Max Lucado Daily: He is Preparing a Place
God's purpose from all eternity is to prepare a family to indwell the kingdom of God. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).
God's plotting for our good. In all the setbacks, He is ordaining the best for our future. Every event of our day is designed to draw us toward our God and our destiny. When people junk you in the pit, God can use it for good. When family members sell you out, God will recycle the pain. Falsely accused? Utterly abandoned? You may stumble but you will not fall. You will get through this!
Not because you are strong, but because God is. Not because you are big, but because God is. Not because you're good, but because God is. He has a place prepared for you!
From You'll Get Through This
Song of Solomon 2
I’m just a wildflower picked from the plains of Sharon,
a lotus blossom from the valley pools.
The Man
2A lotus blossoming in a swamp of weeds—
that’s my dear friend among the girls in the village.
The Woman
3–4As an apricot tree stands out in the forest,
my lover stands above the young men in town.
All I want is to sit in his shade,
to taste and savor his delicious love.
He took me home with him for a festive meal,
but his eyes feasted on me!
5–6Oh! Give me something refreshing to eat—and quickly!
Apricots, raisins—anything. I’m about to faint with love!
His left hand cradles my head,
and his right arm encircles my waist!
7Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem,
by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer:
Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,
until the time is ripe—and you’re ready.
8–10Look! Listen! There’s my lover!
Do you see him coming?
Vaulting the mountains,
leaping the hills.
My lover is like a gazelle, graceful;
like a young stag, virile.
Look at him there, on tiptoe at the gate,
all ears, all eyes—ready!
My lover has arrived
and he’s speaking to me!
The Man
10–14Get up, my dear friend,
fair and beautiful lover—come to me!
Look around you: Winter is over;
the winter rains are over, gone!
Spring flowers are in blossom all over.
The whole world’s a choir—and singing!
Spring warblers are filling the forest
with sweet arpeggios.
Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed,
and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms.
Oh, get up, dear friend,
my fair and beautiful lover—come to me!
Come, my shy and modest dove—
leave your seclusion, come out in the open.
Let me see your face,
let me hear your voice.
For your voice is soothing
and your face is ravishing.
The Woman
15Then you must protect me from the foxes,
foxes on the prowl,
Foxes who would like nothing better
than to get into our flowering garden.
16–17My lover is mine, and I am his.
Nightly he strolls in our garden,
Delighting in the flowers
until dawn breathes its light and night slips away.
Turn to me, dear lover.
Come like a gazelle.
Leap like a wild stag
on delectable mountains!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 18, 2026
by John Blase
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Matthew 4:18-22
Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.
21–22A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father.
Today's Insights
The account of Jesus calling His disciples to “fish for people” (Matthew 4:19) strongly emphasizes the force of Christ’s call on their lives. Typically, someone who wanted to study under a rabbi would make the decision to approach the rabbi about being a disciple. But Jesus is the one who approached His disciples and commanded them to follow Him. Immediately after the description of Christ calling His first disciples, we’re told of His healing ministry (vv. 23-25). His healing actions revealed that He was bringing God’s kingdom (v. 17) down to earth in a powerful way—and He’d chosen the disciples to be part of that mission. Those called by Jesus immediately left fishing—their livelihood—as well as their families (v. 22) to devote all of themselves to living out the mission of reaching those who need God. Today, as well, God has called us to share the gospel with others.
For further study, read: Waiting on God's Rescue
Fishers of Sheep
I will send you out to fish for people. Matthew 4:19
It was one of those videos that makes you stop and do a double take—Yemeni fishermen frantically rescuing hundreds of sheep from the Red Sea. A ship carrying thousands of sheep had run aground off the coast of Ras Al-Ara, Yemen. The vessel was headed for Djibouti when it capsized, leading to the drowning of more than 160 sheep. However, many were saved due to the combined efforts of a group of fishermen who found themselves, well, fishing for sheep.
Isaiah’s words came to mind when I first saw that image: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray” (53:6). In the same moment, perhaps reflecting the way the Old and New Testaments beautifully work in tandem, Jesus’ invitation to His first disciples surfaced from my memory. Matthew’s gospel records His invitation as He walked beside the Sea of Galilee: “ ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people’ ” (4:19).
For those of us intent on being Jesus’ disciples today, that same invitation is offered. Jesus calls us to fish for people. And why? People—and that means all of us—are like sheep who have strayed from God’s ways and will and words. We need rescue. Being introduced to the Savior can take place by way of His disciples. In His beautiful way, Jesus makes us—His sheep—fishers of other sheep.
Reflect & Pray
Who in your vicinity is like a drowning sheep? What part can you play in their rescue?
Dear God, please make me a fisher of sheep.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 18, 2026
The Key to the Missionary’s Devotion
It was for the sake of the Name that they went out. — 3 John 1:7
Our Lord has told us how our love for him should manifest itself: “Do you love me?” he asks. “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Our Lord is saying, “Identify yourself with my interests in other people,” not “Identify me with your interests in other people.” This kind of love has a specific character. It’s defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8: “Love is patient, love is kind . . .” It is the love of God expressing itself. Other expressions of love are merely sentimental. The love of God is able to stand up to the most practical tests.
“It was for the sake of the Name that they went out.” The Holy Spirit fills my heart with the love of God and sends that love through me to everyone I meet. It enables me to remain loyal to the Name, even though every commonsense fact declares that Jesus Christ has no more power than the morning mist. This loyalty is the supernatural work of redemption, worked in me by the Holy Spirit.
The key to the missionary’s devotion is being attached to nothing and no one except our Lord himself. This doesn’t mean being separated from the outside world; our Lord was always in the world, among ordinary people and things. His detachment was entirely on the inside, where he was attached only to God. Avoiding the world is often a sign of a secret, inner attachment to the very things we’re setting out to avoid. The missionary has no such attachments. His or her soul is kept concentratedly open to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. The men and women our Lord chooses to send out as his missionaries, though they are made of ordinary human stuff, have a dominating devotion to him, formed by the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 53-55; 2 Thessalonians 1
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.”
Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
