Read Psalm 29. How does it inspire the awe of God in your heart? Make a list of what stands out to you.

Read Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, and Revelation 1. After considering the glory of God as described in these passages, spend some time in prayer. Confess the ways you revel in created things and any apathy toward God you’ve been experiencing. Ask God to help you see and savor His glory above all else. 

The shepherd’s amazement and awe led to action. What’s one step of obedience you can take this week to honor God and share His glorious grace with others?

Read the Gospel accounts of the feeding of the 5,000 (found in Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:32-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:1-13). Put yourself in the disciples’ shoes. What do you feel? Hear? See? What stands out to you?

Dwell more deeply on Jesus’ statement in John 6, “I am the bread of life.” In what ways do you need Jesus’ nourishment today? How can you seek Him for sustenance, rest, and refreshment this week?

Read Psalm 23 and pray it back to Jesus, thanking Him for being your great and good shepherd (c.f. Hebrews 13:20-21, John 10:1-21). 

What is the relationship between faith and works, between faith and fruit? How would you describe the importance of obedience to a new believer? 

Where in your life do you need stability, confidence, and security right now? How does knowing you are in Christ—because you have continued to trust and obey Him—encourage you? 

Right now, are you more like the wise builder or the foolish one? Why? Are there any areas of your life where you are delaying obedience or refusing to obey? Confess these to the Lord and ask for His strength to follow Him wholeheartedly.

Make a list of the resources, blessings, time, spiritual gift(s), and talents that God has given you. Make another list of the opportunities you have to serve Him by serving others, especially fellow believers. Now consider: Are you being faithful? 

Are there any talents, gifts, resources, or opportunities that you have not been using to serve God? If so, why? Does pride, fear, or laziness have anything to do with it? What lie might you be believing about God that is impacting this?

In both parables, individuals (not groups of individuals) find a prize and acquire it. Why might this have been surprising to Jewish hearers? (Check out John 8:31-47 if you need help.)

What difference do you notice between the way the man found the treasure and the way the man found the pearl? What does this tell us about how people find Christ?

What have you been spending your resources trying to achieve? Is there anything you’ve been unwilling to give up to gain more intimacy with the Lord or be more faithful to Him? How do the parables of the treasure and pearl challenge or encourage you?

What fruit are we to bear as believers? Check out Galatians 5:22-23, Philippians 1:11, Hebrews 13:15, and Romans 1:13. 

Based on the fruit described in the passages above, what fruit have you been bearing recently?

Do any of the unproductive soils convict you? Are you currently being hardened by sin, or disheartened by a trial, temptation or persecution, or choked by worry or love of money? If so, how do Jesus’ words encourage you to respond?

Are you sowing the Word of God? To whom? How does the parable of the soils encourage you as you do?

Consider committing 2 Peter 1:1-11 or John 15:1-11 to memory as a way to meditate on God’s Word!