Michael Kelley

Bread was, when Jesus first gave us this way to pray, the staple of life. The very basic element of every meal. And yet even this, Jesus reminds us, we cannot really provide for ourselves. And though we might have bread in our pantry today, praying for our daily bread is one of the means by which we pursue humility.

We can expect that day in and day out we will be pummeled the flaming arrows of the great enemy of God and man, the devil. These flaming arrows might take many forms, but surely at least one of them is in the form of accusation.

Salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. There is no other way. We aren’t saved because we deserve it, because God owes us something, or because someone in our family took us to church. We are saved through faith.

Our emotions are just as broken by sin as everything else is. As the Spirit of God is making us more like Jesus, He is not only changing our behavior; He is redeeming our emotional lives as well.

They symbolically left their old way of life. They broke with the past—their past vocation, their sense of self, and their identity— and fully embraced the future with Jesus. That’s what a disciple does.

God never changes. His character is as sure and certain as the very fabric of the universe. This is the source of His love, and because it is, we can rest securely in it.

Repentance is about faith. That’s important to note because rarely, if ever, do we feel like repenting. We don’t; we feel like sinning.

The Christian finds courage not from some inner reservoir; we find courage when we know the God of the universe.