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Read Ephesians 6:18 …praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Reflect What is on your heart and mind lately? Are you persevering in prayer about it? Jesus once told a parable about a persistent widow and an unjust judge. In this parable, the widow kept coming to this crooked judge, pleading with him for justice against her adversary. But he refused to rule fairl

Read 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. Reflect Why is it important to live in obedience to God’s Word? Does right doctrine really matter? Barna Group published research in 2017 called “Competing Worldviews Influence Today’s Christians.” As part of that study, they polled practicing Christians who regularly attend church and consider their faith to be an important

Read Colossians 3:15-17 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Reflect What are the benefits of p

Read 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Reflect Prayerfully consider how you are “abounding in the work of the Lord.” When I think about people who have led faithful Christian lives, I tend to think first of people who served the Lord well in their lifetimes. People like evangelists, missionaries, pastors, teachers, etc. People whose steadfa

Read James 2:20-24 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”-and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and n

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Reflect What does it mean to be justified and sanctified? Theologians use big words all the time. You may have heard them use the terms justification and sanctification. For example, one of our recent messages quoted, “For with the heart o

Read Romans 10:9-10 …because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Reflect What does it mean to believe in Jesus? What specific beliefs about Jesus result in our salvation? When we go back to the Bible, we read over and over again that you must believe in Jesus to have eternal life. But I

Read John 20:30-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Reflect Why isn’t it enough to simply acknowledge that there is a God? Why must a person place their faith in Jesus in order to be saved? You have to make a decision about Jesus. Who exactly was He? Historically, there

Read Romans 3:23-25a …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. Reflect How well do you tend to recognize sin in your own life? When you become aware of your sin, how does it make you feel? Do you want to be immediately unpopular? Say that all humans are sinners from birth. Trust me, I’ve learned

Read Acts 16:30-31 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Reflect Growing up, what were you taught about salvation? Did that teaching match up with Scripture? Many people want to know what we have to do to be saved. Most religions have certain steps that you have to follow and different rules that you must adhere to in order to go to heaven. To make it su

Read 2 Corinthians 5:6-9 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. Reflect Have you ever wanted to know the future? Why or why not? Have you ever prayed a prayer like this: “God, I know you have my whole future m

Read 1 Peter 1:6-9 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes through it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with g

Read Acts 9:10-12, 17a Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”...So Ananias departed and entered the house… Reflect W

Read Luke 1:30-33 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Reflect If you were Mary or Joseph and had just received the new

Read Esther 4:13-16 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in S

Read Daniel 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Reflect Cultural norms and government edicts can sometimes be in dir

Read Psalm 23 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness

Read Revelation 21:1-4, 7-8 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will

Read Psalm 119:1-2, 59, 101-102,105 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!...When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies…I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me…Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path

Read Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Reflect What do you think it means that the “gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction”? Right now, as this article is being posted, it is the first week of May. For many people, that means graduation season is fast

Read Proverbs 3:1-7 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; writing them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he

Read Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Reflect How is the Christian life similar to the journey that Abr

Read Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious a

Read James 2:1-6 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves