I’ve been failing the test lately, with the weight of the world pressing down until it felt like water closing over my head. But God was determined to remind me of the survival manual He left us for times exactly like these. Through a stranger’s words on X, my mother’s “ghost,” and a chain of events that only make sense if He lined every single one up, God showed me how to stop carrying the wrong weight… and how to shift into the one posture that actually changes everything: counting it all joy.
Tag Archives: Daily Bread
What Hard Seasons and Scripture Taught Me About Feelings | Daily Bread
Your brain is constantly scanning, analyzing, and assigning meaning to your circumstances, and then producing a feeling based on that interpretation. The feeling is real, but the interpretation is not always accurate. In short, our brains often lie to us. Feelings are data, but they are not always reliable data. This is not just theology. It is neuroscience. And it matters enormously for the Christian.
Jesus, Satan, and the Last Supper | Daily Bread
There is a moment in John 13 that most people read right past.
After Satan entered Judas, Jesus looked at him and said, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”
Jesus wasn’t speaking to Judas. Judas had already betrayed Him. Judas’ deal was already done. In that moment, Jesus was speaking directly to Satan, giving him permission to proceed. Satan was the one waiting for the word.
The enemy thought he was winning, but he was only ever doing what he was told. That understanding changes everything about how you read the cross… and if this hits you the way it hits me, it morphs your love, your respect, and the whole depth of your devotion to Him to levels you never imagined existed, and changes everything about how you praise Him.
Three Habits That Block God’s Voice | Daily Bread
There’s a particular kind of ache that comes when you feel like your prayers are hitting the ceiling. You’re not walking away from God. You’re calling out, but you can’t seem to hear Him.
The Bible doesn’t leave us without an answer to this experience. It tells us how to position ourselves to hear God, and if the problem is positioning, then the positioning can change.
The Double Portion: What Shame Is Really Pointing You Toward | Daily Bread
This morning someone very close to me said something that stopped me mid-morning and opened a conversation about one of the most misunderstood experiences in both human psychology and the Christian faith: shame. I considered what shame actually is, what it’s actually for, and why God never intended for us to make it our home.
If you are dealing with shame over your past behavior or choices, make no mistake. Shame is not meant to be wallowed in. It is meant to point us toward conviction and guide us forward into righteousness. It is a signal, not a sentence. A starting line, not a finish line.
God wants to restore you, just as He promises to do for Israel. The question is not whether He is willing. The question is whether you will allow Him to work in your life, or whether you will let shame block the blessing He is already holding out to you.
The Image of the Cross: Curse or Blessing, and What Are You Living? | Daily Bread
Someone told me recently that wearing a cross is a sin. “It’s a graven image, a violation of God’s law.” But a careful study of Scripture tells a very different story.
The second commandment was never a prohibition against every image or symbol. It was a command against worshiping created things as gods. God himself commanded images to be made, each one pointing toward His glory, His presence, and His provision… and ultimately toward the cross.
Christ broke every curse the law carried through His sacrifice, fulfilling what none of us ever could. The cross around the neck of a humble, spirit-filled believer is not an idol. It is a symbol of redemption, freedom, and the good news of salvation. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and we are commanded to carry that truth into the world.
Speaking Truth Is Not the Same as Judging | Daily Bread
To say “don’t judge” sounds humble. It sounds gracious. But underneath it is a confusion that quietly does harm to the very people it wants to protect. Speaking truth is not, in and of itself, judgment. And the kindest thing anyone can do for someone caught in sin is not to make them comfortable in it — it is to point them toward the One who can wash it clean.
Sunday Sessions | One Gospel, Two Roads (Or, The Argument I Once Used Against My Own Faith)
Many years ago, I tried to use this exact argument to prove my father’s faith was built on sand. I was wrong. Thirty years later someone posted it online and asked anyone to disprove it with scripture. I hope this answers their invitation well, and helps whoever reads it.
When Your Faith Shakes | Daily Bread
This is not a polished testimony with a tidy ending. This is what it actually looks like when the shaking is happening — in real time, in a real life, with a real God who is not confused even when I am. I had thought my faith was at the strongest it had ever been. And then the month I’m about to describe happened. This is what I found when I got quiet enough.
Science & Spirituality | Surrender Is Not Powerlessness: What Your Brain and Your Bible Both Know About Anger
Being pissed off feels powerful. But psychologically and spiritually, it’s a trap. Here’s what your brain and your Bible both know about anger, resentment, and why surrender is the most powerful thing you can do.
When Leaves Aren’t Enough: The Real Work of Spiritual Formation | Daily Bread
Spiritual appearance comes naturally. Showing up, saying the right things, checking the right boxes — from a distance, it all looks like faith. But Jesus wasn’t fooled by a leafy tree with nothing underneath, and He isn’t fooled by us either. In this promised deep dive from the Leaves but No Fruit post, we get honest about the gap between looking formed and actually being formed — what creates it, why it’s so easy to miss, and what real transformation actually looks like from the inside out. Spoiler: it’s slower, harder, and more honest than most of us expect.
Soul Over Ego: In the World, Not of It | Daily Bread
The church is witnessing a profound spiritual battle in 2026, where the struggle between ego and soul is reaching a fever pitch. This isn’t just a debate; it’s a dramatic confrontation, exposing deep-seated divisions rooted in our spiritual identity.
We’re observing an age-old contest between who we are in the flesh and who we’re called to be in Christ, amplified by current cultural and political pressures. This isn’t a comfortable reality, but it’s crucial that we confront it openly and honestly.
Sunday Sessions | When You Actually Go Look | A Deeper Dive + Follow-Up
I used to take the Bible at face value, or dismiss it just as quickly. Then I started going and looking. Really looking.
What I found surprised me: forty-plus authors spread across three continents and fifteen centuries, writing in exile, dungeons, wildernesses, and royal courts. Most never met. Most never coordinated. And yet they produced one unbroken story.
Creation. Fall. Promise. Rescue. Restoration.
That’s the arc, and it’s held throughout fifteen centuries, three continents, and forty voices who never once compared notes
The promised seed in Genesis 3:15. The lamb provided by God in Genesis 22, echoed in the Passover, fulfilled in John’s cry: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Prophecies specific enough to name the details centuries in advance: thirty pieces of silver, a donkey, pierced hands and feet, a birthplace called Bethlehem.
No committee could have engineered that.
The more I studied the geography, the manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the languages, the sheer improbability of the coherence, the harder it became to wave away.
Questions still remain. I expect they always will. But they don’t push me out anymore. They pull me deeper in.
This is what happens when you actually go look.
Sunday Sessions | What I Heard in the Quiet, and What I’m Still Wrestling With
“If you’ve turned your back on Israel, you hate your own Savior.” A meditation-born truth that won’t let go. Honest reflections on Jesus’ Jewishness, biblical contradictions, Paul’s challenging passages, and why some questions stay with us until the other side.
Alarms Are Sounding: Grief Over the Great Falling Away and Deception Regarding Israel
Amidst the rising tensions, believers face the profound responsibility to be watchmen of truth. As Ezekiel foretells, we must sound the alarm against deception, even when met with hostility. The weight of this duty stems not from our own faith but from the deep bonds we share with fellow believers. Those who turn away from God’s will risk eternal separation, as prophesied by Matthew. It is imperative that we honor God’s gifts and remain steadfast in His plans, avoiding any alignment with falsehoods.
Leaves but No Fruit: When Jesus Calls Out Spiritual Show for What It Is | Daily Bread
In Mark 11, Jesus hungers, spots a leafy fig tree promising fruit, finds it barren, and curses it. It withers from the roots.
This story offers us a prophetic sign: outward religion without inward transformation withers. His call isn’t performance, it’s abiding in the Vine.
Jesus doesn’t just expose fruitless leaves. He invites us back to the Vine. Judgment on pretense is mercy in disguise: it clears space for real growth. Slow, often painful, but alive.
“Abide… let the Spirit prune.”
Where do you need renewal today?