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Exhausted from a long work week, Brett mindlessly found his way through the airport. He was on his way to see family over the holiday season. 

Boarding the plane, he scanned the aisle to find his seat, and after finding it, threw his bag into the overhead compartment. Once situated, he finally looked down at his open seat.

Next to the empty space, he saw a woman in her late 70’s, smiling kindly at him. Brett smiled back– inwardly relieved to have found a seat by a kind soul. What a gift after a hard week!

Settling into his place, he pulled out his phone. It lit up with the screensaver of his wife and daughter as he checked the time. The kind woman leaned a little closer to him and whispered, “precious!” He smiled back, “I agree.” 

The woman reminded him of his aunt, a woman who had been very dear to him. Something in Brett was moved by this woman’s kindness. He found himself not wanting to put his headphones in as usual. He wanted to show this woman the same simple kindness she had shown him.

Brett asked her, “Do you have any plans for the holiday?” He thought the woman seemed happy that he asked, but then she frowned. Brett worried he had somehow been too forward or insensitive. The woman went on to tell him her life story, from beginning to end. She confessed some mistakes she had made that resulted in estrangement from her family and broken relationships—mistakes that were still haunting her. 

Brett thought of some of his own foolish actions and how they had long haunted him. “I know what that’s like,” he said, “so I bet that makes seeing your family very difficult.”  

Brett’s heart heaved as he saw tears welling up in her eyes. She told him she was racked with anxiety—couldn’t sleep and had lost her appetite. She feared that her mistakes would have the final word in her family relationships, and ultimately, in her life.

Brett replied, “I lived with that same fear for many years,” and told the woman of a few mistakes he had made that wreaked havoc in his life, just the thought of which made his palms sweat. “But then a friend of mine shared this good news with me that he said came from the Bible,” Brett continued. 

With as much gentleness and clarity as his tired mind could muster, Brett proceeded to tell his new friend the good news about Jesus—how we have all sinned in many ways, that we deserve God’s judgment, but God loved us so much that he pursued us in love by sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, so that we might be forgiven, cleansed, and brought into a loving relationship with God (John 3:16).

The woman thanked him for sharing, and said she would think over what he had said. She seemed sincere, and she believed he had been too. Brett said, “Ma’am, can I ask your name? I’m Brett, and I feel so silly I forgot to introduce myself!” 

“Rita,” she said, and smiled.

He said, “Rita, thank you for trusting me enough to share your story with me. When I land and call my wife, we will pray for you together on the phone for this holiday season, that God will give you his peace.”

Brett was surprised to hear Rita say, “Please do that! Anything will help.” 

Brett said, “my wife and I would love to hear how your holiday season goes, as we are praying for you. In the meantime, Rita, if you find yourself needing extra encouragement as you are around family, there’s a website I enjoy that has lots of really helpful resources on it—messages, articles, Bible verses, even songs! It features some resources that share God’s comfort and counsel for our anxiety. I think it could really encourage you. If you’d like, I can share with you the name of the website, or if you feel comfortable, I could send you a direct link through your email or a text message.”

Rita smiled and wrote her email address down on her napkin. “Thank you, son,” 

Rita said. As  Brett left the plane, his heart sighed, slightly strained. It’s hard knowing he left behind someone who was hurting, so he looked forward to emailing Rita after the holidays to see how God has answered his prayers for her.

Seven friends from church held their hot mugs of something warm and tasty and plopped down onto couches. Each person opened their Bible. The group included a handful of people who grew up going to church, and the rest had only recently met Jesus.

They were studying the book of John, one chapter at a time. Chris, the leader of the group, felt a little nervous on his way to the study. Why am I always nervous before leading Bible study? Maybe it’s that this passage is a little less familiar. Lord, help me trust you to lead our study by your Spirit. 

Tonight they opened to John 3, and read about when Nicodemus visits Jesus. They discussed both the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8) and the idea Jesus presents of being “born again” (John 3:3). Chris noticed that the long-time church-goers were getting excited about these topics and started to dominate the conversation.

Although he was thankful that half of the group seemed excited and engaged in the discussion, Chris felt rising concern over the others. One or two of the newer believers looked confused. 

Gently, Chris asked, “Hey Matt, you look like you may have a question?” Matt confessed he had never heard anyone talk about the Holy Spirit before. He said that he knows a lot about Jesus, but next to nothing about the Holy Spirit. 

That gave Myra the courage to express her confusion as well. “Yeah, I have to say, I feel like I don’t understand entirely what Jesus is saying about being ‘born again.’” 

Chris started to say something when his eye caught the time on the clock and realized they were five minutes past the time they usually end. Torn by wanting to be respectful to the others’ time, and also wanting Matt and Myra to have their questions thoughtfully addressed—Chris remembered something. 

He says, “Matt and Myra, I’m glad that you brought up these questions. They are really important! Since we are out of time, I have some helpful resources that will answer your questions and help you understand what the Bible teaches both about being born again and about the Holy Spirit. I will send them to you right now in our group chat as people are leaving. You’ll find that the resource I am sending you includes all sorts of content to answer your questions. Browse through it, and see what catches your eye or seems especially relevant to you. If you have further questions as you browse, text me, and we can set up a time to talk further through your questions.” 

When he got in his car, before driving away, he remembered to put two links in the group chat: Who Is the Holy Spirit? and What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? He then sets a reminder to ask Matt and Myra next week about whether they had their questions sufficiently answered.

The next week, Chris sighed with relief as he overheard Myra having a conversation with Tommy overviewing what she had learned about the Holy Spirit through a message she found on Bibles.net. Why do I worry? He thinks. God always provides.

Tyler’s son was about to enter middle school, and with his increased involvement in extracurricular activities, Tyler decided it was time to get his son a phone. While browsing the Verizon store, Tyler thought: Seems like the best option considering the plan, pricing, and functionality is a smartphone, but I really don’t want to give my kid a smartphone.

His thought was truncated by a friendly customer service member offering help. Tyler, feeling a little self-conscious about the concern he knew was painted on his face explained, “Yeah, you know with all the garbage that can come through the internet, I just don’t want my son to have access to that.”

The kind Verizon employee showed Tyler how to manage the internet access on his son’s phone. That’s relieving! At least I have some control of what he can see here.

On the way home, he prayed for his son and remembered when his dad gave him his first car. He wasn’t nervous when he gave it to me, and that made me feel trusted. That did a lot for me. I’ve got to make sure Charlie feels trusted and grown up, not like I assume he will make poor decisions. Tyler resolved to present the new gift to his son with an attitude of trust and, hopefully, joy. 

Ten minutes later, Tyler walked through the door. “Hey Dad!” He heard his son shout, while eating a bowl of cereal at the counter. Tyler pulled up a stool next to him and said, “Hey Charlie, I’ve got a gift for you!” Charlie looked up with eager expectation. 

“Hey, I thought that since you’re going into middle school, and will have extra soccer, basketball, and band practice this year, it’s time I give you a phone! I hope you like it. I thought you could use a smartphone, though I did limit some of the internet access for your own safety. But I want you to know that if there’s a page you want added for some reason, just come ask me. I’ll work it out.”

“Wow! Thanks Dad!” 

“I already added one site for you,” Tyler said, “and I thought maybe we could enjoy learning from it together. It’s this website called Bibles.net that my friend at church showed me. It has all sorts of content on it—podcasts, messages, videos, songs, articles—and they’re all organized into different topics. There’s even a page on every book of the Bible. When I went there, whatever I read encouraged me. I thought since we both have access to it, if you find something on there that you find encouraging, text it to me, and I’ll read or listen to it too. Then we can both enjoy it and maybe even talk about it. I’ll do the same for you. Might be fun! It’s one of those things I wouldn’t mind you looking at on your phone when you’re up late at night or can’t sleep—in fact I do that sometimes!”

Charlie looked excited and spent the afternoon adding contacts from his Dad’s phone into his own. 

Two days later in the middle of his workday, Tyler got a text from Charlie. “Hey Dad, remember how I want to do BMX? I just found this video of a pro BMX rider on that website you told me about. The BMX rider tells you how he became a Christian! You should watch it!”

Tyler’s day got a lot better from that point on, and he looked forward to talking about the video with his son when he got home from work.

Kelly was beyond excited to read the Bible—which felt weird to her. But God had done something in her heart at the youth retreat she had recently attended with her friend, and well, she couldn’t get enough of it. 

Scrolling through Instagram reels, one caught her attention, where the influencer explained that the Bible contains 66 books, and they are all God’s Word. Kelly thought that had to mean that you could open to any part of the Bible and start reading, and God would speak to you there.

After a good 30 minutes of scrolling through dance videos, verses, and friends’ photos, Kelly grabbed her Bible and started looking through the index, then flipped through the pages. Her eyes landed on Esther.

Interesting, a woman’s name is the title of a book of the Bible? I want to read that. 

Before she opened to Esther, Kelly remembered her friend telling her about this website she found. Apparently, you can look up answers to your questions there. Kelly wondered if the site said anything about Esther that could help her before she began reading. Grabbing her phone and flopping on her bed, she typed “Esther” into the search bar of Bibles.net.

The first result Kelly saw said, “Discover the book of Esther. Explore these resources on Esther to help you understand and enjoy this part of God’s Word.”

Wow, well that was easy!

Kelly saw a five-minute book introduction on the page. She read it, convinced now that Esther was way cooler than she had expected. I picked the right book! she thought. Kelly put down her phone and picked up the Bible to read the first four chapters of Esther.

The next day, when Kelly had some free time, she remembered wanting to finish reading Esther. She also remembered that there were more resources on that webpage she had not looked at yet.

So Kelly went back to her room and opened the Discover Esther page again. Scrolling down the page, she found some insights that helped her understand the main message and themes of the book. Again, Kelly shut off her phone and read Esther. This time, she found herself more attentive to the story, looking for thematic elements and evidence of God at work in the story—a story which, she learned, doesn’t even mention God!

By the end of the week, Kelly had read the whole book; the story was over. Kelly had that awful feeling after having finished a great book, wanting more of it. But then she thought, maybe there had been something on that webpage I missed, and I can stay in this story a bit longer.

She returned to Bibles.net, where she saw a message series on the book and a playlist. No way! A playlist?! For the next week, Kelly listened to one message on the book of Esther on her daily bus ride to school, and on the way home, and she looked up the Spotify playlist for Esther that the site suggested and listened. 

The next week at youth group Kelly’s friend asked her about her week. Kelly raved about Esther, and as she did, she deeply encouraged her listening friend who had been praying for Kelly to know God and love his Word.

Kelly’s time soaking in the book of Esther had begun to change the way she thought. As Kelly went about her day, she had grown more aware of ways that God had orchestrated events to provide for her, protect her, or help her. She woke up expecting God to be at work. She felt less anxious over the situations that were out of her control. 

She realized that as she spent time in this part of God’s Word, she had come to be more aware of his active presence in her life.

Staci went to a group fitness class three times a week. In her Tuesday morning class, she had befriended a gal named Ella. She looked forward to their conversations way more than the workout. Though she did enjoy the class, Ella had become very dear to her. Their conversations before and after class had morphed from friendly greetings into a five-minute update about their family lives.    

Staci groggily walked into the gym one day and noticed that Ella’s face had fallen: her eyes looked sore. I know that look, Staci thought, She cried herself to sleep last night.

“Ella, are you alright this morning?” 

Ella’s eyes filled with tears. “My grandmother passed away last night, suddenly. She practically raised me. We were close. I didn’t think she would go so soon—she had a lot of life left. I don’t know why God would take her from me this early.”  

Staci hugged Ella as the coach called them over to begin the workout. After the class, Ella said she had to rush home to get her toddler ready for preschool, and Staci felt bummed she couldn’t talk with Ella more.

The look on Ella’s face that morning troubled Staci all day. The next class, Staci arrived a few minutes early in case she could catch Ella for an extra moment before class to check on her. 

Ella arrived, looking not much better than the last time. Before the class, Staci said, “I know these kinds of things cast a shadow over life, making everything feel tough. Can I make you guys a meal tonight to eliminate one of your tasks, so you can have some time to yourself today?” Staci thought Ella looked a little relieved, “Sure, that would be really helpful.”  

That night, Staci dropped off the meal to Ella. As Ella shared more about her grandmother, she said, “I know you have faith, Staci. Does that help you process these things?” 

Staci said, “Yes, as a Christian, my faith is in the God of the Bible. He does give us truth in his Word that anchors us in suffering. But he also has given us his presence—he’s with us in our pain. The message at the heart of the Bible is about Jesus, who is called ‘God with us,’ and he’s the very proof we need that God is compassionate toward our suffering. Because I believe God’s Word, I do have help processing grief, but I also have a person—God himself—who comforts me in my pain and helps me understand what his Word says. Jesus came and suffered on the cross so that we might be forgiven of our sins and brought into a relationship with God. Everyone who trusts in Jesus becomes a child of God, and God reveals himself to us as ‘the Father of mercies and God of all comfort’ (2 Corinthians 1: 3). God offers me and you more answers; he offers us himself to comfort and care for our souls.”  

What followed was a sweet conversation that lasted an hour, where both women shed some tears. Before she left, Staci said, “If you would like, Ella, there’s a website I enjoy reading that might help you see how God comforts us through his Word. It offers encouragement from the Bible relevant to grief. If you would be interested in thinking more about this, and I’ll send it your way.” 

Ella called Staci a week later. “Can you remind me of the name of that website you mentioned?” she said, “I really want to know more about what God says to people who have lost someone. Send me that page or whatever you think is best.” 

Staci took five minutes that night to pull out her laptop. She went to Bibles.net and found the page on grief. Scrolling through it, she discovered the book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament. After reading through the product page, she ordered the book. 

Following her kids’ bedtime routine the next night, Staci skimmed the book by lamplight. Tears flowed down her face as she received comfort for her own sorrows and the gentle reminder to take her complaints to the Lord. 

In the morning, Staci pulled out a card to write to Ella, explaining how she found the book on the website she had mentioned. She relayed how God used the book to open her own heart to pray about tough things she had feared to express to him just last night. 

At the end of her card, she wrote down a URL: https://www.bibles.net/topic/grief-and-loss/, and told Ella that she could find more encouragement there. As the URL was open on her phone for her to copy, she briefly scrolled through the page again and found a verse to include in the card. Staci explained that the hope she clings to in her own pain comes from Jesus, and that she is praying Ella will know Jesus too. 

Staci grabbed her water bottle, slipped her note in the book, and ran off to class. After arriving, hugging Ella, and asking how she’s been, she said, “Ella, you asked for the resources I had in mind. The website I thought of—well, it felt a little impersonal to just text you a link, so I thought a tangible resource recommended by them may be more welcome. My note includes a few more things that could be helpful. If it brings up any questions, let’s talk!”  

As Staci handed Ella the book, their coach called them over to begin their workout, and Staci whispered a prayer for God to use the book to comfort Ella in her grief and help her come to know him.

An army officer walked the perimeter of the barracks on base, far from his homeland. Everything was brown and life felt colorless. His heart was weighed by the destruction he had seen and tense with a sense of threat and danger. He couldn’t rest.

His mind raced with a million options for how to spend the next hour. Workout? Sleep? Eat? Call someone? He was too weary to decide.

He looked down at his big black watch. He didn’t process the time but the day. It’s Sunday. He remembered his friends at home who would all be piling into a car with coffee to go to church. They don’t know what they’ve got, he thinks.

He made his way to the chaplain’s tent and grabbed a Bible from the dusty stack in the corner. Finding a quiet place, he opened to a familiar page:

“My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration! Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42:4-6 NLT).

The first tear he’d shed in months fell down his face, and with few words, he asked God to encourage him.

Realizing he was hungry, he made his way back to his barracks where he had a stash of beef jerky sticks from his mom’s most recent care package. Munching on the stick, he grabbed his phone, and noticed he had a WhatsApp message from his girlfriend.

“Hey Daniel, you know I think of you all the time, but I felt like God brought you to mind today. During announcements at church, our pastor told us about this website called Bibles.net. It’s filled with biblically faithful, Jesus-centered resources. He mentioned how there are tons of sermons on there. I thought of you and how you can’t be at church right now. I thought maybe while you’re deployed the sermons on this site could encourage you! I miss you every week. If you decide to do this, let me know which sermons you listen to and I’ll listen along and text you about it! Miss you!”  

A second tear fell down his cheek. God heard me.

He went on Bibles.net and found a sermon. For the next six months, Daniel looked forward to Sundays and the precious half hour-to-an-hour when he would listen to God’s Word and text his girlfriend about it.

As God nourished him, he remembered that there was one other believer in his company. After sharing Bibles.net with his fellow soldier, they began listening and praying together on Sundays. These few moments of fellowship each week became the life-changing dose of hope he needed to sustain him through his deployment.

Pastor Blake had served his church faithfully for the last ten years, preaching God’s Word to his congregation one book at a time. In the last year, his church had grown by fifty members, and surprisingly, all of them were young adults.

These young members often brought friends to church and so their once small, empty-nester-dominated congregation was now bursting the seams of their worship space.

On an early Thursday morning, Pastor Blake went outside to walk his neighborhood and pray for his church. The small sea of young faces flashed across his mind. Blake loved these young people, and felt his heart swell under a burden for their wellbeing. Lord, he prayed, what do they need? 

As he prayed for each by name, the idea dawned on him to preach through the Song of Songs.

Oh dear, that’s a tough one!

But before he could feel too intimidated, Pastor Blake remembered reading a book in seminary called Five Festal Garments by Barry Webb and enjoying the chapter on Song of Songs. Armed with a new idea that he was convinced the Holy Spirit gave him, he returned home, ate some bacon and eggs, kissed his wife, hustled his kids off to school, and finally made it to his church office. He entered the building head down, lost in thought.

Darcy, the church’s faithful, joyful, and long-term administrative assistant noticed that Pastor Blake appeared a little flustered as he entered the office, seemingly off in a distant land.

“Morning, Pastor Blake!” 

“Hey Miss Darcy, how are you?”

“I’m just great. My husband brought me a donut this morning and it’s sunny out. No complaints. But you look like you have a lot on your mind?”

“Yeah, I think I’ve chosen the book for my new sermon series! I’ve just been spinning my wheels over how to get started. It’s the Song of Songs. I know it’s not super popular to preach on, but I believe our church needs it. I just don’t know where to start—any ideas?”

“Well, I don’t know if it will be of any help to you, but I was just at a women’s conference last week where I stopped by this booth and talked to a couple of gals who told me about the ministry they represent, Bibles.net. They gave me this bookmark and said it links to a page of resources for every book of the Bible to help you study it. Maybe that could be a starting point for you and give you some inspiration. Here, I’ve kept the bookmark in my Bible—let me get it for you.”

He smiled at his faithful sister in Christ, who somehow always had help to offer. 

Pastor Blake walked to his office, bookmark in hand. He sat down, opened his phone, and scanned the QR code on the back. Seeing the index of books of the Bible, he chose Song of Songs. He started reading the introduction to the Song of Songs on Bibles.net. Yes, this is the book of the Bible our church needs right now.

The introduction got him a little more excited to start studying Song of Songs and reminded him that before he investigates more resources, he should read the actual book! 

Before leaving the webpage, he scrolled through the rest of the page to see what other help was available to him. His eye caught the message series—Barry G. Webb! No way, that’s the guy whose book I read! 

Then he saw the commentaries recommended on the page, clicked on the product pages, and found them to be more like a book review of the commentary. He now knew what books to buy for his study. 

Blake worked hard over the next four months to preach through the Song of Songs. As he did so, he saw God’s Spirit revive stale marriages, shepherd a few young people out of sexual sin, steer a few couples to get engaged, and draw one of the young churchgoers to faith in Christ.

And so Bibles.net became a welcome supplemental website to get Pastor Blake excited over whatever book of the Bible he would preach next.

Jonathan got hired as the pastor of youth ministries at his church. He had fifty students in his youth group, ranging from 7th to 12th grade—and he loved them all. There was nothing that brought him greater joy than hanging out with students, helping them grow into maturity, and seeing them come to know Jesus.

But in the first month of this new job, he’d been overwhelmed by the seriousness of the struggles his students were wading through. One by one, students had disclosed their issues: anxiety, depression, crippling fears, suicidal thoughts, and pornography, to name a few.

His joy seemed to have been engulfed by concern—a sincere desire to see his students well cared for, protected, and counseled.

He knew he couldn’t counsel each youth group member individually, but longed to be able to point them to Christ in a way that considered the challenges they had shared with him. Jonathan asked the Lord for help and wisdom.

That semester, the youth ministry attended a conference. His students came to him raving about a booth that gave them free tumblers and told him to get one for himself.

Before going, he noticed the logo on their mugs and read a bit about the ministry in the pamphlet included in his conference packet. Compelled by a genuine desire to learn more about the ministry, Bibles.net, he headed to their booth.

“Hey, I serve as a youth pastor, and I read a little about your site. I got really excited; can you tell me more?” Jonathan told the representatives at the booth. 

The ministry representatives told Jonathan that their ministry began because they were burdened by how many young people seem to be wrestling with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and pornography. They created Bibles.net to point people, searching for counsel and hope online, to the Bible, and ultimately, to the hope found in Christ. 

He could hardly believe it—did they read my mind?! 

On an iPad, they showed Jonathan how to navigate to an index on their website listing all the life challenges experienced in his youth group. 

“I can’t believe it!” Jonathan said. “You have just done half my job for me! Now I have somewhere to point my youth group kids when they express their struggles to me. Do you happen to have anything I could hand out to them that leads to your website?”

The ministry representatives gave Jonathan a postcard. On one side, it read, “Life is hard, but God is good.” On the back there was a grid of QR codes, each labeled with a different life challenge—anxiety, depression, and pornography addiction included—that linked to a page of resources on Bibles.net. Jonathan loved it so much that he requested that more of these postcards be mailed to him for his youth group.

Jonathan praised God for equipping him to help encourage his students. At the next youth group meeting, he passed around the postcards to all his students.

On the screen in their youth group meeting room, Jonathan cast his phone display and walked his students through one of the crisis pages on Bibles.net, showing them all the neat resources they could discover there.

He then encouraged the small groups to choose a topic and engage with one resource from that page per week all together, whether that was a message, an article, or a video. He later found out that one group went so far as to order a book from the anxiety page and make that their next small group study. 

Jonathan knew a website was no substitute for in-person discipleship, but felt like Bible.net’s existence was a small reminder to him that God sees his youth ministry and the burdens of his heart and will send him help as he needs it.

Jackie came to know Jesus in her late twenties. Growing up, she never went to church and neither her nor her husband’s family identified with any religion.

Jackie was now in her late thirties, and she and her husband were still the only Christians in their families. Although they had tried to explain their faith to their families, their families remained hostile to their beliefs.

They found that as they had read the Bible, God’s Word had altered not only their hearts but also their worldview. Some of the political positions their families hold now seemed to be contrary to God’s Word, and so Jackie and her husband had stopped identifying themselves with the family’s favored political party. This had caused an even deeper division in their family relationships. 

Jackie had tried to explain to her older sister Shelby that her life had been changed by a relationship with Jesus and had invited her sister to come to church. She had also bought Shelby a Bible. But Shelby still had a hostile attitude when Jackie brought up her faith. 

One night Jackie’s heart broke from sadness as she shared with her husband how deeply she wanted to maintain a good, loving relationship with her family, how deeply she wanted them to know Jesus and his love, and how frustrating it was to be misunderstood.

Her husband sat beside her and prayed for a way to share God’s Word with Jackie’s family in a way that will be welcome and winsome.

That week, Jackie’s sister, Shelby, asked for a phone call. In their conversation, Shelby explained how she desired to put her kids in the local private Christian school because of disappointments with their area’s public school system. With a little hesitation Shelby said, “I want them to have a good education, and my kids have a lot of nice friends at that school. I guess I’m just concerned with what exactly they believe and whether I want my kids being indoctrinated with Christianity.”

Jackie offered a silent prayer to God then replied, “Shelby, that’s a big decision to make. I do think it’s wise to put them in this private school, but you know I am biased. I want you to be confident in the decision you make. I may be able to help you think through this—and I would love to! My friend showed me this helpful website that explains the Bible’s teaching clearly to anyone. It was created by people who feel like Christianity is misunderstood by our culture, and they want people who are curious to have an objective explanation of the faith. Ultimately, the Christian faith is, at its core, faith in God’s Word, the Bible. At the center of God’s Word is a message about Jesus Christ. Those who have received and believed this message and continue to live a life of faith, trusting in Jesus—well, they’re called Christians. That’s a lot to process, but anyway, this website has a page that explains the core message of the Bible, and another that explains how someone becomes a Christian. It also answers questions like “Who is Jesus?” It would be a great place to go to understand what your kids will be learning. If you want to take a look at it, you’ll get a clear understanding of  the Christian faith. Then, if you have any questions, you’re welcome to ask me about it.” 

“Hey thanks, Jackie. I really appreciate it. I think I’ll look into it. Text me the link to the site.”

Jackie hung up the phone and texted her sister four links:

What Is Christian Faith? 

What Is the Gospel?

How to Have a Relationship with God Through Jesus?

Who Is Jesus?

Jackie and her husband praised God for an opportunity to share Jesus with her sister and prayed he would speak to her through his Word that she encountered on Bibles.net and also open another conversation for them to discuss the message of good news about Jesus.

Richard couldn’t wait to meet with Devon, a young man in his church that had asked Richard to disciple him. Richard had been hoping to redeem his retirement years and always wanted to invest in younger men. At their first meeting, Richard asked what prompted Devon to reach out. 

“Well,” Devon confessed, “I really want to grow in my walk with Christ, but I keep falling into an old sin. I know I need help. I thought having an older, godly man in my life would provide some accountability.”

Richard gently asked if he could know the issue. Pornography. Richard’s heart sank, suddenly full of compassion, and burdened for this young man.

Richard thanked Devon for his honesty. He told Devon that he would pray for him and would ask the Lord to know how to spend their time together in a way that would serve to help Devon overcome his addiction.

Richard left the meeting, palms sweaty. I don’t know how to help him with this. Things were so different in my day. Can this dragon be slain in his life? What if talking about this and researching how to help him is dangerous for me?

The quiet voice of the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance God’s Word, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed…what is impossible with man is possible with God” (John 8:36; Luke 18:27).

God can set him free, Richard thought, just like he set me free from my addiction to alcohol all those years ago. Lord, set Devon free from this addiction, and if you would be pleased to make me your instrument to help him, equip me.

Richard rose early the next morning for a 6:00 a.m. tee time with his friend Nick, the friend who had first shared the Bible with Richard. Richard asked Nick if he had any advice on how to encourage a young man with a pornography addiction.

Nick said, “We have this new young pastor, and last week during announcements he mentioned to us a website full of resources for young people. When I looked at their podcasts, ‘cause you know I love podcasts, one of the recent ones was on pornography. Might want to check it out! I’ll text you the link.”

Richard first listened to the podcast on the theme of pornography addiction on his evening walk. Surprisingly, he was very encouraged, and the testimony of the young man being interviewed increased his faith that God can indeed set young men free from this evil.

That week Richard visited the website Bibles.net and typed “pornography” into the navigation. Sure am thankful there’s somewhere it’s safe to search that word—who would have thought! 

He found not one, but several pages full of resources on the subject. Over the next several months, these resources became the means of answering Richard’s prayer that the Lord would equip him to counsel Devon.

He found an article called Praying for Freedom from Pornography that he printed, and he asked Devon to pray with him each week. He found a book that he ordered and began to work through with Devon. He also found a resource called 30 Things to Do When You’re Bored. And he and Devon agreed that when Devon was tempted, he would text Richard which thing from the list he would do as a way to spend his time well.  

After weeks of prayer, finishing the book, and intense accountability, Richard got a phone call from Devon. Devon was in tears. He had experienced the conviction of the Holy Spirit and seen the glory of Jesus through a Bible passage explained in the book they had been reading. From that day on Richard saw Devon’s desire for this particular addiction disappear and his need for such intense accountability dissolve. Devon had encountered Jesus powerfully, and Jesus’ Spirit had driven pornography out of his heart.

Devon went on years later to lead a men’s group at church discussing the book he and Richard had discovered on Bibles.net. He saw several more men set free by the Spirit of God from their addiction to pornography.