of your heart. Tell him about your insecurities, fears, doubts, and wounds. May you find a deeper level of intimacy with your loving Father than you thought possible.
1. Meditate on the importance of being known by God.
2. Are you living your life known? Or are you hiding pieces of your life from your heavenly Father?
3. Tell God about anything in your life that’s stayed in the dark. Bring it to the light with him. Allow him to fully know you. And experience powerful freedom as he reveals the depths of his love for you.
“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.” Proverbs 20:27
Ephesians 5:8 says, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” You can live with confidence and joy today. When you are fully known by God and still fully accepted and loved, your heart is unshakable. God will not reject you. He has loved you at your worst. Trust in him today and experience life in the light of his presence.
Extended Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 or watch The Bible Project’s video on 1 Corinthians.
God will not reject you. He has loved you at your worst. Trust in him today and experience life in the light of his presence.
]]>2/18/2026 | Honesty
Let’s come before God today with courage, trust, and humility.
In today’s First15, we’re continuing our focus on honesty by looking at how we can tear down walls we’ve built up in God’s presence every day. There is true life in vulnerability. And if we can trust God to be our shield, living with openness and love towards him, ourselves, and others, we’ll experience a greater abundance of life than we thought was possible. Let’s come before God today with courage, trust, and humility.
“I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.”
Acts 24:16 ESV
In order to protect our hearts from the pain and wounds of the world we both consciously and subconsciously build walls. These walls take all sorts of forms. Some walls are built for appearance so that outward beauty covers up inward brokenness. Some walls are built to be strong and tough so that pride and strength cover up inward vulnerability and self-consciousness. Some walls are built in order to blend in so that people pass us by altogether and never try to know us. Whatever wall we choose to build, one thing’s for certain: the walls might guard us from harm, but they also keep us from ever experiencing true life.
Abundant life comes from being both fully known and then fully loved. We can’t experience the love of God and others if we don’t allow ourselves to be known. We can’t experience God’s grace and affection for us if we shield ourselves from him out of fear that he will see us and reject us. And whenever someone tries to love us fully we will always reject their love by saying, “If you truly knew me, you wouldn’t love me.” Living with walls up isn’t really living; it’s surviving.
God knows our pains. He knows our wounds. Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” God is for you. He longs to be near to you and save you. But in order for you to experience the fullness of his love and healing you have to let him in. And in order for you to experience true life you have to stop trusting in your walls to protect you and start trusting in the powerful, capable hands of your loving Father.
In Psalm 57:7 David writes, “My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident” (NLT). God is the one who protects our hearts. There is nothing we can do to fully shield ourselves from the wounds this world causes except allow our hearts to be fully open to God. Only in God can we have confidence. Only in God can we trust. And only in God will we experience true, abundant life.
Take time today to tear down your walls brick by brick. Stop placing your hope in that which can’t ever truly protect you. And look to God as your great protector that you might be fully known and fully loved today. May your time of guided prayer be marked by freedom and deliverance in the Holy Spirit.
1. Meditate on the importance of living without walls up.
“I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.” Acts 24:16
2. Where do you place your hope for protection? What walls have you built that you might not be truly known? In what ways are you guarding yourself?
3. Confess to God any places you’ve given your trust, and place your hope for protection in him alone. Journal about any walls you’ve built up and respond to God’s promise of nearness and healing by giving him your heart.
“My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident.” Psalm 57:7 (NLT)
It’s important to take note when you begin to build walls around your heart. Run to God when you feel insecure. Rather than building up walls that have to be torn down again, seek to live openly and honestly. May you feel God’s hand of protection around your heart today.
Extended Reading: Psalm 57 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Psalms.
May you feel God’s hand of protection around your heart today.
]]>2/17/2026 | Honesty
May God show you how loved you are, just as you are. And may his love bring you freedom and life as we rest in his presence right now.
In day two of our series on honesty, today we’re going to look at the temptation to build a façade and invite God to tear it down as we seek to live more honestly. May God show you how loved you are, just as you are. And may his love bring you freedom and life as we rest in his presence right now.
Matthew 23:27 ESV
The greatest testimony you could possibly give is to have the audacity to live honestly. It takes courage to be yourself. It takes security in the unconditional love of your heavenly Father to acknowledge not just your strengths and successes, but also your weaknesses and failures. But in doing so your life will proclaim the powerful, beautiful work of God. And in doing so you will experience the peace and joy only freedom from building a facade can produce.
A facade is “an outward appearance that is maintained to conceal a less pleasant or creditable reality.” So often, to cover up what we know to be imperfect we devote ourselves to creating a false picture for others. We even devote so much energy to building a facade that we try and deceive ourselves. We muster up our pride and look only at what we’ve done well, all the while ignoring what we need help with. As a result, we spend all our time living a life apart from reality. And to live apart from reality is to live apart from the grace and love of our ever-present, wholly real Father.
In Matthew 23:27, Jesus passionately rebukes those who try and build facades: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” God solely cares about the heart. He’s not worried about perception. He’s not worried about status or societal acceptance. He cares about what is real. He knows that any energy spent devoted to building a facade is energy you can’t devote to receiving help, healing, and grace for what’s real and important. He knows that all your efforts to be accepted aren’t of value because the opinions of others are nothing in comparison to his unconditional love for you. And he knows that ultimately all facades will be torn down, and we will be seen and known by him for who we truly are.
God longs for you to live fully known and fully loved. He longs for you to live out a revelation of his love and grace rather than striving for affection and acceptance by building up facades. Take time to experience his love and grace today. Assess your heart and tear down your walls. May freedom burst forth in your life today as you proclaim the glory of God’s grace by being who you really are.
1. Reflect on the importance of living in reality. Allow Jesus’ words to stir up your desire to tear down any facade you’ve built up.
2. Where are you striving for acceptance or affection by building up facades? Where are you portraying yourself to be something you aren’t? Why are you doing it?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit for the courage to be yourself today. Tell others of your weaknesses today. Don’t be afraid to be yourself with all your strengths, successes, weaknesses, and failures.
May God’s grace and love empower you today as you live honestly. May you stop devoting your energy to appearances and give yourself to what’s real. And in doing so may you encounter the unconditional acceptance and affection of your loving Father.
Extended Reading: Matthew 23 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Matthew 14-28.
May God’s grace and love empower you today as you live honestly.
]]>2/16/2026 | Honesty
May God give us the courage to be who we truly are with him, with ourselves, and with others today. And may newfound freedom be the fruit in our hearts and lives.
Today we’re launching a brand-new series, looking at the role of honesty in getting the most out of our time alone with God, and the most out of life. And we’re starting that series off by looking today at how honesty is the foundation. May God give us the courage to be who we truly are with him, with ourselves, and with others today. And may newfound freedom be the fruit in our hearts and lives.
1 Peter 3:10 ESV
Deciding to live openly and honestly is foundational to experiencing fullness of life in God. God doesn’t deal with our facades. He doesn’t speak to, love on, heal, deliver, or empower the fake self we try and portray. Rather, he faithfully pursues who we really are, drawing us out from the walls we’ve built up around our hearts.
1 Peter 3:10 says, “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.” When the Bible talks about honesty, it isn’t just talking about God’s heart for us not to speak lies, but also that we wouldn’t believe or live out lies. In living honestly we will love life and see good days. Nothing good comes from being dishonest. There is no life in trying to appear as something we’re not. Abundant life comes with communion with God, and God always meets us where we’re at.
Assess your life today. Are you living honestly? Are you trying to portray yourself as something you’re not? Are you deceiving yourself or looking at yourself honestly? Are you coming before God just as you are or trying to appear like you have everything together?
Honesty is at the foundation of encountering God, loving others, experiencing abundant life, and doing good, eternal works. Everything God does is about the heart. He’s about that which has substance, that which is real. He’s not calling you to share your “picture-perfect” life with others. He’s calling you to be vulnerable with others that they would see the unconditional, grace-filled nature of relationship with God. He’s not asking you to clean yourself up before you worship him or meet with him. He’s asking you to come as you are that he might reveal the love he already has for you, even in your imperfections.
Take time to make honesty a core value in your life. Reflect on the importance of being open and vulnerable. Allow the Spirit to illuminate any ways in which you are valuing appearance above reality. And choose today to be who you truly are. May you find new peace and joy today as you remove the pressure of appearance.
1. Meditate on the importance of honesty. May Scripture help you make honesty a core value.
“For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
2. Assess your heart. In what ways do you value appearance above reality? Where are you working to try and appear as something you’re not. Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate any ways in which you need to live more honestly.
3. Ask God to reveal his love for you even in your imperfections. Allow his love to fill you with the courage to be honest today. Rest in his unconditional love for you.
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
The only confidence available to us to live honestly is the unconditional love of God. Christ died for you while you were in your sin. He gave his life just to have relationship with you just as you are. Choose to receive his love. Choose to value his opinion over others’ opinions. Let his love be your source over the fickle affections of people. May you find courage to be yourself today and thereby experience true freedom in your heart.
Extended Reading: 1 Peter 3 or watch The Bible Project’s video on 1 Peter.
May you find courage to be yourself today and thereby experience true freedom in your heart.
]]>2/15/2026 | God is After the Heart
May God use our time today to empower us to advance his kingdom in meaningful, authentic ways.
In the last devotional of this series on God’s pursuit of our hearts, we’re wrapping it all up by looking at what it means to live from the heart. There are so many places to live from, so many different ways to go about a day. But God, in his power and love, wants to free us to live from the heart, to share with the world who we truly are, and how he is fully meeting with us. May God use our time today to empower us to advance his kingdom in meaningful, authentic ways.
“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”
Psalm 62:8 ESV
God has formed us to be creatures of the heart. He made us to live from a place of communion with him—an eternal relationship with our hearts deeply connected. And in response to the communion you have with God you can choose to live from your heart. You can choose with confidence to think, feel, act, and believe not just with what’s logical, but with what God’s Spirit is speaking to you.
Oftentimes we disclude our hearts as if they are unfounded and fickle. We stop paying attention to our emotions because we doubt their validity and value. But God formed you with emotions. And it’s oftentimes your emotions that best reveal your beliefs. You don’t feel stress, worry, doubt, or anger without cause. You don’t experience joy, peace, passion, and purpose for no reason. Your heart is the window to your beliefs. It reveals where you’ve placed your trust and hope. It reveals what truly matters to you.
Psalm 62:8 says, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” God longs to hear your heart. He longs for you to so trust him that you honestly and truthfully assess your heart and pour it out before him. He cares about the way you feel. He’s not all right with you going through life stressed, angry, doubtful, worried, or unconfident. He wants your heart to be filled with the fruit of communion with him that you might live an expressive, passionate, and satisfied life.
Acknowledging your emotions isn’t weakness. Rather, it’s a sign of confidence and security that you can take an honest look at your life and assess how you’re doing. Living from the heart is a crucial aspect to authentic, abundant Christianity. God doesn’t want robots. He doesn’t just want to influence our minds or just make us work for him. He wants all of us. He wants your mind to be renewed and your hands to be set to good work from a place of wonderful, life-giving communion with him.
Take time as you enter into guided prayer to value your heart. Assess how you’ve been feeling. Pour out your heart to your loving, patient, and understanding heavenly Father. And go out today in confidence that you might live openly, receptively, and passionately.
1. Meditate on the importance of living from the heart.
“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:8
2. Assess how you’ve been feeling. What’s been bringing you life? What’s been causing you stress, anger, or frustration. What do your emotions tell you?
3. Pour out your heart to God on paper. Ask the Holy Spirit for revelation about anything you don’t understand. Write down his responses.
Oftentimes, if we will begin our quiet time by assessing our emotions we’ll be able to go deeper with God quicker. God longs for our time spent with him to be open, vulnerable, and honest. He longs to help us with those things that are truly robbing us of abundant life. And because emotions are often windows into our beliefs they are a great way to assess where we need a fresh revelation of what’s true. May your life be filled with the fruit of the Spirit today as you choose to live from the heart.
Extended Reading: Psalm 62 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Psalms.
May your life be filled with the fruit of the Spirit today as you choose to live from the heart.
]]>2/14/2026 | God is After the Heart
May he come and meet us right now, and reveal God’s love in a fresh way.
As we near the end of our week looking at how God is after our hearts, today we’re going to look at how the Holy Spirit connects with the heart, and take time to today to invite the Holy Spirit to do a meaningful work in and through us. There’s no greater gift God gives every day than the gift of relationship with him through the Spirit. May he come and meet us right now, and reveal God’s love in a fresh way.
1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV
Abundant life is given in the communion of the Spirit and the heart. It’s our hearts the Spirit speaks to. It’s our hearts he fills with love, joy, peace, and hope. It’s our hearts in which he dwells. To acknowledge the communion between the Spirit and the heart is to open ourselves to the wellspring of life abundant. And to live seeking a greater awareness of the union that was formed in us with the Spirit at salvation is to position ourselves to receive all that God longs to give us.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” Scripture tells us of a greater level of communion with God than we are right now experiencing. Scripture tells us that when Jesus died God tore the veil in two from top to bottom. Prior to Jesus’ death, God’s glory had to be contained within the temple. Now through the sacrifice of Jesus we have become the temple of God. We now have union with our Creator in the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” Romans 8:9 says, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.” To say that God dwells in our hearts isn’t just a figure of speech. If you are a believer, you have been sealed and filled with the Holy Spirit. You have constant communion with God. All that’s left is to grow in your understanding of this wonderful, supernatural union you have with your Heavenly Father.
The Spirit longs to reveal how near he is to you. He longs to make you more aware of his manifest presence. He longs to lead you, speak to you, fill you, satisfy you, heal you, set you free, and empower you. He longs for your heart to find freedom and security in him. He longs to be your best friend, companion, and teacher.
Take time today as you enter into guided prayer to gain a greater revelation of God’s nearness. Ask him to reveal himself to you that you might know to greater depths how unified you are with him. May your time be filled with a greater measure of God’s presence and love.
1. Meditate on what Scripture says about the Spirit and the heart. Reflect on the communion you already have available to you with the Holy Spirit.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
2. Ask the Holy Spirit for a greater revelation of his nearness. Open your heart to God and receive his presence. Take notice of how close he is to your heart.
3. Rest in the presence of God. Allow a revelation of his nearness to establish within you a new reality founded on God’s manifest presence.
Allow the Spirit to permeate everything you do today. Seek to live in constant awareness of his presence and love. You don’t have to strive to be with God. You don’t have to strive to encounter him. He is already with you. He is already in you. All that’s left is for you to simply open your heart to him moment by moment. Don’t live as if God is separate from you. Don’t talk to him or worship him as if he is distant. Rather, live in light of Scripture and experience all the abundant life he has for you in his nearness. May your life be changed by the powerful, constant, unfailing, and wholly satisfying presence of God.
“In your presence there is fullness of joy.” Psalm 16:11
Extended Reading: 1 Corinthians 6 or watch The Bible Project’s video on 1 Corinthians.
May your life be changed by the powerful, constant, unfailing, and wholly satisfying presence of God.
]]>2/13/2026 | God is After the Heart
As we open our hearts to his loving pursuit today, I pray that God would do a mighty work of freedom in our hearts.
In today’s First15, we’re going to look at the opportunity God gives us every day to simply be who we are. His pursuit of our hearts frees us as we experience his unconditional, all-encompassing love. So as we open our hearts to his loving pursuit today, I pray that God would do a mighty work of freedom in our hearts.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”
Psalm 139:13 ESV
God will never ask you to be anyone other than who you are. He’s not asking you to be just like other believers. He’s not asking you to copy those around you that seem to be well-liked or accepted. So often we view God as a parent who spends all his efforts trying to fix us on the outside that we might keep up appearances. But it couldn’t be more the opposite. God doesn’t spend time trying to cover up who we are. Rather, he devotes himself to uncovering who we truly are—who he made us to be.
Psalm 139:13 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” God formed you wonderfully and uniquely. He gave you a personality and calling all your own. He sees past all the exteriors we create to try and fit in. He sees through all our efforts to cover up what makes us unique and different. He sees us for who we really are. And he is calling us to cast down our facades and live out of the revelation that we are already, right now, fully loved and accepted by our Creator.
Discovering your identity begins with a journey with God to your heart. If you’re wondering who you truly are, you need not look past yourself, but rather, with the Holy Spirit, take an honest look at yourself. Don’t shy away from your insecurities. Don’t shy away from that which makes you different. Allow God to reveal how he sees you. Allow him to reveal to you the true desires of your heart. And allow him to lay a secure foundation for you built on his unconditional love that you might live vulnerably and honestly.
Allow God to fill you with the courage to be yourself today. Stop trying to change yourself to fit in to the expectations of others. And live with your identity and value securely founded in the love of your heavenly Father.
Spend some time in guided prayer looking at your heart with the Holy Spirit. Allow him to reveal how he sees you. Ask him how he has formed you and made you unique. And allow him to empower you to be yourself today. May your time in guided prayer be filled with freedom and courage as you cease striving to be someone that you’re not.
1. Meditate on God’s call for you to be who you are. Allow Scripture to fill you with a desire to live honestly.
“As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” Proverbs 27:19
2. In what ways are you striving to be someone you’re not? How are you seeking to keep up appearances rather than live honestly?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how he sees you. Ask him to fill you with courage to cast down any facades and be who you truly are.
Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If you choose to place value and identity on what God says about you, then your heart will find freedom that transcends the ways and cares of the world. Treasure what God says about you. Store up his words and truth over you. Let them be your source of hope and life. May your heart be with your loving, kind heavenly Father as you seek to find freedom to live as you truly are today.
Extended Reading: Matthew 6 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Matthew 1-13.
May your heart be with your loving, kind heavenly Father as you seek to find freedom to live as you truly are today.
]]>2/12/2026 | God is After the Heart
May he fills us with courage and grace today as we experience his nearness together.
In the middle of our week looking at how God is after our hearts, in today’s devotional we’re going to focus on what it means to live with an open heart. Every day, every moment is an opportunity to live with an open heart, or to live with walls up around our hearts. And God’s pursuit of us, his steadfast love, affords us a pathway to open ourselves with confidence and security. May he fills us with courage and grace today as we experience his nearness together.
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Proverbs 4:23 ESV
In order to experience all the fullness of life God has in store for us we must live with an open heart. Oftentimes, whether it be from wounds or simply bad teaching, we live closed off and self-focused. We go throughout our days with walls up around our hearts and rarely allow ourselves to receive the reality of God’s nearness moment to moment. But God is calling us deeper. He’s calling us to a lifestyle of encountering him. He’s calling us to tear down the walls we’ve built up and trust that living openly and receptively will bear life, peace, and joy.
John 15:4 says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” God longs to be with you. He longs to speak to you, guide you, pour out his love on you, and remain with you throughout your day. He’s not just a God of Sundays. His presence isn’t only available at conferences, worship services, or monasteries. He is God of every moment. He is Lord of all eternity. And he longs to give you good gifts all the time. He longs to bear wonderful, life-giving fruit in you. But you must be willing to abide in him. You must receive all he has to give.
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Life comes from the heart both physically and spiritually. Just as the heart pumps blood out to the rest of your body, your heart pumps out spiritual life. Your heart is the place where God is constantly speaking. Your heart is what he cares about. It’s not enough to just give him your mind for understanding or your hands for good works; he wants you at your core. He wants your life to be wrapped up in his.
Take time today to open your heart to your loving heavenly Father. Look for any walls you’ve built up around your heart. Stop believing any lies or misconceptions that would keep you from experiencing God’s love moment to moment. May your time in guided prayer be filled with new life as your heart is open and receptive to the freedom of God’s presence.
1. Meditate on the importance of having an open and receptive heart to God.
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23
2. Do you have any walls up between you and God? Are you living at times as if he isn’t with you? Are you fully open and receptive to the things of God throughout your day?
3. Cast down any walls you’ve built up at the feet of Jesus and open your heart to him. Receive a revelation of his nearness and spend some time simply resting in his presence. Ask him to give you eyes to see all the good gifts he has given you today.
God is constantly blessing us. He constantly has good gifts to give us. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” God longs to demonstrate his love to you by giving you good and perfect gifts. Cultivate a lifestyle of noticing and receiving God’s blessings. Look for all the ways he is providing for you and give thanks to him. Live your whole life in light of the reality of his nearness and experience all his goodness throughout your day. May you be filled with abundant blessings as you seek to live with an open heart.
Extended Reading: Matthew 12 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Matthew 1-13.
May you be filled with abundant blessings as you seek to live with an open heart.
]]>2/11/2026 | God is After the Heart
May God call out from within us who he’s truly made us to be as we draw near to him in his presence.
In our third devotional discovering the reality that God is after our hearts, today we’re going to look at how our hearts reveal our identity. May God call out from within us who he’s truly made us to be as we draw near to him in his presence.
Isaiah 43:1 ESV
Many of us spend our entire lives just trying to answer one simple question: “Who am I?” We look to our accolades and our strengths and weaknesses to define us. We look to other people to determine who it is we are. We allow circumstances and open or closed doors to tell us who we’re supposed to be. We look everywhere but to the One who actually knows the true answer.
But God says to you and me, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). 1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” And in Ephesians 2:19, scripture says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”
We need a renewing of our identity. We need to look at the word of God and choose to believe that we truly are who he says we are entirely. We need to let our Creator define the identity of his creation. You serve a God who has called you his child. Regardless of anything you’ve done well or poorly, regardless of your successes or failures, you are first and foremost the redeemed child of the Most High God. It’s time to anchor your identity to the unshakable truth of Scripture.
You see, it’s not enough just to know what Scripture says. It’s not enough to be able to recite verses like, “we should be called the children of God; and so we are.” Until in your heart of hearts you believe the truth of Scripture, you will base your entire life on whatever it is you value most. If you value the opinion of man over God’s word, your identity will be founded on the fleeting and fickle opinions of others. If you look to your circumstances to define you, then your identity will change with the passing of seasons. But if the identity you believe in your heart is founded on God’s truth, then your self-worth, perspectives, decisions, and beliefs will be unshakable and yield abundant life.
Take time today to assess your own heart. Look honestly at your beliefs. Where are you looking for your identity? Place your trust in the truth of God’s word that the identity of your heart would come from your loving Creator. May your time in guided prayer be marked by a powerful revelation of truth.
1. Meditate on the truth of your identity.
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” Isaiah 43:1
2. What are you allowing to define you? What, in your heart of hearts, do you value above the truth of Scripture?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit for a heart-level revelation of who you are in Christ. Open your heart to God that he might reveal to you the truth of his perspective. Align your beliefs with the truth of Scripture.
It’s absolutely critical to take an honest assessment of your heart when it comes to your identity. Don’t let going to church, talking about Scripture, or even spending time reading God’s word be enough. Take a look at what is actually sinking into your heart and changing your life. Don’t rest until your life—your emotions, actions, and beliefs—align with God’s truth. May you be energized and renewed to seek out the fullness of life God has in store for you.
Extended Reading: Psalm 139 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Psalms.
May you be energized and renewed to seek out the fullness of life God has in store for you.
]]>2/10/2026 | God is After the Heart
May God reveal his purpose behind our creation today, and may he make central to our lives his pursuit and love in a fresh way.
In our second devotional seeking to discover God’s pursuit of our hearts, today we’re going to spend time looking at our true purpose, why you and I were created. Every day, every moment is an opportunity to choose the purpose for which we’re living. But only living in line with our true purpose has the power to produce an abundant life. May God reveal his purpose behind our creation today, and may he make central to our lives his pursuit and love in a fresh way.
Jeremiah 24:7 ESV
We were made for relationship with our heavenly Father. We were made to know and be known by him. That one fact is meant to define both our identity and our actions. It’s meant to lay the foundation on which we live, think, feel, and do. And it’s only in living in relationship with God as our chief and central pursuit that our lives reflect his unceasing love and devotion.
For a long time I’ve lived with wrong things at the center of my life. I’ve allowed earthly success, admiration of others, identity in my works, and an image of perfection to be the things that drove me moment by moment. And in those pursuits I only found disappointment, exhaustion, and unfulfilled longings. Even within the context of Christianity there is temptation to be led by that which is worldly, that which will never satisfy.
But in God there is another way. In the love of a grace-filled heavenly Father we can cease striving and start enjoying life founded on relationship with our Creator. Jeremiah 24:7 says, “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.” Within each of us is a longing to ground ourselves in our identity as the people of God. We are created to live out of the powerful knowledge that our God is real, knowable, loves us unconditionally, and has made his nearness wholly available to us.
You were made to live with the knowledge of God’s love in every season. You were made to taste and see that your heavenly Father is good. You were made to live in constant communion with your Creator, that every moment would be filled with the abundance of his presence. God has life for you. He has love for you. And he won’t rest until the entirety of your heart is his. God’s love is entirely jealous while at the same time wholly sacrificial.
Give God your heart today. Center your life around relationship with him. Root and ground yourself in his unceasing love and faithfulness. May your life be forever changed as you set your eyes on the author and perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:2).
1. Meditate on the truth that you were made for relationship with God. Allow Scripture to stir up a desire to center your life around God’s unconditional love.
2. What are you valuing above relationship with your heavenly Father? What are you spending all your energy on? What’s truly your greatest desire?
3. Tell God anything that you have valued above relationship with him. Know that his heart is not to condemn, but to set free and give abundant life. He longs to fill you with vision for the way in which you can most enjoy him and the life he’s given you.
Oftentimes we look to the world to tell us what we should value over the Creator of the world. But in reality the world is a place filled with dissatisfaction and unrest. It’s a place where even the rich, successful, and most loved must strive and work constantly to fulfill a longing only God can satisfy. Look to the Creator of heaven and earth for truth. Look to Scripture to decide what to pursue and value. And place your hope in God’s promise of eternal, tangible satisfaction if you will center your life around relationship with him. May your heart find peace and rest in the always open arms of your loving Father.
Extended Reading: John 15 or watch The Bible Project’s video on John 13-21.
May your heart find peace and rest in the always open arms of your loving Father.
]]>2/9/2026 | God is After the Heart
May we openly accept his gaze today, with faith in our hearts that he always looks at us with grace.
In today’s First15 we’re beginning a brand new series, focusing on the fact that God is first and foremost, after our hearts. In a world that defines us by what we do, God looks at who we are. May we openly accept his gaze today, with faith in our hearts that he always looks at us with grace. And may his pursuit of our hearts stir up a pursuit within us of his heart, setting out every morning to experience the fullness of his love and compassion.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
Psalm 23:6 ESV
The foundation for our faith is not meant to be built on our works or our understanding, but rather on God’s relentless pursuit of us. We have relationship with our Creator not because we sought him out, but because he is always pursuing us. Any elements of Christian spirituality at work in our lives are the result of his constant grace drawing us deeper and deeper into the abundant life Jesus died to give us. Faith built on anything else but God’s pursuit is faith built on our own strength—an unsure and consistently failing foundation. Ephesians 1:16-18 says:
If we need a fresh understanding of God’s pursuit we need only to pray as Paul did: asking God to enlighten the eyes of our hearts. We need only to look to the pages of Scripture and see story after story of God pursuing those who rebelled against him. The entire book of Hosea describes the heart of God to pursue Israel in a real-life metaphor of Hosea pursuing Gomer, who time and time again left him to prostitute herself.
There is nothing we could do to keep God from pursuing us. There is no sin too great, no distance we could run, that would discourage God from loving us. From the moment you were born God has been pursuing your heart. His greatest longing is for relationship with us. Don’t let a wrong understanding of who God is cause your relationship with him to be works-based. Don’t let your sin and failures get in the way of running to the open arms of your heavenly Father.
God is after your heart right now. He’s sweetly knocking on the door of your heart that you might simply let him in. More than he wants you to do something for him today, he simply wants you to know he is with you and for you. Respond to God’s pursuit today by giving him your heart. May your time of guided prayer be marked by a revelation of his loving-kindness toward you.
1. Meditate on God’s relentless pursuit of your heart. Allow Scripture to lay the foundation for a relationship built on grace.
“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.” Psalm 23:6 (The Message)
2. Where has your relationship with the Father been founded on works rather than his pursuit? Where have you been trying to earn his affection? What parts of your heart have you withheld from him thinking he would reject you or chastise you?
3. Give God your whole heart in response to his great love and grace for you. Open the door of your heart to him and rest in a revelation of his loving-kindness.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
In Psalm 17:8 David prays, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” May your pursuit of God be built on the truth that you are the apple of his eye. May your security be founded on the truth that he hides you in the shadow of his great wings. May your heart find peace, joy, and fulfillment today in the fact that God will never stop pursuing you.
Extended Reading: Psalm 23 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Psalms.
In Psalm 17:8 David prays, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” May your pursuit of God be built on the truth that you are the apple of his eye. May your security be founded on the truth that he hides you in the shadow of his great wings. May your heart find peace, joy, and fulfillment today in the fact that God will never stop pursuing you.
]]>2/8/2026 | Abiding in the True Vine
May we be filled afresh with joy today as we seek these answers out.
As we end our week today on abiding in the True Vine, today we’ll explore how to abide in God’s promised joy. What does it mean for us to walk in joy and be people marked by joy in this world? How do we even go about doing that? May we be filled afresh with joy today as we seek these answers out.
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 15:11 ESV
The kingdom of our God is one of joy, rejoicing, and gladness (Romans 14:17). Our heavenly Father is the one who throws a massive party for the prodigal returned home (Luke 15:11-32). He’s the God of the angels who rejoices over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10). He’s the God who celebrates with us, sings over us, and rejoices in us (Zephaniah 3:17). And at the end of this age he will throw a wedding feast in celebration of the joy he has over total restored relationship with us, his bride (Revelation 19:6-9).
Scripture is clear that our God doesn’t desire to keep his joy to himself, but longs to fill us with it to overflowing. Toward the end of the John 15:1-17 passage we have been studying this week, Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). God’s plan is to fill us with the fullness of joy that is grounded solely in him rather than the ever-changing circumstances around us. That’s why Galatians 5:22 tells us that, “The fruit of the Spirit is . . . joy.” Joy is meant to come from the Holy Spirit within us. It’s in relationship with God that we experience his abundant joy. Let’s go wholeheartedly into the heart of God today and find the reservoir of joy he longs to guide us to. Let’s be believers marked by the joy of our heavenly Father rather than the dissatisfaction we experience from the world.
So how do we experience the joy of God? How can the joy of Jesus be in us as he spoke of in John 15:11? Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” As children of God we must rejoice in our heavenly Father above all else. There is always joy to be found when our highest priority is God. Our God is always turning what the enemy meant for evil into our good if we will choose to love him above all else (Romans 8:28). When we lean on God as the source of our contentment rather than the opinion of man or success in the world, we will have a sure foundation on which to experience joy. But, when our emotions change with the tides of the world, our joy will come and go like the waves. Ground yourself in God. Rejoice in the Lord always because he’s always worthy of rejoicing in. And in placing him first you will experience vast and unshakable joy.
To experience the fullness of joy God has for us we must also trust in his plans. Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Each day of our life was created by God. And while the world operates apart from his leadership, when we trust in him and allow him to work in and through us he takes circumstances that would normally harm us and turns them into miraculous examples of his unceasing love. Acts 16:25-26 tells us a story in which Paul and Silas exemplify a lifestyle of trusting in God. Scripture says, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.” Paul and Silas knew that God can and will work in our lives when we place our trust in him. So they were able to praise and worship God in joy through any circumstance, and God did the miraculous. James describes this principle in James 1:2-4 when he writes, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We can have joy in trial when we trust in God and live for him above all else.
You and I were not created solely for this world. Our home is with our heavenly Father in heaven. Unceasing joy comes from living with the perspective of God rather than the world. Rejoicing comes from trusting that our God is perfectly loving, perfectly real, and perfectly powerful. Spend time in God’s presence experiencing his joy. Allow the Spirit to bear the fruit of joy in your life. Trust in God alone to bring about all that he has planned for you and live your life on the unshakable foundation of his love and joy today.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to fill you with abounding joy.
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 15:11
2. Reflect on your own life. Where are you not experiencing joy? What do you think is stealing your joy in those areas? Ask the Spirit to lead you into the fullness of joy in every area of your life. Trust him as he guides you into a life of faith and submission to God.
“Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:24
3. Receive the joy of Jesus. Rejoice in him. Rejoice in his plans for your day. Thank him for his love and desire to celebrate in you. Spend time resting in his joyful and peaceful presence.
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
Seek out the joy of your heavenly Father all day today. When you begin to feel down, burdened, or depressed, spend time rejoicing in God. Allow God to reveal to you his heart for situations in your life. Respond to hard times with celebration in the fact that God will turn what was meant for evil into good if you will commit yourself to his plans and purposes. God’s plan is to fill you with unceasing joy every day of your life. He longs to lay a foundation of his love for you every morning so that you can go out into your day filled with unshakable joy. May his promise in Isaiah 55:12 come to fruition in your life today:
Extended Reading: Isaiah 55 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Isaiah 40-66.
Seek out the joy of your heavenly Father all day today. When you begin to feel down, burdened, or depressed, spend time rejoicing in God. Allow God to reveal to you his heart for situations in your life.
]]>2/7/2026 | Abiding in the True Vine
Discipline can often be a tricky subject, but it’s my hope our hearts would remain soft and open today as we remember how good and loving the God is that we serve.
As we start to wrap up our week on different ways we are to abide in the true vine of God, today we’ll look at how God prunes us in his love. Discipline can often be a tricky subject, but it’s my hope our hearts would remain soft and open today as we remember how good and loving the God is that we serve.
John 15:2 ESV
The world teaches that discipline is about shaming us into acting perfectly. Discipline from the world usually comes from a place of selfishness rather than love, a pursuit of perfection rather than godliness, and intends to lead us to the appearance of morality rather than molding and shaping the heart. For this reason, we so often run away from the discipline of our heavenly Father. But, Hebrews 12:5-6 says, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” God loves us, so he disciplines us. He has such incredible plans for us that he must mold and shape us into children ready and equipped for authority, influence, and the power of the Spirit. His discipline is always intended to lead us to abundant life, not to tear us down or shame us. As we look at God’s desire to discipline us, allow his love to open your heart and lead you into the process of pruning intended solely to refine, help, and produce fruit in you.
John 15:2 says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” The only way for us to bear more fruit in God is to allow him to prune us. The pursuit and cares of the world are like weeds that crowd out and steal nourishment from the good, fruitful branches rooted in God. God’s plan is to prune, heal and transform us into children who live in the world but are not of it (John 17:14-19). He longs to tear down the strongholds of pride and sin that have kept us from experiencing the fullness of his promises. And he plans to lead us to a lifestyle of important and eternal fruit which will fill us with the fullness of joy.
So how do we allow God to prune us? How can we engage in his process of healing and transformation? It all starts with seeing the depth of his love for us. Psalm 103:2-4 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.” God’s process of discipline is so different than the world’s because it is all rooted in his unconditional love for us. In order to consistently engage in his loving discipline, we must consistently encounter his love. We have to spend time with the all-loving heart of our heavenly Father to separate his discipline from the unloving discipline of so many of our earthly fathers. His discipline is always solely for our benefit and completely to our good. In order for us to fully give ourselves over to his discipline, we must have continual revelation of the depth of his love for us.
Next we have to choose his ways over the ways of the world. We have to sacrifice what we thought mattered for what he says matters. Romans 12:1 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” His discipline will be painful because it will lead you to look different from the world you grew up in. He will take our living sacrifice of the world’s opinions and transform us into children who solely value his opinion. Most of us have valued the ways and opinions of the world so highly that living apart from them feels completely foreign and frightening. So we must choose to trust God over what we have understood to be important or valuable. God will lead all of us to a lifestyle of humility in opposition to the world’s values of pride and success. He will lead all of us to a lifestyle of loving others rather than getting all we can out of others. He will lead all of us to a lifestyle of dependence on him rather than self-empowerment. And he will most certainly lead all of us to a life of relationship with him as our highest priority over the opinions and friendship of others. Every piece of the pruning process is difficult. But, every time you agree with and follow the Holy Spirit through the process you will come out more satisfied, joyful, free, empowered, and fruitful than you were before. Hebrews 12:11 says, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” After you throw off the weight of the world you will wonder how you ever lived under its burden.
Engage with your loving heavenly Father in the process of pruning. Open your heart and allow him to tear down the walls that have been keeping you from experiencing the flood of abundant life and works he has planned for you. See his love and respond to it by sacrificing your ways of thinking and living. He has plans to heal, transform, and free you today if you will simply follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit through the pruning process.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to prune you. Reflect on how God’s discipline is always rooted in his love. Compare God’s desire to discipline you to the world’s. Separate his desire from other discipline you have received in the past if it wasn’t done with his heart.
2. Open you heart to the Spirit and ask him to tear away any parts of your life that are not bearing the fruit of God. Follow his leadership as you think about parts of your lifestyle that aren’t filled with the abundant life God desires. What does he want to change about your perspective, time or relationships? What is he asking you to do or give up so that you might live more free, empowered and fruitful? Take as much time to listen to the Spirit as you need.
3. Agree with his pruning and follow-through with whatever he is leading you to do. Make plans to cut out of your life anything he has revealed to you. Call a friend and ask for accountability to hold you to the discipline God has for you. Commit to engaging in the process of discipline on an ongoing basis so that God can continually transform any areas of your life that are hurting you rather than guiding you to abundant life in your heavenly Father.
One of the greatest gifts of the Holy Spirit we can receive is a desire to be disciplined and pruned by our heavenly Father. May we all have the heart of the Psalmist who wrote in Psalm 51:10-12,
Extended Reading: Hebrews 12 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Hebrews.
One of the greatest gifts of the Holy Spirit we can receive is a desire to be disciplined and pruned by our heavenly Father.
]]>2/6/2026 | Abiding in the True Vine
Make room in your heart and mind to rest in the love of your heavenly Father as we look at the different ways we are to abide in true vine of God.
Did you know God has plans for your life specifically? He has dreams for you and vision for you. Things in store that would make your heart swell and soar. What does it look like to live a life that brings God glory? How does abiding in Christ bear fruit in our lives? As we explore these concepts and more, may our hearts be open to God’s word and all he has to say.
John 15:16 ESV
You have been chosen and appointed to bear eternal and impactful fruit. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.” God created all of us with a longing to make an important and lasting impact with the intention of satisfying that longing in him. He has a plan for your life that doesn’t belong to anyone else. You alone can accomplish the works set before you, and you won’t find true satisfaction until you do. Your heavenly Father has placed desires in you which he has plans to satisfy in magnificent and joyful ways. He knows for what purposes you were created and longs to lead you into a lifestyle of good works that will fill you with all the abundance of life available to you through Christ.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” You were created to live a lifestyle of good works. It is not outside of your nature to accomplish amazing things no matter how you’ve lived your life up to this point. God takes what the world has deemed broken and useless and transforms it into the very likeness of his son, Jesus. He has plans to transform you into his disciple: ready, equipped, and useful for every good and fruitful work. Believe today that God would use you and discover the wealth of plans he has set before you. Surrender to the truth that God has better plans than you can ask or imagine in store for you if you will follow him. Come before him with expectation today, ready to receive all the he would guide you to. Let’s dive wholeheartedly into God’s word and presence as we learn from him how to live the fruitful life he has appointed for us.
In order to bear the fruit God has set before us we must abide in him. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit without the nutrients the vine provides, we cannot bear fruit without being connected to our only source of true life, our heavenly Father. God leads us into the plans he has for us as we spend time in his presence and his word. Psalm 1:1-3 says,
It’s in God’s presence and word that we are molded, refined, and transformed. It’s only in spending time with him that we become nourished and ready to bear fruit. Just as a tree must be pruned in order to bear more fruit, we must allow God to tear away parts of our life that are keeping us from the good works he intends for us. We must spend time in God’s presence being fashioned, healed, and transformed.
In order to bear the fruit God intends, we must learn to allow the Spirit to work in and through us. God not only transforms us as we spend time with him and his word, but empowers us through the Holy Spirit to do good works we could never accomplish in our own strength. It’s only through God working in us that our weaknesses are turned into strengths so we can truly love one another. And it’s only through the Spirit that hearts are changed and drawn to our heavenly Father. God longs to give you his heart for people. He longs to empower you to speak and work with his authority. He longs to do works through you that can’t be explained except by his reality. If you will choose to humble yourself before God and allow him to work in and through you, you will begin to bear the very fruit of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. The disciples had no great gifts or power on their own. It was only by the working of the Holy Spirit that Christianity exploded in size and influence and changed the world. Co-labor with the Holy Spirit in all that you do. Allow him to move and work in every part of your life and experience all the incredible ways he desires to use you to bring the kingdom of God to earth.
Spend time abiding in the true vine of God today. Open your heart and mind to his word. And allow the Holy Spirit to teach you how he desires to work in and through you. May the amazing plans God has for you bring peace, purpose, and joy to your life today.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to produce important and lasting fruit through your life.
2. Spend time in God’s presence allowing him to nourish and empower you for good works. Ask him to reveal what he has set before you to accomplish for his kingdom today. Ask the Holy Spirit to work in and through you.
3. Commit to following the leadership of the Holy Spirit today as he guides you to producing good fruit. Choose to love others as God has loved you. Choose to live a lifestyle of agreeing with the Holy Spirit in every way that he leads you.
How vast is God’s love for us that he would not only save us, redeem us, and set us free, but he desires to use us, a broken and needy people, to change the world. God desires to anoint his people with his Spirit to accomplish his work. May your life be marked by the wonderful and lasting fruit of a child of God surrendered to and in love with our heavenly Father.
Extended Reading: Romans 8 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Romans 5-16.
May your life be marked by the wonderful and lasting fruit of a child of God surrendered to and in love with our heavenly Father.
]]>2/5/2026 | Abiding in the True Vine
May you fall deeper in love with God today as you learn what it means to abide in God’s friendship.
Today we will look at what it means to be a friend of God. Friendship with God is a beautiful, sought after thing. And he has made his friendship fully available to us. What a gift! May you fall deeper in love with God today as you learn what it means to abide in God’s friendship.
John 15:14-15 ESV
Do you know that God calls you his friend? John 15:14-15 says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” As a believer you have gained friendship with a God who exemplifies perfect, unconditional love. You have gained relationship with your Creator whose greatest desire is simply to spend time with you. Allow the love of your heavenly Father to sink in for a minute. Allow the Spirit to reveal to you God’s motives today as we look at what it means for us to abide in the friendship of God.
John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus committed the greatest act of love this world has ever known in laying down his life. And he did so willingly out of his desire for relationship with us. God desired friendship with you to the level that he would send his only Son to die in order to restore what sin had destroyed.
The questions before you today are: are you experiencing the fruits of friendship with Jesus? Are you receiving the satisfaction that comes from abiding in relationship with God? The Holy Spirit’s desire today is to lead you into a greater depth of friendship with your Creator, the one who laid down his own life for your sake. What he asks of you today is to make time to invest in your friendship with him as you would any other relationship. He asks that you would value relationship with him to the level that you would commit time and energy to it. Just as marriage cannot be fruitful or enjoyable without investment from both parties, we must invest in our friendship with God to receive all that relationship with him is designed to bring us.
John 15:14 makes it clear that true friendship with God is following his commands. Jesus has revealed the pathway to abundant life. And he’s led us to that path by laying down his own life that we might have the Holy Spirit working within us. To be friends with Jesus is to choose to lay down our own lives in response to his loving sacrifice. To walk in friendship with God is to choose humility over pride and follow the path set before us in Jesus. We are no longer servants unaware of the plans and will of our master, but friends who have heard, seen, and experienced the truth.
Will you choose friendship with God over the world today? Will you choose to follow the will of the God who laid down his life for yours? Will you walk down the pathway of life today, or will you choose to go your own way? True friendship with God is fully available to you today if you will follow the life-giving commandments of Jesus and make space and time to invest in your relationship with him. Nothing will bring you greater satisfaction than living out of the abundance of friendship with Jesus. Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Open the door of your heart to the God of love today and spend time fellowshipping with him.
1. Meditate on your status as a friend of God. Allow Scripture to change your perspective on how God views you and how you should view God.
2. Reflect on your own life. What relationships do you invest in over your relationship with God? Who have you made the highest priority? In what ways are you not following the commands of Jesus?
3. Repent of any way in which you have valued other relationships over God. Confess any ways in which you have not been following the commands of Jesus and receive the forgiveness of God. Spend time investing in your friendship together.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
The only day we are promised is today. Don’t wait to invest in your relationship with God. Don’t set it aside while you take care of what seems to be more pressing. Loving God is always first priority. Spending time with him is always the most important thing. Choose to be a follower of Jesus who values his commands over any other. Choose his way over your own or the world’s. Walk today with the fruit of friendship with God as your source and guide. If you do, you will experience favor and grace on even the most mundane tasks set before you. You will experience a foundation of love on which you have the grace to follow God wholeheartedly and love others purely and fully. Value friendship with God above all else and experience the abundant life available to you.
Extended Reading: 1 John 1-2 or watch The Bible Project’s video on 1-3 John.
Value friendship with God above all else and experience the abundant life available to you.
]]>2/4/2026 | Abiding in the True Vine
Take a moment even now to open your heart to trust God afresh.
As we continue our week on abiding in true vine of God, today we’ll explore obedience and how it relates to abiding in God. Take a moment even now to open your heart to trust God afresh. He will always be for us, and know what is best for us in every part of life. He is so good. He is so kind. And he simply wants to walk with us.
John 15:9-10 ESV
The concept of obedience has become shrouded with a connotation of negativity. When we think of obedience we normally infer a feeling of doing a task apart from a desire or longing. We associate obedience with obligation rather than fulfillment. But when Jesus walked on the earth he carried out a very different lifestyle of obedience. Jesus’ life demonstrates what obedience to our heavenly Father is meant to look like. Obedience to God is choosing to live a lifestyle of love and devotion to our God who has loved us completely.
Jesus says in John 15:9-10, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” Too often we miss the heart of God when he calls us to obedience. Jesus illustrates here that he lived his life reciprocating the love he was shown by his Father. He lived his life in obedience to God out of the wealth of relationship he had, not out of obligation. And Jesus simply asks us to do the same. He invites us into the process of receiving and giving love as the foundation of our life that we might abide in the depth of relationship with our heavenly Father as he did.
In Luke 10:27, Jesus states the greatest commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” How incredible is the heart of our God that he doesn’t call us to a lifestyle of obligation or undesired sacrifice, but a lifestyle in which we reciprocate the vast love we’ve been shown in Christ to all the earth. God doesn’t merely set rules before you but relationship as the goal. He’s after your heart totally and completely.
In a world wrapped up in a self-seeking, self-satisfying agenda, God sets us free to step outside of the burden of ourselves and frees us to live for others. In a world wrought with the weight of pride, God pours out his unceasing, selfless love which has the power to transform us into children who abide in our heavenly Father. If we will choose to abide in God’s commandments and love wholeheartedly, we will experience a satisfaction unknown to those with the attitude of selfishness and pride. We will experience the abundant life only those who abide in God can obtain.
So, abide in God’s commandments today. Choose to live a lifestyle of wholehearted love of God and others. Choose to live in obedience to God in response to his amazing love. And discover the power, purpose, and freedom that comes from ministering to others with the very love you’ve been shown in Christ.
1. Meditate on God’s commandment for us to love him and one another. Receive the call to a lifestyle of love as you reflect on God’s word.
2. Spend time receiving the love of your heavenly Father. God always desires to fill you up with the knowledge of his love before he would have you love him or others in return. Our obedience is always meant to be a response to his loving nature. So take time and receive a fresh outpouring of the love he has for you today.
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
3. Ask the Spirit to guide you to a lifestyle of love today. Spend time allowing him to reveal different ways in which he would call you to love others. How can you love your spouse better today? How can you love your best friend, coworker, neighbor, etc.? Ask the Spirit to pour out the love of God through you today. And commit to loving others even when it goes against the tides of comfort and culture.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22
May we abide in the love of our heavenly Father today. May we choose to live a lifestyle of love. And may our prayer be like that of the Psalmist in Psalm 119:32-35 as we go about our days living to see God’s glory come on earth as it is in heaven:
Extended Reading: 1 John 4 or watch The Bible Project’s video on 1-3 John.
May we abide in the love of our heavenly Father today. May we choose to live a lifestyle of love.
]]>2/3/2026 | Abiding in the True Vine
As you learn to seek out the heartbeat of God, may you grow in confidence in his love for you and those around you.
As we look at the different ways we are to abide in true vine of God, today we’ll explore the concept of prayer. It is my hope today we walk away with simplified prayer lives. As you learn to seek out the heartbeat of God, may you grow in confidence in his love for you and those around you.
John 15:7-8 ESV
Jesus makes us an almost unbelievable promise in John 15:7-8. Scripture says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” Jesus promises that if we abide in him and allow his words to abide in us, then we can ask anything we desire of God and it will happen. Clearly this is a vital passage for us to understand today. I believe that the Lord has fresh revelation in store for us if we will take him at his word and allow him to transform our understanding of what it is to petition our heavenly Father. So, let’s open our hearts and minds and allow the Holy Spirit to come and do a work in us today as we place our trust in Jesus’ word.
I have spent a large part of my Christian life praying without understanding how to pray. I used to view prayer as time for me to ask God for what I thought would be good and then wait to see if my circumstances lined up with my prayer. Then only through my circumstances would I know if God’s answer to my prayer was yes or no. Then I read John 15:7-8. Jesus clearly teaches a very different model of prayer than I had been experiencing.
Jesus’ model for prayer is abiding in his presence, abiding in his words, and then asking God for our heart’s desires. God desires that we would be so in tune with his heartbeat and so saturated with his word that our desires would be transformed into his desires. His plan is to fill us with the knowledge of his perfect will for our lives in the secret place so that we can pray and live wholeheartedly with full expectation that our heavenly Father will bring to fruition the desires he has placed within us.
Does this model of prayer line up with your life? Is your prayer life marked by abiding in him and his word first? Have you discovered the heartbeat of your heavenly Father? Do you feel as if you know how he feels about situations going on in your life? Are you so saturated with his word that it is transforming your actions, beliefs, emotions, and prayers?
Scripture says in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” And Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” God longs for you to search out his heartbeat. He longs to reveal to you how he feels about you and every aspect of your life. He longs to transform your desires into his that you might desire and ask him for what is really best for you.
Asking God for something is meant to be as simple as abiding in his presence and word and praying in line with the desires he’s birthed in you. Discover today the wealth of desires he longs to share with you. Ask him to show you how he feels and thinks. Saturate yourself in his word. Allow the teachings of Jesus to transform your perspectives. And ask your heavenly Father to bring to fruition the desires he’s placed within you. May your desires be one with God’s today as you spend time abiding in the true vine of Jesus.
1. Meditate on Jesus’ process of prayer. Reflect on each phrase. Allow the words of Jesus to transform the way you view spending time with God and prayer.
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:7-8
2. Spend time abiding in the presence and word of Jesus. Ask him to reveal how he feels about situations in your life where you need his help. Ask him to show you how he feels about anything you are curious about! Spending time with God is meant to consist of conversation, questions, and response. Seek and rest in his heart and word today.
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3
3. After discovering the heartbeat of God and the teachings of Jesus, ask God for your heart’s desire in confidence! Petition your heavenly Father to bring to fruition the desires he is planting within you. Pray in line with the Spirit and Truth. Take joy in your heavenly Father’s desire to answer your prayer.
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2
The Lord loves to answer the prayers of his children. He longs to give you every good and perfect gift. Trust in his goodness. Have faith that he will respond to your prayers in more magnificent ways than you could ever imagine. He is our loving Father, and he loves to bless us. Rest in his presence and word today, and allow him to mold and shape you into the image of Jesus.
Extended Reading: Matthew 6 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Matthew 1-13.
Rest in his presence and word today, and allow him to mold and shape you into the image of Jesus.
]]>2/2/2026 | Abiding in the True Vine
My prayer is that you would be marked by wonderful, satisfying, and fulfilling encounters with the presence of God as we look at John 15:1-17 this week.
The absolute, most important single act of the children of God is making space to encounter our heavenly Father in the secret place. Abiding in God is the foundation on which every other aspect of the Christian life finds success. It establishes roots which enable us to receive all that we need to bear the fruit of the Spirit. It guides us to constant refreshment and revival in God’s presence, thereby supplying and sustaining the abundant life God intends for us. My prayer is that you would be marked by wonderful, satisfying, and fulfilling encounters with the presence of God as we look at John 15:1-17 this week.
John 15:4 ESV
I am amazed at the ways in which all of creation visibly demonstrates important spiritual principles. Romans 1:20 says, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” Job 12:7-9 says, “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” All throughout the Gospels, Jesus likens spiritual principles to the surrounding creation. From the parables of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32) and pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46) to his teaching on the grass of the field and birds of the air (Matthew 6:25-34), clearly God uses creation to illustrate important spiritual principles we need to adopt as believers.
One such important principle is found in John 15:1-17. In verse 4 Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” Reflect for a minute on the process of a vine bearing fruit. It takes time, patience, and consistent nourishment for fruit to form on the branches of the vine. So it is with you and me in God. We have the most abundant source of life available to us in God. God waits, patiently beckoning us to simply come and abide in him that we might bear the fruit of abundant life. And once fruit is cut off from the vine it loses its source of life. In order to consistently bear the fruit of God, we have to go back to our vine time and time again to receive all that God longs to give us.
You are created for intimacy with your heavenly Father. Just as God designed grapes to only grow in connection to the vine, you are designed for intimacy with God as your one, true source. There is no other supply of true life. There is no other process by which we experience abundant life outside of abiding in him. Spending time resting in his presence and receiving what he longs to give us is the most important thing you can do on a daily basis. The days we try and bear fruit apart from him are the days we will be overrun with the cares and stresses of this life. The Holy Spirit longs to fill you with the fruit of his presence every moment of every day. All that is required of you is to submit to the reality of his presence rather than go your own way. Choose to listen and receive from him rather than leaning on your own understanding.
By God’s grace we can always return to him as our source. It is never too late for us to connect ourselves to the vine and receive the life only God can give. It is never too late to experience the revitalization that can only come through encountering him. And it is never too late for us to bear fruit of eternal value. God has wonderful plans for you that begin today. His mercies are new every morning. The Bible promises in James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
Take time to submit yourself to God as your source, receive all that he longs to give you, and find your satisfaction in the reality of his powerful presence.
1. Meditate on your need to be continually connected to God, your true vine.
2. Ask God to make his presence known to you. Believe his word that his presence is real and tangible and that you can experience him by his grace.
3. Draw near to your God and find life in his presence. Allow his nearness to heal the broken and weary places of your life. Let his Spirit flood the dry areas with his perfect love. Have patience and rest in God. Be slow to speak and move as the Spirit lays a foundation for you to continually bear the fruit of his presence in your life.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
As believers we are created to live, think, act, and feel with the Holy Spirit. We were never intended to do life apart from God’s presence, and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we don’t have to. We’ve been filled with the very Spirit of God himself who longs to shepherd us into the deeper things of God. May we have the humility to acknowledge our need of God and the faith to believe that he is real and will guide us into a better, more fruitful life in him.
Extended Reading: John 15:1-17 or watch The Bible Project’s video on John 13-21.
May we have the humility to acknowledge our need of God and the faith to believe that he is real and will guide us into a better, more fruitful life in him.
]]>2/1/2026 | God Longs to be Encountered
He alone is worthy of all our hearts. And today may you place your heart solely in his hands.
As we end our week on God’s longing to be encountered, today we’ll examine our hearts and ask the most important question, “Do we know him?” As we take time today to fix our hearts on the single pursuit of Jesus, may your heart swell with fresh love and devotion for him. He alone is worthy of all our hearts. And today may you place your heart solely in his hands.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 ESV
Of all that God longs to reveal to us, his children, he most desires that we would simply come to know him. Of all the great mysteries, truths, plans, and longings of his heart, he most desires that we would find all our satisfaction, joy, and purpose in relationship. Jeremiah 9:23-24 describes this profound desire in the heart of God. Scripture says,
What greater knowledge is there than that of God? What greater pursuit exists than knowing the heart of our Creator, the God who would lay down his life to make himself available to us? You and I can know God in deeper, more transformative ways than we can know anyone else. Through the blood of Christ, God has made himself more available and nearer to us than we have yet to discover.
Psalm 46:10 is a powerful and incredible command of the Lord. Our heavenly Father says to us, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In a world wrought with the hectic chaos of task after task, God says to us, “Be still and simply know me.” In a world founded on the principles of earn and receive, God has an open invitation before us to know him apart from any merit of our own. We can know God simply because he desires to be known. We can know God simply because he loves us right now, as we are.
More than God desires any work of our hands or any gifting he could place within us, he wants us to know him. So often we get caught up in the works of the kingdom and forget that our chief purpose in life is simply to be enjoyed by God and to enjoy him in return. This life is meant to be about relationship above all else. It’s meant to be about continually encountering the heart of our heavenly Father that we so often live without.
Out of all that we know, may we know God himself the best. Out of all the knowledge and wisdom we can gain from Scripture, may our highest pursuit be a true, intimate knowledge of its Author. Out of all the earth-shattering works set before us, may we know the God whom we serve. And at the end of our days, may our lives have been chiefly marked by a true, passionate, intimate relationship with our heavenly Father.
1. Meditate on the availability of knowing God. Allow Scripture to stir up your desire to know God above all else.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
2. What pursuits are higher in your life than knowing your heavenly Father? What is a higher priority to you than simply having relationship with God? Take an honest look at your heart, time, actions and perspectives.
3. Ask the Lord to help you be someone who is simply enjoyed by him and enjoys him. Ask him to help you cast aside all other pursuits that aren’t in line with this chief pursuit. Make space and time to “Be still, and know that [he] is God” (Psalm 46:10).
Recentering our lives around relationship with God is a process in which God has total patience and grace. He knows that you will only center your life around that which you chiefly enjoy. He knows it takes time for him to become your chief joy. But this is most definitely the highest, most important process you can pursue. When he becomes your chief joy, all other aspects of life find their proper place. When he becomes your chief joy, your emotions will no longer be subject to the fickle, fleeting things of the world, but rather grounded in the unshakable, unchanging nature of your heavenly Father. May you offer your whole heart to God today that you might fully enjoy him. May his love and presence be the foundation of your life. And may you seek relationship with him above all else.
Extended Reading: Psalm 46 or watch a video on Psalms.
May his love and presence be the foundation of your life. And may you seek relationship with him above all else.
]]>1/31/2026 | God Longs to be Encountered
May your questions and wonderings about God and his creation only push you farther into seeking him. Because he has made it clear that if you’ll seek him, you will find him.
So much of our faith is shrouded by mystery. It is impossible to fully comprehend the grandeur and elaborateness of God with our limited human understanding. But as we’ve seen this week, we have a God who longs to be sought out. May your questions and wonderings about God and his creation only push you farther into seeking him. Because he has made it clear that if you’ll seek him, you will find him.
“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”
Proverbs 25:2 ESV
The fact that God conceals things in mystery for his children to search out is one of the most curious and wonderful truths of Scripture. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” We who have been made kings and queens by the blood of Jesus have been granted access to the mysteries of God. God in his grace has given us the right to know the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
What would relationship with the God of the universe be without mystery? What would it be like to know the God who has formed galaxies and planets beyond anything we will ever discover without that which remains unknown? We are made to be enthralled by the mysteries of our heavenly Father. We are created to search out that which is not made plain to us. God is inviting us to ask, question, seek, and find that which transcends the natural and stretches into the unknown: the eternal.
Colossians 2:1-3 says,
All mystery finds its resolve in the person of Jesus Christ. Within him dwells “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” And the more we get to know the living, active person of Jesus through his Spirit, the more we receive important, transformative revelation. You see, even something as foundational to the Christian faith as grace is laden with mystery. The powerful effects of Jesus’ grace-filled sacrifice baffle the mind. How could one man in laying down his life make righteousness and salvation available to all? But in God’s grace this is wholly possible. And only when we truly seek out the mysteries laden within grace will we begin to experience all the powerful effects it has to offer us.
May we as God’s children grow to love the mysteries laid open for us by our loving heavenly Father. May we enjoy the process of searching out the deeper things within God’s heart with the help of the Holy Spirit. And may that which is unseen, heavenly, and eternal begin to have a profound impact on our perspectives, emotions, thoughts, and actions. Search out the mysteries of your faith today and discover just how vast and available the love of your heavenly Father is for you.
1. Meditate on the call before you to search out the deeper things of God. Allow Scripture to stir up your desire for the mysteries of your faith.
“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” Proverbs 25:2
2. What parts of your faith have you yet to fully search out? Ask God to reveal what mysteries he’s laying open before you that you might walk in a deeper revelation of who he is and what he’s done.
3. Take time to search out an aspect of your relationship with God. It might be something about his creation or an aspect like grace, forgiveness or love.
“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.'” Psalm 27:8
Coupled with God’s desire for us to seek out mystery is the truth that we are not meant to fully grasp every part of God and Christianity. Part of the beauty of our relationship with an omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal God is that there will always be parts of him that are a mystery to us. How God has always existed and is both three and one are paradoxes too great for comprehension. We must simply trust the truth of Scripture for what it is at times and not dwell on that which we cannot attain. We must reconcile only that which is intended to be reconciled. May you search out all the mysteries opened to you by the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit who dwells within you, while at the same time enjoying all the unknowables meant to stir up awe and wonder within you.
Extended Reading: Colossians 1 or watch a video on Colossians.
May you search out all the mysteries opened to you by the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit who dwells within you, while at the same time enjoying all the unknowables meant to stir up awe and wonder within you.
]]>1/30/2026 | God Longs to be Encountered
May you gain some insight about next steps for you today, and fresh peace in the midst of whatever season you’re in.
The will of God is often a scary and difficult process to discern. But just as we learned earlier this week—God longs for us to know his voice. And God promises to speak his will to us in a way we’ll understand. My hope is that today you can rest at ease in total peace that your future is in God’s hands, and he’s got you. May you gain some insight about next steps for you today, and fresh peace in the midst of whatever season you’re in.
Isaiah 58:11 ESV
One of the most peaceful truths of Scripture is that God longs to share his will with his people. God is not one who leaves us to our own devices. He’s not even one who leaves us with the Bible and says, “Good luck. I hope you figure it out.” He’s the God who dwells within us, longing to speak into our lives and guide us into his perfect, pleasing plans.
Jeremiah 29:11-14 is an often quoted passage in Christian circles. But I pray that the powerful promise contained in its words will be revealed to you today in a fresh, transformative way. Scripture says,
We can place our hope in the revealed will of our heavenly Father. We can trust that we are not sheep without a shepherd, but rather those in the flock of a perfect, loving God who came to lay down his life for us. Through the Holy Spirit, God is perfectly capable of guiding us into his plans for “welfare and not for evil.” Behind his leading is always a more abundant, presence-filled life. Behind his leading is always more of him and more of who we are in him.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” God longs to make straight our paths. But in order to follow his leading, we must assess where our trust is and who we are acknowledging with our lives. We will never follow that which we don’t fully trust. If we are to be led by the Spirit we must trust that everything he tells us to do is absolutely the best thing for us.
Trust is meant to be the fruit of relationship. It’s meant to be birthed out of an experiential knowledge of God’s trustworthiness. If you haven’t given God much of a chance to prove himself trustworthy in your life, today is the day. We as the people of God must place our hope in him alone if we are to experience all the wealth of life his promises have to offer. We must place our trust in him if we are to receive a full knowledge of his will.
Take time to meditate on the trustworthiness of your God. Meditate on his desire to share with you his will. Take time to place your trust in him alone and commit yourself to following his leading. May your day be marked by all the fruit of God’s perfect, pleasing plans for your life.
1. Meditate on God’s trustworthiness and desire to share with you his will.
2. Where do you have a hard time trusting God? Where is your life not marked by his perfect, pleasing plans?
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
3. Ask God to reveal his will to you in those areas. Align your heart with his desires for you that you might experience the fruit of truly following his will. Place your trust in God alone for every area of your life.
Oftentimes God’s perfect, pleasing plans don’t conform to the desires and wants of the world. But we have to place our trust in him that his ways are higher than ours. His desires and wants for us are better than anything we can imagine. He has eternity in mind when he leads us along with our present circumstances and desires. Trust that as you align your heart with him and place your hope in him alone, his leading will perfectly satisfy the deep desires of your heart.
Extended Reading: Isaiah 58 or watch a video on Isaiah 40-66.
Trust that as you align your heart with him and place your hope in him alone, his leading will perfectly satisfy the deep desires of your heart.
]]>1/29/2026 | God Longs to be Encountered
As we look to Jesus as our model, may we be filled with courage and light to love not just in word but in deed and truth.
As we continue our week on God’s longing to be encountered, today we’ll dig deeper into how he desires for us to know his truth. God has given us everything we need to walk in his truth and ways this side of heaven. As we look to Jesus as our model, may we be filled with courage and light to love not just in word but in deed and truth.
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:32 ESV
In the incredible, abundant blessings of Scripture and the Holy Spirit, God has demonstrated his longing for us to know truth. Truth is a powerful weapon against the schemes of the enemy. Truth has an ability to bestow confidence and freedom on all who find their satisfaction in it. And truth in the eyes of God is completely founded in relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. May God grant us a hunger for truth that is deeply satisfied in communion with our loving Savior today.
Everything God is and does is truth personified. There is no lie or deceit in our God. And therefore it is only in centering our lives around relationship with him that we will begin to experience the fruit of truth in our lives. In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The life of Jesus is our example of truth. Everything he did was a perfect demonstration of truth. If we don’t devote ourselves to the study of his life and experiencing who he is personally, we’ll find ourselves living on the rocky shores of indecision and half-truths. We need his example to follow.
We need the life of Jesus at the forefront of our minds if we are to enjoy the abundant life that truth has to offer us. 1 John 5:20 says, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” Jesus is the Word made flesh. And through the Holy Spirit and Scripture, we have access to not only learning about his life, but being transformed into his likeness.
Romans 8:29 says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” You and I are created to seek truth and see it come to fruition in our lives. We are created to shine the powerful light of truth into a world filled with the darkness of lies and deceit. But before we can share the truth of God, we must allow it to fill and transform us. 1 John 3:18 says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” Truth is meant to manifest itself in our actions. Truth is so much more about our deeds of love than the words we say. Anyone can say words and not truly mean it. No one can truly love someone without revealing to them Jesus, truth made manifest in flesh. We can’t love someone without the power of truth shining forth into the core of who we are, that God loves us unconditionally just as we are.
Take time today to allow the truth of God’s love and Jesus’ life to make its way into every part of your life. Continue the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus by meditating on Scripture and experiencing the living, active person of Jesus today. May the truth of God’s love lead you to a life of enjoying God’s presence and loving others well.
1. Meditate on the importance of knowing and experiencing truth. Allow Scripture to stir up your desires to seek truth.
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
2. Where is the truth of God not shining forth in your actions? Where are you not experiencing the fruit of truth in your life?
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
3. Give that area of your life to God and ask him to transform you into the likeness of Jesus today. Meditate on truth centered around that area and allow it to sink down from your head to your heart. Make space to let God fully love you and ask the Holy Spirit to help you love others well throughout your day.
God longs to reveal himself to you and fully love you today. He longs for you to taste and see his goodness. To grow in godly truth isn’t like taking a class or learning a subject; it’s all about relationship. May the truth of Scripture be revealed to you in relationship with the living, active God. May you experience firsthand the God of the Bible and see truth in the man of Jesus. And may your life be a better reflection of God’s love today as his truth works its way into every part of your life.
Extended Reading: 1 John 5 or watch a video on 1-3 John.
May you experience firsthand the God of the Bible and see truth in the man of Jesus. And may your life be a better reflection of God’s love today as his truth works its way into every part of your life.
]]>1/28/2026 | God Longs to be Encountered
May you walk away today feeling more confident and equipped for intimate relationship with Jesus.
Hearing the voice of God can always be a tricky subject. Many feel inadequate or wounded when it comes to the topic of hearing God speak. Today we’ll discover the beauty and simplicity of God’s longing for us to know his voice, just as you know the voice of a parent, spouse or friend. Hearing from God is essential to encountering the Lord. May you walk away today feeling more confident and equipped for intimate relationship with Jesus.
Jeremiah 33:3 ESV
I’ve spent so much of my life as a believer thinking that God was silent, or at least only spoke through the Bible, others, and situations. While God most definitely does speak in those ways, he also longs to speak directly to his children. Scripture is laden with story after story of God’s people hearing his voice and responding in obedience. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, God clearly speaks to his people. The question before us today is, will we make space to listen?
John 8:47 says, “Whoever is of God hears the words of God.” And John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” We serve a God who desires his voice to be known. God is not silent. He is not quiet. Our heavenly Father longs to guide us, tell us his heart for us, and do life with us. He’s longing for a relationship with you filled with continual conversation.
Hearing God’s voice is not only for a select few. It isn’t only for the Christian elite or those who spend all day, every day meditating and praying. We as believers hear God’s voice first and foremost because he wants to speak to us. We can hear God’s voice by grace alone.
So what does it sound like to hear God’s voice? Through the Holy Spirit God is able to speak in clearer and more profound ways than a conversation between you and me. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” The Holy Spirit is with you right now. And because he dwells within us he has the ability to speak to our heart. He can speak with words or give an intuition or knowledge about something. He can fill us with peace about a decision and give us a feeling of unrest when we’re doing something that isn’t his will. God can speak to us in ways more intimate and clear than any other conversation because there is nothing in the way of us and him.
But God will never force his voice on us. He is not a God who yells into the chaos and attempts to drown out all the other voices. He is a God of peace and patience who waits for us to open our heart to him and listen. Take time today to open your heart and acknowledge the voice of your Father. Make space in all the busyness to simply listen to whatever he would say. Ask him any questions you have of him and trust that he will speak perfectly whatever it is he wants to say to you.
May your day be filled with continual conversation with your loving, present heavenly Father.
1. Meditate on the availability of hearing God speak. Reflect on all the ways he speaks and allow Scripture to fill your heart with faith to have a conversation with your heavenly Father.
2. Take time to quiet your soul and receive God’s presence. Ask him to reveal his nearness to you. Have faith that the Holy Spirit is with you right now.
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16
3. Ask God to tell you how he feels about you in this moment. Ask him to speak to you anything he wants you to know. Have patience and pay attention to any changes in your feelings or anything you hear in your spirit.
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3
While hearing the voice of God can sound a little “out there,” it is wholly biblical. Our God is alive and active. He is not distant, and he longs for us to truly know him. Allow Scripture to define your reality rather than past experiences or worldly perceptions. The spiritual is wholly real. God’s presence is real. The fact that he dwells within us, speaks, guides, gives revelation, heals, and saves is the reality all of us live in whether we acknowledge it or not. Open your heart to God today and allow him to guide you into a lifestyle of greater communion with him. Live today in the fullness of relationship available to you in the Holy Spirit. May you hear the loving, close voice of the Holy Spirit throughout your day today as you open your heart to him.
Extended Reading: John 10 or watch a video on John 1-12.
May you hear the loving, close voice of the Holy Spirit throughout your day today as you open your heart to him.
]]>1/27/2026 | God Longs to be Encountered
Every one of us needs to be reminded of the depth of his love on a regular basis, and it’s my hope that today we can take some time to do so. May you never be the same again.
As we focus this week on God’s radical desire to meet with his people, today we’ll explore his longing for us to know his love. There is nothing more transformative than encountering the love of God. It changes everything about us and our lives. Every one of us needs to be reminded of the depth of his love on a regular basis, and it’s my hope that today we can take some time to do so. May you never be the same again.
Romans 8:37-39 ESV
I’ve spent so much of my life striving to be loved. The overwhelming need to be loved by somebody, anybody, is at the heart of most every decision, thought, perspective, and action I make. We are created with a longing to be loved. God formed us with an insatiable need for love because he desires to satisfy that longing. You see, we no longer have to go through life wondering if we’re loved. Our God doesn’t hide his heart from us. He never holds back his love.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God demonstrated his love for us on the cross. But the cross also serves as a reminder that God will, now and forever, continually pour out his love. Not only did he commit a powerful act of love then, but he also makes his love available to us now.
Psalm 26:3 says, “For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.” And Psalm 36:5 says, “Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.” The love of God is continually available to us. His steadfast love is here, ready to be experienced. God longs to so satisfy our great need for love that we stop seeking it from the world. He longs to so fill us up with his unconditional affections that we would no longer strive to be loved, but simply find rest in him.
Romans 8:37-39 says,
There is nothing we could ever do to separate ourselves from the love of God. As soon as we feel the need to be loved we can always turn our hearts toward our heavenly Father and simply receive a fresh awareness of his powerful, unconditional love. Stop working to be loved. Stop striving for that which is already yours. What are the affections of man in comparison to the love of your Creator? What is the fleeting, fickle praise of man in comparison to the all-consuming, powerful, and truthful love of God? May your life be marked by a peace that comes from resting in the love of your heavenly Father alone.
1. Reflect on your need for love. In what ways do you strive to be loved every day? Who have you been seeking out love from to fill a need in your life? Where have you been striving for the opinion of man?
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
2. Meditate on the unconditional nature of God’s love. Meditate on the availability of his presence.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you encounter to love of God today. Ask God how he feels about you and wait for a sense of his love. Rest in the truth of Scripture and receive the love of your heavenly Father.
“For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.” Psalm 26:3
One of the most powerful truths about God’s love can be found in 1 John 4:18. Scripture says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” God’s love makes us fearless. Who or what is there to fear when the God of the universe truly loves us? What cause is there for fear when God would send his only Son to die that we might simply have relationship with him? Rest in the love of God today and allow the truth of his affections for you to cast out any fear you have. There is no reason to fear. God has you and loves you. May you find peace and joy today in response to the steadfast love of your heavenly Father.
Extended Reading: 1 John 4 or watch a video on 1-3 John.
May you find peace and joy today in response to the steadfast love of your heavenly Father.
]]>1/26/2026 | God Longs to be Encountered
May your week focus on God’s desire to be encountered be marked by the reality of his presence and love.
One of the most scandalous truths of the gospel is that our Creator longs to be encountered by his creation. God longs to meet with us. His greatest desire is for relationship with us. God is pursuing each of us with his relentless love, seeking out those who might respond to his open invitation by opening the door of their hearts to him. My prayer is that in response to God’s desire to meet with his people we would be those who say yes to centering our lives around his nearness. May your weeklong focus on God’s desire to be encountered be marked by the reality of his presence and love.
Psalm 14:2 ESV
We serve a God who longs to be encountered. Our God is not distant. He is not a recluse. Every morning there is an open invitation set before us to encounter the peaceful, tangible presence of the living God. In fact, it’s because of God’s desire to be encountered that Scripture so often commands us to seek him. He is not a God who hides, but he is also not a God who forces himself on us. He quietly beckons us to a life marked by his nearness, asking us to seek him that our heart might be open and receptive to him.
1 Chronicles 16:11 commands us, “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” And Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” May we be a people who center our lives around God’s longing to be encountered. May we seek him with all we are.
I’ve lived so much of my life as if I’m on my own. I was without a true revelation of just how close God is to me. I was without a true knowledge that the God I serve longs to be known by me. You see, the foundation for my spending time with God was that I should, not that he actually desired relationship with me. As soon as I got a glimpse into the heart of my heavenly Father to simply love me and enjoy me, I was hooked.
No matter who you are or what you’ve done, you serve a God who longs to meet with you. He is knocking on the door of your heart today, asking you to simply let him come in. He is quietly beckoning you with his love, simply speaking to you, “Don’t shut me out.” God has an incredible life filled with an ever-increasing awareness of his love for you. He longs for your heart to be wrapped up in his presence when the world rejects you, speaks lies to you, or tries to pull you away from the comfort of his love and peace.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Seek the presence of your heavenly Father today in faith that he longs to be encountered. Trust him at his word that he will reward your seeking with the wonders of his nearness. Seek a deeper, more intimate relationship with him in light of the truth that he is always fully available to you. May your life be ever filled with communion with your loving heavenly Father.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to be encountered. Allow Scripture to stir up your faith to meet with God.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
2. What have you believed about encountering God that doesn’t line up with his heart and his word? Where do you feel like you can’t encounter God? What parts of your life are absent of his presence and the fruit of his nearness?
3. Seek the presence of God today. Take time to open your heart and in faith trust that you can encounter God. Commit yourself to centering your day around his presence and doing nothing apart from an awareness of his nearness.
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:25
How amazing is the heart of our heavenly Father that he longs to be encountered! Through the powerful sacrifice of Jesus we can live in communion with God. Jesus paid the highest price for us to simply have close relationship with our Creator. Let us not be a people who forsake the sacrifice of Jesus. If God would send his only Son to die that we might live in relationship with him, it must be absolutely the best thing in this life. Taste and see how good your God is today. Let him into all you do. May your life be filled with the presence of God as you open the door of your heart to the reality of his nearness.
Extended Reading: Revelation 3:14-4:11 or watch a video on Revelation 1-11.
Taste and see how good your God is today. Let him into all you do. May your life be filled with the presence of God as you open the door of your heart to the reality of his nearness.
]]>1/25/2026 | Centering Your Life Around Meeting with God
May you live each day aware of and benefitting from that union, and be forever changed.
As we finish up our week on centering our lives around meeting with God, today we’ll discover the beauty of living from union with him. Today may you discover and wonder at how incredibly connected and one with God you already are through Christ. May you live each day aware of and benefitting from that union, and be forever changed. It is my prayer that the reality of Christ’s finished work on the cross sinks into our hearts and minds today, and that our lives are turned upside down as a result.
Galatians 2:20 ESV
One of the greatest scandals of the Christian faith is that God himself, in all his holiness and love, would dwell in the heart of man. You and I have been brought into union with God by the blood of Jesus. Nothing can separate us from him any longer. He is closer than our breath. He is more real than the very ground beneath our feet.
The New Testament is filled with truth about our union with God. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” Romans 6:4 says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” And Colossians 1:27 says, “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
There is never a single moment that you are apart from God. God is in you and with you through every trial, success, victory, and defeat. He is for you and available to you all day, every day. Even in our sin, God remains. Even in our rebellion, God dwells within us. What’s left for us to do is learn how to allow this union to permeate every area of our lives. To work out our salvation is to learn to cast aside that which belongs to our former self and live out of our new identity as unified with Christ himself.
If we’re going to truly center our lives around meeting with God, we must learn to acknowledge the fact that he is already with us. He is not a distant God who has to travel from his throne in heaven down to us whenever we make time for him. He’s not a God who only dwells in churches, fellowships, ministries, or clergy. He is the God who dwells within you, loves you, likes you, and longs to be with you in constant communion.
Take time today to renew your mind to the truth of your union with God. Ask him to reveal his nearness that you might “walk in newness of life” today (Romans 6:4). Make space in your heart and mind to allow the presence of God to permeate every area of your life. May today mark a radical change in your life as God himself begins to move, work, bless, and speak in all you do.
1. Meditate on your union with God. Renew your mind by placing your trust in Scripture rather than your feelings or past experiences.
2. What areas of your life are not marked by union with the Holy Spirit? Where are you doing life as if God isn’t with you? Where are you striving and working for that which is already yours in Christ Jesus?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal his nearness. Ask him to help you be a person who receives rather than strives and who rests rather than toils.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Oftentimes we take feelings of loneliness, rejection, shame, and guilt and believe that they must be truth. Truth isn’t found in our emotions, but rather in the word of God. Our mind is the gateway to our emotions. We feel the way we do because of what we perceive and believe. If we engage in the process of renewing our mind to God’s word, our emotions will get in line with truth. You and God are one. There is nothing you or anyone else can do to change that. May the truth of Scripture guide you into a lifestyle of centering your life around the union already available to you in Christ.
Extended Reading: 2 Corinthians 5 or watch a video on 2 Corinthians.
May the truth of Scripture guide you into a lifestyle of centering your life around the union already available to you in Christ.
]]>1/24/2026 | Centering Your Life Around Meeting with God
As you begin to examine your life today, may God give you eyes to see what’s hindering you and what truly brings you life. How we spend our time is foundational to how we center our lives around Christ.
As we begin wrapping up our week focused on centering our lives around Jesus, today we’ll look at how to make the most of our time. Where we spend our time is where we place our value. As you begin to examine your life today, may God give you eyes to see what’s hindering you and what truly brings you life. How we spend our time is foundational to how we center our lives around Christ.
Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV
Ephesians 5:15-16 warns us, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Our time is of the utmost importance here on earth. We’ll never get back the days we spend frivolously pursuing the things of the world. We’ll never get back the time spent outside of God’s purposes of receiving and giving love. Our time here is too limited and too important to spend on burdens, stresses, sin, and worldly pursuits. If we’re going to make the most of this life, we must learn to center our time around the eternal value of meeting with God. It’s for this reason James 4:13-15 says,
Looking at the ways in which we spend our time is one of the best ways to assess the posture of our heart. If we spend all our time working for and thinking about the things of the world, we can know that we have not yet come into a right revelation of God’s purposes for us. If we spend the majority of our time simply getting through our days trying to find happiness rather than seeking the face of our heavenly Father that we might receive sustaining, transcendent joy, we can know that we have yet to surrender our lives fully to our King.
The great thing about the nature of time is that it is completely ours to do with what we will. We can, right now, decide to make the best use of our time according to the purposes of God as revealed to us through Scripture. We can, right now, decide to stop wasting precious minutes on that which is fleeting and temporal and instead invest our days in the lasting, eternal, and fruitful purposes of our heavenly Father.
Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” God longs to teach us how to use our days wisely. He longs to give us a heart of wisdom that we might center our lives around meeting with him. You have God himself dwelling within you, ready to guide you into a lifestyle of purposeful living. Choose today to open your heart and mind to the Teacher, the very Spirit of God, and live according to his will. May you find peace, joy, and purpose in the ways in which you invest your time today.
1. Meditate on the importance of using your time wisely.
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you any ways in which you’ve been using your time unwisely. Know that he is not a God who takes away all the things you enjoy. He’s not anti-entertainment, friends, and parties. He’s a fun God who truly loves you. Don’t mix religion and the heart of your heavenly Father. Trust that whatever he leads you to change will result in the absolute most fun, fruitful, and satisfying way you can live.
3. Ask God to help you spend your time wisely today. Ask him to help you follow his direction as you go about the day set before you.
You can trust that God has the absolute best plan for your time. Matthew 6:8 promises, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” He has every one of your needs sorted out. He will provide for you perfectly. You can trust him with your life and know that your job, family, and circumstances will be better in the capable and loving hands of your heavenly Father. Devote your time, job, money, and relationships to him that they might be filled with the blessing of God.
Extended Reading: Ephesians 5 or watch a video on Ephesians.
Devote your time, job, money, and relationships to him that they might be filled with the blessing of God.
]]>1/23/2026 | Centering Your Life Around Meeting with God
Allow your heart to be stirred in adoration, worship and devotion to the only true King this world has even known.
Like we said at the beginning of the week, this life is marked by a single choice: who or what will we center our lives around? Today we will look to the person of Jesus Christ. He is the first and the last; everything was created for him, by him and through him. To center your life around anyone else is futile and empty. As we look to Jesus today, may our eyes be fixed on his eternal goodness and glory. Allow your heart to be stirred in adoration, worship and devotion to the only true King this world has ever known.
Isaiah 9:6 ESV
All of eternity centers around the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He is the all-important, eternity-changing, and humanity-redeeming Son of the living God. Colossians 1:15 tells us, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Hebrews 1:3 says, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” And at the time of his return, Revelation 19:16 says, “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”
To center our lives around meeting with God is to build our foundation on the unshakable center of all eternity. To build our lives around encounters with Jesus is to place the anchor of our hope in the King of kings and Lord of lords. Only Jesus is faithful to his word. Only Jesus will accomplish that which he has promised us.
1 John 2:17 says, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” The will of God is to center our lives around his loving presence. God’s greatest commandment is that we would simply love him with all we do. To live differently than the world around you by centering your life around encountering Jesus is to chart a new path that leads to the fullness of life.
It may appear foolish to the world to place your hope solely in the person of Jesus, but nothing could be more important. It may look different to cast aside the pursuits of society such as comfort, status, and acclaim, but no greater decision could be made. You serve a God who was, is, and is to come. You belong to a King who laid down his life that you might truly live. You’ll find no greater joy, peace, or purpose than in serving Jesus alone. There is no greater life than one lived in full devotion to the King of all the earth.
Take time today to recommit yourself fully to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Step away from the limited perspective and think about the divine, eternal kingdom of God. Allow the truth of God’s word and love to fill you with the courage to choose devotion to him over service to yourself and the world around you. May your day today be filled with the abiding presence of King Jesus.
1. Meditate on Scripture about the person of Jesus. Remember that Jesus is alive and near. He is the living God and Scripture says your life is wrapped up in him.
2. In what ways is your life not centered around Jesus? In what ways are you living for the earth rather than eternity?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you center your life around who Jesus was and is. Ask him to fill you with the knowledge of his nearness and love for you. Open your heart and receive the presence of Jesus. Ask him to show you ways that you can center your life around him today.
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Colossians 3:1
Napoleon Bonaparte is quoted as having said, “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.” Is your life so wrapped up in Jesus that you would love and serve him at any cost? If not, know that there is grace. We only come to a place of full devotion by spending time consistently being loved by a selfless, servant-hearted God. May you rest in the grace of your heavenly Father today as you pursue a life centered around your loving Savior.
Extended Reading: Colossians 3 or watch a video on Colossians.
May you rest in the grace of your heavenly Father today as you pursue a life centered around your loving Savior.
]]>1/22/2026 | Centering Your Life Around Meeting with God
Tapping into Christ’s presence and power is what will allow you to bear good fruit in this life.
Every Christian I know wants to live an effective life for Jesus. The key to succeeding in this is abiding in him. Abiding in Christ is foundational to centering your whole life around God. Tapping into Christ’s presence and power is what will allow you to bear good fruit in this life. It is my hope that after today you are more equipped and empowered to live out a life centered about God.
John 15:5 ESV
So often out of a right desire to do good and God-honoring works we try and force fruit out of ourselves without taking the time to rest and receive the nutrients we can only get from abiding in our heavenly Father. A branch disconnected from an apple tree can no more produce good fruit than you and I can do good works apart from continual abiding in the love, grace, and presence of God. Without truly centering our lives around meeting with God, we’ll never produce the fruit we were created to make. Jesus taught us in John 15:1-5,
God’s heart is for us to abide in him all day, every day. How incredible is that! You and I can graft ourselves every day into the perfect, good, and powerful vine of our heavenly Father. We can wake up every day, open our hearts to God, and live out of the union afforded us by the powerful sacrifice of Jesus.
Rather than striving to do good works from the moment our feet hit the ground, we must take time to be loved by our heavenly Father. Rather than making our own opportunities to serve God, we must allow him to guide us to the works he’s set out for us. Rather than trying to lead others to Jesus by our own efforts, we must simply live openly and honestly with others, thereby revealing God’s heart to meet with those who are broken and in need of him. And rather than living as if God has left us to our devices, we must acknowledge our union with the Holy Spirit in every moment, thereby allowing his loving presence to permeate everything we do.
James 2:26 teaches, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” Connect yourself to the wonderful vine of Jesus today. Center your life around meeting with him. It’s only in abiding in God that your faith will produce works that are alive, eternal, and filled with the transformational power of God’s Spirit. May you discover the freedom and love available to you in continual communion with your heavenly Father today.
1. Meditate on the importance of abiding in the vine. Allow Scripture to stir up your desire to rest in God today.
2. Where have you been striving to do good works apart from the abiding presence of your Creator? What parts of your life need to have a greater connection to the love of God?
3. Take time to rest in the presence of God. Abide in him. Don’t look to or think about the things set before you today. There will be plenty of time for tasks and relationships. Focus all your attention on the reality of God’s nearness and open your heart to receive all the love he has for you in this present moment.
The absolute most powerful and good work we can do every day is pursuing continual communion with God. More than God wants us to strive to serve him, he simply wants us to let him love us. More than he wants any work of our hands, he wants our hearts. His love comes without agenda. There is immense value in the children of God simply living in relationship with the Father. Don’t let the works-based systems of this world seep into the grace-based relationship you have with God.
Extended Reading: John 15 or watch a video on John 13-21.
There is immense value in the children of God simply living in relationship with the Father. Don’t let the works-based systems of this world seep into the grace-based relationship you have with God.
]]>1/21/2026 | Centering Your Life Around Meeting with God
As we grow in understanding of God’s perfect love and relation to us, may centering your life around his presence come naturally.
Seeing God correctly is essential to centering your life around him and his presence. Many of us have a tainted view of earthly fathers, but today God wants to renew your view of him as your perfect heavenly Father. As we grow in understanding of God’s perfect love and relation to us, may centering your life around his presence come naturally.
1 Corinthians 8:6 ESV
If there’s one name for God that has the power to dramatically transform the lives of believers, it’s that we can call God “Abba” or “Father.” To see God as our Father changes everything. In Brennan Manning’s book, The Furious Longing of God, he asks a pertinent and powerful question:
"Is your own personal prayer life characterized by the simplicity, childlike candor, boundless trust, and easy familiarity of a little one crawling up in Daddy’s lap? An assured knowing that the daddy doesn’t care if the child falls asleep, starts playing with toys, or even starts chatting with little friends, because the daddy knows the child has essentially chosen to be with him for that moment? Is that the spirit of your interior prayer life?"
When I first read these questions I thought to myself, “Surely it can’t be this simple. Surely this can’t be all God expects of me.” We’ve missed the mark on what it truly means to be children of a good, near, and loving Father. We’ve projected our own insecurities, perspectives, and experiences on a God who is love embodied. There is nothing we can ever do to make God love us any more than he already does. And there is nothing we can ever do to make him love us any less. God loves us because he loves us. He enjoys us because he enjoys us. He wants to be with us because that’s how he is, not because we somehow earn his desire for us.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Even while we were in sin and separation from God, he loved us enough to pay the highest price to have us. So great was his depth of love for us that Jesus laid down his own life as the atonement for our mistakes, failures, weaknesses, and frailty. If God loved us then unconditionally, he loves us now unconditionally. If God would choose us then, he chooses us now. If God desired us then, he desires us now.
If we’re going to center our lives around meeting with God, we must understand the nature of his love for us. We must begin to relate to him as our good and loving Father above all else. We must cast aside any notion that he is angry with us, far from us, or void of affection or desire for us. We will only be drawn to our heavenly Father to the degree that we take him at his word and trust in his love for us. Take time today to receive the overwhelming, unconditional love of God for you. Allow his love to reorient your perspectives and beliefs. And respond to his great love by opening your heart and having fellowship with your Creator, Sustainer, and all-loving heavenly Father.
1. Meditate on the goodness of God being your perfect Father. What does it mean for your relationship with him if you would truly see him this way? How are you to reorient your perspectives in light of his word?
2. In what ways have you viewed God other than a loving Father? In what ways have you seen him as a taskmaster, distant Creator, or angry or passive Father?
3. Ask God to help you encounter the depths of his love today. Take time to receive his presence and rest in his goodness. Open up any parts of your life that aren’t bearing the fruit of his unconditional love and receive all the affection he has to give.
You are the child of a good, near, and loving Father. Seeing God as your Father not only impacts your perception of him, but also of yourself. You are loved. You are liked. You are enjoyed. The God who only thinks, feels, and says truth values relationship with you enough to send his only Son to die for you. Never let the world or the enemy shake the foundational love of your heavenly Father. No failure, weakness, or sin could ever change the fact that you are loved, accepted, and valued. May you find peace today where there has been only loneliness, pressure, and dissatisfaction.
Extended Reading: John 17 or watch a video on John 13-21.
May you find peace today where there has been only loneliness, pressure, and dissatisfaction.
]]>1/20/2026 | Centering Your Life Around Meeting with God
As you are reminded today of God’s great love and desire for you, may your heart be stirred with fervor to seek him and center your life around his presence.
As we continue our week on centering our lives around meeting with God, today we’ll explore how this is always preceded by the longing of God to meet with you. God’s affections for us are always meant to be our starting place in seeking him. As you are reminded today of God’s great love and desire for you, may your heart be stirred with fervor to seek him and center your life around his presence.
Psalm 139:17-18 ESV
I used to view my time spent in secret with my heavenly Father as something for which I needed to drum up desire. I pictured God waiting for me in a room, ready to bless me for sure, but I felt the weight of choosing him was all on my shoulders. The truth of God’s heart is far from my previous misconceptions.
We serve a God who constantly, sweetly, and powerfully pursues us. Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” God is knocking on the door of your heart right now. With every gentle fall breeze that moves sweetly across your face, with every beautiful sunrise, with every breathtaking star in the sky, God is declaring his love for you.
God pursues us in any and every way he can. The greatest desire of his heart is for communion with his people. So it’s in knowing and receiving his overwhelming affections for us that our hearts will be stirred to meet with him. It’s in taking time to notice his constant pursuit of us that we will naturally begin to center our lives around meeting with our heavenly Father.
You see, the reason we should center our lives around meeting with God is because at the center of his heart is a deep, insatiable longing to meet with us. The Creator of the universe deeply longs to continually, consistently meet with you. God, who is Almighty, all-knowing, filled with grace, and is the fulfillment of perfect love, longs to be known by you. We are created to be drawn by the desire of our Creator. We are made to be known and to know our heavenly Father. We are created to walk with him every moment of every day. It’s not that we “should” center our lives around meeting with God, it’s that we were created to and must.
Song of Solomon 7:10 says, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.” May you grow in the awareness of God’s desire for you today. May you come to know yourself as “my beloved’s.” May your life be marked by the natural response to your Creator’s unending pursuit of you. And may you center your life around meeting with God, not out of obligation, but because he so desperately longs to meet with you.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to meet with you.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
2. What does it mean for your life that your loving Creator continually pursues you? What would it be like to live a life marked by responding to God’s love in every moment?
3. Take time to meet with God. Ask him how he feels about you. Ask him to reveal his desire for you. Respond to his affections with your own. Tell him honestly how you feel.
All you have is today. Centering your life around meeting with God is all about the choices you make today. The way you choose to live right now will impact your days to come. Don’t worry about your track record. Don’t concern yourself with the idea of meeting with Jesus every day for the rest of your life. Simply choose to enjoy him today. “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34).
Extended Reading: Psalm 139 or watch a video on Psalms.
Don’t worry about your track record. Don’t concern yourself with the idea of meeting with Jesus every day for the rest of your life. Simply choose to enjoy him today. “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34).
]]>1/19/2026 | Centering Your Life Around Meeting with God
May your life be marked by union with your Creator as we explore what it means to center our lives around meeting with God this week.
This life is marked by a single choice: who or what will we center our lives around? This choice takes each of us down a path of decisions that shape who we are, what we feel, who or what we value, and what we will have accomplished at the end of our days. To center our lives around ourselves or the things of this world leads only to destruction. But, to center our lives around meeting with God fills each moment with the glorious abundance of God’s love, provision, and transcendent peace. May your life be marked by union with your Creator as we explore what it means to center our lives around meeting with God this week.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV
What would our lives look like if we truly centered our time, energy, emotions, and pursuits around meeting with God? All of us choose to center our lives around something or someone. Every decision is made through the filter of what we most value. For some of us, we center our lives around ourselves. For others, we center our lives around the opinions of others. Still others choose to center life around a notion or concept, believing it to be of the highest value. My prayer is that we as the body of Christ would begin to center our lives here on earth around meeting with our Creator because he is absolutely the most worthy recipient of our highest value.
To center our lives around meeting with God is to place value on the absolute best thing. Psalm 84:10-12 says, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!” When we place our trust and value in God, we position ourselves to live in blissful communion with the Father who loves us. Our God longs to meet with us. He longs for us to taste and see his goodness. It’s only in living for communion with our Creator above all else that we will experience the incredible, abundant life God longs to give us.
For most of my life I would have told you God was my center. I would have said that Jesus was my highest value. But my actions, time, thoughts, and emotions in no way reflected those statements. You see, we spend time with those we most love. We center our emotions, actions, and thoughts around whatever person or thing we most value. Unless our lives truly reflect a posture of being centered around Jesus, we must take an honest assessment of ourselves and ask God to help us make changes. We must bring our brokenness and sin before God and ask for his perfect help in transforming us into children marked by his presence.
Centering our lives around anything but Jesus will only lead us to disappointment and dissatisfaction. This world has nothing good to offer us. To center our lives around ourselves will only increase the burdens and stresses of this world. To center our lives around people will only lead to an emotional rollercoaster driven by the brokenness and frailty of others. And to center our lives around an idea or concept will only store up treasure as lasting as this already passing world.
Take time today to look honestly at your heart. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal any ways in which your life isn’t centered around meeting with God. Confess any worldly or selfish pursuits and seek to center your life around incredible, boundless communion with your good and loving heavenly Father.
1. Meditate on the importance of centering your life around meeting with God. Allow Scripture to stir up your heart to place the highest value in communion with your Creator.
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:25
2. Where is your life not centered around meeting with God? Where have you been placing your value, energy, time, and emotions other than Jesus?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you recenter your life today. Ask him to show you what it looks like to truly center your life around meeting with God. Make the decision to value relationship with God above all else.
To truly center our lives around God is to free ourselves from the constraints of both the world and religion. God does not desire legalism in meeting with him. He is not angry with you for spending time with friends, entertainment, or other things you enjoy. He simply wants to be the chief longing of your heart. He wants to be with you as you spend time with friends, family, entertainment, and anything else your heart desires. Of course he wants you to meet with him in the secret place. Of course he wants you to follow his leadership if he guides you away from something. But as your heart grows to be truly his, you will begin to want the things he wants. You will begin to spend your time as it can best be spent. And you will begin to truly center your life around the goodness you can only find in the presence of your heavenly Father. May your day today be marked by the simplicity and joy of communing with a good, near, and loving God.
Extended Reading: Psalm 84 or watch a video on Psalms.
May your day today be marked by the simplicity and joy of communing with a good, near, and loving God.
]]>1/18/2026 | Why Spend Time Alone with God?
I hope and pray that chains weighing you down to the cares and sins of the world fall off of you today as we follow the Spirit down a path to more fully enjoying God.
As we wrap up this week-long focus seeking to answer the important question, why should we spend time alone with God, today we’re going to look at how God provides freedom through simply enjoying him. I hope and pray that chains weighing you down to the cares and sins of the world fall off of you today as we follow the Spirit down a path to more fully enjoying God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
You were created to enjoy God. The Westminster shorter catechism says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” David wrote in Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” We were designed to seek enjoyment in God. We were made to delight ourselves in his goodness, his provision, the wonders of his creation, and the simplicity of his unconditional love.
So important—so powerful—is finding enjoyment in God that it has the power to set us free from sin. You see, when we don’t seek enjoyment in God we will naturally seek it in the world. We can’t live our lives apart from pleasure. We aren’t created to live without happiness, love, passion, and joy.
Most of us have been indoctrinated to the idea that we sin because we aren’t controlled enough. We believe that if we could just get rid of a need for pleasure or enjoyment, we’d be free. Self-control is absolutely crucial in experiencing freedom from sin, but we will never be able to rid ourselves of our immense need to enjoy life. We will never stop seeking pleasure because we were made to be satisfied in the riches of God’s love.
Until you establish a daily rhythm of enjoying God, you will never experience true freedom from sin. Until your longing to be fully known and fully loved is satisfied in the wealth of God’s affection for you, you will never stop seeking it elsewhere. Until you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are cared for, thought about, liked, and wanted by your Creator, you will never stop trying to satisfy those needs in others.
Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Take time today to taste and see that your heavenly Father is truly good. Allow him to fill you with a revelation of his love. Rest in his presence. And as you enjoy God, allow him to draw you deeper in toward his heart and away from the cares and pursuits of the world.
1. Reflect on your need for joy and pleasure. Look at your own life and acknowledge your need for passion, purpose, happiness, peace and joy.
2. In what ways are you seeking fulfillment in the world? What sin in your life is the result of not being fully satisfied in God? Who or what are you turning to for fulfillment in opposition to God?
3. Take time to let God to satisfy your longings. Open your heart to God and let him reveal the depths of his love. Ask him for a revelation of how he likes you, wants you, and enjoys you. Let his love for you begin to draw you near.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” Through the Holy Spirit, you can know how God feels about you. You have access to a limitless wealth of affection and unconditional love. God has unimaginable things prepared for you simply because he loves you. May you find total fulfillment today in the goodness and love of your heavenly Father.
Extended Reading: 2 Corinthians 5 or watch a video on 2 Corinthians.
May you find total fulfillment today in the goodness and love of your heavenly Father.
]]>1/17/2026 | Why Spend Time Alone with God?
I hope today that we both learn a little about the value of living in surrender, and experience the life that comes through actually dying to ourselves, that we might live in Christ more fully.
As we near the end of our week long focus of why spending time alone with God is so important, today we’re going to look at the value of living in surrender. Every day there is an opportunity to hand over the burdens and cares of this world that we might pick up the peace and joy of relationship with God. And for me, that opportunity has presented itself most often in the rhythm of spending time alone with God. So I hope today that we both learn a little about the value of living in surrender, and experience the life that comes through actually dying to ourselves, that we might live in Christ more fully.
Matthew 7:13-14 ESV
There is a life available to us as believers that few find—a life free from burden, fear, boredom, and emptiness. The problem is that the road to life requires a complete sacrifice of ourselves. The road to purpose, passion, joy and freedom requires that we die to ourselves every hour of every day. Jesus made the way to freedom open and clear for us. Scripture serves as the perfect practical handbook to walk that narrow road. And the Holy Spirit serves as the perfect guide and friend along the way. We have everything we need available to us, however, most of us lack a willingness to sacrifice fully so that the seeds of our surrender lead to the fruition of an abundant life.
Jesus charges us to lose our lives in order to gain life with God. In Matthew 10:39 he says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” The only way for you to truly find abundant life in God is to surrender your life for his sake. In fact, all of creation testifies to this truth. Think for a second of those trying to find their lives on their own instead of in God. Humans have an insatiable lust for affection, purpose, security, and love. No matter how loved a person is by society, it’s never enough. No matter how much money a person makes, they could always make a little more. No matter how driven a person is, there is always more they could be doing. We are lost without God.
Seeing these people makes me evaluate my own life and search for areas I haven’t surrendered to God yet. Thinking about their insatiable lust for more makes me look for my own. I need my life to have purpose. I need to be loved, to have freedom, and to feel satisfied. I experience satisfaction only inasmuch as I have surrendered my life to God. God will not fill what is closed off to him. He does not force his will upon us. Rather, he waits patiently, quietly beckoning us to lose our lives so that he can lavish on us a life greater and more filled with his goodness than we could have ever imagined.
Our Father longs for us to be loved completely. He longs for us to be completely secure by trusting him. He longs for us to be fully satisfied. Will you answer his beckoning today? Will you choose to trust him? He is so faithful—more faithful than you will ever fully know. You cannot count all the ways in which he desires to love you. The immense depth of his love is bottomless. But will you spend your life trying to search it out? Proverbs 25:2 says “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” Will you search out the depths of God’s love today? Will you make as much room in your heart as possible for him to come dwell? Will you lose your life today so that you may find it in him? The road is narrow. It will take work. It will take sacrifice. It will take everything. But you will gain immeasurably more in return.
Listen to the Spirit today as you enter into guided prayer and respond in whatever ways he leads you.
1. Take a minute to quiet your heart and mind. Open your hands as a sign of being ready to receive anything God would show you.
2. Ask the Lord to show you anything in your life that isn’t in his will. Pay attention to anything that comes up in your mind. It could be a person, place, thing, habit, recurring thought, etc.
3. Surrender anything in your life that isn’t God’s will for you. Confess any sin that’s holding you back from the fullness of life available to you in Jesus. Ask God for wisdom on how to end a relationship or a commitment. Ask him for grace and help to mend any relationships that he desires to heal. Surrender the entirety of your heart that you would be fully his today.
You can only experience the fruit of the Spirit through things born of the Spirit. God cannot bless sin and selfishness because it isn’t good for you. If God were to bless something that wasn’t best for you, you would keep doing it! If a dating relationship isn’t blessed, if it isn’t born of the Spirit, get out of it. If a friend leads you away from God instead of to him, stop hanging out with him or her. If a lifestyle choice you are making doesn’t have the peace of God in it, quit doing it. Surrender seems to cost so much at the time, but it will be the best decision you ever make. Set your life on the narrow path God has laid out for you. Live your life in response to the Spirit and to his word. The life you find in God will be immeasurably greater than any life you could find on your own.
Extended Reading: Matthew 7 or watch a video on Mathew 1-13.
The life you find in God will be immeasurably greater than any life you could find on your own.
]]>1/16/2026 | Why Spend Time Alone with God?
God has a better beginning to every day in store for us if we’ll follow him.
As we continue our week-long series looking answering the important question, Why should we spend time alone with God, we’re going to look today simply at the value of having time alone. In a world where we’re inundated with media, people, stress, and work from the moment we wake up, God has a better beginning to every day in store for us if we’ll follow him.
Luke 5:16 ESV
Why is time alone with God so important? Why can’t just going to church, a community group, or a Bible study be enough? Those of us who have grown up in church or have been going to church for many years have been told that time spent alone with God is vital to our relationship with him. Many of us, however, were never given a reason why. And in order for us to consistently and effectively engage in this crucial practice, we must understand why it is so important.
Here’s what we learn from Scripture about having time alone with God. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that Jesus spent time alone with his heavenly Father. Luke 5:16 states, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Mark 1:35 states, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” Often in Scripture, Jesus withdrew from the crowd to pray. So the first reason to spend time alone with God is because Jesus did. If Jesus needed time alone with his heavenly Father, we can all be sure we need it even more. Jesus walked in God’s presence constantly. Jesus constantly responded to God’s will for his life. He is our perfect example. And even still, he needed time alone with God.
We also see from Jesus’ example that time alone with God empowers us to carry out God’s purpose for our life. It was after withdrawing into the wilderness in Luke 4 that he began performing miracles. Jesus entered the Garden of Gethsemane filled with grief and sorrow, asking God for a way other than his own death to achieve salvation for his people. After spending time alone with God, he came out of the garden empowered to endure the worst atrocity in history. Spending time alone with God empowers us to live a life filled with a knowledge of God’s purposes and the ability to faithfully see them through.
Lastly, Jesus is clear in Matthew 6:5-6 how we are to pray. Scripture says, “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” God rewards time spent alone with him in prayer. It’s by praying in secret that we clearly and tangibly encounter God’s love for us. It’s by spending time engaging in conversation with the Spirit that we learn what his voice sounds like. It’s by asking God questions that we discover his will. And it’s by spending time alone with him that our lives become centered around his nearness and goodness.
All of the money in the world cannot buy the rewards God longs to give you. All the favor of men will not satisfy your insatiable desire to be fully known and fully loved. Receive right now the best gift you could be offered, one-on-one communion with your heavenly Father.
1. Wherever you are, find a place to get alone and pray. Seek out a place that you can find solitude that will be uninterrupted.
“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16
2. Read and pray through this Scripture. May God give you a revelation of his provision and love for you as you pray Jesus’s model prayer.
3. Engage in conversation with God. Ask him how he feels about you. Come before him with anything that is weighing you down and lay your burdens at his feet. Rest in the peace that comes from his presence.
God’s desire to spend time alone with you is not meant to add stress or pressure to your life but to relieve you from it. He is not a God who is after you religiously checking off a quiet time box, but a good Father who longs to fill your life with his grace, power, and love. Spend some time today mulling over these important questions from Brennan Manning written in his book, The Furious Longing of God. May your day be marked by the love of your kind, good Father.
“Is your own personal prayer life characterized by the simplicity, childlike candor, boundless trust, and easy familiarity of a little one crawling up in Daddy’s lap? An assured knowing that the daddy doesn’t care if the child falls asleep, starts playing with toys, or even starts chatting with little friends, because the daddy knows the child has essentially chosen to be with him for that moment? Is that the spirit of your interior prayer life?”
Extended Reading: Matthew 6 or watch a video on Matthew 1-13.
May your day be marked by the love of your kind, good Father.
]]>1/15/2026 | Why Spend Time Alone with God?
I pray that after today’s time, your mind is clear and focused on truth, and that your emotions and actions are marked by abundant life as a result.
In today’s First15, we’re going to look at how spending time alone with God every morning provides a daily opportunity to renew our minds to the goodness of God, the goodness of this life, and the moment by moment potential of living in real relationship with God. I pray that after today’s time, your mind is clear and focused on truth, and that your emotions and actions are marked by abundant life as a result.
Philippians 4:8 ESV
Your mind is the battleground on which the war for your emotions, purpose, effectiveness, and fullness of life is won or lost. It’s your mind that is attacked daily by the enemy. It’s your mind that the world is trying to influence for its own benefit. And it’s your mind that the Lord desires to renew daily in order for you to live in abundant relationship with him. So if the mind truly is a battleground, how do you come out the winner? How do you come out victorious over Satan and his schemes?
Scripture says clearly that to achieve victory over your mind it must be continually renewed by the power of God’s word. Romans 12:2 states “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God puts conforming to the world and being transformed by the renewal of your mind in opposition. There is no grey area. Your mind is either being won for the kingdom of God or lost to the world. You are either thinking pleasing thoughts to God or not. You are either experiencing the abundant life Jesus made available to you or not.
For a long time, the idea of renewing my mind felt exhausting. Honestly, reading the Bible was incredibly boring for me. But I discovered that the Bible is only as life-giving to me as I am willing to be transformed by it. Until we actually sit down, open our hearts, and allow ourselves to be transformed by God’s word, we will never experience the life that comes from victory in our minds. The thoughts that plague you—the thoughts that rob you of freedom, peace, and joy—will never leave you until you allow your mind to be renewed by God’s word.
To ignore the war being waged around us is to lose the war. Our enemy longs for us to become complacent against his attacks. He longs for us to believe sinful thoughts, wrongful attitudes and lies are just a part of life on earth. He knows he has no power against the ability of God’s word to transform us.
So, how do you renew your mind? Philippians 4:8 says “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Set your thoughts on the things of God. Begin every day by setting your mind on the wonderful character of the living God and your new identity in Christ. If you will allow God’s word to be the foundation of your thought life by spending your first moments meditating on Scripture, the battle for your mind will be won for the kingdom. The negative thoughts and insecurities you face daily will flee from you in the glorious light of God’s truth. That’s God’s promise for you today and every day.
Take time today to meditate on Scripture and experience the transformative power of grace over your thoughts as you enter into guided prayer.
1. Meditate on 2 Corinthians 5:17. Repeat it over and over again, even out loud. Put yourself in the Scripture, and allow its truth to impact the way you see yourself and your world.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
2. In what ways do your thoughts or life not line up with the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:17? In what ways do you see yourself as anything but a new creation? In what ways do you identify with your sin rather than the freedom afforded you by the blood of Jesus?
3. Journal what God shows you. Take these areas of your life and submit them to the truth of Scripture. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see yourself as he sees you. Allow your perspectives to be changed by the Lord in order to see yourself as he does.
God’s word is truer than how you feel, and if you will align your life with the truth of Scripture it will begin to powerfully affect your emotions. Emotions are the result of the way we think. We feel loved because we believe we are loved. We feel joy because we believe there is cause for joy. In the same way, when we believe a lie from the enemy our emotions are powerfully impacted. When we believe we’ll never get victory over a sin, that no one loves us, or that we’re not good enough, our lives begin to bear the fruit of those lies. But there is power when we root ourselves in the word of God. Transcendent joy and peace come when we establish God’s word as our basis for truth. May your day be marked by a new freedom as the result of renewing your mind.
Extended Reading: Colossians 3:1-17 or watch a video on Colossians.
May your day be marked by a new freedom as the result of renewing your mind.
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