A gift, June of 2025.

• Matthew 8:1-4 - Healing. Church of the City, NYC. Pastor Ron Walborn, from a Pentecostal denomination, preached about divine healing. I had not heard much about it before. After the Sermon on the Mount, a leper asks Jesus to heal him. Leprosy meant both religious and social isolation.
  • Pastor Ron framed the passage around the healing ministry of Jesus, and invited us to study both the posture of the leper and the posture of Jesus.
  • The leper:
    • Response of faith. Faith is taking a risk: a leap toward Jesus. Sometimes we isolate ourselves in our unbelief, and this is when we need a touch from Jesus. The leper kneels, worships, and exalts. In worship, we take our hands off ourselves and move instead toward the Lord.
    • Recognition of power.
    • Request in humility.
    • Results in obedience.
  • Jesus:
    • Reflection of God the Father as Son.
    • Responds with compassion. Under the old covenant, clean plus unclean taints the clean. Leviticus 5:3 names uncleanness that comes through touch; under the new covenant in Jesus, clean plus unclean means the unclean is made whole. Lead with compassion: people are not projects, but people to be loved. Emotional healing matters alongside physical healing.
    • Responds with desire. This is the desire, will, and heart of a healing God. Not everything that happens is God's will. Sin is not God's will; neither is sickness. A.B. Simpson, in The Gospel of Healing, asks of those who call sickness God's sweet will: "do they not send for a doctor?"
    • Responds with power. Some healing is progressive; other healing is instant.
  • "Lord, let your will be done and your kingdom come." Healing is not a good in and of itself; it helps fulfill God's calling and plan.

• Romans 8:1-30 - Life in the Spirit. No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus — the Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death. Those led by the Spirit are sons of God, heirs with Christ. Creation itself groans as it waits for redemption. The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

• Genesis 37-38 - Joseph, the last born son of Jacob, is lavished with favor. Parallels with Christ: chosen one, with whom the father is well-pleased, sold for silver, humiliation before exaltation. Judah comes into his daughter-in-law, Tamar, after mistaking her for a cult prostitute. Later, he repents and declares her to be more righteous than himself. The lineage of Christ passes through both innocent suffering (Joseph) and repentant sinners (Judah).
• Psalm 19 - "The Law of the Lord is Perfect [...] ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD my rock and my redeemer." A petition to God: make us aware of your beauty in creation, let us know where our hearts are misaligned, whether by ignorance or malice.
• Matthew 24 - Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple. He warns us against mistaking religion and institution as reverence for God. Stay vigilant and cultivate sound character, faithful discernment and honest self-examination.

On January 4th of 2026, I decided I'd read through the entire Bible this year.

• Philippians 4:6-7 - "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
• Genesis 29-32 - Laban tricks Jacob, as Jacob tricks Esau. Children are blessings from God, fruit of the womb. Jacob is blessed with eleven children from four women. Twenty years he labors, before making his escape. He sends gifts before himself to Esau, whom he calls lord, yet settles in a different land. Another betrayal?
• Psalm 14-18:24
• Matthew 15-21 - Jesus teaches in parables and heals many. He foretells his death and rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.