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Happy Thursday, {{first_name | everyone}}!
This week, we’ve been tracking Proverbs 3:5-6 and its surrounding context — discussing Solomon, what comes to mind when we think of our heavenly Father, and what it means to trust, lean on, and acknowledge him.
Today, we’re looking at why we can trust God with all our hearts.
In today's email…
🙏 International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians
✝️ Where this call to trust points in the larger story of Scripture
🤝 A way to carry this trust toward someone else today
🔦 Community spotlight…
MEMORIZE 🧠
_____ __ the ____ with all your _____, and __ ___ ____ on your ___ _____________. __ all your ____ ___________ ___, and he ____ ____ ________ your _____.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Want to go deeper with Scripture memorization? Try our new iPhone app here.
TOGETHER WITH THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS
Join a Global Prayer Movement on November 1st
The International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians (IDOP) is an opportunity for Christians to unite in prayer for their persecuted Christian family members.
To that end, our friends at The Voice of the Martyrs are offering a free digital resource kit to help you lead your family, small group, class or church to pray for persecuted Christians in hostile areas and restricted nations.
The resource kit includes:
a family discussion guide
questions for reflection
the IDOP video
and more!
Click below to learn more about how you can join in global fellowship for IDOP this year.
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CONTEXT 📕
As we’re considering what it means to “trust in the Lord,” there’s no better example than that of Jesus Christ.
In everything that Jesus did and taught, he became the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).
He walked out our verse in how he lived:
For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
Jesus understood that he was sent as the Father’s messenger with a very specific purpose.
He did not try to make up his own success. He obeyed God in every moment.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
When our verse speaks about “he will make straight your paths,” it’s tempting to think this means that all our plans will work out.
But the person who truly trusts God will have a different desire: to align their path with God’s.
To make straight paths means that, as we trust, obey, and acknowledge the Lord, he directs our lives away from sinful and foolish ways and leads us in the right path according to his wisdom and purposes.
And so, to trust in the Lord is to say:
“God’s plan is better and more glorious than anything I can think up for my own life. And I pray that my paths will be whatever he has for me…”
It’s a posture of humility — God is God and I am not.
It’s similar to the posture of a child trusting their parent even when their instructions contradict what the child wants.
In the upside-down way that God’s Kingdom works, the lowly are exalted.
The passage above goes on to say:
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus died on the cross for sinners (us) and rose again so that everyone who turns from sin and trusts in him can be forgiven, brought back to God, and given eternal life.
Trust requires the recipient to be worthy of trust.
And in Jesus, God proved himself infinitely worthy of our trust.
APPLY AND RESPOND 🏃♂
The trust our verse speaks about was made tangible in the person and the passion of Jesus Christ.
🤔 Reflect
How did Jesus embody what it means to trust God?
🏃♂ Act
Identify 1 person who needs to be encouraged today that despite the hard circumstances they are facing, God is worthy of trust. Share this verse with them or forward this email.
🙏 Pray
Father, thank you for sending your son to save us. In him, you gave me the perfect example of what it means to trust you. I praise you for the finished work of the cross allowing me to live near you today and forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT 🔦
We would love to hear how God is moving in your life!
Simply fill out this 30-second survey and tell us what you've seen God do!
I have a hard time articulating things, but when I open this email, my heart just swelled up. I feel like I can't get close enough to Jesus. Thank you!
- An anonymous reader
He is giving me a deeper and broader understanding of who He really is and helping me to truly fall in love with Him. I have now learned, and am still learning, what it truly means to trust God's process and not my own.
- Patricia, Ft. Worth, TX
COFFEE CORNER ☕
Shout out to Kelsey for sipping the Malachi Daily blend, spending time in the Word and lifting a child out of poverty in Jesus’ name!
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SHOUT-OUTS 📣
HUGE thank you to Monica, Rebecca, Robert, Myrna, Tuesday, Deborah, Sarah and everyone else who chose to pay-it-forward to support our work and help us keep operating!
Your support allows us to keep Malachi Daily free and accessible to everyone!
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ANSWER KEY ✅
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
If you missed our emails from earlier this week, you can read them here:
See you tomorrow as we recap the week and send you into the weekend!
Best,
The Malachi Daily team 🙏
Today’s Contributors
Eljoh is a South African writer, editor, and artist with a Master’s in Practical Theology. She creates resources to help believers of all ages abide in Christ and grow in faith. Explore more free resources and creative tools at Vine Creative Studio.
Kieran is a husband and father living in NJ. In addition to Malachi Daily, he writes a personal newsletter about the intersection of faith, fatherhood and entrepreneurship.
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Want to go even deeper with memorizing Scripture and learning its context?
Our iPhone app, Within allows you to:
Memorize 1 verse every single week and learn its context through daily devotionals you can read (or listen to)
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Store all of your previously memorized verses in one place (and review them regularly with interactive games)
And much more!
What are the differences between Within and Malachi Daily?
Malachi Daily 📧 | Within 📱 | |
|---|---|---|
Type of tool | Email newsletter | iOS mobile app |
Cost | Free | 7-day free trial, then $5.99/mo or $49.99/year |
# of verses | 4 verses per month as a community | 4 verses per month as a community + unlimited for any verse you want |
Who chooses the verse | We choose | We choose AND you can memorize any verse you want, anytime |
Bible translation(s) | ESV | ESV, NIV, NLT, KJV, and NASB |
Reviewing previously memorized verses | You do this on your own | Use the built-in memory bank |
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