#discipleship

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑘, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡,𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒.  𝑅𝑒𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑑, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢.

“AMEN 💙🙏😇

"Matthew 28:20 is the concluding verse of the Great Commission, where Jesus instructs his followers to teach and baptize new believers, and makes the promise, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age". This verse emphasizes both a mission—to disciple all nations and teach them to obey everything Christ commanded—and an assurance of Christ's constant presence and guidance throughout that mission, even until the end of time.

Key meanings of Matthew 28:20

The mission of discipleship:

Go and make disciples: The verse is part of Jesus' final instructions to his followers to spread his teachings and make new disciples in all nations.

Teach obedience: This involves more than just knowledge; it requires teaching new disciples to obey all of Christ's commands, not just the ones they find convenient.

Model Christ's teachings: The act of teaching should model the example Jesus set with his own disciples, which is an ongoing process of guidance and application.

The promise of Christ's presence:

"I am with you always": This is a profound promise that Jesus is not leaving his followers alone. He is personally present with them to guide, protect, comfort, and strengthen them.

"To the end of the age": This signifies an unending presence that extends to the very conclusion of this current era. It's a guarantee that this mission is not impossible because he is with them every step of the way, until history's final chapter.

Source of confidence: This promise is meant to give believers courage and hope to fulfill the mission, knowing they are not alone in their efforts and that Jesus will ultimately complete what he has started.”

From: “Faithfully Following God” (FB)

John 6:35-40. [35] “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. [36] But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. [37] All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. [38] For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. [39] And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. [40] For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (NIV)

This follows on from Easter. Jesus came to take all our sons upon Himself, once and for all, to save each and every one of us. Jesus never turns anyone away (think about Barabbas).

If someone hurts you, the Bible instructs is to forgive, as our Heavenly Father has forgiven us.

But that doesn’t mean it happens overnight. There is no timeline for healing.

Give yourself grace as you wrestle through the process of forgiveness.

You’re human. You’re allowed to have feelings.

Sometimes it’s one step forward and two steps back.

On our own strength, it’s nearly impossible to fully forgive.

But by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to allow those wounds to heal.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting. It’s important to acknowledge the act that hurt us, as well as the ways that act impacted us — bring it to the feet of Jesus.

Grieve what you lost or suffered.

Unbelievable but true: I’m starting the fourth and final year of my PhD. By this time next year, I should be submitting my thesis, six weeks before defending it. 👩🏼‍🔬

I still have a long way to go, so naturally, I’m spending a lot of time planning instead of actually working—just kidding… sort of. Anyway, I needed to put some things down on paper to create a sense of internal accountability. ✨

I’m trying my very best to approach this next year as consciously and consistently as I can. This is something I have never really managed to achieve before, which is why I’m building an internal accountability system to support me along the way. Even though it currently feels as though planning all of this might be a waste of time, I genuinely believe it will help me. And, of course, I’ll update you whenever I can. 😊

My first milestone is October 2, when I’ll give a 15-minute presentation followed by a five-minute Q&A at a local conference. Until then, I’m focusing on doing more analysis, producing high-quality figures, reading, and, more generally, turning the data I currently have into a coherent and interesting story.

Alongside this, I’m also troubleshooting my experimental setup—something I have been procrastinating on quite a lot.

Does anyone else experience this strange inhibition where you know that, once you fully commit, you are capable of doing the work, but committing is also terrifying because it forces you to ask why you did not do it sooner? 😐

It feels like confronting the realization that I have not been using my full potential, and that honestly scares me. At the same time, I recently read that mentally strong people do not spend too much time dwelling on thoughts like these. So perhaps I should simply dive into the work.

I’ll try.

As a supportive companion during this process, I’m currently listening to Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow audiobook on an endless loop. 📙🎵

"O eternal & everlasting God, I present myself this morning before thy Divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept my humble thanks, but to daily frame me more into the likeness of thy son, Jesus Christ."

~George Washington's daily morning prayer

"Since its creation in 1975 for America’s bicentennial celebration in 1976, The Prayer at Valley Forge by Arnold Friberg has become one of the most recognizable paintings in American history.

Friberg’s painting is a poignant portrayal of General George Washington during one of the most critical moments in the American Revolution. In the harsh winter of 1777–78, amid the immense hardships faced by the Continental Army at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Washington is depicted kneeling in a moment of solitary prayer, seeking guidance and strength from God. "

How To Speak The Word of God Boldly.

The Holy Spirit will embolden those who pray and seek God’s face to speak and share the word of God boldly.