December 25, 2025 • 24 mins
This week, we welcome a music legend whose voice has become synonymous with the sounds of the season. At just twelve years old, Brenda Lee recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” She shares memories of recording in Nashville alongside country greats, her deep respect for the team behind every hit, and the enduring value of kindness in a competitive industry.
Later in the episode, we’ll hear from pastor, author, and publisher Philip Nation, who has dedicated his career to making Scripture accessible to readers everywhere. Philip opens up about his desire to know and understand God’s Word more fully.
Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:
Past interview: Lisa Harper
Upcoming interview: Ben Higgins
Jesus Listens: Prayers for Every Season
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree book
Interview Quotes:
“It was a team effort, so if I had a hit, so did they, all those wonderful people. And we just had a ball.” - Brenda Lee
“I try to tell the new artists that are coming up, ‘You don’t do this by yourself. You may be the greatest singer that ever walked the earth, but if you don’t conform and listen, you’ll still be a great singer, but nobody will know.’” - Brenda Lee
“If you don’t make it on your voice, you’ll make it on your kindness. Goodness always wins out.” - Brenda Lee
“I think that walking alongside other people in celebrations and in painful times, and constantly looking to the Scripture to inform, guide, and help you make decisions, to find hope when times are dark, and to be able to magnify your joys when you’re celebrating—to do that together is the very nature of what we see God unfolding in the Bible.” - Philip Nation
“[God] is constantly calling people together to live by faith and to walk through this world, not as lone rangers and solitary believers, but to do it together.” - Philip Nation
“There is plenty of anxiety and stress and pressure that just flows through our lives, which is why we need the study of Scripture. It’s why we need to be able to pause in prayer [and do as] the Scripture tells us, to pray without ceasing, just to let our hearts be abounding in prayer and our minds being constantly renewed by the Scripture.” - Philip Nation
“When I pick up the Bible, I realize that this is God knowing what humanity is all about and desiring to speak with me personally, kindly, and clearly. Even in the m
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Life Audio. Did you know that Jesus Calling has its
own YouTube channel. It's full of great content that will
enhance your spiritual life. You'll find beautiful videos with short
devotional moments to help you through your day, as well
as stories on video from celebrities, authors, pastors, and everyday
people who share what their faith journey has meant to them.
(00:29):
You'll also find that Jesus Listens Stories of Prayer series
hosted by Susie McIntyre Eaton, featuring new guests monthly. Subscribe
today for new videos each week.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
People would say, how can we do that over and over?
You do it because the song is good and you
don't get tired of it. We love Christmas. I guess
that's our favorite, Hollie, because everybody gets together.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. First, we welcome a
music legend whose voice has becomes synonymous with the sounds
of the season. At just twelve years old, Brenda Lee
recorded Rocking Around the Christmas Tree. She shares memories of
recording in Nashville alongside country greats, her deep respect for
the team behind every hit, and the enduring value of
kindness in a competitive industry. Later in the episode, we'll
(01:23):
hear from pastor, author and publisher Philip Nation, who has
dedicated his career to making scripture accessible to readers everywhere.
Philip opens up about his desire to know and understand
God's word more fully. Let's begin with Brenda Lee's story.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Rocking around Christmas Tree and Christmas Body. Never in my
dreams did I think this would be my signature song. Never.
(02:01):
I'm one of those artists. It doesn't matter to me
if everybody in the room says, bringda, that's going to
be a hit. If I don't like it, I can't
do it. I just can't do it. And they say,
but you're a singer. I said, yeah, I am, but
I'm not a pretender. I knew in my heart that
(02:24):
I didn't love them enough to make them a hit,
So why take somebody's life work. Maybe that is the
secret of a writer, when they write a song like that,
you only have to write one if it gets big enough.
I credit Owen Bradley with choosing the right songs because
(02:47):
of're twelve years old. I didn't know. I just knew
I loved to sing and they were letting me. So
I was a happy camper. I was presenting with Triple
Platinum for Rocking. I shouldn't say I was shocked, but
I was shocked because it's just been out so long
and it's just amazing. But it's good, it was recorded good,
(03:10):
and it has great musicians on it. All the ingredients
are there. I'm so proud for the writer, Johnny Marks.
It's written some of the biggest Christmas songs ever, and
Owen and the musicians and the singers on it. They
need occurs and I'm just proud for all of them
because they're all part of it, and the fans, and
(03:33):
it all goes back to the song you should never
lose that. I'm not worried if it's going to be
number one, number ten, number two, I don't care. Just
so it comes out and people hear it. And I'm
such a fan of everybody, and I get a kick
out of the other artists that are on. I love
watching them. But I wonder to myself, well, I'll be
(03:54):
hearing this in thirty years. It was a team effort,
so if I had a hit, so did they, all
those wonderful people, and we just had a ball. The
pans that hut on sixteenth Avenue South in Nashville, where
I cut all my its. It's not there anymore. I
(04:16):
cried when they got rid of it, because so many
hits were recorded there by different people. Loretta lyn Me, Patsy,
Kitty Wells, and Owen recorded this allt Can you imagine
trying to choose songs for each artist? I don't know
I did it. Owen Bradley was a genius, and Selby
(04:38):
Kofeine the mixer, Owen's brother. And the musicians, my lord.
Not to say the musicians today are not great. They are,
but I would put I called them the A Team.
I would put the A Team up against anybody because
they could play anything. Any artists that came in never
(05:01):
sounded like the artists that just went out the door
traned off on sacks. Ain't Garland on guitar, Grady Martin
on guitar, Buddy Harmon on drums, Ford Kramer on piano,
Bobby Moore on base. The Needa curR sayers, you just
had the best of the best. My sessions were like
(05:22):
Ford Kramer may say, hey, I think this LIQ would
go great here. Grady Martin might say the same, Haint
Garland might boots, Bobby Moore, all of them. And they
didn't know they were good either. They just loved what
they were doing. And that's the difference in the business
to me today. I just loved Christmas. I really did,
(05:42):
because it was always family. And then I married, and
then I had another family. I had my husband's family,
our family, my family. It's always been a biggie for us.
We have a beautiful tree. Sometimes we have two. We
used to get a group together and I all go
caroll In at Christmas.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It was fun.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
We's had doors shutting our face everything. We'd be like, no, no,
we're here to Carol. We don't want anything, we just
want to care for you. Had my girls. The first
time somebody closed the door, they said, mal, they just
closed the door on you. We have flaughed so hard
sometimes and it was just so fun and sweet. I
(06:29):
try to tell the new artists that are coming up,
you don't do this by yourself. You may be the
greatest singer that ever walked the earth, but if you
don't conform and listen, it will still be a great singer.
But nobody don't know the love of the music and
the willingness to change if you have to. The willingness
(06:52):
to take directions and not say no. This is the
way I play, and a lot of artists don't realize that,
and they're not nice to people. My mama always told me,
don't forget your raising. If you don't make it on
your voice, you'll make it on your kindness. Be nice
(07:13):
site people, and do right. Goodness always wins out.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
To learn more about Brenda Lee, visit Brenda Leeofficial dot
com and find her albums wherever you get your music,
and be sure to check out the Rocking Around the
Christmas Tree book at your favorite retailer. Stay tuned to
Philip nations story after a brief message. These uncertain times
(07:47):
bring anxiety and fear, but Jesus Listens Prayers for Every
Season gives you daily prayers of comfort with seasonally inspired illustrations.
This beautiful book includes prayers that speak to your situation,
whether it's a time of stress or strength. Look for
Jesus Listens Prayers for Every Season wherever you buy books.
(08:13):
Our next guest is Philip Nation, a pastor, author and
Bible publisher whose life work is centered on helping others
fall in love with God's word. Philip has dedicated his
career to making scripture accessible and a lie for readers everywhere.
He shares how growing up in a home of faith
sparked a lifelong desire to understand God's word and how
it continues to bring peace and direction in every season.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
My name is Philip Nation, and the most important thing
about who I am in this season of life is
I'm a grandfather of God, a granddaughter and a grandson.
They're both toddlers. My wife and I and she we've
been married for thirty one years, and we've got two
sons that are both grown and both married. Over the
(08:59):
last almost six years now, I have been leading Bible
publishing for Thomas Nelson, which is a part of HarperCollins
Christian Publishing Division. My interest in the Bible, I have
that great testimony that it started early in life. I'll
say that really it's my mom, Delores Nation, who passed
(09:23):
away a couple of decades ago, but I can still
see it in my mind's eye. I have it in
my home office. Her red leather King James Version Bible
was just very ever present in our home. I know
exactly where she kept it, with a spiral bound notebook
that she kept all of her prayer requests that she
(09:44):
kept up with with people from our church family, and
so very early on in life, the Bible was just
ever present in our home because of my mother and
my father, so we went to church regularly. I came
to faith in Christ as a child and understood that
(10:05):
the Bible is God telling us who He is. When
I think about the first copies of the Bible that
came into my life that had a real significance for
me carrying them around and using them, the first one
is one that now ironically, providentially wonderfully I'm now the
(10:26):
publisher of it, and we call it the Jesus Seaside Bible.
I remember carrying that Bible with me to church. It
saved me. It felt like it saved my soul and
a lot of very long sermons from my pastor of
my home church in Birmingham. And I still have that
Bible on my bookshelf, and now it's one that Thomas
(10:48):
Nelson Bibles. We are still publishing it these five decades later.
In terms of when I began to grow, the first
Bible that I really began to study with was one
that was given to me by my parents. It was
when I was about sixteen years old that I let
(11:11):
them know that I felt like God was calling me
into the ministry and I didn't know what that meant.
And so through a lot of prayer and counsel with
my pastor, we figured that out. And my parents gave
me a Thompson Chain Reference study Bible, which was this
big thick It felt like this big, overwhelmingly sized Bible.
(11:34):
But I remember learning how to use all of the
study tools inside of it, and how it guided me
to better understand the themes of the Bible and how
to actually go from one passage to another to see
how there's this one grand, coherent story and framework of
(11:54):
doctrine that God was giving us through the scripture. And
again it's one that I still have to this day.
I still use it today, and just so thankful for
that first edition of the Bible that I was able
to really begin to dig in and study on my
own and become a self feeder. When I was that
(12:19):
young man who felt called to ministry, we were going
to Sunday School. There were discipleship classes I was a
part of that were on the church campus on Sunday nights,
and there were special Bible studies on Wednesday nights. But
the Bible study. The relationship that meant the most to
me during those days and then has been replicated in
(12:41):
other decades of my life was when there was one guy.
His name was Matthew. He was about eight years older
than me. He was a part time associate to the
youth minister at our church. He had a full time
job working in a machine shop. Matthew came alongside of
me and he said, I want to do for you
(13:04):
what somebody did for me, and I want to offer
to disciple You and I would go to Matthew's house
every Thursday night. He was married, they had one small child,
and we would spend about two hours together, you know,
sitting around and talking and then him walking me through
passages of scripture and us praying together. And Matthew did
(13:27):
that for three years of my life, and it made
all the difference in the world that there would be
one person who would just draw me into a close
friendship and help me just walk closer to Jesus. I'm
a huge proponent of studying the Bible with other people.
The story that I have been able to live out
(13:50):
of being a part of the community of faith of
healthy congregations and strong Christian friendships. I just see the
benefit over and over and over again. And so I
think that walking alongside of other people in celebrations and
in painful times, and constantly looking to the Scripture to inform,
(14:18):
to guide, to help you make decisions, to find hope
when times are dark, to be able to magnify your
joys when you're celebrating. To do that together is the
very nature of I think what we see of God
unfolding in the Bible is that he constantly is calling
(14:41):
a people together to live by faith and to walk
through this world not as lone rangers and solitary believers,
but to do it together. And I do know and recognize,
even as someone who has served as a pastor, that
there are times, there are seasons of life where you
find yourself feeling whether it's you feel ostracized or you
(15:05):
feel out of step and out of sync, there's still
important relationships that you can have. I think it's maybe
it's best to find your way into a congregation that's
got a strong, small group type of system, whether that's
typical Sunday morning, Sunday school, or midweek Bible studies. Our
(15:27):
lives are so filled everyone has a plan for us.
It sometimes feel like everyone who has your email address
considers themselves your boss. There's plenty of anxiety and stress
and pressure that just flows through our lives, which is
why we need the study of scripture. It's why we
(15:51):
need to be able to pause and prayer as well
as what the Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing,
just to let our hearts be abounding in prayer and
our minds being constantly renewed by the scripture. There is
this moment that we all have when we think I
(16:12):
just can't do one more thing, and that leather bound
Bible looks like one more thing, and it looks intimidating
and it feels overwhelming. And I'll say, as a guy
who is the publisher of the Bible, there are times
when I want to say, yes, it does feel like
(16:33):
it's a bit more than I know what to do with.
It's a big book. It's larger than any book you'll
ever read, most likely, and it can feel like a lot.
But what I always have to turn my mind toward
is that the study of scripture, the reading of scripture,
the taking one psalm or one story of the life
(16:56):
of Jesus, or one prayer from the Old Testament, that
this is my get to and not my have to.
This is the blessing that cuts through the stress and
the anxiety of my life. This is the place where
God is supernaturally needing me in the moment where I
feel overwhelmed by the flood of responsibilities, of the fifty
(17:20):
five hour work week, of the financial pressures, of the
unexpected medical diagnosis, of the broken relationship, that when I
pick up the sacred Scripture, this is God knowing what
humanity is all about, and desiring to speak with me
(17:42):
so personally, so kindly, so clearly, and so even in
the midst of your stress and anxiety. It is the
place where we have to turn our minds and allow
the Holy Spirit to say, this is the place where
I want to meet you and care for you in
this moment of need, rather than oh, it's just one
(18:03):
more thing I got to check off my to do life.
There are some wonderful verses that, for whatever reason, God
was kind enough to make them land solidly in my
heart so that I carry them with me. The book
(18:23):
of the Bible that I most frequently recommend is one
that probably you would hear the same recommendation from a
lot of people, and it's the Gospel of John. For me,
it is the place where in those twenty one chapters
you come face to face with Jesus in both the
(18:44):
nature of his divinity and in just his very blunt humanity.
You get these intimate portraits of Jesus interacting with individuals,
and then the sweeping epic telling of the last week
of Jesus's life, his death by crucifixion, and his burial
(19:06):
his resurrection. I just love the Gospel of John for
so many different ways, from the individual verse that many
people have committed to memory of John three sixteen, to
the whole chapter of John seventeen, which is the prayer
of Jesus before he is arrested. Many people have called
(19:28):
it the high priestly prayer of Jesus. And so by
interacting with that book first, if you're going to come
into studying the Bible, it will set a foundation to
then help you see how the whole Bible is pointing
to Jesus. I think of another verse Hoseiah chapter fourteen,
(19:51):
verse four, where God says to the people of Israel,
and I feel like he says it to me. He says,
I will heal their waywardness and love them freely because
my anger has turned away from them. I just it
is the flood of grace that I need and I
need to be reminded of so often with whether or
(20:13):
not I am troubled, or whether or not I have
troubled myself by my own wayward actions, that God is
filled with such grace and mercy toward me. I carry
those dearly in my heart. Devotionals are just another way
that we get to walk alongside of each other, where
(20:34):
an author has pulled back the veil of his or
her heart to say, this is where God is taking
me in his word, this is what He's teaching me.
So I love the fact that we have these devotionals
from history, from hundreds of years back to the modern
day of devotionals like Jesus Calling, because it's a way
(20:56):
that an author has been able to say, let me
point you to some verses and then show you what
I've learned here, whether it is in the very unique
and kind of clever style of Jesus Calling to many others.
I love the fact that, especially with a devotional book
like Jesus, calling that on every page there is this
(21:18):
pointing back towards scripture, that the devotion itself is not
the end, but it's the entry point to be able
to go and reflect upon what God has said in
his word. I'm a huge proponent that there are times
when we run out of words, we don't know what
to say to God, we don't know what to think next,
(21:39):
and a devotional gives you that entry point once again
into the beautiful body of Christ. Of how others are
thinking deeply about the things of God. Jesus listens November
the eleventh, Beloved Jesus, because I am your follower, you
(22:01):
also speak my name in the depths of my spirit.
When I take time to hear you speaking to me
personally in scripture, reassuring me of your love, I am blessed.
I delight in these beautiful words of blessing. I called
you out of darkness into my marvelous light, and I
(22:23):
have loved you with an everlasting love. The unshakable knowledge
that you love me forever provides a firm foundation for
my life. Help me to follow you faithfully and joyfully,
proclaiming your praises as I journey through my life in
your magnificent name. Amen.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
To learn more about Philip Nation, please visit about me
slash Philip Nation, and be sure to check out his
books at your favorite retailer. If you'd like to hear
more stories about Hope, check out our interview with Lisa Harper.
Next time on the Jesus Calling podcast, we'll hear from
(23:09):
entrepreneur and author Ben Higgins, who you may recognize from
ABC's The Bachelor. Ben opens up about how he's turned
public fame into a platform for authentic connection and how
faith and generosity draw us back to the community we
were created for.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
I think it's the one calling that we sometimes forget
as humans, is we are called to support well each other.
And I also think we have a God of support, a.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
God that loves and that cares, and that when we're
at our lowest, doesn't want us to live at our lowest,
that wants to lift us up from the ashes and
say go and be fruitful, and be joyful, and go
and share with others.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Thanks for listening to the Jesus Calling Stories of Faith
podcast on the Life Audio Network. Every week, we'll bring
you stories from people who share their journeys of faith
and how prayer and a relationship with God transformed their lives.
Be sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or
wherever you listen to podcasts, and leave us a review
(24:16):
so others can be inspired weekly by these stories of faith. Finally,
you can find encouragement resources and more on the Jesus
Calling website at Jesus Calling dot com.
Life Audio. Did you know that Jesus Calling has its
own YouTube channel. It's full of great content that will
enhance your spiritual life. You'll find beautiful videos with short
devotional moments to help you through your day, as well
as stories on video from celebrities, authors, pastors, and everyday
people who share what their faith journey has meant to them.
(00:29):
You'll also find that Jesus Listens Stories of Prayer series
hosted by Susie McIntyre Eaton, featuring new guests monthly. Subscribe
today for new videos each week.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
People would say, how can we do that over and over?
You do it because the song is good and you
don't get tired of it. We love Christmas. I guess
that's our favorite, Hollie, because everybody gets together.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. First, we welcome a
music legend whose voice has becomes synonymous with the sounds
of the season. At just twelve years old, Brenda Lee
recorded Rocking Around the Christmas Tree. She shares memories of
recording in Nashville alongside country greats, her deep respect for
the team behind every hit, and the enduring value of
kindness in a competitive industry. Later in the episode, we'll
(01:23):
hear from pastor, author and publisher Philip Nation, who has
dedicated his career to making scripture accessible to readers everywhere.
Philip opens up about his desire to know and understand
God's word more fully. Let's begin with Brenda Lee's story.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Rocking around Christmas Tree and Christmas Body. Never in my
dreams did I think this would be my signature song. Never.
(02:01):
I'm one of those artists. It doesn't matter to me
if everybody in the room says, bringda, that's going to
be a hit. If I don't like it, I can't
do it. I just can't do it. And they say,
but you're a singer. I said, yeah, I am, but
I'm not a pretender. I knew in my heart that
(02:24):
I didn't love them enough to make them a hit,
So why take somebody's life work. Maybe that is the
secret of a writer, when they write a song like that,
you only have to write one if it gets big enough.
I credit Owen Bradley with choosing the right songs because
(02:47):
of're twelve years old. I didn't know. I just knew
I loved to sing and they were letting me. So
I was a happy camper. I was presenting with Triple
Platinum for Rocking. I shouldn't say I was shocked, but
I was shocked because it's just been out so long
and it's just amazing. But it's good, it was recorded good,
(03:10):
and it has great musicians on it. All the ingredients
are there. I'm so proud for the writer, Johnny Marks.
It's written some of the biggest Christmas songs ever, and
Owen and the musicians and the singers on it. They
need occurs and I'm just proud for all of them
because they're all part of it, and the fans, and
(03:33):
it all goes back to the song you should never
lose that. I'm not worried if it's going to be
number one, number ten, number two, I don't care. Just
so it comes out and people hear it. And I'm
such a fan of everybody, and I get a kick
out of the other artists that are on. I love
watching them. But I wonder to myself, well, I'll be
(03:54):
hearing this in thirty years. It was a team effort,
so if I had a hit, so did they, all
those wonderful people, and we just had a ball. The
pans that hut on sixteenth Avenue South in Nashville, where
I cut all my its. It's not there anymore. I
(04:16):
cried when they got rid of it, because so many
hits were recorded there by different people. Loretta lyn Me, Patsy,
Kitty Wells, and Owen recorded this allt Can you imagine
trying to choose songs for each artist? I don't know
I did it. Owen Bradley was a genius, and Selby
(04:38):
Kofeine the mixer, Owen's brother. And the musicians, my lord.
Not to say the musicians today are not great. They are,
but I would put I called them the A Team.
I would put the A Team up against anybody because
they could play anything. Any artists that came in never
(05:01):
sounded like the artists that just went out the door
traned off on sacks. Ain't Garland on guitar, Grady Martin
on guitar, Buddy Harmon on drums, Ford Kramer on piano,
Bobby Moore on base. The Needa curR sayers, you just
had the best of the best. My sessions were like
(05:22):
Ford Kramer may say, hey, I think this LIQ would
go great here. Grady Martin might say the same, Haint
Garland might boots, Bobby Moore, all of them. And they
didn't know they were good either. They just loved what
they were doing. And that's the difference in the business
to me today. I just loved Christmas. I really did,
(05:42):
because it was always family. And then I married, and
then I had another family. I had my husband's family,
our family, my family. It's always been a biggie for us.
We have a beautiful tree. Sometimes we have two. We
used to get a group together and I all go
caroll In at Christmas.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It was fun.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
We's had doors shutting our face everything. We'd be like, no, no,
we're here to Carol. We don't want anything, we just
want to care for you. Had my girls. The first
time somebody closed the door, they said, mal, they just
closed the door on you. We have flaughed so hard
sometimes and it was just so fun and sweet. I
(06:29):
try to tell the new artists that are coming up,
you don't do this by yourself. You may be the
greatest singer that ever walked the earth, but if you
don't conform and listen, it will still be a great singer.
But nobody don't know the love of the music and
the willingness to change if you have to. The willingness
(06:52):
to take directions and not say no. This is the
way I play, and a lot of artists don't realize that,
and they're not nice to people. My mama always told me,
don't forget your raising. If you don't make it on
your voice, you'll make it on your kindness. Be nice
(07:13):
site people, and do right. Goodness always wins out.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
To learn more about Brenda Lee, visit Brenda Leeofficial dot
com and find her albums wherever you get your music,
and be sure to check out the Rocking Around the
Christmas Tree book at your favorite retailer. Stay tuned to
Philip nations story after a brief message. These uncertain times
(07:47):
bring anxiety and fear, but Jesus Listens Prayers for Every
Season gives you daily prayers of comfort with seasonally inspired illustrations.
This beautiful book includes prayers that speak to your situation,
whether it's a time of stress or strength. Look for
Jesus Listens Prayers for Every Season wherever you buy books.
(08:13):
Our next guest is Philip Nation, a pastor, author and
Bible publisher whose life work is centered on helping others
fall in love with God's word. Philip has dedicated his
career to making scripture accessible and a lie for readers everywhere.
He shares how growing up in a home of faith
sparked a lifelong desire to understand God's word and how
it continues to bring peace and direction in every season.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
My name is Philip Nation, and the most important thing
about who I am in this season of life is
I'm a grandfather of God, a granddaughter and a grandson.
They're both toddlers. My wife and I and she we've
been married for thirty one years, and we've got two
sons that are both grown and both married. Over the
(08:59):
last almost six years now, I have been leading Bible
publishing for Thomas Nelson, which is a part of HarperCollins
Christian Publishing Division. My interest in the Bible, I have
that great testimony that it started early in life. I'll
say that really it's my mom, Delores Nation, who passed
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away a couple of decades ago, but I can still
see it in my mind's eye. I have it in
my home office. Her red leather King James Version Bible
was just very ever present in our home. I know
exactly where she kept it, with a spiral bound notebook
that she kept all of her prayer requests that she
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kept up with with people from our church family, and
so very early on in life, the Bible was just
ever present in our home because of my mother and
my father, so we went to church regularly. I came
to faith in Christ as a child and understood that
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the Bible is God telling us who He is. When
I think about the first copies of the Bible that
came into my life that had a real significance for
me carrying them around and using them, the first one
is one that now ironically, providentially wonderfully I'm now the
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publisher of it, and we call it the Jesus Seaside Bible.
I remember carrying that Bible with me to church. It
saved me. It felt like it saved my soul and
a lot of very long sermons from my pastor of
my home church in Birmingham. And I still have that
Bible on my bookshelf, and now it's one that Thomas
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Nelson Bibles. We are still publishing it these five decades later.
In terms of when I began to grow, the first
Bible that I really began to study with was one
that was given to me by my parents. It was
when I was about sixteen years old that I let
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them know that I felt like God was calling me
into the ministry and I didn't know what that meant.
And so through a lot of prayer and counsel with
my pastor, we figured that out. And my parents gave
me a Thompson Chain Reference study Bible, which was this
big thick It felt like this big, overwhelmingly sized Bible.
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But I remember learning how to use all of the
study tools inside of it, and how it guided me
to better understand the themes of the Bible and how
to actually go from one passage to another to see
how there's this one grand, coherent story and framework of
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doctrine that God was giving us through the scripture. And
again it's one that I still have to this day.
I still use it today, and just so thankful for
that first edition of the Bible that I was able
to really begin to dig in and study on my
own and become a self feeder. When I was that
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young man who felt called to ministry, we were going
to Sunday School. There were discipleship classes I was a
part of that were on the church campus on Sunday nights,
and there were special Bible studies on Wednesday nights. But
the Bible study. The relationship that meant the most to
me during those days and then has been replicated in
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other decades of my life was when there was one guy.
His name was Matthew. He was about eight years older
than me. He was a part time associate to the
youth minister at our church. He had a full time
job working in a machine shop. Matthew came alongside of
me and he said, I want to do for you
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what somebody did for me, and I want to offer
to disciple You and I would go to Matthew's house
every Thursday night. He was married, they had one small child,
and we would spend about two hours together, you know,
sitting around and talking and then him walking me through
passages of scripture and us praying together. And Matthew did
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that for three years of my life, and it made
all the difference in the world that there would be
one person who would just draw me into a close
friendship and help me just walk closer to Jesus. I'm
a huge proponent of studying the Bible with other people.
The story that I have been able to live out
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of being a part of the community of faith of
healthy congregations and strong Christian friendships. I just see the
benefit over and over and over again. And so I
think that walking alongside of other people in celebrations and
in painful times, and constantly looking to the Scripture to inform,
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to guide, to help you make decisions, to find hope
when times are dark, to be able to magnify your
joys when you're celebrating. To do that together is the
very nature of I think what we see of God
unfolding in the Bible is that he constantly is calling
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a people together to live by faith and to walk
through this world not as lone rangers and solitary believers,
but to do it together. And I do know and recognize,
even as someone who has served as a pastor, that
there are times, there are seasons of life where you
find yourself feeling whether it's you feel ostracized or you
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feel out of step and out of sync, there's still
important relationships that you can have. I think it's maybe
it's best to find your way into a congregation that's
got a strong, small group type of system, whether that's
typical Sunday morning, Sunday school, or midweek Bible studies. Our
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lives are so filled everyone has a plan for us.
It sometimes feel like everyone who has your email address
considers themselves your boss. There's plenty of anxiety and stress
and pressure that just flows through our lives, which is
why we need the study of scripture. It's why we
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need to be able to pause and prayer as well
as what the Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing,
just to let our hearts be abounding in prayer and
our minds being constantly renewed by the scripture. There is
this moment that we all have when we think I
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just can't do one more thing, and that leather bound
Bible looks like one more thing, and it looks intimidating
and it feels overwhelming. And I'll say, as a guy
who is the publisher of the Bible, there are times
when I want to say, yes, it does feel like
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it's a bit more than I know what to do with.
It's a big book. It's larger than any book you'll
ever read, most likely, and it can feel like a lot.
But what I always have to turn my mind toward
is that the study of scripture, the reading of scripture,
the taking one psalm or one story of the life
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of Jesus, or one prayer from the Old Testament, that
this is my get to and not my have to.
This is the blessing that cuts through the stress and
the anxiety of my life. This is the place where
God is supernaturally needing me in the moment where I
feel overwhelmed by the flood of responsibilities, of the fifty
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five hour work week, of the financial pressures, of the
unexpected medical diagnosis, of the broken relationship, that when I
pick up the sacred Scripture, this is God knowing what
humanity is all about, and desiring to speak with me
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so personally, so kindly, so clearly, and so even in
the midst of your stress and anxiety. It is the
place where we have to turn our minds and allow
the Holy Spirit to say, this is the place where
I want to meet you and care for you in
this moment of need, rather than oh, it's just one
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more thing I got to check off my to do life.
There are some wonderful verses that, for whatever reason, God
was kind enough to make them land solidly in my
heart so that I carry them with me. The book
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of the Bible that I most frequently recommend is one
that probably you would hear the same recommendation from a
lot of people, and it's the Gospel of John. For me,
it is the place where in those twenty one chapters
you come face to face with Jesus in both the
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nature of his divinity and in just his very blunt humanity.
You get these intimate portraits of Jesus interacting with individuals,
and then the sweeping epic telling of the last week
of Jesus's life, his death by crucifixion, and his burial
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his resurrection. I just love the Gospel of John for
so many different ways, from the individual verse that many
people have committed to memory of John three sixteen, to
the whole chapter of John seventeen, which is the prayer
of Jesus before he is arrested. Many people have called
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it the high priestly prayer of Jesus. And so by
interacting with that book first, if you're going to come
into studying the Bible, it will set a foundation to
then help you see how the whole Bible is pointing
to Jesus. I think of another verse Hoseiah chapter fourteen,
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verse four, where God says to the people of Israel,
and I feel like he says it to me. He says,
I will heal their waywardness and love them freely because
my anger has turned away from them. I just it
is the flood of grace that I need and I
need to be reminded of so often with whether or
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not I am troubled, or whether or not I have
troubled myself by my own wayward actions, that God is
filled with such grace and mercy toward me. I carry
those dearly in my heart. Devotionals are just another way
that we get to walk alongside of each other, where
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an author has pulled back the veil of his or
her heart to say, this is where God is taking
me in his word, this is what He's teaching me.
So I love the fact that we have these devotionals
from history, from hundreds of years back to the modern
day of devotionals like Jesus Calling, because it's a way
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that an author has been able to say, let me
point you to some verses and then show you what
I've learned here, whether it is in the very unique
and kind of clever style of Jesus Calling to many others.
I love the fact that, especially with a devotional book
like Jesus, calling that on every page there is this
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pointing back towards scripture, that the devotion itself is not
the end, but it's the entry point to be able
to go and reflect upon what God has said in
his word. I'm a huge proponent that there are times
when we run out of words, we don't know what
to say to God, we don't know what to think next,
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and a devotional gives you that entry point once again
into the beautiful body of Christ. Of how others are
thinking deeply about the things of God. Jesus listens November
the eleventh, Beloved Jesus, because I am your follower, you
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also speak my name in the depths of my spirit.
When I take time to hear you speaking to me
personally in scripture, reassuring me of your love, I am blessed.
I delight in these beautiful words of blessing. I called
you out of darkness into my marvelous light, and I
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have loved you with an everlasting love. The unshakable knowledge
that you love me forever provides a firm foundation for
my life. Help me to follow you faithfully and joyfully,
proclaiming your praises as I journey through my life in
your magnificent name. Amen.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
To learn more about Philip Nation, please visit about me
slash Philip Nation, and be sure to check out his
books at your favorite retailer. If you'd like to hear
more stories about Hope, check out our interview with Lisa Harper.
Next time on the Jesus Calling podcast, we'll hear from
(23:09):
entrepreneur and author Ben Higgins, who you may recognize from
ABC's The Bachelor. Ben opens up about how he's turned
public fame into a platform for authentic connection and how
faith and generosity draw us back to the community we
were created for.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
I think it's the one calling that we sometimes forget
as humans, is we are called to support well each other.
And I also think we have a God of support, a.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
God that loves and that cares, and that when we're
at our lowest, doesn't want us to live at our lowest,
that wants to lift us up from the ashes and
say go and be fruitful, and be joyful, and go
and share with others.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Thanks for listening to the Jesus Calling Stories of Faith
podcast on the Life Audio Network. Every week, we'll bring
you stories from people who share their journeys of faith
and how prayer and a relationship with God transformed their lives.
Be sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or
wherever you listen to podcasts, and leave us a review
(24:16):
so others can be inspired weekly by these stories of faith. Finally,
you can find encouragement resources and more on the Jesus
Calling website at Jesus Calling dot com.
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