Max Lucado Daily: OUR JOB IS TO BELIEVE - October 12, 2026
Believe in the Jesus who believes in you. He believes that you can rise up, take up, and move on. You’re stronger than you think. “’I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).
He certainly gave a bright future to the Bethesda beggar. “And immediately the man was made well” (John 5:9 NKJV). Jesus did nothing but speak, and the miracle was accomplished.
What will God do for you? I cannot say. God’s help, while ever present, is ever specific. It is not ours to say what God will do. Our job is to believe he will do something. It simply falls to us to stand up, to take up, and walk. Remember friends, you are never alone.
You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence & Power
Acts 5:1-21
Ananias and Sapphira
1–2 5 But a man named Ananias—his wife, Sapphira, conniving in this with him—sold a piece of land, secretly kept part of the price for himself, and then brought the rest to the apostles and made an offering of it.
3–4 Peter said, “Ananias, how did Satan get you to lie to the Holy Spirit and secretly keep back part of the price of the field? Before you sold it, it was all yours, and after you sold it, the money was yours to do with as you wished. So what got into you to pull a trick like this? You didn’t lie to men but to God.”
5–6 Ananias, when he heard those words, fell down dead. That put the fear of God into everyone who heard of it. The younger men went right to work and wrapped him up, then carried him out and buried him.
7–8 Not more than three hours later, his wife, knowing nothing of what had happened, came in. Peter said, “Tell me, were you given this price for your field?”
“Yes,” she said, “that price.”
9–10 Peter responded, “What’s going on here that you connived to conspire against the Spirit of the Master? The men who buried your husband are at the door, and you’re next.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than she also fell down, dead. When the young men returned they found her body. They carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
11 By this time the whole church and, in fact, everyone who heard of these things had a healthy respect for God. They knew God was not to be trifled with.
They All Met Regularly
12–16 Through the work of the apostles, many God-signs were set up among the people, many wonderful things done. They all met regularly and in remarkable harmony on the Temple porch named after Solomon. But even though people admired them a lot, outsiders were wary about joining them. On the other hand, those who put their trust in the Master were added right and left, men and women both. They even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on stretchers and bedrolls, hoping they would be touched by Peter’s shadow when he walked by. They came from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, throngs of them, bringing the sick and bedeviled. And they all were healed.
To Obey God Rather than Men
17–20 Provoked mightily by all this, the Chief Priest and those on his side, mainly the sect of Sadducees, went into action, arrested the apostles and put them in the town jail. But during the night an angel of God opened the jailhouse door and led them out. He said, “Go to the Temple and take your stand. Tell the people everything there is to say about this Life.”
Promptly obedient, they entered the Temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.
21–23 Meanwhile, the Chief Priest and his cronies convened the High Council, Israel’s senate, and sent to the jail to have the prisoners brought in.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 12, 2026
by Mike Wittmer
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Deuteronomy 8:10-18
After a meal, satisfied, bless God, your God, for the good land he has given you.
11–16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,
the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness,
those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.
17–18 If you start thinking to yourselves, “I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!”—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.
Today's Insights
“Remembering” is a surprisingly central theme in Scripture. The Israelites were to remember God’s faithfulness in the past since it would serve as the basis for trusting His future faithfulness (Deuteronomy 8:10-18). More than simple recollection, biblical remembering involves active obedience. Our unfaithfulness is how we “forget” His faithfulness (vv. 11, 14). Thankfully, even when we do forget, God always “remembers” His promises to His loved ones. The prophet Isaiah reminds God’s people: “Remember these things, Jacob, for you, Israel, are my servant. I have made you, you are my servant; Israel, I will not forget you” (Isaiah 44:21). Today, as we reflect on God’s faithfulness, we can respond in praise.
For further study, read: Genesis to Revelation
What God Has Done
Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands. Deuteronomy 8:11
Dan Wallace teaches Greek and travels the world cataloguing ancient manuscripts. At the height of his career, he caught encephalitis, a disease that causes the brain to swell. Dan spent the next year in a wheelchair, traveling to five hospitals and the Mayo Clinic. He survived, though he lost most of his memory, including his knowledge of foreign languages. Yet he persisted and returned to the classroom. Dan says, “I had to relearn Greek, and I taught myself Greek using the textbook that I myself had published the year before!”
It’s strange to learn Greek from yourself, but it’s not unusual to learn the same truths over again. This is why God gave us Deuteronomy. Its name means “second law,” a fitting title for a book that reviews the laws and commands given by God in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy gives the Ten Commandments again (ch. 5) and repeatedly urges God’s people to remember how He delivered them from Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and brought them to the promised land. They needed to remember their salvation story, lest their success might make them proud and they’d “forget the Lord . . . [their] God, who brought [them] out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (8:14).
What wilderness has God brought you out of? How has He provided for you? When we pause to think, we have ample reason to thank and praise Him—again and again.
Reflect & Pray
Why is it important to rehearse the Bible’s stories and instructions? What other practices help you to celebrate your salvation?
Dear Jesus, please help me to remember Your story.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 12, 2026
Getting into God’s Stride
Enoch walked faithfully with God. — Genesis 5:24
The test of my religious character isn’t what I do in exceptional moments; it’s what I do when nothing tremendous or exciting is happening. My worth to God is revealed in my attitude to ordinary things, when I’m out of the spotlight. Am I able to walk faithfully with him then?
It’s a painful thing to learn to walk faithfully with God. It requires getting our second wind spiritually, because before we’ve taken three steps we find that God has outpaced us. God has a different way of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined into his ways before we can keep up. When we do manage to get into God’s stride, the only characteristic that manifests itself in our life is his life. Our individual person is lost in union with him; his power alone is evident.
In the book of Isaiah, it was prophesied that Jesus would “not falter or be discouraged” (42:4). Jesus was able to keep pace with his Father because he never approached things from his own viewpoint, only from God’s. We have to learn to do the same, and the way we learn is by soaking in spiritual truth. Spiritual truth is learned by atmosphere, not by intellectual reasoning. God’s Spirit alters the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and things that were never before possible begin to be possible. We begin to see from God’s viewpoint, to understand his ways, and to fall into his stride.
Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give in, even if the pain is bad just now. Get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a new purpose.
Isaiah 39-40; Colossians 4
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples.
Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 12, 2026
Seeking But Not Finding - #10371
Scripture: Mark 12:34
This grandparent thing can be an expensive proposition. I mean, without grandchildren, you can walk past hundreds of cute toys and never miss a step. But when you have a grandchild, you keep seeing your grandchild's name on those toys. Which means you must buy the toy with their name on it. Right? Well, not all of them, but probably too many of them. We happened to be in a store with our little granddaughter when she was about one year old, and I happened to see this great stick horse that I thought would be entertaining for another grandchild. That would be our nearly three-year-old grandson at the time. When you squeeze the ear of the head of this horse, the William Tell Overture (otherwise known to us non-intellectuals as the "Lone Ranger Theme”) starts playing, and the horse starts whinnying and snorting, and its nose starts twitching back and forth inside its halter. Well, I walked up to the grocery cart that our one-year-old granddaughter was riding in, and I turned it on for her to see. Her reaction was interesting. She reached in the direction of that twitching steed, wanting me to bring it closer. So I did. But as I brought it near her, she pulled as far back as she could, laying her head against her mother's shoulder. So much for my field test.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeking But Not Finding."
Our little granddaughter wanted to check out what I had, but she didn't want it to get too close. Curious, but keeping her distance. Just like a lot of us spiritual seekers do with Jesus.
Oh, you may consider yourself a spiritual seeker - which, by the way, is a wise thing to be. You've seen that our soul can never be satisfied by just earth-stuff. You know it must be something spiritual that will give life real meaning, right, and give your heart real peace. There are many possibilities to sample on the spiritual buffet we have today, but one possibility that's hard to overlook is Jesus Christ. He's so compelling, so dominating, virtually every world religion has an honored place for Him.
You're willing to check out Jesus. You may have even been around Jesus much of your life. Maybe you know a lot about Jesus. You like Jesus. You agree with Jesus. But maybe like our granddaughter with that toy, you've basically said to Him, "You can get this close, but no closer." Oh, you like having Him around, but when it comes to responding to His claims on your life, that's where you draw the line.
Jesus met a man like that. The man demonstrated a strong interest in Jesus and a lot of insight into His teachings. Jesus described him this way in Mark 12:34, our word for today from the Word of God: "You are not far from the kingdom of God." I wonder if Jesus might be saying that to you: "You're so close to belonging to Me. You're not far, but you're not in." See, close doesn't count when it comes to knowing Jesus. Close doesn't count on the day you die. You can be close to heaven, but not in. And that's still hell.
You've let Jesus be near you, but maybe you've never invited Him into your heart. You've never told Him that you're pinning all your hopes on Him and His death on the cross for your sins and His resurrection from the dead. It would be the ultimate tragedy of your life if you got so close to Jesus and missed Him.
This time, don't pull back. This time, reach out for Him until He's yours. He is, in fact, reaching for you right now and He’s planting in you the desire to belong to Him. Why not give yourself to Him while the opportunity is there? You’ll never experience what Jesus can do in a life until He's in your life. If you're ready to step across the line into Jesus' arms, tell Him that right where you are.
I think maybe a visit to our website might help you to just kind of be sure you have nailed this down and that He is yours for real today. That website is ANewStory.com.
See, being around Jesus will never give you answers, it will never give you heaven. It's all about belonging to Jesus, and you can belong to Him this very day.
