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We see one more thing, the thing Psalm 23 has been building toward from its very first word, the thing hidden at the center of this ancient psalm, that connects the green pastures of Bethlehem to an empty tomb outside Jerusalem. The shepherd who leads his sheep through the valley of zalmovet...

Isaiah 11:2, presents expressions of the Divine presence that would rest upon the Messiah, the high voltage power line of the Kingdom of God. The Divine presence acts in a complete way, in all dimensions of human life and history, each manifestation represents an essential part of the spirit’s...

In Psalm 22, the psalm that opens with, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me and which Jesus quotes from the cross, a nearly identical grammatical movement occurs. The psalmist begins by crying out about his suffering, describing his abandonment, narrating his distress to the surrounding...

Ephesians 4:27, agreement, the enemy cannot simply take ground in your soul, you have to give him permission and that permission often doesn’t come with a shout, it comes with a whisper, with a moment of pain, of sin, of confusion, of vulnerability, this is the enemy’s blueprint. Agreement, it’s...

The good shepherd does not choose the valley because he is indifferent to the danger, he chooses it, because the valley is the only way to reach what lies on the other side, the destination requires the descent. The directional force embedded in the Hebrew preposition David uses in Psalm 23:4...

Matthew 7:24, the foundation is Jesus’ teaching, not man’s opinions, not cultural trends, have you ever heard someone say something that sounded spiritual, but it didn’t quite sit right. Maybe for a moment you thought that sounds good, this is why discernment is critical, because not everything...

The valley is deeper than you think, my shepherd is a covenant claim, it is the language of a man who is not describing a theological concept from a safe intellectual distance. David is describing a relationship he has staked his life on, he was a shepherd, he had knelt in the dirt of the...

Acts 17:11, how much more should we be testing everything we hear today, sometimes standing for truth means walking away, sometimes it means leaving a church that has embraced false teaching, sometimes it means distancing yourself from people who refuse to align with scripture and sometimes it...

2 John 1:9-10, this is not a small warning, John is not saying be careful, he is saying, do not even welcome them, do not invite them in, do not support them, do not align yourself with them in any way. False doctrine is not just wrong, it is deadly, because false doctrine works, the enemy does...

Galatians 6:9, the enemy wants you to give up, whenever you try to get serious about your faith, distractions increase. You commit to waking up early to pray, but suddenly your schedule becomes overwhelming. You decide to get back into the word, but then your phone won’t stop buzzing. You try to...

2 John 1:8, do not lose what you have worked for, if deception is the weapon, then compromise is the trap, because most people don’t fall away from the faith all at once, it happens slowly, one small compromise at a time. Watch yourselves, pay attention, be alert, because no one is immune to...

2 John 1:7, there’s a dangerous lie that has deceived millions, a lie so subtle, that even believers don’t always recognize it and that lie is this, if it sounds good, if it feels good, it must be from God. Some of the most destructive deceptions don’t come from obvious enemies of the faith, but...

2 John 1:1-2, truth lives in us, it is eternal, a place of truth and truth itself is terrifying to those who believe they can hide from it. Here’s a realization, every choice is eternal the moment you make it and this is why regret is so powerful, because regret is the soul remembering that...

2 John 1:1-3, walk in truth, don’t follow every new idea, because deception isn’t always obvious, it doesn’t come with a warning label, instead it looks good, it sounds good, it even feels right, but beneath the surface, it is leading people away from God. We live in a time where truth is no...

This is a prayer, but forgiveness is clearly a matter of high significance to Jesus for how you imagine yourself participating in what he’s doing and being one of his followers. Forgiveness, it’s a very personal reality, the experience of being wronged by somebody and then having to sort out my...

Our daily provision of bread, the bread that we need for every day, give it to us today, but we’re not asking for a month’s supply, we’re not asking to be set up for life, it’s not a prayer for the whole of one’s life, it’s a prayer for the moment. There’s something about this prayer Jesus wants...

Jesus lives in a story where God’s name is at stake, he believes God’s name is holy, but God’s name is not being treated as or recognized as holy, otherwise you wouldn’t need to pray for its holy reputation to be restored. There’s this whole biblical theme of Yahweh’s name, the Elohim above all...

Formative, shaping experience of prayer is not in competition with other forms of prayer, it’s in addition, prayer is a many facet jewel in possession of the community of Jesus and it can do many things. Formative prayer that’s meant to shape us through repetition over a long period of time...

Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, he shares a few words of warning, that also serve as a kind of reminder that the God they worship, is not like the pagan gods. In context, the introduction to it is, when you go to the pagan temples down the street, what you’ll notice is the priests, when...

Matthew 6:5-6, don’t be like the hypocrites, they pray like this, they make sure that they are seen and visible in public, when they do their prayers. There’s a cultural gap and context thing going on here, so Judaism, Hebrew scriptures developed a tradition of fixed hour prayer, so if you live...