by Jen | Aug 19, 2025 | 11-32, DISO studies, Luke 15
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Welcome back! Here’s how I felt the Holy Spirit leading me in Steps 1 and 2 this past week:
Last Week’s Work
MY PRAYER
Keeping in mind the model we learned about in our last study, I crafted this:
Father God, You are the highest and best Father of all, and I believe the father in this passage from Luke is patterned after You. Thank You for welcoming us into Your Word. Open our eyes, minds, and hearts to Your Holy Spirit’s leadership, and bless our efforts to see, understand, and apply this text in our lives. I ask this in Jesus’s mighty name. Amen!
HUH? and WOW! MOMENTS
These are my questions and discoveries from surveying the passage:
HUH?s
- Who is the he who tells this story (v11)? To whom? I’m pretty sure Jesus is the storyteller, but I want to remember to verify that and learn about his audience in Step 4.
- The footnote to v15 says, hired himself out to could also mean joined himself to. What are the implications of a Jewish man joining himself to someone from another country?
- How could the father recognize the prodigal son while he was still a long way off (v20)? Maybe because he (the father) was looking hard for him (the son), thinking (hoping?) he’d come back?
- The father describes the son as dead and lost but then that he lives and was found twice (vv24, 32). What might he mean?
WOW!s
- This time, the Holy Spirit directly pointed out it was the man’s younger son (v12) who wanted his inheritance early. I never really noticed that before.
- I think pigs were considered unclean by first century Jews— this son must have been desperately hungry to work with them (vv15-16)!
- At least the son was humbled enough that he didn’t expect his dad to welcome him back as a son (v19).
- And to his credit, he didn’t take advantage of his dad’s joy; he stuck to the terms he’d decided for himself before going home (v21).
- Related to my first wow! above: the father’s reaction is a surprise to me. Didn’t he realize his reaction might (and, in fact, did) alienate the older, loyal son (vv22-24)?
Dig-In Challenges
If you’re studying this passage with me, listen to the Spirit’s guidance this week and choose one of your (or my) Huh? or Wow! topics to dig into more deeply. Going forward, I’ll refer to this as your personal treasure. It can be something you noticed in your study, one of the items I’ve listed above, or anything else the Holy Spirit laid upon your heart about this passage. As the study progresses, we’ll consider everything in the study text but gradually narrow our focus to the verse(s) that prompted that Huh? or Wow! reaction you’ve decided to study.
- PRAY for the Spirit to direct your focus for the remainder of this study. In your journal, record the personal treasure He identifies, along with any verse(s) relating to it from the study text.
- MINE: Read Luke 15:11-32, focusing on the three factors setting the stage for this story. Note anything the Spirit emphasizes about the characters involved, any locations mentioned, and any timeframes discussed.
I hope you’ll check in with me next week!
GO TO WEEK 3 >
by Jen | Aug 12, 2025 | 11-32, DISO studies, Introduction, Luke 15
Thank you for joining me in this eight-week study of the prodigal parable!
This is another of the Restoration studies I’ve previously done online. I’m repeating them because the original studies were lost when a previous website host took down my site a few years ago. I could just repost those earlier versions, but most of them were completed as the Spirit worked with me to fine-tune the DISO study method, so the framework I used then doesn’t match the current five-step approach. We’re not missing anything (in fact, it’s more robust now than it ever was!), but based on feedback I’ve received, it’s easier to work through now—and that’s a good thing, right?!
Let’s Study Luke 15:11-32!
This week, I’ll begin by praying and surveying Luke 15:11-32. If you want to study on your own with me, here’s what I recommend you have ready:
- A copy of Luke 15:11-32, plus access to the entire Gospel of Luke.
I like to refer often to the text I’m studying and sometimes make notes on it, so I copy the passage from blueletterbible.org, paste it into a word processing program like Google docs or MS Word, change the formatting to suit my preferences, and print it out. If you want to use the ESV translation, here’s a pdf of my Scripture study sheet with lots of room for doodles and notes.
- A study journal.
We’ll spend the next seven weeks immersed in and learning about Luke 15:11-32. And the work we’ll do each week builds on what came before, so plan to record at least some highlights from your work over the coming weeks. I’m old-school and like the pen-and-paper method for journaling my studies, but it’s okay if that doesn’t work for you. If you don’t have time to write out or type your notes, consider dictating them into a notes app, or recording audio files, instead.
Or, you may decide to just read the posts I publish here. That’s good, too, because you’ll become familiar with the process and see how the Spirit speaks to my situation. You may find that’s enough to make it worth your while to keep checking in with me, even if you can’t dig into Luke 15:11-32 yourself this time.
Dig-In Challenges
So, here’s how I’ll be studying this week:
- PRAY: I’ll be creating a prayer with which I’ll start each of my weekly study sessions. If you’ve studied with me before, you know I usually just adapt a previous prayer. Though I’ve almost memorized the bones of my prayer, I still write it in my study journal to remind me to pray it each time I open the notebook.
- SURVEY: Then I’ll read Luke 15:11-32, noting anything that makes me say, “huh?” (as in, “I wonder what that means?”) or “wow” (as in, “that is so awesome!”). I’ll record these and later ask the Spirit to direct me to the one I should dig deepest into right now.
If you’d like more information about these steps, check out this printable summary of the process I’ll be using over the next eight weeks. Or, you can always reach out to me with your questions through my contact page or at [email protected].
I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover in this process with you, along with relevant snippets of my previous Lord’s Prayer study from 2020, so I hope you’ll keep checking in with me each week!
GO TO WEEK 2 >
by Jen | Aug 5, 2025 | 5-15, DISO studies, Matthew 6
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Thanks for checking in for the final post for our 2025 Matthew 6:5-15 study!
Last Week’s Work
LESSON(S) LEARNED
I reviewed my notes from the last six weeks and came away with this: while temptation and trials are inevitable and part of God’s plan to grow my faith, I’m not expected to battle them alone. He commands me to ask for His help! From other studies I’ve done, I can see it’s part of a bigger strategy that also includes renewing my mind and wielding the sword of the Spirit like Jesus did. I’m so grateful for this model prayer!.
CONVICTION
Here, the Spirit asked me to consider how I am succumbing to temptation when I should be following Jesus’s commands and moving forward anyway, all the while relying on Him to supply the discipline to not give up. This week, I felt convicted about the book (yes, the same one I’ve talked about for years now!). I finished a full-length rewrite earlier this year but quietly laid it aside (again!). I believe the Spirit is now prompting me to make certain changes to the format and get it ready for release soon.
CORRECTION
Though it might seem a stretch, the passage from this study that corrects me is v6: But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. In context, Jesus was counseling us not to practice our faith in ways that show off how pious we are. I think that’s because, by doing so, we negate the praise that God alone deserves (v9), heaping it on ourselves and tainting our Christian witness.
This week, though, the Spirit helped me recognize a related manipulation the evil one has used to quash my mission to help women go deep into God’s Word with DISO. It’s self-doubt that surfaces each time I resolve in my own strength to publish a book about this process. In my mind I hear him whisper, it’s not ready! What will people think of you, Jen, if you publish a book that isn’t perfect? Everyone will know you’re not qualified to share this. It’s better not to risk it.
But God’s Word says when I pray, He will reward me. And He has!
ACTION PLAN
This morning before I finished this post, I laced up my walking shoes and started listening to one of my favorite podcasts (Your Best Writing Life with Linda Goldfarb). The episode featured a publication format I didn’t know about: short-form e-books. As I listened, I began to consider different ways to get my project started again. Then I realized, as Matthew 6:8 says, God knew what I needed before I even asked Him! Thank You, Father! This time, my plan is to stay alert to the evil one’s temptation to abandon the book project. When (not if!) I hear those doubts in my mind, I plan to ask God to help me ignore the whispers and lies and listen for help determining the next step to take. With God, all things are possible to [her] who believes (Matthew 19:26, Mark 9:23)!
Our Next Study
Join me next week as I kick off the fifth study in my Restoration series featuring Luke 15:11-32, the parable of the Prodigal Son. Hope to share more with you then!
by Jen | Jul 29, 2025 | 5-15, DISO studies, Matthew 6
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Welcome back! I hope you’ve had a chance to dig a little deeper into this passage this week. Here’s what the Spirit has revealed to me from my studies:
Last Week’s Work
CROSS-REFERENCES
I was surprised at the number of cross-references available for the phrase, “lead us not into temptation!” As I reviewed them, I noticed:
- God allows us to be tested throughout the Bible.
From the beginning, when the serpent conned Eve into eating forbidden fruit (Genesis 3).
God tested Abraham, asking him to offer Isaac, his only son, as a sacrifice in Moriah (Genesis 22:1-2). Abraham and Sarah waited decades for Isaac, the child of the promise (Genesis 17:19), so the temptation to fail that test had to have been indescribable! Yet Abraham’s statement to Isaac reveals temptation-resistant faith: God will provide for himself the lamb… (Genesis 22:8).
And God also tested the Israelites similarly in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2, 8:16).
God used a trial (a thorn… in the flesh) to keep Paul humble (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
- Prayer is a God-approved strategy against temptation.
In addition to Jesus’s recommendation here in His model prayer (Matthew 6:13), we also see three times when He coached Peter, James, and John to pray that [they would] not enter into temptation. Three times they snoozed instead (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42). I wondered if that lack of prayer later contributed to Peter’s succumbing three times to the temptation to deny Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75).
- God won’t allow Christians to be tempted beyond their ability, there will be a way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13).
- God knows how to rescue the godly from trials (2 Peter 2:9). He can relieve any trial, but as indicated above, He may choose to use it to grow us, instead.
OTHER TRANSLATIONS
When I used biblehub.com to access multiple translations of Matthew 6:13, the New Living Translation (not one of my regular checks) caught my eye:
And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
This is different! While the other Bibles ask to not be led or brought to temptation, trial, or test, NLT seems to accept it’s going to happen (as my cross-references surely indicated!) and asks instead to be strengthened against its pull away from God.
COMMENTARY
I compared my thoughts about the work I’ve done in this study with eight commentaries on v13 and didn’t find any areas of disagreement. That said, I really liked J.W. McCarvey’s perspective on three parts of the overall prayer (vv9-13) I discovered in The Old & New Testament Restoration Commentary:
- Invocation (where previous prayers often addressed God as Lord), Jesus, Son of God, introduced the concept of addressing him as Our Father);
- Three petitions about our relationship with God (honoring His name, bringing His kingdom on earth, and doing His will); and
- Three Petitions about our needs (provision of daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and avoidance of temptation).
Dig-In Challenges
This coming week, let’s wrap up our study of Matthew 6:5-15 and align with what we’ve discovered in this passage:
- PRAY: Read the prayer created in Step 1.
- ALIGN: Review our study notes and other work, focusing specifically on what we’ve learned in this study.
- ALIGN: Then, considering those “lessons learned,” think about how the Spirit has convicted us through this study. In other words, where has He shown us misalignment between what we’ve discovered and how we practice our faith?
- ALIGN: Next, let’s look to God’s Word for guidance to correct that misalignment. This is often—but not always—a verse from the study text or from one of the cross-references.
- ALIGN: And finally, reflect on how we can change our thoughts or actions to align more closely with what we’ve discovered here. To really make this work, I’m committing to changing something and do my best to act on that commitment every day for at least three weeks.
That may seem like a lot to consider in one week. If you’re working with the Spirit, remember it’s okay to work at your own pace. Don’t worry about where you are—just do what you can when you can. I know the Lord will bless any time you spend in His Word!
GO TO WEEK 8 >
by Jen | Jul 22, 2025 | 5-15, DISO studies, Matthew 6
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Hi! As usual, this week generated a lot of notes. Remember, you can always use email or my contact form if you have any questions about my work in this or any other post.
Last Week’s Work
WRITING TYPES
From my survey, the predominant writing type in Matthew is narrative: it’s the story of Jesus Christ’s ministry on earth. For our study text, I also found a lot of instruction. That’s because Jesus used commands, outlined proper prayer procedure, and drew comparisons for his audience. All of these are effective teaching techniques used in instructional design. I also think the literal context and interlinear research backs this up as well.
LITERAL CONTEXT
Matthew 6:5-15 is taken from text commonly recognized as The Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7), during which Jesus taught his disciples (5:1-2). In the opening verses of chapter 6, I noticed He introduced his topic in v1 (righteousness), then used parallel phrases to outline three aspects of that practice: … when you give… (vv2-4), … when you pray… (vv5-13), and … when you fast… (vv16-18). This is another instructional technique that helps learners remember important information.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
According to the ESV Global Study Bible, this book was written between AD 55 and 65 by Matthew (also known as Levi), a disciple and former tax collector. It’s likely he wrote this directly for members of the early Christian church in Antioch of Syria. According to Bibleatlas.org, this Antioch (not to be confused with the Pisidian Antioch mentioned in Acts 13-14), was a large city, home to Jews and Gentiles, and one of the first places Christianity was established outside Palestine.
The purpose of Matthew’s gospel was to show his audience (Jewish and Gentile) Jesus was the awaited Messiah and to encourage them in this new and different belief system.
Based on all this information, I believe our study text should be interpreted literally.
INTERLINEAR RESEARCH
In my focus verse (6:13), the Spirit directed me to research the key English words lead and temptation:
- Lead (G1533 eisenenkēs). This word appears just two times in the whole Bible: both in recitations of this prayer Jesus taught His followers (Matthew 6:13 and Luke 11:4). Derivatives of G1533 appear six more times, though; and those instances are consistently translated to bring in English. A very different action!
In my struggle to make sense of this, the Spirit reminded me of similar English phrasing found in Matthew 4:1, where Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness for one specific purpose: to be tempted by the devil! Matthew didn’t use the same verb for led there (it’s G321, anēchthē, which, interestingly, is also sometimes translated brought!), but I’m planning to revisit this as a cross-reference anyway since the phrasing is so close.
- Temptation (G3986 peirasmon). This refers to an experiment or test by which something—like a theory or a trait—is proven or developed. I wonder if Jesus was instructing His disciples to ask God to be excused from trials they might not successfully complete-? I don’t yet know. I’m looking forward to getting more clarity next week.
One final note: I commented a couple weeks ago on Jesus’s use of different terms to describe what petitioners should ask God to forgive ( our debts, v12), and what He said petitioners themselves must forgive (the trespasses of others, vv14-15) to gain personal absolution. This week, I reviewed those two Greek words and found:
- Debts (G3783 opheilēmata). In v12, this is used to denote something owed; an after effect of an obligation. That made me think about our study of Genesis 3 and how God could have killed Adam and Eve immediately when they ate the fruit, but He didn’t. Instead, the debt of disobedience carried forward, until Jesus’s death paid it in full for all who believe in Him.
- In vv14-15, Matthew used paraptōmata (G3900), meaning unintentional error or willful transgression. That seems to cover about anything someone could do to need forgiveness, doesn’t it? It also helps me see the difference: we ask God to forgive us when we willfully disobey (as Adam and Eve did) only to the extent that we forgive others’ mistreatment, whether they did it on purpose or not. Not easy!
Dig-In Challenges
This week, let’s wrap up the second half of the Refine step by examining cross-references and other translations.
- Don’t forget to begin with your prayer from Step 1.
- REFINE: Then consult a concordance or online cross-reference study tool (I’ll be starting at this blb.org page) to find and read through the available cross-references for the verses you’re most interested in and log what the Spirit shows you.
NOTE: if you’re interested in other verses, follow the above link, then scroll to the verse you want to study, click the TOOLS button on the left side, and choose Cross-Refs from the menu.
- REFINE: Finally, compare at least a few other translations of your study verses and write about what you find in your study journal. I’ll be comparing ESV, AMP, NIV, and GNT using this biblehub.com page. You can compare your own verses from that link by entering them in the Enter Reference or Keyword box at the top of the page and clicking the spyglass icon there.
I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover with you next week. I hope you’ll join me then!
GO TO WEEK 7 >
by Jen | Jul 15, 2025 | 5-15, DISO studies, Matthew 6
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Welcome back!
Last Week’s Work
COMPARISONS
Here’s how the Spirit guided me as I looked for comparisons:
- Jesus did not want his audience to pray as the hypocrites did—in public so people would see them. This type of prayer gains nothing but public attention (v5).
- Nor did He want them to pray as the Gentiles did—repeating empty phrases and many words (vv7-8). God doesn’t need ritual or long explanations—He already knows what we need (vv7-8).
- Instead, He instructed them to pray privately (v6), and he gave them a model for prayer: “pray then, like this” (v9). Here, I felt the Spirit prompt me to view like as meaning “similar to,” not “the same as.” In other words, I believe rather than instructing His followers to say those exact words, He wanted them to use this model: begin by addressing God as Father above all fathers and give Him the glory. Next, align their priorities with His: that His kingdom be established and His will be done on earth as in heaven (see v10 discussion, below). Then, finally, ask for what we need: provision, forgiveness, protection from evil.
- Next, I sensed an important distinction between petitioning God for what we want versus what we need in vv5-13. The only wants discussed are in the negative examples (the hypocrites’ desire to be seen by others, and the Gentiles’ use of lengthy appeals to get their way). But three needs are mentioned specifically: daily bread (v11), forgiveness (v12), and help fighting temptation/ evil (v13). I don’t think this means Jesus counseled against asking God for wants, though.
- In v10, His followers are instructed to ask that God’s will be worked out on earth the same way it is in heaven. At first, I worried how I’d know if I were doing that right; but then I realized the obligation isn’t to make God’s will happen our way, but to agree that’s the goal, and support it’s achievement His way.
- In v12, we ask that God forgive us only to extent we extend the same grace. As I read that, I realized the scales are already skewed: God has already forgiven me so much more than anyone has ever owed me! Even so, v15 makes it pretty clear if I’m not forgiving others everything, there’s really no point in asking God to forgive that for me!
Finally, though the word but often indicates contradiction, I don’t think its use in v13 does. Rather, I think it’s there as repetition: to emphasize the importance of our request that God protect us from temptation and other forms of evil.
CAUSES/MOTIVATIONS
I didn’t find any cause connectors in my focus verse (Matthew 6:13). I did notice two in verse 5, though: “… you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others (emphasis mine).”
In other words, Don’t be like the hypocrites because they love to stand and pray in [public places], [so] that others can see them. Their motivation for praying wasn’t to be heard by God, but to impress others.
In vv7-8, for appears three times as a connector, signaling two reasons Jesus’s followers should not imitate the Gentiles’ example: … for [because] they think they will be heard for [because of] their many words, and … for [because] your Father [already] knows what you need… Finally, in the last four verses of the study passage, I saw Jesus had a single reason for instructing His audience to pray for forgiveness and help against temptation and evil. It was … “for [because there’s a condition to forgiveness, which is:] if you forgive others, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will [you be forgiven]!
CONDITIONS/METHODS
Isn’t that last revelation of cause also an amazing segue into our conditions/methods discussion? God is so good like that! Though, again, I observe that God has already forgiven me so much more than I’ve ever even had a chance to forgive in others. How to reconcile this? I think it’s simply a matter that God’s love for us is so great, He can forgive even when we are not worthy of that forgiveness. All the more reason to give Him glory! Finally, in v13, it seems to me the prayer is about keeping the requestor from tempting and/or evil conditions. I’m looking forward to digging more deeply into this verse and really understanding what is meant there, since nothing I’ve uncovered so far clarifies what Jesus meant. I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that God would “lead us into” clearly bad things!
Dig-In Challenges
This week, I’ll start refining my understanding of this passage:
- PRAY. Of course!
- REFINE by skimming the book of Matthew to determine which of the following types of writing appears most often in it: instruction, law, letter, narrative, poetry, or prophecy. Then reread Matthew 6:5-15 to see what (if any) other types are in use. Note all the types you find on your Scripture study sheet or in your journal. Recognizing writing types helps us determine whether the author intended the text to be interpreted literally or have an alternative meaning the original audience would probably have understood.
- REFINE: Next, research the book’s historical context by referencing an Introduction to the book of Matthew. This can be found in most bound Bibles immediately before Matthew 1, or by checking out the ESV online. Introductions are written by Bible publishers and provide historical details like who wrote the book, to whom, and when. They often also contain a summary of the book’s content. As you read the intro, note any relevant or interesting facts. Based on what you discover there, how will you interpret Matthew 6:5-15?
- REFINE: Last, look up the meaning of a few key words and/or phrases from your study using an interlinear Bible tool. I like Biblehub.com’s Greek tool for this research. To use: Click the blue arrow to the left or right of the verse citation (“Matthew 6:1”) to scroll to the verse containing words you want to review, then click the number in the Strong’s column that corresponds to the English word or phrase you’re researching. Note anything the Spirit highlights in the information provided.
This “refining” step is more involved than the “mining” we did earlier, but I encourage you to use these tools and dig as much as you can this week. I pray the Spirit will bless your efforts, my friend!
GO TO WEEK 6 >
