Leviticus 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: SATAN’S ARSENAL OF UNTRUTHS - September 16, 2025

Satan connives, plots, and deploys tactics. He has a strategy – that’s cause for concern. He is predictable – that is reason for hope. The devil, while potent, is a rotten chess player. He signals his moves in advance. He runs the same play over and over. And since we know it, we can defend against it.

Satan always starts with an untruth. It might be a blatant lie or simply an inaccurate assumption. Either way, it is untrue. Do you remember his words to Eve? “Did God really say, ‘You may not eat from any tree in the garden’?…God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1,5 NIV).

Satan’s greatest weapon is his arsenal of untruths. Be on alert for those lies that he is telling you.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Leviticus 26

“Don’t make idols for yourselves; don’t set up an image or a sacred pillar for yourselves, and don’t place a carved stone in your land that you can bow down to in worship. I am God, your God.

2  “Keep my Sabbaths; treat my Sanctuary with reverence. I am God.

“If You Live by My Decrees …”

3–5  “If you live by my decrees and obediently keep my commandments, I will send the rains in their seasons, the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. You will thresh until the grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting time; you’ll have more than enough to eat and will live safe and secure in your land.

6–10  “I’ll make the country a place of peace—you’ll be able to go to sleep at night without fear; I’ll get rid of the wild beasts; I’ll eliminate war. You’ll chase out your enemies and defeat them: Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and do away with them. I’ll give you my full attention: I’ll make sure you prosper, make sure you grow in numbers, and keep my covenant with you in good working order. You’ll still be eating from last year’s harvest when you have to clean out the barns to make room for the new crops.

11–13  “I’ll set up my residence in your neighborhood; I won’t avoid or shun you; I’ll stroll through your streets. I’ll be your God; you’ll be my people. I am God, your personal God who rescued you from Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I ripped off the harness of your slavery so that you can move about freely.

“But If You Refuse to Obey Me …”

14–17  “But if you refuse to obey me and won’t observe my commandments, despising my decrees and holding my laws in contempt by your disobedience, making a shambles of my covenant, I’ll step in and pour on the trouble: debilitating disease, high fevers, blindness, your life leaking out bit by bit. You’ll plant seed but your enemies will eat the crops. I’ll turn my back on you and stand by while your enemies defeat you. People who hate you will govern you. You’ll run scared even when there’s no one chasing you.

18–20  “And if none of this works in getting your attention, I’ll discipline you seven times over for your sins. I’ll break your strong pride: I’ll make the skies above you like a sheet of tin and the ground under you like cast iron. No matter how hard you work, nothing will come of it: No crops out of the ground, no fruit off the trees.

21–22  “If you defy me and refuse to listen, your punishment will be seven times more than your sins: I’ll set wild animals on you; they’ll rob you of your children, kill your cattle, and decimate your numbers until you’ll think you are living in a ghost town.

23–26  “And if even this doesn’t work and you refuse my discipline and continue your defiance, then it will be my turn to defy you. I, yes I, will punish you for your sins seven times over: I’ll let war loose on you, avenging your breaking of the covenant; when you huddle in your cities for protection, I’ll send a deadly epidemic on you and you’ll be helpless before your enemies; when I cut off your bread supply, ten women will bake bread in one oven and ration it out. You’ll eat, but barely—no one will get enough.

27–35  “And if this—even this!—doesn’t work and you still won’t listen, still defy me, I’ll have had enough and in hot anger will defy you, punishing you for your sins seven times over: famine will be so severe that you’ll end up cooking and eating your sons in stews and your daughters in barbecues; I’ll smash your sex-and-religion shrines and all the paraphernalia that goes with them, and then stack your corpses and the idol-corpses in the same piles—I’ll abhor you; I’ll turn your cities into rubble; I’ll clean out your sanctuaries; I’ll hold my nose at the “pleasing aroma” of your sacrifices. I’ll turn your land into a lifeless moonscape—your enemies who come in to take over will be shocked at what they see. I’ll scatter you all over the world and keep after you with the point of my sword in your backs. There’ll be nothing left in your land, nothing going on in your cities. With you gone and dispersed in the countries of your enemies, the land, empty of you, will finally get a break and enjoy its Sabbath years. All the time it’s left there empty, the land will get rest, the Sabbaths it never got when you lived there.

36–39  “As for those among you still alive, I’ll give them over to fearful timidity—even the rustle of a leaf will throw them into a panic. They’ll run here and there, back and forth, as if running for their lives even though no one is after them, tripping and falling over one another in total confusion. You won’t stand a chance against an enemy. You’ll perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will eat you up. Any who are left will slowly rot away in the enemy lands. Rot. And all because of their sins, their sins compounded by their ancestors’ sins.

“On the Other Hand, If They Confess …”

40–42  “On the other hand, if they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, their treacherous betrayal, the defiance that set off my defiance that sent them off into enemy lands; if by some chance they soften their hard hearts and make amends for their sin, I’ll remember my covenant with Jacob, I’ll remember my covenant with Isaac, and, yes, I’ll remember my covenant with Abraham. And I’ll remember the land.

43–45  “The land will be empty of them and enjoy its Sabbaths while they’re gone. They’ll pay for their sins because they refused my laws and treated my decrees with contempt. But in spite of their behavior, while they are among their enemies I won’t reject or abhor or destroy them completely. I won’t break my covenant with them: I am God, their God. For their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I, with all the nations watching, brought out of Egypt in order to be their God. I am God.”

46  These are the decrees, laws, and instructions that God established between himself and the People of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

by Winn Collier

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Romans 12:14-21

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

17–19  Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

20–21  Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Today's Insights

Romans 12 is a marvelous treatise from the apostle Paul on how to live out Jesus’ challenge to be salt and light to this dark world (see Matthew 5:13-14). Through the lives of believers in Christ, the world has the opportunity to see God’s goodness and peace on display. Why? Because of the dramatic contrast goodness and peace provide to the evil and conflict around us. Paul’s words also give a powerful picture of how we’re to live out the gospel. Living out our faith isn’t optional—it’s inherent to being witnesses to the life-changing power of the gospel. What we believe must necessarily make a difference in how we live, and when we live out our faith through the power of the Spirit, we put the heart of God on display.

Overcoming Evil with Good

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21

Doctor Dolittle, the fictional doctor who converses with animals, has delighted fans through books, movies, and plays. However, few people know that author Hugh Lofting first wrote the Dolittle tales to his children from the ghastly trenches of World War I. He later said that the war was too awful to recount in his letters—so he wrote and illustrated stories instead. These whimsical, joy-filled tales were Lofting’s way of pushing back against the war’s horror.

It’s inspiring to see a person moving against the menacing, degrading forces that seem too powerful to thwart. We admire this resilient courage because we fear that injustice, violence, and greed will triumph. Sometimes we fear that the whole world will be “overcome by evil” (Romans 12:21). And these fears are well-founded if we’re left to ourselves. However, God has not left us to ourselves. He fills us with His divine strength, places us in the action, and calls us to “overcome evil with good” (v. 21).

We each overcome evil with good in whatever ways God has put into our hearts. Some of us write beautiful stories. Some of us care for the poor. Some of us make our homes places of welcome. Some of us share God’s story through melody, poetry, or conversation. In a myriad of ways, we carry His goodness and peace into the world (v. 18), overcoming evil as we go.

Reflect & Pray

Where do you see evil lurking? How can you be part of overcoming evil with good?

Dear God, please help me be part of overcoming evil with good.

Check out this article to learn how to live a wholehearted life for Christ.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

The Divine Region Of Religion

When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. — Matthew 6:6

It’s impossible to conduct your life as a disciple without setting aside definite times for secret prayer. The main idea of the life of faith is “My eyes on God, not on people.” When you pray, your motive shouldn’t be to be known as one who prays. Go into an inner chamber—a place where no one will know you are praying—then shut the door and talk to God in secret. Have no motive other than to know your Father in heaven.

“Do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7). God is never impressed by earnestness. It isn’t because we go to him with an earnest desire to be heard that he hears us. He hears us on the basis of the redemption; only because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross are we able to approach God in prayer. If Jesus Christ has been formed inside us by spiritual rebirth, he will press forward in our minds and change our attitude about prayer. No longer will we be driven by commonsense concerns for our lives. No longer will we go to God to get our earthly desires met. We’ll go in order to get into perfect communion with him.

“Everyone who asks receives” (7:8). We pray pious nonsense, without putting our will into it. Then we say that God doesn’t answer our prayers. But we haven’t asked for anything! “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Asking means willing ourselves to ask for those things which are in keeping with the God whom Jesus Christ revealed; if we are remaining in him, this is exactly what we’ll do. Whenever Jesus talked about prayer, he talked about it with the simplicity of a child. We complicate things and argue with God. We say, “Yes, Lord, but . . .” Jesus said, simply, “Ask.”

Proverbs 25-26; 2 Corinthians 9

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. 

Disciples Indeed, 386 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

DRAWING A LINE - #10092

People become like the environment they spend their time in. At least that's what I've been told. For example, if you work at IBM, you become amazingly well organized for some strange reason. If you live in a college town, or if you work around a college, it's amazing how your vocabulary can change; sometimes increases. Oh, and your clothing? Yeah, it becomes a little bit more collegiate. You know?

I've noticed that people who live near the ocean or resort areas, they just kind of dress, you know, more loose, more casually all year long. If you move from the North to the South, you may very well find your pace slowing down to match your environment.

When I moved to the New York area, I know my driving changed. They say in New York about the roads there that there are two kinds of people, the quick and the dead, and I decided to become the quick. You become like your environment. That seems to be a pretty consistent principle; maybe too consistent.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Drawing a Line."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Timothy 3 - one of the more amazing chapters in the Bible. If you want to read a startling description of the last days of this planet, read 2 Timothy 3 with today's newspaper or news website in your other hand. It's startling because of how it matches up with our headlines. Verse 1 says, "There will be dangerous times." And it talks about these characteristics of people that lead you to believe the reason it's going to be dangerous is because of the death of love. There won't be much love in that world.

Paul's orders to Timothy are included in this chapter, and God's orders to us. Verse 14, listen: "But as for you, you continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you have learned it. All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Now, Paul is saying if you live in a world that is racing away from God's standards, you can't afford to become like your environment even a little.

See, there's always a noticeable difference between lost people and God's people. It's kind of my equal distance theory. There's always an equal distance between the standards and lifestyles of the people of God and the people of the world.

Let's say figuratively speaking that the church, or the people of God, are always ten miles closer to God than the world is. The problem is that as the world moves to the left, away from God, so does the church. Now, we're still ten miles away from the marriages of the world, and from the sexual standards of the world, and their hardness, and their love of material things. But as the world moves faster and faster away from God's standards, so do we. We're still the same distance from our culture. So, in a matter of like five or ten years, we Christians are where lost people were only a few years ago, accepting what we thought we would never accept, doing what we never thought we'd do, watching, listening to what we never thought would be part of our lives. But we can feel pretty good about it, because we're better than the folks around us.

But see, the rate of speeding away from God is accelerating right now, and God says, "Hey, you continue where you are! Don't move! Stand still! Don't move any further." He's not saying detach yourself from people who need Him. No, you live in the world, but you don't live as part of it. You don't march to that drumbeat. You know, you feel like you're pretty good if you compare yourself to what the world is doing, or maybe even what most Christians are doing, and saying and accepting. But that's not the measure.

We're to measure ourselves by the God-breathed scriptures of the Lord himself. If you turn the light of God's Word on your lifestyle, maybe you'll see how far you've drifted. You just can't move any more. We've got to get back to God's standards for love, for marriage, for honesty, for family, our relationships.

Our environment is terminally polluted. We can't be like our environment. It's time to draw the line. 

Mark 11:1-18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: MONITOR YOUR DEFAULT THOUGHTS - September 15, 2025

Monitor your default thoughts. Most of us are unaware of the inner dialogue we carry on with ourselves each day. Appraisals. Criticisms. Assumptions. They are knee-jerk reactions. “I’m so stupid.” “I’ll never get this under control.”

When self-criticism or worry plays like a tape in your head, there is always a reason.  Someone trained you to think this way. They are the result of injury after injury, influence after influence, regret after regret—days, years, decades of immobilizing notions until a person cannot escape.

Does the voice in your head speak with proper authority?  Odds are good that many of your thoughts emerge from an unqualified origin. I hope you come to view each thought through the lens of God’s Word. He, and he alone, has the authority to tell you how to think.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Mark 11:1-18

Entering Jerusalem on a Colt

1–3  11 When they were nearing Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany on Mount Olives, he sent off two of the disciples with instructions: “Go to the village across from you. As soon as you enter, you’ll find a colt tethered, one that has never yet been ridden. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ say, ‘The Master needs him, and will return him right away.’ ”

4–7  They went and found a colt tied to a door at the street corner and untied it. Some of those standing there said, “What are you doing untying that colt?” The disciples replied exactly as Jesus had instructed them, and the people let them alone. They brought the colt to Jesus, spread their coats on it, and he mounted.

8–10  The people gave him a wonderful welcome, some throwing their coats on the street, others spreading out rushes they had cut in the fields. Running ahead and following after, they were calling out,

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!

Blessed the coming kingdom of our father David!

Hosanna in highest heaven!

11  He entered Jerusalem, then entered the Temple. He looked around, taking it all in. But by now it was late, so he went back to Bethany with the Twelve.

The Cursed Fig Tree

12–14  As they left Bethany the next day, he was hungry. Off in the distance he saw a fig tree in full leaf. He came up to it expecting to find something for breakfast, but found nothing but fig leaves. (It wasn’t yet the season for figs.) He addressed the tree: “No one is going to eat fruit from you again—ever!” And his disciples overheard him.

15–17  They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. He didn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. And then he taught them, quoting this text:

My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations;

You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.

18  The high priests and religion scholars heard what was going on and plotted how they might get rid of him. They panicked, for the entire crowd was carried away by his teaching.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, September 15, 2025

by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Matthew 28:16-20

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.

18–20  Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

Today's Insights

The Gospels describe Jesus as a man who “taught as one who had authority” (Matthew 7:29) and one who “has authority on earth to forgive sins” (9:6). God has “granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those [God has] given him” (John 17:2). When Christ sent His twelve disciples out to preach, He gave them His authority to do the work (Matthew 10:1). Before He returned to the Father after His death and resurrection, Jesus entrusted to us the task of telling the world the good news. He commanded us to tell others about what He’s done for us and to disciple them (28:19-20). We can let go of doubt, for we’re not going out on our own. Christ promised, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (v. 20).

Making Disciples for Christ

Go and make disciples. Matthew 28:19

Early in the basketball season, the coach at our neighborhood middle school seemed to work hardest convincing his players to risk shooting the ball. “Shoot!” he pleaded from the sidelines. His players eagerly passed the ball. Dribbling was a favorite too. The season was half over before most of them would shed their doubts and try to shoot the ball to score. But “going for it” made all the difference. By obeying their coach, letting go of doubt, and trying—even if they often missed the target—they learned to win.

Jesus teaches us to let go of doubt to obey His call to make disciples. He explains, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20).

In practical terms, this can mean stepping out of our comfort to share our story of what God has done for us. Or getting involved in the lives of our hurting neighbors, showing them Jesus’ love. Such approaches work, but only if we let go and try them.

Above all, we go in Jesus’ authority to attempt what may look hard—making disciples. But we need not fear. Jesus promised: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (v. 20).

Reflect & Pray

What fears and doubts do you have about making disciples? Why? How can you obey Christ’s call?

I need practice making disciples, dear Father, but please encourage me to let go of doubt and try.

Learn more about the work God is doing in our lives by reading the Mission of God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, September 15, 2025

What to Renounce

We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. — 2 Corinthians 4:2

Have you renounced all secret and shameful ways, all thoughts and behaviors that your sense of honor won’t allow to come to light? You know you can easily keep them hidden. Is there a thought in your heart about another person that you wouldn’t want revealed? Renounce it as soon as it springs up. Renounce all such thoughts, until there is nothing hidden or dishonest or cunning about you. Envy, jealousy, strife—these things don’t necessarily arise from your sinful disposition, but rather from the makeup of your body, which was used for this kind of thing in days gone by. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin” (1 Peter 4:1). Maintain a continual watchfulness over your flesh, so that nothing shameful arises in your life.

“Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully . . .” (2 Corinthians 4:2 kjv). To renounce craftiness is to give up the kind of sly, cunning arguments that will allow you to make your point. Craftiness is a great trap. You know that God will let you work in one way only—complete honesty and adherence to the gospel. Never try to catch people in any other way; God’s judgment will be upon you if you do.

Never blunt your sense of doing your utmost for God’s highest, and never compare yourself to others. Others may be operating in ways that are perfectly all right for them, but which for you would be sly and cunning. If you were to engage in these methods, it would mean using craftiness to achieve an end other than his highest, blunting the motive God gave you. Remember that God has given you a different point of view—his. Many have backed down because they are afraid of looking at things from God’s viewpoint.

Proverbs 22-24; 2 Corinthians 8

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. 

The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, September 15, 2025

A FATAL SHOT, A WOUNDED GENERATION - #10091

On September 11, twenty-four years ago, I saw the Twin Towers crumble to dust. And then, on September 11th this time around, I saw so many people grieving the shocking assassination of a hugely popular Gen Z influencer in front of 3,000 people.

In both cases, millions of people were devastated in disbelief and grief. Including reporters, politicians, law enforcement people - and lots of ordinary folks. And certainly the 2001 tragedy had a scope much greater, but this assassination hit many young people very personally.

I found myself praying, again, what I cried out to God 24 years ago. "God, what do You see here?"

The answer has been the same both times.

Souls. Lost souls. Grieving souls. Eternal souls.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Fatal Shot, A Wounded Generation."

Working with young people my entire life, I've seen many of them become less engaged with their world and with current events. A lot of them know more about Taylor Swift's love life but can't find Ukraine on a map or tell you the name of the Vice President. But they were drawn to Charlie Kirk, and he was dedicated to involving them in the major issues of our time.

A prime time CNN host said: "If you don't know who Charlie Kirk is, ask your teenager or your college student."

He was, in a sense, a generational prophet to many of them. He had over five million followers on X (formerly Twitter) and hundreds of thousands of listeners to his podcast and radio program. A lot of people have said that this generation is disconnected. But listen, they connected with Charlie Kirk.

To countless millions of young people, he was finally a voice they could trust. Suddenly, he was gone.

For me, this isn't about Charlie Kirk's politics or his culture war perspectives. It is, of course, about his wife Erika and their two children. I'm so glad the Bible says, "the Lord is close to the brokenhearted" (Psalm 34:18). She has a relationship with Him. I pray Jesus will hold them close in His big arms.

I do see what God showed me on that dark September 11 years ago. Those souls. The emotional outpouring that has flooded social media gives testimony to the deep sense of personal loss so many young people are feeling now.

After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, there was a hole in our hearts that none of our usual "go to" answers could fill. So we turned to God. Churches were full. Prayer was everywhere. Many people opened their hearts to Jesus who died for them and beat death by His Resurrection.

For many contemporary young people, this recent loss has left their own hole in their heart. That's where it's about "souls." This trauma will be, for many, a "turning point." Sadly for some, to anger, retribution, disillusionment, despair. All destinations devoid of hope.

Or to Jesus, whose hope is stronger than death, guaranteed by an empty tomb. Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God, which happens to be a verse that Charlie's wife posted hours before his death.

Psalm 46:1 - "God is our refuge and strength. An ever present help in trouble."

We are desperate for a generation that doesn't carry all our baggage. A spiritual awakening may well be our only real hope. And our young people may be our only real hope of a better tomorrow. I'm praying the death of a looked-to leader may lead them to the Leader whose life and hope are eternal.

Jesus called us to tell our world about His unloseable love - and then to let them experience that love through us. That was his final order.

I think about the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the guard coming on and the guard coming off exchange these words. The current guard says, "Orders remain unchanged." And the new guard says, "Orders acknowledged."

We have our orders from our Master - to be His witnesses.

No matter the loss, no matter the cost. Our orders remain unchanged.

Leviticus 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado: An Advocate

Not all guilt is bad.  God uses appropriate doses of guilt to awaken us to sin!

God’s guilt brings enough regret to change us! Satan’s guilt brings enough regret to enslave us.  Don’t let him lock his shackles on you.

Colossians 3:3 reminds us, “your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

When he looks at you, he sees Jesus first.  In the Chinese language the word for “righteousness” is a combination of two characters, the figure of a lamb and a person.  The lamb is on top, covering the person.  Whenever God looks down at you, this is what he sees:  The perfect Lamb of God covering you.

It boils down to this choice:  Do you trust your Advocate—God or your Accuser—Satan?  Give no heed to Satan’s voice.  You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous!

From GRACE

Leviticus 25

“The Land Will Observe a Sabbath to God”

1–7  25 God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter the land which I am going to give you, the land will observe a Sabbath to God. Sow your fields, prune your vineyards, and take in your harvests for six years. But the seventh year the land will take a Sabbath of complete and total rest, a Sabbath to God; you will not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Don’t reap what grows of itself; don’t harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land gets a year of complete and total rest. But you can eat from what the land volunteers during the Sabbath year—you and your men and women servants, your hired hands, and the foreigners who live in the country, and, of course, also your livestock and the wild animals in the land can eat from it. Whatever the land volunteers of itself can be eaten.

“The Fiftieth Year Shall Be a Jubilee for You”

8–12  “Count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years: Seven Sabbaths of years adds up to forty-nine years. Then sound loud blasts on the ram’s horn on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. Sound the ram’s horn all over the land. Sanctify the fiftieth year; make it a holy year. Proclaim freedom all over the land to everyone who lives in it—a Jubilee for you: Each person will go back to his family’s property and reunite with his extended family. The fiftieth year is your Jubilee year: Don’t sow; don’t reap what volunteers itself in the fields; don’t harvest the untended vines because it’s the Jubilee and a holy year for you. You’re permitted to eat from whatever volunteers itself in the fields.

13  “In this year of Jubilee everyone returns home to his family property.

14–17  “If you sell or buy property from one of your countrymen, don’t cheat him. Calculate the purchase price on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. He is obliged to set the sale price on the basis of the number of harvests remaining until the next Jubilee. The more years left, the more money; you can raise the price. But the fewer years left, the less money; decrease the price. What you are buying and selling in fact is the number of crops you’re going to harvest. Don’t cheat each other. Fear your God. I am God, your God.

18–22  “Keep my decrees and observe my laws and you will live secure in the land. The land will yield its fruit; you will have all you can eat and will live safe and secure. Do I hear you ask, ‘What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we don’t plant or harvest?’ I assure you, I will send such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant in the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and continue until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.

23–24  “The land cannot be sold permanently because the land is mine and you are foreigners—you’re my tenants. You must provide for the right of redemption for any of the land that you own.

25–28  “If one of your brothers becomes poor and has to sell any of his land, his nearest relative is to come and buy back what his brother sold. If a man has no one to redeem it but he later prospers and earns enough for its redemption, he is to calculate the value since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own land. If he doesn’t get together enough money to repay him, what he sold remains in the possession of the buyer until the year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee it will be returned and he can go back and live on his land.

29–31  “If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right to buy it back for a full year after the sale. At any time during that year he can redeem it. But if it is not redeemed before the full year has passed, it becomes the permanent possession of the buyer and his descendants. It is not returned in the Jubilee. However, houses in unwalled villages are treated the same as fields. They can be redeemed and have to be returned at the Jubilee.

32–34  “As to the Levitical cities, houses in the cities owned by the Levites are always subject to redemption. Levitical property is always redeemable if it is sold in a town that they hold and reverts to them in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the People of Israel. The pastures belonging to their cities may not be sold; they are their permanent possession.

35–38  “If one of your brothers becomes indigent and cannot support himself, help him, the same as you would a foreigner or a guest so that he can continue to live in your neighborhood. Don’t gouge him with interest charges; out of reverence for your God help your brother to continue to live with you in the neighborhood. Don’t take advantage of his plight by running up big interest charges on his loans, and don’t give him food for profit. I am your God who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

39–43  “If one of your brothers becomes indigent and has to sell himself to you, don’t make him work as a slave. Treat him as a hired hand or a guest among you. He will work for you until the Jubilee, after which he and his children are set free to go back to his clan and his ancestral land. Because the People of Israel are my servants whom I brought out of Egypt, they must never be sold as slaves. Don’t tyrannize them; fear your God.

44–46  “The male and female slaves which you have are to come from the surrounding nations; you are permitted to buy slaves from them. You may also buy the children of foreign workers who are living among you temporarily and from their clans which are living among you and have been born in your land. They become your property. You may will them to your children as property and make them slaves for life. But you must not tyrannize your brother Israelites.

47–53  “If a foreigner or temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your brothers becomes poor and sells himself to the foreigner who lives among you or to a member of the foreigner’s clan, he still has the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may buy him back. An uncle or cousin or any close relative of his extended family may redeem him. Or, if he gets the money together, he can redeem himself. What happens then is that he and his owner count out the time from the year he sold himself to the year of Jubilee; the buy-back price is set according to the wages of a hired hand for that number of years. If many years remain before the Jubilee, he must pay back a larger share of his purchase price, but if only a few years remain until the Jubilee, he is to calculate his redemption price accordingly. He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year. You must make sure that his owner does not tyrannize him.

54–55  “If he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he goes free in the year of Jubilee, he and his children, because the People of Israel are my servants, my servants whom I brought out of Egypt. I am God, your God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, September 14, 2025

by Lisa M. Samra

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 40:10-11, 29-31

Look at him! God, the Master, comes in power,

ready to go into action.

He is going to pay back his enemies

and reward those who have loved him.

Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,

gathering the lambs in his arms,

Hugging them as he carries them,

leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.

He energizes those who get tired,

gives fresh strength to dropouts.

For even young people tire and drop out,

young folk in their prime stumble and fall.

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.

They spread their wings and soar like eagles,

They run and don’t get tired,

they walk and don’t lag behind.

Today's Insights

Isaiah 40 signals a shift in this prophetic book. Up to this point, the prophecies have focused on the situation of the people of Judah and their looming judgment. They’ve repeatedly broken God’s covenant made with them through Moses. Now Isaiah looks far ahead, and the tone shifts dramatically. But what is this “reward” he refers to in verse 10? The context is militaristic: “the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.” Hence, reward likely refers to the spoils taken in battle. And what is “his recompense” (v. 10)? It’s either the repayment God will give to His people when He restores them or the vengeance He’ll pour out on those who’ve oppressed them. Such militant language is ironic given the compassionate tone of so much of this chapter. God’s strength, appropriately displayed, enables Him to show us this great compassion and comfort as we meet the challenges of each day.

God’s Tender Care

He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. Isaiah 40:11

Sitting in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, I visited with a mother as her newborn baby cuddled up against her chest. In this technologically advanced medical facility, the doctors had recommended a very low-tech “prescription” to improve and strengthen the child’s health—the new mom was to spend extended periods of time simply holding her daughter.

There’s almost nothing like the overwhelming love and tender compassion of a parent providing healing comfort for a child. We see this powerful imagery in the prophet Isaiah’s description of God with His people.

Even after prophesying impending exile for the nation of Israel because they’d rejected God (Isaiah 39:5-7), Isaiah emphasized to the people that God still loved them and would always provide for them. God’s tender compassion and secure care is evident in the beautiful metaphor where He is described as a shepherd who, much like a loving father, gathers His sheep “in his arms and carries them close to his heart” (40:11).

God’s presence grants us peace and protection and reminds us that He carries us close to His heart, like a newborn baby with its mother. As He “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (v. 29), the Spirit’s healing comfort allows us to meet the challenges of each day.

Reflect & Pray

What comes to mind when you think about the love of a mother for her newborn baby? How has God’s protective and loving care strengthened you?

Heavenly Father, I'm so grateful that You hold me close to Your heart.

Learn more about God's care by reading He Knows What I Need.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Imagination versus Inspiration

. . . the simplicity that is in Christ. — 2 Corinthians 11:3

Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly. After being saved, a Christian may not think clearly for a long time. But a Christian ought to see clearly, without any trouble, from the very start. You cannot think a spiritual muddle clear; you have to obey it clear. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will think yourself into cotton wool.

If there’s something in your life on which God has put pressure, obey him in that matter. Bring your imagination into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and everything will become as clear as day. The ability to reason it out will come afterward, but reason never helps us see. We see like little children. When we try to be wise, we see nothing: “You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Matthew 11:25).

The tiniest thing we allow into our lives that isn’t under the control of the Holy Spirit is enough to account for a spiritual muddle, and all the thinking we do about it will never make it clear. But the instant we obey, we see. This is humiliating because when we are in a muddle, we know the reason is the temper of our mind. When our natural power of insight is devoted to the Holy Spirit, it becomes the power of perceiving God’s will, and the whole of our life is kept in simplicity.

Proverbs 19-21; 2 Corinthians 7

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The emphasis to-day is placed on the furtherance of an organization; the note is, “We must keep this thing going.” If we are in God’s order the thing will go; if we are not in His order, it won’t. 

Conformed to His Image, 357 R

Mark 10:32-52, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Surrounds Us

God surrounds us like the Pacific surrounds an ocean floor pebble. He is everywhere:  above, below, on all sides. We choose our response—rock or sponge? Resist or receive? Everything within you says, harden your heart. Run from God, resist God, blame God.

But be careful.  Hard hearts never heal.  Spongy ones do! Open every pore of your soul to God’s presence.  Here’s how. Lay claim to the nearness of God. He says in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Grip this promise like the parachute it is. Repeat it over and over until it trumps the voices of fear. The Lord God is with you, and He is mighty to save. Cling to His character.  Quarry from your Bible a list of the deep qualities of God and press them into your heart. He is sovereign. You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Mark 10:32-52

 Back on the road, they set out for Jerusalem. Jesus had a head start on them, and they were following, puzzled and not just a little afraid. He took the Twelve and began again to go over what to expect next. “Listen to me carefully. We’re on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Romans, who will mock and spit on him, give him the third degree, and kill him. After three days he will rise alive.”

The Highest Places of Honor

35  James and John, Zebedee’s sons, came up to him. “Teacher, we have something we want you to do for us.”

36  “What is it? I’ll see what I can do.”

37  “Arrange it,” they said, “so that we will be awarded the highest places of honor in your glory—one of us at your right, the other at your left.”

38  Jesus said, “You have no idea what you’re asking. Are you capable of drinking the cup I drink, of being baptized in the baptism I’m about to be plunged into?”

39–40  “Sure,” they said. “Why not?”

Jesus said, “Come to think of it, you will drink the cup I drink, and be baptized in my baptism. But as to awarding places of honor, that’s not my business. There are other arrangements for that.”

41–45  When the other ten heard of this conversation, they lost their tempers with James and John. Jesus got them together to settle things down. “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” he said, “and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.”

46–48  They spent some time in Jericho. As Jesus was leaving town, trailed by his disciples and a parade of people, a blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting alongside the road. When he heard that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by, he began to cry out, “Son of David, Jesus! Mercy, have mercy on me!” Many tried to hush him up, but he yelled all the louder, “Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!”

49–50  Jesus stopped in his tracks. “Call him over.”

They called him. “It’s your lucky day! Get up! He’s calling you to come!” Throwing off his coat, he was on his feet at once and came to Jesus.

51  Jesus said, “What can I do for you?”

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

52  “On your way,” said Jesus. “Your faith has saved and healed you.”

In that very instant he recovered his sight and followed Jesus down the road.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, September 13, 2025

by John Blase

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Exodus 16:11-16

God spoke to Moses, “I’ve listened to the complaints of the Israelites. Now tell them: ‘At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you’ll eat your fill of bread; and you’ll realize that I am God, your God.’ ”

13–15  That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. The Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (What is it?). They had no idea what it was.

15–16  So Moses told them, “It’s the bread God has given you to eat. And these are God’s instructions: ‘Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person; gather enough for everyone in your tent.’”

Today's Insights

The desert sojourn (Exodus 16:11-16) and God’s merciful provision of manna became an example or pattern of God’s intention as a royal shepherd to provide for His people (celebrated annually in the Feast of Tabernacles). The Good Shepherd in the Gospels continues to offer divine provision to believers in Jesus in their deserts (Mark 6:32-44), but only at the end of this present age will He wipe away every form of suffering and want for His faithful followers. Revelation 7 describes this future time: “He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’ ” (vv. 15-17).

Check out how God provides spiritual food in the desert too.

Searching for Mercy

Then you will know that I am the Lord your God. Exodus 16:12

Her fans knew her as Nightbirde. Singer-songwriter Jane Kristen Marczewski won a following in 2021 on a popular TV talent show. In 2017, she’d been diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. In 2018, she went into remission. She started touring, but months later the cancer returned, giving her little chance of survival. Amazingly she recovered and was declared cancer-free. But on February 19, 2022, Nightbirde died.

During her difficult journey, she blogged, “I remind myself that I’m praying to the God who let the Israelites stay lost for decades. They begged to arrive . . . but instead He let them wander, answering prayers they didn’t pray. . . . Every morning, He sent them mercy-bread from heaven . . . . I look for the mercy-bread . . . The Israelites called it manna, which means ‘what is it?’ That’s the same question I’m asking . . . . There’s mercy here somewhere—but what is it?”

The exodus story reveals much about God’s mercy. First, His mercy was promised to the Israelites. “You will be filled with bread” (Exodus 16:12). And second, His mercy may surprise us. “They did not know what it was” (v. 15). Mercy often doesn’t look like what we think. But it’s mercy nonetheless. For the Israelites, it looked like morning manna. For Nightbirde, she wrote of the gift of a blanket from a friend, and her mother’s hands.

Reflect & Pray

How has God’s mercy surprised you? What might it mean for you to look for mercy today?

Merciful God, thank You for Your mercy. Please help me search for it.

For further study, read A Child’s Compassion.A Child’s Compassion.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, September 13, 2025

After Surrender, What?

I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. — John 17:4

Surrendering all to God doesn’t mean giving up the external things of our lives; it means surrendering our will to him. When this is done, all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great crisis is the surrender of the will. God never crushes a will to the point of surrender; he never begs or pleads. He simply waits until we freely yield our will to him. This battle, once waged, never needs to be refought.

Surrender for deliverance. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Only after we have begun to experience what salvation means do we surrender our wills to Jesus and allow him to give us rest. Perplexity in heart or mind is a call to our will to come to Jesus. Our coming is voluntary, never forced.

Surrender for devotion. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves” (Matthew 16:24). The surrender here is of my self to Jesus, my self resting with him. He’s saying, “Give up your right to yourself to me.” If I do, the rest of my life will be nothing but the manifestation of this surrender. I’ll never need to wonder about my purpose again, nor will I care about my circumstances. I’ll know that Jesus is sufficient for all.

Surrender for death. “When you are old . . . someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). Have you learned what it means to be bound for death? Beware of a surrender you make to God in a moment of ecstasy; you are likely to take it back again. Surrender is a question of being united with Jesus in his death, so that nothing appeals to you that didn’t appeal to him. The entirety of life after surrender is a longing and a striving for unbroken communion with God.

Proverbs 16-18; 2 Corinthians 6

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”

The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

Leviticus 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: OPEN THE BOOK - September 12, 2025

I’ve listened to lesser voices. Locker-room know-it-alls. Godless teachers. Messed-up movie stars. Self-absorbed talk show hosts. They don’t know what they are talking about. I need an authoritative voice, an owner’s manual. And so do you.

I played catcher in Little League baseball, Pony League baseball, and high school baseball. I noticed something: the width of home plate never changed. It was always seventeen inches wide. The width of the plate was permanent.

So is the truth of God. It’s why Jesus said in John 8:31-32 (NIV), “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Healthy thinking happens as we submit to Scripture. Do you want to know God’s thoughts about anything? Open the book!

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Leviticus 24
Light and Bread

1–4  24 God spoke to Moses: “Order the People of Israel to bring you virgin olive oil for light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. Aaron is in charge of keeping these lamps burning in front of the curtain that screens The Testimony in the Tent of Meeting from evening to morning continually before God. This is a perpetual decree down through the generations. Aaron is responsible for keeping the lamps burning continually on the Lampstand of pure gold before God.

5–9  “Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using about four quarts of flour to a loaf. Arrange them in two rows of six each on the Table of pure gold before God. Along each row spread pure incense, marking the bread as a memorial; it is a gift to God. Regularly, every Sabbath, this bread is to be set before God, a perpetual covenantal response from Israel. The bread then goes to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a Holy Place. It is their most holy share from the gifts to God. This is a perpetual decree.”

10–12  One day the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites. A fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name of God and cursed. They brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put him in custody waiting for God’s will to be revealed to them.

13–16  Then God spoke to Moses: “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. Have all those who heard him place their hands on his head; then have the entire congregation stone him. Then tell the Israelites, Anyone who curses God will be held accountable; anyone who blasphemes the Name of God must be put to death. The entire congregation must stone him. It makes no difference whether he is a foreigner or a native, if he blasphemes the Name, he will be put to death.

17–22  “Anyone who hits and kills a fellow human must be put to death. Anyone who kills someone’s animal must make it good—a life for a life. Anyone who injures his neighbor will get back the same as he gave: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. What he did to hurt that person will be done to him. Anyone who hits and kills an animal must make it good, but whoever hits and kills a fellow human will be put to death. And no double standards: the same rule goes for foreigners and natives. I am God, your God.”

23  Moses then spoke to the People of Israel. They brought the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The People of Israel followed the orders God had given Moses.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, September 12, 2025

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Philippians 4:4-9

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

6–7  Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

8–9  Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Today's Insights

In this “joyful” letter (Philippians 1:4, 25; 2:2, 29; 4:1), Paul challenged believers in Jesus to “rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4). He explains why he’s rejoicing and encourages believers to do the same (1:18; 2:17-18; 3:1; 4:4, 10). When he first visited the Roman colony of Philippi on his second missionary journey about ten years earlier, he’d been falsely accused of disturbing the social peace of the city. Even though he’d been illegally beaten and unjustly imprisoned (Acts 16:20-24), he was a picture of calmness and peace, “praying and singing hymns to God” (v. 25). In Philippians 4, Paul says not to “worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. . . . Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (vv. 6, 8 nlt). As we focus our thoughts on what God’s done, we can worship Him even in the midst of trials.

Guarding Thoughts in Christ

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure . . . think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Lap after lap, Katie Ledecky was in a familiar spot during the 1500-meter freestyle race at the 2024 Paris Olympics. For some fifteen minutes, she was far ahead of the rest of the swimmers and alone with her thoughts. What was Ledecky thinking about during the long race? In an interview conducted immediately following her gold-medal-winning performance in which she set a new Olympic record, Ledecky said she was thinking about her training partners and saying their names in her head.

Distance swimmers aren’t the only ones who need to focus their minds on the right things. We as believers in Jesus also need to guard our thoughts throughout our faith journey.

The apostle Paul encouraged the Philippian church to “rejoice in the Lord,” not be “anxious about anything, but pray about everything (Philippians 4:4, 6). The result? “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). Jesus, the Prince of Peace, helps put our worries and troubles in perspective.

Paul also encouraged believers: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (v. 8).

As we go about our day, let’s be aware of our thoughts. When we see God’s hand in our life, we can count our blessings and worship Him.

Reflect & Pray

What have you been thinking about lately? How can you honor God with your thoughts?

Dear God, may my thoughts be pleasing to You.

Learn how to grow in faith by reading The Confidence to Grow.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, September 12, 2025

Spiritual Confusion

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. — Matthew 20:22

Sometimes in our life with God, there is spiritual confusion. At such times, it’s no use saying there shouldn’t be confusion. Confusion isn’t a question of right and wrong. It’s a question of God taking you down a path you don’t understand. The only way you’ll get at what God wants is to keep going through the confusion until you reach clarity.

The hiding of his friendship. “Suppose you have a friend . . .” (Luke 11:5). Jesus tells the story of a man who seemed not to care for his friend. Sometimes, Jesus says, that is how your heavenly Father will appear. In your confusion, you will think he’s an unkind friend, but he is not. Don’t give up. Remember, Jesus is the one who said, “Everyone who asks receives” (Matthew 7:8).

The shadow on his fatherhood. “Which of you fathers . . .” (Luke 11:11). Jesus says there are times when your Father will appear like an unloving father, but he is not. If a shadow covers the face of your Father just now, rest in confidence that he will ultimately reveal his purposes and will justify himself in everything he has permitted. Often even love itself has to wait in pain and tears for the blessing of fuller communion.

The strangeness of his faithfulness. “In a certain town there was a judge . . .” (Luke 18:2). At times, Jesus says, your Father will look like an unjust judge, but he is not. Stand firm in the belief that what Jesus says is true, and remember that God has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you ask. The time is coming, Jesus says, when we shall see perfectly clearly. Then the veil will be lifted, the shadows will disappear, the confusion will go, and we will begin to understand the friendship, the fatherhood, and the faithfulness of God with regard to our own lives.

Proverbs 13-15; 2 Corinthians 5

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. 

Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, September 12, 2025

THE UNSEEN SECRET OF SPIRITUAL CHAMPIONS - #10090

It was one of those really special 90-degree days, when it is very humid and I was just finishing about eight miles on my bike. I was feeling all fit, and then I passed Tom running all ten and a half miles around that lake. Well, I realized that Tom did that every day. Nobody knew; nobody noticed actually.

But I knew that he'd be in the headlines back home, and he'd be in the headlines a lot. Because he was one of the county's champion track stars. And I yelled to him from my bike, "No time off for vacation?" And he reminded me that running is a 12-month sport.

Champions aren't made on the day of the race with the crowd applauding. It turns out they're made on like 1,000 unsung mornings.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Unseen Secret of Spiritual Champions."

I've never understood people who get involved in a sport or an activity or in anything and just settle for like being mediocre. If you're going to get into something, well, aim to be all you can be. Right? If that's true in sports, it's really true when it comes to serving the King - the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maybe you've looked at spiritual champions you know, or some leader, or somebody you admire as a spiritual person and you said, "Boy, I'd like to be used by God that way. I wish I could teach, or preach, or minister musically, or lead like that. I'd like to make a difference. I'd like to influence people for Christ like that person does." And you see them in a public setting at the pulpit, or you watch them on television or you hear them on radio. You read their book, maybe hear them in concert. But the ministry you see in a spiritual champion is because of something you don't see. Just like that championship runner, chugging out those miles on those back roads. Nobody noticed, nobody seeing him, but that's where the champion is built.

Okay, Isaiah 50:4, our word for today from the Word of God says this: "The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary." Now, how does he keep coming up with the words that people need? It says that "God wakens me morning by morning; wakens my ear to listen like one being taught." Okay, the great prophet of God says here, "morning after morning" there is a meeting with his Lord that nobody sees.

And while others are resting, the champion is in God's Word, he's on his knees, not going on spiritual binges occasionally to get some great spiritual insight. No, no, no, no. He does it day after day, week after week, month after month. And finally there's all these years of accumulated time with God, and how He's touched you, and how He's changed you, and how He's moved you. So, when he speaks, he speaks with a "God-instructed tongue" because he shows up for class every morning. See, there's no glory there. There's no crowds applauding. It's just Christ's personal presence, and you're there with Him.

Anything I have ever said for the Lord that has ever touched anyone has been because He touched me in private first where no one could see, no one else could hear. He wants to do that for you. He wants to do that for all His kids. Do you want to be used greatly by your Lord? Well, before you try to do a great work for Him, why don't you let Him do a great work in you? And you wake up each morning and let Him teach you before you leave.

I saw that in a young track star; a picture of any of us who would like to be God's champion, a winner who's being built on 1,000 unsung mornings.

Leviticus 23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE BIBLE WORKS - September 11, 2025

Can we genuinely believe that the Bible is the word of God? The unique and ultimate standard? Many people don’t. Others of us, however, do so for good reasons. Here are my three:

Jesus believed it. When the devil came to tempt him, Jesus quoted Scripture. When Jesus rose from the dead, he taught from Scripture. He set his own stamp of approval upon Scripture. What else is needed?

Fulfilled prophecies confirm it. In his life Christ fulfilled 332 distinct prophecies from the Old Testament. The mathematical probability of these prophecies being fulfilled by one man is one in 840 untrigintillion. That’s 840 followed by 96 zeroes.

Changed lives affirm it. No other book has impacted people like the Bible.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Leviticus 23

The Feasts

1–2  23 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of God which you are to decree as sacred assemblies.

3  “Work six days. The seventh day is a Sabbath, a day of total and complete rest, a sacred assembly. Don’t do any work. Wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to God.

4  “These are the appointed feasts of God, the sacred assemblies which you are to announce at the times set for them:

5  “God’s Passover, beginning at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month.

6–8  “God’s Feast of Unraised Bread, on the fifteenth day of this same month. You are to eat unraised bread for seven days. Hold a sacred assembly on the first day; don’t do any regular work. Offer Fire-Gifts to God for seven days. On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly; don’t do any regular work.”

9–14  God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, When you arrive at the land that I am giving you and reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain that you harvest. He will wave the sheaf before God for acceptance on your behalf; on the morning after Sabbath, the priest will wave it. On the same day that you wave the sheaf, offer a year-old male lamb without defect for a Whole-Burnt-Offering to God and with it the Grain-Offering of four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil—a Fire-Gift to God, a pleasing fragrance—and also a Drink-Offering of a quart of wine. Don’t eat any bread or roasted or fresh grain until you have presented this offering to your God. This is a perpetual decree for all your generations to come, wherever you live.

15–21  “Count seven full weeks from the morning after the Sabbath when you brought the sheaf as a Wave-Offering, fifty days until the morning of the seventh Sabbath. Then present a new Grain-Offering to God. Bring from wherever you are living two loaves of bread made from four quarts of fine flour and baked with yeast as a Wave-Offering of the first ripe grain to God. In addition to the bread, offer seven yearling male lambs without defect, plus one bull and two rams. They will be a Whole-Burnt-Offering to God together with their Grain-Offerings and Drink-Offerings—offered as Fire-Gifts, a pleasing fragrance to God. Offer one male goat for an Absolution-Offering and two yearling lambs for a Peace-Offering. The priest will wave the two lambs before God as a Wave-Offering, together with the bread of the first ripe grain. They are sacred offerings to God for the priest. Proclaim the day as a sacred assembly. Don’t do any ordinary work. It is a perpetual decree wherever you live down through your generations.

22  “When you reap the harvest of your land, don’t reap the corners of your field or gather the gleanings. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners. I am God, your God.”

23–25  God said to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, On the first day of the seventh month, set aside a day of rest, a sacred assembly—mark it with loud blasts on the ram’s horn. Don’t do any ordinary work. Offer a Fire-Gift to God.”

26–32  God said to Moses: “The tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly, fast, and offer a Fire-Gift to God. Don’t work on that day because it is a day of atonement to make atonement for you before your God. Anyone who doesn’t fast on that day must be cut off from his people. I will destroy from among his people anyone who works on that day. Don’t do any work that day—none. This is a perpetual decree for all the generations to come, wherever you happen to be living. It is a Sabbath of complete and total rest, a fast day. Observe your Sabbath from the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening.”

33–36  God said to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, God’s Feast of Booths begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. It lasts seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; don’t do any ordinary work. Offer Fire-Gifts to God for seven days. On the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and offer a gift to God. It is a solemn convocation. Don’t do any ordinary work.

37–38  “These are the appointed feasts of God which you will decree as sacred assemblies for presenting Fire-Gifts to God: the Whole-Burnt-Offerings, Grain-Offerings, sacrifices, and Drink-Offerings assigned to each day. These are in addition to offerings for God’s Sabbaths and also in addition to other gifts connected with whatever you have vowed and all the Freewill-Offerings you give to God.

39–43  “So, summing up: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have brought your crops in from your fields, celebrate the Feast of God for seven days. The first day is a complete rest and the eighth day is a complete rest. On the first day, pick the best fruit from the best trees; take fronds of palm trees and branches of leafy trees and from willows by the brook and celebrate in the presence of your God for seven days—yes, for seven full days celebrate it as a festival to God. Every year from now on, celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days—every son and daughter of Israel is to move into booths so that your descendants will know that I made the People of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am God, your God.”

44  Moses posted the calendar for the annual appointed feasts of God which Israel was to celebrate.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, September 11, 2025

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Lamentations 1:20-22

“O God, look at the trouble I’m in! My stomach in knots,

my heart wrecked by a life of rebellion.

Massacres in the streets, starvation in the houses.

21  “Oh, listen to my groans. No one listens, no one cares.

When my enemies heard of the trouble you gave me, they cheered.

Bring on Judgment Day! Let them get what I got!

22  “Take a good look at their evil ways and give it to them!

Give them what you gave me for my sins.

Groaning in pain, body and soul, I’ve had all I can take.”

Today's Insights

When we think of lament in the Bible, Jeremiah—known as the weeping prophet—comes to mind (see Jeremiah 9:1). However, he’s not the sole exemplar of lament in the Scriptures. Other examples are Job, David, and Jesus.

In Lamentations 1:20-22, the prophet Jeremiah expresses the rawness and weightiness of lament even in the choice of his words. It’s the consequence of something so powerful or heartbreaking—where something of value has been lost—that it prompts uncommon expression. Jeremiah exclaims, “See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed” (v. 20). The situation was such that it generated “groaning” (v. 21). Lament is the appropriate language of those who have personally come to grips with their pain and the conditions that caused it. As we grapple with pain, God invites us to express our honest, prayerful, and worshipful lament to Him.

Visit GO.ODB.org/091125 to learn how lament can help us praise God in the midst of loss.

Lamenting to God

See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed. Lamentations 1:20

I viewed the opening displays of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City with curiosity but kept my emotions in check. That changed when we entered the inner exhibit, which the curators have wisely closed off from children and those wanting to shield themselves from the more heartrending images. As I encountered story after story of heartbreak and loss, waves of lament rose within me.

When we witness or remember such destruction and pain, we can join the cries of those who have voiced their distress to God. This includes the words of anguish found in Lamentations, which many scholars believe the prophet Jeremiah wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem. In the tightly formed structure of this poem, he releases his sorrow and grief over the pain of God’s people: “See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed” (Lamentations 1:20). And yet he looks to God as the ultimate judge, knowing that only He can deal with the sins and destruction: “Let all their wickedness come before you” (v. 22).

This kind of honest crying out to God can help us to grapple with painful atrocities such as what happened on September 11, 2001, or other current-day evil deeds. We look to God for help, hope, comfort, and justice.

Reflect & Pray

When you witness wickedness, how do you keep your heart tender before God? How might He lead you to pray for those who are hurting today?

God of truth and love, I know that Your heart breaks over the pain in the world. Please envelop me in Your grace and mercy and heal my wounds.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Ministering as Opportunity Surrounds Us

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. — John 13:14

Ministering as opportunity surrounds us doesn’t mean choosing our surroundings; it means ministering wherever God places us. The characteristics we manifest now, in our immediate surroundings, show God what we’ll be like in other surroundings.

It takes all of God’s power in me to do commonplace things in the way God would do them. When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, he was performing work of the most menial and commonplace kind, yet the way he performed it made it holy. Can I use a towel in the way Jesus used a towel? Towels and dishes and all the other ordinary stuff of life reveal what I’m made of more quickly than anything else. It takes God Almighty in me to do my chores in the way they ought to be done.

“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15). Watch the kind of people God brings around you. You will be humiliated to discover that this is his way of revealing to you the kind of person you’ve been to him. He is telling you to treat the people in your life as he has treated you. “Oh,” you say, “I’ll treat people as I should when I’m out ministering in the world.” That would be like trying to produce the munitions of war in the trenches; you’d be killed while you were doing it.

We have to go the second mile with God. Some of us get worn out in the first ten yards, because God compels us to go where we cannot see the way. “I’ll wait to obey until I get nearer the big crisis,” we say. We have to obey now. If we don’t practice walking steadily in the little things, we will do nothing in the crisis.

Proverbs 10-12; 2 Corinthians 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them. 

Workmen of God, 1341 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, September 11, 2025

SAFE IN AN UNSAFE WORLD - #10089

After watching the World Trade Center as part of my skyline for many years, it hit really hard that awful September 11th to see those towers come crashing down and thousands of lives with them. The day after the first attack on the Trade Center, which was back in 1993, I was greeted by a TV crew as I got off a flight from Newark. Of all things, they asked me as a New Yorker how I felt after that first bombing. And I could only think of one word, "vulnerable." That was my answer.

Well, since the events of that September 11th, and the years since then, and all of the terrorism that has spread Iike a cancer. I think a lot of us are feeling more and more vulnerable all the time. It happens on the street, in churches, in malls, wherever! We're uncertain about what a new kind of war might mean, where the danger might pop up next, and what's going to happen economically. And some of us are trying to help our children understand this crazy world that we don't even understand. We all feel vulnerable. It's as if some of our own sense of personal security and safety started to come crashing down with those towers and it's been crashing ever since.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Safe in an Unsafe World."

Even without the constantly disturbing events in the news, we all know the feeling of having things that we counted on suddenly come crashing down - a person we love, our job, the collapse of a marriage, a bad report from the doctor. In times like these, we're hungry for something we can anchor to, for something to sustain us when the bad news is more than we can bear, for something that will make us feel really safe.

When our President, years ago, addressed the nation after that September 11th, he alluded to the one source of comfort and hope in moments like that. He quoted from that treasured 23rd Psalm in the Bible - actually, Psalm 23:4, our word for today from the Word of God. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me."

The Bible holds out to you and me a security that can keep you safe in life's deepest valleys - even the valley of the shadow of death. That security is a relationship. It's a person. "You are with me, Lord" the psalmist said. All our lives we've been looking for one "unloseable" love. And there really is one. It's the love of the One who made you, the One you will meet on the other side of your last heartbeat, the One whose love caused Him to literally lay down His life for you.

In our vulnerable moments, our moments that are more than you can handle alone, those moments when you've gone seeking God, maybe you've realized that there's something that is separating you from Him. The Bible says that feeling is right. The Bible says, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). But Jesus came to remove that wall between you and God - the only way it could be removed - by Jesus dying to pay the death penalty for you and for me, hijacking a life that God was supposed to run and we took it instead.

Either you have this life-saving relationship with Jesus or you don't. It all depends on whether there's been a time when you grabbed the outstretched hand of Jesus like a person trapped in the wreckage would grab the hand of his rescuer. If you are ready for the kind of security, the safety that only Jesus Christ can offer, if you're ready to begin this anchor relationship with the man who died for you, would you tell Him that right now right where you are? "Jesus, you died for me. My life is yours from this day on."

I want you to know for sure that you have that anchor, that security from this day on. So I'd invite you to go where some information is that will really help that happen. It's our website, please check it out today - ANewStory.com. I'd love for you to visit there as soon as you can today.

My prayer is that you'll be able to go to sleep tonight knowing you are in the safest place in the universe - the arms of Jesus Christ - and that you'll be able to say, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil - for You are with me."

Mark 10:1-31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: BLOCK THIS SENDER - September 10, 2025

Satan’s strategy is simple: poison your thinking with stinking doubts, deceit, and discouragement. If he can master your mind, he will master your life. The more minds he can control, the more portions of society he can influence. Tell him to get lost.

Do with your thoughts what I do with emails.  Until a couple of years ago, I didn’t know I could block emails. Consequently, I couldn’t clean out my inbox. Then I was told about the ‘Block This Sender’ command. I spent the better part of an afternoon erecting Do Not Enter signs to turn away nuisances. It took time, but I emptied my inbox of unneeded and unsolicited emails.

You can do the same! You can “take every thought captive and make it obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 GNT).

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Mark 10:1-31

Divorce

1–2  10 From there he went to the area of Judea across the Jordan. A crowd of people, as was so often the case, went along, and he, as he so often did, taught them. Pharisees came up, intending to give him a hard time. They asked, “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife?”

3  Jesus said, “What did Moses command?”

4  They answered, “Moses gave permission to fill out a certificate of dismissal and divorce her.”

5–9  Jesus said, “Moses wrote this command only as a concession to your hardhearted ways. In the original creation, God made male and female to be together. Because of this, a man leaves father and mother, and in marriage he becomes one flesh with a woman—no longer two individuals, but forming a new unity. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”

10–12  When they were back home, the disciples brought it up again. Jesus gave it to them straight: “A man who divorces his wife so he can marry someone else commits adultery against her. And a woman who divorces her husband so she can marry someone else commits adultery.”

13–16  The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.

To Enter God’s Kingdom

17  As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

18–19  Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”

20  He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”

21  Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”

22  The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

23–25  Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”

26  That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.

27  Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

28  Peter tried another angle: “We left everything and followed you.”

29–31  Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message will lose out. They’ll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life! This is once again the Great Reversal: Many who are first will end up last, and the last first.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Chronicles 20:2-4, 6-12, 15

Jehoshaphat received this intelligence report: “A huge force is on its way from beyond the Dead Sea to fight you. There’s no time to waste—they’re already at Hazazon Tamar, the oasis of En Gedi.”

3–4  Shaken, Jehoshaphat prayed. He went to God for help and ordered a nationwide fast. The country of Judah united in seeking God’s help—they came from all the cities of Judah to pray to God.

and said, “O God, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven above and ruler of all kingdoms below? You hold all power and might in your fist—no one stands a chance against you! And didn’t you make the natives of this land leave as you brought your people Israel in, turning it over permanently to your people Israel, the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived here and built a holy house of worship to honor you, saying, ‘When the worst happens—whether war or flood or disease or famine—and we take our place before this Temple (we know you are personally present in this place!) and pray out our pain and trouble, we know that you will listen and give victory.’

10–12  “And now it’s happened: men from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir have shown up. You didn’t let Israel touch them when we got here at first—we detoured around them and didn’t lay a hand on them. And now they’ve come to kick us out of the country you gave us. O dear God, won’t you take care of them? We’re helpless before this vandal horde ready to attack us. We don’t know what to do; we’re looking to you.”

Today's Insights

The temple in Jerusalem is where the Israelites sought God in prayer during national crises (2 Chronicles 6:18-40). When Israel was threatened by a large enemy military coalition, Jehoshaphat assembled the nation at the temple and prayed for God’s help (20:1-12; see 6:34-35). Responding to the people’s faith, God assured them of victory: “Do not be afraid or discouraged . . . . For the battle is not yours, but God’s. . . . Stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you” (20:15, 17). Prayer is where powerless people offer petitions to an almighty God.

Powerless but Not Prayerless

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. 2 Chronicles 20:12

Anita Bailey’s heart was warmed when she got this social media message about her son Jalen: “I was a greeter today at [church] and a young man with a child in his arms came up to me and put his arms around me. . . . I stared for a second, then I recognized him and said, ‘Jalen!' We embraced and chatted briefly. What a fine young man!” The greeter knew Jalen in his rebellious days when Anita and her husband, Ed, had felt powerless to save their son from the consequences of his unwise choices, which had resulted in twelve years in prison for him.

Though the Baileys felt powerless, they were not prayerless. And neither was King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. When harassed by a menacing coalition of enemy forces, he called a prayer meeting (vv. 1-4). “Our God, will you not judge them?” he prayed. “For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (v. 12).

Have you ever felt powerless or clueless in the face of circumstances that were out of your control? Why not call a prayer meeting—either alone or with others? That’s what Jesus did in the face of His coming crucifixion (Luke 22:39-44). Prayer space is the sacred place where the petitions of powerless people are offered to our almighty God in the name of Jesus.

Reflect & Pray

What’s keeping you from bringing your challenges to God in prayer? How can you partner with others in prayer for mutual support?

Almighty God of resurrection power, please help me in my powerlessness today as I fix my eyes on Jesus.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Worshipping as the Occasion Arises

I saw you while you were still under the fig tree. — John 1:48

We imagine that we’ll rise to the occasion when a big crisis comes along. But a big crisis only reveals what we’re made of; it doesn’t put anything new into us. Are you telling yourself that you’ll do what’s necessary if God gives the call? You won’t—not unless you’re already rising to the occasion. You have to be the real thing with God before the big event, in the workshop of your private life with him.

Every day, God is giving you small, seemingly insignificant things to do, things which may go entirely unnoticed by the world. If you don’t believe God has engineered these things and therefore you aren’t using them as opportunities for worship, you’ll be revealed as unfit when the crisis comes. Crises always reveal character.

A private worshipping relationship with God is the great essential of spiritual fitness. The time will come when you have to step out from “under the fig tree”—out from your sheltered, private place—and go forth into the glare and the crowd. If you haven’t been worshipping in private, as the occasion arises, you’ll find you have no value to God in the outside world. But if you have been worshipping in private, you will be ready when God sends you out, because in the unseen life—the life no one saw but God—you’ve become perfectly fit. When the strain arrives, God will know he can rely on you.

Do you think you have no time for worshipping or praying or reading the Bible? Do you say to yourself, “I can’t be expected to live a worshipful life in the circumstances I’m in right now; my opportunity hasn’t come yet. When it does, of course I’ll be ready”? You won’t be. If you haven’t been worshipping where you are right now, as the occasion arises, then in the crisis you’ll be useless to yourself and an enormous hindrance to those around you. The workshop of the disciple’s life is the hidden, personal time spent worshipping God.

Proverbs 8-9; 2 Corinthians 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

For the past three hundred years men have been pointing out how similar Jesus Christ’s teachings are to other good teachings. We have to remember that Christianity, if it is not a supernatural miracle, is a sham. 

The Highest Good, 548 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

WHILE THE WINDOW'S OPEN - #10088

I was sitting on our front porch, and I saw our son-in-law suddenly running full speed across the front yard, headed for the back yard with his camera in his hand. With my incredible detective mind, I surmised that he had seen something that would make a great photo; something that apparently wasn't going to be there for long. Actually, he had seen our horse running across the pasture with her mane flowing and beautifully illuminated by the setting sun. Well, having a wife who's taken some pretty amazing photos over the years, I understood this. I guess you'd call it the "seize the moment" thing. Photographers know about this, and you'd better not get in their way.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "While the Window's Open."

Photographer-types understand a life-principle that a lot of us miss - that there are moments, there are opportunities that have to be seized - or they're missed forever. And it isn't just photographs. It's precious life moments where a window of opportunity opens for a brief time, maybe just a moment, and either we stop and we take that opportunity or sometimes we lose it for good.

Thus, God's counsel in Ephesians 5, beginning in verse 15, which is our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise..." Okay, so what does wise living look like? "...making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

Apparently, knowing and doing God's will in your life often depends on seeing the opportunity He has opened up for you and seizing that opportunity. Many of life's regrets are about opportunities we missed because we let them slip by. Like the aging businessman who says, "If only I'd spent more time with my family." As many times as I've heard that lament, I have never heard anybody say, "My only regret is I wish I'd spent more time with my business." Nope, never heard it.

When your child is ready to talk, you'd better drop everything and listen. The window won't be open for long. When your child is ready to be affectionate, you've got nothing more important to do than respond. When your son or daughter has time to be with you, you'd better have time to be with them.

The same applies to your mate, your parents, others that you love. Many a tear at a funeral is over opportunities we did not take when this one that we loved was still touchable, still thankable, still forgivable, still huggable. And how many chances do we have a day to simply compliment someone, encourage someone, stop and listen to someone. Those are God-moments - opportunities to be a channel of God's love into a person's life.

Most importantly, how many times do we pass up a God-given opportunity to talk about our relationship with Jesus Christ, when the eternity of that person may depend on them hearing about our Jesus? Spirit-filled living involves making yourself available each new day to seize the opportunities that God gives you in that day. If you're the kind of person that's all rigid, programmed and inflexible, you'll probably miss or ignore the many times the Holy Spirit is saying, "This is it! This is your chance. The window's open. Do it now. Seize the moment!"

Like a photographer running to capture his picture before the moment passes, we need to capture the God-moments that He is weaving into each new day. Those scenes are just too good to miss!