Field Notes: 5 Day Devo

Conflict shows up fast: a tense conversation, a broken appliance, a flash of anger that feels way bigger than the moment. We slow that down and ask a sharper question: what if the friction isn’t surprising at all, and what if reacting like things should be perfect is part of what keeps us stuck? Pastor Josh takes us to Genesis 3 to show where the fractures begin and why pain, power struggles, and...

Peace sounds great until it costs you something. We start the week by getting honest about a common mistake: calling conflict avoidance “peace” and hoping time will smooth out what we refuse to face. Using Matthew 5:9, we break down why the Beatitude “Blessed are the peacemakers” is not a compliment for staying quiet or keeping the mood nice. It’s a call to action. We dig into what the word peacem...

If you have ever thought, “I just want to hear God,” but you also feel like He is far away, this short Friday devotion is for you. We sit with Jeremiah 29:11-13 and James 4:8 and name a frustration many Christians carry: the ache of distance from God. Then we slow down long enough to notice the part we often skip, that closeness is tied to pursuit, and God’s promise to be found is connected to see...

Moses is on the mountain talking with the Creator of the universe, and his request is as bold as it is human: “Please show me your glory.” That single line from Exodus 33 captures what so many of us carry beneath the surface. We want to know God is real. We want to feel his presence. We want confidence that he’s with us when life gets confusing, painful, or slow. Then we turn one page back to Exod...

You know the feeling: you mean well, you want to do what’s right, and then you catch yourself doing the very thing you said you wouldn’t do again. That inner tug-of-war can make “Blessed are the pure in heart” sound less like a promise and more like a verdict, and if you’re honest, your first thought might be, “I’m out.”  We sit in Romans 7:15–19 where Paul names the struggle with shocking clarity...

David’s story is uncomfortable for a reason. One moment of selfish desire turns into adultery, a cover-up, and the kind of scandal that makes modern reality TV look tame and then the Bible still says God called David a man after his own heart. That tension can either push us into cynicism or pull us into a deeper, more honest faith. We sit with 2 Samuel 11:2–4 and name what’s actually happening: D...

“Blessed are the pure in heart” sounds beautiful until you hear it as “Blessed are the perfect.” We start Monday by reclaiming what Jesus actually means in Matthew 5:8, because purity is not a performance badge and it’s not something you earn by trying harder than everyone else. If you’ve ever felt crushed by the pressure to look spiritually put-together, this short devotional is a reset.  We walk...

Hey it is Pastor Josh. There is no daily Field Notes this week as I am on vacation. I can't wait to see you next week, and there is always the written devotional available for FREE at missionsent.org/church. I pray Jesus walk with you this week, and you remember Happy are the Merciful! 

The thing that makes modern life so tiring isn’t always the pain, it’s the repetition. We keep going back to the same sources for relief, motivation, and comfort, and somehow we end up thirsty again. That’s why Jesus’ words in John 4 hit so hard: anyone who drinks from ordinary water will thirst again, but the water He gives becomes a spring welling up to eternal life. We unpack what that means fo...

You can spend hours planning a diet, a trip, or the perfect weekend, but then try to grow with Jesus on whatever time is left. That gap is the heart of today’s Field Notes devotion, where we take an honest look at “spiritual fast food” and why it leaves us undernourished no matter how much content we consume.  We read Deuteronomy 6:6–7 and talk about the Shema, the daily prayer that frames God’s W...

Hunger has a way of hijacking your attention. So does fatigue, stress, and the constant itch for comfort. We open Matthew 4:3–4 and look at the first temptation Jesus faces after forty days of fasting, and it’s shockingly ordinary: “Turn these stones into bread.” No elaborate argument, just a direct push to satisfy the body right now. That’s the point. Physical needs are loud, and when they’re lou...

That constant whisper of “If I could just…” can sound like motivation, but it often acts like a master. We talk through the lie that keeps so many of us running: if we can only tweak the right external circumstances, the internal chaos will finally quiet down and we will be happy.  We anchor the conversation in Philippians 3:19, where Paul warns about living with minds set on earthly things and tr...

Welcome to a brand new week of Field Notes ! Today, we are kicking off a 5-day devotional series called "Happy Are the Hungry" by looking closely at Matthew 5:6. We throw the word “starving” around a lot in our culture, but most of us are just grazing. There is a massive difference between the mild inconvenience of wanting a midnight snack and the wilderness-level desperation of true hun...

Control feels responsible until it starts eating your peace. We talk about one of Jesus’ most upside down promises, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5), and why meekness isn’t timidity, it’s clarity. When I remember the earth was never mine to begin with, I stop gripping life like everything depends on me.  We connect that beatitude to Romans 8:16–17 and the deep...

Silence can feel like losing, especially when you’re accused, misunderstood, or publicly challenged. We walk through a moment in Matthew 26:52–53 that flips that instinct on its head: Jesus is betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter lashes out with a sword, and Jesus responds with a rebuke, a miracle, and restraint. He reminds Peter that he could call on the Father and receive mor...

Your feed is loud, your group chats are spicy, and your blood pressure is one comment away from skyrocketing. We slow the pace with a midweek devotional that cuts straight to the heart of modern conflict: not everything deserves your reaction, your reply, or your energy. Using 2 Timothy 2:23–24 as the anchor, we talk about why “foolish, ignorant controversies” multiply quarrels and how a faithful...

Strength gets praised when it’s loud, forceful, and impossible to ignore, but Scripture points to a different kind of power: the kind that stays under control. Pastor Josh takes us to Proverbs 16:32, where real greatness is tied to being slow to anger and ruling your spirit, and then connects that wisdom to the fruit of the Spirit and the way we show up in everyday relationships. If you’ve ever ex...

Meek gets treated like a weakness in modern life, but Jesus calls it a blessing. We open Monday’s Field Notes by naming the cultural lie head-on: most of us hear “meek” and picture someone timid, easily pushed around, and afraid to speak. No wonder nobody wants that label. But the Beatitudes don’t flatter the world’s value system, they flip it, and “blessed are the meek” becomes a different kind o...

Ever notice how uncomfortable it can feel to let someone fully pick up the check? That little moment where you reach for your wallet anyway can reveal something deeper than etiquette. We start with a simple dinner scenario and uncover a spiritual habit many of us carry: we say we believe in grace, but we still try to “chip in” so we do not feel dependent, needy, or exposed. We connect that instinc...

Two reactions show up almost every time we get confronted with our sin, and both of them quietly keep us stuck. One is minimizing: brushing it off, excusing it, calling it normal so we do not have to change. The other is maximizing: letting failure swallow us whole until we believe we are too far gone for grace. We lay out why both extremes are toxic, and why neither one looks like true biblical m...

Temptation doesn’t usually kick down the door. It knocks politely, dressed up like an option you can manage, a “small” compromise, or a quick fix that won’t matter tomorrow. We’re naming that tactic for what it is: the deception of the bait, when sin disguises itself so well that you don’t recognize the hook until it’s already set. We walk through why this pattern is so common and so costly, using...

The easiest lie to believe is the one that sounds humble: “I’m not perfect, but I’m not that bad.” That line can keep us stuck for years. Today’s short devotion is a straight look into the mirror, the kind that doesn’t argue back, and it asks a simple question with real weight: are we being honest about our sin, or are we editing the reflection to protect our pride? We talk about why mourning sin...

Happiness is aggressively marketed as a life with no sharp edges: no grief, no awkward talks, no conviction, no hard truths. But that kind of happiness is thin, easy to lose, and often built on numbing. Today on Field Notes, we start Day 1 of our five-day devotional with a blunt paradox from Jesus that refuses to fit the “good vibes only” story: “Happy are those who mourn.” We talk through the ups...

Most of us grind all week with one finish line in mind: the weekend. But if rest is a gift, it raises a sharper question. When you look at the good things in your life, do you instinctively say, “Look what I built,” or do you quietly recognize, “Every good gift is from above”? We walk through James 1:17 and confront the easy assumption that God’s commands are meant to ruin our fun. I share why tha...

Pride rarely announces itself. It usually sounds like “I’ve got it,” “I don’t need help,” or “If I’m honest, people will think less of me.” Today’s Field Notes devotion pushes straight into that tension with one of Jesus’ most misunderstood lines: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We’re not talking about money, status, or a financial portfolio. We’re talking ab...