Read through the Bible in 2 years: Hebrews 5:11-6:20
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:14 ESV
I sure enjoyed the steak my husband grilled for dinner tonight, but there’s no way I would feed it to my one-year-old granddaughter. I remember when that precious little girl was first learning to suck rice cereal off a spoon. Then, she graduated to yogurt and oatmeal. Now she can eat just about anything, but steak? She’s still not ready for it, but it won’t be long if her Pop has anything to say about it.
It takes more than simply time to develop maturity. I’ve met plenty of 50-year-old men that don’t have the maturity of my 24-year-old son.
My youngest son is 15 years old. He’s 6’1″ and almost 200 lbs. Fully grown? Maybe. Fully mature? Nope, definitely not.
Though he may be ten giant leaps in front of many of his peers, he still has so much to learn. Maturity takes wisdom and learning. Maturity takes testing and trial and error.
Like this passage says, the mature have trained their powers of discernment by constant practice, distinguishing good from evil.
How are we doing, sisters?
Are we practicing discernment or are we “following our hearts”?
Are we training our children to be discerning, knowing the Lord and hiding His Word in their hearts?
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we want to be mature. We want to be discerning. We want to love what you love and hate what you hate. We pray for our children that they would know your word and hide it faithfully in their hearts, and we pray that we would be diligent in teaching and training them. Help us to be godly examples for the next generation, being sober-minded and making the most of every day that we are given. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
At my physical this year my doctor told me that it was time for me to get my first colonoscopy. Friends, I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to be on a liquid diet and tethered to the toilet for 24 hours. I didn’t want to be put under anesthesia and have my bottom examined by strangers. But, it was the right thing to do, so that what was hidden inside me could be exposed and inspected, and whatever stuff needed to be removed could be uncovered.
So, I did it, even though I didn’t want to. And now, looking back, I’m glad I did. Even though it was painful, it was for my good, and not for my harm
Sisters, do you believe that the Bible you are holding in your hands is the very Word of God, that the God who spoke the world into existence and who holds your life and eternity in His Almighty hands is the very God who breathed out the words of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, and Matthew, John, and Hebrews? Do you believe that God’s written Word is as powerful as His spoken Word?
If you do indeed believe that, then take a moment to ponder how that should affect your life.
If God’s spoken word can cause seas and lands to appear, and birds to fly across the sky, then we should trust that God’s written word can cause the dead to be born again. If God’s spoken word can cause soldiers to fall to the ground (John 18:6), then we should trust that God’s written word can convict even the hardest heart and bring them to repentance. If God’s spoken word can change the world, then we should trust that God’s written word can change your heart and life.
Sometimes we’re afraid to go to the doctor because we don’t want to hear the bad news.
Sometimes we refuse to be put under the knife, because we know it’s going to hurt afterwards.
Oh, but friends, just like I’d tell you to go to the dermatologist for that suspicious spot on your nose, I’m telling you to get your nose into the Word. You need it. I need it. We need the double-edged sword of the Word.
Like a scalpel in the hands of an expert surgeon, God’s Word can root out the cancerous diseases of pride and selfishness and sin. God’s Word has pierced my heart time after time. Each time it hurts, but each time it’s good.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving us Your Word. It is indeed living and active. It is life-giving and powerful. It reveals truth to me and it pierces my soul. I pray for my sisters who are afraid, who don’t want to read it, who know that they need heart surgery, but are running away in fear. Please remind them of Your goodness and mercy, that You are the perfect physician and judge who wants for their good and not for their harm. Help us to hunger for You and to find You in Your written Word. May we not perish for lack of knowledge while Your Word sits unopened on the shelf. In the name of Jesus, the Living Word we pray, Amen.
Dear sisters, Hebrews 3:13 tells us to exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of us would be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This English word “exhort” is the Greek word “parakaleo,” a verb that literally means to call near or to call to one’s side.
I love this idea of exhortation literally meaning to call near or to call to one’s side. Exhortation is not standing behind you, pushing you forward, commanding you to get going. Rather, exhortation is calling you up to walk with me.
“Come on, sister. Come on, daughter. Come with me. Walk this journey with me. Hold my hand. Let’s walk together. God is with us. He will give us the strength that we need. Jesus has walked this road before and given us an example. We can persevere by His grace and His Spirit at work in us.”
This is your call to persevere.
Sisters, it is easy to drift downstream, but it takes effort to fight against the current. If we want to go upstream, we have to put our paddles in the water and do the work.
But we are not called to row alone. Let’s get in the boat together. When we both put our hands to the oars and pull together side by side, we can go farther and accomplish more than we ever could on our own.
Who in your life needs some encouragement?
Who can you parakaleo – call to your side – today?
In what area of your life is God calling you to persevere?
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for the gift of encouragement we have in Your Holy Spirit. He is our paraclete, our helper and advocate. We are not alone. You are always with us. I pray for each of my sisters who are feeling lonely, who feel like they are rowing all by themselves in the middle of a vast ocean. Lord, help them to remember that You are with them and that there is a vast army of believers surrounding them, rowing alongside them. Please place that lonesome sister into a body of believers who can parakaleo her, who can row with her and encourage her to keep going until the final finish line, until the moment she hears Your voice saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” In the name of Jesus Christ, our advocate, we pray. Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Exodus 34:1-35:29
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”
Exodus 34:29 ESV
His face was shining, not because he had just married the woman of his dreams, or because he was holding his newborn son, or because he’d successfully led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, but because he had literally been in God’s presence.
I know that my face will not physically shine from my time with the Lord and meeting with Him in glory … but how I wish for my countenance to radiate the joy, peace, and hope that comes from having communed with God that day.
“Do not let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear– but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”
1Peter 3:3-4 ESV
“Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:7-18 ESV
Heavenly Father, May my face radiate Your glory. May my countenance reflect the joy that fills my heart. Let Your glory flow out of me, that people would see YOU when they look at me. To the glory of Your Name we pray. Amen.
The ending of Matthew’s very thorough account of Jesus’s life and ministry feels so sudden. After reading twenty-seven lengthy chapters, Matthew 28 contains only twenty verses, summarizing the resurrection of Christ, Jesus’s appearance to the Marys, the Jewish leaders’ bribing of the Romans guards, and concluding with some of Jesus’s final words to His disciples,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
So, as we wrap up four weeks spent studying the words of Matthew, let these be my words to you.
Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. He can do it. Nothing is impossible for Him. You can trust Him. Therefore, you can go with confidence, under His authority, by the power of His Holy Spirit, and make disciples of all nations. He wants to use you. You don’t need to be a ordained minister to share the good news. You don’t need a seminary degree to tell people how to trust in Christ. His Spirit and His Word are all you need. He wants you to share the good news with those who have never heard. But don’t stop there – teach them to observe all that He has commanded in His word. Being a disciple is so much more than just being a fan.
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. If you’d love to join me in international ministry, leave a comment or send me a message. I’d love to help you get plugged in! Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, What a blessing it is to be a laborer in the harvest! I am so thankful for Your Holy Spirit who lives in me and gives me wisdom. I pray that Your Spirit would guide me to those who are hungering to hear the good news and those who need to be discipled in obedience to Your commands. In the powerful Name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord we pray, Amen.
In God’s incredible providence, Matthew 7 was my scripture memory passage to practice yesterday in my Bible Memory app. My oldest two children and I initially memorized this passage (all 29 verses!) more than 16 years ago – when my oldest two children were about 7 and 10. I love the Bible Memory app because it prompts me to continue to practice passages that I have memorized in the past. I hope you’ll check it out! Here’s a link to learn more or download it. Here’s a link to a video I made about how to use it. And here’s a link to my Teach What Is Good Bible Memory group You can join for free for some encouragement and accountability — don’t we all need that!
There is so much wisdom in all of Matthew 7, but today what I was especially thinking about were verses 21-23 and 24-27. These two passages are deeply interconnected.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23 ESV
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27 ESV
Notice that connection word “then” in verse 24. Many people say they’re Christians, listening to God’s Word, even saying “Lord, Lord,” and doing Christian things — yet they are not doing God’s will. They are not putting into practice what it is that they keep hearing about.
This reminded me of some other passages I’ve memorized – James 1:22 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:22 ESV
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV
Let’s be faithful to store up God’s word in our heart (like Psalm 119:11 says), but let’s be just as faithful to put it into practice!
This is what differentiates students from disciples: Students learn and study and listen … but disciples put into practice the words of their teacher, modeling their own lives after their master’s.
Heavenly Father, we don’t want to merely listen to your Word, thus deceiving ourselves. We want to do what it says. Help us to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, modeling our lives after His, loving and serving others, doing good to them and forgiving them, as Jesus Christ perfectly modeled for us. And help us to be faithful disciple-makers, telling others the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, and teaching them all that You have commanded us, remembering that You are always with us even to the end of the age! In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Bear with me, please, as I silently ponder aloud some thoughts from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.
Is Jesus enough for me?
Can I be satisfied in Him? Or do I have to manipulate others with anger or bitterness or unforgiveness?
Can I be satisfied in Him? Or do I need to lust after that person or that thing or that circumstance, thinking that is the key to my joy?
Can I be satisfied in Him? Or do I need the praise and accolades of man? Do I need good health and good food, nice clothes and nice friends to be happy?
I can just hear the Father whispering to me, “O, Kim, you of little faith. I am enough for you. Trust Me. Look at those birds making their little nests and pulling worms from the ground. Look at those flowers poking out from the dirt. I am taking care of them and I’m taking care of you. Fear not for I am with you. I am enough. You, seek Me. You, trust Me. You, pursue Me. I’ll take care of the rest. I’ll take care of you.”
Please pray for me to cast all my cares on Him and to trust that He cares for me – that He takes care of me and He cares for me. Truly Our Father is a good, good Father. He is Enough.
Lord Jesus, I pray that we would humble ourselves before You, recognizing our need and our poverty, and acknowledging Your strength and goodness. It is indeed good to be afflicted, that we might know You and Your power in our suffering. In the good and gracious name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
The Book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The first verse is a brief genealogy. Jesus descended from David who descended from Abraham, but then we get a father to son heritage from Abraham all the way to Jesus’s earthly father, Joseph. You might feel tempted to skip this, but I hope you won’t. I want to point out a few things.
The genealogy begins with Abraham, not Adam. Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation. Jesus was a Jew.
There are several women mentioned in this account, but every one of them has something that tarnishes their reputation. Look up the stories of Tamar (Genesis 38:1-26), Rahab (Joshua 2:1-3 and Joshua 6:17-25), and Ruth (Ruth 1:4).
Bathsheba isn’t mentioned by name as the mother of Solomon, but rather is referred to as “the wife of Uriah,” not because of her sin but because of David’s. You can read about the story of Uriah’s death and Solomon’s birth in 2 Samuel 11-12, but 1 Kings 15:5 says “David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”
Matthew didn’t try to hide the thread of sin which is woven through the background of the ancestors of Jesus, son of David. Rather, these words help to prepare the reader for the words of the angel —
Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:20-21
Joseph, too, is a son of David, a good man but not a perfect man. God has chosen Mary, a good woman but not a perfect woman to bear His son, a perfect Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. This Son will save His people from their sins.
Joseph and Mary needed saving and so do we. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your only begotten Son to save me from my sins. I am Your child and You are my Father. Thank you for showing us that we don’t have to have a sinless lineage to be children of Your Perfect Son. Thank You for my earthly father and mother who did their best to raise me right. I pray that You would bless them with everything that they need for life and godliness by the power of Your Holy Spirit and Your Word. I pray that You would make me a woman after your own heart, treasuring Your word in my heart that I would not sin against you. In the Holy, Blessed name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
I found it especially interesting to read Genesis 38 and 39 together. Genesis 38 tells the story of Judah, who got his widowed daughter-in-law pregnant, while Genesis 39 tells the story of Judah’s younger brother, Joseph, who successfully resisted Potiphar’s wife in spite of her incredible persistence.
Genesis 38 – Sexual Sin and Human Pride
I mainly want to focus on Genesis 39 today, but before we get there I do want to point out two things in Genesis 38.
"About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” - Genesis 38:24 ESV
Judah is the father of this child. Judah is the reason that Tamar is pregnant. Yet Judah is who demands that she be burned. 🥺😭
How quickly we point out the sin in other people when we are guilty of that very same sin! How prone we are to hate lying and pride and sin in other people, while overlooking it in ourselves!
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Matthew 7:3 ESV
This is part of loving your neighbor as yourself. Somehow we all manage to forgive our own lying and deceit and sexual sin and pride. We make excuses for our own misbehavior, yet we are quick to point fingers at others. May it never be.
I pray that we desire repentance in ourselves as well as our neighbor to repent. May we be merciful as we have been shown mercy. May we not think that we are somehow better than the other person when we are both eating pig slop.
As a dear Christian sister often reminds me, “We are all just beggars looking for somewhere to buy bread.”
The second thing that jumps out at me from Genesis 38 is that Perez, one of the twin sons who was conceived in Tamar through this act of sexual immorality, is the child that God chose to be in the line of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 1:3)
God uses all things, sometimes even sinful things, to accomplish His purposes. Does that mean we should continue in sin? May it never be. But does it mean that none of us are beyond hope and that God is able to use even our sinful past to bring Him glory? Yes. Yes, it does.
I have deep regrets over many things I did in the first 25 years of my life – maybe you do, too – yet those things shaped who I am today. I pray that God would use my brokenness to be holes for His glory to shine out of.
Genesis 29 – Handsome Joseph and Potiphar’s Persistent Wife
Let’s look next at Genesis 29 – a completely different reaction to sexual temptation.
Potiphar’s wife, a woman of authority, the wife of his boss, aggressively pursued Joseph – a very different situation than the one Judah was in – and yet Joseph remained steadfast, refusing to even “listen to her.” (Genesis 39:10)
The scriptures are full of encouragement to FLEE from temptation and sin. We must actively train ourselves – and our children – to FLEE from temptation.
And let us not be like Lot’s wife who kept looking back as she was being forced to flee Sodom. Let us not be like the Israelites who thought fondly about their years in Egyptian bondage. Let’s be women who flee from temptation with our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”
Psalm 119:9 ESV
“For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless, lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!” Proverbs 5:3-12 ESV
“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
2 Timothy 2:22 ESV
“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:13b-20 ESV
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Your mercy and grace and forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. I have been Tamar and I have been Potiphar’s wife. Like 1 Corinthians 6:11 says, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Such was I, Lord! But, Lord, You have washed me clean through the blood of Jesus. You have given me new desires and new power by Your Spirit at work in me. Praise Your name!
I pray that You would protect our husbands and sons. Please, Father, help them to keep their hearts and minds pure. Help them to think about what they’re thinking about and to pay attention to what has their attention. Show them the way of escape when they are tempted and give them the wisdom, strength, and desire to flee.
Please protect my sisters and me – and our daughters – from the temptation to be temptresses. Make us honorable women. May we be found faithful – to You and to our husbands. Create in us clean hands and pure hearts, O LORD. Teach us to that true fulfillment and satisfaction is found only at the feet of Jesus, so that we would not seek it elsewhere.
You are worthy. You alone are worthy. Thank you, Jesus!
In the matchless name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
When I Think About the Lord
When I think about the Lord How He saved, how He raised me How He filled me with the Holy Ghost He healed me to the uttermost When I think about the Lord How He picked me up Turned me around How He set my feet On solid ground
That makes me want to shout Hallelujah, thank You, Jesus Lord, You’re worthy Of all the glory, and all the honor And all the praise Oh, makes me want to shout Hallelujah, thank You, Jesus Lord, You’re worthy Of all the glory, and all the honor And all the praise
Teach What is Good 
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