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There’s nothing like having a child look up at you and call you “Daddy.” But our relationships with our own fathers, and sometimes our own children, can be complicated. When our kids are young, we as parents tend to be slaves to the busyness of life—trying to keep a roof over our family’s heads, making sure there’s enough money  to put gas in the car, food in the ‘fridge and shoes on the kids. In the noise and stress of trying to get ahead and pay the bills, men and women, but sometimes men in particular, can tend to be less than attentive to the thoughts, feelings, and needs of the little ones around us. Maybe you’ve experienced this in your own life with your kids; or maybe you had a mom or a dad who was less than attentive when you were young. Jesus’ Relationship with His Abba The most hopeful model that we can have for our relationships, either as fathers or with our own fathers, is the relationship that Jesus had with his heavenly father. We see evidence of the love that the two of them had for each other at the baptism of Jesus, where God the Father audibly spoke these words: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Throughout the gospels we see Jesus responding to this statement of love. He walks with his Father, prays to his Father, and cries out to him as “Abba” (or “Daddy”) during his darkest moments (Mark 14:36). Jesus’ relationship with his father is close, trusting, and intimate. The Abba Experience Brennan Manning, in his book The Signature of Jesus , describes it this way: “The Abba experience is the source and secret of Christ’s being, his message, and manner of life … In order to comprehend his relentless tenderness and passionate love for us, we must always return to his Abba experience. Jesus experienced God as tender and loving, courteous and kind, compassionate and forgiving.” As human fathers, we all have regrets. As sons of human fathers, we all have things that we wish had been different. But God, the Father who loved Jesus so well, stands ready and waiting to share that relationship with us. He longs to speak with us as we look to him for guidance during our happiest and darkest moments. Manning further states, “You and I not only are invited but actually called to enter into this warm and liberating experience of God as Abba  … We are privileged to share in the intimacy of Jesus with his Father.” For Reflection How can you begin today to walk into that same relationship with God that Jesus had? Drawn from the NIV Men’s Devotional Bible .

Exodus 34:6–7 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Romans 3:23–24 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Exodus 33:19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” Psalm 145:8–9 The LORD is gracious and merciful,     slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.The LORD is good to all,     and his mercy is over all that he has made. Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. 1 Corinthians 1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,       and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.For the LORD is a God of justice;       blessed are all those who wait for him. Ephesians 4:7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Psalm 119:29 Put false ways far from me       and graciously teach me your law! Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This article is adapted from   ESV Bible Promises: 700 Passages to Strengthen Your Faith .

[He will] provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:3 Mary was born into a dirty and crowded working-class district in Scotland in 1848. Her father sometimes threw her out on the streets when he arrived home drunk. And by age 14, she was working ten-hour shifts at the textile mill to support her family. But God exchanged Mary Slessor’s misery for something better when she began working at a city mission in Dundee. While there, she was inspired to sail to West Africa as a missionary to Calabar. Mary was no richer in Africa than she had been in Scotland—in fact, she now made her home in a mud hut. Throughout her 39 years in Africa, she never married. She was not even always in good health: Malaria and boils plagued her. Yet, despite the pain she suffered, God displayed his splendor through Mary and her work. She found joy in rescuing children from ritual murder. She discovered pleasure and purpose serving as a peacemaker with the Okoyong people. And she adopted a family. “If anyone may testify as to the reality of his presence and power, it is surely this unworthy servant,” she wrote to a friend. “He and his Word are a living bright reality for sure … I mean to glorify him and to magnify his grace.” The Israelites also had their share of misery. The Assyrians swept them from their homeland, destroying all they loved and everything familiar. However, their story, like Mary’s, didn’t end in misery. In fact, Isaiah predicted joy was ahead. God planned to exchange their mourning and despair for gladness and praise. Why? So that once rescued, God’s people would be living demonstrations of his splendor. We each suffer our own miseries, and we think things will never change. Perhaps you’ve experienced burdensome memories, a scarring divorce or a difficult diagnosis. However, can you sense any hope? Can you see God at work, gradually transforming the pain into something you can endure? You never know; up ahead you just might see the possibility of joy. Like the Jews in exile, and like Mary Slessor in Scotland, you can trust that, despite the present pain, God has plans for your future. He can use whatever you go through today to display his splendor through you tomorrow. Reflect How does this Isaiah 61:3 passage bring hope to your times of misery? How might God be planning to display his splendor through your current difficult circumstance? Drawn from a devotional in the NIV Women’s Devotional Bible .

Bible studies should come in all shapes and sizes, connecting all kinds of people to God’s word. Throughout my twenty years of ministry and countless conversations with women in the church, I’ve found that many long to lead a Bible study, but few feel equipped to do so. Whether leading from a stage in a church auditorium or from the couch in your living room, here are seven tips that I’ve found to be effective. 1. Begin with the end in mind. Start by writing a vision statement for your Bible study. Consider the following prompts: When Bible study wraps up, what do you hope the results will be? Who will be attending? Although you probably won’t know names, think about who will be invited. What will you study?Will it be discussion-based? Or will you include a teaching time also? A few examples of simple vision statements: • I want to introduce women in my neighborhood to the Lord Jesus and the Scriptures. We will study the Gospel of John, and I will lead the discussion. When Bible study wraps up, the women in my neighborhood will know they have a safe place to ask questions about God, and we will have formed meaningful connections with one another. • I want to teach five high school seniors how to read the Bible. We will study Colossians and Philemon. I will model and teach how to study the Bible, as well as facilitate discussion. My hope is to see these five students teach others to do the same during their freshman year in college. Your vision statement can also serve as the metrics of success for Bible study, rather than focusing on the number of people at the last meeting. It is tempting to look at numbers as the measuring stick for Bible study success, but numbers are not God's measuring stick. He is great at multiplying! 2. Set clear and realistic expectations. Communicate the start and end date, and the start and end time for each week. Then stick to what you said. Be sure to set realistic expectations for those who will attend, carefully considering and communicating what participants will be expected to study on their own and ways they will be asked to contribute when you gather. Take the mystery out of the commitment being made. Be clear about the way time will be spent. For instance, will there be a formal teaching time? Group discussion? Prayer? Will the first fifteen minutes be spent catching up, or will the study start immediately? 3. Be prepared. You do not have to be a seminary graduate to lead a Bible study. But you do need to be familiar with the content you are leading. A great starting place is to read the introductory pages in a study Bible about the book you will be leading. These pages include helpful context, like who wrote the book, who the original audience was, and what was going on in the world when it was written. Another great starting place is the video summaries offered through BibleProject. Then read the whole book several times, noting repeated themes. If you plan to lead a time of teaching during Bible study in addition to discussion, read a trusted commentary or two to make sure your main points are on track. Ask a trusted teacher or pastor to recommend their favorite commentaries. Send them a recording of your teaching and ask for feedback. And pray. Then pray some more. There is a healthy fear in leading Bible study. We are to do our best to handle the Scriptures accurately (2 Tim. 2:15). But a healthy fear should not keep us from creating a space to open the Bible together; rather, it should motivate us to be diligent students and great pray-ers. 4. Encourage contribution. You will be excited to share all that you discovered while you studied, but so will those attending. Give participants an opportunity to articulate what they learned while they studied the Bible. Use language that communicates that you are a co-learner alongside them. Share your questions and discoveries alongside theirs. Most Bible studies will have those who dominate the discussion and those who don’t share at all. An effective strategy to help both is to email the shy participant several days before Bible study meets, asking her if she’d be willing to begin discussion. Give her the question you’d like her to answer so she has time to think about it. She will not feel put on the spot, and she’ll know that her contribution to the group is valued. Emailing the shy participant also helps the one who tends to dominate. When you begin a discussion by asking, “Who wants to share first?” you are inviting the one who dominates to jump in right at the beginning. By directly asking someone else to begin, you are leading discussion time and creating a safe space for the shy participant to contribute. 5. Build relationships. Bible study should be deeply relational. The ultimate goal of Bible study is to get to know God better. We are spending time in his word, reading story after story about how he engaged all kinds of people, demonstrating his desire to be with his people. Bible study is one way to give him our full attention and to anticipate his. Bible study is also a place to give attention to others. When Bible study is a place where participants feel seen and cared for, they will keep showing up. I believe this is why David prioritized our Bible study. We ate dinner together every week and planned nights around the fire pit to get to know one another better. And there is so much to learn from one another’s questions, discoveries, and insights! 6. Cultivate safety. When Bible study is a safe place to share discoveries and to ask hard questions, participants will prioritize attendance. Everyone craves a place to be honest about doubts and questions. Remember that you don’t have to answer every question on the spot. When stumped by a question, you can say something like, “What a good question. I’d like to give that more thought and circle back next week.” Enjoy being a co-learner with those you are leading. When doubts are confessed, respond with compassion and curiosity rather than a correction or even advice. You can say something like, “Thank you for sharing that doubt. That sounds hard. I’ve wrestled through something similar.” Or ask the group, “Has anyone else had similar questions? How were you encouraged in your season of doubt?” Carefully consider your audience. Are there people attending who are curious about Christianity but do not profess faith in Christ? Are there participants who haven't read the Bible? Also, remember that there are different learning styles represented and different personalities. Not everyone enjoys filling in charts and making lists. Incorporate photos, artwork, and music. Consider the needs of your audience as you prepare the discussion and teaching time, including questions that both the new believer and the seasoned Bible student want to answer. 7. Consider what is going on in the world. Bible study should impact our lives, making us more and more like the Lord Jesus. We want our time in the word to influence our families, friendships, workplaces, and even the nations. Know what is going on in the world. Read the headlines. Who needs to be fed and clothed? How will we shine light into seemingly hopeless situations? What is causing conflict among Christians? Move your participants to action in the world. If you feel you don’t have time during Bible study to give a call to action or application, you might be elevating content above heart change. Leading a Bible study is important, but it doesn’t always have to be complicated. Don’t let fear or perfectionism keep you from opening the pages of Scripture alongside others. Lead the robust discussion. Consider hard questions. Share discoveries. Build relationships. We need more Bible studies! There may be a “David” in your world who will change his schedule to attend your study. And God is delighted to meet you in your study of the Bible! The ultimate goal of Bible study is to get to know God better. Colleen Searcy is the author of The Story of Jacob: An 8-Week Bible Study.

Israel had spent four hundred-plus years as slaves in Egypt, and then they called out to God, asking him to deliver them. God tells them he will free them from slavery and lead them to the land that was promised to them. Through Moses, God sends plagues on Egypt, but spares the Israelites living in Egypt from being ravaged by them. Finally, Pharaoh is compelled to let the Israelites go. The Israelites begin their journey out of Egypt toward the promised land, but Pharaoh has a change of heart and sends his armies to pursue them. They are hot on the Israelites’ heels, and the Red Sea is looming right in front of the people of Israel. They are trapped. But the people watch as God splits the Red Sea, creating a highway for them to walk through. When the Egyptian army comes after them, the sea collapses on them. As the Israelites continue their journey through the wilderness, God provides for them in undeniably miraculous ways. The Israelites have had front-row seats to see the incredible power and provision of God. Finally they are standing at the precipice of the promised land, the land God promised to them hundreds of years earlier through Abraham . Generation after generation had anticipated this moment, and it has now arrived. They are looking at it right in front of them. The biblical account reads, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders’” (Numbers 13:1–2). Remember, this is the promised land. God tells Moses to send some men into the promised  land—Not the “ I’m contemplating it  land” or the “ We’ll see  land” or the “ I’ll consider it  land” or the “ We’ll talk about it later  land.” It’s the promised land. God tells Moses that it’s the land “which I am giving to the Israelites.” Like, it’s already been decided. Send some men to explore the land I’ve already determined to give to you. God did not tell them, “I want you to go into the land and see what you think, decide if you feel like I’m capable of giving it to you. I want you to come back and do a SWOT analysis and a risk assessment. Oh, and you should also make a pie chart indicating the likelihood of success. I’ll take all of your information to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We’ll talk it over, and then we’ll let you know what we decide.” No. The spies are sent to investigate, but the land had already been promised. The twelve spies are chosen, and Moses gives them their assignment, ending with these words: “Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land” (Numbers 13:20). Moses tells the spies what to look for when they go in the land—fruit. Fruit is what is good. Fruit is evidence of what God has said. The twelve spies walk off, and everyone is waving—and then everyone waits . . . for forty days. I don’t know, but I would have assumed this reconnaissance mission would take maybe four days. They are gone for forty. The twelve men finally return with their report, and their report provides a great example of perspective . Remember, it’s not what we see; it’s what we think  we see. Our perspective is all-important; it shapes our reality. “They gave Moses this account: ‘We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there’” (Numbers 13:27–28). Their report essentially goes like this: “Just like God said, the land is awesome. And just like you asked, we brought fruit back. But . . .” But  is always a dangerous word when it comes to our perspective. Too often, it’s, “I know what God said, and I know what he promised, but . . .” and that’s exactly what happens here. “But the people are too powerful. The cities are too fortified. We saw descendants of Anak—they’re giants. They’re way too big.” Ten spies give a negative report. Two spies, Caleb and Joshua, have a different perspective. They all saw the same things, but they saw it differently. “Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it’” (Numbers 13:30). They see the same things, but their reality is determined by their perspective. Ten come back reporting, “We can’t. It’s too much.” Two return saying, “It’s ours. Let’s go!” The ten aren’t sure their negative view is going to win the day, so they give what might be the first recorded telling of #fakenews: “But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them’” (Numbers 13:31–33). Here we have another problem of perspective. If a grasshopper stands about one inch tall and the average Israelite man was five foot eight, that’s a ratio of 68 to 1. That means the men living in the promised land would have been about four thousand feet tall. When we fail to take our thoughts captive, they shape our perspectives in ways that exaggerate the struggles we are facing and underestimate the power of God. How do the people of Israel respond to the negativity of the ten spies? Do they fight back? Nope. “That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, ‘If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ And they said to each other, ‘We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt’” (Numbers 14:1–4). Negativity is like an infection that spreads. Pessimism becomes its own pandemic. Everyone is complaining and critical and ready to book their return trip to slavery in Egypt. But the other two spies, Joshua and Caleb, try to shift their perspective: “Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, ‘The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them’” (Numbers 14:6–9). Do you see how they looked at the same things but saw it completely differently? Ten come back: “We’re like grasshoppers who will get stepped on!” Two return: “They are helpless prey to us. We’ll step on them.” Why do the two spies have so much confidence? Because “the Lord is with us!” Our perspective shapes our lives, and our perspective is shaped by what we think about. What do you think Joshua and Caleb had been thinking about? It seems obvious—the miraculous way God had led them out of slavery . . . and the plagues he had sent upon the Egyptians . . . and the way he parted the Red Sea . . . and the manna he provided for them in the wilderness . . . and the water he made to gush out of the rock when they were thirsty. If God could do all that, how could he not do all this? What do you think the other ten spies had been thinking about? Obviously not all that. The ten see only problems; the two see only the presence and power of a God who had made promises he will always keep. By Kyle Idleman, adapted from Every Thought Captive : Calm the Mental Chaos That Keeps You Stuck, Drains Your Hope, and Holds You Back .

God created you because he wanted to be in relationship with you. He loves you. He wants you to know him personally and intimately, not just know about him.   Choosing to receive Jesus is a once-for-all decision. A process of getting to know God will follow, but you have to begin by inviting him into your life. This seemingly simple decision has huge eternal consequences. You may not recognize it, but your wrong moral choices (called sin) have condemned you to spiritual death (eternal separation from our holy God).   Jesus, who had no sin, chose to die to pay for your sins. When you recognize your sinful condition and accept by faith Jesus’ death as payment, you receive his life, which is eternal. Receiving this free gift of salvation is as simple as saying, “Jesus, I acknowledge my sin and your payment for it on the cross. I now ask you to forgive me and I willingly give my life to you.” At that very moment, he will come into your innermost being through the power of his Holy Spirit and start you on a wonderful journey toward intimacy and eternal life with God.   Here is a brief four-step system explaining why we all need Jesus in our lives, and how we can go about making that decision. It includes key Scripture passages supporting each statement; using the reference, you can look up these verses if you’d like to read more of the context.   First: Realize that everyone needs to be saved. No one is righteous; we are all guilty of breaking God’s law in some way, and therefore already condemned and sentenced. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin ( Romans 3:19-20 ).   Second: Understand that there is hope in Jesus Christ. Salvation does not come by keeping laws or being good, but only through faith in Christ. All have sinned, but anyone who receives Christ can be forgiven and accepted by God as righteous. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished… ( Romans 3:21-25 ). But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us ( Romans 5:8 ). For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord ( Romans 6:23 ).   Third: Know that God forgives and accepts unconditionally anyone who believes in Christ. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death ( Romans 8:1-2 ).   Finally: Trust Christ in your heart and confess that he is Lord with your words. If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved ( Romans 10:9-10 ). Repeat aloud this prayer or something similar (what you mean is what matters, not the exact words you use): “I thank you, heavenly Father, for sending your own Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross and pay the penalty for sin. I now believe in him and accept him as my Lord. Thank you that I am saved in him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”   Next Steps You may be wondering what kinds of practical steps you might take to guide you as you discover your personal path toward knowing God. Consider some of these ideas: • Ask God to reveal himself to you if you’re not sure he’s there.• Talk to people who display a genuine relationship with God—those who obviously love him and who live by a different set of principles than others you meet.• Spend time enjoying God’s creation.• Listen to the stories of people who have walked with God for a long time.• Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. You can trust God’s “gentle whisper” to give you direction. If you lack understanding, ask him for it.• Be aware that moments of doubt and questions are normal and legitimate as you discover your personal path.• Be alert to your presuppositions—the things you already believe—and your personal roadblocks. Try not to let them stand in the way of your discovery process.• Determine to spend time each day walking the pathway toward faith, and keep evaluating your progress.• Act on what you decide. Drawn from the NIV Jesus Everywhere Bible .

The ascension of Jesus is often thought of as one of the most pivotal moments in the Christian faith. Following his resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days on earth, teaching and preparing his disciples for what was to come. But everything changed when, Jesus “…was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). This event, known as the ascension, not only transformed the lives of those first followers but continues to shape the Christian faith today. What Happened During the Ascension? The ascension took place on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, as Jesus’ disciples looked on ( Luke 24:50-51 ). This marked the moment where Jesus, who had lived physically among them since his birth in Bethlehem, left the earth and returned to heaven. The disciples witnessed as he was taken up into the clouds, an event both awe-inspiring and deeply significant; Jesus’ ascension paved the way for the Holy Spirit and his advocacy for all believers at the right hand of God in heaven. Purpose of the Ascension 1. Coming of the Holy Spirit. The ascension was a moment of transition for Jesus’ disciples. Up until that point, they relied on his physical presence. But now, they were instructed to wait for the Holy Spirit, who would empower them to continue Jesus’ work on earth ( John 16:7-15 ). Jesus assured his disciples that his departure was necessary so the Holy Spirit could come. Unlike his physical presence, which was limited by time and space, the Holy Spirit can be with all believers at all times. At Pentecost, the disciples experienced the Spirit’s arrival, which equipped them with spiritual gifts and boldness to carry out Jesus’ mission. 2. Jesus’ Reign and Heavenly Role . The ascension not only began the era of the Holy Spirit but also marked the start of Jesus’ reign in heaven. Sitting at the right hand of God signifies authority, and this reign will continue until his second coming, when he will return to the earth as the reigning Messiah ( Acts 3:20-21 ). Both Romans 8:34  and Hebrews 7:25  highlight that Jesus intercedes for believers, serving as an active mediator with God. This brings peace and hope to believers today, knowing they have an advocate in the heavenly realm ( 1 John 2:1 3. Preparation for His Return. The ascension also serves as a pledge of Jesus’ return. The angels at the scene declared, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Just as Jesus ascended in bodily form, Christians believe he will return to earth as the reigning Messiah. What the Ascension Means for Us Today The ascension is not merely an event from history; it holds ongoing significance: Believers are reminded that Jesus is actively advocating for us before God. Through the Holy Spirit, Christians are equipped to face challenges, share their faith, and grow spiritually. It serves as a promise that Jesus will return, offering hope and assurance of his ultimate victory. The ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit transformed the early church and continues to empower believers today. It not only marked the conclusion of Jesus’ earthly ministry but also inaugurated a new phase of God’s work through the Holy Spirit. It offers believers the assurance of Christ’s ongoing intercession, the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, and the future hope of Jesus’ triumphant return. Based on study content in the NIV Chronological Study Bible .

He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.  Mark 16:9 How would you feel if you had been brought from death to life? What if you were really sick, at the point of death, and then suddenly you were healed? What would you do with your life after that? Would the experience change you? An outcast from society, Mary Magdalene was tormented by seven demons. But then she met one man who didn’t see her that way. Jesus cast out her demons, healing her from the inside out — bringing her from death to life. So what do you think Mary did with her life after that? Mary must have realized the remarkable chance she had at a new life. So, for the next three years, she chose to spend her days faithfully following and serving Jesus. Even when all but one of the twelve disciples deserted Jesus at his crucifixion, she stood near the cross, mourning the loss of her Savior. Three days later, she was still faithful. She went to the tomb and discovered that Jesus’ body was missing. Confused and upset, she didn’t recognize Jesus when he approached. Then he said her name, “Mary.” She knew that voice. The risen Savior could have appeared first to his twelve disciples, but instead he chose Mary Magdalene, the woman who showed him undying gratitude. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:11-18 Turning Gratitude into Action Remember the last time you were so thankful you had to shout? Was it good news about a sick relative, a first date or a college acceptance letter? All are reasons to rejoice. But how about being grateful for life in Christ? If you’ve trusted Jesus Christ to save you from your sins, you’ve been given the promise of eternal life in heaven. You’ve been brought from death to life. You are loved by the heavenly Father, who promises you a full life in him. So don’t just stand there! Show your undying gratitude to your Savior by telling others what Jesus has done for you. Prayer Dear Jesus, I am eternally grateful for what you’ve done for me. Help me  to love you more each day and to tell others of my gratitude. Amen.

1. The resurrection is the core of the Christian message and should never be neglected or assumed. Sometimes today, when we hear the gospel preached, the focus is on the cross. The resurrection is often ignored, assumed, or mentioned only in passing. In contrast, the preaching recorded in the book of Acts emphasized the resurrection of Jesus, and barely mentioned his death. The apostles were preoccupied with the resurrection and emphasized it much more than the cross. Sadly, the church only seems to get excited about the resurrection once a year at Easter time. In reality, every Sunday should be Resurrection Sunday. The reason why the early church began to meet on the first day of the week was to celebrate Jesus's defeat of death. Imagine what church would be like if we consciously gathered every  week to celebrate the resurrection? 2. Belief in Jesus's physical resurrection is the defining doctrine of Christianity. It is surely a remarkable thing that every Christian denomination—from the Orthodox to the Catholic, from the Pentecostal to the Reformed Baptist—all believe one simple truth: the tomb was empty. There is very little else we all agree on! Only some liberals deny the physical resurrection of Jesus. Surely they thereby forfeit the right to call themselves Christians at all. In my book, Raised With Christ , I offered the following definition of a Christian: a Christian is someone who believes in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, and lives in light of the implications of that event. This is based on Paul’s clear promise: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will  be saved” ( Romans 10:9 , emphasis added). 3. The resurrection demonstrated to the whole universe the deity of Jesus and God’s love for him. Jesus was, “declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” ( Romans 1:4 ). It is the resurrection of Jesus that reveals his true nature to all who will see: “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance . . . and forgiveness of sins” ( Acts 5:30-31 ). 4. Without the resurrection, there would have been no church at all. After Jesus's arrest and death, the disciples were lost, helpless, and afraid. Peter denied Jesus, whilst the rest ran away. It is hard to conceive of anything other than the resurrection of Jesus that would have led to this rag-tail bunch of people sharing the message of Jesus in such a way that it grew into the largest religious movement ever known to man. Without their unwavering confidence in Jesus's resurrection, would the disciples have risked everything, and in many cases been killed for their faith? People do die all the time for falsehoods that they themselves genuinely believe to be true. It is, however, impossible to believe that all of the disciples would die for something they knew to be a deliberate deception. The church did not create the resurrection stories; instead, the resurrection stories created the church. 5. Our neglect of Jesus's resurrection may be one of the reasons our gospel preaching is so powerless. Spurgeon examined the preaching of his day and felt the reason for its lack of power was its lack of emphasis on the resurrection. Spurgeon determined to emphasize the message of the resurrection, and saw thousands of conversions as a result. If we choose to neglect the preaching of the resurrection, should we be surprised if we don’t see similar results? When Paul spoke about the gospel, he always meant the announcement of the glorious victory of the risen King. It is this gospel that is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" ( Romans 1:16 ). 6. The resurrection purchased our justification. When you ask most Christians about justification, they move straight to the cross of Jesus paying the price for our sins. But if justification simply means an absence of guilt, then we have a blank slate and have to spend the rest of our lives worrying about if we will mess it up again. Paul tells us in the contrary: "He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" ( Romans 4:25 ). What this means is that when Jesus rose again he was declared to be righteous—not just lacking any sin, but embodying holiness. The credit of Jesus's perfection outweighed the debt of our sins. And now, the Christian is counted as righteous. Not "just as if I had never sinned" so much as "just as if I had already lived a holy life." Without this wonderful truth, we will not fully grasp the joy of salvation. Jesus was our obedience substitute during his life, our punishment substitute in his death, and our rebirth substitute in his resurrection. 7. The resurrection gives us the joy of knowing that Christ is with us today! He has promised that he will be with us to the end of time. This changes everything. A dead hero in the grave is no help to us. But a risen Savior in heaven gives us great confidence! Because the tomb is empty and Jesus is on the throne, we can know for sure that we will be victorious irrespective of what is happening in today’s world. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” ( Matthew 16:18 ). 8. The resurrection gives us hope that goes beyond the grave. We live in a broken world. Every Christian will at some point in their lives know the pain of grieving for a loved one. When Paul told us not to “grieve as others do who have no hope” ( 1 Thess 4:13 ), he did not mean that we would not experience sadness. But because Jesus conquered the grave, we have confidence that one day we too will rise, and so meet both Jesus and our believing loved ones again. This changes everything when we come face to face with death. 9. The resurrection unites every Christian with the life-giving force that raised Jesus from the dead. It is through the resurrection that, "the last Adam became a life-giving spirit" ( 1 Cor 15:45 ). Paul tells us, "the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you" ( Romans 8:11 ). This amazing power is available to transform, equip, and empower us: “What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead” ( Ephesians 1:19-20 ). 10. Because of the resurrection, we can know that Jesus is personally coming back to judge and rule the world. It is a source of great joy for the Christian that Jesus will return. But it should also cause great concern for those who are living estranged from him. Because of the resurrection, we can be sure that this same Jesus will return again: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. ( Acts 17:30-31 ) Jesus was our obedience substitute during his life, our punishment substitute in his death, and our rebirth substitute in his resurrection. This article is part of the 10 Things You Should Know  series.

Proof of the Resurrection How can anyone be confident that the resurrection really happened? The first followers of Jesus didn’t claim their leader rose from the dead because of gullible ignorance or blind faith. They knew dead people stay dead. Especially after they began to be persecuted, they had nothing to gain by persisting in their claim that Jesus had returned to life. Yet some of these women and men had encountered an event so momentous they were ready to die rather than deny they saw a once-dead man alive. These initial eyewitnesses declared what they experienced, and in some cases they died for what they declared. At least a few of their firsthand testimonies eventually found their way into the New Testament. Even if you think the resurrection of Jesus and the existence of a “Flying Spaghetti Monster” are equally preposterous, the testimonies of the first generation of witnesses should not be dismissed lightly. Something upended the lives of these men and women and made them willing to die for what they believed they had seen. After decades of studying the historical aftermath of these events, I still believe the resurrection makes the best sense of the evidence. The resurrection is an event to which we can call witnesses, and these witnesses include reports that are traceable to the people, places, and communities where sightings of a resurrected Jesus were first reported. The more closely I examine these texts, the more plausible it seems to me that the stories started with a series of experiences that the first witnesses could not fit into ordinary categories. One of the Earliest Recorded Creeds One of the most important summaries of the resurrection is a creed the apostle Paul incorporated into one of his letters. A creed  denotes a summation of beliefs that Christians share. Believers in Jesus have repeated many creeds over the centuries, but one of the earliest is recorded in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. Even though Paul penned this summation, he was not the one who created it. Someone had passed the creed to Paul, and Paul had repeated the summary of events and witnesses when he visited the Corinthians three or so years before he wrote this letter. 1.  Here’s the outline of faith Paul recalled in his letter: . . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ( 1 Cor. 15:3–7 ) This summary includes every crucial truth Christians confess about the resurrection of Jesus. According to the creed, the body of Jesus was not abandoned in a pile of cadavers or left on a cross to be consumed by beasts and birds (“he was buried”). Jesus didn’t ascend physically into the heavens from the cross; his resurrection was a bodily transformation that took place after his death and burial (“he was raised on the third day”). 2 .  Perhaps most important, whatever happened to Jesus was not a private occurrence. Numerous people insisted they saw him after his death, and Christians in Paul’s own day could still interview eyewitnesses who said they had seen Jesus alive. But where and how did Paul receive this creed in the first place? The outline Paul recorded in 1 Corinthians almost certainly came from Jerusalem, the very location where Jesus was crucified and where some of his followers later claimed they saw him alive. Not only that, but the creed can also be traced to a time when firsthand witnesses of the life and ministry of Jesus were still alive and leading the Jerusalem church. So why can we be confident that this creed came from when and where the alleged events took place? The only individuals mentioned by name in the creed are Cephas and James. Cephas is the equivalent in the Aramaic language of Peter , and James was a brother of Jesus. These two men, both of whom knew Jesus personally, were “pillars” in the Jerusalem church in AD 30 ( Gal. 2:6–9 ). The creed mentions their names without any modifiers or explanations, suggesting that the words took shape in a context where both were familiar faces. Taken together, everything we see in this summation of faith points to an origin in Jerusalem soon after the events took place. 3. So when could Paul have heard this snippet of summarized testimony? Paul embraced Jesus as his Messiah within a couple of years of Jesus’s execution at most. 4.  Three years after this reorientation of his life, Paul headed to Jerusalem and spent fifteen days talking with Peter there ( Gal. 1:18 ; see also Acts 9:26–30 ). Paul most likely received this outline of faith no later than those weeks he spent with Peter in Jerusalem, which means the creed reached Paul five years or less after Jesus’s death. Of course, it is very possible Paul had heard this summation before his visit to Jerusalem, but it certainly does not seem he would have received these words any later. The next time we encounter Paul after his stopover in Jerusalem, he is already being sent out to share the message of Jesus in Cyprus and Asia Minor ( Acts 13:2–14:28 ). In every place he visited, Paul apparently delivered the same creedal content, and he wasn’t significantly modifying what he received. Even though the Corinthians received this letter three or so years after Paul left their city, the apostle was confident the church would remember what he had told them earlier. If Paul had not been passing on the same outline of faith in every place, he could not have expected the Corinthians to recall what he had said when he was with them in person. Stories from the Land Where Jesus Lived And so, the content of the creed can be traced back to a time and a place where people had firsthand knowledge of Jesus—but it is not only the creed in 1 Corinthians 15:3–7 that originated when and where these witnesses were living. The resurrection stories in the Gospels can also be traced to individuals with firsthand knowledge of Jesus. No one knows for certain where the New Testament Gospels were written, but it is possible to reconstruct certain aspects of where the stories originated. Here is what seems clear based on information inside and outside the Gospels: The stories that were eventually woven into the Gospels originated in locations where the alleged events happened. So why can we be confident when it comes to the regions where these stories originated? The Gospel narratives repeatedly describe very specific topographical trivia that could only have come from people with firsthand knowledge of the regions where the events took place. The author of Mark’s Gospel knew it was possible, for example, to proceed directly from the Sea of Galilee into the Galilean hill country—a detail that, while accurate, would have been virtually unknown outside that region ( Mark 3:7, 13 ; see also Matt. 14:22–23; 15:29 ). John’s Gospel records an even more obscure fact, correctly describing the path from Cana to Capernaum as downhill ( John 2:12 ). All four Gospels repeatedly reference the fact that a journey to Jerusalem required going uphill ( Matt. 20:17–18 ; Mark 10:32–33 ; Luke 2:4, 42 ; Luke 10:30–31 ; Luke 18:31 ; Luke 19:28 ; John 2:13; 5:1; 7:8–14; 11:55; 12:20 ). These are only a tiny sample from hundreds of examples that reveal intimate knowledge of the regional topography as well as typical names of people who resided in these locations. 5.  No one could have known such minutiae without either trekking the terrain in person or writing down detailed testimonies recounted by witnesses who lived in these lands. No maps in this era showed elevations, inclines, or obscure links between locations, and no detailed geographic descriptions of Judea or Galilee survive in any first-century texts. If second-century accounts of the authorship of the Gospels are correct, these details make sense. Early Christian sources describe the author of Mark’s Gospel as the “follower and translator” of Peter who recorded Peter’s retellings of the stories of Jesus after years of hearing them. The Gospels according to Matthew and Luke borrowed much of Mark’s material, but Luke was also a companion of Paul who added information from “eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” to his Gospel ( Luke 1:2 ), while Matthew’s Gospel includes recollections from the apostle Matthew and perhaps other sources as well. Second-century Christian writings repeatedly mention that the Gospel of John originated with a firsthand follower of Jesus whose name was John. 6. If the New Testament Gospels do indeed preserve the words of Peter, John, and others who walked these regions, it is no wonder the texts get so many topographical details correct. The New Testament Gospels may have been composed in Ephesus or Rome or any number of other cities, but those locations were not where the stories started. The testimonies that have been twined together in the Gospels originated among persons with firsthand knowledge of Judea and Galilee. What’s more, their stories were retold so carefully that seemingly trivial details were safeguarded as the testimonies spread. Whatever happened to Jesus happened—in the words of C.S. Lewis—“at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences,” and early Christians preserved the details of these places as they repeated the stories. 7. These details have profound implications for the question of whether or not the resurrection happened. All four New Testament Gospels agree that the body of Jesus was buried, that his body exited the tomb on the third day, and that witnesses saw him alive. If the other stories in the Gospels originated among people in the places where the alleged events occurred, the resurrection stories most likely did as well. Reports of the risen Jesus were not fabricated decades after his death among people who never knew him. The reports can be traced instead to firsthand experiences in and around the city where Jesus was crucified. Notes:   1.     Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians , rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014), 5–7, 20–23, 802. 2.     Simon Gathercole, The Gospel and the Gospels: Christian Proclamation and Early Jesus Books (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2022), 44, 117. Vanishing into the realm of the gods was not unknown in Roman narratives. See, e.g., Livy, History of Rome: Books 1–2 , trans. B. O. Foster (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919), 1.16; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History: Books  2.35–4.58, trans. C. H. Oldfather (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1935), 4.38. 3.     Larry W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 168–76, 215–16. 4.     Hurtado, 83. 5.     Some portions are adapted from Jones, Why Should I Trust the Bible? , 68–69. For further references, see Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd ed.  (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2017), 39–92, and Peter J. Williams, Can We Trust the Gospels?  (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 51–86. 6.     On the authorship of the Gospels, see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History: Books 1–5 , trans. Kirsopp Lake (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926), 5.8.2–4; Irenaeus of Lyon, Libros Quinque Adversus Haereses, vol. 2, ed.  W. W. Harvey (1857; repr., Rochester, NY: St. Irenaeus, 2013), 3.1.1–2; Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem: Books 4–5, ed. and trans. Ernest Evans  (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1972), 4.2. See also Charles E. Hill, “What Papias Said about John (and Luke),” Journal of Theological Studies 49  (1998): 582–629. 7.     C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970), 58–60. See also Lewis, Surprised by Joy (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1955), 228, 274. This article is adapted from   Did the Resurrection Really Happen?   by Timothy Paul Jones.

We need one key quality more than any other for exploring God’s will. This virtue is required to embrace Scripture and to win the wrestling match that often happens in our hearts with God’s will. This quality is humility. The essence of Christian humility is captured in Romans 12:3, where Paul the apostle writes, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” This verse comes in the context of the topic of spiritual gifts. We are all a part of the body of Christ, all used by God for his purposes, and we all need to remember that we are not the center of everything. Why is that truth helpful when we study the topic of God’s will? Because we sometimes cross-examine God as though he were a witness in a courtroom and must answer to us. When we seek God’s will, we need to be careful that, deep down, we aren’t just trying to figure out how to get our own will. We need humility to live out our purpose as Christians. We see this warning throughout Scripture. In Romans 9:20, Paul warns us to be careful of pridefully presuming that we know God’s purposes for everything he allows or does: “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?” In chapters 38–40 of Job , we find some of the most eye-opening views of God’s character. After Job hits a low point and basically argues that he is righteous and doesn’t deserve the suffering God has allowed, God responds by saying, “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” He then goes on to say, “I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” (38:2–4). It’s one of the most humbling moments in Scripture. God challenges someone who thinks he knows better than the Almighty. (We’re guilty of this too!) Job eventually responds by saying, “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?” (40:4). The picture we get is not of a mean and insensitive God who doesn’t care about our questions. On the contrary! The idea is that we can  express ourselves to God and seek answers, but we must be careful not to indict him or alter theological truths to satisfy our prideful opinions or lower him to a puppet who answers to us as puppeteers. We must maintain reverence when considering his will. We must be in awe of his sovereign power when considering his purposes. We must also be in awe of his loving kindness and tender mercy, because he most certainly understands our struggle to comprehend his will. In all of these things, we must be humble. Adapted from Walking in God’s Will: Demystify God’s Plan for Your Life and Make Decisions with Confidence  by Costi W. Hinn.

Listen and Learn I recently observed a conversation a few Christians were having with a man who has yet to come to faith in Jesus. It was amazing to me, and saddening, to watch the Christians missing the point of this man’s struggle and questions. It seemed those speaking to him were more concerned about convincing him they were right than about listening to his heart. As a result, he walked away without any good news about Jesus, becoming even more convinced that this “religion” wasn’t for him. It’s not for me either—at least, not what I saw in that conversation. We can do better. We must  do better. We’re talking about people’s souls! And we’re representing Jesus. Helping people come to know the love of Jesus is the most important thing there is, and Jesus’s love for us compels us to love people better. If we don’t, the good news that people need gets muffled by our religious pride. Proverbs 20:5  says, “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” We need to become people of understanding—people who seek to understand others before we expect them to understand us and what we believe. We need to learn how to ask more questions and draw out what is deep inside people’s souls. We need to learn to slow down and listen closely to the longings of their hearts. We need to learn their stories. In short, we need to care more about winning people to Jesus than about winning arguments. Gospel fluency isn’t just about talking. It’s about listening as well. This requires love, patience, and wisdom. Drawing Out the Heart Jesus was so good at this. Whenever I consider how I can grow in being a person of understanding who listens well, I think of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. It was high noon, when the sun was at its hottest. There was a reason this woman was getting her water at this time. She chose a time when no one else would be at the well. Nobody went there in the heat of the day. But she probably wanted to avoid running into one of the wives of the men with whom she had been sexually involved. She had had five husbands, and the man she was then involved with was not her husband. However, Jesus didn’t start with where she was wrong. He actually started in a humble posture of receiving from her. He asked her for water, and she poured out her soul. I’ve found that starting with a posture of humility, standing in a place of need and having a heart that is willing not only to give answers but also to receive insight, creates a welcoming place for people to open their hearts. The more open we are to listen and learn, the more likely people are to be open as well. If you look at the story closely, you discover that Jesus continued to make very short, provocative statements that invited more conversation. He was drawing out, little by little, the longing of her soul. He’s a master at drawing out the heart. You notice this if you read the Gospels. Jesus regularly said just enough to invite further probing or create intrigue. He also loved to ask questions so that the overflow of the heart (belief) would spill out of a person’s mouth (words). I’m amazed at how often well-intentioned Christians overwhelm people with a barrage of words. We go on and on about what we believe and what they should believe, assuming we know what others think, believe, or need. I often find that we are giving answers to questions people are not even asking or cramming information into hearts that are longing for love, not just facts. We fail to listen. We fail to draw out the heart. And we miss opportunities to really love people and share the love of God with them. They also miss out on getting to hear what’s going on in their own hearts. I have found that when people, including myself, are invited to say out loud what they believe, they come to realize something is wrong. Jesus slows down, draws out the heart, and listens. Talk Less, Listen More As we are changed by the gospel, we want to share how the gospel has changed us. It’s a great thing to do so. In fact, one of the keys to growing in gospel fluency is to regularly share what Jesus has done or is doing in our lives with others. Our stories are powerful demonstrations of the gospel’s power to save. However, if we don’t also listen, we tend to share the good news of Jesus in a way that applies primarily to our lives, the way it was good news to us , but fails to address the situations others are facing. We can become proclaimers of the good news while remaining ignorant of the ways in which others need to hear it. This doesn’t negate how good the news of Jesus is at all. However, if we read the rest of the story of Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman, we find that while her testimony created intrigue, the people in the village had to meet Jesus for themselves. It wasn’t enough for her just to share her story. They had to get to Jesus as well. So she brought them to him. Our job is to testify to Jesus’s work in our lives while also listening closely to others so we know how to bring the truths of Jesus to bear on the longings of their hearts. We need to bring them to Jesus so he can meet their unique needs and fulfill their personal longings. In order to do this, we have to slow down, quiet our souls, ask good questions to draw out the hearts of others, and listen. Francis Schaeffer said, “If I have only an hour with someone, I will spend the first fifty-five minutes asking them questions and finding out what is troubling their heart and mind, and then in the last five minutes I will share something of the truth.” My regular counsel to Christians these days is to spend more time listening than talking if they want to be able to share the gospel of Jesus in a way that meaningfully speaks to the hearts of others. We were created by God to find our greatest satisfaction and fulfillment in him. Every human is hungry for God. Everyone has eternity written on their hearts, producing a longing for something—someone—better, more significant, and eternal. This is a longing for God ( Eccl. 3:11 ). The cry of every heart— the native tongue of our souls—is for better, not for worse; for the eternal, not for the temporal; for healing, redemption, and restoration. And only Jesus can bring this about. We all long for Jesus Christ. Everyone is seeking him, even if they don’t know it. They are looking for something to fulfill their longings and satisfy their thirst. However, they are looking in the wrong places. They are going to the wrong wells to try to draw soul water. They need to look to Jesus. But they will not come to see how he can quench their thirst if we don’t take the time to listen. And as we listen, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can discern the longings of their hearts, the brokenness of their souls, and the emptiness of their spirits. And then, we must be prepared to show how Jesus can meet them at the well with soul-quenching water—himself. Our stories are powerful demonstrations of the gospel’s power to save. This article is adapted from   Gospel Fluency: Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life   by Jeff Vanderstelt.