The Key to Sanctification: Look to Christ
"We don’t grow in obedience simply by striving harder in our own strength; we grow by gazing at Christ—the beauty of who he is and all he has done for us through his life, death, and resurrection. We must marinate our minds in the glories of the gospel by regular participation in the God-ordained means of grace—Bible intake, prayer, corporate worship, and the ordinances. The more we truly see and experience Christ’s love for us through these means, the more our affections for him grow, and we are spurred to obey as a result." -Sarah Rice
Me, Disciple? Encouragement for Those Who Feel Inadequate
“In a discipling relationship, the most important voice heard isn’t yours, but the Lord’s. He’s spoken in the Scriptures, the whole of the Old and New Testaments. His Word is our authority, is true and trustworthy, and contains all we need to know God and to live for him. When we rightly understand that our words and wisdom are not enough for the women we disciple, we can depend upon the Scriptures—the words of the living God—to powerfully build her up.” - Cheryl Marshall
Praying with a Broken Heart
“Often we think that we need to offer polished prayers—prayers that somehow show the Lord (and others around us who might be listening) just how godly we are—but the Lord’s love for us is deeper than that. He loves hearing our voices, and he wants to hear what is on our hearts. We can come to him with gritty, desperate prayer. We can ask big questions and express our confusion without shame. God does not want to leave us in this place of desperation, but he is willing to hear words that start there. Lament requires us to be real about the pain of life rather than covering it with a glossy spin.” -Helen Thorne
All We Have Left Undone
“The story he writes in our lives and the lives of those we care for is not determined by our own ability to love perfectly. We can pray with confidence that God is working his will in all our lives according to his steadfast love and faithfulness.” -Faith Chang
God is Sufficient for Your False Guilt
“Too often, I find myself stuck replaying all the ways I could have done better, loved more, anticipated and therefore better responded, and so on. Some of it comes from conviction of sin. Some of it comes from cultural narratives or others' expectations of me. But some of it is actually feeling badly that I didn't manage to be sovereign and perfect.” -Bethany McIlrath, “God is Sufficient for Your False Guilt”
When Commands are Invitations
“As soon as you see a command over your life as also being an invitation into life, it transforms your attitude to obeying it. You no longer obey because you have to, but because you get to. Of course that does not make it easy or stop it being costly (just ask Zacchaeus). But it does make it joyful.” Carl Laferton, “When Commands are Invitations”
When Father’s Day Hurts
“In less than one year my mother’s father, my father’s father, and my daughter’s father died. We were blessed by their lives of faith—lives that were dedicated to loving God and loving others. At their funerals, we told their stories of coming to faith and how they lived as true servants of the Lord. We reflected on their greatest legacies, the disciples of Jesus they left behind. Even with all this hope, the Father’s Day after they died seemed completely covered in a cloud of grief and pain from their deaths.” Alyson Punzi, “When Father’s Day Hurts”
Hosting a Summer Bible Study
“When you reflect back on summer 2024, what glorious truths from God’s Word will come to mind? What deepening relationships will you rejoice over? What shared memories will you treasure? It’s exciting to imagine! Truly, a summer Bible study is an incredible way to enjoy the Lord and enjoy your community. May God bless you as you seek to know him and his Word more deeply this summer!” Caroline Saunders, “Hosting a Summer Bible Study”
How to Think About Summer
“Remember, God understands our humanity in all our limits and weaknesses (Phil. 2:6–8). God himself gives us the grace to wade out of the muddy waters of self-pity, regret, and self-loathing. We don’t have to look too far in Scripture to know how God would have us spend our time or what his will for our lives is.” Kelly Ottaway, “How to Think About Summer”
Hope for the Guilty
"Have you ever felt the weight of your guilt before God? Maybe you feel burdened by what you’ve done and the consequences of your actions. Maybe you feel ashamed when memories of past sins are aroused. Maybe you feel dirty, as though you can’t even approach God in such a state. Maybe you feel like Joshua in Zechariah 3. As with Joshua, God knows your sin and your guilt, and he knows you’re powerless to clean yourself up on your own. Yet, the One we’ve sinned against offers us a pardon. If we turn from our sin and trust in Christ for salvation, he cleans us. He forgives our sin, pardons us, makes us new, and adopts us into his family!" -Ashley Chesnut, “Hope for the Guilty”
Accepting the Holy Spirit’s Help: What Pentecost Teaches Us About Self-Sufficiency
“The stubborn strain of self-sufficiency is found throughout Scripture, and we’re no different in our modern context. Our culture praises those who do it all, do it perfectly, and do it themselves. Even within the church, we can use our obedience to God’s good commands to prove our own self-sufficiency. But when we refuse the help Jesus promised us, we become exhausted by our feeble attempts to prove ourselves or ashamed because we could never do enough. However, Jesus hasn’t asked us to strive in our own efforts; he’s invited us to be empowered by his Spirit.” Accepting the Holy Spirit’s Help: What Pentecost Teaches Us About Self-Sufficiency by Bethany Broderick
What is There to Celebrate on Mother’s Day?
“Motherhood. It brings with it such complicated grief; yet in the midst of that grief, there lies a beauty endowed by the Creator. Because since before the fall, motherhood has been God’s very good plan to show us more of himself. Since the fall, its complexity often clouds out the beauty, leaving us wondering at times what there is to celebrate on Mother’s Day.” What is There to Celebrate on Mother’s Day? by Madelyn Istrate
Comforting Others with the Comfort of God’s Word
“God’s Word is living and active, and it does not come back void (Heb. 4:12; Isa. 55:11). And its pages are filled with incredible truths. Revelation 21:4 tells us that one day God will “wipe away every tear” from the eyes of his children and “death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more.” What a promise to hold onto in our darkest times—and the Bible is a book all about why and how this promise will come to pass. Where else can we find the words of a Creator God who experienced the same human pain and loss as we do? himself.” Comforting Others with the Comfort of God’s Word by Kelly Ottaway
Spiritual Disciplines in Every Season
“Each time life changed, I was frustrated that the rhythms of Scripture reading, prayer, and memorization I had worked hard to cultivate crumbled like sandcastles. Yet it was during these difficult seasons that God taught me that my spiritual growth was not based on my own efforts but in his gracious and powerful work in me. In his Word, God has given us an abundance of “tools” for spiritual growth: Bible study, prayer, fasting, corporate worship, confession, meditation, silence, and more. Each of these tools is a gracious gift God uses to draw us to himself.” Spiritual Disciplines in Every Season by Bethany Broderick
A Miraculous Rescue: Three Lessons on Prayer
“We’ve all faced suffering alone. We all know how it feels when no one else is on our side or understands how we feel. As we see the early church praying together, we see a group of men and women actively caring for each other, hearing each other, and being near each other. In the face of persecution and the approaching death of a beloved friend and leader, they needed one another. They needed each other’s words and tears. They needed those who were strong to point those who were weak back to the goodness of God. Through prayer, this is exactly what they did.” A Miraculous Rescue: Three Lessons on Prayer by Ashley Anthony
Think Deeply About the Church
“It’s easy to confuse the blessings of the Church with her purpose. Being part of Christ’s household comes with so many wonderful benefits. In the local church, we have spiritual family, opportunities to use God’s grace gifts, good teaching, kids’ activities, events to attend, music, people to help us grow spiritually, and so much more. These are all gifts to be grateful for. But if we elevate the perks of the church over the purpose, we make the church about us and suffer mission drift. When the people in our pews are more concerned with “what we get out of it” rather than “why we exist,” we are in a state of amnesia.” Think Deeply About the Church by Beverly Chao Berrus
Death, You Terrible Thing
“When confronted with death, Jesus reacted with a mixture of deep sorrow and indignant anger. He was offended by the evil reality of death, for he knew it did not belong in his Father’s kingdom. Death had no place in God’s original design in Eden, and it will have no place in the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21:4)! It is the direct result of sin and the curse that followed (Rom. 6:23, Gen. 3:19). To Jesus, Death is an enemy invader, an unwelcome plague, a Terrible Thing. Jesus’s indignation in this passage shows us that he hated death too—he hates it with us and he hates it for us, just as a loving shepherd hates the wolf who preys on his sheep. We are not alone in our hatred of death and our desire for its defeat. In fact, Jesus likely hates it even more than we do! This reality is a strangely beautiful solace.“ Death, You Terrible Thing by Caroline Cobb
Memory Isn't a Solo Affair
“We forget those truths we desperately want to remember. We forget the prayer request our friend shared in a small group or the very words of Scripture we read mere minutes ago. Our faulty memory becomes a mark of guilt for all we’ve failed to remember. The calls to memorize and meditate on Scripture can feel like condemning reminders of the spiritual discipline we’ve let go. Amidst the onslaught of noise that permeates our day, we can feel incapable of storing these truths in our minds. Yet this battle with our memory isn’t a lost cause. God has already provided for our ailing and exhausted minds, not only by our willpower or gumption, but through his own body. You and I don’t have to remember alone.” Memory Isn't a Solo Affair by Brianna Lambert
Biblical Literacy in a Culture of Instant Gratification
“The ease that technology allows brings with it many consequences: we are now an impulse-driven society, craving instant gratification and reflexively reaching for quick rewards to cater to our every impulse and desire. Sadly, these tendencies have even permeated Christianity, affecting our appetites for God’s Word. It seems that many of us have lost the art of slowly and deeply studying God’s Word for transformation rather than micro doses of transactional truth.” Biblical Literacy in a Culture of Instant Gratification by Ashley Upchurch
The Veil is Torn: The Transformative Power of Grace
“Our renewed relationship with God should affect how we live because it transforms our hearts. Our desires, affections, and propensities were renewed as the knowledge of the glory of God was revealed. Christ's beauty, riches, and value are attainable through the gospel at all times. With access to such treasure, why would we behold anything of this world? Paul tells us to behold God’s glory continuously. For Christians, there is no other activity to turn to.” The Veil is Torn: The Transformative Power of Grace by Amy Hornbuckle