Burning Hearts with Rachel Herbeck

We begin to go through Ephesians 4 in which Paul is inviting us to live a life worthy of the calling we receive through our baptism. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us lead a worthy life.

Today, we ask the Holy Spirit to help us grow in confidence in God. We hear from Peter that this confidence we have in God comes from Jesus’ death on the cross for us.

Scripture teaches us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. As we submit more and more under the Lordship of Jesus, Peter invites us to walk in a holy fear.

A key portion of the spiritual life that we often skip over is the necessity of submission and obedience in our discipleship to Jesus. He desires that we come under his submission as Lordship and walk in obedience with Him.

We are called to have a mindset that is spiritually ready. For Peter, this includes setting your mind and heart on the hope we have in Jesus Christ instead of on the things of this world.

This week, we dive into 1 Peter 1 and read Peter’s encouragement to be alert and fully sober. We ask the Holy Spirit to renew our minds so that we can live with a mindset that is spiritually focused.

Jesus tells us today that whoever wishes to serve Him must follow Him. This is ultimately an invitation to the cross, but a cross that produces resurrection. So, we ask for the grace to receive the cross of Christ.

Today, we discuss how the saints displayed a radical detachment to their lives. This allowed them to surrender fully to Jesus, which is the essence of greatness and glory.

Jesus’ death frees us from sin and grants us eternal life. He invites all of his followers into that death so that we may bear fruit as well.

What does greatness look like? Jesus reveals to us that the Father is going to show the world his glory through the death of his Son on the cross, and we discuss how glory comes through suffering.

This week, we dive into John 12 and immediately see Jesus communicating to his disciples that his hour has come. We discuss how Jesus in his humility even submitted to the plan and timing of his Father.

In today’s episode, John is very clear that if we deny sin we make God a liar. So often in our culture there is a denial of the reality of sin. We need to repent of our sins and receive God’s mercy in order to walk in the light.

Today, John tells us that Jesus didn’t just come to walk along side us, but He came as the Light of the world to enlighten our hearts. We ask for the grace to respond to the invitation to let that Light shine in us.

As we receive the Word of Life, John tells us that we are invited into the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is fellowship with other believers and fellowship with the Triune God Himself.

John shows us how he communicates about Jesus to others: He sees what Jesus has done, testifies to what He has done, and proclaims who Jesus is for all to see and hear.

This week, we dive into 1 John 1 and examine how John refers to Jesus as not just the Word, but the Word of Life. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us see that the Word made flesh is truly the source of our lives.

As we wrap up this week, we see that Scripture truly is our guide to walking in righteousness. In our own journeys, we cling to Jesus through his Word as we learn to walk in obedience to his commands.

In the face of persecution, Paul teaches Timothy how to stay the course. We are encouraged in our own lives to stand firm on what we have learned and who we have learned it from.

Paul gives an intense word for us today as we read, essentially sharing that if we follow God, we will be persecuted. We discuss: what should we expect as believers and how do we handle persecution?

Part of Paul’s encouragement to Timothy is to remind him of what he has seen as he lived life with Paul. As we see how Paul shared his life with Timothy, we ask the Holy Spirit to show us how we can walk with people and really share our lives with others.

This week, we dive into Paul’s second letter to Timothy, his spiritual son. We see how Paul encourages Timothy from prison in his own leadership of the Church of Ephesus.

What will our response be when the Bridegroom returns? Today, we see how we can live our lives in a way that, when we hear the heralding of the Bridegroom, we respond with joy and not dread.

The main difference between the wise and foolish virgins was oil in their lamps. Today, we discuss how to keep oil in our lamps so that we may be ready for the marriage feast.

Today, we discuss the need to remind ourselves over and over again the truth that Jesus is looking for a Bride. We meditate on the amazing reality that God the Father has prepared his Church as an eternal companion for his Son, Jesus.

As we continue through Matthew 25, we examine the Jewish wedding custom so that we may further understand the steps Jesus has taken to bring us home to his Father.

This week, we begin to examine the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. Jesus begins by telling us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a Bridegroom who is coming for his Bride. This draws us into the beautiful reality of how Jesus desires to be in relationship with us.

Our true transformation comes from our minds being renewed in Christ. Today, we discuss how we can submit our minds truly to this renewal so that we may look like Christ and share in his glory.

In Christ, we have a new nature through our Baptism, but we are tempted to still live in our old nature that is corrupt and deceitful. Today, we explore how to fight the battle between our two natures.

The devil often uses the tool of discouragement to get us to fall back into futile ways of living. We see today in the psalms that a tool to overcome discouragement is to worship and praise the Lord in all circumstances.

As we continue to discuss this idea of futile thinking, we see often how we are tempted to fall back into our old patterns of life. We see how sin darkens our mind and we ask for the grace to resist temptations so that our minds may be enlightened by Christ.

This week, we take up a section in Ephesians 4 where Paul discusses and describes the reality of the futile minds of those who don’t know Christ. We ask the Lord to deliver us from futile ways of thinking.

We need to take an active role in transforming our minds as we continue to walk in our new life in Christ. Paul calls us to think on a certain set of virtues that will help us renew our minds to think on the things of God.

God promises to give us peace that surpasses all human understanding. When we are dependent on the Lord and give Him our anxieties, his peace acts as a guard to our hearts and our minds.

In today’s passage, Paul commands us further to have no anxiety about anything! He then gives us a way to pray that helps us give all of our anxieties over to the Lord so that we may walk in freedom. 

Paul gives us the command to rejoice in the Lord always. Today, we learn how to practically rejoice in Him, not in our circumstances or in our own successes. Through our rejoicing, we give witness to others that the Lord is coming again.

Today, we begin Philippians 4 and build off of the amazing reality that Paul reveals to us: that we are citizens of Heaven. It is from that security and truth that we rejoice in the Lord even when it is hard.

Galatians 2:20 invites us to be crucified with Christ. What does that mean and how is that expressed in our lives?

What does it mean to live by the Spirit and to walk by the Spirit? What differences can we expect in our lives when we do?

The fruits of the Spirit need to be grown and experienced by those around us. What are three fruits in particular needed in the Church today?

In Galatians, St. Paul makes a distinction between the flesh and the Spirit. What are three desires of the flesh particularly prevalent in today’s society?

Let’s look at the book of Galatians this week and see what St. Paul has to teach us about the Holy Spirit, freedom, and faith.

Paul teaches us today that we must continue to press on toward the goal of Heaven and being with Jesus face to face. We learn from him that mature disciples actually desire to press into the sufferings of Christ so that they may learn to live in the power of the resurrection.

Today, we see Paul laying out for us his central desire in following Christ: to know Him, live in the power of his resurrection, share in his sufferings, and become like Him through his death. This is a challenging word, and we ask for the grace to desire to share in Christ’s sufferings so that we may obtain the resurrection from the dead.

Today, we discuss the amazing truth that through our baptism, we are found in Christ. Not only do we belong to Him, but we are made a part of His body, so He is in us and we are in Him.

Paul continues to expound on the surpassing worth of Jesus. As we continue in Philippians 3, we reflect on the reality that the only thing of true worth and value is to gain Christ.

We begin this week by diving into Philippians 3, where Paul expresses to us that Jesus Christ is the only thing that will satisfy us. We ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit to see Jesus as worth giving everything up for.

Peter shows us that God is purifying us by fire, not to harm us, but so we may look like Jesus. Because of this, we can learn how to rejoice at all times and in all things – waiting for the living hope we will inherit when Christ is revealed.

Through Jesus Christ, we have an amazing inheritance waiting for us in Heaven. This inheritance will be the full participation in the very glory of the only Son of God. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to live in this reality today.

Peter encourages us in the reality that we are born into a living hope – a hope for eternal life that has energy, life, and stands as the source of our salvation and holiness. Today, we examine how to live in that hope.

Today, we continue to hear from Peter about our identity. We are not only sanctified by the Spirit, but we are sanctified for obedience to Christ. In light of this, we examine our own lives so that we may walk in total obedience to Christ.