📖 Jesus is not your helper

I. Jesus is our rescuer, not our helper just to get us over the line of salvation. Nathan Holsteen writes,

“For if we think humans are sick and need healing, are weak and need strength, are lazy and need motivation, are malnourished and need to be fed, or are ignorant and need more information, our view of the gospel is that it is helpful.”

But we are none of those things. We are dead and need resurrection life:

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” (Ephesians 2:4–5)

Jesus literally saves us from the wages of our sin and gives us the gift of life.

It is not Jesus + trying hard = salvation.

It is Jesus + nothing = everything.

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II. If you want to read your Bible more consistently and get something helpful from it, here is a method I recommend:

Read one chapter a day, 4–5 days a week, and use the HEAR journaling method:

The Explain, Apply, and Respond sections only have to be a couple of sentences each.

This practice can be done in 10–15 minutes and can help you slow down enough to think more deeply about the passage without overwhelming you.

We forgive others because God has forgiven us even more.

This doesn’t mean it is easy to forgive, or that you can do it right away. But, the way of Jesus is to work toward forgiving those who have wronged you because Jesus first forgave you (and continues to do so every time you repent!).

This week: Don’t justify why someone in your life doesn’t deserve forgiveness. Their “deserving” has nothing to do with it. Instead, reflect on the posture Christ has toward you, and ask him to give you the strength to do that for others.

The word Christian only appears three times in the New Testament, and it was originally used as a derogatory term. It meant “little Christ,” a label non-Christians first used in the Bible for followers of Jesus in Antioch (Acts 11:26) because of their worship and devotion to Jesus.

Over time, believers embraced the name. What began as an insult became the most common name to refer to those who follow Jesus.

The Unseen Battle by Joel Muddamalee

A book about the spiritual realm and how believers participate in the victory Jesus provides.

This book is similar to the previous book I read and reviewed, The Unseen Realm. Though the authors are different, this book came to fruition because of the impact and relationship the two authors had with one another.

However, this one is much shorter than The Unseen Realm. At the same time, while I assumed it would be very similar, just not as in-depth as the former book, there are actually some differences in the topics explored.

Yes, there are many similarities, but this book definitely covers some different ideas. Personally, I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half. Some of that might be in part because this is the second book in a row I have read on this topic.

One complaint I had was how often verses were cited or referenced without the verse itself being included in the book. I understand that including them would have added to the length, but I would have liked to be able to read the verse the author was then commenting on.

This book is interesting and thought-provoking for sure. Of the two, I enjoyed The Unseen Realm more, but it is also a longer book and goes more in depth.

This book, however, is a good option if you want something more manageable in length.

7/10

P.S. The best part about online shopping…