John 20:31 tells us that, "...These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name."

When we contemplate the Word, the vastness of the revelation of God... do we realize that every single part of it has been curated and picked by the Lord for the purpose of bringing us to belief and that belief would bring us to life in Jesus? This Word is designed to reveal the character of Yahweh, the glory of His Son and His sacrifice, and the nature of His Spirit. It is written to warn us about sin, the consequence of rejecting the Lord, and how to respond and repent when we are convicted. 

No matter where you are in your walk with Jesus, my prayer is that today's episode encourages you and reminds you that the God of the universe and the word He has given us can be trusted, believed, lived out, and loved. That it has the power to transform us because not only is it the written Word, but it leads us to the Living Word, Jesus Himself. 

Scriptures Referenced:

• John 20:30-31
• John 21:24-25
• The Books of Judges, Job, and Psalms
• John 14:6
• John 17:3
• John 10
• John 6
• John 1:1
• Hebrews 4:12
• Galatians 2:20
• 1 Thessalonians 5:24

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Are you in a season where you are in winter, in a cave, it's dark and difficult and every day feels like a wrestle? 

Or are you in a season where you see the tender tendrils of hope starting to bud in your life once again? 

No matter where you are - I pray today's episode encourages you: Jesus is on the move in the lives of His people. He is bringing forth fruit in freedom, and starting to show us the fruition of the hard seasons. A deeper faith, a stronger confidence, a richer understanding of His love in your own life. And I believe He is gracing us and equipping us for this next season, because there are people in your life and mine who need the glorious gospel of Jesus. 

Scriptures Referenced:

• Song of Solomon 2:10-13
• Galatians 6:13
• Psalm 126:5
• John 15
• Matthew 6

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Psalm 23 is a super familiar chapter. Not only for the church, but even in culture. However, when we stop to take a look at it, the deeper meaning, and the revelation it holds is worth the digging.

Take for instance, verse 5: "You prepare a table for me in the middle of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows." There is much in this passage that's easy to explain - or read past. But what if the Lord wants to remind us: it is His goodness that keeps us in the middle of our enemies. And what if our cups overflowing means something different than we've thought? 

I pray this episode encourages you as you think about the abundance of the Lord toward you in your own life - and that no matter what you're walking through, you see His abundance in beautiful, life changing ways.

Scriptures Referenced:

• Psalm 23
• John 10
• John 7:37-39
• Deuteronomy 5
• Galatians 5:22-23
• 
  

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There are times that Jesus does things that make us uncomfortable. He works in ways that challenge our preconceived notions about how we think He should show up, work, or move. However, when we read Mark 8:22-26, the Lord often is working more deeply, He is refining us, testing us, and asking us to trust Him. 

As Jesus took the blind man out of the village and healed him, so He often calls us apart, does deep work, and uses unconventional ways to bring restoration and healing in our lives. My prayer is that you and I would be encouraged by this encounter with Jesus and that it would help us go deeper with Him...trusting that while things might be uncomfortable, painful, or even confusing - Jesus is worthy of our love and endurance. And we will see our heart and sight restored in a way we never could have anticipated.  

Scriptures Referenced:

• Mark 8:22-26
• Mark 8
• Romans 8:28
• Genesis 50:20
• Acts 3
• Philippians 4

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A short episode to encourage you: joy truly does come in the morning. And even though that sometimes feels impossible in the darkness or in the wilderness, the seeds of future joy are being planted. Why? Because Jesus is always at work. He is moving in ways we cannot see. He can handle our grief and our depression and our questions. And He delights in filling us with His joy, love, hope, and peace. 

I pray this episode encourages you - we can trust the Lord when He says that joy comes in the morning. It is truth we can cling to when the darkness crowds in. And it is something we can thank Him for and worship Him for as we journey through discipleship with the Lord. 

Also, if you wanna rock out, here is the (very random) playlist I mentioned in the episode: 

Joy Comes in the Morning Playlist

Scriptures Referenced:

• Psalm 30
• Isaiah 61:1-3
• Hebrews 12
• Philippians 4
• Matthew 5
• John 15:9-10
• Job 25:6

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Who is like the Lord? Sometimes, in the familiarity of our culture, where Jesus seems almost ubiquitous, we forget who He really is. We can grow desensitized to His holiness, grace, mercy, and power. 

In today's episode, as we consider the things the Lord is requiring us to surrender or devote to destruction, let's fix our eyes on Jesus. Contemplate the character and goodness of the Father. Think about the faithfulness and leading of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord is not capricious. He does not live to make us miserable. Instead, He delights in conforming us to His image. He fights for our deliverance. 

Let's ask ourselves: who do we really think the Lord is? And then compare it to these verses. I pray the Lord opens our eyes and deepens our understanding and love for Him and that gratitude would pour out from us because of who He is and what He has done. 

Scriptures Referenced:

• 1 Samuel 15
• Ephesians 6:10-18
• Isaiah 44:6-8
• Isaiah 6:1-5
• Exodus 15:11
• Mark 9:20-24
• John 10:7-11
• Colossians 1:14-20
• Philippians 2:5-10
• Revelation 1:12-18

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What the freedom we desire is on the other side of obedience? 

In 1 Samuel 15, the Lord commands Saul to devote things of offense to destruction. But Saul, in his disobedience, decides to offer some things he kept back as a sacrifice. The Lord makes it clear: He desires our complete obedience in what He has commanded. Not the sacrifice of the defiled things He requires to be destroyed. 

The Lord wants to free us. He wants us to know Him and to experience His love, grace, and mercy. He wants us to grow in sanctification and wisdom. But these things cannot happen if we refuse to surrender and give over to the Lord the things that have held me. To destroy them fully out of our lives. To destroy the idols that have held us captive. 

Friends: Jesus is alive. He wants us to walk in confidence. He has come to free us from the oppression of the devil, the tyranny of the flesh, and the bondage of the world. Today, let's fully cut away the things that the Lord wants to destroy that have brought death that we would be raised into the newness of the life of Jesus.

Scriptures Referenced:

• 1 Samuel 15
• 2 Peter 1
• Acts 2
• Luke 9:23-24
• Isaiah 53
• Psalm 51
• Romans 5 and 6

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Identity is a big deal. We all want to know who we are, where we fit in this world, and what we were made for. There are a million voices trying to define identity for us. 

"We fight from love, not for it." - Jennie Allen, The Lie You Don't Know You Believe (this is not an affiliate link, I just love the book!)

But what if we tossed social media out the window, shut off the 24-hour news cycle, and started taking Jesus at His word. What if we believed Him when He tells us who we are and why everything changes when we stop believing the lies about Him, us, and His word. What if we started believing and experiencing the great love of the Lord which He lavished upon us at the cost of His own life and lived that love out toward others? 

Here is the best news: Not only can we know the Lord's love for us, but we can abide there. He wants us to be where He is. He's died so we can know Him, the love of the Father, and be sealed by His Holy Spirit. We can walk in freedom, we can war for friends and family, and we can walk confidently in Jesus, secure in this truth: He loved us and gave Himself for us.

Scriptures Referenced:

• John 15:9-10
• Ephesians 1:3-14

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What comes to your mind when you think about the Lord's pruning? Pain? Anguish? Suffering? All of those things may be true. But what happens if we take a moment and start to adjust our minds and hearts and consider the One who is doing the pruning. The One whom the Scriptures call Love, Faithful, True, Just, Righteous, Kind, Slow to Anger, Gracious, Compassionate and so many other attributes. 

In today's episode I talk about pruning seasons. Because let's face it: Pruning is difficult. But when we see that the loving hand of the Father prunes us so that we can know Him more deeply...so that we can be conformed to the image of Jesus and be confidently led by the Holy Spirit in this walk of discipleship? Friends, there is joy unspeakable and fully of glory that waits for us. 

We don't deny the agony. The pain. The grief. We lament. We cry out. We wrestle. But we don't live there. We can have joy in the Lord's pruning process. We can trust His loving hand to cut, even when it's deep and He seems to take something good. He wants to see us grow and thrive in Him. To see His joy within us and our joy be made full. 

Scriptures Referenced:

• Psalm 111
• John 15:1-2
• Galatians 5:22-24
• Psalm 139:23-24
• Luke 9:23-24
• 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24

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What does it really mean to abide in Jesus? Does He really mean it when He says, "Without Me you can do nothing?" And what does abiding have to do with maturity in Him?

In today's episode, I'm taking you on my own journey of wrestling with the Lord. What does it mean to be mature in Him? Why is dependence so important to the Lord? And how do we grow in endurance, grace, and union with Him so when the storms of life come, we don't default to suspecting Him, but instead trust that He is with us, working for us, and will carry us through. I pray this episode encourages you in your own walk with Jesus as we wrestle against our own strengths, weaknesses, desires for self-sufficency and see that the one of the most beautiful places in to walk in this world is securely in Jesus and His word. 

Scriptures Referenced:

• John 15-4-5
• Matthew 11:28-30
• 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
• 2 Corinthians 12:9
• 1, 2, 3 John
• Ephesians 1:17-18
• 2 Peter 3:18
• Matthew 6:9-13

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