Bible Reading Plan

Jesus never intended for His followers to be passive observers of His victory over death. He intended for His victory over death to bring His followers back to life, a new and better life. The word that best describes this moment of new life is surrender. The tomb is empty so that we do not have to…

The Holy Spirit is the One who dwells in us, guides us, and convicts us of sin. We could not live a holy life without His power. However, we cannot experience His power without totally yielding to Him. From the moment of spiritual birth, the Holy Spirit indwells, or resides in, every Christian. But to…

Jesus gives us a brilliant picture of what it looks like when people on earth live in abiding trust and dependence on an unseen God who is in heaven. The image of a vineyard overflowing with grapes is the metaphor Jesus chooses to talk about how His disciples must depend on Him.  Dependence is the…

The rich young man, wanting to know how to inherit eternal life, was given an answer that he could not accept. While giving up all material possessions is not normative for every person, full surrender is expected of every person. We want surrender on our own terms, but that is not how it works. There…

In John 14, Jesus shares with His disciples the important truths of who He is, the great work that they will do, and the help He will give them. When the disciples truly believe and embrace these truths, they will see Jesus for who He is as God in the flesh. They will see that…

Jesus was tenderly preparing the disciples for His death. He was going to leave them, and though they could not journey with Him, the door was open for them to follow and be with Him again. The new commandment He gave them may not have seemed new —it was a commonplace principle based on the…

We learn all we need to know about surrender from Jesus Himself. He lived His life in complete dependence on the Father. And everything He did was done in love. Jesus knew that “the Father had put all things under His power.” All the power in the universe was given to Him. What did Jesus…

All too often we pray safe prayers like, “God bless me.” Or “God, guide me.” These are safe in that no matter what happens, our confidence in God remains unchallenged. God desires for us to pray prayers that are life-altering and soul-shaping, the kind of prayers that wreck our lives in a good way to…

David prayed, “Search me, God, see if there’s “any offensive way” in me.” When you pray that kind of prayer, God is going to show you things that have to go so that He can reclaim your heart, these things that you’ve allowed that have not only captured your heart, but have created a stronghold…

Prayer in its essence is communicating with God, our Father. It is going before His throne of grace. Any form of real, meaningful communication is not just one-way communication. In other words, praying to God is not just talking to Him, but praying is actually listening to God. God can do way more when we…