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

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

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If you want to practice listening for God's leading, our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui is a contemplative time in His Word 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

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Today we slow down and look back over the week with God. These affirmations draw on Psalm 77:11, choosing to remember what the Lord has done in both the big moments and the quiet ones.

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

Our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui gives you space to remember God's faithfulness, with slow, contemplative time in Scripture alongside other 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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God Saw What Was Done to You: Listener Questions

Today is one of our Q&A episodes, where we take a pause from the Bible study so you have time to catch up and I can work through questions that have come in.

Two questions in this one. The first asks why people with religious roles so often fail to live obediently, which is a pattern running straight through Scripture. The second is harder and I want to handle it gently: why did God protect Cain after what he did, and why do some people lose their freedom because of somebody else's choices?

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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

Does being close to religion mean you're obedient to God?

Sarah put it in a phrase I keep thinking about: religious proximity does not equal religious obedience.

That's been a theme in Scripture from the very beginning. Adam and Eve were in perfect communion with God. They walked with Him daily. And still, because God gave us free will, proximity didn't produce obedience.

There isn't a day that goes by without someone in a religious role falling into sin. We hear about it constantly. You may have experienced church hurt yourself at the hands of a leader or a pastor. That's the reality of the fall, and it's the story written all through the pages of Scripture.

We've been watching it in Luke. The Roman political system had corrupted the religious leadership of the day, which is the whole backdrop behind the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the religious establishment Jesus keeps encountering. Having a religious role never meant being obedient to God.

What it comes down to is the difference between going to church and knowing Jesus. Some people go to church and then go home and harm their families the rest of the week. Some go hoping it absolves them of what they're doing elsewhere. A great deal of harm has been done in the name of religion. Proximity is not an indication of where the heart is.

And God's remedy for that, over and over in Scripture, is sending Jesus. We can know about Jesus without actually knowing Him, and those are two different things.

My hope for this show, and for the books and the trips and everything else we do, is that you would know Him for yourself. That doesn't mean you'll always get it right. We aren't perfect, which is exactly why we need Him. But being disobedient, feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit, confessing, and being restored to right relationship through Jesus is the whole rhythm of the Christian life.

Why did God protect Cain?

This question came in from someone working through the Genesis series, and it's one a lot of people carry, usually in different forms. At the heart of it is often a wound. If you've ever been hurt by somebody else's choices, you know the ache in it. Why does the person who caused the harm seem to get mercy while the person who was hurt has no say at all?

Let's look at what actually happens in Genesis 4.

Cain kills his brother in a field. Then God comes to him and says, what have you done, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Before God says one word about punishment, He makes it clear that He heard Abel. Abel never got a voice in that field. God gave him one. The first murder victim in Scripture is not forgotten.

Then comes the sentence, and it has layers. Cain is driven from the land, the ground won't produce for him, and he becomes a restless wanderer. He panics and says whoever finds him will kill him. And God puts a mark on him so that no one will.

Here's the detail worth knowing. The Hebrew word for mark is ot, which means sign. It's the same word used for the rainbow after the flood and for the blood on the doorposts at Passover. It isn't a brand of shame. It's a sign of protection.

Why would God protect him?

Two things are happening.

In the ancient world there were no courts and no police. Justice was handled by family members, and it usually meant revenge. And revenge did not stop at one life. Entire families were wiped out in the name of it. You can watch it start just a few verses later with Lamech, Cain's descendant, who brags about killing a man for wounding him and says if Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven. That's what vengeance does when it's left in human hands. The seed of it grows.

So God's protection of Cain puts a limit on the violence before it consumes the whole human family.

And look what Jesus does with that number later. He takes Lamech's seventy-seven and turns it into how many times we forgive. The way of Jesus is forgiveness. There's still justice, but it belongs to God rather than to us.

Protecting Cain is not the same as excusing Cain. He lived with real consequences the rest of his life. The ground didn't work for him, and at that time that was survival. But God also didn't give up on him.

Remember, we're not reading these stories to study the people. We're reading them to see the character and nature of God. Here we see mercy and justice together. That's hard to hold at once, especially when you're the one who was hurt.

Why do some people lose their freedom because of someone else's choices?

God doesn't hand out free will to some and withhold it from others. Every person bears God's image and every person has a will. But we live in a broken world where our choices land on other people. Freedom means the choice to love, and it also means the choice to harm. When someone abuses or wounds or betrays another person, the one who was hurt didn't choose that. Their safety was taken. Their innocence was taken. God calls that evil.

I struggled with this myself for a long time. Years ago in seminary I was working through some childhood trauma with my spiritual director. In my mind, I got saved at fifteen, so I had somehow concluded that anything that happened before that was my own fault for being sinful, or that God hadn't shown up in my life yet.

What my spiritual director said to me then is what I've said to many of you since: the evil that was done to me grieved God too.

He grieves what is done to us. That's part of why He sent His Son.

There's a theological piece here worth naming. We live in what's called the already and the not yet. Jesus has already come, lived a sinless life, completed the work on the cross, defeated death, ascended, and sent the Holy Spirit. But this world is not yet fully redeemed. Until He returns, it isn't finished. So we live in a broken place, and those things break God's heart.

Where is God in what happened?

Scripture keeps showing us a God who moves toward the one who was harmed.

Think of Hagar. She was used and mistreated and left alone in the desert, and she named God El Roi, the God who sees me.

One of my favorite verses to share with people who are hurting is Psalm 34:18, that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. He knows you will experience heartbreak. This is not the world He designed, and it's why He sent Jesus to redeem and restore it. We're just not there yet.

He also promises justice. Romans 12 tells us vengeance belongs to the Lord, which means nothing done in the dark is overlooked.

And then there's Hebrews 12, which says the blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Abel's blood cried out for justice. The blood of Jesus speaks healing and forgiveness and restoration. Jesus was the innocent one harmed by other people's choices, and He allowed it so that nothing done to you would be the end of your story.

If you're carrying something that was done to you, I want you to know that God saw it. He grieves it. And He has not stopped working toward your healing.

Timestamps

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As the week winds down, we accept Jesus' invitation to come to Him and rest. These affirmations center on Matthew 11:28 and help you release your worries and settle into God's peace.

End your week anchored in peace and presence. These Scripture-based

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 you're craving the kind of rest Jesus offers, our Bible Study Live retreat in Maui is a contemplative Bible study set apart for stillness and prayer.

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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John the Baptist could have served in the temple. He was the son of a priest, and by birthright that door was open to him. Instead he lived in the desert, and that's where the word of God found him.

Today we slow down on one phrase in verse two and ask what the wilderness actually was, why John chose it over the temple, and why God so often separates people before He uses them.

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 on Patreon: patreon.com/HearingJesus

Questions? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

Why was John in the wilderness?

Luke told us back in chapter one, verse eighty, that the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel. So the wilderness is essentially where John grew up.

The practical reason may be simple. Zechariah and Elizabeth were both advanced in years when he was born, so it's reasonable to think they died while he was still young. Scripture doesn't say, but something moved him out of the village and into the desert early.

There's also the calling. Gabriel said he would drink no wine or liquor and would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, which sounds a great deal like the Nazirite vow from Numbers 6. Normally a person chose that vow. John was set apart from conception, the way Samson and Samuel were. That word anointing means set apart. Someone with that kind of calling was never going to live an ordinary village life.

Mark fills in the picture. John was clothed with camel's hair, wore a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. Locusts were permitted food under the law, so he was eating what God provided in the desert. The clothing is not an accident either. Elijah is described in 2 Kings as a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist, and Gabriel said John would come in the spirit and power of Elijah. John was dressing the part. He didn't have to. It was a physical way of showing people who he was and what he had come to do.

Why does it matter that he chose this?

Because he had another option.

John was the son of Zechariah, a priest. By birth he had the right to serve in the temple. He could have spent those years in the temple courts waiting for Jesus to begin His ministry, and it would have been far more comfortable. The temple was the center of Israel's worship, the place where God's presence dwelt with His people, the most sacred address in the entire nation.

John went the opposite direction.

What was that wilderness actually like?

When we hear desert we picture sand dunes. This was not that. This was rocky hills, deep ravines, scrub brush, and almost no water.

The area sits in the shadow of the mountains of Judea, so storms drop their rain on the Jerusalem side and very little makes it over. Jericho gets only a few inches a year. In spring a thin grass comes up and shepherds bring flocks through, but the rest of the year it is dry and very hot, especially as you drop toward the Dead Sea, which sits about 1,400 feet below sea level, the lowest place on dry land anywhere on earth.

The Hebrew word for this region is midbar, and it doesn't mean dead. It means uncultivated. Open country where you might drive flocks at certain times of year, but land nobody could farm and nobody owned.

This is the land David knew. He shepherded here as a boy and hid here from Saul. When he wrote in Psalm 63 about seeking God in a dry and weary land where there is no water, he wasn't only being poetic. He was describing what he could see.

How did people at that time think about the wilderness?

They held two feelings about it at once.

First, it was dangerous, physically and spiritually. No water, extreme heat, wild animals, even rumors of lions, and bandits. The road from Jerusalem down to Jericho ran through here, which is the road in the story of the Good Samaritan. People understood that story because they knew that road.

Beyond the physical, they believed evil was out there. On the Day of Atonement they drove a goat carrying the sins of Israel out into the wilderness, which we read in Leviticus. Isaiah 34 describes ruined desert places haunted by wild creatures. Jesus Himself later says an unclean spirit passes through waterless places. Keep that in mind, because in Luke 4 Jesus goes into this same wilderness for forty days.

Second, and at the same time, it was holy ground. Many would have remembered the wilderness as the place where God courted Israel. In Jeremiah 2, God says He remembers the devotion of her youth, the love of her betrothals, her following after Him in the wilderness. It was almost their honeymoon, the time before they had anything, when they simply followed Him.

This is where Israel became a people. They came out of Egypt and spent forty years in the desert. They received the law at Sinai. They ate manna. They learned to depend on God for water. This was the place where they had nothing but Him. In Hosea 2, God says He will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. When God wanted to win back the hearts of His people, He brought them here.

Why baptize in the Jordan?

There's one exception to all that barrenness. The Jordan River valley runs through it like a green ribbon, thick with brush and trees. Scripture calls it the thickets of the Jordan, dense enough that wild animals lived there.

So picture John standing at the meeting point of two worlds. Behind him, miles of empty rock and heat. In front of him, a muddy winding river with green growing along both sides. In the middle of all that nothing, he is preaching about life and water. They could see that. We can't, but they could.

Practically, he needed water, and the Jordan was the travel route, so the crowds were already there. But the river also carried history. This is where Israel crossed into the promised land. So when people walked out to be baptized, they were stepping into the same water their ancestors crossed in Joshua 3. It was like a national do-over, a chance to start over.

And notice what the trip itself required. To be baptized by John you had to leave Jerusalem, walk away from the temple courts, and travel out toward the desert. That journey was part of the message. The system had grown so corrupt that the high priesthood was political and controlled by one family. John's location was essentially saying, come out here, we're going to start over.

Was this politically dangerous?

Yes. Josephus, the Jewish historian writing in that same era, describes several men who claimed to be deliverers, gathering followers out in the wilderness near the Jordan and promising signs of freedom. Rome crushed every one of them. In Acts 21 a Roman officer asks Paul whether he's the Egyptian who led four thousand men into the wilderness.

So when crowds started streaming out of Jerusalem to hear a man in camel's hair eating locusts, it looked like the start of something. That's why the religious leaders sent a delegation to ask who he thought he was, and it's part of why Herod Antipas eventually arrests him.

What does this mean for us?

John could have been in the temple. But the word of God didn't come to the temple. It came to a man in the desert who was ready to prepare the way.

And here's the part I keep sitting with. John was out there a long time before any of this happened. Alone.

That's a pattern. Moses met God at the burning bush after tending someone else's sheep for forty years. Elijah heard the still small voice after running for his life, in a cave. David wrote some of his best psalms while hiding.

Years ago at a women's retreat, they had us write a letter to ourselves from God. What came out was this: in this next season, you're going to have to separate to elevate. At the time I thought it just sounded like a sermon title. Then the Lord began pulling me away from relationships that had been fine in the season before, out of the orphan care ministry and the global missions role I loved, into heavy research for books and Bible studies and eventually into podcasting full time. I had to be separated before that season started, and it felt lonely.

When we're separated, we tend to think those seasons are empty and God isn't there. But the wilderness is often where He forms the people He's about to use, because there is nothing out there competing for your attention. It's just you and Him.

John spent decades in that silence before he said a word publicly. When he finally spoke, the whole nation came out to listen.

If you're in a separated season, I know it's lonely. Let it be the season that drives you to your knees and teaches you to recognize His voice, so that when the thing He's preparing you for arrives, you come to it having already spent time alone with Him.

Timestamps

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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

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

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

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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