The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335
Why did the church dedicate a day to St. Michael anyway? Who is he, and what does he do?
The Antichrist offers another continual presence. It is every whisper that tempts us toward autonomy, that tells us to carry it alone, that insists suffering is meaningless.

All Articles

Because Israel has turned the eschatology of the Day of the LORD into “escapism” Amos turns that notion on its head in his prophecy.
We need to remember that we belong to God by Grace Alone. It’s not by our best works. Not by the sweat of our brow, it’s not even by our best attempts to repent.
Christ crucified is at the heart of both our freedom from sin and death and our freedom to serve and love our neighbor.
The love God showed for us in the death of his Son continues in us because we remain his children as long as we are incorporated in the body of Jesus through faith.
After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again.
The best synonym I can think of for Biblical meditation is "wonder." To meditate upon God's word is to wonder, as a child wonders at the stars.
There is not a soul who crosses the threshold of the sanctuary who is excluded from the message of the gospel of forgiveness.
As long as our illusions of control over storms and germs persist to govern our thinking, we will never be able to take the saving work of Christ as seriously we ought.
No matter how great our thirst is, God's abundance not only meets it but quenches it. When we are poor and in need, the Lord is always there to give us grace and mercy without end.
Viewing the Bible as literature is an essential and natural way of engaging the text. But there are also ways in which this practice can get lost.
The Church's hymns help us see our own world from another—and perhaps not so different—vantage point that illuminates the impact of the work of Christ and the general providing and protecting activity of our Creator in our lives.
As much as Luther calls Christians to a sober belief in the devil, he also calls them to a firm and steadfast faith in Christ