Bible Study
Nana Dolce
Why We Remember Lot’s Wife

Lot’s wife belonged to a family with a great name and trust in God’s promises. She even had angels visit her home! God sent them to personally escort her from His coming wrath to His safety (Gen.19:1-22). Yet, she fell into eternal judgment because she looked back to her life in Sodom. She longed to preserve what she had and became a pillar of salt–a crystalline substance used for preservation (Gen. 19:26). Friends, Jesus is kind to warns us in Luke 17:32-33: “Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.”

Why We Remember Lot’s Wife
Bible Study, The Gospel
Nana Dolce
Prayers Rising Like a Sweet Aroma

Cornelius’ conversion account can teach us many things about the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles in the first century church. We see in this story that God’s salvation through Christ is for all the families of the earth. God shows no partiality but comes to redeem people from all nations. All this is true. But my focus today is on that small line in verse four. It makes me wonder: what if my service and prayers to God were like a memorial offering rising up as a pleasing aroma before His throne? 

Prayers Rising Like a Sweet Aroma

Bible Study

Why We Remember Lot’s Wife

Why We Remember Lot’s Wife

Lot’s wife belonged to a family with a great name and trust in God’s promises. She even had angels visit her home! God sent them to personally escort her from His coming wrath to His safety (Gen.19:1-22). Yet, she fell into eternal judgment because she looked back to her life in Sodom. She longed to preserve what she had and became a pillar of salt–a crystalline substance used for preservation (Gen. 19:26). Friends, Jesus is kind to warns us in Luke 17:32-33: “Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.”

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Prayers Rising Like a Sweet Aroma

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Prayers Rising Like a Sweet Aroma

Cornelius’ conversion account can teach us many things about the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles in the first century church. We see in this story that God’s salvation through Christ is for all the families of the earth. God shows no partiality but comes to redeem people from all nations. All this is true. But my focus today is on that small line in verse four. It makes me wonder: what if my service and prayers to God were like a memorial offering rising up as a pleasing aroma before His throne? 

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Confess Your Sins—and Sing!

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Confess Your Sins—and Sing!

Psalm 32 doesn’t make light of sin. At the same time, it reminds us that God’s grace is bigger than the ugliest sin we could acknowledge. The passage teaches at least three truths: 1) We sin in both big and small ways; 2) our unconfessed sins bring heavy consequences; and 3) full confession brings complete forgiveness and joy in God’s presence.

Continue at Journeywomen Blog

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3 Reasons to Study Bible Genealogies with Kids

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3 Reasons to Study Bible Genealogies with Kids

What if avoiding specific sections of Scripture is itself a lesson to our kids? Do we give the impression that only certain corners of the Bible are suited for families when we limit our studies to known, or easier-to-apply passages? And what fruit—if carefully gleaned—from these biblical family trees could nourish our growing disciples?

Continue at The Gospel Coalition.

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Dolce Devotions: Teaching Christ Moment by Moment

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Dolce Devotions is our family devotional time—it is our effort to teach our children “when we lie down.” We share it with you as an encouragement and picture for one way the bedtime routine might be used for teaching Christ and the gospel to children. May it stir up your own affections for Christ as you seek to love and commend Him within the everyday routines of your life!

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A Gospel Centered Advent Devotional for Moms

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This year I’m partnering with 24 other women to create a gospel centered Advent Devotional designed specifically for moms and it's available at no cost to you! The devotional is designed to come straight to your email inbox. Each morning between December 1st and Christmas Day, you'll receive a short devotion on how the coming of Christ fulfills a specific longing common to motherhood along with questions for application/reflection. You don't have to remember anything, pay for anything, or print anything. Just visit this LINK to sign up!

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A God After His Own Fame

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A God After His Own Fame

When sinful men and women seek their own glory, we call it narcissism; when they seek God’s glory, the Bible calls it right. John 7:18 states: “The one who speaks for himself seeks his own glory. But He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” God’s passion to spread His name is grace, not narcissism.

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God's Will for My Life in 2018

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God's Will for My Life in 2018

In every season, the Lord desires my active and ongoing conformity with Christ. In 2018, the Spirit will labor to bring out the fruit of God’s justification in my character and life with others (Galatians 5:22-23). Remembering John 17:17, below are a few ways I hope to cooperate with the Spirit’s work in me this year.

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Make Time for God's Word

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Make Time for God's Word

Do you ever feel that you’re just too busy for the Bible? There’s so much clamouring for your attention, regardless of whatever stage of life you’re at. Let’s not even speak of the constant drip of media and entertainment distractions; it’s almost unbelievable how addictive they are becoming!The reality of this frenzied busyness, which frankly, most of us are caught up in, is that The Bible is in danger of remaining a closed book, even to us Christians!

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The Humiliation of Christmas (Or How Christmas Helps Me With Shame)

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I can magnify God with Mary on Christmas for our earthly embarrassments have become only light and momentary afflictions (2 Corinthians 4:17). Jesus Christ has come. He died, He was raised, He will come again. Rejoice! “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11).

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God Is Glorified in His Judgement: an Advent Devotional (Part 3)

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God is glorified in His mercy. He is also glorified in His judgement of sin. In Jerusalem’s captivity, God reveals Himself as a God who keeps His word (Deuteronomy 28:58-68) and displays justice, holiness, and infinite power.But how can God be both merciful and just? Doesn’t His justice nullify His mercy, and vice versa? When we look at Christmas, we have to say “no.”

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A Glimmer of Light in the Shadow of Death: an Advent Devotional (Part 2)

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Imagine the anxiety when Sennacherib of Assyra shows up in Judah, 8 years after the North's exile, with these words: “Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?... Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?” (2 Kings 18:33-34). It was true. Samaria had been crushed by Assyria...would that same hand now wreckJudah?

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The Darkness Before the Light: an Advent Devotional (Part 1)

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Israel sacrificed her children in fire and used divination and yet claimed to “know” the Lord (Hosea 8:2-3). In what ways does sin deceive our hearts into believing that we are “close to God” when, in reality, we are far from Him? Does God’s patience and willing forgiveness inspire obedient praise or does it expose a presumptuous heart? Let's examine ourselves this Advent season as we wait to greet the Savior with our full and humble submission, gratitude, and love. Amen.

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Jeroboam II: Israel's Covenant God Relents from Disaster

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Reading 2 Kings 14 brings to mind Jonah 4:2; there, Jonah calls God gracious and merciful, “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” The description captures God’s hesed or steadfast love. Jonah’s phrasing is seen throughout Scripture but first appears in Exodus 34:6 during God’s covenant renewal with Israel. The Northern Kingdom was called to belong to a patient God who relents from disaster. God’s far-reaching kindness elects to help a rebellious king and his people. In Jonah’s ministry, we can see God’s mercy extended to those who are far and near: wicked Nineveh and wayward Israel are helped. Who then is beyond His grace?

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Athaliah’s Reign and the High Cost of “Well-Intentioned” Disobedience

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Athaliah’s Reign and the High Cost of “Well-Intentioned” Disobedience

Our best and most sincere “well-intentioned” plans can prove “sincerely wrong.” But the word of the Lord stands forever (Psalm 119:89). If so, “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).  

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Ahab’s Reign: Murder in a Vineyard and the Sinkhole of Sin

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As we reflect on the narrative, we do well to consider the “little sins” we flirt with, justify and excuse that can begin a “sinkhole” in our faith. Ephesians 5:3 states: “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.” While always imperfect on this side of eternity, Christians are to guard against the smallest hint of sin. We do so with the help of the Spirit, knowing that--even when we trip--our security rests in the man who, like Naboth, was falsely charged and killed, yet rose again for our justification (Romans 4:25). He is able to keep you from falling and will present you faultless (Jude 1:24).

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Jeroboam’s Reign: a Hardened Heart Shaped by Fear

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I’ve heard people say that if they lived in Bible times and heard and saw God speak “powerfully and directly” to people with signs and wonders, they would certainly believe. God does exactly that for Jeroboam and yet He's met with a hardened--not a believing--heart. The truth is that, in the inspired and inerrant Scriptures, God continues to speak powerfully and directly to His people. May He find in us humble hearts that fear, believe, and obey Him.

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Hezekiah’s Reign: My Times Are in Your Hands

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This passage is a staggering display of God’s sovereignty! The triumphs that wicked Sennacherib rested in had been enabled by the Lord God Himself. God had planned his rising and his falling from the days of old. Indeed, what is outside of our God’s control? Trust today that your own times are in His hands--and that hand is immeasurably kind to those in Christ (Psalm 31:15; Ephesians 2:7)!

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Uzziah and the King Who Is Also High Priest

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The juxtaposition of a prideful Uzziah--made low by his unsanctioned dealings in the temple--and an enthroned King, seated in the temple, is stunning! There is only one king appointed to serve as priest. King Jesus alone offers sacrifices for sins on behalf of His people (Hebrews 5:1-10). And to Him the Scriptures say we can approach with confidence in our time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

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Blessings and Curses and the Reign of Jehoshaphat

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God told Israel there would be blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience ( Deuteronomy 28). God’s Word proves true! So how should believers today understand this correlation between behavior and blessings/curses? Do faithful believers encounter hardships? Absolutely (2 Corinthians 11:24-29). Does God discipline and reprove His children? He does indeed (Hebrews 12:5-6). Yet in all that, know for certain that the active obedience of Christ secures for the believer the unfailing and never-ending blessings of the Father.