6/27/25 - "When we feel depressed by all the resistance there is to Christianity, it helps to read about the Early Church. From the very beginning, it was in conflict with the states and societies it emerged from." - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

6/20/25 - Regarding Jesus’ refusal to perform signs whenever the Pharisees and the Sadducees demanded them - “[Jesus] was supposed to prove that He came from God by doing something great before their eyes. If He did that they would believe in Him—maybe. But Jesus didn't do any miracles for them. He didn't want their kind of faith because it wasn't really faith. Faith isn't a plan or circumstantial evidence to convince our selfish reason that we can count on God or that Jesus is worth betting on. To believe is to take hold of God's love and long to get away from everything that keeps us from having total fellowship with Him. To believe is to discover who God is and love Him for His own sake. This faith can never be ignited through miracles that frighten or impress. It can only be ignited by seeing a glimpse of God's love, by seeing how He looks for us and longs for us. This is why God descended to earth in Jesus Christ.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

6/11/25 - “The Holy Trinity is a mystery: something mankind cannot visualize and only partially understand…The Holy Trinity is something no human speculation could have produced.” Because of “the inexhaustible depth of His nature,” God had to graciously reveal Himself to us “to the limits of our understanding and needs.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

6/6/25 - Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” - “This fills us with a great comfort, a boundless thankfulness, a lovely certainty that nothing can separate us from God's love because Christ is with us and has mercy on us.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

5/29/25 - "The Lord’s ascension is a milestone in world history. Christ sits at the Father’s side and resumes full divine qualities. He is now the omnipresent Savior who can intervene anywhere with His saving presence.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

5/23/25 - Regarding Jesus’ teaching on prayer from Matthew 6:5-13 - “We don’t have to be eloquent or verbose...We often think we have to choose our words carefully when we speak to God. That's why we sometimes are so bad at praying: We're embarrassed at our childlike and awkward words. But that's exactly how we should pray: in a natural, genuine, sincere way, full of childlike trust. No father or mother brushes off a two-year-old child who is trying to say something but can't express it properly. God is our Father who has mercy on us, His children. He understands us. He knows us. He knows what we need before we even pray to Him.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

5/15/25 - "Let us realize that we really can feel as if we're abandoned by God. We can feel defeated by a power that has nothing to do with God. This could be a storm or natural disaster. It could be war or people's malicious attitudes. It could be job loss, incurable disease, or the threat of death. What does God do about all this? We find the answer in Jesus. It is He Himself who is the answer. He lived with all of this. He went through it Himself. Yet He conquered it, and He includes us in this victory. This is not so we can escape suffering but so we can say with the apostle: ‘No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us’ (Romans 8:37)." - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

5/8/25 - John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” - “Faith is something invisible, but many of the characteristics of faith are noticeable and visible. Prayer belongs to faith, as does constantly returning to His Word, listening to it, and taking it to heart. That's the way sap from the vine flows into the branches.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

5/1/25 - "If Christ has really risen from the dead, then there is only one correct, reasonable, and justifiable way to live, namely, as His disciple, follower, and servant.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

4/25/25 - "When [the women] got to the apostles, they were confronted with skepticism. No one could fathom what had happened. It was absurd to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. But it was true! The skeptical apostles were faced with this unavoidable fact. ‘The Lord has risen indeed’ (Luke 24:34). God had intervened so wonderfully, so overwhelmingly, so far beyond everything that had happened earlier upon this earth that our entire life and our entire existence was fundamentally changed. A new era had begun.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

4/18/25 - "Barabbas rather than Jesus! That was the voice of the people outside Pilate's palace…What happened here wasn't just the punishment of an innocent person while the guilty was set free. Something greater happened. Every guilty person was set free like Barabbas. Every guilty person was given an opportunity to go free, an opportunity to escape the just consequences of his or her guilt. Jesus suffered what the wicked Barabbas and the howling crowd, the cowardly Pilate and the scheming high priests, the self-righteous Pharisees and each of us should have suffered.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

4/14/25 - "Lord God, if You kept a record of sins, who could stand? I know that is true. If You examined my heart and tested me to see if I really loved or if my intentions were really pure and unselfish or if I really hadn't only thought of myself, I would not pass Your test. Yet You still love me. You still let me work in Your vineyard. I am still allowed to be Your servant and Your friend. Help me to remember how good You are to me so I am never jealous of Your goodness to others. Even if I am last in Your kingdom, it is much more than I deserve. In Jesus' name.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

4/10/25 - "It’s imperative that we think about the temptations Jesus experienced as very real temptations. They were not imaginary. Christ was really tempted in everything just as we are…But Jesus said no. He was faithful to God. He was the first man ever to fully resist the tempter.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

4/1/25 - Matthew 10:29-31 "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows." - “There's so much that seems cruel and meaningless in the world. Nature often frightens us with avalanches, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, viruses, and cancer. We often speak of the environment in terms of ‘the blind power of nature,’ but now Jesus says that nothing happens without our heavenly Father's will, literally ‘apart from your Father.’ That doesn't mean everything is an expression of God's good and creative will. There is also an evil will at work. But it means that nothing happens that God doesn't in some way hold in His hand and include in His plans. He uses it eventually as a blessing for His children. We are more valuable than many sparrows.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

3/24/25 - A prayer of gratitude for the gift of prayer - “Thank You, Jesus, for allowing me to speak about these matters too. You know what I mean. You know everything so well, even the things that are hard to speak about. I can bring matters before You that I am embarrassed to tell others about. I come to You even with the small annoyances I grieve over and don't want anyone else to know about. I am glad that You know about them and that I can talk to You about them. You are the only one who can help me with them. You can take away what is really terrible: my guilt. So first I ask that You forgive me, and then I pray that You would help me with everything else. Guide me with the things I can't do anything about. Guide my heart so I do what I can in the proper manner, willingly and with a joyous heart. All to Your glory.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

3/11/25 - Regarding Jesus’ lack of miracles among the people of His hometown (Mark 6:1-6) - “Here we see the essential nature of disbelief: It wants to prevail over God. It doesn't necessarily have to deny God's existence, but recognition of God's existence is not the same as believing. Faith is essentially the heart's true relationship to God. Love, reverence, obedience, and childlike trust are a part of faith. Self-centeredness and conceit are a part of disbelief. You put yourself in the center of existence. Everything else, including God, is considered as tools and possibilities, as assets or risks for yourself. If there is any significance to God at all, then He will help how, where, and when the individual deems best. So the people of Nazareth knew exactly what kind of expectations they had for Jesus, Mary's Son. If He were a man of God as others maintained, He would be useful to them. But if He didn't legitimize Himself by being at their disposal, they would be finished with Him.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

3/3/25 - “Lord Jesus, I pray to You with all my heart for two things: that You help me do what I can do and that You do to me what only You can do. Make me faithful in the little that I am able to do. Make me faithful in Your Word and persistent in prayer. Remind me when I am negligent. Help me to gladly do the work that You give me the opportunity to do. And then, dear Lord, do everything I can't do and can't achieve. Ignite faith in my heart and keep it alive. Renew my desire. Open my eyes. Let my barren fig tree bloom and bear fruit. All to Your glory." - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

2/24/25 - Hebrews 2:14-15 "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." - "Nothing can change the fact that our lives become shorter every day…For every year that goes by, more and more sand falls through the hourglass, and there is no way of knowing how much is left. Death holds us fast within its grip. There is no opportunity for escape…What's crucial is that there is Someone who has power over death…It’s good for us that we have Christ!…Lord Jesus, I thank You because I no longer need to worry about the death that waits for me because I know that I have a Father in heaven who waits for me, and that You will take me by the hand and lead me to Him." - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

2/17/25 - Regarding God saving us and creating new life within us - “We make no contribution to the miracle. We can only put obstacles in its way. Whenever it happens, it's entirely God's work.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

2/10/25 - Applying John the Baptist’s statement that “[Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) - “This is how the Christian life should be. The Christian should decrease. In the beginning you may think you should grow, constantly feeling stronger, purer, wiser, and better, but the opposite often happens. You begin to distrust yourself and your own resources. You see how much weakness, cowardice, and selfishness still remains, but you receive a greater confidence in Jesus. You learn to trust all the more in Him, in His Word, in His faithfulness and help in the vicissitudes of life. Consequently, you become stronger, wiser in faith, and more persistent in affliction. That's because you begin to depend more and more on Christ and, therefore, possess more and more of Him. Faith and wisdom increase when you decrease and He increases.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

2/1/25 - "There is a living power in the Word that comes from God's lips. It's like water for the thirsty or bread for the hungry. It grants life that needs to be nourished daily. Who can drink enough water to quench his thirst or eat enough food to be full for a month? Faith isn't an idea. It's a way of life, and this life can be sustained only by the power of God's Spirit. And God sends His Spirit with the Word." - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

1/20/25 - Colossians 3:17 "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." - "This is foundational for a Christian life. In Jesus' name, we begin our day with prayer and devotion. In Jesus' name, we go to the table, thankful for His gifts, remembering that He is our invisible guest. In Jesus' name, we go to sleep in the evening. And what we do in our work, we do from the heart, so we serve the Lord Jesus and not men. Then we are faithful in what seems to be insignificant. Then we can forgive grave injustice. We can bear immense grief because we do not bear it alone, but in the name of Jesus, with a silent and steadfast friend by our side.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

1/13/25 - A prayer for confidence in God - “Lord, security exists only in You. I so readily trust in everything else and take it for granted that my life is dependent on things I can put my hands on. I like to trust in myself, thinking I can get by with what I can do and what I have. And yet everything is dependent upon You. I thank You for the new day You have given me today. I thank You that my body and brain work, that my heart beats, and for all the mysterious functions of my body I cannot control or understand. I know You are in command of all this. But most of all, I thank You because You hold Your hand over the whole world and guide everything toward the goal You have set. It's assuring to know that everything is in Your hands, everything I can do nothing about. It's enough for me to know that You have a plan and a purpose for my life and my days. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

1/6/25 - Regarding patience in reading Scripture and growing in the faith - “That's the way Christianity works: Everything is connected and gradually becomes clearer. The more you read, learn, and experience, the clearer these wonderful doctrines and their immense profoundness will become to you.” - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz

12/29/24 - "In truth, we are never the same again: When one year has passed, it has done something to us. We have either come closer or farther away. Faith has either grown or withered. A year of grace? This year I won't only wish for it and hope that it comes by itself. I will pray for it. I will open myself up for it. I will attempt to follow Him so I don't miss anything He has to give." - To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz