# Philippians — A Devotional Study

A personal, verse-by-verse devotional study of Paul's letter to the Philippians. The goal is not academic exegesis or teaching prep, but **devotional growth** — letting the letter's themes (joy in suffering, the mind of Christ, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, contentment in every circumstance) reshape everyday life.

This workspace is a *teaching workspace*: an AI agent acts as a personal tutor, building short, daily lessons tailored to where you are in the letter and what you already know. The full design lives in [`MISSION.md`](./MISSION.md).

---

## Why this exists

I know the famous passages (Phil 4:13, 4:6-7) but not the *flow* of the whole letter. This study fills in the structure and anchors those well-known verses back into their context, so the book becomes something I can read devotionally and confidently on my own.

Success looks like:
- Articulating what each of the four chapters is *doing* and how they connect.
- Internalizing the core themes in a way that changes thought and action.
- Building a long-term, daily rhythm of engaging the letter.

---

## How it works

Each session the agent picks the next thing to learn — the passage or concept closest to my current edge (the *zone of proximal development*) — and produces a single self-contained lesson: knowledge first, then an interactive task to make it stick. Lessons build **long-term retention** through retrieval practice and spacing rather than quick re-reading.

Three pillars, drawn from the `teach` skill:

- **Knowledge** — gathered from high-trust sources, cited in every lesson.
- **Skills** — practiced through short interactive lessons with immediate feedback.
- **Wisdom** — eventually tested in a real community (small group, church, etc.).

---

## Source materials

Two trusted texts already live in this workspace and feed every lesson:

| File | Source | Use |
|------|--------|-----|
| [`Philippians.md`](./Philippians.md) | Adrian Rogers sermon transcripts (28 sermons, Love Worth Finding) | Vivid, application-heavy exposition of individual passages |
| [`philippians_and_colossians.md`](./philippians_and_colossians.md) | David Murray, *Philippians and Colossians* (StoryChanger, 2023) | The day-by-day devotional spine — only the Philippians portion is used |

Online commentaries and orientation resources are catalogued in [`RESOURCES.md`](./RESOURCES.md).

---

## Workspace layout

```
.
├── MISSION.md              # The "why" — grounds every lesson
├── NOTES.md                # Preferences, design notes, verified facts to cite
├── RESOURCES.md            # Catalogue of trusted resources + gaps
├── README.md               # This file
│
├── lessons/                # One self-contained HTML lesson per concept
│   ├── 0001-the-letter-behind-the-joy.html
│   └── 0002-grace-and-peace.html
│
├── reference/              # Compressed knowledge — re-read often
│   ├── glossary.html
│   └── philippians-at-a-glance.html
│
├── learning-records/       # What I've learned & key insights (like ADRs)
│   ├── 0001-mission-and-starting-point.md
│   └── 0002-lesson-2-greeting-grace-and-peace.md
│
└── assets/                 # Reusable components shared across lessons
    ├── lesson.css          # Shared stylesheet (clean, Tufte-style)
    └── quiz.js             # Quiz widget for retrieval practice
```

**Lessons** (`lessons/`) are the primary unit of teaching — short, beautiful, single-concept HTML files you return to. They link to each other and to the reference docs.

**Reference documents** (`reference/`) are the compressed essence of the study — glossaries, at-a-glance overviews — designed for quick lookup. These get re-read far more often than lessons.

**Learning records** (`learning-records/`) capture non-obvious lessons and key insights, like architectural decision records. They let the agent track progress and decide what to teach next.

**Assets** (`assets/`) are reusable components. Lessons link the shared stylesheet so the whole study reads as one consistent course.

---

## How to use it

Open a lesson in `lessons/` in your browser, or just ask the agent to teach you the next thing. The agent will:

1. Check [`MISSION.md`](./MISSION.md) and [`NOTES.md`](./NOTES.md) for direction.
2. Read the [`learning-records/`](./learning-records/) to see where you are.
3. Produce the next lesson at your edge — and save it to `lessons/`.

Each lesson ends with an invitation to ask follow-up questions. The agent is your teacher — anything unclear, ask.

---

## Out of scope

- Scholarly Greek exegesis beyond what illuminates devotion.
- Colossians (the Murray book covers both; we focus on Philippians).
- Sermon or teaching preparation.
- Writing a devotional for others.