Hearing Jesus: Daily Bible Study, Christian Affirmations, Hearing God, Prayer, Holy Spirit, Daily Devotional

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  Luke Was Not a Disciple: An Introduction to the Gospel of Luke 16.09.2026 24分

  Luke Was Not a Disciple: An Introduction to the Gospel of Luke We're starting our fall study of the Gospel of Luke, and before we open the text, it's worth knowing who wrote this book and why. Luke was a physician, a careful historian, and the only non-Jewish author in all of Scripture. He wasn't one of the twelve. He never met Jesus. And he wrote for someone who had already heard the stories but needed something solid underneath them.If you have ever felt like an outsider in church, or found that your own faith has gotten a little shakier than you'd like to admit, this is your gospel. LinksJoin me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. We visit Luke's house in Rome, and our 2027 dates include Greece, Maui, and Rome. Payment plans are interest free. Learn more at BibleStudyLive.org Have a question about the series? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today. Plant your first seed and see what God can grow. SEEDS Why are we studying Luke and Acts together? Because that's how they were written. Luke was originally the first of two books, with Acts as the second. Treating them as one continuous work is the way they were meant to be read, and together they make up roughly a quarter of the New Testament. Luke gives us the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Acts picks up with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the formation of the early church, and the work of the apostles. Who wrote the Gospel of Luke? The book itself doesn't name its author, but the consensus is unanimous and uncontested. Early Christian tradition, along with the writing style and structure, all point to Luke. This isn't one of the books scholars argue about.Here's what surprises most people: Luke was not one of the disciples. He never knew Jesus personally. He was a Gentile who later became a follower of Jesus, which makes him the only non-Jewish author of any book in the Bible. Paul calls him a dear friend and tells us he was a physician. He was educated, careful as a historian, and a theologian. Who was Theophilus? The name means one who loves God, which has led some to read it as a title for any believer. That's a fair application, but it's probably not what it meant originally. Luke calls him most excellent, and that same phrase is used elsewhere in Scripture for Roman officials. Most scholars land on Theophilus being a Roman official or at least a man of real wealth and status, quite possibly Luke's sponsor, the person who funded the writing and distribution. Either way, this was a letter written to a specific man for a specific reason. Why did Luke write a fourth gospel? Because there was a gap. Matthew wrote for a Jewish audience. Mark wrote a short account for the church in Rome. But Greek-speaking Gentiles had only oral accounts and brief written summaries. They had no complete story of Jesus from a perspective that made sense to them. Luke saw the need, and the Lord led him to fill it. Most of his research was likely done while Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea, and he probably finished soon after arriving in Rome.You can see that Gentile focus in the text itself. Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus back to Abraham, which is what a Jewish audience would want. Luke traces it all the way back to Adam, because his readers needed to know that Jesus came for all of humanity, not one nation. What makes Luke different from the other gospels? Luke's writing (Luke and Acts together) is the longest book in the New Testament and the most comprehensive account of the life of Jesus. It has the most polished Greek. It's the only gospel that shows us Jesus as a young boy. It gives us a large body of teaching and parables found nowhere else, most of it delivered on the road to Jerusalem.Luke also keeps his eye on particular people: the poor, women, widows, children, the sick, the social outcasts. He was a doctor, and he notices things the others don't. He pays close attention to the prayer life of Jesus, to joy, and to the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus and in the lives of His followers. The title he uses most is Son of Man, which holds together that Jesus was fully God and fully man. What does "exact truth" actually mean in Luke 1:4? This is the heart of it. Luke states his purpose plainly: so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. The Greek word behind exact truth shares a root with our English word asphalt, and it carries the sense of something firm and solid, a stable foundation, something that will not let you slip.That's what Luke was after. He wrote so that a man who had already been taught would have something concrete under his feet when life got hard. Why does that matter for us? Because a lot of people are walking around with a faith more fragile than they would ever say out loud. You can attend every Sunday and know all the right words, and still find that a hard season, a painful loss, or a stack of unanswered questions has softened the ground underneath you.That's exactly who Luke wrote for. And it's why this gospel is so accessible now. Luke wrote for outsiders, for people with no background and no context, starting from the beginning. The poor, the Gentile, the tax collector, the Samaritan woman, the leper, the sinner, all of them get placed at the center of his story.If you have ever felt too far outside to be included in what God is doing, this is your gospel. And if you haven't felt that way, someone near you has. Featured quote: "Luke is saying, I wrote this for you so that you would have something firm and stable to stand on." Scripture referenced: Luke 1:1-4 (NASB) Timestamps 00:00 Where we've been, and why the Bible Study 101 episodes matter 00:55 Why we skipped Luke last year, and why we're doing Luke and Acts together 01:48 Reading Luke 1:1-4 02:25 Who was Theophilus, and what "most excellent" tells us 03:41 Who wrote this gospel, and why there's no real debate 04:30 Luke was not a disciple, and he was not Jewish 05:26 What Luke and Acts cover together 06:36 What Paul tells us about Luke 07:29 The gap Luke was filling for the Gentile church 08:26 Abraham or Adam: how audience shapes a genealogy 09:22 What's inside Luke, and what's found nowhere else 10:19 The longest, most literate, most comprehensive gospel 10:49 The marginalized, prayer, joy, and the Holy Spirit 11:26 Why the big picture of Scripture changes how you read 13:18 Luke is the gospel for people who feel like outsiders 14:14 Rachael's own story of walking in with no context 15:14 The faith that's more fragile than we admit 16:39 Asphalēs: something firm to stand on 17:39 Why Luke is a better starting point than most people are told 18:32 What to expect this fall 18:47 Prayer 20:26 Standing in Luke's house in Rome Frequently asked questions Was Luke one of the twelve disciples? No. Luke never met Jesus and was not one of the twelve. He came to faith later and built his account on eyewitness testimony and careful research. Was Luke Jewish? No. Luke was a Gentile, which makes him the only non-Jewish author of any book in the Bible. Should I read Luke or John first if I'm new to the Bible? There's no bad place to start. But Luke explains things in a way that assumes no background, which makes it an especially good entry point if church language feels unfamiliar. Why study Luke and Acts as one book? Because Luke wrote them that way, as volume one and volume two of a single work addressed to the same man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Wednesday Daily Affirmations: Jesus Carries My Worries 16.09.2026 10分

  Wednesday Daily Affirmations: Jesus Carries My Worries In today’s Wednesday Affirmations episode, Rachael leads listeners through declarations of peace, trust, and confidence grounded in Scripture. As the world feels overwhelming, these affirmations anchor the listener in God’s promises. From surrendering anxiety to trusting God’s timing, each statement is followed by a full Bible verse designed to renew faith and calm the heart. This episode is a gentle reminder that God’s peace isn’t just a feeling—it’s a promise.   AD-FREE Daily Affirmations can be found on my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/c/HearingJesus     Today’s daily affirmations are for peace and trust in God’s plan. I will say the statement, then pause so you can repeat it after me. Then I’ll share the Scripture reference where it comes from. Breathe in God’s peace… and exhale your worries. This day is a gift, and no matter what’s ahead, you can trust that God is in control. His love is steady. His plans for you are good. His presence goes before you. Let these affirmations remind you to trust Him today. Affirmations and Scriptures:   I am ruled by God’s peace today. Isaiah 26:3   I cast all my worries onto Jesus—He carries them for me. 1 Peter 5:7   I will not be anxious. I will pray and trust God. Philippians 4:6–7   God’s plans for me are good, and I trust Him. Jeremiah 29:11   I do not need to worry about tomorrow. Matthew 6:34   I will rest in God’s presence today. Exodus 33:14   God is my refuge and strength. Psalm 46:1   I will not let my heart be troubled. I trust in God. John 14:27   The Lord directs my steps. Proverbs 3:5–6   Even when I don’t understand, I trust in God’s wisdom. Romans 11:33   I do not have to be afraid because God is with me. Deuteronomy 31:8   God is fighting for me. Exodus 14:14   I am not alone. God walks with me. Isaiah 41:13   God is my rock and salvation. I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:6   I find rest in God alone. Psalm 62:1   God’s love never fails me. Lamentations 3:22–23   I have peace because I am in Christ. John 16:33   I wait on the Lord and He renews my strength. Isaiah 40:31   I will trust in God, even when I don’t see the whole picture. 2 Corinthians 5:7   God is working all things for my good. Romans 8:28   God’s peace rules in my heart today. Colossians 3:15   I give my burdens to the Lord and He sustains me. Psalm 55:22   I will be still and know that He is God. Psalm 46:10   I trust God’s timing and His ways. Ecclesiastes 3:11   I will rejoice in the Lord always. Philippians 4:4   Closing Prayer: Father, I surrender my worries to You. I choose to rest in Your peace today, trusting that You are in control. Fill my heart with faith instead of fear, and let Your peace guard my mind. In Jesus’ name, amen. I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go deeper, just keep listening—your full Bible study episode is coming up next.   Listen daily and start your morning with God’s truth so you can walk in faith, clarity, and confidence.   #ChristianPodcast #DailyAffirmations #FaithOverFear #BiblicalTruth #MorningDevotions #RenewYourMind #HearingJesusPodcast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  BONUS: ECHOES OF EDEN: Learning His Voice 15.09.2026 52分

  Learning His Voice Jen shares a deeply personal story of meeting Jesus as a young girl, walking through fear, grief, anger, and surrender, and eventually discovering what it means to live in an ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit.In this conversation, Jen and Silvia explore the difference between simply knowing about Jesus and wholeheartedly yielding a life to Him. Jen talks about learning to recognize God’s voice through Scripture, prayer, relationship, and time—and why anything we believe we are hearing from God must align with His Word and His character. Her story is an invitation to come as you are, keep pursuing Jesus, and discover the Helper He promised. Check out more from the Echoes of Eden Podcast IN THIS EPISODE • Jen’s salvation at age twelve and the later moment she surrendered her whole life to Jesus • How Christian families and mentors showed her what a life filled with Jesus could look like • Moving from anger and hurt toward a new way of living • Why sharing our testimonies can help others recognize Christ • What it means to be Spirit-filled and continually yielded to Jesus • Learning to recognize God’s voice through Scripture, prayer, and relationship • Experiencing God’s presence through grief, suffering, healing, and seasons of darkness SCRIPTURE & BIBLICAL THEMES John 10 — Jesus’ sheep know Him, hear His voice, and follow Him. Colossians 3 — Putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love as part of a transformed life in Christ.The conversation also explores the Holy Spirit as the Helper Jesus promised—the One who teaches, leads, convicts, directs, and empowers believers. CHAPTERS 00:00 — Meet Jen 03:50 — Meeting Jesus at Twelve 09:45 — The Night Jen Surrendered Everything 17:00 — A New Heart & a New Way of Living 24:05 — What Does It Mean to Be Spirit-Filled? 30:35 — Learning God’s Voice Through His Word 42:50 — The Holy Spirit, Pain & God’s PresenceWhether you have followed Jesus for years, are learning to recognize His voice, or are simply wondering whether there is a place for you in His story, Jen’s testimony offers a simple invitation: come as you are. Spend time in His Word. Talk with Him. Ask questions. Keep pursuing Him. Pull up a chair. There’s a place for you here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Holy Audacity: Stepping Into the Water Before It Parts | Joshua 3 and 4 15.09.2026 50分

  Holy Audacity: Stepping Into the Water Before It Parts | Joshua 3 and 4 Sometimes God clears the path before you take a step. And sometimes He asks you to walk into the water while it's still standing there. If you're in a season where obedience feels reckless, where you keep asking who you think you are to be doing this, this conversation is for you. Rachael sits down with her friend Silvia, who she met on the Bible Study Live trip to Italy, to talk about what God did on their recent trip to Maui. Silvia opens up about the insecurity that hit right as she was preparing to launch something God had clearly called her to, the moment another woman spoke truth over her, and how God fought that battle in the space of a few hours. Then Rachael teaches through Joshua 3 and 4, the crossing of the Jordan, and the twelve stones that were meant to mark what God had done. Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. We're returning to Maui in 2027. Learn more at⁠ BibleStudyLive.org⁠ Listen to Sylvia's new podcast, Echoes of Eden, available now wherever you get your podcasts. Have a question about the series? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe What is holy audacity? It's the phrase that came out of a moment on the Maui trip when Rachael found herself asking how she had the audacity to think she should be doing this at all, and the Lord answered that He was the one who told her to do it. Holy audacity is the nerve to obey something bigger than you, not because you feel qualified, but because God said so. It's a prayer worth praying: Lord, give me some holy audacity moments. Challenge me with big obedience so I can see You show up in a big way. Why does the enemy attack right before you step out? Because the initial obedience usually isn't where we get stuck. Most of us say yes. It's the middle of the road where self-doubt, comparison, and insecurity start talking. As Rachael puts it, the enemy attacks in infancy what he fears in maturity. Silvia was being called Lady Wisdom by the other women on the trip at the very moment she was internally convinced she had no business doing what God had asked of her. Both things were happening in the same room on the same day. What's the difference between the Red Sea and the Jordan River? This is the heart of the teaching. In Exodus 14, God parted the sea first and the people of Israel walked across on dry ground. A generation later in Joshua 3, they face another body of water, and this time the instruction is different. The priests carrying the ark are told to step into the Jordan while the water is still flowing. The waters don't part until their feet are already wet.It's one thing to trust that God will hold back the water while you're standing on dry ground. It's another thing entirely to step in while the water is still there. The miracle still came and the result was the same, but the method changed, and that change required a different kind of obedience. Why would God change His method? Because we have a tendency to chase the miracle instead of the miracle worker. When we've seen God move a certain way before, we start expecting the pattern instead of the Person. Changing the method reorients our hearts back toward Him. Notice too what went first into the Jordan: the ark, the presence of God. His presence goes ahead and makes the way, and then the rest of the people cross.What do the twelve stones in Joshua 4 mean?After the crossing, God tells Joshua to have twelve men take twelve stones from the very place where the priests' feet had stood, and set them down where they camped that night. They were markers, so that when future generations asked what these stones meant, the story would get told again.That's what a marker moment is. A place you can look back to and say, if He did it then, He can do it now. When you're standing at the edge of water that hasn't parted yet, your stones are what you have. It made no sense then either, and He was still faithful. So the question worth sitting with: where are your river stones? Featured quote: "It's one thing to trust that He's going to hold back the water when I'm standing on dry ground. It is another thing to step in when there's still water." Scripture referenced: Exodus 14:21-22 Joshua 3:8-13 Joshua 4:1-9 Joshua 4:20-24 Psalm 66:16 Chapters: 00:00 Welcome, and how Rachael and Silvia met on the Italy trip 01:28 Deciding to go to Maui, and the tension that came after the yes 03:17 Taking the decision to prayer 05:06 Why these trips grow out of seasons of healing 08:03 What was happening in Silvia's heart on the trip 09:32 Self-sabotage, and the lie that she wasn't qualified 10:01 Bring it to the Lord before you bring it to me 10:31 The woman who grabbed her hand and spoke truth 12:20 Why obedience gets attacked in the middle, not at the start 13:49 Lady Wisdom, and what everyone else was seeing 15:32 The shame the enemy kept returning to 17:33 The dependence that only comes with a heavy lift 19:23 Holy audacity 21:10 Announcing the Echoes of Eden podcast 23:00 Psalm 66:16, and the simplicity of the assignment 26:45 The word marker, and the stones 28:00 Exodus 14 and the dry ground 29:30 Joshua 3, and the call to step into the water 32:15 Why wet feet require a different obedience 32:45 Joshua 4 and the twelve stones 34:10 Chasing the miracle worker, not the miracle 34:30 Why Rachael laid down podcast coaching 35:25 The ark goes first 40:20 Where are your river stones? 41:30 What Echoes of Eden is and who it's for 45:30 Closing prayer Frequently asked questions Why did God part the Red Sea before they crossed, but not the Jordan? The outcome was the same, but the method changed. At the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark had to step into the water before it was cut off. That shift required trust in God Himself rather than in a repeated pattern. What did the twelve stones represent? They were a memorial. Each tribe carried one stone from the riverbed so future generations would ask what they meant and hear the story of what God had done. Who is Silvia and what is Echoes of Eden? Silvia is a friend Rachael met on the Bible Study Live trip to Italy. Her new interview podcast, Echoes of Eden, gives women space to tell their stories and share where God met them. It's anchored in Psalm 66:16. When is the next Maui trip? We're going back in 2027. Details are at BibleStudyLive.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  What Is a Gospel? How to Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John 15.09.2026 27分

  Before we open the Gospel of Luke, there's a question worth answering: what exactly is a gospel? Most of us have read these four books without ever stopping to ask what kind of writing they are, and that one gap changes everything about how we read them. Gospel is a genre. These are ancient biographies of Jesus, written by four different men to four different audiences, and they were never meant to be read the way we read a modern news report. This episode covers why there are four, why they don't always line up, why we can trust them, and how to actually read them well. Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at BibleStudyLive.org  Have a question about the series? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today. Plant your first seed and see what God can grow. SEEDS What does the word gospel actually mean? Gospel is a genre, and genre simply means the kind of writing a work is. The Bible contains poetry, letters, prophecy, law, and historical narrative, and each one asks to be read differently. The four gospels sit together at the front of the New Testament, and they are essentially biographies of the life of Jesus. Knowing that changes your expectations before you read a single verse. Why are there four gospels instead of one? Think about walking into a library and looking for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. A search on Amazon turns up more than ten thousand books about him. Some cover his presidency, some his politics, some his character, some only his childhood, some his views on the Bible, some his war years. Every one of those historians chose what to emphasize. Ancient historians worked the same way. They wrote with clear moral, political, and theological purposes, and readers were expected to draw lessons from the work. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each had a lens, and a different audience in mind. Can we trust the gospels? Yes, and the reasons are worth knowing. These books were written while eyewitnesses were still alive and still holding positions of authority in the church, which means the oral tradition could be checked by people who had been there. They were written within the first two generations, while the teachings of Jesus were still fresh. And the culture itself was built for careful preservation. Students learned their teachers' sayings rigorously, taking notes and memorizing, with some repeating the previous day's lecture before getting out of bed. The disciples of Jesus treated His words that way, and many of them became the teachers passing those words on. Why don't the gospels always match up? This is where a lot of readers get stuck, and it usually comes from applying modern expectations to ancient writing. Three things help. First, no one in that culture expected teachings to appear in chronological sequence. Teaching was situational, the way a grandmother's saying comes back to you in the moment it fits rather than in the order she said it. Second, word-for-word repetition was not the standard. Most people could not read, so teaching passed down orally, and paraphrasing was a normal and accepted practice. On top of that, Jesus often spoke Aramaic while the gospels were written in Greek, so His words were being translated. Third, ancient biographers had genuine freedom to arrange their material. When critics point to an event appearing earlier in Matthew and later in Luke, they are holding the text to a standard nobody in the first century used. The heart of the message is what carries. Why only these four, and not the other gospels people mention? By the time Luke wrote, other accounts of Jesus were already circulating, and Luke tells us so. Mark was already in use, and many scholars believe Matthew, Luke, and possibly Mark drew on a common written source. The four that the church preserved were kept for reliability, access to eyewitnesses, and accuracy. The apocryphal gospels came much later and read more like novels, drawing from oral tradition that had drifted over generations. The Gnostic collections attributed sayings to Jesus, but the earliest of them date to roughly 120 years after His public ministry, far too late to verify. The early church knew what it was doing. What is the best way to read a gospel? Read one all the way through before moving to another. There is a method called a harmony of the gospels that weaves all four together story by story, and it has its place, but it is hard to follow and it is not how these books were meant to be read. Each gospel was written separately, to different readers, with its own flow of thought. Reading one at a time lets you catch what makes that writer distinct. Luke was a doctor, so when you stay inside his gospel you start noticing what he noticed: the women, the healings, the people on the margins. Those details are easy to miss when you are jumping between books. What should I be looking for as I read? A few things to carry into the series. Ancient biographies had morals to their stories, setting characters up as positive or negative examples, so ask what the story is showing you about the character and nature of God. Learn to tell the difference between what Scripture describes and what it prescribes, because someone's story appearing in the Bible does not mean we are meant to copy them. And remember this one: Scripture was written for us, but it was not originally written to us. It went first to an ancient audience in a particular culture. Most of them heard it read aloud rather than reading it themselves, which is why it helps to think of them as an audience instead of readers. Before we can understand how the teachings of Jesus apply to our lives, we have to understand what they meant to the people who heard them first. Featured quote "Scripture was written for us, but it was not originally written to us. It was written to an original audience that lived a long time ago." Terms explained in this episode Genre, synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke overlap significantly, while John is distinct), harmony of the gospels, descriptive versus prescriptive, apocryphal and Gnostic gospels. Timestamps (approximate) 00:00 What is a gospel, and why start here 01:00 Gospel as a genre, and what that changes 02:00 Why the gospels are not chronological 03:20 The Abraham Lincoln analogy: ten thousand biographies, ten thousand angles 04:50 Who were these writers, and why trust them 06:40 How sayings were preserved in an oral culture 09:00 Why sequence was never the point 11:00 Word for word, Aramaic, and Greek 15:00 The freedom ancient biographers had with their material 17:30 Why only four gospels survived 19:50 How to read a gospel, and why not to jump around 21:20 Descriptive versus prescriptive 22:30 Reading versus hearing, and the original audience 25:00 Synoptic gospels explained 26:20 We learn by teaching Frequently asked questions What does the word gospel mean? It refers both to the good news about Jesus and to a genre of ancient writing. In this episode we're focused on the genre, meaning the kind of literature Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John belong to. What are the synoptic gospels? Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which overlap heavily in content and often tell the same events. John stands apart with a different structure and emphasis. Should I read the gospels in chronological order? Not for this study. We'll read Luke straight through so we can follow his particular flow of thought and notice the details that are uniquely his. When does the Luke study begin? Right after this episode. We'll start with an introduction to who Luke was and why his account matters, then move through the text at a spirit-led pace, with Luke and Acts studied together as one work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Tuesday Daily Affirmations: Strength for Today | Courage When You Feel Weak 15.09.2026 10分

  Tuesday Daily Affirmations: Strength for Today | Courage When You Feel Weak Step into your week with boldness, peace, and purpose. These Scripture-based Christian affirmations are a short but powerful way to trade your own strength for God's before the day gets away from you. As the world demands more, God invites you to lean on Him. Today's affirmations are a reminder that you are never alone, never powerless, and never without purpose. I'll read each phrase, you repeat it, and then I'll tell you the Scripture it comes from. AD-FREE Daily Affirmations are on my Patreon: Patreon Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at BibleStudyLive.org Have a question? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe Before we begin Today's affirmations are for strength and confidence for the week ahead. Whatever this week holds, you are not facing it alone. God is with you, strengthening you, guiding you, and fighting for you. No matter what challenges you encounter, you can walk in faith knowing that God has already prepared the way for you. Tuesday affirmations and Scripture I am strong and courageous in Christ. Joshua 1:9 I do not fear because God is with me. Isaiah 41:10 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 I am victorious through Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:57 I have the power of God working within me. Ephesians 3:20 I will not be shaken because God is my refuge. Psalm 62:6 I walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 No weapon formed against me shall prosper. Isaiah 54:17 God fights my battles and I need only to be still. Exodus 14:14 I am not afraid because God has overcome the world. John 16:33 I have authority in Christ over every attack of the enemy. Luke 10:19 I am rooted and established in God's love. Ephesians 3:17 I have divine wisdom and strength for today. James 1:5 I am resilient and I will persevere through trials. Romans 5:3-4 I am filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 I will not grow weary in doing good. Galatians 6:9 God's grace is sufficient for me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 I have peace that surpasses understanding. Philippians 4:7 I am never alone. God is always near. Deuteronomy 31:8 I am protected under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1 God's Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 I stand firm in faith and do not waver. James 1:6 I am free from fear because God's perfect love casts it out. 1 John 4:18 I have a spirit of power, love, and sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 God is working all things for my good today. Romans 8:28 Closing prayer Lord, I surrender my fear to You. Fill me with boldness, courage, and confidence in You. No matter what today holds, I trust in Your strength. In Jesus' name, amen. Listen daily and start your morning with God's truth so you can walk in faith, clarity, and confidence.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Silent Years: What God Was Doing in the 400 Years Between the Old and New Testaments 14.09.2026 22分

  The Silent Years: What God Was Doing in the 400 Years Between the Old and New Testaments There are about 400 years between the last page of the Old Testament and the first page of the New. Most of us turn that page without ever noticing. Scholars call it the intertestamental period, but most people know it as the silent years, because there was no prophet speaking in Israel and no Scripture being written. And yet when you look at what was actually happening in that stretch of history, you find something that will change how you think about the silent seasons of your own life. God was not absent. He was setting a stage. Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at ⁠BibleStudyLive.org⁠ Have a question about the series? Leave me a voicemail: ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/HearingJesusPodcast⁠ SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today. Plant your first seed and see what God can grow. ⁠https://apps.apple.com/us/app/seeds-by-orchard/id6759892006⁠ Why do they call it the silent years? The name comes from what was missing. There were no prophets in Israel during this period, and no books of the Bible were being written. After Malachi, the prophetic voice that had guided Israel for centuries goes quiet. But silence is not the same thing as absence. Some of the most important groundwork in redemptive history was laid in exactly this window, which is why the episode lands where it does: sometimes when God is silent, He is doing some of His best work. If no Scripture was written, how do we know what happened? We know a great deal, because plenty was being written even though none of it entered the canon of the evangelical Bible. The books of the Apocrypha, including Maccabees, Tobit, and 1 Esdras, are read in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions and give us a real window into the period. The historian Josephus records much of it. The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered rolled in jars in caves along the Dead Sea and first found by a young shepherd boy, were largely written during this time. And the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, was produced in this era. How did God prepare the world for Jesus during the silence? This is where it gets remarkable. Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire and spread Greek language and Hellenistic culture across the known world, which meant that by the time Jesus came, a common language existed for the gospel to travel in. Meanwhile, rabbis rose to prominence as teachers alongside the priests, and local synagogues became places of worship, prayer, and hearing the Torah. Scripture that had once been accessible only to the elite was now within reach of ordinary people. Luke tells us Jesus went to the synagogue regularly, an institution that did not exist in the Old Testament. None of that was accidental. What was the Maccabean revolt, and where does Hanukkah come from? After Alexander died in 323 BC, his empire was divided among his generals. Under Antiochus, the Jews suffered badly. He banned core Jewish practices, seized the temple, and ordered pigs sacrificed on the altar. An elderly priest and his sons refused to comply, and their zeal sparked the Maccabean revolt beginning in 167 BC. By 164 BC the Maccabees had retaken and cleansed the temple. The eight-day celebration that followed became Hanukkah, and the Gospel of John records Jesus Himself in Jerusalem for that festival. What happened after the Maccabees won? Here is the sobering turn. The Maccabean family formed the Hasmonean dynasty, and over time the very Hellenistic influence they had been repulsed by became something they embraced. That drift sparked opposition groups like the Pharisees and the Essenes, all wrestling with the same question of how to be faithful in a Greek world. Rome eventually ended the dynasty when Pompey took Jerusalem in 63 BC. Herod the Great was named king of the Jews, ruled cruelly, and rebuilt the temple complex into the largest temple to a single deity in the world. He died in 4 BC, and scholars believe Jesus was born not far from Herod's own burial grounds. The Zealots later revolted, and the temple was destroyed in AD 70. What does this mean for my own silent season? These years were anything but silent. The political, cultural, and spiritual climate all had to be primed before Jesus walked onto the scene, and God was doing that work the entire time no one could hear Him. The question to sit with is this one: where in your own life has God been working in ways you could not see or hear? He may not have been silent at all. He may have been setting the stage. Featured quote "Sometimes when God is silent, He's doing some of His best work. Just because God is silent doesn't mean He isn't moving and acting." Scripture and sources referenced John 10:22-23 (Jesus at the Feast of Dedication), Luke 4:16 (Jesus in the synagogue), Malachi as the close of the Old Testament. Extra-biblical sources discussed include 1 and 2 Maccabees, Tobit, 1 Esdras, Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Septuagint. Timestamps (approximate) 00:00 Welcome and what's ahead in the fall Luke series 01:24 Why we're covering the gospel genre before opening the text 01:51 How the study will run, and why Luke and Acts belong together 03:05 The teaching begins: the 400 years between the testaments 04:30 Why they're called the silent years 05:00 Where our information comes from: Maccabees, Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls 06:20 The Septuagint and the rise of Greek 07:15 Rabbis, synagogues, and Scripture made accessible 08:30 Alexander the Great and Hellenization 09:45 Antiochus, the desecrated temple, and the Maccabean revolt 11:00 The origin of Hanukkah 12:15 The Hasmonean drift back toward Greek culture 13:30 Rome, Pompey, and Herod the Great 15:00 The Zealots and the destruction of the temple in AD 70 16:00 These years were anything but silent 1 7:20 Where has God been working in your silence? Frequently asked questions What is the intertestamental period? It's the roughly 400-year span between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, commonly dated 400 BC to 1 BC. You may also hear it called the Second Temple period in academic settings. Are the books of the Apocrypha part of the Bible? They're included in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles but not in the evangelical Protestant canon. They aren't treated as Scripture here, but they are useful historical sources for understanding the period. When does the Luke series start? Right after this week's two review episodes. We'll begin with an introduction to who Luke was, then work through the text at a spirit-led pace, with Luke and Acts studied together as one work. Expect the series to run through the end of the year. How do I ask a question about the series? There's a SpeakPipe link in the show notes where you can leave a voicemail, or you can always reach out by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Monday Daily Affirmations: God Is Always With Me 14.09.2026 10分

  Monday Daily Affirmations: God Is Always With Me Start your Monday with confidence, peace, and purpose. These daily Christian affirmations are a short but powerful way to realign your heart and mind with biblical truth before the week begins. Today's affirmations are all about identity: who God says you are, and what changes when you believe it. Speak life over your day, renew your faith, and step into God's promises with Scripture straight from His Word. I'll read each phrase, you repeat it, and then I'll tell you the Scripture it comes from. Links AD-FREE Daily Affirmations are on my Patreon: Patreon Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at BibleStudyLive.org Have a question? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe Before we begin Take a deep breath. This is a new day filled with God's grace and purpose. You are not defined by your past, or your mistakes, or the opinions of others. You are defined by the truth of God's Word. Let these affirmations fill your heart as you step into today. Monday affirmations and Scripture I am a child of God, chosen and loved. 1 John 3:1 I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14 I am fully known and loved fully by God. Psalm 139:1-2 I have been chosen before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 I am created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 I am redeemed and made new in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 I am set apart for God's purpose. 1 Peter 2:9 I am God's masterpiece, created for good works. Ephesians 2:10 I am loved with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 I am called by name and belong to God. Isaiah 43:1 I am not my past. I am a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God. 1 Corinthians 6:20 I'm seated in heavenly places with Christ. Ephesians 2:6 I am co-heir with Christ. Romans 8:17 I am not rejected. I am accepted in Christ. Ephesians 1:6 I am never alone. God is always with me. Hebrews 13:5 I am valuable and precious in God's sight. Isaiah 43:4 I have been set free by the truth of Jesus. John 8:36 I am more than a conqueror through Christ. Romans 8:37 I am a light in this world, shining for Christ. Matthew 5:14 I am God's dwelling place. His Spirit lives within me. 1 Corinthians 3:16 I am forgiven and free from condemnation. Romans 8:1 I have a divine purpose and calling from God. Jeremiah 29:11 I am dearly loved and nothing can separate me from God's love. Romans 8:38-39 Closing prayer Father, thank You for reminding me who I am in You. Help me to walk in confidence today, knowing that I am chosen, loved, and called by You. No matter what comes my way, let my identity be rooted in Your truth. In Jesus' name, amen. I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go deeper, just keep listening. Your full Bible study episode is coming up next. Listen daily and start your morning with God's truth so you can walk in faith, clarity, and confidence.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Sunday Affirmations: God's Presence With Us 13.09.2026 9分

  Sunday Affirmations: God's Presence With Us:  Daily Affirmations, Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations Today is about looking ahead with God. Before the week begins, we pause and place what’s coming into His hands. These affirmations are meant to help you enter the week grounded, attentive, and trusting God to lead you one day at a time. SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. AD-FREE Daily Affirmations can be found on my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/c/HearingJesus Repeat after me, then listen to the Bible verse.   I place this coming week in God’s hands. Psalm 31:15 – “My times are in Your hands.” I trust God to guide my steps. Psalm 37:23 – “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him.” I enter this week with expectancy, not fear. Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.” I invite God into every moment ahead. Proverbs 16:3 – “Commit to the Lord whatever you do.” I trust God to order my priorities. Matthew 6:33 – “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” I receive God’s wisdom for the days ahead. James 1:5 – “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God.” I walk into this week anchored in truth. Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet.” I trust God with what I cannot foresee. Isaiah 46:10 – “I make known the end from the beginning.” I choose faith over anticipation of stress. Psalm 56:3 – “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.” I rely on God’s grace for each day. 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “My grace is sufficient for you.” I trust God’s timing this week. Habakkuk 2:3 – “Though it linger, wait for it.” I remain open to God’s leading. Psalm 25:4 – “Show me Your ways, Lord.” I step forward with humility and trust. Micah 6:8 – “What does the Lord require of you? To walk humbly with your God.” I depend on God’s strength, not my own. Psalm 68:35 – “God gives strength and power to His people.” I trust God with every conversation and decision. Proverbs 20:24 – “A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.” I choose obedience over control. John 14:23 – “Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching.” I walk into this week aware of God’s presence. Exodus 33:14 – “My Presence will go with you.” I trust God to work through ordinary moments. Zechariah 4:10 – “Do not despise these small beginnings.” I release anxiety about outcomes. Psalm 112:7 – “They will have no fear of bad news.” I remain attentive to God’s voice. John 10:27 – “My sheep listen to My voice.” I trust God to meet my needs. Philippians 4:19 – “My God will meet all your needs.” I step into this week with courage. Psalm 31:24 – “Be strong and take heart.” I trust God to shape my character. Romans 8:29 – “To be conformed to the image of His Son.” I begin this week grounded in hope. Hebrews 6:19 – “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul.” I rest in God’s faithfulness as I move forward. Psalm 33:4 – “The word of the Lord is right and true.”   Closing Prayer: God, as I step into this new week, I place everything ahead of me in Your care. Go before me, guide my steps, and help me stay attentive to You. I trust You with what’s coming, one day at a time. Amen.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Saturday Affirmations: Thankfulness to the Lord 12.09.2026 11分

  Saturday Affirmations: Thankfulness to the Lord Daily Affirmations, Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations As we slow down today, this is a chance to look back over the week with God. Not to replay everything or overthink it, but to notice where He met you, where He carried you, and where His grace showed up. Let these affirmations help you reflect with honesty and gratitude. SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. AD-FREE Daily Affirmations can be found on my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/c/HearingJesus Repeat after me, then listen to the Bible verse. I thank God for walking with me through this week. Psalm 143:10 – “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” I recognize God’s faithfulness in both the seen and unseen moments. Psalm 77:11 – “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.” I release regret and receive God’s grace. Psalm 32:5 – “Then I acknowledged my sin to You… and You forgave the guilt of my sin.” I trust that God was at work even when I didn’t notice. Ecclesiastes 3:11 – “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” I give thanks for the strength God provided each day. Psalm 28:7 – “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me.” I acknowledge where I grew this week. 2 Peter 3:18 – “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” I notice where God invited me to trust Him more deeply. Psalm 37:5 – “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.” I receive God’s mercy for where I fell short. Micah 7:18 – “You delight in mercy.” I choose gratitude over self-criticism. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “Give thanks in all circumstances.” I honor the work God has been doing in my heart. Philippians 1:6 – “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” I acknowledge God’s presence in ordinary moments. Psalm 16:11 – “You make known to me the path of life.” I release this week into God’s care. Psalm 55:22 – “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you.” I trust God with what remains unfinished. Proverbs 16:9 – “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” I thank God for His patience with me. Psalm 103:8 – “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” I rest in the truth that God sees me fully. Hebrews 4:13 – “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.” I choose to end this week with gratitude. Psalm 92:1 – “It is good to give thanks to the Lord.” I release comparison and embrace contentment. Hebrews 13:5 – “Be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you.’” I acknowledge God’s protection this week. Psalm 121:7 – “The Lord will keep you from all harm.” I thank God for His provision. Matthew 6:31–32 – “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” I recognize God’s quiet guidance. Isaiah 30:21 – “This is the way; walk in it.” I let go of striving and receive rest. Psalm 23:2 – “He leads me beside quiet waters.” I honor the limits God has given me. Psalm 127:2 – “He grants sleep to those He loves.” I trust God with what I do not understand. Romans 11:33 – “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” I receive peace as I reflect with God. Psalm 4:7 – “You have filled my heart with greater joy.” I end this week grounded in God’s faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23 – “Great is Your faithfulness.”   Closing Prayer: God, thank You for walking with me through this week. Help me to see Your faithfulness clearly and to release what I need to let go of. I trust that You were present in ways I noticed and in ways I didn’t. I place this week back into Your hands. Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Bible Study 101: What Is Biblical Meditation? Hearing Jesus, Devotional 11.09.2026 22分

  Bible Study 101: What Is Biblical Meditation? Hearing Jesus, Devotional This episode is a replay from Rachael's biblical meditation series, and it closes out Bible Study 101 by putting you inside the passage you've been studying all week. The first half is teaching. What the Hebrew word hagah actually means, why meditation is the thing that trains you to recognize God's voice, and a story about the night Rachael got the call about her grandmother. The second half is a guided meditation on John 6:1-15, where you'll walk through the scene as the boy who handed over his lunch, and then sit with Jesus afterward. There's no closing prayer on this one, on purpose. Rachael reads the passage and then hands the time over to you. Links Speakpipe: Leave a voice message or prayer request Join the newsletter SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. Chapters 2:17 What this episode is, and why it's structured backward 2:43 Hagah, the second Hebrew word for meditation 3:13 Omnipresence, and what meditation actually creates 3:42 How you come to recognize a voice 4:39 When the enemy sounds a lot like God 5:18 The night her grandmother fell 7:14 I'm not over there, I'm right here 8:38 Meditation is the posture. The interaction is what changes you. 9:05 Why we want someone else to talk to God for us 11:18 How do I know if I'm hearing from God? 11:44 Tip one, pick a Scripture 13:06 Tip two, pick a time 13:58 Tip three, pick a place 14:24 Tip four, your posture 15:23 Tip five, don't give up 15:51 The guided meditation begins 16:21 Using your senses inside the scene 17:36 When Jesus sits down next to you 18:37 Then you ask Him the same question 21:04 Reading John 6:1-15 What is biblical meditation? It's filling your mind with God's word on purpose and staying there long enough for Him to speak into it. Meditation is mentioned 58 times in Scripture, and there are two Hebrew words behind it. One appeared earlier in this series and carries the sense of complaining or pouring out to God. The other is hagah. What does hagah mean? Hagah is the idea of pondering, imagining, thinking. It's turning something over in your mind, sitting with it, and listening. It's also a dialogue, where you're talking to God and then waiting to hear back. That's the version of meditation this episode practices. Not emptying your mind, but filling it with a passage and staying in it. Why does meditation help you hear God? Because there's a big Bible word, omnipresence, which means God is always with you regardless of where you are or what you're doing. The question isn't whether He's there. It's whether you recognize it. Meditation creates the emotional and spiritual space where you can hear Him. How do you learn to recognize God's voice? The same way you recognize any voice. Time. Rachael has three daughters, and when one of them calls from another room she knows instantly which one it is. People on the phone can't tell them apart, because their voices are similar. She can, because she's spent years with them. Her sister-in-law can too, for the same reason. This matters because the enemy often works through your own insecurity or ego, which means the voice can sound familiar. The way you tell the difference is the way you tell the difference with anyone. You learn a voice by spending time with the person, and with God that time happens in His word. The story that shows why this matters Rachael's grandparents largely raised her. Her grandmother fell down a flight of stairs, hit her head, and had a brain bleed. The call came in the middle of the night, and it was clear she didn't have long. Rachael's husband stayed with their kids while she drove nearly an hour to the hospital alone. She says it was one of the most intense moments of grief she's ever experienced, and grief makes you irrational. She kept praying the same thing out loud between sobs, over and over. I need You. I need You. I need You. At one point she reached her hand across to the passenger side armrest, as if she could touch Him sitting there. And she heard Him, as clear as anything. I'm not over there. I'm right here. He interrupted her chaos with His words, and she recognized His voice because she had been meditating on His word for years. That's what let her walk into the hospital room and say goodbye. The thought she'd been stuck in was replaced with something else. I'm right here. I'm not far away. I'm inside you. Meditation is the posture that puts you where you can hear from Him. The interaction with Him is what changes you. Why do we want someone else to talk to God for us? Because the enemy has convinced us we don't have equal access. People ask Rachael to pray about their decisions all the time, and when she asks what God has said to them about it, the answer is often that they haven't asked Him. The instinct to route it through someone else is old, and you can see it in the Israelites all through the Old Testament. But that's not what heals you and it's not what gives you peace in the hard thing. He will meet you where you are, in the desperation and the grief and the chaos. He died to have that relationship with you. What are the five practical tips? Pick a Scripture. Your mind will wander, so start with the word. Choose something that speaks to a need you actually have right now. This isn't the time for word studies or breaking down Greek. That belongs to the discipline of study. Right now you're letting the Holy Spirit speak through the text and internalize it. You may need to stay on one passage for a while until it becomes part of you. Pick a time. Rachael often does this before bed, but if you're building the habit, choose a time when you aren't sleepy. Our lives are fragmented, and if you don't plan for it the day gets away from you. Treat it like an appointment. You wouldn't squeeze in a date with your husband, you'd plan for it, because the relationship matters. Pick a place. Quiet, free from interruption. Put your phone and your computer in another room. Getting outside helps if you can. Watch your posture. The posture of your body matters less than the posture of your heart, but they're not always easy to separate. Be comfortable without being so comfortable you fall asleep, and don't pick a position that will have you thinking about your knees instead of His voice. Don't give up. These are called spiritual disciplines because they take time and intention. You wouldn't gain muscle after three days in the gym. Some days you won't feel like it, and doing it anyway is the thing that builds the discipline. How does the guided meditation work? You'll go into John 6:1-15, the feeding of the crowd, as the boy who handed over his lunch. As Rachael reads, use your senses. What does the grass feel like. What does the hillside look like. Can you smell the fish being passed around. What's on the disciples' faces as they hand it out. What do you hear, birds or water in the distance or children or the voice of Jesus. What's the texture of the clothes you're wearing, and what's underneath you on the ground. Then go further into the scene. Are you hesitant to offer your lunch? Are you astonished at all that food, since you're the one who knows what was actually in that basket? You may need to read it through more than once. That's part of it. Then imagine the end of it. The crowd leaves. Jesus leaves. You're sitting alone on a rock overlooking the water, quiet, thinking about what just happened. And then Jesus comes back and sits down next to you. You're silent together for a while, just enjoying each other. After a bit, He turns and asks you, what can I do for you? Tell Him. Your needs, your fears, your heartache, your hopes, your grief. And if emotions come up, don't stop them. That's how we heal. Let them surface in His presence. Don't rush it. When you've finished and your spirit is quiet, then you ask Him the same question. What can I do for You? Then listen. Nothing may come, and that's fine. Sometimes it's just about being in His presence, and His presence is holy, and that holiness is what heals us. If words do come, take them seriously. It's often something small, and small is exactly where Jesus wants to be involved. FAQ Is this a new episode? No. It's a replay from Rachael's biblical meditation series, running here as the close of Bible Study 101. Is this the same as Eastern meditation? No, and the difference is the direction. Eastern practice generally moves toward emptying the mind. Hagah is the opposite. You're filling your mind with a specific passage of Scripture and staying with it. And placing yourself inside a scene from the Gospels is an old Christian practice, not a borrowed one. You're not clearing your thoughts, you're occupying them with the word. What passage is used? John 6:1-15, the feeding of the crowd, read from the perspective of the boy with the loaves and fish. Why is there no closing prayer? On purpose. Rachael reads the passage and then hands the time to you, so turn the episode off and stay in it. What if nothing comes? That's normal and it doesn't mean you did it wrong. Sometimes the point is simply being in His presence. How long should this take? Don't rush it. The reading is short, and the time after it is yours. Do I need to have heard the earlier episodes? No. The full biblical meditation series is in the archive if you want the rest of it, including the other Hebrew word and a list of passages to start with. Where can I go deeper? She Hears, Rachael's Bible study, teaches the color method and stays in one passage for a week at a time, which is meditation built into the structure.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Friday Affirmations: God is With Me: Daily Affirmations, Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations 11.09.2026 11分

   Friday Affirmations: God is With Me: Daily Affirmations, Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations End your week anchored in peace and presence. This episode invites listeners to release their burdens and find rest in God’s care. With each affirmation and verse, you’re reminded that you’re not alone—God’s strength, love, and renewal are available right where you are. It’s time to stop striving and start resting in His goodness. SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. AD-FREE Daily Affirmations can be found on my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/c/HearingJesus   Affirmations for rest, renewal, and surrender: The week is ending, and as we step into the weekend, let’s take a moment to breathe. Release our burdens and rest in God’s presence. We’re not meant to carry everything ourselves. God calls us to lay our worries at His feet and find renewal in Him.   Repeat after me, then listen to the Bible verse.   I release my worries and trust God to handle what I cannot. 1 Peter 5:7   God’s peace fills my heart and I rest in His presence. Matthew 11:28   I am not defined by my mistakes. God’s grace is greater than my failures. Lamentations 3:22–23   I let go of the need to control everything and surrender to God’s perfect plan. Proverbs 3:5–6   I am deeply loved by God and nothing can separate me from His love. Romans 8:38–39   God refreshes my soul and renews my strength. Isaiah 40:31   I will be fully present today, trusting that God holds tomorrow. Matthew 6:34   My body, mind, and spirit find rest in God alone. Psalm 62:1   I let go of striving and choose to rest in God’s love. Zephaniah 3:17   I step into the weekend with joy, knowing that God is in control. Psalm 118:24   God’s presence is my safe place. Psalm 91:1   I am fully known and fully loved by God. Psalm 139:1–2   I will not let stress steal my peace today. Philippians 4:6–7   God is my refuge and I am safe in His hands. Psalm 46:1   I do not need to have all the answers. I trust God. Romans 11:33   God is fighting my battles and I can rest in His victory. Exodus 14:14   I will not fear because God is with me. Isaiah 41:13   I am held together by God’s love even when life feels overwhelming. Colossians 1:17   God’s goodness and mercy follow me every day. Psalm 23:6   I will not carry burdens that God has already taken from me. Matthew 11:29–30   I am at peace because God is in control. Isaiah 26:3   I trust in God’s timing even when I don’t understand. Ecclesiastes 3:11   I will lay down my burdens and take on God’s. Psalm 4:8   I am never alone for God is always with me. Deuteronomy 31:6   No matter what happens today, God is still good. Nahum 1:7   Closing Prayer: Father, as this week comes to an end, I lay my burdens at Your feet. Help me to release my worries, rest in Your peace, and trust You with everything I cannot control. Refresh my heart and renew my spirit so I can step into the weekend with joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.   I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go deeper, just keep listening. Your full Bible study episode is coming up next.   #ChristianPodcast #DailyAffirmations #FaithOverFear #BiblicalTruth #MorningDevotions #RenewYourMind #HearingJesusPodcast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Bible Study 101: What Did Jesus Mean by I Am the Bread of Life? Hearing Jesus, Devotional 10.09.2026 24分

  Bible Study 101: What Did Jesus Mean by I Am the Bread of Life? Hearing Jesus, Devotional This episode is a replay of Rachael's original teaching on John 6 from last year's Gospel of John series, and it's here for a specific reason. For the last week and a half, the Bible Study 101 series has been walking through John 6:1-15 one color at a time using the color method, ending with yellow, the color that marks what God showed you personally. This episode is Rachael's yellow. It's what she found in this same passage after years of teaching it, a seminary degree, and a lot of time in the original languages. So listen to it the way you'd listen to someone show their work, not as a scorecard. Don't measure one week of the color method against a Bible teacher's professional study. What matters is that she starts the same place you did, with the color method, before she opens a single resource. The teaching itself covers the feeding of the crowd, Jesus walking on the water, and the conversation the next day where He tells the crowd exactly why they came looking for Him. Links Speakpipe: Leave a voice message or prayer request Join the newsletter SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. Chapters 0:00 Doing all the right things and still feeling stuck 0:31 Where we are in John 6 1:11 Reading John 6:1-35 5:20 A crowd following the signs, not the teaching 6:16 The mountain and the Passover 7:13 Philip runs the numbers 8:23 Andrew, the boy, and barley bread 9:01 God's provision starts with what you offer Him 9:25 The meal, and how generous it was 10:07 Twelve baskets, one for each disciple 10:52 Why they wanted to crown Him 11:49 Provider and protector 12:41 You're looking for Me because you ate the loaves 13:40 The work of God is to believe 14:39 It was not Moses who gave you the bread 15:11 I am the bread of life 16:06 What twelve would have meant to them 17:03 It was not five thousand people 17:46 There is always more of Him 18:41 The miracle, or the miracle worker 19:41 God math 20:12 Prayer What did Jesus mean by "I am the bread of life"? He meant that He Himself is what satisfies, not what He hands out. The crowd had just been fed. They chased Him across the lake the next day, and Jesus told them why: you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Then He points past the bread. Physical bread satisfies for a few hours and then you're hungry again. He's offering something that endures to eternal life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. The bread in the wilderness was pointing at something the whole time, and here He tells them what. Why does John mention the mountain and the Passover? Because both are setting the frame. Mountains in Scripture are often where God teaches and reveals Himself. Think of Moses at Sinai. And Passover is the festival where Israel remembers the deliverance out of Egypt, and the provision that followed it in the wilderness. So John is quietly connecting this miracle to a much larger story about how God provides. The signal is that what's happening here was never mainly about physical bread. Why did Philip's answer matter? Because Jesus already knew what He was going to do. He asked anyway. Philip immediately starts calculating. Two hundred denarii wouldn't cover it. He's not wrong, and Jesus wasn't looking for the right answer. He was inviting the disciples into the process so they could see how faith works in the face of scarcity. We tend to do the same thing Philip did. Our first instinct is limits and logistics. What was the boy's lunch actually like? Small, and poor. Barley was the bread of the poor. The fish were likely closer to panfish than to anything you'd be impressed by. God's provision often starts with whatever we're able to offer Him, even when it's very little. It isn't the size of the gift. It's the faith behind it. What do the twelve baskets mean? Twelve baskets, and twelve disciples. One each. That detail suggests the lesson was personal for them. Scholars connect it to the idea that God's provision equips His followers for their own ministry, teaching stewardship and the joy of participating in work only He can do. Twelve also carried a meaning they wouldn't have needed explained. Twelve tribes of Israel. Completeness within a covenant. How many people were actually fed? More than the number you've heard. The text says about five thousand men, and in that culture the women and children with them weren't counted. Most estimates land somewhere between fifteen and twenty thousand people that day. Why did Jesus withdraw when they wanted to make Him king? Because they were seeing Him through the wrong lens. They had just watched Him do something extraordinary and their conclusion was that this is the Prophet. That reaction makes sense, and they weren't wrong about who He is. But they were expecting a Messiah who would deliver them politically. His kingdom doesn't operate by human standards, and His mission was spiritual life and transformation, not politics and power. So He left. Provider and protector The scene continues with Jesus walking on the water during a storm. The disciples are frightened, and He tells them, it is I, don't be afraid. There's a pattern in that. The one who multiplies your resources is also the one who calms the storm. The way He works is holistic. He meets the physical need and the deeper spiritual one. What did Jesus mean that "the work of God is to believe"? The crowd asked what they should do to accomplish the works of God, which is a reasonable question after watching a miracle. His answer surprised them. The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. Work isn't a substitute for belief. The work of God starts in the heart, and what comes out of it is a faith that responds to Him. Are you following the miracle or the miracle worker? This is the question the passage keeps pressing. It's possible to be so captivated by what God does that you lose track of who He is. The crowd was thrilled about the bread and never made the connection to the One handing it out. So it's worth examining honestly. Are you following Jesus for what He can do for you, for the signs and the provision and the answers, or for who He is? God math God works through ordinary people. When you bring Him your time and your gifts and your obedience, He can multiply it in ways you can't picture. There is no offering too small when it's surrendered to Him. FAQ Is this a new episode? No. This is a replay of Rachael's original teaching on John 6 from last year's Gospel of John series. Why is it running now? It's the last piece of the Bible Study 101 series. After a week and a half of studying John 6:1-15 with the color method, this is what Rachael found in the same passage, offered as an example rather than a standard. Should I compare what I found to what she found? No. She's been teaching this for years, has a seminary degree, and has spent extensive time in John and in the original languages. This isn't a competition. The point is that she starts with the color method too, before any resource. What passage does this cover? John 6:1-35, which is broader than the fifteen verses the series worked through. It includes the feeding, the walking on water, and the beginning of the bread of life conversation. Where can I hear the full John series? It's in the archive from last year, and it goes into the walking on water account in much more detail than this episode does. What's next? A Q&A episode, then the fall Bible study begins in the Gospel of Luke and continues into Acts. The Hearing Jesus for Kids podcast returns at the same time. Where can I learn more about recognizing God's voice? Rachael's book Knowing God's Voice covers hearing Him in everyday life, understanding His timing, and how to respond in faith. Validation note: "Biblical meditation vs Eastern meditation" is a live query with mid-tier competition, mostly the Abide app and denominational blogs. "Hagah" is thinner and worth owning. Both are covered in the notes below. One thing worth knowing before this posts. Some of the content ranking for that query specifically lists guided imagery as an Eastern technique and contrasts it with biblical meditation. This episode is built on imaginative, sensory engagement with a scene, so a listener could come at you with that. You have a strong answer, since placing yourself inside a Gospel scene is an old Christian practice with a long lineage, and hagah itself means to ponder and imagine. I put an FAQ in for it so you're not caught flat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Thursday Affirmations: Remaining Steadfast 10.09.2026 10分

  Thursday Affirmations: Remaining Steadfast: Daily Affirmations, Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations You were created on purpose—for a purpose. In this episode of Daily Affirmations, we focus on walking with intention, clarity, and wisdom, grounded in God’s truth. Whether you’re questioning your calling or navigating a new season, these affirmations help you trust God’s plan, listen for His guidance, and move forward with boldness. SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. AD-FREE Daily Affirmations can be found on my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/c/HearingJesus   God created you for a reason. Your life is not an accident, and your steps are not random. He has a plan for you—a purpose that brings glory to Him and fulfillment to your heart.   As you listen to these affirmations, let them remind you that God is leading, guiding, and equipping you for everything He has called you to do. I’ll say the affirmation, pause so you can repeat it after me, and then share the Scripture reference it’s based on.   Affirmations and Scriptures:   God has a purpose for my life and I walk in His plan. Jeremiah 29:11   I trust in the Lord to guide my steps. Proverbs 3:5–6   I seek wisdom, and God gives it freely. James 1:5   God is directing my steps and I do not walk alone. Psalm 37:23   I am a light in this world, shining for Christ. Matthew 5:14   God has prepared good works for me to do today. Ephesians 2:10   I am equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:17   I walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8   I will walk in faith, not in fear. 2 Timothy 1:7   God’s Word lights my path. Psalm 119:105   I choose obedience, knowing God’s ways are best. Deuteronomy 5:33   I live with purpose and do not waste my time. Ephesians 5:15–16   I am called to make an impact for God’s Kingdom. Matthew 28:19–20   I have the mind of Christ and seek His wisdom daily. 1 Corinthians 2:16   I am a vessel for God’s work. 2 Corinthians 4:7   I will not grow weary in doing good. Galatians 6:9   God’s purpose for me cannot be stopped. Job 42:2   I do everything for the glory of God. Colossians 3:23   God is using my life to accomplish His plan. Romans 8:28   I am bold in sharing the gospel. Romans 1:16   I walk in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25   I remain steadfast in my calling. 1 Corinthians 15:58   God will finish the work He started in me. Philippians 1:6   I live with an eternal perspective. Colossians 3:2   I press forward in my faith, knowing my reward is in Heaven. Philippians 3:13–14   Closing Prayer: Father, thank You for calling me to a life of purpose. Help me to walk in wisdom today, seeking You in all I do. Give me clarity where I need direction, courage where I need boldness, and a heart that is always ready to serve You. Let my life bring You glory.   In Jesus’ name, amen.   I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go deeper, just keep listening—your full Bible study episode is coming up next. Listen daily and start your morning with God’s truth so you can walk in faith, clarity, and confidence.     #ChristianPodcast #DailyAffirmations #FaithOverFear #BiblicalTruth #MorningDevotions #RenewYourMind #HearingJesusPodcast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Bible Study 101: How Do You Know If It's God Speaking? Hearing Jesus, Devotional 09.09.2026 23分

  Bible Study 101: How Do You Know If It's God Speaking? Hearing Jesus, Devotional This is the last day of the color method, and yellow is different from every color before it. The first five marked things that were already on the page. Someone could look over your shoulder and check your work. Yellow marks what God showed you, which means nobody can check it but you. That's exactly why Rachael saved it for last. If she'd handed you all six colors on day one, most of us would have reached for yellow immediately and skipped the work. Instead you spent five days looking at Him before you spent one minute looking at you. This episode covers what to do with what you heard. Three filters to run it through before you act on it, what Paul meant when he told the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit, and the two ditches on either side of this road that people fall into. Links Speakpipe: Leave a voice message or prayer request Join the newsletter SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. Chapters 0:00 The last color 0:30 Why yellow was saved for last 1:27 What yellow actually marks 1:54 The verse her eight year old highlighted 2:51 Why you would have grabbed yellow first 3:25 Five days looking at Him before one minute looking at you 4:04 Reading John 6:1-15 6:00 God speaks in other ways too 7:02 His voice will not contradict His word 8:20 Reading 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 9:30 The two ditches 10:22 What quench actually means 11:20 The other ditch 12:17 Notice the order Paul puts it in 12:41 What to highlight in yellow 13:33 The three filters 14:17 The third filter, and what happened in Babylon 15:04 What biblical meditation actually is 16:13 How to respond 16:59 Prayer 17:57 Homework 18:31 Don't compare your yellow to hers What is the color method? It's a way of studying Scripture that Rachael developed while teaching sixth and seventh graders who had never been shown how to read the Bible for themselves. She published it in her first book, She Hears. You take a short passage and mark it with colored pencils or highlighters, one question per color. Green marks the who. Blue marks the supernatural. Red marks the action words. Purple marks timing. Orange marks numbers. Yellow marks what God showed you. This week the passage has been John 6:1-15, the feeding of the five thousand, one color per day. What does yellow mark, and why is it last? Yellow marks what God impressed on your heart. It doesn't come from the page the way the other colors do. It comes from what happened in you while you were in the word. And that's precisely why it goes last. The first five colors are observation. You didn't invent anything, you noticed what was already there, which means your page and Rachael's page look mostly the same. Yellow isn't like that. Yellow also feels like the most spiritual one. The others can feel like English class. Yellow feels like hearing from God, which is exactly why most of us would reach for it first if given the chance and skip the work entirely. Rachael learned this at home. Years ago she had her kids highlight whatever stood out to them in their daily reading. Her eight year old landed on a verse in Song of Solomon that was wildly inappropriate for her age. She didn't understand it, she just thought it sounded poetic. It was innocent, and it made the point. Impression without context goes sideways fast. So instead, look at what you actually did this week. You looked at who the passage was about. You looked at what only God could do. You watched who moved first. You found a sentence about a festival that unlocked the chapter. You lined up the numbers and felt the gap between five and five thousand. You spent five days looking at Him before you spent one minute looking at you. So by the time you pick up yellow, you're not guessing at what God is like in this passage. You've been staring at it all week. Does God only speak through the Bible? No. Sometimes it's an impression while you're praying. Sometimes it's a thought that doesn't feel like your own thoughts, one that carries more weight. Sometimes it's a sense that God wants you to do something or stop doing something. Sometimes it's a person who walks up and says God told me to tell you this. That's the reality of a Spirit filled life. But God's voice will never contradict His word. That's the standard. Something may come to you outside of your Bible reading, and the way you find out whether it's really Him is by holding it against who He says He is in Scripture. That's how you tell the difference between God, the enemy, and your own head. Rachael has had someone say something to her that was so damaging it was clearly not from God, and was aimed at stopping what God had called her to do. Scripture is how you test that. What does it mean to quench the Spirit? Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all. Hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. That's 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22. The word quench means to put out a fire, to extinguish a flame. Paul is picturing the Holy Spirit's work in a believer, or in a room full of believers, as something like a fire that can be smothered. He's not warning against being too intense. He puts it right next to "do not treat prophecies with contempt," which means he's talking about specific ways a church shuts down what the Spirit is doing. Dismissing a word. Shutting down someone who shares what they sense God saying. Resisting a prompting because it's uncomfortable or inconvenient. What are the two ditches? Rachael lives in rural Pennsylvania, so she pictures a road with a ditch on either side. In the first ditch are people who got burned. Someone said "God told me" and it was manipulative, or overused, or flat out wrong, and it hurt. So now anything that isn't printed on the page feels unsafe. Paul is talking to that person when he says don't quench the Spirit. In the other ditch are people who accept anything with a spiritual label on it. If it sounded holy and the person seemed sincere, it gets taken at face value and never checked against the word. That ditch is where church abuse happens. It's where the stories in the news cycle come from. Paul answers that one too. Test them all. Keep the good and throw out the rest. Or as one of Rachael's mentors put it, chew the hay and spit out the sticks. And notice the order. Paul says don't quench first, then test. He doesn't start from suspicion. He starts open to the Spirit and then adds discernment. What are the three filters? Before you act on anything you wrote in the margin, run it through these. Does this match who God is? Not who you want Him to be. Who He reveals Himself to be in Scripture. Does this line up with the Bible? And not just whether a verse can be attached to it, because anyone can cherry pick a verse. Does it fit what Scripture actually teaches in context. God does not contradict Himself. If something is telling you to do what Scripture says not to do, that is not His voice. Do I want this to be true? This one is there to check your bias, and it's the hardest of the three. Think about Jeremiah 29. There were prophets in Babylon telling the exiles they'd be home in two years, and God said something specific about them. He said the people were encouraging those dreams. They wanted it to be true so badly that they helped create the lie. What is biblical meditation? If what you heard passes all three filters, sit with it. Meditation here isn't emptying your mind. It's closer to chewing. Remember the Hebrew word in Deuteronomy 6 for teaching your children the word, shanan, which means to sharpen like a blade. Repeated contact until something has an edge on it. You've been doing it all week. You've had John 6 in your teeth. So do that with the yellow. Carry it around. Say it to yourself in the car. Pray about it. Ask God what He wants you to do with it. Then respond. Is there something here to obey? Something to confess? Something to thank Him for? Does this change how you see Him? Highlighting it in your Bible is a different thing than the obedience He's calling you to. FAQ Do I need to have heard the earlier episodes? No, though this one is the payoff of the week, so the earlier ones will make it richer. What do I need today? Your marked page and something yellow. What if I didn't get anything? That happens, and it doesn't mean you did it wrong. Sometimes a passage opens six months later. Write the question you're stuck on in the margin and move on. Should I compare what I got to what Rachael got? No. She has been teaching this for years, has a seminary degree, and has spent a great deal of time in John. Don't measure one week of the color method against that. It isn't a competition and there's no shame in a shorter list. What's the homework? Take whatever you highlighted in yellow, run it through the three filters, and then respond however He's calling you to, whether that's obedience, confession, or gratitude. If you'd like more, read the rest of John 6 and mark it too. What's next? Rachael replays her original teaching on John 6 from last year's John series, then a Q&A episode, then the fall Bible study begins in the Gospel of Luke, followed by Acts. The Hearing Jesus for Kids podcast returns alongside it. Where can I go deeper on the color method? She Hears, on Amazon, teaches it over six weeks through the stories of six women in the Gospels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Wednesday Affirmations: Casting Your Worries: Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations 09.09.2026 10分

  Wednesday Affirmations: Casting Your Worries: Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations In today’s Wednesday Affirmations episode, Rachael leads listeners through declarations of peace, trust, and confidence grounded in Scripture. As the world feels overwhelming, these affirmations anchor the listener in God’s promises. From surrendering anxiety to trusting God’s timing, each statement is followed by a full Bible verse designed to renew faith and calm the heart. This episode is a gentle reminder that God’s peace isn’t just a feeling—it’s a promise.   SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. AD-FREE Daily Affirmations can be found on my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/c/HearingJesus     Today’s daily affirmations are for peace and trust in God’s plan. I will say the statement, then pause so you can repeat it after me. Then I’ll share the Scripture reference where it comes from. Breathe in God’s peace… and exhale your worries. This day is a gift, and no matter what’s ahead, you can trust that God is in control. His love is steady. His plans for you are good. His presence goes before you. Let these affirmations remind you to trust Him today. Affirmations and Scriptures:   I am ruled by God’s peace today. Isaiah 26:3   I cast all my worries onto Jesus—He carries them for me. 1 Peter 5:7   I will not be anxious. I will pray and trust God. Philippians 4:6–7   God’s plans for me are good, and I trust Him. Jeremiah 29:11   I do not need to worry about tomorrow. Matthew 6:34   I will rest in God’s presence today. Exodus 33:14   God is my refuge and strength. Psalm 46:1   I will not let my heart be troubled. I trust in God. John 14:27   The Lord directs my steps. Proverbs 3:5–6   Even when I don’t understand, I trust in God’s wisdom. Romans 11:33   I do not have to be afraid because God is with me. Deuteronomy 31:8   God is fighting for me. Exodus 14:14   I am not alone. God walks with me. Isaiah 41:13   God is my rock and salvation. I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:6   I find rest in God alone. Psalm 62:1   God’s love never fails me. Lamentations 3:22–23   I have peace because I am in Christ. John 16:33   I wait on the Lord and He renews my strength. Isaiah 40:31   I will trust in God, even when I don’t see the whole picture. 2 Corinthians 5:7   God is working all things for my good. Romans 8:28   God’s peace rules in my heart today. Colossians 3:15   I give my burdens to the Lord and He sustains me. Psalm 55:22   I will be still and know that He is God. Psalm 46:10   I trust God’s timing and His ways. Ecclesiastes 3:11   I will rejoice in the Lord always. Philippians 4:4   Closing Prayer: Father, I surrender my worries to You. I choose to rest in Your peace today, trusting that You are in control. Fill my heart with faith instead of fear, and let Your peace guard my mind. In Jesus’ name, amen. I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go deeper, just keep listening—your full Bible study episode is coming up next.   Listen daily and start your morning with God’s truth so you can walk in faith, clarity, and confidence.   #ChristianPodcast #DailyAffirmations #FaithOverFear #BiblicalTruth #MorningDevotions #RenewYourMind #HearingJesusPodcast     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Bible Study 101: What Do Numbers Mean in the Bible? Hearing Jesus, Devotional 08.09.2026 27分

  Bible Study 101: What Do Numbers Mean in the Bible? Hearing Jesus, Devotional This episode is part of Bible Study 101, a series teaching a method Rachael calls the color method. You take one short passage and read it several times, marking something different in each color, and by the end you can see things on the page you'd never catch reading at normal speed. This week the passage is John 6:1-15, the feeding of the five thousand. Today's color is orange, and orange marks numbers and quantities. Numbers matter in Scripture, and this is also the place where people go off a cliff, so Rachael spends real time on the guardrail before she ever picks up a pencil. What gematria is, why 11:11 is not a message from God, and why the Bible was never written as a code to crack. Then the marking, which turns out to tell the whole story on its own. And at the end, the question of why there were leftovers at all, and who had to carry them. Links Speakpipe: Leave a voice message or prayer request Join the newsletter SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. Chapters 0:00 The last color of the week 0:37 What orange marks 1:18 Why numbers matter in Scripture 1:46 Verse numbers are not inspired 2:40 A caution about 11:11 and chasing numbers 4:35 What numbers tell you about scale 5:57 What gematria is, and where it goes wrong 7:49 Scripture was not written as a puzzle 9:13 The guardrail 10:11 A listener in a country where following Jesus costs something 11:29 Reading John 6:1-15 13:25 Marking the numbers 17:20 Line the numbers up in order 18:39 What John is actually doing 19:08 Twelve baskets and twelve disciples 20:35 What does this mean, not what does this mean to me 21:05 Why there were leftovers at all 22:23 Who had to carry the baskets 22:55 Prayer 23:49 Homework What is the color method? It's a way of studying Scripture that Rachael developed while teaching sixth and seventh graders who had never been shown how to read the Bible for themselves. She published it in her first book, She Hears. You take a short passage, ten to fifteen verses, and mark it with colored pencils or highlighters. Each color answers one question. Green marks the who. Blue marks the supernatural. Red marks the action words. Purple marks timing. Orange marks numbers. The colors aren't the point. You can't put a color on a word without making a decision about that word, and you can't make a decision without slowing down enough to actually read. What does orange mark? Numbers and quantities that appear in the text itself. Five loaves, two fish, 200 denarii, 5,000 men, twelve baskets. It also covers quantity words that aren't digits. Every, none, both, few, plenty, enough, nothing, all, as much as they wanted. Anything that counts or measures. Are verse numbers part of the Bible? No, and this matters. Chapter and verse numbers were added centuries later by scribes and scholars so people could find and reference passages. Rachael's kids in children's ministry called them the addresses, which is a good way to think about them. They're a filing system, not Scripture. So John 6:6 doesn't get marked. The number six in that reference isn't inspired and it isn't pointing at anything. Is 11:11 a message from God? No. And this is where Rachael spends real time, because numbers in Scripture is the area where people most often go wrong. Some people treat repeating numbers like 11:11 as a personal signal, and then go looking up every 11:11 reference in the Bible as if it were a mandate. But a chapter and verse address carries no more divine weight than the image printed on the cover of your Bible. God can use anything. That doesn't make it a message. What is gematria, and should Christians use it? Gematria is a Jewish practice of assigning number values to Hebrew letters, which means every Hebrew word also carries a numeric value. People began hunting for hidden codes in those values, convinced that cracking the pattern would unlock a secret message. Rachael's caution has three parts. We aren't reading Hebrew, so applying that logic to English doesn't hold. It isn't something Scripture instructs anyone to do, it's a practice people developed. And we follow God, not the practices of the people around Him. She learned about it in seminary, and points out that seminary also teaches you about sin and witchcraft. Learning that something existed in a time period doesn't make it biblical. Was the Bible written as a code to crack? No. Scripture wasn't written as a puzzle. It was written to be understood. The plain meaning of the text, what the words say in their context, carries far more weight than any value you could calculate by adding letters together. When people go down the numerology road, it usually ends in a prediction, which is how you get someone announcing the world will end on a specific date every few years. Jesus said nobody except the Father knows when that will happen, so those predictions are already ignoring the actual Bible. Here's the guardrail. Mark the number. See what it helps you understand. Ask whether the writer seems to be pointing at something. Then stop, unless the text itself makes the connection for you. How many people did Jesus actually feed? More than five thousand. Probably closer to fifteen thousand. Verse 10 says about 5,000 men were there. In that culture, counting the men meant the women and children with them weren't included in the number. So John isn't giving you a ceiling. He's giving you the floor. It's one thing to say Jesus fed people. It's another to hold five loaves next to five thousand men and feel the size of the gap. That gap is the entire point of the story. What are the numbers in John 6:1-15? Verse 2: a great crowd. Vague on purpose. Verse 5: a great crowd again. John says it twice. Repetition is usually significant. Verse 7: half a year's wages, which some translations render as 200 denarii. A denarius was roughly a day's pay for a laborer, so that's 200 days of work. Also each one and a bite. Philip is measuring in two directions at once, this much money spread across this many people equals about a mouthful each. That verse is entirely math. Verse 9: five loaves, two fish, so many. And notice the word small appears twice. Small loaves, small fish. Verse 10: plenty of grass, about five thousand men. Verse 11: as much as they wanted. Verse 12: all, enough, nothing wasted. Verse 13: twelve baskets, five barley loaves. What happens when you line the numbers up? Something deliberate. You start with a vague crowd. Philip converts it to money, and 200 days of wages still isn't enough for one bite each. Andrew brings the resources, and they're five and two, and twice they're called small. Then the crowd gets a hard floor of five thousand. Then the miracle, and John refuses to quantify it. As much as they wanted. Then he counts again on the other side. Twelve baskets. John establishes how impossible the math is in two directions through two different disciples, refuses to measure what Jesus did, and then counts the leftovers precisely. So you know it wasn't barely enough. There's an entire layer of this passage told in nothing but the numbers. What do the twelve baskets mean? It's hard to read twelve in a gospel and not think of the twelve disciples, especially in a passage already pointing back to Israel and the exodus and the twelve tribes. This is a thread woven into the same fabric as the Passover, the wilderness, the mountain, and the prophet like Moses. But here's the question worth sitting with. The miracle was complete when everyone ate. Everybody had as much as they wanted. The point was already made. There didn't have to be anything left over. And yet Jesus stops and tells them to gather it so nothing is wasted, and it fills twelve baskets from five small loaves. Who picks them up? The disciples. The same men who had been running the numbers a few minutes earlier and reporting that this was impossible. Philip with his 200 denarii, Andrew with his what good is this. And now each of them is holding a basket of what was left after thousands of people ate as much as they wanted. Jesus made sure they had to handle the evidence with their own hands. Rachael's read is that this miracle may have been more for them than it was for the crowd. FAQ Do I need to have heard the earlier episodes? No. This one explains what it needs to as it goes, and they're evergreen if you want to catch up later. What do I need to follow along? A Bible or a printed copy of John 6:1-15 that you're comfortable marking, and something orange. You can print the passage free at Bible Gateway. What if a passage has no numbers in it? That happens, and sometimes more than one color goes unused. Do the read-through anyway. The repetition is what builds the observation. Is it okay to write in my Bible? Yes. There's an episode earlier in this series that deals with that directly if it makes you uneasy, or use a printout instead. What's the homework? Write two numbers in the margin next to verse 10. Five and five thousand. Sit with those, and pray about them. What's next? Yellow, the last color, and the most important day of the week. Rachael explains why it comes at the end instead of the beginning. Where can I go deeper on the color method? She Hears, on Amazon, teaches it over six weeks through the stories of six women in the Gospels. All the Scripture is printed in the workbook, so you don't have to write in your Bible if you'd rather not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Tuesday Affirmations: Shadow of the Almighty: Daily Affirmations, Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations 08.09.2026 10分

  This Tuesday episode offers powerful, Scripture-based affirmations to help you step into your week with boldness, peace, and purpose. As the world demands more, God invites you to rely on His strength. Through these promises, you’re reminded that you are never alone, never powerless, and never without purpose. SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. AD-FREE Daily Affirmations can be found on my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/c/HearingJesus Today’s daily affirmations are for strength and confidence for the week ahead. Whatever this week holds, you are not facing it alone. God is with you—strengthening you, guiding you, and fighting for you. No matter what challenges you encounter, you can walk in faith knowing that God has already prepared the way for you. Affirmation: I am strong and courageous in Christ. Joshua 1:9 Affirmation: I do not fear because God is with me. Isaiah 41:10 Affirmation: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 Affirmation: I am victorious through Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:57 Affirmation: I have the power of God working within me. Ephesians 3:20 Affirmation: I will not be shaken because God is my refuge. Psalm 62:6 Affirmation: I walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7  Affirmation: No weapon formed against me shall prosper. Isaiah 54:17 Affirmation: God fights my battles and I need only to be still. Exodus 14:14 Affirmation: I am not afraid because God has overcome the world. John 16:33 Affirmation: I have authority in Christ over every attack of the enemy. Luke 10:19 Affirmation: I am rooted and established in God’s love. Ephesians 3:17 Affirmation: I have divine wisdom and strength for today. James 1:5 Affirmation: I am resilient and I will persevere through trials. Romans 5:3-4 Affirmation: I am filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 Affirmation: I will not grow weary in doing good. Galatians 6:9 Affirmation: God’s grace is sufficient for me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 Affirmation: I have peace that surpasses understanding. Philippians 4:7 Affirmation: I am never alone. God is always near. Deuteronomy 31:8 Affirmation: I am protected under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1 Affirmation: God’s Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 Affirmation: I stand firm in faith and do not waver. James 1:6 Affirmation: I am free from fear because God’s perfect love casts it out. 1 John 4:18 Affirmation: I have a spirit of power, love, and sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 Affirmation: God is working all things for my good today. Romans 8:28 Closing Prayer Lord, I surrender my fear to You. Fill me with boldness, courage, and confidence in You. No matter what today holds, I trust in Your strength. In Jesus’ name, Amen.  Listen daily and start your morning with God’s truth so you can walk in faith, clarity, and confidence. #ChristianPodcast #DailyAffirmations #FaithOverFear #BiblicalTruth #MorningDevotions #RenewYourMind #HearingJesusPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Bible Study 101: Why Does John Mention the Passover in John 6? Hearing Jesus, Devotional 07.09.2026 20分

  Bible Study 101: Why Does John Mention the Passover in John 6? Hearing Jesus, Devotional This episode is part of Bible Study 101, a series teaching a method Rachael calls the color method. You take one passage and read it several times, marking something different in each color, and by the end you see things on the page you'd never catch reading at normal speed. This week the passage is John 6:1-15, the feeding of the five thousand. Today's color is purple, and purple marks timing. Words like then, after, already, when, near. That sounds like the least interesting color of the week until you get to verse 4, which is six words about a festival. It has no people in it, nothing supernatural, and nobody doing anything, so it sat blank on the page for four straight days while everything around it filled in. It's also the sentence that tells you what kind of story you're actually reading. Links Speakpipe: Leave a voice message or prayer request Join the newsletter SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. Chapters 0:00 What we're doing this week 0:28 The difference between reading and studying 0:55 What purple marks 1:24 Why timing is so easy to miss in Scripture 2:30 The two things timing words do for you 3:53 Reading John 6:1-15 5:41 Marking the timing words 8:29 Back to verse 4 9:23 What Passover actually is 10:26 A crowd in a wild place with no food, during Passover season 11:33 This is not a story about a picnic 12:03 Why the crowd calls Him the Prophet 12:46 Why this is the argument for the whole method 14:19 Writers don't waste sentences 16:06 The grass, and the green pastures 17:03 The mountain, twice 17:32 Prayer 18:20 Homework What is the color method? It's a way of studying Scripture that Rachael developed while teaching sixth and seventh graders who had never been shown how to read the Bible for themselves. She later published it in her first book, She Hears. You take a short passage, ten to fifteen verses, and mark it with colored pencils or highlighters. Each color answers one question. Green marks the who. Blue marks the supernatural, the things only God could do. Red marks the action words. Purple marks timing. The colors aren't the point. The point is that you can't put a color on a word without making a decision about that word, and you can't make a decision without slowing down enough to actually read. Most of us skim familiar passages without noticing. This makes it impossible. What does purple mark? Timing. Think of purple as the clock. You're looking for when something happened, how long it took, what came before, and what came after. Words like then, immediately, during, already, when, after, again, the next day. Why does timing matter so much in the Bible? Because Scripture handles time in a way that reading a normal book doesn't prepare you for. There are 400 years between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New. You turn one page and four centuries have passed, and nothing on the page tells you that. Inside a single passage you can cover generations in three sentences. Timing words do two things. They tell you the order events happened in, which matters because our memories compress stories and lose the sequence. And they locate the passage inside the larger story of Scripture, so you know whether you're before the rescue or after it, before the kings or after the kingdom fell apart, before Jesus or after. What are the timing words in John 6:1-15? Verse 1: Sometime after this. Right at the start. And notice what that assumes. After what? Something happened before this, which means John is connecting this scene to chapter 5. Most of us open to a chapter and read like the story begins there. It doesn't. Verse 3: Then Jesus went up on a mountainside. Verse 4: The Jewish Passover Festival was near. Mark this one even though it may not look like timing yet. Verse 5: When Jesus looked up. Verse 6: He already had in mind what He was going to do. That's timing telling you something happened before the conversation even started. Verse 10: There was plenty of grass in that place. Mark this too, at least with your pen. Verse 11: Jesus then took the loaves. Verse 12: When they had all had enough to eat. Verse 14: After the people saw the sign. Verse 15: He withdrew again to a mountain. And notice what "again" tells you. He'd already done this once, back in verse 3. He went up, He came down into all of this, and now He's going back up. Why does John mention the Passover in John 6? Because it tells you what kind of story you're in. Passover is the meal Israel ate the night before God brought them out of Egypt. It's the festival where every Jewish family remembers the rescue. Lamb, bread, deliverance. And remember what happened right after that rescue. They went out into the wilderness with no food, and God fed them bread from heaven every morning for forty years. Now look at this scene. A huge crowd in a remote place with no food. It's Passover season, so these people are already thinking about the exodus, because that's the entire point of the festival. And in the middle of that remembering, a man goes up on a mountain, comes back down, and hands them bread that should not exist. This is not a story about a picnic. John put one sentence in verse 4 that gives you the frame for the whole passage. Why does the crowd call Jesus the Prophet? Because of everything above. In verse 14 they say, Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world. That's not a random title. In Deuteronomy 18, God said He would raise up a prophet like Moses. These people had Moses on the brain because it was Moses season, and they had just watched a man do something Moses-shaped. They connected it immediately. And they weren't wrong. Which is what makes verse 15 land the way it does, when they try to make Him king by force and He walks away. They had the right person and the wrong idea of what He came to do. Why is this the argument for the whole method? Because of how it was found. For four days that verse sat white on the page. No people, so no green. Nothing supernatural, so no blue. Nobody doing anything, so no red. Everything around it filled in and it stayed blank. The only reason it got looked at is that purple forced a stop on it and made a decision necessary. There's nothing special about the colors. If this method doesn't work for you, that's fine. But what it does is force your brain to slow down on the things it would otherwise glide past, especially the things a modern reader isn't wired to catch. We aren't ancient Israelites with Moses on our minds. We don't feel Passover season coming. Two small details worth noticing Verse 10 says there was plenty of grass in that place. That seems like a strange thing to mention. But in that part of the world, grass means spring, which lines up with Passover. It also means this crowd sat down in green pasture, which may bring something else to mind. A shepherd who makes people lie down in green pastures and prepares a table for them. And the mountain shows up twice. Verse 3, He goes up. Verse 15, He goes back up. Mountains matter in Scripture. It's where Moses met God and where the law was given, and John has put Jesus on one twice in fifteen verses. Writers don't waste sentences John says at the end of his gospel that he saw many things Jesus did that he chose not to write down. Scripture is God breathed, and God worked through a person who made real decisions about what to include. Rachael works as a ghostwriter, and she'll tell you that when someone is paying you to write, you don't waste sentences. You choose what goes in and what stays out. So out of everything that could have been included in this scene, one line is about the calendar. If it's in there, it's because God wanted you to know it. FAQ Do I need to have heard the earlier episodes? No. This one explains what it needs to as it goes. What do I need to follow along? A Bible or a printed copy of John 6:1-15 that you're comfortable marking, and something purple. You can print the passage free at Bible Gateway. Do I need special supplies? No. Colored pencils from a kid's school supply drawer work. Wax Bible highlighters are nice because they don't bleed through, but a pencil will do. Is it okay to write in my Bible? Yes. If that makes you uneasy, there's an episode earlier in this series that deals with it directly, or use a printout instead. What if I mark different words than Rachael does? That's fine. Some words go either way, and God shows different things to different people from the same text. What's the homework? Pray. Then read Exodus 16, or just verses 1 through 15, which is the account of God feeding His people with manna in the wilderness. Then come back and look at your page again. What's next? Orange. It's the shortest color of the week and it matters more than it looks like it will. Where can I go deeper on the color method? She Hears, on Amazon, teaches it over six weeks through the stories of six women in the Gospels. All the Scripture is printed in the workbook, so you don't have to write in your Bible if you'd rather not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Monday: I Am Called By God: Daily Affirmations, Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations 07.09.2026 9分

  Monday: I Am Called By God: Daily Affirmations, Christian Affirmations, Biblical Affirmations, Affirmations   Start your day with confidence, peace, and purpose through these Daily Affirmations for Adults. Each episode is a short but powerful way to realign your heart and mind with biblical truth. Speak life over your day, renew your faith, and step into God’s promises with Scripture-based affirmations. SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. AD-FREE Daily Affirmations can be found on my Patreon at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/HearingJesus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Here are your Monday affirmations. I will read the phrase, then you repeat it, and then I’ll tell you the Scripture it’s from. Take a deep breath. This is a new day filled with God’s grace and purpose. You are not defined by your past or your mistakes or the opinions of others. You are defined by the truth of God’s Word. Let these affirmations fill your heart as you step into today.   I am a child of God, chosen and loved. 1 John 3:1   I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14   I am fully known and loved fully by God. Psalm 139:1–2   I have been chosen before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4   I am created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27   I am redeemed and made new in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17   I am set apart for God’s purpose. 1 Peter 2:9   I am God’s masterpiece, created for good works. Ephesians 2:10   I am loved with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3   I am called by name and belong to God. Isaiah 43:1   I am not my past. I am a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17   I have been bought with a price and I belong to God. 1 Corinthians 6:20   I’m seated in heavenly places with Christ. Ephesians 2:6   I am co-heir with Christ. Romans 8:17   I am not rejected. I am accepted in Christ. Ephesians 1:6   I am never alone. God is always with me. Hebrews 13:5   I am valuable and precious in God’s sight. Isaiah 43:4   I have been set free by the truth of Jesus. John 8:36   I am more than a conqueror through Christ. Romans 8:37   I am a light in this world, shining for Christ. Matthew 5:14   I am God’s dwelling place. His Spirit lives within me. 1 Corinthians 3:16   I am forgiven and free from condemnation. Romans 8:1   I have a divine purpose and calling from God. Jeremiah 29:11   I am dearly loved and nothing can separate me from God’s love. Romans 8:38–39   Father, thank You for reminding me who I am in You. Help me to walk in confidence today, knowing that I am chosen, loved, and called by You. No matter what comes my way, let my identity be rooted in Your truth. In Jesus’ name, amen.   I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go deeper, just keep listening. Your full Bible study episode is coming up next. Listen daily and start your morning with God’s truth so you can walk in faith, clarity, and confidence.     #ChristianPodcast #DailyAffirmations #FaithOverFear #BiblicalTruth #MorningDevotions #RenewYourMind #HearingJesusPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices