Note from the Producers: Thank you for listening to The Wholehearted Households Podcast! After this week, we’ll be taking a break from our regular release schedule, but please stay tuned for future episodes!

You might notice this episode isn't following exact canonical order! Each episode on the Minor Prophets will focus on two to three prophets and are grouped by theme instead.

What do Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi have to do with everyday family discipleship?

In this week’s episode of The Wholehearted Households Podcast, host Alex Blount introduces us to the books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, reflecting on how imagination can help express our deep longings.

Our Bible spotlight focuses on how the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi spoke to God’s people post-exile, and how they emphasized God’s sovereignty, the rebuilding of the Second Temple, Judah’s need for repentance, and God’s plans for future restoration.

Then, our discipleship nugget equips you to teach your family about the difficulty of waiting, connecting this to how the Israelites must have felt as they waited for the Messiah, and how we can wait with eager hope for the return of Jesus.

Finally, our spiritual practice invites you to reflect on the prophets’ yearning for God’s restoration and reconciliation, and to prayerfully imagine what God’s promises of a reconciled and restored world might look like.

Wherever you listen, may you and your family be blessed by this episode as you seek to follow Jesus with your whole heart.

The Wholehearted Households Podcast is a production of InterVarsity Press (IVP) and made possible by the generous support of the Lilly Endowment. Discover more great listens from IVP on our website or on YouTube.

To reach the IVP podcast team, please use this form.

Resources from the episode

This week’s Bible spotlight is adapted from the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi by Andrew E. Hill.

The prayers from this week’s discipleship nugget come from Little Prayers for Ordinary Days by Katy Bowser Hutson, Flo Paris Oakes, and Tish Harrison Warren, and Prayers for the Pilgrimage: A Book of Collects for All of Life by W. David O. Taylor.

This week’s spiritual practice is adapted from Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide for Your Child’s Spiritual Formation by Jared Patrick Boyd.

Credits

✅ Special offer: Visit ivpress.com and use the code IVPWHP for 40% off and free US shipping on any IVP resource mentioned in this episode.

✅ Producers: Kaitlin Borek, Abby Lee, Karen Savella Stallard, and Travis Albritton

✅ Assistant Producer: Christine Pelliccio Melo

✅ Hosts: Alex Blount and Helen Lee

✅ Narrators: Kaitlin Borek, Jack Reece, and Karen Savella Stallard

✅ Sound Engineering: Honest Podcasts

✅ Social Media Manager: Makayla Payne

✅ Podcast Art: Amy Cerra

✅ Theme Song: “Elegant Flight” by Sounds Like Sanders and “Birdhouse” by EVOE

Disclaimer: The comments, views, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the hosts/authors featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of InterVarsity Press or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Note from the Producers: You might notice this episode isn't following exact canonical order! Each episode on the Minor Prophets will focus on two to three prophets and are grouped by theme instead.

What do Jonah, Nahum, and Obadiah have to do with everyday family discipleship?

In this week’s episode of The Wholehearted Households Podcast, host Helen Lee introduces us to the books of Jonah, Nahum, and Obadiah, reflecting on how God is able to hold multiple seemingly contradictory approaches toward humanity together in a way that’s entirely consistent with His heart.

Our Bible spotlight focuses on Jonah, Nahum, and Obadiah’s accounts of foreign nations, illustrating how God both protects His chosen people and has great compassion for the outsider.

Then, our discipleship nugget equips you to play out the story of Jonah with your family and to discuss how we never have to hide from God. You and your family will then be invited into a time of prayer journaling as a way to experience God’s desire to be near to each of you.

Finally, our spiritual practice invites you into a time of prayer, where we can ask God for deliverance from oppression and injustice, and seek to align our hearts more toward His.

Wherever you listen, may you and your family be blessed by this episode as you seek to follow Jesus with your whole heart.

The Wholehearted Households Podcast is a production of InterVarsity Press (IVP) and made possible by the generous support of the Lilly Endowment. Discover more great listens from IVP on our website or on YouTube.

To reach the IVP podcast team, please use this form.

Resources from the episode

This week’s Bible spotlight is adapted from The Message of Obadiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah by Gordon Bridger, Never Beyond Hope by J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom, and Jonah, Joel & Amos by Doug Haugen and Doris Haugen.

Note: In the episode, we accidentally said “The Message of Obadiah, Nahum, and Zechariah.” It should be “Zephaniah,” not “Zechariah.”

This week’s discipleship nugget is adapted from Teach Your Children Well: A Step-by-Step Guide for Family Discipleship by Sarah Cowan Johnson.

This week’s spiritual practice is adapted from Prayers for the Pilgrimage: A Book of Collects for All of Life by W. David O. Taylor

“For Juneteenth”

O Lord, you who set the oppressed free, increase in us a love of justice this day, we pray, that we might love it as you love it, upholding the cause of the poor, defending the week, rescuing the needy, and speaking out for the oppressed, no matter what the cost, so that we might gladly fulfill the law of love. We pray this in the liberating name of Jesus. Amen.

Credits

✅ Special offer: Visit ivpress.com and use the code IVPWHP for 40% off and free US shipping on any IVP resource mentioned in this episode.

✅ Producers: Kaitlin Borek, Abby Lee, Karen Savella Stallard, and Travis Albritton

✅ Assistant Producer: Christine Pelliccio Melo

✅ Hosts: Alex Blount and Helen Lee

✅ Narrators: Kaitlin Borek, Jack Reece, and Karen Savella Stallard

✅ Sound Engineering: Honest Podcasts

✅ Social Media Manager: Makayla Payne

✅ Podcast Art: Amy Cerra

✅ Theme Song: “Elegant Flight” by Sounds Like Sanders and “Birdhouse” by EVOE

Disclaimer: The comments, views, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the hosts/authors featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of InterVarsity Press or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Note from the Producers: You might notice this episode isn't following exact canonical order! Each episode on the Minor Prophets will focus on two to three prophets and are grouped by theme instead.

What do Zephaniah and Habakkuk have to do with everyday family discipleship?

In this week’s episode of The Wholehearted Households Podcast, host Alex Blount introduces us to the books of Zephaniah and Habakkuk, reflecting on how lament works as a bridge between the grief around us and the promises of a loving God.

Our Bible spotlight focuses on Zephaniah’s and Habakkuk’s prophecies during the final decades of Judah, offering messages of judgment, lament, and hope.

Then, our discipleship nugget equips you to lead your family in a “tearing practice,” ripping paper or cloth as an embodied way to practice lament.

Finally, our spiritual practice invites you to experience the “tearing practice” on your own, taking a moment to offer your prayers of lament to the God who loves you.

Wherever you listen, may you and your family be blessed by this episode as you seek to follow Jesus with your whole heart.

The Wholehearted Households Podcast is a production of InterVarsity Press (IVP) and made possible by the generous support of the Lilly Endowment. Discover more great listens from IVP on our website or on YouTube.

To reach the IVP podcast team, please use this form.

Resources from the episode

This week’s Bible spotlight is adapted from The Message of Obadiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah by Gordon Bridger and Walking with God Through the Valley: Recovering the Purpose of Biblical Lament by May Young.

This week’s discipleship nugget and spiritual practice are adapted from Hopeful Lament: Tending Our Grief Through Spiritual Practices by Terra McDaniel.

Credits

✅ Special offer: Visit ivpress.com and use the code IVPWHP for 40% off and free US shipping on any IVP resource mentioned in this episode.

✅ Producers: Kaitlin Borek, Abby Lee, Karen Savella Stallard, and Travis Albritton

✅ Assistant Producer: Christine Pelliccio Melo

✅ Hosts: Alex Blount and Helen Lee

✅ Narrators: Kaitlin Borek, Jack Reece, and Karen Savella Stallard

✅ Sound Engineering: Honest Podcasts

✅ Social Media Manager: Makayla Payne

✅ Podcast Art: Amy Cerra

✅ Theme Song: “Elegant Flight” by Sounds Like Sanders and “Birdhouse” by EVOE

Disclaimer: The comments, views, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the hosts/authors featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of InterVarsity Press or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.