Sweating by Grace: Resting in God’s Work As We Do Our Work

Heavenward. Read the latest from Scotty Smith's blog.

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Sweating by Grace: Resting in God's Work As We Do Our Work SCOTTY SMITH    "God works in you to desire his will and work for his good pleasure." (pp Phil. 2:13). " The Lord   will  fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever" (Ps.138:8). " With confidence I affirm, Abba will complete the good work he began in you, and that he is always at work in all things for your good" (pp Phil.1:6, Rom.8:28).    Heavenly Father, what peace these affirmations from your Word bring us. You are at work all the time—in us, around us, above us, behind us, and through us—when we see it and when we don't, when we're wide awake and when we're deep asleep.    This doesn't make us passive; it makes us yours. Hallelujah, we can worry less and worship more. We can fear failure less and love grace more. We can do our work from your love, not for your love. We can rest in Jesus' finished work for us and in your ongoing work everywhere else. This changes everything, Abba.    May 2026 be a year in which we learn to say with the Apostle Paul: " By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them— yet not I , but God was working by his grace through me." (1Cor.15:10).    Confident you will accomplish your purpose in us and for us, and being certain of your steadfast, unwavering, lavish, "we-can-never-earn-or-lose-it" love—we want to spend the rest of our days living and loving, working and serving your glory. Breaking a sweat by grace is 10,000 times better than sweating with pride, doubt, guilt, and fear. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

Registration Closes Soon for the 'Recovering the Heart of Spiritual Formation' Cohort

Want to Grow More Mature in Christ? This Cohort Is For You

View in browser REGISTRATION CLOSES JANUARY 21 Every Christian longs for transformation and wholeness, but if our spiritual efforts don't come from a deep understanding of our union in Christ, the only thing we'll grow in is frustratration—not in our flourishing or intimacy with him.    In this new cohort, we'll explore formation as God designed it: rooted in Scripture, grounded in the historic practices of the church, and aimed at genuine transformation.    Each session combines teaching, reflection, and practical direction, helping you see how spiritual formation connects to the gospel itself and our life with Christ.  REGISTER NOW YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN The Gospel Coalition, PO Box #1637, Columbia, MO, 65205 Take control of your inbox Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

When Can We Rely on God’s Love for Us?

Heavenward. Read the latest from Scotty Smith's blog.

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH When Can We Rely on God's Love for Us? SCOTTY SMITH " We know and we rely on the love God has for us. God is love" 1 John 4:16    Heavenly Father, it's impossible to exaggerate how much I cherish this verse. It's one of a handful of Scriptures my spiritual father, Jack Miller, was always quoting. "Nothing is more certain, nothing is more reliable, nothing is more yours than your Father's love."—I can still hear Jack saying.    "Is it reliable?"—that's a question we ask when choosing a car, an insurance company, a roofer—and especially a parachute. Trustworthiness is an essential category in life—and nowhere more so than in our relationship with you and your love.    So, thank you for emphatically affirming the knowability and reliability of your love for us. You know we need your love more than we realize—more than we oxygen, blood, and water. So in what areas of life can we rely on your love?    For our salvation: Thank you for spending the currency of your love on the bankruptcy of our sin and deadness. We are saved 100% by your grace.    In our weakness and brokenness: You don't love us more when we are "awesome" and less when we are a mess. You give us daily mercies because we need them . Thank you Abba.    In our difficult and messy relationships: We can rely on your love when we'd rather call down fire than grace; when we're more lonely married than we were single; when there's more tension than tenderness; when we've blown it with people we love; and when the call to forgive is 10 times greater than our will to forgive—to name a few.    As we face dying and death: You will hold us fast all the way Home. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

Fresh Encouragement, Grace, Comfort, and Peace

Heavenward. Read the latest from Scotty Smith's blog.

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Fresh Encouragement, Grace, Comfort, and Peace SCOTTY SMITH  " May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father—who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace—may the whole Trinity comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word" . (pp 2Thess.2:16-17).  Indeed, " may the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. And as the Lord of peace, may Jesus give you his peace at all times in every situation"  (2Thess.3:5,16: Jn.14:27)    Heavenly Father—with our palms turned upward in praise and surrender; we receive these words of encouragement and grace as this day begins. Thank you for anticipating every challenge before us today, for knowing every fear dancing around in our hearts, and for staying faithfully committed to bless, care, and nourish and flourish us.    As Paul prayed in the passages above, we ask you to direct our hearts into more of your without-parallel love, and into the inexhaustible perseverance of Jesus. If our hearts could be like an auto-driving Tesla, set the GPS and navigate our whole being into the depths of your affection you have lavished on us in Jesus. Dazzle and delight us.    Take us from our theoretical, partial, and waning experience of your love into what Paul referred to as being "compelled by the love of Christ" (2Cor.5:14). Make the love of Jesus become the most compelling reality in our lives.    That will free us to trust in Jesus' perseverance when our resolve is weak, our resources are spent, and our weariness is growing. It's Jesus' grip, not ours, that matters most. It's his faithfulness, not ours, that will not only get us Home but also get us through our current "hard stuff."    Lastly, Father, you know the specific hurts and heartaches for which we need your fresh comfort, and the particular crisis and crucibles for which we need a fresh baptism in the peace of Jesus. Thank you, "Hallelujah!", and So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

Paul’s Certainty, Abba’s Generosity/Tenacity, Our Serenity

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Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Paul's Certainty, Abba's Generosity/Tenacity, Our Serenity SCOTTY SMITH    "I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." Phil. 1:6    Gracious Father, our salvation is a work we didn't begin, and you alone can finish. It's impossible to morally reformed our way out of sin or religiously earn our way into your love. From beginning to end—our salvation is 100% by your grace for your glory. We bring desperation to "the table," but you bring Jesus' resurrection and righteousness. Hallelujah, and thank you. Because of your generosity and tenacity, one Day we will be as loving and as lovely as Jesus—as hard as that is for us to fathom. This is gives us a serenity we can't get anywhere else.    But on this January, Wednesday, early 2026, I am equally grateful for your commitment to finish the "good work" you began throughout creation. One Day everything … everywhere … all the time is going to be filled with your glory, beauty, goodness, and perfection. The entire cosmos, as Paul wrote in Romans 8, is "in the labors pains of childbirth"—awaiting the Day it will be "liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God" (Rom.8:18-22).    This means, among other things, that there is an expiration date on all political madness, avarice, and arrogance. You laugh while earth's kings plot, conspire, and pretend like you don't exist (Psalm 2). Help us hear your laugh, Father. It will keep us sane as we await the Day for Jesus' Kingdom to come in fullness.    Speaking of expiration dates—death itself is going to die (1Cor.15:26). Many of us attended too many funerals in 2025, and already some in 2026. The "good work" you will finish also means no more human or drug trafficking; no more exploitation and abuse; no more trauma triggers or trauma itself; no more cancer cells, brain disorders, or heart disease. Father, I SO needed to be reminded of all of this today. Thank you, and So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

How to Conflict As though the Battle Really Does Belongs to Jesus

Heavenward. Read the latest from Scotty Smith's blog.

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH How to Conflict As though the Battle Really Does Belongs to Jesus SCOTTY SMITH    " Your victory isn't going to come through trusting in your swords and spears. For the battle is the Lord's. He will take care of the enemy. Trust him." (1Sam.17:47)    This is what the Lord says to you: "Don't be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle isn't yours , the battle belongs to God." (2Chron.20:15)    Lord Jesus, we know that disagreements, conflicts, and battles are inevitable in life; but conflicting well is a choice requiring the resources of heaven. Whether it's a broken story between friends or spouses, a division in the workplace or worship space, rising political discord or an all-out assault of evil—you " claim ownership."    Fear, panic, and self-deliverance aren't the order of the day; faith, trust, and worship are the order of every day. What does "conflicting well" look like? First and foremost, it means that our commitment to honor you is greater than our commitment to self-interest and self-glory. Rather than taking everything so personally, help us take everything more readily to you, Jesus—pouring out our hearts, loving you, trusting you with the outcome    When family matters, work dynamics—even "ministry life" get tense, disconcerting, relationship bruising and breaking—keep bringing us back to the Gospel expressing itself in wisdom (James 1:5), "faith expressing itself in love" (Gal.5:6) and trust expressing itself in waiting (Isa.40:31). We can't always makes things better; but we can easily make things a lot worse.     Jesus may our conscience and heart be so possessed by the Gospel we will always fear dishonoring you more than we fear losing face, advantage, or prestige. We'll only regret taking things into our own hands; we will never regret leaving them in yours—never. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.