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

Whether you're questioning your calling or stepping into a new season, today's affirmations help you walk forward with clarity. We focus on Proverbs 3:5-6, trusting the Lord with all your heart as He makes your paths straight.

You were created on purpose, for a purpose. These Scripture-based

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

Links

If you want to grow in hearing God's direction, our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui gives you unhurried time in Scripture 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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Luke opens chapter three with a list of names most of us skip. An emperor, a governor, three regional rulers, two high priests. Every one of them had access, money, and a platform. And the word of God went past all of them to a man in the wilderness.

Today we slow down and work through who these people actually were, why Luke includes them, and what it means that God chose the one person on that page nobody would have picked.

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 open with a list of names?

For years I skipped this part. It felt like Roman background I didn't need. But when we slow down to actually study the word, we find that everything is there on purpose. Luke wrote this, but these words are God breathed, which means the Holy Spirit decided what went in and what stayed out.

Luke is doing two things. First, he's dating the story like a historian. That's how the ancient world marked time, by naming who held power. He's writing to Gentiles, so he's saying these were real rulers and this really happened, and you can go check it.

Second, he's setting up a contrast that lands in verse two.

Who was Tiberius Caesar?

The emperor of Rome, and the stepson of Caesar Augustus, the one we talked about in the Christmas story. Augustus adopted him as his heir.

That detail tells us how much time has passed. Augustus ruled from 27 BC to AD 14. Tiberius ruled from AD 14 to 37, so his fifteenth year puts us around AD 28 or 29, which is when John started preaching. It lines up with verse 23, where Jesus is about thirty. Last we saw Him, He was twelve in the temple.

One thing worth knowing: after Julius Caesar, Caesar stopped being a family name and became a title, basically another word for emperor. Every Roman ruler after him took it, which is part of why this gets confusing.

Tiberius was not a popular leader. He was suspicious of people and harsh with anyone he saw as a threat, and he eventually withdrew from Rome entirely to the island of Capri while the empire mostly ran without him.

Who was Pontius Pilate?

The Roman governor of Judea from about AD 26 to 36. His official title was prefect, and we know that for certain because in 1961 archaeologists digging in Caesarea found a stone slab with his name and title carved into it. It's called the Pilate Stone.

Jewish writers from that time describe him as stubborn and cruel. He brought Roman military standards into Jerusalem knowing it would offend Jewish law. He took money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct. Luke 13 mentions Galileans he had killed while they were offering sacrifices. He's eventually the man who hands Jesus over to be crucified.

Which Herod is this one?

This is where a lot of us get lost, so let's slow down.

The Herod in the Christmas story was Herod the Great, and he is not the same Herod you meet later. He died around 4 BC. He had about ten wives and a lot of children, and he was so paranoid about losing his throne that he killed three of his own sons. A Roman writer said it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son.

When he died, Rome split his kingdom three ways among his surviving sons. None of them became king. The word tetrarch means ruler of a fourth. A family that once held all the power was now fractured into pieces.

Archelaus got the largest share, including Judea. He was brutal, and after about ten years both the Jews and the Samaritans, who agreed on almost nothing, complained to Rome and Augustus removed him. That's how Judea ended up under direct Roman governors like Pilate. He shows up in the Christmas story too. When Joseph came back from Egypt and heard Archelaus was ruling Judea, he was afraid to go there and settled in Nazareth instead, which we read in Matthew 2.

Philip ruled the northeastern territories and built Caesarea Philippi, the city where Peter later confessed that Jesus was the Christ. Of all the Herods, he had the best reputation.

Herod Antipas is the one named here. He ruled Galilee, where Jesus grew up and did most of His ministry. He's the one who arrests John the Baptist and eventually has him beheaded. Jesus calls him that fox in Luke 13, and Pilate sends Jesus to him during the trial.

There's a fourth son we hear little about, usually called Herod II. He never ruled anything, but he was the first husband of Herodias. Antipas took her from him, and that's the marriage John the Baptist called out publicly. That is eventually what costs John his freedom and his life.

Later there's Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, who kills the apostle James in Acts 12. This family line runs from the birth of Jesus all the way through Acts.

Who was Lysanias?

An obscure ruler, not related to the Herods at all, who ruled a small region called Abilene near Damascus. Some people have questioned why Luke bothers to include him.

He's there for the same reason as everyone else. Luke is sketching the political map from the top down. The emperor, the governor of Judea, the Herod sons in Galilee and the northeast, and then one more regional ruler further north. Luke is a details guy, and he's saying in exact terms who was in charge of every piece of this world, and what year it was, so you can go verify it.

Why are there two high priests?

Israel was only supposed to have one, and he was supposed to serve for life. Here we have two.

Annas served as high priest from about AD 6 to 15, and then Rome removed him. But Rome could take away the office without taking away the power. Five of his sons served as high priest at different times, and so did his son-in-law Caiaphas, who holds the title during the ministry of Jesus.

When Jesus was arrested, they brought Him to Annas first, which we saw back in John 18. Acts 4 still calls Annas the high priest. Caiaphas held the office. Annas was calling the shots.

Luke names both because both were running things, and it shows how far the priesthood had fallen. The holiest office in Israel had become a political appointment by Rome. Even the religious establishment was under Roman control.

Why does Luke write like an Old Testament prophet?

Think about how Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea open their books. They date the writing by naming the kings in power, and then comes the line: the word of the Lord came to them.

That's exactly the formula here. Luke names the rulers, and then verse two says the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

We have just come out of four hundred years with no prophet in Israel. Luke picks up the old formula because the prophet is back. It isn't silent anymore. And what did the Old Testament prophets do? They foretold Jesus. That's exactly what John is here to do.

Who did God actually speak to?

Look at that list again. Every powerful person in it had access. They had money. They had influence. They had platform.

None of them got the word from the Lord.

Instead the word came to a man in the wilderness, a miracle baby whose parents had waited their whole lives for him, a man who ate locusts and honey and dressed in fur and struck people as an oddball.

That gives me so much comfort. There are seasons in my own life where I feel like I'm out in the wilderness and I'm the oddball, and the Lord still speaks. I would much rather be a person in the wilderness in communication with God than somebody in power who isn't.

So the next time you're tempted to think God won't use you because you're just some weirdo in the wilderness, remember that is exactly who He uses. He always has.

Timestamps

Frequently asked questions

What does tetrarch mean?

What is the Pilate Stone?

Which Herod is named in Luke 3?

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Today we hand our anxious thoughts to Jesus instead of carrying them alone. These affirmations center on 1 Peter 5:7, which invites us to cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us.

Midweek is when the noise gets loudest. These Scripture-based Christian

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

Before we begin

Breathe in God's peace, and exhale your worries. This day is a gift, and

Wednesday affirmations and Scripture

I am ruled by God's peace today.

I cast all my worries onto Jesus. He carries them for me.

I will not be anxious. I will pray and trust God.

God's plans for me are good, and I trust Him.

I do not need to worry about tomorrow.

I will rest in God's presence today.

God is my refuge and strength.

I will not let my heart be troubled. I trust in God.

The Lord directs my steps.

Even when I don't understand, I trust in God's wisdom.

I do not have to be afraid because God is with me.

God is fighting for me.

I am not alone. God walks with me.

God is my rock and salvation. I will not be shaken.

I find rest in God alone.

God's love never fails me.

I have peace because I am in Christ.

I wait on the Lord and He renews my strength.

I will trust in God, even when I don't see the whole picture.

God is working all things for my good.

God's peace rules in my heart today.

I give my burdens to the Lord and He sustains me.

I will be still and know that He is God.

I trust God's timing and His ways.

I will rejoice in the Lord always.

Closing prayer

Father, I surrender my worries to You. I choose to rest in Your peace

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

Peter wrote to believers facing hard times, and on our Bible Study Live trip to Rome we visit the Mamertine prison, linked by tradition to both Peter and Paul.

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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Mary knew exactly who her son was. She had the angel, the virgin conception, the shepherds, and Simeon's prophecy. And when her twelve-year-old said he had to be in his Father's house, Scripture tells us plainly that she did not understand what he said to her.

Today we're finishing Luke 2 with Jesus at twelve in the temple. This passage gets taught incorrectly a lot, so we're going to slow down and ask some questions of the text. We'll look at what Passover actually meant to this family, what Jesus was really doing among the teachers, and the difference between knowing something and understanding it.

Links

In this episode I share the moment God first showed me Bible Study Live, standing at a villa in Italy. I knew it was Him, and it still took six years to understand what He meant. Today that picture is small-group Bible study trips in Rome and 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

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 was the Feast of Passover?

It goes back to Exodus 12, the night God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt. Each family killed a lamb without defect and put its blood on the doorposts, and when God's judgment moved through Egypt that night, He passed over the homes marked with the blood. That same night Pharaoh finally let God's people go.

God told them to keep that meal every year forever. Roasted lamb, bread without yeast because there hadn't been time to let it rise, and bitter herbs to remember the bitterness of slavery. The feast ran eight days, one for Passover itself and seven for the Feast of Unleavened Bread right after, which is why Luke says they stayed until the days were over. It fell in late March or April, right around when we observe Easter.

Deuteronomy 16 required all the men to appear before the Lord three times a year, at Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Technically only Joseph had to go. Mary went anyway, which was common for devoted families but not universal. We see the same thing with Hannah going up year after year in 1 Samuel. Luke is telling us this was a faithful household. There was a lot of hard in their lives, and they kept showing up.

Why did it take a day to notice Jesus was missing?

Because nobody traveled alone. Nazareth was about eighty to ninety miles from Jerusalem by road, which was a three to five day walk, and families traveled together in large groups with relatives and neighbors for safety. Luke tells us exactly that in verse 44.

So when Mary and Joseph couldn't find Jesus, it was because they assumed he was with the caravan, somewhere among thirty cousins. A whole day could pass before anyone noticed a twelve-year-old was gone.

What was Jerusalem like during Passover?

Packed. Scholars think Jerusalem normally held somewhere in the tens of thousands, and during Passover it swelled well beyond that. Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, wrote about numbers in the millions. Many scholars think that's heavily exaggerated, or that he simply meant there were people everywhere. People camped on the hillsides and in surrounding villages because there was nowhere to stay in the city.

The temple courts would have been loud and crowded, with lambs being sacrificed and the Levitical priests singing psalms. For a boy from a small village, this would have been one of the biggest things he saw all year.

Why did Passover matter so much to them?

For us it reads like a history lesson. For them it was how Israel remembered who they were and where they came from. God built the teaching right into it. Exodus 12 says that when your children ask what this rite means, you tell them the story again.

So every year the children asked and the parents retold it. That's part of how the faith got handed down, because most people couldn't read. It was an oral history carried by ritual.

And remember where they were standing. Israel was under Roman occupation. A feast week about God breaking the power of an empire and setting His people free meant something. During Passover, they were reminded of hope. Rome knew it too, which is why the Roman governor came up from the coast with extra soldiers during the feast to prevent a riot.

What is being foreshadowed here?

Think about what's happening. A twelve-year-old boy travels to Jerusalem for a feast about a lamb whose blood saved people from death, and he sits in the temple courts asking questions. About twenty years later he comes back to that same city, at that same feast, at that same time of year, and becomes the Lamb himself. Paul says it in 1 Corinthians: Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.

There's one more thing I hadn't noticed until this time studying it. Mary and Joseph searched three days before they found him. Later, at Passover, three days would pass before Jesus was found again. That pricked my heart about how strategic God was in the timing.

Was Jesus teaching or learning in the temple?

This is where the passage often gets taught incorrectly. Verse 46 says he was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Sitting, listening, asking. Those are the actions of a student.

Then verse 47 says all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. Here's what ties them together: Jewish teaching worked by question and answer. A student asked a question, the teacher often answered with a question back, and the way you answered was how they measured whether you really understood.

So we have a twelve-year-old sitting among the teachers, asking, listening, and answering. That's learning. But the depth of his answers was teaching them at the same time. He wasn't correcting them or taking over.

The Greek word for understanding is sunesis, the ability to put things together and see how the pieces connect. They weren't amazed that he had memorized a lot of Scripture. Plenty of Jewish boys had. They were amazed at how he understood what it meant.

This matters theologically. Jesus was fully God and fully human, and his human mind grew the way yours and mine does. He learned his Scripture. It wasn't just automatically installed. He sat under teachers.

I think we need to give ourselves some grace there. People sometimes assume I have the whole Bible memorized. I don't. I know how to read it and study it. I know a lot more than I did five years ago, and that came from studying, listening, and asking questions.

What's the difference between knowing and understanding?

Verse 50 says his parents did not understand the saying he spoke to them. He had said he must be in his Father's house.

Why didn't they understand? Mary knew he was God's Son. She knew she was a virgin when she conceived. She knew it. She didn't understand it yet. She had a twelve-year-old who had scraped his knees and run and played and laughed like any child. She knew, and she was still growing into understanding.

So when we don't understand something right away, we tend to look down on ourselves as though something is wrong with us. This is Mary. This is Jesus. There's a difference between knowing and understanding, and we grow into it. Scripture says she treasured these things in her heart.

Sometimes God reveals something and you know that you know it was Him, and you still have no idea what it means. Sometimes that clears up quickly. Sometimes you sit with it for years. When God first showed me Bible Study Live, I was standing at the villa in Italy and He showed me an image of myself teaching a Bible study. I knew it was revelation from the Lord. I had no idea what it meant. I was working at a church and leading mission trips at the time, so I assumed it was connected to that somehow. It took six years before I understood.

For some of us it takes a lifetime. For some of us, it may be on the other side of heaven.

What happened after they went home?

Verse 51 says he continued in subjection to them. The Son of God went home to Nazareth and spent the next eighteen years obeying a young mom and a carpenter. The next time we see him, he's about thirty.

Verse 52 says Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. The Greek word for increasing is prokopto, and it carries the picture of cutting a path forward through brush. Slow, steady progress.

Notice there are four areas. Wisdom, stature, favor with God, favor with people. Mind, body, spirit, and relationships. He grew in all of them, which means he started in one place and moved to another. If that was true for Him, it's certainly true for you and me.

Timestamps

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Today's affirmations are for strength and courage for the week ahead. We lean on Isaiah 41:10, where God promises to be with you, strengthen you, and hold you up.

Step into your week with boldness, peace, and purpose. These

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 strength and confidence for the week ahead.

Tuesday affirmations and Scripture

I am strong and courageous in Christ.

I do not fear because God is with me.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I am victorious through Jesus.

I have the power of God working within me.

I will not be shaken because God is my refuge.

I walk by faith, not by sight.

No weapon formed against me shall prosper.

God fights my battles and I need only to be still.

I am not afraid because God has overcome the world.

I have authority in Christ over every attack of the enemy.

I am rooted and established in God's love.

I have divine wisdom and strength for today.

I am resilient and I will persevere through trials.

I am filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

I will not grow weary in doing good.

God's grace is sufficient for me.

I have peace that surpasses understanding.

I am never alone. God is always near.

I am protected under the shadow of the Almighty.

God's Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

I stand firm in faith and do not waver.

I am free from fear because God's perfect love casts it out.

I have a spirit of power, love, and sound mind.

God is working all things for my good today.

Closing prayer

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

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

Links

Studying God's promises with a small group of women is what Bible Study Live is all about, whether in Rome or on a quiet 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

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

Two people recognize the Messiah on the same day, in the same temple. God gives one of them a private word and the other a public one. That difference has a lot to say about how God works through you when He starts giving you spiritual insight.

Today we're in Luke 2:22-40 with Simeon and Anna. We'll talk about why Mary needed purification, what the two birds tell us about this family, how the Holy Spirit worked before Pentecost, and what Simeon meant when he said the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed.

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 did Mary need to be purified?

Jesus had no sin, so why would His mother need cleansing? This wasn't about sin. It had to do with the blood of childbirth, going back to Leviticus 12. That law said a mother waited forty days after having a son before returning to worship at the temple, and eighty after a daughter. Then she brought offerings to the priest.

Being unclean didn't mean she'd done something wrong. It meant she wasn't ready to come near holy things yet. Leviticus 15 says any bodily discharge made a person ceremonially unclean, and Numbers 19 says touching a dead body made you unclean for a week. If Joseph helped Mary deliver, he would have been unclean too. This was ritual cleansing, not a sin offering.

Why did they bring two birds instead of a lamb?

Leviticus 12 called for a lamb and a bird, but if you couldn't afford a lamb you were permitted to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons instead.

They brought two birds. That tells us they couldn't afford a lamb. The Son of God was born into a family living in poverty.

And think about this. She didn't need one. She was holding the Lamb. Years later Jesus would become the final sacrifice, which is why you and I don't have to bring a perfect lamb as an offering.

Birds were plentiful in that region and nested in the clefts of the rock walls there. They were considered clean, simple, and harmless, which is why they fit as a sacrificial animal. Keep an eye on the doves as we move through Luke.

Why does Scripture say "up to Jerusalem"?

Because people literally had to go up. Jerusalem sat on a ridge higher than the surrounding area, so you climbed to reach it from almost any direction. The Psalms of Ascent were the songs people sang on that journey up the hill.

How do the regions fit together?

Galilee was the north, green and fertile with trade routes running through, which meant many non-Jewish people settled there. Isaiah calls it Galilee of the Gentiles. Southerners looked down on Galileans and could pick out their accent immediately. That's where Jesus grew up.

Samaria was the middle. There was real bad blood between Samaritans and Jews over where to worship and which Scriptures to accept, and Jewish travelers would cross the Jordan and back just to avoid passing through. That's what makes it so striking later when Jesus had to go through Samaria to meet the woman at the well.

Judea was the south, the heartland, with Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The name comes from Judah, which is also where we get the word Jew.

Nazareth was a small village in Galilee, the kind of place that prompted Nathanael to ask whether anything good could come from there. Bethlehem was a small town in Judea about six miles south of Jerusalem, and its name means house of bread. It was David's hometown and the setting of Ruth and Boaz.

Here's what used to confuse me. City of David usually means Jerusalem in the Old Testament. But Luke gives that title to Bethlehem, because that's where David was born and tended sheep. It's a reversal his readers would have caught. The King of kings comes from a small town, not the royal capital.

Put the travel together: Nazareth in the north, ninety miles south to Bethlehem for the census, then six miles up to Jerusalem to present Him at the temple.

How did the Holy Spirit work before Pentecost?

Luke says the Spirit was upon Simeon and led him into the temple on the exact day Jesus was brought in. But Pentecost hasn't happened yet, so what is this?

All through the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon specific people for a specific assignment or season. We saw it with Zechariah and Elizabeth. David spoke of it and begged God not to take it from him. It was real, and it was temporary. The Spirit came on and off people.

At Pentecost that changes. Peter quotes Joel, that God will pour out His Spirit on all mankind and sons and daughters will prophesy. Not just prophets and kings. You and me. And it becomes permanent, made possible by the finished work of Jesus.

So if you have come to faith in Jesus, you already have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There's also the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which works more like what we see here, coming on someone for a specific purpose. We'll get to that later in the series.

What does "the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed" mean?

This line is easy to brush past. The word for revealed is apokalypto, where we get apocalypse. It means unveiling. It does not mean disaster.

The word for thoughts is dialogismoi, where we get dialogue. It describes internal reasoning, the back and forth you have with yourself in your own head. So Simeon is talking about the private objections and doubts people carry about Jesus without ever saying them out loud.

We see it again when Jesus asks the Pharisees why they are reasoning in their hearts, and after the resurrection when He asks why doubts arise in their hearts. He knows. Jesus is going to pull the cover off what people actually think about Him.

That can bring peace, and it can also feel like chaos. I'm not saying God is the author of chaos. But when He brings truth into the light, whatever has been hiding in the dark scatters. In some places I've worked, you flip a light on and the cockroaches run. He exposes things because He wants to heal them.

Why does Simeon speak privately and Anna publicly?

Simeon waited a long time, and when the fulfillment came, he kept his word private. He gave it to one couple, specifically to Mary, and it was hard. A sword will pierce your own soul.

Anna does the opposite. She declares her word publicly to everyone waiting for the redemption of Israel.

Jewish law required two witnesses to establish something, going back to Deuteronomy, and Luke keeps giving us pairs. Zechariah and Mary. Elizabeth and Mary. Now Simeon and Anna.

Luke calls Anna a prophetess with no hesitation. She was a woman, a widow, and at least eighty-four. Some translations suggest she'd been a widow for eighty-four years, which would put her past a hundred. Widows were among the outcasts of that culture, and her tribe, Asher, had been scattered generations earlier. She was part of the faithful remnant God preserved.

Two people, same room, same day, two assignments. One private, one public.

That's what I want you to carry. When God gives you a word, not everything is for everyone. If He's growing you in spiritual insight, recognize that, especially when the word is hard. Hard words are usually meant for private. Knowing the difference is part of spiritual maturity.

Featured quote

"Not everything is for everyone."

Scripture referenced

Luke 2:22-40 (ESV), Leviticus 12, Leviticus 15, Numbers 19, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Joel, Acts 2

Timestamps

Frequently asked questions

Was Mary being cleansed from sin?

How far did Mary and Joseph travel?

How old was Anna?

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Today's affirmations are all about who God says you are. We speak Psalm 139:14 and other Scriptures that remind you that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that changes how you walk into your week.

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 it comes from.

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

Our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui, where we have studied the creation story in Genesis, is a beautiful place to marvel at how carefully God made you.

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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Questions or prayer requests? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

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Sunday is for looking ahead with God. Before the week begins, we pause and place what's coming into His hands. These Scripture-based Christian

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

Our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui is a slower, contemplative time to hand your plans back to God and simply be with Him.

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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Today we slow down and look back over the week with God, noticing where He met us, carried us, and showed us grace. These Saturday affirmations help you reflect with honesty and gratitude instead of regret.

Saturday is a good day to slow down and look back over your week with

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

If you long for unhurried time to sit with God and look back on His faithfulness, our contemplative Bible study retreat in Maui was made for that kind of reflection.

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're pressing pause on the Bible study so you have time to catch up. The color method takes real work, and not everyone can listen every day. A couple of times a month I'll stop, let you get caught up, and do a separate teaching that still connects to where we are.

Two parts today. First, your questions from SpeakPipe, including a correction I owe you, a great catch about the bread and the fish in John 6, and a long answer about the Ethiopian Bible and the so-called lost books. Then a teaching on the sacred echo, and the one thing God has repeated to me all week: He knows exactly where you are, and He is the one who comes looking.

Links

If you've been wanting to slow down and study Scripture with a small group of women who love Jesus, Bible Study Live was made for that.

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

A correction about the New World Translation

I answered a question about translations recently and didn't catch that the caller mentioned the New World Translation. A listener pointed it out, and I'm grateful.

I do not endorse it. That's the Watchtower Bible, used by Jehovah's Witnesses, and there is a great deal in it that is problematic from an evangelical Christian perspective. My answer was about the standard Christian translations, and I apologize for not catching the reference sooner.

Why doesn't John mention the fish in the leftovers?

Great catch, and it shows how intentional each gospel writer was. These were four different people with different purposes in what they chose to include.

In John 6:13 the disciples fill twelve baskets with pieces of the five barley loaves, and the fish aren't named. But John isn't the odd one out. Matthew and Luke also describe the leftovers as broken pieces without naming the fish. Mark is the only one that says bread and fish.

So why do three out of four focus on the bread? Bread carries real theological weight in John, because right after this Jesus gives the I am the bread of life teaching. John's attention lands there because he's setting up what's coming. Bread also echoes the manna God provided in the wilderness, and the crowd would have been thinking about Moses. The fish didn't carry that same weight.

It may also be how people told stories. Bread was often shorthand for a whole meal. I've seen that serving overseas, where someone says they made bread and they mean bread and stew and fruit and everything else. It's like telling your family there's leftover pizza when there's also salad and breadsticks. The fish weren't forgotten. They just weren't the detail John wanted to highlight.

Notice what you notice

This is the whole reason I teach the color method. It slows your brain down enough to actually comprehend what you're reading.

A lot of us trained ourselves into short attention spans. What the Lord draws your attention to may be different from what He draws mine to, because He is a personal God. We each have a personal calling and a personal relationship with Him. The more you do this, the more you'll see how He reveals things to you specifically.

What about the Ethiopian Bible and the lost books?

This comes up constantly, and I have some passionate feelings about it.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has a Bible with 81 books. Ours has 66. The extra ones include titles like Enoch and Jubilees, plus some you've probably never heard of.

First thing to understand: these books are not lost in the sense that anyone is hiding them from you. They've been around the whole time, part of the Ethiopian church from very early on, while the rest of the church settled into a different set.

Take Enoch. It was written centuries after the real Enoch could have lived, and it's full of speculative material you don't find anywhere else in Scripture. It was attributed to him to give it credibility. Yes, Jude quotes a line from it, but quoting a true statement is not the same as calling the whole book inspired. Paul does something similar when he quotes pagan Greek poets in Acts. He's using a reference his audience knows, not endorsing it as Scripture.

Jubilees is a later retelling of Genesis and Exodus that adds things the original text never says, like an angel dictating everything to Moses.

The Meqabyan books sound like Maccabees, which we talked about in the 400 years of silence episode, but they're completely different. Nobody really knows where they came from, and they've never been used anywhere in church history outside Ethiopia.

Catholic Bibles include several additional books, like Tobit and Judith. Those are a different case, because they have genuine historical value. I've read a number of them, Judith especially, while researching women in the early church for my new book. But they were written in Greek rather than Hebrew, which means they were never part of the Hebrew Bible that Jesus and the apostles used. Neither the Jewish community nor the early church recognized them as Scripture. Historical value, not scriptural value.

Even in the Ethiopian church, some of those books, like the Shepherd of Hermas, are considered valuable but not inspired. So even they don't treat all 81 the same way.

Here's the pattern. Most were written later than they claim, far removed from the original timeline, and credited to someone famous for credibility when that person had nothing to do with them. That's dishonest on its face, and it's worth asking what agenda was behind it.

From an evangelical view, the 66 books we have are the ones God intended us to have, and that canon has been settled a very long time because those are the books that were verified.

My honest advice: unless you're in seminary studying why these books were excluded, I wouldn't spend your time there. So many people I talk to don't yet know what their actual Bible says. Bankers don't study counterfeit money. They study the real thing until they know the feel and texture of it, so they recognize a fake immediately. Study the authentic Scriptures, and when someone hands you a sensational claim about hidden books, you'll be able to stop right there.

If you want new revelation, go study the Old Testament. God is not trying to hide Himself from you. He wants you to know Him.

What is a sacred echo?

It's what happens when God keeps saying the same thing to you through different means until you catch it. Here's how mine went this week.

On Sunday I woke up with the name Zebedee on my heart, the father of James and John. I went back to Scripture to see whether I was forgetting something, and I wasn't. There's very little about him.

What we know is that he was a fisherman with multiple boats, which in that time meant he was a businessman with money enough to buy a second one. He had influence and likely some affluence. We don't really know him for himself. We know him as the father of those boys.

Zebedee was doing what he was called to do. He was faithfully fishing. And that put his sons in the exact place they needed to be when Jesus came walking by.

As a parent, that got me. My greatest aim is children who love and serve the Lord, far more than podcasts or books or anything else I do. There was a reason Zebedee was on the Sea of Galilee doing what he was doing, because God was getting ready to use his sons, and his ordinary faithfulness positioned them for it.

I carried that into church still praying about it. During communion, our pastor's wife said we were doing something different. Instead of coming forward, they would bring it to us. As they served us where we sat, the Holy Spirit said: I know where you are. I can come to you.

That was the Zebedee connection. God knew where he was, and He had positioned him there on purpose.

Then this week we got to Luke 2 and the shepherds, and the same thing happened. They were out in the field doing a job many considered beneath them, and God sent an angel to announce that the Messiah had come. God located them.

Where does that leave us?

God can locate you. He knows exactly where you are, and much of the time He placed you there on purpose, in His timing.

We talked about Zechariah this week, and how his past didn't prevent his future. The same is true for you. Your past does not prevent your future. Often it becomes one of the things the Lord uses to redeem and restore and prepare you for what He's calling you to.

He seeks us out. He finds us. That's the pattern all through Scripture, and I'm so thankful for it.

Featured quote

"He is the God that locates us."

Scripture referenced

John 6, Luke 2, Acts, Jude

Timestamps

Frequently asked questions

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