Through The Bible in a Year - August 14, 2026

“He [Jesus] said to them, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” …And they said to him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people… But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.’” - Luke 24:19-21

Three of the saddest words in Scripture: “We had hoped.”

Past tense. Hope spoken of as something that was and is no longer. They had believed He was the one—the long-awaited Redeemer, the fulfillment of everything promised. Then, He was crucified. He died. And, with Him, hope died too.

So, they walked from Jerusalem where the One in whom they had hoped had died. And they talked. And they told the story to the stranger who joined them on the road, not knowing they were telling it to the very one they were mourning.

What’s remarkable is not simply that these disciples did not recognize Jesus, but they did not realize that anything amazing had actually happened. The information was all there. Women had gone to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty. Angels had announced He was alive. Some of the disciples had gone to verify and found the tomb empty just as the women said. All of this was known.

And still: “We had hoped.” Past tense. The evidence was present, but the hope was past. We should understand. Hope that has been crushed doesn’t revive easily, even when the evidence is right in front of you.

“We had hoped” is an honest declaration that should lead to honest prayer. It’s not faithlessness to name the gap between what you believed and what you’re currently experiencing. The disciples didn’t hide their grief from Jesus. They told Him exactly where they were—even though they didn’t know they were telling Him.

There is something to learn in their response and in Jesus’s readiness to receive it without rejecting them. When you bring your dashed hopes to Jesus—when you name them plainly, in the past tense, if that’s where you are—you are not betraying your faith. You are doing what the disciples did: walking with Jesus, talking with Him, telling Him the truth about where you are.

The great blessing in this account is not only that Jesus was present, but He was listening. He turned the past tense to present tense by remaining the disciples’ hope even when they did not realize it.

Respond: What hope have you been speaking of in the past tense? What did you believe God was going to do that hasn’t happened?

You can name it specifically when you talk to Him in prayer. Don’t smooth it over with religious language. The disciples said it plainly: “We had hoped He was the one to redeem Israel.” They thought Jesus had failed.

Bring your “we had hoped” to Jesus this week. Tell Him exactly what you expected that didn’t happen. He can handle it. He walked seven miles listening to people mourn His own death. Then He showed them that He was not done—nor were they.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I confess that some of my hope has gone past tense. There are things that I had hoped for that haven’t gone the way I expected. I’m not sure what to do with that. But the disciples told You everything—even their grief about You—and You listened. Then, You turned everything around according to your plan. So, I’m telling You something now that you already know: I had hoped. Meet me in that honest place. Bring me back to present tense of renewed hope. You promise such hope and I need it. So, I pray In Your name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 13, 2026

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.” - Luke 24:13-15

They were walking the wrong direction.

Jerusalem was where the risen Jesus had appeared. Jerusalem was where the disciples were gathered. Jerusalem was where God’s mission was forming. And these two were walking away from all of it—seven miles in the wrong direction, toward a small village called Emmaus, talking about how everything had fallen apart.

Then, Jesus drew near and went with them.

Not to the disciples who had stayed in Jerusalem. Not to those who were gathered and waiting. He went after the ones who were walking away—grieving, confused, fleeing from the wreckage of their hopes.

He didn’t wait for them to figure it out and come back. He walked in their direction, at their pace, into their conversation. He entered their retreat and turned it into an encounter that would restore their hope and purpose.

What do you do with the Resurrection when the Easter glory fades and real life resumes? When the sin that looked attractive yesterday still looks attractive today? When the betrayal still stings, your marriage is still hard, your child is still rebellious, your work is still difficult, and you lie in bed wondering if God is with you in any of it?

The disciples on the road to Emmaus help us know. Because they were walking away—grieving, despairing, going the wrong direction—and Jesus came after them anyway. He drew near. He went with them.

The Easter miracle is not just that Jesus came out of the tomb. It is that He comes near. He is present. He comes walking in whatever direction you’re currently moving, whatever conversation you’re currently having, whatever road you’ve retreated down.

Respond: Where are you walking away from Jesus’s purpose of presence right now? What disappointment, what grief, what dashed hope is pulling you toward your own version of Emmaus?

Name the road away from Jesus honestly. Then remember: this is exactly the road that the disciples traveled when He drew near. He did not come later, when they had sorted everything out. Right there, in the middle of their retreat. Jesus came walking on the disciples’ wrong-direction road.

This account gives you permission to identify the specific thing that’s causing you to retreat from faith or hope or belief in God’s work in your life. This account also gives you permission to talk to Jesus about the specifics that are troubling you. Don’t wait until you’re heading back the right way. Tell Him where you actually are. He will walk with you.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I confess that there are aspects of my life that indicate I’m on a wrong-direction road right now. When disappointments have come. When difficulties seem overwhelming. When hopes are dashed. I have walked away with the sense that my troubles are more near than you. But You drew near to two disciples heading the wrong way—and You walked with them. Draw near to me. Walk with me here, on this road, at the pace I need, in the conversations I am having with others and with myself. Help me to talk to you now about what’s troubling me and not wait until I’m going the right direction. Meet me here. In Your name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 12, 2026

“‘But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ They cried out again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber.” - John 18:39-40

The only person in the entire passage against whom guilt is explicitly stated is Barabbas. “Now Barabbas was a robber.” Matthew adds: a notorious insurrectionist. Mark adds: a murderer. His name was Bar-Abbas, meaning son of the father.

The only guilty one in the passage is the son of a father. And the only innocent one—the true Son of the Father—took his place.

Barabbas walked out of a prison a free man because an innocent man took the sentence that belonged to him. Barabbas did not earn his freedom. He did not deserve it. He was, by the only explicit statement of guilt in the passage, a robber and a murderer. And he went free because Jesus of Nazareth went to the cross in his place.

That is the gospel in a single transaction.

If you read this passage through the lens of its gospel purpose, you don’t arrive at relief with the belief that you’re not like the Jews or Pilate. Inevitably, the Biblical account intends for you to arrive at the recognition that you are like Barabbas – guilty but given freedom because Jesus takes your place.

The guilty party in the Gospel account is the child of a father, Barabbas. That is every one of us—children of the Heavenly Father, guilty before His holiness, yet set free from guilt because Jesus took our place.

When Jesus’ hands and feet were pierced—when His side was opened—those wounds were willingly received to pay the penalty for our sins. The nails that pinned Him to the Cross freed us from the guilt that sent Him there. He took our place so that we might have his position – freed from the guilt of sin and secure in the love of our Heavenly Father forever.

Even as believers, we struggle with the shame of sin and failure. We are weighed down with thoughts of a marriage that hasn’t been what we hoped, the children we haven’t led well, or the choices we keep making that we know are wrong.

Release from the shame and guilt of all such wrongs and many more comes not from denying their reality or seriousness, but from faith that Jesus’ suffered in our place to pay the penalty for sin we deserved. God put Him on our Cross so that we would have His place in God’s heart forever.

Respond: This familiar truth is the actually the greatest faith challenge for the human heart—not pointing at the cowardice of Pilate, not pointing at the sin of the Jewish leaders, not finding distance from the story by blaming others for the cruelties of the Cross, but saying: “I am Barabbas. I am the guilty one whose place Jesus took on the Cross.”

Don’t rush past it. Don’t make it an intellectual challenge. Let this truth simply land on your heart with the mercy and relief God intends.

Then, let the rest of the Gospel truth land too: Barabbas walked out free. The innocent One went to the cross, and the guilty one walked out into the morning air, a free man, because of a substitution he did not earn and could not deserve.

That guilty one enabled to walk free is you. That is the gospel. Believe it and breathe in the freedom from guilt and shame that is yours because Jesus took your place.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am Barabbas. I am the guilty child of an earthly Father for whom the innocent Son of the Heavenly Father was crucified. Help me not react to the account of the crucifixion by simply blaming Pilate, or the crowds, or anyone else. Help me see myself in this story—and help me see Jesus taking my place. He accepted my place and my guilt so that I could walk free. Help me live in that reality with the power and joy of one set free from the guilt and shame of sin. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 11, 2026

“The Jews said to him [Pilate], ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.’ This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” - John 18:32

At first glance this verse seems like a footnote—a technical observation that the manner of Jesus’ death was fulfilling His own prediction. But John keeps returning to this theme throughout chapters 18 and 19, and for good reason.

Every detail of the crucifixion had been written in advance. Not only did Jesus prophesy weeks earlier that he would be killed by crucifixion (John 12:32-33), the prophets of the Old Testament said the same centuries earlier (e.g., Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 52:13–53:12). Psalm 22, written 1000 years before Jesus’ life on earth, described the Messiah’s suffering with detailed precision: bones out of joint but unbroken, hands and feet pierced, garments distributed by lot, words of abandonment spoken from the cross.

And at the crucifixion, the details came true exactly as written. His legs were not broken. His hands and feet were pierced. The soldiers cast lots for His seamless tunic. The words of Psalm 22 were spoken from His lips.

None of the events or details of Christ’s suffering were improvised. Nothing was an accident or a tragedy that God had to redeem after the fact. The suffering and death of our Savior was, as Jesus told Pilate, the very purpose for which He was born.

By the details of the prophesies of Scripture, we should recognize the ultimate source of the wounds that Jesus bore on the Cross. The holes in His hands and feet were not simply caused by Roman nails. A spear was not ultimately the cause of the wound in His side. His blood could not simply be blamed on the Jews who betrayed Him.  Ultimately, the crucifixion of Jesus was in the plan and purpose of God so that our sins could be cancelled at Calvary.

God planned, across thousands of years of preparation, for Jesus to bear our guilt on Himself. Mercy was millennia in the making and will last for many millennia more because Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world and will be the Lamb worshiped beyond the redemption of the world.

Respond: When life feels unplanned, chaotic, or like events have spun out of control—remember what John is showing you in this passage. A God who predicted the specific details of the crucifixion a thousand years in advance is a God who is not surprised by your circumstances.

The one who fulfilled Psalm 22 to the letter is the same one who directs the details of your life for your eternal good. Let the precision of God’s faithfulness be the ground you stand on when the earth seems to shake. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and the plans He has for you will never fail.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You planned the redemption of Your people before creation began and executed it across a thousand years with perfect precision. Nothing surprised You. Nothing derailed You. The wounds of Jesus were prepared for my sin long before I existed. Help me trust that the same God who fulfilled every detail of the Cross directs every detail of my life for my eternal good. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 10, 2026

“‘Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’ After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in him.’” - John 18:37-38

It is one of the most haunting questions in all of Scripture. “What is truth?” And then Pilate walked away—back outside, without waiting for an answer—because he had a problem to manage, a crowd to placate, a political situation to navigate.

He asked the most important question a human being can ask. Then, he left the room before the answer could reach his ears or his heart.

The irony is staggering. Truth was standing right in front of him. Jesus had said in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” The answer to Pilate’s question was the man he was about to send to be tortured and crucified.

Of course, Pilate wasn’t asking philosophically. He was asking cynically—the weary shrug of a man who had long since concluded that truth was whatever the most powerful person in the room decided it was. Yet, he walked away from the only person in the room who was more powerful than he and left behind the answer to his question that would have changed everything.

Our culture asks Pilate’s question constantly—“What is truth?”—usually with the same cynical assumptions: that truth is relative, negotiable, constructed by whoever holds the most power at the present time.

But the Gospel of John is making an entirely different claim. Here truth is not a philosophical concept; it is a person. Truth walked into Pilate’s courtroom, stood before human authority, and refused to deny His status or purpose even when such denial would have saved His life.

That same truth—that same person—made available to one as cruel and evil and weak as Pilate is still available to everyone who will stay in the room long enough to hear the answer. The tragedy of Pilate is not that he asked the question, “What is truth?” It’s that he left before he would let the answer – the person – reach his heart.

Respond: Are there questions you’re asking but walking away from before the answer can land? Are there truths about Jesus—about yourself, about your sin, about your need—that you’ve been running from rather than receiving Christ’s answer?

This week, stay in the room of God’s truth. Don’t ask the question and then manage your schedule, or answer your email, or distract yourself with a movie. Ask, “What is really true about where I find myself in life and what is giving me heartburn or hope, loneliness or love, failure or fulfillment?” Then, before you leave that room of self-reflection, let the person and ministry of Jesus tell you what is true. He is. If you will not walk away from Him, He will be your hope, love, and fulfillment every day and forever. That is the truth.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Your Jesus is the truth—not a concept, but a person. Forgive me for asking the right questions about what is true in life and eternity, and then walking away before His answer can reach me. Help me stay in the room. Let the truth of Jesus reveal the real me to me, and the realities of Your grace to my heart. Through Jesus, let me know the truth of who You are, who I am, and about what Jesus came to do. I don’t want to be Pilate, asking about truth and then walking away before listening to the answer. Help me to hear and to receive the truth of the grace that is in Christ Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 7, 2026

“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’ Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’” - John 18:36-37

Standing before the most powerful earthly authority in His world, His life in Pilate’s hands, Jesus made a declaration that must have seemed either delusional or breathtakingly brave: “I have a kingdom. I was born for its purposes. I came to make its truths known. And everyone who belongs to truth listens to My voice.”

No hedging. No softening to placate the man who held His fate. The disciples had scattered. Peter had denied Jesus three times. And now He stood alone before the Roman governor and affirmed exactly who He was.

His kingdom, Jesus explains, is not of this world—which is why His servants aren’t fighting. A worldly king would have called his armies. But Jesus came not to conquer by force but to testify to truth. His throne is not built on military might but on the spiritual reality of who He is.

Notice the contrast John is drawing. In the same chapter, Peter denied Jesus three times — “I am not his disciple”—each time choosing self-preservation over truth.

In that same hour, Jesus, with infinitely more at stake, affirmed the truth about Himself three times, knowing exactly where it would lead Him. “I am a king. I came to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who affirms that truth belongs to His kingdom and listens to His voice.”

Peter saved himself temporarily by denying the truth. Jesus lost His life temporarily by telling the truth. In that contrast, the entire gospel gets highlighted: the one who had nothing to hide hid nothing from those who would deny Him mercy, so that those who had everything to hide could hide themselves in his mercy.

Respond: Jesus told Pilate, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” Do you hear His voice? Not audibly—but in the way His truth lands in your heart. Do you know that you need to hide nothing from Him in order to hide in His mercy? If that truth is precious, real, and weighty for your heart, then you are hearing what Jesus wants you to hear.

This week, consider afresh the implications of Jesus’s words. Ask yourself, “Does His truth feel like truth to me? Am I trusting that denying my unrighteousness will make God merciful to me, or do I trust that when I hide nothing from Him that I am safely hidden in the mercy of Jesus?”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You had Jesus stand before Pilate and declare the truth about Himself when all earthly reason would urge silence or denial. He spoke to bear witness to the truth so that I would hear His truth. Help me hear His voice—not with audible words but through a humble heart. Let Christ’s truth carry the most weight over all other thoughts and priorities in how I think and live in response to Your mercy. Let me be among those who are “of the truth” because I have heard the truth of the mercy that You provide through Jesus and live so that others will know it, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 6, 2026

“Pilate went outside to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ They answered him, ‘If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you…to put to death….’ Pilate answered, ‘I find no guilt in him.’” - John 18:29-31, 38

The trial of Jesus is one of the strangest in all recorded history. There is a verdict before there is a charge: “He is guilty.” There is a sentence before there is evidence: “He should be put to death.” But what is his specific wrongdoing? Nobody says.

Pilate asks three times for evidence of evil, in three different settings, and the proof never comes. There is no charge that will stick. No evidence of wrongdoing gets presented. So, Pilate declares his personal verdict—three times, in case anyone missed it: “I find no guilt in him.”

Not once. Three times. The Roman governor of the most powerful empire in the world looked at Jesus of Nazareth and said: this man has done nothing wrong.

The Jewish authorities couldn’t specify a sustainable charge. The Roman authority couldn’t find grounds for conviction. Further, the heavenly record showed a man who, when His disciples abandoned Him and His accusers abused Him, simply responded: “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong. But if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

No charge. No guilt. Nothing – but a death sentence.

Christ’s guiltlessness matters enormously—not as a legal technicality but as gospel foundation. The Lamb of God had to be without spot or blemish. The sacrifice had to be pure. The One who would carry the world’s sin to the cross had to have none of His own so that He could fully atone for ours.

So, John goes to great lengths in this Gospel account to establish what the human courts established: this man is innocent. Completely, demonstrably, on the record innocent.

What hangs on that innocence is everything vital to our faith. If Jesus had been guilty of anything—if even one charge of evil had legitimately stuck—He could only have died for His own sin. He would not have been holy enough to atone for the sins of others. But because no guilt was found on Him, He could die as a pure and atoning sacrifice for ours.

Respond: Pause on the image: a guiltless man standing before a court that cannot find a charge, while guilty people stand and watch. Where do you see yourself in that scene? The Bible does not picture any of us as the righteous victim or as a righteous observer—but as one among many whose guilt the only One who is entirely righteous was preparing to carry.

This week, let the repeated verdict land upon your heart: “I find no guilt in him.” Then, let the implication follow: so, He could bear mine. Our hearts should respond with deep humility and profound gratitude: He who had no sin took my sin upon Himself so that as I trust in the sufficiency of his atoning sacrifice, I become as righteous before God as He was before men. Such amazing grace for sinners—such amazing grace for me!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, the courts found no guilt in Your Son. No charge could stick. No witness could bring condemning evidence. He stood innocent before every standard—Jewish, Roman, and heavenly. Yet, You sent Him to the cross. Not for His sin. For mine. I receive that exchange today by trusting that His righteousness provided for it. His innocence was sacrificed for my guilt. His wounds paid for my sin. Thank You for sending the guiltless One who took the place of the guilty. Thank you for amazing grace for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 5, 2026

“I [am] in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me… I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” - John 17:23, 26

Jesus’s great prayer ends with a declaration of purpose. It is that the love with which the Father has loved the Son would be in His disciples. Theirs is not merely to be a love they think about or talk about wistfully, but a love that is actually in them. Indwelling. Active. Visible.

Why is this love Christ’s purpose? He declares that, too: “So that the world may know that You [Father] sent Me, and loved them even as You loved Me.”

The world’s knowledge of Jesus depends, in part, on what they see in His people. We will not be perfect representatives, of course. Jesus knows we sometimes limp in our love. But a community that limps together and admits its need for grace can still show Jesus. A community that hugs across differences that would ordinarily keep people apart will still show Jesus.

This is how the world comes to know that the Father sent the Son and loves the world as He loves the Son. The world comes to know the ministry of Jesus through the imperfect, forgiven, grace-dependent disciples who nonetheless bear the mark of the One who indwells them.

So, what are the lessons we are to learn from Christ’s prayer for our unity in the church?

Limp well: admit your need for grace. Honestly pray, “Father, you call me to love others to reflect your heart. But, I often fail. So, I need Your grace to forgive me and get me going again.”

Hug well: love past your differences and your hurts. Pray, “I need you, Lord, to help me understand and live out this grace, to forgive and love beyond my own hurt, or embarrassment, or uncaring attitudes.”

Respond: You are a tabernacle of the Living God. If you have named Jesus as your Savior—not because of your perfection but because of your knowledge of your need, then Christ dwells in you as does the glory of the Father. But this is not only true of you; it is true of everyone else in the church who has trusted in Jesus—even the ones who are difficult for you to love.

So, this week, ask God to make you conscious of the glory that you and all other genuine believers carry. You are not just natural beings going through the habits of an ordinary week. You are receptacles of the supernatural glory of God that existed before the foundation of the world. God has made your mortal body a spiritual temple to display his glory and his goodness.

Who in your life needs to see that glory? Who in your life needs to see his goodness? Who in your life might be watching and waiting to say, “I need your Jesus”?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, let the love with which You loved Your Son and He loved You be in me. Make this love more than a religious performance or a pretend attitude. Please work in me a genuine indwelling reality of Your grace. Let people around me see something they can’t explain: a person whose love limps honestly and with a generosity of spirit. Make known to the world through my imperfect life that You sent the Son who loves the world as He loves You. Make me desire to be Your tabernacle and make me able. Fill me with Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 4, 2026

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one… Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” - John 17:22-24

Before the foundation of the world, the Father loved the Son and gave Him glory. Before creation began, before humanity existed, before sin entered and broke everything—there was eternal love between our Heavenly Father and His Son. This shared glory evident in divine love  preceded time itself.

Amazingly, Jesus speaks of this glory, saying to his Heavenly Father, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them [Jesus’s disciples].”

The glory that God gives to His Son, Jesus gives to His disciples. That means Jesus gives his glory to  people who would betray Him and deny Him and scatter in the night. To people across all generations who would fail and wander and need forgiveness over and over again. That same glory—shared before the foundation of the world—He has given to us.

And, having shared this glory with us, Christ’s desire is that we would be with Him where He is, to see that glory more fully. Not just to benefit from it but to behold it. To be present with Him in it. To see, face to face, the glory that has been His since before time began.

I think of a hospice nurse named Jackie who was calloused, crude, and hard, but then she watched a pastor and his wife walk through the horror of ALS with joy and faith. Later, she said that she knew she needed their Jesus.

The suffering pastor said: “It’s not the path I would have chosen. But our affliction led to her eternity. And even for one it was worth it.”

That’s the glory Jesus has given to us: not the absence of struggle, but the presence of Christ in the struggle that makes the world stop and look at Him.

Respond: What trial or affliction or tension are you carrying right now that you’ve been asking God to remove? Consider if it is the very context through which the glory of Christ becomes visible to someone watching.

This week, ask God: “What aspect of your glory do You want to display through the trial, affliction, or tension that I am experiencing? Help me consider who might be watching. But above all, help me to rejoice in the wonder that Your glory can be witnessed in how I carry this.”

Prayer: Father, You gave Jesus glory before the foundation of the world, and He has given that glory to me. I confess I rarely feel glorious—I feel broken and inadequate. But You say Your glory rests on Your people. Let it be seen in how I walk through this trial, or affliction, or tension. Let someone watching see something they cannot explain—and let it lead them to Jesus or let it teach me more of the glory that is in Him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - August 3, 2026

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that … they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one….” - John 17:20-23

Jesus prays for unity among His disciples—and He grounds it in the most staggering reality imaginable. The basis for our unity is not shared personality, shared preferences, or shared history. It is the mutual indwelling of God the Father and God the Son.

Jesus prayed, “As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You” may those who now believe and those who will believe through them “be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me….”

This double indwelling—Christ in us, the Father in Him—means that every believer who has named Jesus as Savior is a receptacle of the glory of God. The same glory that descended as radiant cloud into the Old Testament tabernacle now dwells in every broken, struggling, imperfect Christian—you and those you worship beside.

Our Lord intends for the world to see the effects of this indwelling glory among believers. When people who have hurt each other, who face real differences, who have real reasons to stay apart—nonetheless love in the name of Jesus—the world knows something supernatural is present. This is Jesus’s testimony to the world. Christians are to be distinguished not merely by our doctrine and duty, but a mutual love that is supernatural in origin.

The great Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer nearly lost his faith during the mid-twentieth century’s “battle for the Bible”—not because he thought the Bible’s truth was questionable, but because the people fighting for it became so aggressively unloving. They were zealous for truth but empty of the grace that makes truth beautiful.

Schaeffer said this: “God has given to Himself alone the right to judge in righteousness. But He has given to the world the right to judge His disciples for their love.”

The world is making that judgment right now. And the most painful things that happen to God’s people often happen in God’s church. The most beautiful moments happen there too. And when people who have every reason to be bitter and divided nonetheless forgive and love—something the world cannot explain is on display.

Respond: Who in your church community are you finding it hardest to love? Who has hurt you, disappointed you, or created distance that feels justified?

Jesus says they are also receptacles of the glory of God—if they have named Him as Savior. You are not being asked to love them because of who they are. You are being asked to love them because of who is in them.

This week, take one step toward someone in your church community from whom you’ve been distant. Not to resolve everything at once—just take one step. A word, a prayer, a small act of grace. Let the world see that something supernatural is among you.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Your Son prayed that we in the church would be one—and I confess how far I am from that prayer being answered in my own life. There are people in Your church I’ve been avoiding, resenting, or keeping at a distance. But You say they are receptacles of Your glory. Help me love them—not because of them, but because of You in them. Make Your Son’s prayer be answered in my life in order that the world may know Him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 31, 2026

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth… And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” - John 17:17, 19

Jesus prays about two things for His disciples’ sanctification (that is, their growth in godliness)—and these two things must be held together for healthy spiritual growth to occur.

First, Jesus prays about his disciples’ patterns of life: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” Jesus prays with the understanding that God gives His Word as the path of sanctification. The Bible is not an arbitrary rulebook from a cosmic killjoy, but a reflection of God’s own character and care—showing us the safe and good path for us and our loved ones.

Second, Jesus prays about the pattern of his life: “For their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” Because the disciples cannot perfectly walk the path the Word describes, Jesus consecrates Himself—sets Himself apart for a holy purpose. As he says this, his hour has come. He will take upon Himself the penalty they could not pay, so that they might be sanctified in Him.

These two aspects of Christ’s prayer teach us: 1) You need the Word to show you the ways of God; and, 2) You need the Son to make your way to God.

The embedded gospel truths in Christ’s prayer for his disciples reminds us that the chemistry of the heart is stronger than the math of the mind when it comes to the reasons to walk in God’s paths.

The math of the mind reasons: if God’s grace is so great, why bother to be good? If He will forgive my sin, why strain for a sanctified life according to the standards of God’s Word?

Such questions are ultimately answered by the chemistry of the heart. The heart is touched and transformed by the beauty of our Savior’s willingness to consecrate himself (to offer his life as a sacred offering for us). His consecration stimulates our desire to honor him.

The Bible not only tells us the standards of God, it tells us of the consecrated life of our Savior so that we both will know how to walk with Him and will delight to do so. When my future wife first asked me to take a walk with her, of course I wanted to know the path. But what really motivated me to take that walk was the joy of being with one as beautiful as she.

Gospel sanctification works the same way. Of course, we should want to know the path of life that has been designed by God’s character and care. But what really motivates us to take that path, and to stay on it when the journey becomes difficult, is the beauty of our Savior. We know the beauty of his heart because he consecrated himself to the purposes that would provide for our eternal salvation.

When we discern that the King of all creation would offer Himself on a cross for our salvation—knowing the worst about us—then, we want to be with Him. And, when He asks, “Will you walk with Me?” the chemistry of the heart says, “That is now my delight.” Our sanctification is not merely driven by duty but motivated by desire—the desire to be with One who has shown us the beauty of His heart for us. His grace produces gratitude that results, not is slavish fear, but in loving obedience that unites our steps with His.

Respond: Jesus consecrated Himself to the purposes of our salvation so that we would want to walk with Him. We obey not merely out of dread, or duty, or desire for gain, but because we delight to match our steps with the One whose heart is so beautiful.

This week, as you consider what God requires of you according to the standards of His Word, spend some focused time in prayer, considering the grace of the Son who consecrated Himself for you. Such prayer will make your duty a delight, and your sanctification a blessing rather than a burden.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You gave me Your Word to show me the path to walk with you and the Savior who consecrated Himself to save me when I wander. Forgive me for turning holiness into either proud self-effort or casual indifference. Let me see the beauty of what Jesus did for me—and let that beauty fuel my desire to walk with Him. Sanctify me in the truth of what God requires and by the truth of what Jesus did so that my duty and delight unite to honor Him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 30, 2026

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” - John 17:15-16

Jesus had every opportunity and many reasons to pray that God would take His disciples out of the world. They were about to face intense persecution. They would be cast out of synagogues. Some would be killed by religious people who believed they were serving God by doing so. The world would hate them.

Yet, Jesus did not pray, “Father, take them out of this dangerous world.”

He prayed, “Keep them from the evil one.”

Jesus prayed that his disciples would be in the world but not be overwhelmed by its evil. This is the old Puritan Dilemma: our calling to live in the world, without losing our testimony—to be in the world but not of it. The questions that dilemma always poses are: “How do you live in the soup of a sinful world without the soup soaking into you? How do you remain a witness for Christ in the world without becoming indistinguishable from it?”

Jesus doesn’t try to solve the dilemma by removing His disciples from the world. Rather, He sends them deeper into it challenges—promising his instruction and presence to make them different even as they remain engaged in his mission.

The current realities of the dilemma Jesus commissions His disciples to face remain sobering. The statisticians tell us that those who identify as born-again Christians differ very little from the surrounding culture in divorce rates, entertainments, work practices, moral choices, wealth priorities, and more.

Few Christians can deny that we have been in the soup—and some of it has soaked into us.

That confession always tempts us to run in one of two unhealthy directions: either we retreat into a Christian huddle, isolating ourselves from difficult people and a hostile culture – neglecting Christ’s mission; or, we conform so completely to the world around us that there’s nothing left to distinguish us—forgetting Christ’s example. Both are failures of the calling Jesus describes here.

Abraham Kuyper powerfully described the claim Christ has upon our world and our lives: “There is not one square inch of the world over which Jesus does not stand and say, ‘This is mine.’” That means the places that where a testimony is hard and the culture is hostile are places where Christ’s disciples are called to live in transforming faithfulness.

Respond: In which direction is the world’s evil  pulling you—toward retreat or toward conformity? Are you insulating yourself from the world in ways that protect your comfort but eliminate your witness? Or have you soaked in the culture so completely that nothing distinguishes your life from those around you?

Jesus is not asking you to choose between safety and conformity. He prays for you, as he prayed for his disciples, that the Father would protect you enough to fulfill his purposes as you stay engaged in the world for Christ’s sake.

This week, it may help you to identify one place or person from which you have been retreating, rather than using opportunities to make Jesus known. And, it will almost certainly be helpful to identify where you have been conforming to the world, but where Jesus is now calling you to live differently.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Your Son didn’t pray for You to disengage your disciples from the world—but to keep them from the influences of the evil one in that world. Forgive me for retreating into safety when You’ve called me to be a faithful presence in difficult places, and for conforming to worldly priorities when You’ve called me to be different. Keep me from the evil one as I go. Let my life in the world—the places I work, the relationships I have, the neighborhood I live in—carry the mark of someone who belongs to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 29, 2026

“He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” - John 16:14-15

The final and most important thing Jesus says in this passage about the Spirit’s role is this: “He will glorify Me.”

The Holy Spirit’s job is not to glorify Himself. He is not to draw attention to spiritual experiences or gifts or feelings or phenomena that make us focus on the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s purpose is to make Jesus known, evident, praised—to take everything that belongs to Jesus and declare it to His people.

And what belongs to Jesus? Everything the Father has. The love of the Father. The righteousness of Heaven. The stature of being a child of God. An inheritance that is vast and eternal. The assurance of being treasured. All of these blessings and attributes belong to Jesus.

These features of Jesus’s character and care are what the Spirit is charged to declare to us. He is to testify of the glory and goodness of Jesus. The Spirit’s mission is not to say, “Look at me” or “Focus on certain spiritual gifts.” Rather, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to help you understand who Jesus is and remember that you are His. The task and treasure of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus real in your heart.”

An adaptation of a story by a Southern novelist describes a young girl in a parochial school whose teacher told the class: “Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Don’t let the boys make you unholy.” Later, the girls in the class laughed and jeered, calling each other “Temple 1 and Temple 2.” But this one girl, struggling with everything the teacher had warned against, walked away from the gigglers to a private corner. There she wept tears of joy because she had already been molested by the boys but now rejoiced to know that her body was still the temple of the Holy Spirit. Despite everything, she was God’s treasured possession, loved by Jesus, and precious to Him.

Such grace is what the Spirit has been sent to declare. Not your accomplishments or His. Not your spiritual resumé or His miraculous power. The Spirit has been sent into your heart, the temple that God has prepared to receive Him, in order to declare to your soul who Jesus is and how His love enfolds you. That is what is being declared to you—even now in whatever struggle of sin or circumstance you are experiencing. 

Respond: What is the Spirit declaring to you today about Jesus? Not what do you wish He would say about you or your circumstances, but what is He saying about the character and care of Jesus? Remember that the mission of the Spirit is not to spotlight His power but to glorify Jesus. The reason is simple: when we know Jesus is for us and with us, then we can face anything with faith in Him and faithfulness to Him.

This week, in a quiet moment, ask: “What is the Spirit declaring to me about Jesus right now?” And listen for the answer—in a verse, in a hymn, in a conversation, in a moment of unexpected peace. The Spirit will testify to your spirit that Jesus is near and you need not fear. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I need the Holy Spirit to declare to my heart the truths of Jesus’s character and care. I need to be reminded from your Word who Jesus is and that I am His. Testify to my heart that I am His temple, His treasured possession, His eternal brother or sister. When I think that He has left me because I have wandered from Him, use the Holy Spirit to remind me that I have been purchased by His blood forever. Have the Spirit do what only He can do: make Jesus real to me. Glorify Him in my heart. Take what is His and make it mine. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 28, 2026

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 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.” - John 16:12-13

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

This is one of the most tender statements Jesus makes in all the Gospels. He is not withholding important matters from His disciples out of frustration or disappointment. He is pacing what he communicates to them out of love for them. “I know you can’t carry everything at once,” He is saying. “So, I will give you more as you become able to bear it.”

How will Jesus provide more that the disciples need to know when they need to know. The Holy Spirit, Jesus says, will guide them into all truth—not all at once, but progressively. He will speak what He hears from Jesus’s heart. He will declare what is to come in God’s plan. He will also bring to your mind, at exactly the right moment, exactly what is needed from God’s Word—the verse you memorized as a child that returns with new power in a crisis, the hymn of your youth that speaks into grief you don’t have words for, the truth that seemed abstract in young adulthood until suddenly it becomes personal in senior years.

The Spirit doesn’t dump everything on us all at once. He guides us—step by step, truth by truth, as we are able to receive the truth so that we are never crushed by it.

When a young woman in my congregation was struck and killed by a drunk driver, I went with local police to tell her parents. I felt desperately inadequate—what will I say, what will I do, how can I comfort? No great revelation came—only the words of an old hymn began to echo in my mind:

“He leadeth me, O precious thought. O words with heavenly comfort fraught. He leadeth me, wherever I go, whatever I do. Still ‘tis God’s Word that leadeth me.”

The Spirit brought the words to mind so that I would have enough peace of mind to share God’s care with the hurting family. Had the Lord told me years before that I would need that hymn to minister after a tragic death, I would probably have run from the task—maybe even run from the ministry. But, when the truth was needed, the Spirit delivered it to my heart for the strength I needed.

 The Holy Spirit will do the same for you. He will bring to your heart and mind what you need to know and remember. Not all at once. Not more than you can bear. But what you need, when you need it, brought to mind by the One who knows exactly where you are.

Respond: Always there are truths whose full implications God has not fully revealed to you – not because he doesn’t care but you could not bear it all at once. He loves you enough to pace His teaching to your capacity?

This week, trust the Spirit’s timing. He knows what you can bear. He knows what you need. Ask Him specifically: “Guide me into the truth I need for today—grant me today’s portion and give me faith that your pace with the rest is what is best for my heart.”

Prayer: Heaven Father, thank You for being gentle with my capacity. Jesus said there are things Hewould not tell His disciples because they could not yet bear them all—and I know that’s true of me too. There are things I’m not ready for. So, guide me, by your Spirit of truth, into what I need today. Bring to mind the truths I’ve stored away that need to be brought to heart again as I need them. Give me today’s portion, and enough faith to receive it in the proportion you give it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 27, 2026

“And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” - John 16:8-9

The Holy Spirit brings conviction to our hearts about three things: sin, righteousness, and judgment.

Sin first. The Spirit’s job is to open hearts to the reality that we are not right before God—that His holiness and our condition are not compatible, that we need something we cannot provide for ourselves. This conviction is not meant to crush. It’s meant to direct. The Spirit convicts of sin so that we will seek the grace of God.

But the second conviction is the one that surprises: righteousness. Against the tendency to assessour righteousness by balancing scales (“I’m not perfect, but the good outweighs the bad”), the Spirit exposes the insufficiency of all human righteousness by revealing the breathtaking perfection of Christ's righteousness. That’s the conviction that breaks open revival—not simply acknowledging sin, but being broken by the inadequacy of our own righteousness in comparison to God’s holiness. When we are convicted by his righteousness of the insufficiency of ours, then we fall on their knees saying, “I cannot stand before You based on my goodness, I need your grace.”

That need for grace becomes most apparent with the third convicting work of the Holy Spirit: judgment. The Spirit convicts us of our habit of establishing our righteousness by comparison with others. When we judge our holiness merely based on comparison to others unrighteousness, then we are ignoring the true standards of the God who will judge eternally. Only when the standards of his holy judgment humble us are we ready to receive His grace for us.

Trevin Wax describes his shift from basing his righteousness on judgment of others rather than on the judgment of God. He saw a news report about a celebrity’s profane and provocative performance and, then, spent the day fuming about cultural decay evident in such unrighteous conduct. But, then, the Spirit moved in his heart revealing the judgmentalism that was more concerned for culture war victories than for the tragedy of lost souls.

Trevin wrote, “Tonight I do not judge; I weep. I weep for the lostness of that girl who doesn’t see herself stumbling about in the dark. I weep for the times I’ve looked at women as objects and not really cared with Christ’s heart for them. I weep for the lack of compassion I have seen in me.” Trevin recognized that God could rightly judge his own judgmental self-righteousness that did not come close to reflecting the true heart of God.

When the Spirit convicts of judgment, He moves our hearts to seek and reflect more of the grace of Christ.

Respond: Which of the three convictions does the Spirit need most to work in you right now?

Are you minimizing sin—yours or someone else’s? Are you maximizing your righteousness-- leaning on your religious record to feel right before God? Are you judging your worth against others who seem worse—rather than considering the judgment of God that makes us all desperately in need of His mercy?

Such conviction isn’t punishment. It’s the Spirit pointing you toward the grace of God. If you feel the weight of any of these three today, don’t run from it. Let the conviction of the Holy Spirit take you to Jesus. His mercy and grace are always the gifts at the end of the road of the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please make my heart open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Give me the understanding that His conviction is not to condemn me but to direct me. Show me where I’m minimizing sin, trusting in my own righteousness, or establishing my standing before God by judging others. And when You do, don’t let the conviction take me down. Let it take me to Jesus—the one who lifts the heads of those convicted and ashamed with the assurance that God’s grace is sufficient to cover all our sin and His steadfast love never ceases. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 24, 2026

“But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away…” - John 16:5-7

No one asked “Where are you going?” this time. A few verses earlier, Peter had asked that very question—and heard Jesus predict his three denials. So, silence fell upon the room this time when Jesus announced his soon departure. No one asked Jesus, “Where are you going?”

Jesus knew why there was silence. He knew exactly who these men were. He knew Peter would deny Him. He knew they would all abandon Him. Every single one would turn their back, scatter into the night, leave Him to suffer alone.

Yet, for these men—the betrayers, the deniers, the cowards—Jesus said: “I will send the Helper to you.”

Not “I will send the Helper to those who prove themselves worthy.” Not “I will send the Helper once you’ve sorted yourselves out.” Rather, he said, “I will send the Helper to you. As you are. Knowing everything about you that I know.

Jesus’s promise is a key reminder that the Holy Spirit is not a reward for spiritual achievement. He is a gift for spiritual need.

The wonderful thing Jesus is promising is that He is not waiting for us to qualify to some level of spiritual achievement before the Holy Spirit will come to work in our lives. God gives the Holy Spirit for the bad times and the difficult people—even those who would betray Him. And that’s all of us at times.

Think of how a radio broadcaster’s voice reaches people in many different circumstances: firemen at a firehouse table, a plumber under a sink, a family at a barbecue. In a similar way the presence of God is reaching you by the work of the Holy Spirit. No matter what you’re doing, no matter your circumstance or location, the Holy Spirit is present to bring the purposes and power of God into your life.

Respond: What makes you feel like you’ve put yourself beyond the reach of the Helper? What failure, what denial, what betrayal of Jesus makes you think He wouldn’t still send the Spirit to you?

Peter denied Jesus three times. And the Spirit still came to Peter; still spoke through Peter at Pentecost; and, still worked through Peter to inspire Scripture and give hope to millions.

This week, receive Jesus’s promise of the Holy Spirit as personally addressed to you—not to the version of you who has it together, but to you as you actually are right now. The Helper is not waiting for you to be better before He comes. He comes because Jesus sends Him to bring God’s presence, power, and care into your life.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I know You see everything in me—the denials, the failures, the times I’ve faltered when I should have stood firm. Like the disciples, I’m sometimes am too ashamed to even ask to follow you. But You promised to send the Helper not to the qualified—but to strugglers like me. Thank You. So, Lord, please send the Holy Spirit, to where I actually am, knowing everything about me, and be my Helper to enable me to follow you wherever you want me to go. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 23, 2026

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” - John 16:7

It was Passover—a celebration meal. But Jesus made a statement that drained all the joy out of the room: “I am going away.” The disciples were so filled with sorrow they couldn’t even speak.

And then Jesus said something that must have seemed impossible to believe: “It is to your advantage that I go away.”

How could that possibly be true? How could losing Jesus—the one who calmed storms, raised the dead, healed the sick, walked with them and taught them and loved them—how could losing Him be an advantage?

Because when Jesus was physically present on earth, He was only appearing in one place at one time. But when Jesus sent the Helper—the Holy Spirit—the goodness of Jesus would be present everywhere, with every believer, at every moment, in every circumstance. Not limited by geography or physicality. Not absent when you need Him most.

In addition, the Helper would not be an inferior substitute. He would make the power and love of Jesus available to every struggling, failing, grieving, searching person in every corner of the world.

I think of a young woman named Sarah who moved to a new city, endured a hard breakup, had no friends, was under tremendous stress at a new job, and was spiraling into serious depression. The memory verses of her youth failed her. She couldn’t muster the strength to pray.

When her pastor listened to her story, he said: “I know it feels as though someone has put a blanket over your soul and that God has turned His back on you. But God has not gone anywhere. He is still with you.”

That’s Jesus’ promise in John 16:7. The promise to send the Holy Spirit means that you never have to conclude merely that “God was with you.” God is with you. The Helper has come. He is not only where you once were, but where you actually are now—in the depression, in the grief, in the loneliness, in the moment when nothing seems to be working right. God is with you.

Respond: Where does “your advantage” of the Holy Spirit’s presence, power, and care feel impossible to believe right now? What loss, what hardship, what closed door makes you feel like you’ve been abandoned to something worse?

Jesus said these words to disciples who were about to watch Him be crucified. Still, He was proven right and his promise came true. The Helper came. At Pentecost, the Spirit came upon the disciples in visible and audible power, and then showed his continuing power and blessing in the expansion of the church. Nothing was ever the same. Despite the hardships and challenges the disciples would face, the Holy Spirit was with them and God’s purposes were furthered and fulfilled.

This week, practice saying to yourself—even if you can’t fully feel it yet: “The Helper has come. He is with me here. Not despite my circumstances—in them.” Let that truth be the first thing you say each morning before the day’s weight and worry settles in.

Prayer: Dear Lord, I confess right now that Jesus’s words, “it is to your advantage that I go away” sound hollow. I want Him here, visible, tangible. But He promised the Helper—the full presence and power of His care would now be made available to me everywhere, always, in every circumstance. I believe that promise—help me to remember it in times of trial or trouble. Give me faith that the Helper has come to where I actually am right now in my pain and struggle. Strengthen me by the faith that You are here. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 22, 2026

"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.'" - Matthew 16:24-25

Jesus has just told His disciples He must die. And now He tells them: so must you—in a sense.

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

This isn't an empty metaphor or sentimental poetry. In Jesus' day, a person carrying a cross was carrying their instrument of execution through the streets to the place where they would die. Everyone watching knew what it meant: this person has surrendered any claim to saving themselves.

That is what Jesus calls every follower to: a life that has surrendered its claim to self-preservation, self-advancement, and self-protection in order to fulfill Christ’s mission.

Such commitments are made not because suffering is good in itself. But because some things are worth dying for.

Kayla Mueller was a college student from Prescott, Arizona, who went to Syria to serve with Doctors Without Borders. Captured by ISIS, she was offered the chance to escape—yet stayed behind so that Syrian girls could flee. She knew that she was valuable to her captors and that ISIS would relentlessly hunt the other girls down if she were with them.

Her letter from prison: "I have come to the place in experience where I understand all you really have in the end is God. In every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to the Creator because there is nothing else for me."

She understood what Jesus was saying. And she lived—and died—by it.

Most of us will not face an enemy as cruel as ISIS. But Jesus doesn't say "take up your cross only in extreme circumstances." He says take it up daily. That means:

Standing for ethics when your career is on the line. Refusing bitterness when someone controls your situation without care for you. Maintaining purity when the culture laughs. Staying faithful in a relationship that's hard. Giving money you could keep. Serving when you could rest. Witnessing when you could stay silent.

Every day, bearing your cross means that you are saying from your heart, and living with actions that confirm, “His mission matters more than my comfort.”

Respond: What cross is Jesus calling you to take up today? It probably won't involve ISIS. But it is real.

Maybe it's a conversation you've been avoiding because it might cost you a relationship. A commitment that will cost you time or money. An act of obedience that will cost you approval. A refusal to compromise that will cost you comfort.

Jesus says: "Whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

The mission is worth it because Jesus is the One who died for you and calls you to it. Still, the war is real. Cross-bearing is costly. But, the stakes are eternal, as are the blessings.

So, take up your cross and follow Him. Always the blessings and the glory of Jesus are at the end of that path.

Prayer: Dear Lord, You didn't ask me to admire the cross from a distance. You asked me to pick mine up and follow You. I confess I often want to follow You without the cross—enjoying the benefits of Your kingdom while avoiding its costs. Show me the cross You're asking me to carry today. Give me the courage of those who chose Your mission over their own reputation, comfort, or survival. Help me to deny myself so that I might declare your heart. Give me the willingness and strength to take up my cross so that I might lift up Jesus for all the world – and all my loved ones – to see and love because he went to the cross for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Through The Bible in a Year - July 21, 2026

"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'" - Matthew 16:21-23

Peter receives great commendation for declaring Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! My Father revealed this to you!" Then, seconds later, Peter becomes the mouthpiece of Satan.

He didn't mean to make such a U-turn. He was trying to push Jesus to greater acclaim and accomplishment. His motives were not malicious—they were human, even loving. "Far be it from you, Lord, to suffer and die! This shall never happen to you!"

But Jesus' response is immediate and stunning: "Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

Peter's problem wasn't obvious, bad intentions. It was earthly thinking. He could not conceive of a kingdom built through suffering and death. He wanted glory without a cross. Victory without sacrifice. A king without a crucifixion.

And Jesus said: that is Satan's agenda, not God's.

We may recognize ourselves in Peter more than we'd like to admit. We want Jesus—but we want Jesus on our terms and for our earthly gain. We want the kingdom—but without the cross. We want to follow—but without the cost.

We want the prize without the sacrifice. The harvest without the hard seasons. The victory without the battle.

And Jesus says: "That is the thinking of man, not the thinking of God."

The mission of Jesus was not to make life comfortable. It was to die for sin, defeat death, and advance a kingdom that the gates of hell cannot stop. And anyone who truly follows Him participates in that mission—including the hard parts.

One of the most striking memorials I have ever visited is the building in Korea dedicated to early missionaries who were beheaded for their witness. They died for Christ. Some are remembered by name; some are not. Earthly acclaim and gain were not their goals. They set their minds on the things of God, not the things of man. Their priorities were eternal not earthly.

Respond: Where is your thinking more like Peter’s right now? Where are you trying to redirect Jesus’ ministry toward a more comfortable path—for yourself or for someone you love?

Maybe you're praying for ease instead of faithfulness. Asking God to remove the difficulty instead of trusting Him through it. You may be asking for his help in avoiding the costly conversation, the uncomfortable obedience, the sacrifice you know He's asking for.

Peter had the right confession and the wrong agenda. Jesus needed him to align his thinking with the Father's agenda, not with the world's.

This week, ask God to show you where your mind is set on the things of man rather than the things of God. Bring that to Him honestly—and ask for the courage to think and act like it. Then Jesus will walk with you wherever you need to go, and will give you the strength for whatever you need to do for his agenda.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I confess that sometimes I'm like Peter—right confession, wrong agenda. I want You, but on my terms. I want the kingdom, but without the cross. I want to follow, but without the cost. Set my mind on the things of God, not the things of man. Where I've been trying to redirect You toward what's comfortable for me, forgive me. Align my thinking with the Father's will—even when it costs me. I want to follow You, not the version of You I've invented. Please walk with me wherever you know I need to go. In Jesus’ name, Amen..

Through The Bible in a Year - July 20, 2026

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." - Matthew 16:18

Jesus spoke these words at Caesarea Philippi—which was not only a center of pagan religious wickedness but was also believed in the ancient world to be literally the entrance to the underworld. The cave at Caesarea Philippi, called the "Gates of Hell," was thought to be a portal to Hades itself.

Jesus stood right there, at what the ancient world called the gates of hell, and declared: "My church will be built here, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."

He wasn't speaking theoretically. He was planting a flag in the enemy's front yard.

Though it’s been decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall, many will vividly remember what it looks like when a gate that seems impenetrable is finally breached. That wall—built with such evil intent, responsible for hundreds of deaths and the oppression of millions—fell. What seemed impossible to overcome could not prevail against the greater forces of freedom.

Jesus says: the gates of hell that seem to control your actions, captivate you soul, hold you prisoner to sin—they will not prevail against His advancing kingdom and the freedom from oppression that he provides.

The gates of hell take many forms. An abuser who controls through fear. An addiction that feels unbreakable. A family pattern passed down through generations that seems impossible to escape. A nation ruled by terror and totalitarianism. A culture of sexual exploitation. A prison camp in North Korea.

Amy Carmichael fought both Indian religious authority and English churches to rescue children from temple prostitution—because she believed the gates of hell would not prevail. Young women from our church’s seminary went into the brothels of Bangkok because they believed the gates of hell would not prevail. I think also of a brave Christian woman, name Kayla, who stayed behind in an ISIS prison cell to help other Syrian girls escape—because she believed – whether she lived or died – that the prison gates would not have the victory over her soul or her Savior’s witness.

Jesus isn't promising an absence of difficulty. He is promising ultimate victory. "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." The walls and wiles of the evil one will not prevail over the advances of Christ’s kingdom.

Respond: What gate of hell seems to be prevailing in your life right now? What feels impenetrable, impossible to overcome—in your own heart, in your family, in your community, in the world?

Jesus stood at the literal gates of hell and planted His flag. He said that his kingdom would advance and the gates would not, could not, stop it.

This week, identify the specific "gate of hell" that seems most immovable to you. Then pray with the confidence of Matthew 16:18: "Jesus declared that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church. If you are a member of His church by faith in his ministry, then He will advance His Kingdom through you. The walls may resist for a time. They may not fall in accordance with your timing, but they will fall in Christ’s time and according to his plan. They cannot stand because the Kingdom of God is advancing in the power of Christ in you and for you. He is advancing. This gate of hell will not hold."

Pray with confidence in this reality: the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Kingdom of our God.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You stood at the gates of hell and declared that they would not prevail against Your church. I believe You. But right now there something not right in my life that feels immovable. Sometimes, I feel like it's winning. Remind me that You've already planted Your flag at the enemy's front door. You are advancing. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. Break down this gate. Build Your kingdom here. I will trust in Your victory, not in what I can see but in the promises of your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.