Trials and suffering are not signs that God has abandoned you. The Lord uses the hard times of life to test believers' faith and make them look like Jesus.
Trust his good plan even in the storm.
Trust his good plan even in the storm.
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There was a time where Christians could say homosexuality, fornication, adultery, and other sexual sins were morally wrong without any real repercussions—but times have changed. How can we handle this new animosity?
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September 1: An Unusual Portrait
#Devotional
Hosea 1:1–2:23; Acts 1:1–26; Job 15:1–9
“At the beginning when Yahweh spoke through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, ‘Go, take for yourself a wife and children of whoredom, because the land commits great whoredom forsaking Yahweh.’ So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son” (Hos 1:2–3). God’s people had prostituted themselves to other nations by seeking their help instead of Yahweh’s. Hosea’s act, which dramatized the rebellion of God’s people against Him, is one of the oddest in the Bible.
God loves His people with passion and jealousy. He has little tolerance when they seek alliances with other nations and put false gods before Him. At times, He takes shocking measures to get their attention. The act He requires of Hosea not only depicts Israel’s unfaithfulness, but it also reveals God’s own feelings of betrayal. Many of us can empathize.
At such moments in the Bible, it’s hard to understand how God uses such behavior to further His plan. But within the view of biblical theology, desperate situations like Hosea’s are transformed into redemptive scenes. Such is the case when we open the book of Acts: “I produced the former account [of the Gospel of Luke], O Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day he was taken up, after he had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after he suffered, with many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking the things about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:1–3). Jesus came to redeem a people who sought refuge in the arms of false gods and other nations.
When we see Hosea’s story in the light of Jesus’ acts and the subsequent acts of His apostles, we learn that God can indeed bring even the most wretched of people to righteousness. We also learn that sometimes it takes a vivid, if odd, real-life portrait for us to understand the truth about our false ways.
Are you seeking refuge in the wrong places or the wrong ways? What are you placing before Yahweh and His work in your life?
#Devotional
Hosea 1:1–2:23; Acts 1:1–26; Job 15:1–9
“At the beginning when Yahweh spoke through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, ‘Go, take for yourself a wife and children of whoredom, because the land commits great whoredom forsaking Yahweh.’ So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son” (Hos 1:2–3). God’s people had prostituted themselves to other nations by seeking their help instead of Yahweh’s. Hosea’s act, which dramatized the rebellion of God’s people against Him, is one of the oddest in the Bible.
God loves His people with passion and jealousy. He has little tolerance when they seek alliances with other nations and put false gods before Him. At times, He takes shocking measures to get their attention. The act He requires of Hosea not only depicts Israel’s unfaithfulness, but it also reveals God’s own feelings of betrayal. Many of us can empathize.
At such moments in the Bible, it’s hard to understand how God uses such behavior to further His plan. But within the view of biblical theology, desperate situations like Hosea’s are transformed into redemptive scenes. Such is the case when we open the book of Acts: “I produced the former account [of the Gospel of Luke], O Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day he was taken up, after he had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after he suffered, with many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking the things about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:1–3). Jesus came to redeem a people who sought refuge in the arms of false gods and other nations.
When we see Hosea’s story in the light of Jesus’ acts and the subsequent acts of His apostles, we learn that God can indeed bring even the most wretched of people to righteousness. We also learn that sometimes it takes a vivid, if odd, real-life portrait for us to understand the truth about our false ways.
Are you seeking refuge in the wrong places or the wrong ways? What are you placing before Yahweh and His work in your life?
❤4
September 1 - Mankind’s Lost Condition
#LifeOfChrist
“They were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
One of Jesus’ main motives for ministry was the knowledge of man’s lost condition. He saw the people He lived among in the reality of their need. He was moved by their diseases and sickness, and He healed every one of them (v. 35). But He was moved even more deeply by the deepest need that most of the multitude did not even know they had—to be freed from their bondage to sin. He saw their hearts, and He knew that inwardly “they were distressed and dispirited.”
Jesus saw the multitudes as being inwardly devastated by their sinful and hopeless condition. The idea behind “dispirited” is to be thrown down prostrate and utterly helpless. Jesus saw the dispirited multitudes as sheep without a shepherd to protect and care for them.
Those who claimed to be the shepherds of the multitude were the scribes and Pharisees, yet it was those very shepherds who were largely responsible for the people’s confusion and hopelessness. The people were spiritually led by uncaring, unloving leaders who should have been meeting their spiritual needs. That’s why Jesus calls the people “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6)—God’s chosen people who had been left to perish.
Ask Yourself
Begin to develop Jesus’ motive for ministry as your own. Take every opportunity to introduce others to the Great Shepherd.
#LifeOfChrist
“They were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
One of Jesus’ main motives for ministry was the knowledge of man’s lost condition. He saw the people He lived among in the reality of their need. He was moved by their diseases and sickness, and He healed every one of them (v. 35). But He was moved even more deeply by the deepest need that most of the multitude did not even know they had—to be freed from their bondage to sin. He saw their hearts, and He knew that inwardly “they were distressed and dispirited.”
Jesus saw the multitudes as being inwardly devastated by their sinful and hopeless condition. The idea behind “dispirited” is to be thrown down prostrate and utterly helpless. Jesus saw the dispirited multitudes as sheep without a shepherd to protect and care for them.
Those who claimed to be the shepherds of the multitude were the scribes and Pharisees, yet it was those very shepherds who were largely responsible for the people’s confusion and hopelessness. The people were spiritually led by uncaring, unloving leaders who should have been meeting their spiritual needs. That’s why Jesus calls the people “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6)—God’s chosen people who had been left to perish.
Ask Yourself
Begin to develop Jesus’ motive for ministry as your own. Take every opportunity to introduce others to the Great Shepherd.
❤5
Imagine telling Jesus, "I love You, but I don't really care what You've said." That's exactly what many Christians communicate when weeks pass without opening the Scriptures.
Love for Christ produces a desire to hear His voice.
Love for Christ produces a desire to hear His voice.
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The Enneagram has become strangely comfortable in Christian circles.
But Christians should be cautious about using a system with dubious spiritual origins to tell us who we are.
Scripture already tells us who we are, why we sin, what needs to change, and how transformation happens.
We don't need nine personality types to explain the human heart.
We need God's Word.
But Christians should be cautious about using a system with dubious spiritual origins to tell us who we are.
Scripture already tells us who we are, why we sin, what needs to change, and how transformation happens.
We don't need nine personality types to explain the human heart.
We need God's Word.
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The fear of God doesn't make a man weak. It makes him fearless before everyone else
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6 Signs Pride May Be Winning in Your Life:
1. Correction makes you angry (Prov. 12:1)
2. Apologizing is difficult (James 5:16)
3. You crave recognition (Matt. 6:1)
You compare yourself with others (Gal. 6:4)
4. You notice others' sins before your own (Matt. 7:3-5)
5. You rarely ask for help (Prov. 11:2)
Pride is much easier to see in someone else.
Ask God to expose it in you.
1. Correction makes you angry (Prov. 12:1)
2. Apologizing is difficult (James 5:16)
3. You crave recognition (Matt. 6:1)
You compare yourself with others (Gal. 6:4)
4. You notice others' sins before your own (Matt. 7:3-5)
5. You rarely ask for help (Prov. 11:2)
Pride is much easier to see in someone else.
Ask God to expose it in you.
❤10
WEEK 1 — Sowing & Patience (Sep 1–6)
1. September 1 (Tuesday)
Dear Daughter,
The farmer who sows in tears does not know yet if the field will answer. He plants anyway.
Whatever you have prayed into your marriage that hasn't sprouted yet — sow it again this September. Faith is agricultural, not instant.
Some harvests take a whole season to show themselves.
'Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy' (Ps 126:5).
What have you sown in your marriage that you haven't seen sprout yet?
#DearDaughter #StrongMarriage #HarvestOfTheHeart
Here we go: @StudyBibleFam
1. September 1 (Tuesday)
Dear Daughter,
The farmer who sows in tears does not know yet if the field will answer. He plants anyway.
Whatever you have prayed into your marriage that hasn't sprouted yet — sow it again this September. Faith is agricultural, not instant.
Some harvests take a whole season to show themselves.
'Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy' (Ps 126:5).
What have you sown in your marriage that you haven't seen sprout yet?
#DearDaughter #StrongMarriage #HarvestOfTheHeart
Here we go: @StudyBibleFam
❤3
🌿 September: Growing in Christlike Character
New month, new focus — bearing the fruit of the Spirit and reflecting Jesus daily. Join @StudyBibleFam for weekly Bible quizzes that build faith and character.
🔗 t.me/StudyBibleFam
New month, new focus — bearing the fruit of the Spirit and reflecting Jesus daily. Join @StudyBibleFam for weekly Bible quizzes that build faith and character.
🔗 t.me/StudyBibleFam
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Sep 1 (Tue)
New month, new mercy! 🌅❤️ September opens — let your marriage step into it with fresh resolve to love on purpose! Lam 3:22-23 💪
What will you carry into this new month? #StrongMarriage #September
New month, new mercy! 🌅❤️ September opens — let your marriage step into it with fresh resolve to love on purpose! Lam 3:22-23 💪
What will you carry into this new month? #StrongMarriage #September
❤3
5 Questions to Ask Before You Call Something "Biblical":
1. Does Scripture actually teach it? (2 Tim. 3:16)
2. Am I reading the verse in context? (2 Tim. 2:15)
3. Does my interpretation fit the rest of Scripture? (Acts 17:11)
4. Am I importing my preferences into the text? (Prov. 18:2)
5. Am I willing to change my mind if Scripture corrects me? (Isa. 66:2)
Don't make the Bible agree with you. Submit yourself to what the Bible says.
1. Does Scripture actually teach it? (2 Tim. 3:16)
2. Am I reading the verse in context? (2 Tim. 2:15)
3. Does my interpretation fit the rest of Scripture? (Acts 17:11)
4. Am I importing my preferences into the text? (Prov. 18:2)
5. Am I willing to change my mind if Scripture corrects me? (Isa. 66:2)
Don't make the Bible agree with you. Submit yourself to what the Bible says.
❤5
I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.
- Charles Spurgeon
- Charles Spurgeon
Four ways to represent Jesus in the comment section:
• Answer foolish insults with kindness
• Share biblical truth without arrogance
• Pray for those who mock your faith
• Point lost souls to the cross
• Answer foolish insults with kindness
• Share biblical truth without arrogance
• Pray for those who mock your faith
• Point lost souls to the cross
It is not works or good deeds, or lists of rules or rituals that we have to follow, that makes us right with God. It is faith in Jesus Christ!
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God."
- Romans 5:1-2
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God."
- Romans 5:1-2
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Step out of the darkness and come into His light ✨
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Forwarded from CHRISTIAN STUDY BIBLE (Dr. 🚀 T͜͡I͜͡M͜͡O͜͡T͜͡H͜͡Y͜͡ 📑)
🧚1. Galatians ch 5 + 1 John ch 4: John says, “God is love.” Paul lists love first in the fruit. What interpretive conclusion follows? (Galatians 5; 1 John 4)
Anonymous Quiz
4%
A) Love is merely one option among many spiritual gifts
2%
B) Love is evidence only for those who speak in tongues
93%
C) Love is the essence of God's character, replicated in Spirit-formed believers
0%
D) Love is a human achievement, not divine work
The instant after you die, you'll know the Bible was right about everything and that Jesus is real.
Don't wait until then. Repent and trust in Christ this moment.
Don't wait until then. Repent and trust in Christ this moment.
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