Hearing Jesus: Daily Bible Study, Daily Devotional, Prayer, Hearing God & Christian Affirmations

Today we step into the week with courage by speaking God's truth out loud. These affirmations build on 1 Corinthians 15:57, where Paul thanks God for giving us the victory through Jesus Christ.

Step into your week with boldness,

I'll read each phrase, you repeat it, and then I'll tell you the Scripture it comes from.

Before we begin

Today's affirmations are for

Tuesday affirmations and Scripture

I am strong and courageous in

I do not fear because God is with

I can do all things through Christ

I am victorious through Jesus. 1

I have the power of God working

I will not be shaken because God

I walk by faith, not by sight. 2

No weapon formed against me shall

God fights my battles and I need

I am not afraid because God has

I have authority in Christ over

I am rooted and established in

I have divine wisdom and strength

I am resilient and I will

I am filled with the power of the

I will not grow weary in doing

God's grace is sufficient for me. 2

I have peace that surpasses

I am never alone. God is always

I am protected under the shadow of

God's Word is a lamp to my feet

I stand firm in faith and do not

I am free from fear because God's

I have a spirit of power, love,

God is working all things for my

Closing prayer

Lord, I surrender my fear to You. Fill me with boldness,

Listen daily and start your morning with God's truth so

Links

On our Bible Study Live trip to Rome, we visit the catacombs, where early believers laid their loved ones to rest in the hope of the resurrection.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

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Have you ever said yes to God and then watched everything get harder?

We're starting Luke chapter 4 in our fall Bible study, and before we get

Links

We visit Luke's house in Rome on our Bible Study Live trip.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

Questions we answer today

Was Jesus not already full of the Holy Spirit before His baptism?

Timestamps

00:00 Starting Luke 4, and how this series works

01:00 Reading Luke 4:1-13

02:40 Prayer

04:00 Why the color method stopped me at "forty

05:00 Was Jesus always full of the Holy Spirit?

07:00 What Isaiah said about a Spirit-empowered Messiah

08:30 What actually happened at the Jordan

10:00 Fully God and fully human

11:30 Why His victory matters for us

14:20 A callback to Israel's forty years

15:30 Why all three answers come from Deuteronomy

17:30 God's son Israel failed, God's Son Jesus passed

18:50 Other forty-day seasons in Scripture

21:00 Predictable resistance after obedience

23:30 Tempted the whole time, not just at the end

24:30 The wilderness was the assignment

25:00 Prayer

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Today's affirmations are about identity and the truth that you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. We repeat Ephesians 1:4 and other Scriptures so your worth rests on what God says, not on your past.

Start your Monday with confidence, peace, and purpose. These daily Christian affirmations are a short but powerful way to realign your heart and mind with biblical truth before the week begins. Today's affirmations are all about identity: who God says you are, and what changes when you believe it. Speak life over your day, renew your faith, and step into God's promises with Scripture straight from His Word.

I'll read each phrase, you repeat it, and then I'll tell you the Scripture

Before we begin

Take a deep breath. This is a new day filled with God's grace and purpose.

Monday affirmations and Scripture

I am a child of God, chosen and loved.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I am fully known and loved fully by God.

I have been chosen before the foundation of the world.

I am created in the image of God.

I am redeemed and made new in Christ.

I am set apart for God's purpose.

I am God's masterpiece, created for good works.

I am loved with an everlasting love.

I am called by name and belong to God.

I am not my past. I am a new creation.

I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.

I'm seated in heavenly places with Christ.

I am co-heir with Christ.

I am not rejected. I am accepted in Christ.

I am never alone. God is always with me.

I am valuable and precious in God's sight.

I have been set free by the truth of Jesus.

I am more than a conqueror through Christ.

I am a light in this world, shining for Christ.

I am God's dwelling place. His Spirit lives within me.

I am forgiven and free from condemnation.

I have a divine purpose and calling from God.

I am dearly loved and nothing can separate me from God's love.

Closing prayer

Father, thank You for reminding me who I am in You. Help me to walk in

I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go

Listen daily and start your morning with God's truth so you can walk in

Links

Paul's letters taught the early church who they were in Christ, and on our Bible Study Live trip to Rome we study them together with a small group of women.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

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Before the week begins, I'm inviting you to trade dread for expectancy. These Scripture-based affirmations, anchored in Romans 15:13, help you walk into Monday grounded in hope and trusting God one day at a time.

Sunday Daily Affirmations: I Enter This Week with Expectancy, Not Fear

I'll say each affirmation, pause so you can repeat it after me, and then

Sunday affirmations and Scripture

I place this coming week in God's hands.

I trust God to guide my steps.

I enter this week with expectancy, not fear.

I invite God into every moment ahead.

I trust God to order my priorities.

I receive God's wisdom for the days ahead.

I walk into this week anchored in truth.

I trust God with what I cannot foresee.

I choose faith over anticipation of stress.

I rely on God's grace for each day.

I trust God's timing this week.

I remain open to God's leading.

I step forward with humility and trust.

I depend on God's strength, not my own.

I trust God with every conversation and decision.

I choose obedience over control.

I walk into this week aware of God's presence.

I trust God to work through ordinary moments.

I release anxiety about outcomes.

I remain attentive to God's voice.

I trust God to meet my needs.

I step into this week with courage.

I trust God to shape my character.

I begin this week grounded in hope.

I rest in God's faithfulness as I move forward.

Closing prayer

God, as I step into this new week, I place everything ahead of me in Your

Links

If Romans has shaped your faith, our Bible Study Live trip to Rome lets you study Paul's letter with a small group of women in the city he wrote it to.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we look back over the week with honesty and gratitude instead of replaying every mistake. These affirmations lean on Psalm 32:5, where David confesses his sin and finds that God forgives.

Saturday Daily Affirmations: I Release Regret (Psalm 32:5)

I'll say each affirmation, pause so you can repeat it after me, and then

Saturday affirmations and Scripture

I thank God for walking with me through this week.

I recognize God's faithfulness in both the seen and unseen moments.

I release regret and receive God's grace.

I trust that God was at work even when I didn't notice.

I give thanks for the strength God provided each day.

I acknowledge where I grew this week.

I notice where God invited me to trust Him more deeply.

I receive God's mercy for where I fell short.

I choose gratitude over self-criticism.

I honor the work God has been doing in my heart.

I acknowledge God's presence in ordinary moments.

I release this week into God's care.

I trust God with what remains unfinished.

I thank God for His patience with me.

I rest in the truth that God sees me fully.

I choose to end this week with gratitude.

I release comparison and embrace contentment.

I acknowledge God's protection this week.

I thank God for His provision.

I recognize God's quiet guidance.

I let go of striving and receive rest.

I honor the limits God has given me.

I trust God with what I do not understand.

I receive peace as I reflect with God.

I end this week grounded in God's faithfulness.

Closing prayer

God, thank You for walking with me through this week. Help me to see Your

Links

Our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui makes room for this kind of honest reflection, with quiet time in Scripture alongside a small group of women.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year around this time I get the same question. What do we do about Halloween?

You'll hear everything from it's a free-for-all with no spiritual implication, to turn the lights off and hide in the house. My answer lands somewhere in the middle, and it starts here: I don't want to live in a way that hands the devil my days.

Today we take on Halloween, and then a harder question about free will and the passages where God hardens a heart.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

How should Christians handle Halloween?

I'm answering this as both a parent and a former children's pastor. I grew up in a conservative Christian environment and later served in a charismatic one, so I've watched different churches handle this very differently.

Here's my baseline. As Christians we're called to take light into the darkness, not run from it. Most Christians would agree. But for some reason we treat Halloween as the one exception.

I don't want to give the devil any of my days. If I'm on this earth a hundred years and I hide every Halloween, that's a hundred days I handed over out of fear.

That said, I won't pretend there's nothing there. There are real spiritual implications around Halloween. So my answer isn't either extreme.

What does a good alternative look like?

When I was a children's pastor, we did a trunk or treat. We played music from Jump Start 3, a ministry that set Scripture to music kids actually liked, and gave away their CDs. We served a lot of low income families whose kids didn't get CDs bought for them. We used that same music in Sunday school because it got God's Word into kids in a way they remembered.

We had rules for the trunks. Nothing evil, nothing scary, nothing representing the occult. We had a Candyland trunk and an apple harvest trunk. We ran contests and giveaways and made it a genuinely fun night, so families had somewhere good to go. If your church does something like that, it's a great option.

When does a church alternative go wrong?

I've also seen the other side of it.

We took our youngest daughter to a trunk or treat at a local church. They'd advertised a fall harvest party, so we weren't expecting anything unusual. It turned out to be inside the building, and to get in you had to walk through a black tunnel with skeletons on the walls, stinky smoke, and fire. I thought maybe it was one of those heaven-or-hell presentations, which I'm not a fan of, but you couldn't turn around and you couldn't get out.

When we came through, the gymnasium was covered in scary, creepy Halloween decorations. My husband and I looked at each other and we were out. Then we met the pastor and he told us they wanted to make it even scarier next year.

That's losing the plot entirely. There's no reason to invite families into a church building and hand them a haunted house.

What else can we do on Halloween?

We're called to live in the world and not of it, so this has looked like different things for our family over the years. Sometimes when we went house to house, we gave something instead of taking something. Sometimes we'd make it an exchange and ask people if they needed prayer.

Here's what I keep coming back to. Yes, there is evil happening that night. It's also a night when kids and families are out looking for something. They are literally going door to door asking.

If you live in a neighborhood with kids, you could hand out Scripture music, or candy with a Bible verse attached. Or you could simply say, I love your costume, is there anything you need prayer for?

This is one of the few nights a year when we have a natural reason to meet our neighbors. If we have the good news, why wouldn't we offer it on a night when people are at our door asking for something?

Now, if you start handing out ghosts and goblins, you've missed the plot. But hiding with the lights off and pretending we're not home is literally hiding your light under a bushel. We all learned that song as kids. Halloween is a good chance to actually live it.

What about my kids?

If you're going to participate, it comes with a conversation, and it's still your responsibility to protect your children.

Letting them dress up as a witch is not okay. But there are plenty of options. They can be a favorite character or dress up as popcorn. There's a lot of room between a witch costume and hiding in the house.

While you're out, if a house looks evil, you skip it. Or maybe you pray for it. Or maybe you go up and offer to pray for those people. That depends on the age of your kids. If you have a four-year-old, I wouldn't. If you have a sixteen-year-old, maybe you should.

If we take the mentality of hiding from evil, where does it stop? We're not called to hide. We're called to face it.

What about "God hardened his heart" and free will?

A listener wrote in accepting that God is sovereign while also believing we can choose to turn away, and wrestling with Romans 9 and the Pharaoh passages. You're not the first to sit with this. Scholars have discussed it for centuries.

Start in the garden. God put the tree there and gave a real command with a real consequence. That means they had a choice, and that matters, because love that can't say no isn't love. It's control. That theme runs all the way through. Moses sets before Israel life and death and tells them to choose life. Joshua says choose this day whom you will serve. God calls people to respond, but He doesn't force it.

So what about Pharaoh?

Before the plagues begin, God tells Moses that Pharaoh's heart will be hardened. Read that alone and it's troubling. Read the whole story and something else emerges.

Again and again, Pharaoh hardens his own heart. He sees God's power, experiences a plague, asks Moses to stop it, the plague is removed, then he changes his mind and hardens his heart again. Only later does Exodus say the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.

This isn't a willing heart that God forces into rebellion. Pharaoh is already resisting. God allows that resistance to solidify and uses it for His purpose.

The Hebrew helps. One word is chazaq, meaning to strengthen or make firm. When I taught this to kids I compared it to Jell-O. The ingredients are all there, and eventually they set. Another is kabed, carrying the sense of making something heavy. The picture is God confirming Pharaoh in a direction he already chose.

That connects to Romans 1, where three times Paul says God gave them over to the sin they had chosen. Sometimes God's judgment isn't forcing someone to do what they don't want. It's allowing them further down the road they keep insisting on.

How should I read Romans 9?

In context, which means reading 9, 10, and 11 together. Those chapter divisions were added centuries later by scribes.

Paul doesn't open Romans 9 with a lecture on predestination. He opens by grieving, saying he has unceasing anguish because his own people have rejected Jesus. The question he's answering is whether God's promise to Israel failed.

His answer is no. God's purposes have not failed, and He has always been free to choose how He accomplishes them. That's the context for I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. The point isn't that God randomly decides who gets saved. It's that He decides how He accomplishes His plan.

Keep reading. In chapter 10, Paul says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone. Then that Israel can be grafted back in, and eventually that God has bound everyone over to disobedience so He may have mercy on them all.

How do both things hold together?

Scripture doesn't feel the need to pick one and throw out the other. At Pentecost, Peter says Jesus was handed over according to God's deliberate plan, and in the same breath tells the people they were responsible for His death. Paul says work out your salvation with fear and trembling, then adds that it is God who works in you.

We also read difficult passages in light of clear ones. God wants all people to be saved. Jesus stood over Jerusalem and said how often He longed to gather her children, and they were not willing.

So here's where I land. God is sovereign and nothing is outside His authority, and our choices are real. I don't believe God creates some people for salvation and others for hell. That isn't consistent with His character, and predestining someone to hell and then holding them responsible for a choice they were never free to make throws out free will entirely.

He is powerful enough to accomplish His purposes even when people resist. Pharaoh said no and God didn't lose control.

Mystery isn't the same thing as contradiction. When we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus.

Timestamps

Frequently asked questions

What is Jump Start 3?

How do I send in a question?

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We end the week by setting down our burdens, including the weight of our own mistakes. These affirmations rest on Lamentations 3:22-23, a reminder that God's mercies are new every morning.

Friday Daily Affirmations: God's Grace Is Greater Than My Failures

I'll say each affirmation, pause so you can repeat it after me, and then

Before we begin

The week is ending, and as we step into the weekend, let's take a moment to

Friday affirmations and Scripture

I release my worries and trust God to handle what I cannot.

God's peace fills my heart and I rest in His presence.

I am not defined by my mistakes. God's grace is greater than my failures.

I let go of the need to control everything and surrender to God's perfect

I am deeply loved by God and nothing can separate me from His love.

God refreshes my soul and renews my strength.

I will be fully present today, trusting that God holds tomorrow.

My body, mind, and spirit find rest in God alone.

I let go of striving and choose to rest in God's love.

I step into the weekend with joy, knowing that God is in control.

God's presence is my safe place.

I am fully known and fully loved by God.

I will not let stress steal my peace today.

God is my refuge and I am safe in His hands.

I do not need to have all the answers. I trust God.

God is fighting my battles and I can rest in His victory.

I will not fear because God is with me.

I am held together by God's love even when life feels overwhelming.

God's goodness and mercy follow me every day.

I will not carry burdens that God has already taken from me.

I am at peace because God is in control.

I trust in God's timing even when I don't understand.

I will lay down my burdens and take on God's.

I am never alone for God is always with me.

No matter what happens today, God is still good.

Closing prayer

Father, as this week comes to an end, I lay my burdens at Your feet. Help

I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go

Listen daily and start your morning with God's truth so you can walk in

Links

If your soul needs room to breathe and receive God's mercy, our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui offers slow, contemplative time in His Word.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I know what a lot of you are thinking. The genealogy. Are we really going there?

We are, and there's a reason. If God had wanted a clean family tree for His Son, He had the power to arrange one. Instead He built this one, out of the overlooked and the outsider and the people who were wronged.

Today we're finishing Luke 3 by walking through the lineage of Jesus and the women hidden inside a list that never names them.

Links

We visit Luke's house in Rome on our Bible Study Live trip.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

Why does Luke put the genealogy here?

Matthew opens his gospel with a genealogy. Luke buries his at the end of chapter three, right after the baptism and right before the temptation. Luke is a details guy, so the placement is intentional.

Look at what comes immediately before. The heavens open, the Spirit descends like a dove, and a voice says you are my beloved Son. Then Luke runs the family line all the way back to Adam, who he calls the son of God.

And look at what comes right after. Next week we study the temptation, where the enemy says if you are the Son of God.

So Luke sandwiches this family tree between heaven declaring the sonship of Jesus and the devil attacking it. In the ancient world, genealogies were identity documents.

Why does it say Jesus was about thirty?

Thirty was a meaningful number. The Levites entered temple service at thirty. David became king at thirty. Joseph entered Pharaoh's service at thirty. Ezekiel's visions began at thirty. It was the age a man was considered ready to carry the responsibility of ministry.

Luke says about thirty because he's a careful historian. The point is that this is not a kid. He's ready.

Why is Luke's genealogy different from Matthew's?

Matthew starts with Abraham and walks down through David to Jesus. He's making a Jewish case, laying out the royal credentials.

Luke flips it. He starts with Jesus and walks backward through David, past Abraham, all the way to Adam, and then one step further to God.

That difference is intentional. Matthew stops at Abraham because his point is the covenant with Israel. Luke pushes past Abraham because his point is the entire human race. He's a Gentile writing to Gentiles, saying this is for everybody.

Remember what Luke quoted from Isaiah a few verses earlier. All flesh will see the salvation of God. Matthew and Mark stop that quotation short. Luke carries it all the way through, and then he builds a family tree that backs it up.

And think about the timing. John just told the crowd that having Abraham as their father wasn't enough. Then Luke shows that the family line of Jesus goes back further than Abraham anyway.

Why do the two lists split after David?

From Abraham to David, Matthew and Luke match. After David they diverge almost completely. Matthew traces the line through Solomon, the royal line. Luke traces it through Nathan, a different son of David.

They also give different fathers for Joseph. Matthew says Jacob. Luke says Heli. Scholarship is divided. One explanation is that Luke is giving Mary's line, with Heli as her father and Joseph listed as son-in-law, since Jewish lists didn't name women. Another is that Matthew gives legal rights to the throne while Luke gives physical descent. They run through different members of the same families, so they aren't in conflict.

Why does any of this matter?

Here's what struck me. Most of these names appear nowhere else in Scripture. We know nothing about them. No recorded words. And they're in the line of Jesus.

Dozens of people who lived and raised children and died without making a mark on history, except that they were part of the lineage of the Messiah. God was working through generations who never knew what they were part of. They died without ever seeing it.

For a Jewish person, your genealogy was your identity. Wrapped up in it were land rights, your tribe, and sometimes your job. A priest had to prove descent from a priest in order to serve.

And it was verifiable. Genealogies were part of the public archives, and Josephus talks about consulting them for his own work. When Luke published this list, people could go check it. Those records were destroyed when Rome leveled Jerusalem around AD 70. At the time Luke wrote, you could still look it up.

Why does it end with Adam, the son of God?

Luke is the only gospel writer who takes it all the way back.

Paul later calls Jesus the last Adam in 1 Corinthians, and Luke is making that same connection here, using a list instead of an argument.

The first Adam was tested in a garden where he had everything, and he failed. The very next thing we read in Luke is Jesus going into the wilderness, hungry for forty days, tested. And He doesn't fail.

Where are the women in this list?

There aren't any named. Matthew includes four. Luke includes none, because he's writing the way historians of that era wrote.

But here's what I can't get past. Every name in this list required a woman. And if Luke is in fact tracing Mary's family, then this entire list is her family tree, recorded under the men's names.

So let me point out a few of them.

Eve, the wife of Adam. The very first promise of a rescuer in Scripture was given to her, not to Adam. God tells the serpent that her offspring will crush his head. This whole line Luke just traced is the working out of a promise spoken to a woman about her children. Adam named her Eve because she was the mother of all the living, and Luke traces Jesus back through all the living.

Noah's wife. We don't know her name. We know she boarded the ark, survived the flood, and raised the sons the whole human race descends from, including Shem, who is in Luke's list. Everything after Genesis 8 runs through a woman nobody ever named.

Sarah, attached to the son of Isaac. Twenty-five years waiting on a promise, into her nineties, past any reasonable hope. She laughed when she heard it. Gabriel later tells Mary that nothing is impossible with God, echoing Sarah's story to a young girl who knew it well.

Leah, attached to the son of Judah. Jacob loved Rachel. Leah was the wife he didn't choose, and Genesis says plainly she wasn't loved. She names her first sons in a way that reflects that ache. Then the fourth son she names Judah, which means praise, saying this time I will praise the Lord. She stopped naming her children after the love she couldn't get and named one after the God who saw her. And Judah is the son the Messiah came through. The unloved wife is the great-grandmother of the royal line.

Tamar, attached to the son of Perez. Widowed twice in Judah's family and left in limbo. Under the law she had a right to a husband from that family, and Judah withheld it. A woman with no power, denied what she was owed, who did the only thing available to keep her family line alive.

Rahab, the mother of Boaz. A Canaanite living in Jericho under judgment, with a shameful job. She hid the Israelite spies because she had heard what their God had done and she believed it. Hebrews 11 lists her among the faithful. Her great-grandson was King David.

Ruth, the mother of Obed. A Moabite, and Deuteronomy 23 restricted Moabites from the assembly of Israel. A widow with no children, which meant no security of any kind. She followed Naomi and Naomi's God, and gleaned leftover grain at the edges of fields, the provision the law made for the poor. Two generations in a row, the royal line runs through foreign women.

Bathsheba, attached to the son of Nathan. According to 1 Chronicles 3, Nathan and Solomon had the same mother. Her story was not a clean one, and it was not one she chose.

What do we do with that?

Most of these women are invisible to us. Hundreds of years of women whose names we don't have, who carried babies and delivered them and fed them and taught them and buried them and kept going. All of them part of the story.

And it wasn't only the respectable ones. There's a woman nobody wanted. A widow who had to fight for her place. A Canaanite with a shameful job. A foreigner from an excluded nation. A woman a king took advantage of.

If God had wanted a clean family tree, He could have arranged one. He built this one instead.

So if you feel unseen, or unchosen, or like your story is too messy to be useful, this list is for you. You're in good company, and the company is the family line of Jesus. My own family line is messy too. Praise God that He takes the mess and redeems it.

Timestamps

Frequently asked questions

Why do Matthew and Luke give different genealogies?

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Whether you're facing a big decision or just need clarity for today, these affirmations help you trust God's plan. We focus on James 1:5, the promise that God gives wisdom generously to anyone who asks.

Thursday Daily Affirmations: I Seek Wisdom, and God Gives It Freely (James 1:5)

I'll say each affirmation, pause so you can repeat it after me, and then

Before we begin

God created you for a reason. Your life is not an accident, and your

Thursday affirmations and Scripture

God has a purpose for my life and I walk in His plan.

I trust in the Lord to guide my steps.

I seek wisdom, and God gives it freely.

God is directing my steps and I do not walk alone.

I am a light in this world, shining for Christ.

God has prepared good works for me to do today.

I am equipped for every good work.

I walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I will walk in faith, not in fear.

God's Word lights my path.

I choose obedience, knowing God's ways are best.

I live with purpose and do not waste my time.

I am called to make an impact for God's Kingdom.

I have the mind of Christ and seek His wisdom daily.

I am a vessel for God's work.

I will not grow weary in doing good.

God's purpose for me cannot be stopped.

I do everything for the glory of God.

God is using my life to accomplish His plan.

I am bold in sharing the gospel.

I walk in step with the Spirit.

I remain steadfast in my calling.

God will finish the work He started in me.

I live with an eternal perspective.

I press forward in my faith, knowing my reward is in Heaven.

Closing prayer

Father, thank You for calling me to a life of purpose. Help me to walk in

I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go

Listen daily and start your morning with God's truth so you can walk in

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Asking God for wisdom and then listening for His answer is part of what we practice at our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

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John says the Messiah is coming with a winnowing fork in His hand. Most of us read that as a threat. But a farmer doesn't go out to the threshing floor to destroy things. He goes out because he wants the grain.

Today we're in Luke 3, talking about the different kinds of baptism, what the winnowing fork actually did, and why the chaff is not what most of us assume it is.

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We visit Luke's house in Rome on our Bible Study Live trip.

Bible Study Live is a small-group Bible study trip with Rachael Groll. Study Scripture where it happened in Rome, or slow down for a contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui. Dates and details at BibleStudyLive.org

Listen ad-free, plus the full library of past series, on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

What does the word baptism actually mean?

The Greek is baptizo, and it means to dip, immerse, or plunge something fully into something else. Outside the Bible it was used for dyeing cloth and for sinking ships.

So the picture we get is total immersion. I'm not saying anything bad about your baptism if you had a sprinkle. I'm saying the biblical image is immersion, and that matters for understanding what follows.

Every baptism in Scripture answers two questions. Who is doing the dipping, and what are you being dipped into?

Was baptism a new idea?

Not at all. For the Jewish people, ritual washing was ordinary. They had stone pools for ceremonial cleansing, and archaeologists have found dozens of them around the temple. Remember the water jars Jesus turned into wine? Those were ceremonial cleansing jars.

When a Gentile converted to Judaism, immersion was part of that conversion.

Paul even looks back at the Exodus and calls it a baptism. In 1 Corinthians he says Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They went down into the water and came out a free people.

That's a beautiful picture, because John is standing in the Jordan, the same river Israel crossed to enter the promised land. That water was always telling a baptism story.

Why did John tell Jewish people to get in the water?

This is the part that would have stung. These weren't Gentile outsiders converting. These were Jewish people, including religious leaders, the ones who had just been talking about being descendants of Abraham.

And John is telling them to go into the water just like the converts do.

That's why he says a few verses earlier not to begin saying they have Abraham for their father. Your family line won't save you. You need to get in the water for yourself.

What could John's baptism not do?

John could get people wet. He could call them to repent. But he could not forgive their sins and he could not put the Spirit of God inside anyone.

He was calling them to repent because he was preparing the way for Jesus. That's why he says someone mightier is coming, and that he isn't worthy to untie His sandal strap, which was the job of the lowest servant in a household.

So water baptism is something a person can do for you. Baptism of the Spirit is something only Jesus can do in you.

What does baptism with fire mean?

Fire runs two directions in Scripture, and both are present here.

One is purifying. Malachi said the coming Lord would be like a refiner's fire, burning the dross out of gold and silver. At Pentecost in Acts 2, Luke tells us there appeared tongues of fire. Fire burns off what doesn't belong and sets people on fire for God.

The other is judgment, and look at the context. Right before this, fruitless trees get thrown into the fire. Right after, the chaff burns with unquenchable fire.

How did harvesting actually work?

Everyone in that crowd knew this process, because they'd watched it every harvest.

First the cutting. Workers cut the stalks and hauled them to the threshing floor, a flat piece of packed hard ground, usually on a hilltop or exposed ridge, because they needed the wind.

Then the threshing. They drove oxen over the grain, sometimes dragging a heavy wooden sledge, to break the stalks apart and loosen the kernel from the dry husk around it. Now you have a pile of mixed material: good grain, broken husks, dust, straw.

Then the winnowing. A wooden fork or broad shovel scooped up the pile and threw it into the air, usually in late afternoon when the breeze picked up. The kernels are heavier so they fall back down. The chaff is light and papery, so the wind carries it off the ridge. They repeated that until nothing was left but clean grain. The grain went into the barn. The chaff was swept up and burned.

Why does it matter that it's chaff and not weeds?

Here's the detail most of us miss. The chaff isn't a weed from another field. The chaff is the husk that grew around the kernel. They came up on the same stalk, out of the same soil.

So the winnowing fork isn't separating one crop from a different crop. This isn't even the wheat and the tares. He's separating what's useless from what's valuable inside the very same harvest.

John is standing in front of a crowd of Jewish people who all technically share Abraham as their father, saying the Messiah is going to sort out what's real from what only looks like it belongs.

What does the wind have to do with the Spirit?

The winnowing doesn't work without wind. You can toss grain in the air all day, and without wind nothing separates.

In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for wind is the same word for spirit. Ruach. Pneuma.

Now look at where this sits. Verse 16 says He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Verse 17 says His winnowing fork is in His hand. The same Spirit who fills and empowers is also the wind that separates. That's why John puts these two images side by side.

That imagery is everywhere. Psalm 1 says the wicked are like chaff the wind drives away. In Jeremiah, God says He will winnow them with a winnowing fork. Hosea compares faithless Israel to chaff on the threshing floor. Malachi, the last prophet before the four hundred years of silence, says the day is coming burning like a furnace and the arrogant will be chaff.

So when John picks up this language, he's finishing a sentence the prophets of Israel started four hundred years earlier.

Two more things worth noticing. Boaz was winnowing barley at the threshing floor in Bethlehem the night Ruth came to him. And in 2 Samuel, David bought a threshing floor, and that very spot later became the site of the temple. Where grain gets separated from chaff is often where Israel meets God.

Is this happening now or later?

Now. He says His winnowing fork is in His hand. Present tense. Harvest time is here.

So John is telling this crowd that their family heritage and their religious activity won't survive the wind.

But notice why the farmer is out there. He isn't on that floor to destroy things. He's there to get the grain. All the tossing and the wind and eventually the fire has one purpose, and that's wheat in the barn. Winnowing is what you do because you want the crop.

So when the wind blows through our lives, when things get stripped away and we feel tossed around, often that isn't Him discarding us. It's Him holding on to us. Sometimes He's separating us from chaff we've let grow up around us, the things that desensitize us and distract us and keep us from producing the fruit He wants.

That process isn't always pleasant. And we always have a choice. I've stubbornly held on to things I knew the Lord was asking me to give up, and there was a cost, sometimes financial and sometimes relational.

Why was Jesus baptized if He had no sin?

This is where we see clearly that not all baptisms are the same.

John's was a baptism of repentance. Jesus had nothing to repent of. So His baptism was something different. While He was praying, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice said you are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.

That dove was a sign God gave so people would recognize that Jesus was the one John had been announcing.

We'll keep having this conversation as we move through Luke and into Acts. For now, I'd just ask you to loosen your grip on the idea that there's only one kind of baptism. This isn't the sprinkle versus dunk conversation. This is water baptism, the baptism of repentance, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and our baptism into Christ. You don't have to have it figured out today.

Timestamps

Frequently asked questions

What does baptizo mean?

What is a winnowing fork?

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