Deuteronomy 29, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HIS KINGDOM WILL NEVER END - December 17, 2025

In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing was a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looked into the face of the baby, she saw her son, her Lord, his majesty—she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knew she was holding God. So this is he she thought. She remembered the words of the angel: “His kingdom will never end.”

He looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. Majesty in the midst of mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager, and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near. And as Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end.”

God Came Near

Deuteronomy 29

These are the terms of the Covenant that God commanded Moses to make with the People of Israel in the land of Moab, renewing the Covenant he made with them at Horeb.

Moses Blesses Israel on the Plains of Moab

2–4  Moses called all Israel together and said, You’ve seen with your own eyes everything that God did in Egypt to Pharaoh and his servants, and to the land itself—the massive trials to which you were eyewitnesses, the great signs and miracle-wonders. But God didn’t give you an understanding heart or perceptive eyes or attentive ears until right now, this very day.

5–6  I took you through the wilderness for forty years and through all that time the clothes on your backs didn’t wear out, the sandals on your feet didn’t wear out, and you lived well without bread and wine and beer, proving to you that I am in fact God, your God.

7–8  When you arrived here in this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan met us primed for war but we beat them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

9  Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.

10–13  You are all standing here today in the Presence of God, your God—the heads of your tribes, your leaders, your officials, all Israel: your babies, your wives, the resident foreigners in your camps who fetch your firewood and water—ready to cross over into the solemnly sworn Covenant that God, your God, is making with you today, the Covenant that this day confirms that you are his people and he is God, your God, just as he promised you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14–21  I’m not making this Covenant and its oath with you alone. I am making it with you who are standing here today in the Presence of God, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today. You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels. You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods. Don’t let down your guard lest even now, today, someone—man or woman, clan or tribe—gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you, a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, “I’ll live just the way I please, thank you,” and ends up ruining life for everybody. God won’t let him off the hook. God’s anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him. God will delete his name from the records. God will separate him out from all the tribes of Israel for special punishment, according to all the curses of the Covenant written in this Book of Revelation.

22–23  The next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a far country, will be appalled when they see the widespread devastation, how God made the whole land sick. They’ll see a fire-blackened wasteland of brimstone and salt flats, nothing planted, nothing growing, not so much as a blade of grass anywhere—like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God overthrew in fiery rage.

24  All the nations will ask, “Why did God do this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?”

25–28  Your children will answer, “Because they abandoned the Covenant of the God of their ancestors that he made with them after he got them out of Egypt; they went off and worshiped other gods, submitted to gods they’d never heard of before, gods they had no business dealing with. So God’s anger erupted against that land and all the curses written in this book came down on it. God, furiously angry, pulled them, roots and all, out of their land and dumped them in another country, as you can see.”

29  God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

by James Banks

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 43:1-7

When You’re Between a Rock and a Hard Place

1–4  43 But now, God’s Message,

the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,

the One who got you started, Israel:

“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.

I’ve called your name. You’re mine.

When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.

When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.

When you’re between a rock and a hard place,

it won’t be a dead end—

Because I am God, your personal God,

The Holy of Israel, your Savior.

I paid a huge price for you:

all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!

That’s how much you mean to me!

That’s how much I love you!

I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,

trade the creation just for you.

5–7  “So don’t be afraid: I’m with you.

I’ll round up all your scattered children,

pull them in from east and west.

I’ll send orders north and south:

‘Send them back.

Return my sons from distant lands,

my daughters from faraway places.

I want them back, every last one who bears my name,

every man, woman, and child

Whom I created for my glory,

yes, personally formed and made each one.’ ”

Today's Insights

God disciplined His covenant people because of their unrepentant unfaithfulness and exiled them to Babylon for seventy years (Isaiah 39:6-7). But He wouldn’t forget His covenant or abandon His chosen people. In Isaiah 40-66, the prophet speaks of the return from exile and Judah’s future restoration. In chapter 43, God promised He’d bring them back to the promised land. They were disciplined, not abandoned, for He said, “I am with you” (v. 5). He reminded them that He’s still their God—their creator, redeemer, protector, and savior (vv. 7-15). As God’s people, we need not be afraid of the trials we face or the uncertainties of our future. Because we belong to Him, we can be assured of His unfailing love (vv. 1-3). He tells us, “You are precious and honored in my sight” (v. 4). He loves us and won’t forget us.

Precious to God

You are precious and honored in my sight. Isaiah 43:4

The painting hung on the wall of a home for years, unnoticed and forgotten, until one day it fell. When it was taken to an art restorer for repairs, he discovered it was a long-lost Rembrandt masterpiece titled The Adoration of the Magi. It had been thought that only copies of the work remained, but here was the original. Suddenly the painting’s value skyrocketed to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Bible paints another picture of underestimated value and forgotten worth. Isaiah the prophet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, told God’s people that even though they would be taken away to a foreign land where they would suffer and be devalued, He would still be with them: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine,” He assured them (Isaiah 43:1). Though they would “pass through the waters” and “walk through the fire” (v. 2), His faithfulness to them would not change. With words that point to His coming kingdom in Christ, God promised that He would one day restore “everyone who is called by my name” (v. 7) and bring them home to Him.

God will one day gather all who are His because they “are precious and honored in [His] sight” (v. 4), each one an original! Our Creator values us because of His infinite kindness and mercy. The world may overlook us, but He never will.

Reflect & Pray

How does God’s kindness in Christ show that you are precious to Him? How much is He worth to you?

Saving God, how amazing is Your perfect love, that You would give Yourself for me!

Learn more here about having a personal relationship with God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Redemption Creates the Need It Satisfies

The gospel of God creates a sense of needing the gospel. Paul says, “If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled”—to whom? To those who behave immorally? No—“to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4). By “unbelievers,” Paul means those who haven’t had the life of God created in them through personal redemption. As redemption creates the life of God in a human soul, it also creates the things belonging to that life, including a sense of needing the Lord. It is God who creates the need of which no human being is conscious until God manifests himself; nothing can satisfy the need but that which created the need. This is the meaning of redemption: it both creates and satisfies.

The majority of people have no sense of needing the gospel because they have morality and self–sufficiency well within their grasp. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). This is true, but God can’t give until we ask, and we won’t ask if we don’t feel a need. It isn’t that God withholds; this is simply how he has constituted things on the basis of the redemption. Through our asking, God sets a process in motion by which he creates what doesn’t exist until we ask. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). We preach our own experiences, and people are interested, but no sense of need is awakened. But when Jesus Christ is lifted up, the Spirit of God will create a conscious need of him. Behind the preaching of the gospel is the creative redemption of God at work in people’s souls. Personal testimony is never what saves: “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63).

Amos 7-9; Revelation 8

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.

So Send I You, 1330 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

GREEN LIGHTS ON THE RESCUE ROAD - #10158

I was speeding along the Interstate - legally speeding of course - and this van passed me. He pulled into the right lane and then he seemed to be maintaining a pretty consistent speed. For many miles, I ended up traveling behind him. I noticed there was something unusual about this van - it had a plastic bubble that was mounted just above the roof. I had some ideas of why it might be there, especially in light of the words printed on the side of the van. It gave the name of a large express mail delivery service, followed by these words, "Critical Care Van." Later, actually a law enforcement friend of mine confirmed my theory of what that vehicle was actually carrying - parts. Body parts needed for transplants that can save lives. And the bubble on top? My friend said that's a strobe light that actually turns traffic lights green as the van approaches them! Wonder how I could get one of those for me?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Green Lights on the Rescue Road."

The driver of that Critical Care Van is, of course, on an important mission and he needs green lights all the way. So do we, if we're carrying out a mission that's been given to us by our Lord. See, He's got assignments for all of us who belong to Him. He's got assignments for you. Maybe you're living out His assignment right now, or maybe you're holding back on saying "yes" to an assignment He's trying to give you. In either case, there's something decisive that you need to know. When you're on a mission for Jesus, He's the One who turns the lights green as you go. He actually promised.

1 Thessalonians 5:24, our word for today from the Word of God, is one of the places where He made that promise. It simply says, "The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it." That's it! When Jesus prompts you to do something for Him, He isn't about to leave you stranded somewhere in the middle of His mission and in the middle of His will. You can't see how it's going to get done, how it's ever going to come together. He says, "I got you into this, I'll see that it gets done!"

Where's the money going to come from? His problem. If it's God's will, it's God's bill. Where are the people you need going to come from? He's already getting them ready for you and you ready for them. How are you going to get over the huge obstacles that are in the way? The God who parts Red Seas is going to make the way for you. How can you possibly do this thing when you are so flawed, so inadequate, so ordinary? Since when is this about what you can do? With God's assignment always comes God's enabling!

Look, Jesus might be summoning you right now to undertake some work for Him. It may be here, it may be thousands of miles from here. Maybe He's summoning you to touch some lives for Him, maybe a few in your immediate world, or maybe more people than you could ever imagine. But many times, all we see are the red lights ahead. So we resist our Master's call and we miss His amazing will. Your Lord has promised to turn those red lights green - not before you move out for Him, but as you're moving out for Him.

Just like that Critical Care Van, you're carrying something that lives depend on - the Good News of Jesus Christ. There are people that He is depending on you to tell, so they can be rescued from an eternity without God and without hope. Don't let those red lights keep you sitting in the parking lot.

Now start driving toward that mission God has given you, and leave those green lights to Him!

Deuteronomy 28, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WHEN HOPE WAS BORN - December 16, 2025

When Christ was born, so was our hope. This is why I love Christmas. The event invites us to believe the wildest of promises: He did away with every barrier, fence, sin, bent, debt, and grave. Anything that might keep us from him was demolished. He only awaits our word to walk through the door. Invite him in, escort him to the seat of honor, and pull out his chair. Clear the table; clear the calendar. Call the kids and neighbors. Christmas is here. Christ is here.

One request from you, and God will do again what he did then: scatter the night with everlasting light. He’ll be born in you. Let “Silent Night” be sung. Every heart can be a manger. Every day can be a Christmas. The Christmas miracle—a yearlong celebration!

Because of Bethlehem

Deuteronomy 28

If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:

God’s blessing inside the city,

God’s blessing in the country;

God’s blessing on your children,

the crops of your land,

the young of your livestock,

the calves of your herds,

the lambs of your flocks.

God’s blessing on your basket and bread bowl;

God’s blessing in your coming in,

God’s blessing in your going out.

7  God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They’ll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads.

8  God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he’ll bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you.

9  God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God, your God, and live the way he has shown you.

10  All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of God and hold you in respectful awe.

11–14  God will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you. God will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan. God will make you the head, not the tail; you’ll always be the top dog, never the bottom dog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you today. Don’t swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods.

15–19  Here’s what will happen if you don’t obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep all the commandments and guidelines that I’m commanding you today. All these curses will come down hard on you:

God’s curse in the city,

God’s curse in the country;

God’s curse on your basket and bread bowl;

God’s curse on your children,

the crops of your land,

the young of your livestock,

the calves of your herds,

the lambs of your flocks.

God’s curse in your coming in,

God’s curse in your going out.

20  God will send The Curse, The Confusion, The Contrariness down on everything you try to do until you’ve been destroyed and there’s nothing left of you—all because of your evil pursuits that led you to abandon me.

21  God will infect you with The Disease, wiping you right off the land that you’re going in to possess.

22  God will set consumption and fever and rash and seizures and dehydration and blight and jaundice on you. They’ll hunt you down until they kill you.

23–24  The sky over your head will become an iron roof, the ground under your feet, a slab of concrete. From out of the skies God will rain ash and dust down on you until you suffocate.

25–26  God will defeat you by enemy attack. You’ll come at your enemies on one road and run away on seven roads. All the kingdoms of Earth will see you as a horror. Carrion birds and animals will boldly feast on your dead body with no one to chase them away.

27–29  God will hit you hard with the boils of Egypt, hemorrhoids, scabs, and an incurable itch. He’ll make you go crazy and blind and senile. You’ll grope around in the middle of the day like a blind person feeling his way through a lifetime of darkness; you’ll never get to where you’re going. Not a day will go by that you’re not abused and robbed. And no one is going to help you.

30–31  You’ll get engaged to a woman and another man will take her for his mistress; you’ll build a house and never live in it; you’ll plant a garden and never eat so much as a carrot; you’ll watch your ox get butchered and not get a single steak from it; your donkey will be stolen from in front of you and you’ll never see it again; your sheep will be sent off to your enemies and no one will lift a hand to help you.

32–34  Your sons and daughters will be shipped off to foreigners; you’ll wear your eyes out looking vainly for them, helpless to do a thing. Your crops and everything you work for will be eaten and used by foreigners; you’ll spend the rest of your lives abused and knocked around. What you see will drive you crazy.

35  God will hit you with painful boils on your knees and legs and no healing or relief from head to foot.

36–37  God will lead you and the king you set over you to a country neither you nor your ancestors have heard of; there you’ll worship other gods, no-gods of wood and stone. Among all the peoples where God will take you, you’ll be treated as a lesson or a proverb—a horror!

38–42  You’ll plant sacks and sacks of seed in the field but get almost nothing—the grasshoppers will devour it. You’ll plant and hoe and prune vineyards but won’t drink or put up any wine—the worms will devour them. You’ll have groves of olive trees everywhere, but you’ll have no oil to rub on your face or hands—the olives will have fallen off. You’ll have sons and daughters but they won’t be yours for long—they’ll go off to captivity. Locusts will take over all your trees and crops.

43–44  The foreigner who lives among you will climb the ladder, higher and higher, while you go deeper and deeper into the hole. He’ll lend to you; you won’t lend to him. He’ll be the head; you’ll be the tail.

45–46  All these curses are going to come on you. They’re going to hunt you down and get you until there’s nothing left of you because you didn’t obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep his commandments and guidelines that I commanded you. The curses will serve as signposts, warnings to your children ever after.

47–48  Because you didn’t serve God, your God, out of the joy and goodness of your heart in the great abundance, you’ll have to serve your enemies whom God will send against you. Life will be famine and drought, rags and wretchedness; then he’ll put an iron yoke on your neck until he’s destroyed you.

48–52  Yes, God will raise up a faraway nation against you, swooping down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you can’t understand, a mean-faced people, cruel to grandmothers and babies alike. They’ll ravage the young of your animals and the crops from your fields until you’re destroyed. They’ll leave nothing behind: no grain, no wine, no oil, no calves, no lambs—and finally, no you. They’ll lay siege to you while you’re huddled behind your town gates. They’ll knock those high, proud walls flat, those walls behind which you felt so safe. They’ll lay siege to your fortified cities all over the country, this country that God, your God, has given you.

53–55  And you’ll end up cannibalizing your own sons and daughters that God, your God, has given you. When the suffering from the siege gets extreme, you’re going to eat your own babies. The most gentle and caring man among you will turn hard, his eye evil, against his own brother, his cherished wife, and even the rest of his children who are still alive, refusing to share with them a scrap of meat from the cannibal child-stew he is eating. He’s lost everything, even his humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns.

56–57  And the most gentle and caring woman among you, a woman who wouldn’t step on a wildflower, will turn hard, her eye evil, against her cherished husband, against her son, against her daughter, against even the afterbirth of her newborn infants; she plans to eat them in secret—she does eat them!—because she has lost everything, even her humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns.

58–61  If you don’t diligently keep all the words of this Revelation written in this book, living in holy awe before This Name glorious and terrible, God, your God, then God will pound you with catastrophes, you and your children, huge interminable catastrophes, hideous interminable illnesses. He’ll bring back and stick you with every old Egyptian malady that once terrorized you. And yes, every disease and catastrophe imaginable—things not even written in the Book of this Revelation—God will bring on you until you’re destroyed.

62  Because you didn’t listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, you’ll be left with a few pitiful stragglers in place of the dazzling stars-in-the-heavens multitude you had become.

63–66  And this is how things will end up: Just as God once enjoyed you, took pleasure in making life good for you, giving you many children, so God will enjoy getting rid of you, clearing you off the Earth. He’ll weed you out of the very soil that you are entering in to possess. He’ll scatter you to the four winds, from one end of the Earth to the other. You’ll worship all kinds of other gods, gods neither you nor your parents ever heard of, wood and stone no-gods. But you won’t find a home there, you’ll not be able to settle down. God will give you a restless heart, longing eyes, a homesick soul. You will live in constant jeopardy, terrified of every shadow, never knowing what you’ll meet around the next corner.

67  In the morning you’ll say, “I wish it were evening.” In the evening you’ll say, “I wish it were morning.” Afraid, terrorized at what’s coming next, afraid of the unknown, because of the sights you’ve witnessed.

68  God will ship you back to Egypt by a road I promised you’d never see again. There you’ll offer yourselves for sale, both men and women, as slaves to your enemies. And not a buyer to be found.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 10:25-34, 36-37

Defining “Neighbor”

25  Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”

26  He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”

27  He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”

28  “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

29  Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”

30–32  Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

33–35  “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable.

36  “What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

37  “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Today's Insights

The key to understanding the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) lies in knowing how first-century Israel answered the question, “Who is my neighbor?” (v. 29). They’d distorted the command “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) into “love your neighbor and hate your enemy” (Matthew 5:43). The Jews defined a neighbor as a fellow Israelite, for gentiles were accursed. For the Pharisees (experts in the law), it referred to a fellow Pharisee, for those who knew nothing of the law were accursed (John 7:49). Jesus turned this thinking upside down by making a hated Samaritan (people of mixed race whom the Jews viewed as heretics) the hero of the story. The Spirit can help us today to show compassion to others instead of simply passing by.

Who Is My Neighbor?

Go and do likewise. Luke 10:37

From her hospital bed, Marie Coble lit up when she saw the delivery driver whose help had likely saved her life. She’d fallen in her driveway and hit her head, causing a brain bleed. Seeing her injury, Raheem Cooper helped her while calling paramedics. Invited by family to visit her in the hospital, Raheem often brings sweet treats she enjoys to assist her recovery.

Their story brings to mind the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable is Jesus’ reply to an expert’s question on what he must do to inherit eternal life. Do “what is written in the law,” Jesus said (Luke 10:26), including “love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 27). But the expert persisted, asking, “Who is my neighbor?” (v. 29).

Christ’s answer describes a man attacked by robbers, left half dead, and then ignored by two people—a priest and a Levite—who passed him by. “But a Samaritan . . . took pity on him,” “bandaged his wounds, . . . and took care of him” (vv. 33-34). Seeing the hurting man in need, the Samaritan’s help was active, urgent, and without bias—looking past race or creed to assist someone he could’ve ignored.

Thus, Jesus asked, "Which of these three was a neighbor to the man?" “The one who had mercy on him,” the expert said. Said Jesus, “Go and do likewise” (vv. 36-37). In Christ, we too can find the compassion to help a hurting person instead of passing by. It’s a lesson for all in sharing Jesus’ love.

Reflect & Pray

How do you need mercy? How can you show mercy?

Dear Father, may I look beyond differences to share Jesus’ mercy with others.

To learn more about mercy, read Living Justly, Loving Mercy.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Wrestling before God

Put on the full armor of God. . . And always keep on praying. — Ephesians 6:13,18

You have to wrestle against the things that prevent you from getting to God, and you have to wrestle in prayer for other souls. But never say that you wrestle with God in prayer; this idea is scripturally unfounded. Attempt to wrestle with God, and you will be crippled for the rest of your life.

“He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched”

(Genesis 32:25). If God comes into your life in some way you don’t like, and you try, as Jacob did, to wrestle with him, you compel God to put your hip out of joint. You should wrestle; God doesn’t want you to hobble along weakly in his ways. Just make sure you’re wrestling the right things. Be someone who wrestles before God for other souls and against those things that would keep you from him, and you will be more than a conqueror through him (Romans 8:37).

Wrestling before God in prayer prevails in his kingdom, so long as the one praying is complete in Christ. If you ask me to pray for you and I’m not complete, my prayer counts for nothing. But if I’m complete in him, my prayer always prevails. I have to put on the full armor of God before I pray; prayer is effective only when there is completeness.

Always distinguish between God’s order and his permissive will. God’s order is unchangeable; the things he allows by his permissive will are what we have to wrestle against. God uses his permissive will providentially to turn us into his sons and daughters. Our reaction to the things he permits is what enables us to get at his order. He asks us to meet these things head–on, not to be like jellyfish, floating along and saying, “Oh, well, it’s the Lord’s will.” Beware of drifting lazily before God instead of putting up a glorious fight so that you may lay hold of his strength.

Amos 4-6; Revelation 7

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. 

Approved Unto God, 11 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

YOUR OWN PERSONAL UMPIRE - #10157

There are certain occupations where I think you need a particularly strong self image. For example, I would think a dentist needs a strong self image. I mean, he's a professional, he's helping people, but it's just hard to have so many people dreading what you do. Or in the world of sports, like a baseball umpire? Everybody thinks they can see better than the umpire can. You can tell because they keep yelling, "Hey, are you blind?" Because they don't agree with your call. Everybody thinks they have a higher IQ than you do. They keep commenting on the intelligence of an umpire negatively just because they don't agree with him.

But you couldn't have baseball without the umpires. I mean, can you imagine the players trying to agree on whether a guy was safe or out at second? That would end the game right there. Or how about letting the fans decide? Man, there would be chaos without the umpire. So, let's say there's a dramatic play at home plate. The winning run is sliding into home plate as the ball is thrown to the catcher, there's a cloud of dust, there are thousands of voices giving their opinion whether the runner was safe or not, but there's only one voice that matters. The umpire settles it.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Own Personal Umpire."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Colossians 3:15 where God says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace." Notice here it says that "the peace of Christ should rule in your hearts." Now, that word in the original language of the New Testament means to be the judge; the one who awards the prize. In essence, "Let the peace of Christ be the umpire in your heart."

In other words, the peace of God is your own personal umpire. As you make each day's choices, you need some way to decide what should be safe and what should be out. Well, that's the peace of Christ. You've got a lot of choices. You've got right or wrong choices, and some of them are not covered by a specific rule in the Bible. You've got to decide which way to go in a lot of situations; which option is the one God wants.

Well, the Bible says, "Let the peace of Christ decide." Let it be the umpire. Now, this peace comes as you continue to bring a choice to God. You come to Him with a blank piece of paper and you say, "God, you know what I'd like, but I'm not going to give you a contract to sign. This is my blank piece of paper. What do you want?" And as you pray it through, I think you'll find that one way you're supposed to go. One road feels right most of the time when you're praying about it when it's just you and Jesus - as you pray about it over and over again.

Now, I'm not talking about rushed prayer here. You've got to have time to let Him put His thoughts into your heart. But as you get off your knees and start to go through your day, the peace of Christ is going to be challenged by a lot of other voices - like the umpire and all those people in the stands. I mean as soon as you get with other people, God's will starts to seem a little less clear than it did when you were just with Him. There are all these other voices, but you've got to focus on the one voice that decides it.

How can you tune your peace meter so you can hear and receive the peace of Christ? Well, the next verse says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." So you need to have some increased time in God's Word. You need to memorize some verses. You need to read whenever you can, looking for a personal word from the Lord. The more you get full of God's Word, the more God has to work with in giving you His personal guidance. His peace and His Word always go together.

Human umpires? Well, they're right some of the time. God's umpire is right all the time. Why don't you offer your choices to the Lord and ask for His peace as the confirming signal in your heart, that sense that you've had a divine "OK" or a divine "forget it"? God's peace is His wonderful way of calling "Safe!" or "Out!" on the calls you have to make. And you'll always win if you go along with God's personal umpire.

Luke 7:1-30, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NO PLACE HE WILL NOT GO - December 15, 2025

Maybe your life resembles a Bethlehem stable. Crude in some spots, smelly in others. Not much glamour. You do your best to make the best of it. But try as you might, the roof still leaks, and the winter wind still sneaks through the holes you just can’t seem to fix. You’ve shivered through your share of cold nights and you wonder if God has a place for a person like you.

Find your answers in the Bethlehem stable. The story of Christmas is the story of God’s relentless love for us. The moment Mary touched God’s face is the moment God made his case: there is no place he will not go. No place is too common, no person is too hardened, no distance is too far. There is no person he cannot reach. There is no limit to his love.

Because of Bethlehem

Luke 7:1-30

A Place of Holy Mystery

1–5  7 When he finished speaking to the people, he entered Capernaum. A Roman captain there had a servant who was on his deathbed. He prized him highly and didn’t want to lose him. When he heard Jesus was back, he sent leaders from the Jewish community asking him to come and heal his servant. They came to Jesus and urged him to do it, saying, “He deserves this. He loves our people. He even built our meeting place.”

6–8  Jesus went with them. When he was still quite far from the house, the captain sent friends to tell him, “Master, you don’t have to go to all this trouble. I’m not that good a person, you know. I’d be embarrassed for you to come to my house, even embarrassed to come to you in person. Just give the order and my servant will get well. I’m a man under orders; I also give orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

9–10  Taken aback, Jesus addressed the accompanying crowd: “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know about God and how he works.” When the messengers got back home, they found the servant up and well.

11–15  Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession—a woman’s only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, “Don’t cry.” Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I tell you: Get up.” The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.

16–17  They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful—and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, “God is back, looking to the needs of his people!” The news of Jesus spread all through the country.

Is This What You Were Expecting?

18–19  John’s disciples reported back to him the news of all these events taking place. He sent two of them to the Master to ask the question, “Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?”

20  The men showed up before Jesus and said, “John the Baptizer sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?’ ”

21–23  In the next two or three hours Jesus healed many from diseases, distress, and evil spirits. To many of the blind he gave the gift of sight. Then he gave his answer: “Go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard:

The blind see,

The lame walk,

Lepers are cleansed,

The deaf hear,

The dead are raised,

The wretched of the earth

have God’s salvation hospitality extended to them.

“Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves fortunate!”

24–27  After John’s messengers left to make their report, Jesus said more about John to the crowd of people. “What did you expect when you went out to see him in the wild? A weekend camper? Hardly. What then? A sheik in silk pajamas? Not in the wilderness, not by a long shot. What then? A messenger from God? That’s right, a messenger! Probably the greatest messenger you’ll ever hear. He is the messenger Malachi announced when he wrote,

I’m sending my messenger on ahead

To make the road smooth for you.

28–30  “Let me lay it out for you as plainly as I can: No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer, but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him. The ordinary and disreputable people who heard John, by being baptized by him into the kingdom, are the clearest evidence; the Pharisees and religious officials would have nothing to do with such a baptism, wouldn’t think of giving up their place in line to their inferiors.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, December 15, 2025

by Tim Gustafson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 2:1-8

That’s why I decided not to make another visit that could only be painful to both of us. If by merely showing up I would put you in an embarrassingly painful position, how would you then be free to cheer and refresh me?

3–4  That was my reason for writing a letter instead of coming—so I wouldn’t have to spend a miserable time disappointing the very friends I had looked forward to cheering me up. I was convinced at the time I wrote it that what was best for me was also best for you. As it turned out, there was pain enough just in writing that letter, more tears than ink on the parchment. But I didn’t write it to cause pain; I wrote it so you would know how much I care—oh, more than care—love you!

5–8  Now, regarding the one who started all this—the person in question who caused all this pain—I want you to know that I am not the one injured in this as much as, with a few exceptions, all of you. So I don’t want to come down too hard. What the majority of you agreed to as punishment is punishment enough. Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. My counsel now is to pour on the love.

Today's Insights

Romans says that we all fall short of God’s holy standards: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). Yet Jesus loves us so much that He died for us and freely forgives all who come to Him in sorrow for their sins (John 3:16; 1 John 1:9). In turn, believers in Christ are to strive to forgive others (Matthew 6:14; Ephesians 4:32). Paul says in Colossians, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (3:12-13). When we’ve been wronged by others, working toward restoration can seem like a daunting task. As we seek God’s guidance, however, He’ll help us to take the necessary steps.

Knowing and Loving Others

I wrote you . . . to let you know the depth of my love for you. 2 Corinthians 2:4

Hippocrates (ca. 460–375 bc) brought medicine out of the realm of the superstitious and into the light of testing and observation. But he didn’t lose sight of the patient’s humanity. “It is far more important to know what person the disease has,” he said, “than what disease the person has.”

The apostle Paul cared for a church with multiple problems, yet he saw the humanity of each member—including a man who’d committed a sin “that even pagans do not tolerate” (1 Corinthians 5:1). Paul dealt strongly with the “disease,” and the man repented. Now, as he wrote another letter to the church in Corinth, Paul had affirming instructions for all of them. He recognized that this man’s sin had affected everyone: “He has grieved all of you to some extent,” he said (2 Corinthians 2:5). But since the man had turned from his sin, Paul said, “Reaffirm your love for him” (v. 8).

His motivation was clear: “I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you” (v. 4). He knew them all. And he loved them.

Sin affects us all. Behind each sin is a human being. When we’ve been wronged, it may be difficult to work toward restoration, yet that’s what God calls us to do. Know the person. Then, in Christ’s strength, love them.

Reflect & Pray

How did Paul handle the sin in the Corinthian church? How does loving someone despite their sin differ from enablement?

Dear Father, please help me see others as You see them. Thank You for complete forgiveness of my sins.

To learn more about fellowship with others, read Why Christians Need Good Friendships.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, December 15, 2025

Approved unto God

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. — 2 Timothy 2:15

What we need today isn’t a new gospel; it’s men and women who can restate the gospel of the Son of God in terms that will reach the very heart of people’s problems. There’s nothing easy or automatic about becoming such a man or woman. If you wish to become a worker who, as Paul puts it, “correctly handles the word of truth,” you must “do your best”—that is, make a serious effort.

If you can’t clearly express your thoughts on a truth God has given you, struggle until you can. Otherwise, you’ll be unable to pass it on, and someone will be poorer for it all the days of his life. But when you put serious effort into reexpressing some truth of God for yourself, God will use that expression for someone else. Go through the winepress where God’s grapes are crushed, struggle to get at the expression you need, and a time will come when that expression will be the very wine of strength to another. If instead you say, “I’m not going to struggle to express this truth for myself; I’ll borrow what I say,” the expression will be not only of no use to you but of no use to anyone. Try to restate to yourself what you implicitly feel to be God’s truth, and you will give God a chance to pass it on to someone else through you.

Always make a practice of challenging your mind to think out what it accepts easily. Our position is not truly ours until we make it ours by suffering. The author who benefits you isn’t the one who tells you something you didn’t know before; it’s the one who gives expression to the truth that has been struggling for utterance inside you.

Amos 1-3; Revelation 6

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Much of the misery in our Christian life comes not because the devil tackles us, but because we have never understood the simple laws of our make-up. We have to treat the body as the servant of Jesus Christ: when the body says “Sit,” and He says “Go,” go! When the body says “Eat,” and He says “Fast,” fast! When the body says “Yawn,” and He says “Pray,” pray!

Biblical Ethics, 107 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, December 15, 2025

HOW DID MARTHA GET IN THE CHRISTMAS STORY? - #10156

It's about that time of year when you start getting all those Christmas letters from people. You know, all those family letters that tell you about all the things they've done: Junior's in Boy Scouts, Emily's in cheerleading. I've noticed there's one recurring word; it's almost like a theme that runs through all those letters. It's that little four-letter word "busy." Everybody tells you how busy they are all year long. "I'm busy, busy, busy and I have a busy, busy, busy family."

I don't know how it is at your house, but the race is at full speed in most of our homes right now getting ready for Christmas: The dinners, the parties, the shopping, the wrapping, the churching, the decorating, entertaining, and driving. Aren't you tired just hearing about it? It's amazing that the angels introduced this season by saying, "Peace on earth." Christmas seems more like a time when instead of peace on earth we're "going to pieces" doesn't it?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have "A Word With You" today about "How Did Martha Get In The Christmas Story?"

Well, in the midst of all this Christmas chaos, I want to blow the whistle, call a time out, and ask an important question, "How did Martha get in the Christmas Story?" We'll talk about that in just a moment.

First, our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 10 - I'll begin reading at verse 38. It is not part of the Christmas Story, but then again, maybe in a strange way it is. "As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha (there she is) opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.' 'Martha, Martha' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"

Boy, Martha would have been a real treat during the Christmas season, don't you think? She had a way of getting all stressed out. And what was happening here was that although there was not a Christmas to celebrate, it was Jesus' season at Martha's house and she's going crazy! She would have written a great Christmas letter because she's busy. The tragedy is that Martha is so busy with the festivities of Jesus' coming, she has no time for Jesus.

Here we are, you and I, in the most Christ-conscious, Christ-honoring time our culture has. Oh, there's a lot of phony in it, but this is the most Christ-honoring time that we have. And if you and your family aren't closer to Christ at Christmas, haven't you missed the point of it all? You've wasted this golden time.

I'm realistic enough to know that you're not going to cancel all your plans...all the running around before Christmas. But if possible, how about lowering your expectations of yourself? Don't try to do a year's worth of everything in the next few days. And more importantly, stop right now and put a reserved sign on some prime time between now and Christmas. Commit yourself to quality time with Jesus each morning from now through Christmas. It will stabilize you during these stressful days.

Wouldn't it be ironic if Christmas actually crowded out your time with Christ? It's so easy to lose that time in all this busyness, isn't it? Don't! No, study the Christmas accounts in the Bible. Convene the family for some quality, spiritual time around the Lord Jesus - more than you usually do. I mean, it's going to have to be intentional - a decision.

Reach out to your lost neighbors; pray for them. Use your time in line and in traffic to worship the Lord and focus on Him. Give thanks daily for the gifts coming your way. Here comes a verb that doesn't exist. Don't get "Martha'd" this Christmas. Put Him first. Put your time with Him first. Make everything else fit around His time.

Don't get so busy with the festivities of Jesus' coming that you have no time for Jesus.

Deuteronomy 27, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado: The Power of Gratitude

Dear Friend,

This Christmas, my favorite word is Thanks. Just the word lifts the spirit. To say "thanks" is to celebrate a gift. Something. Anything. Animals. Bald spots. Chocolate. Dictionaries and Denalyn. To say "thanks" is to cross the line from have-not to have-much, from the excluded to the recruited. "Thanks" proclaims, "I'm not disadvantaged, disabled, victimized, scandalized, forgotten, or ignored. I am blessed."

Gratitude is a dialysis of sorts. It flushes the self-pity out of our systems. Jesus was robustly thankful. He was thankful when Mary interrupted the party with perfume. When he hugged children and blessed babies and watched blind people look at their first sunsets, Jesus was thankful. When the disciples returned from their first mission trip, he rejoiced: "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth" (Luke 10:21).

So, thank you, Jesus, for modeling gratitude.

And thank you, Friend, for your encouragement, prayers, and financial support of UpWords Ministries.  Your partnership in this ministry enables us to extend the reach of UpWords to countless souls around the world.  Daily, millions are encouraged through the radio program, daily email devotions from MaxLucado.com, internet, special messages, and television teaching on TBN.  God has graciously provided these opportunities to share his message of hope, and we consistently pray that this ministry brings him honor, glory, and a stepping stone for more souls to find the grace and peace that only he can give.

All of us at UpWords are grateful to you and look forward to 2015.  Let me thank you in advance for your continued prayers and financial support.

May God's peace and joy fill your hearts this Christmas!

Gratefully, Max Lucado

Deuteronomy 27

Moses commanded the leaders of Israel and charged the people: Keep every commandment that I command you today. On the day you cross the Jordan into the land that God, your God, is giving you, erect large stones and coat them with plaster. As soon as you cross over the river, write on the stones all the words of this Revelation so that you’ll enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, that land flowing with milk and honey that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised you.

4–7  So when you’ve crossed the Jordan, erect these stones on Mount Ebal. Then coat them with plaster. Build an Altar of stones for God, your God, there on the mountain. Don’t use an iron tool on the stones; build the Altar to God, your God, with uncut stones and offer your Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it to God, your God. When you sacrifice your Peace-Offerings you will also eat them there, rejoicing in the Presence of God, your God.

8  Write all the words of this Revelation on the stones. Incise them sharply.

9–10  Moses and the Levitical priests addressed all Israel: Quiet. Listen obediently, Israel. This very day you have become the people of God, your God. Listen to the Voice of God, your God. Keep his commandments and regulations that I’m commanding you today.

11–13  That day Moses commanded: After you’ve crossed the Jordan, these tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Ben-jamin. And these will stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14–26  The Levites, acting as spokesmen and speaking loudly, will address Israel:

God’s curse on anyone who carves or casts a god-image—an abomination to God made by a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who demeans a parent.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who misdirects a blind man on the road.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who interferes with justice due the foreigner, orphan, or widow.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who has sex with his father’s wife; he has violated the woman who belongs to his father.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who has sex with an animal.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who has sex with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who has sex with his mother-in-law.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who kills his neighbor in secret.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on whoever does not give substance to the words of this Revelation by living them.

All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, December 14, 2025

by 

Elisa Morgan

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

John 7:37-39

On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

Today's Insights

Jesus’ words in John 7:37-39 were delivered during Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). This feast commemorated the seasons of wandering in the wilderness following Israel’s exodus from Egypt and was celebrated in part by living in temporary shelters during the feast, as their ancient ancestors would’ve done. The Bible Knowledge Commentary notes that practices for this festival included “a solemn procession each day from the temple to the Gihon Spring. A priest filled a gold pitcher with water while the choir sang Isaiah 12:3. Then they returned to the altar and poured out the water. This ritual reminded them of the water from the rock during the wilderness wanderings (Numbers 20:8-11; Psalm 78:15-16).” The water ritual would’ve been given new clarity by Christ’s promise of “rivers of living water” (John 7:38), which refresh us when we’re weary and exhausted as those waters refreshed the children of Israel so long ago.

An Empty Juice Box

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. John 7:38

When I led a ministry for moms of preschoolers, we hunted for an image to describe the unending demands that mothers experience. Changing diapers. Wiping noses. Picking up toys. It turns out the image was right in front of us: a disposable juice box collapsed in on itself. Moms can feel like empty juice boxes. That ministry served moms by leading them to the Source of living water that can fill them to the full—Jesus.

In John 7, Jesus went to the Festival of Tabernacles (v. 10), commemorating God’s provision during the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings. This festival included a water-pouring rite symbolizing the fruitfulness that only moisture produces and foreshadowed the spiritual rain the Messiah would bring. Jesus fulfills what the ancient festival anticipated. “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (vv. 37-38).

At times, we can feel like empty containers. Weary from caregiving. Worn from working. Exhausted by everyday responsibilities. The unending demands draw us dry! But when we live in relationship with God, He provides springs of living water within our hearts to refresh and refuel us no matter how many cares and concerns try to drain us.

Reflect & Pray

What tasks deplete and drain you? How can you take a break from your daily tasks to experience God’s filling Spirit within you?

Dear God, thank You for dwelling in me by Your Spirit. May I continually draw from the living springs You provide.

Discover A Prayer for the Holy Spirit by Reclaim Today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, December 14, 2025

The Great Life

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. — John 14:1

Whenever we become confused by something in our personal experience, we’re in danger of blaming God. But God isn’t in the wrong; we are. Confusion means there is some perversity in our thinking or behavior that we refuse to give up. The instant we do give the thing up, everything becomes as clear as daylight. But as long as we’re trying to serve two separate ends—our own and God’s—we’ll meet with perplexity. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on him. Once we have this attitude, we’ll find that nothing is easier than living the saintly life. Difficulty comes when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit and use it for our ends.

“My peace I give you.” Whenever you obey God, he always responds by giving you the seal of his peace—the witness of an unfathomable peace, the supernatural peace of Jesus. Whenever peace fails to arrive, wait until it does or find out the reason why it doesn’t. If you act on impulse or in a burst of heroism, the peace of Jesus will not witness to you. You’ll have no confidence in God, and nothing will seem simple, because the spirit of simplicity is born of the Holy Spirit, not of your own decisions.

Questions and perplexities arise whenever I cease to obey. When I’m obeying, problems never come between me and God. Any problem that arises serves only to keep my mind awake and amazed at his revelation. When I’m walking in obedience and I encounter problems (and I will encounter many), it only increases my ecstatic delight, because I know that my Father knows, and that I’m going to get to watch and see how he unravels what appears to be an impossible situation.

Joel 1-3; Revelation 5

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.

Disciples Indeed, 395 L

Deuteronomy 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Grace Forgets

Do you actually believe God would make a statement like, "I will not hold their sins against them"-and then rub your nose in it whenever you ask for help?"  Was He exaggerating when He said He would cast your sins as far as the east is from the west? (Psalm 103:12).

Are you really forgiven?  Does He really forgive and forget?  Yes, but you and I don't. You still remember. That horrid lie. That jealousy. That habit. That business trip.

Do you think God is the voice that reminds you of your past?  Was God teasing when He said, "I will remember your sins no more?"  You and I just need an occasional reminder of God's nature, His forgetful nature.

It's against God's nature to remember forgiven sins. He is the God of perfect grace. Grace forgets. Period.

From God Came Near

Deuteronomy 26

Once you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance and take it over and settle down, you are to take some of all the firstfruits of what you grow in the land that God, your God, is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place God, your God, sets apart for you to worship him. At that time, go to the priest who is there and say, “I announce to God, your God, today that I have entered the land that God promised our ancestors that he’d give to us.” The priest will take the basket from you and place it on the Altar of God, your God. And there in the Presence of God, your God, you will recite:

5–10  A wandering Aramean was my father,

he went down to Egypt and sojourned there,

he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon

they became a great nation, mighty and many.

The Egyptians abused and battered us,

in a cruel and savage slavery.

We cried out to God, the God-of-Our-Fathers:

He listened to our voice, he saw

our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight.

And God took us out of Egypt

with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great,

with signs and miracle-wonders.

And he brought us to this place,

gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.

So here I am. I’ve brought the firstfruits

of what I’ve grown on this ground you gave me, O God.

10–11  Then place it in the Presence of God, your God. Prostrate yourselves in the Presence of God, your God. And rejoice! Celebrate all the good things that God, your God, has given you and your family; you and the Levite and the foreigner who lives with you.

12–14  Every third year, the year of the tithe, give a tenth of your produce to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that they may eat their fill in your cities. And then, in the Presence of God, your God, say this:

I have brought the sacred share,

I’ve given it to the Levite, foreigner, orphan, and widow.

What you commanded, I’ve done.

I haven’t detoured around your commands,

I haven’t forgotten a single one.

I haven’t eaten from the sacred share while mourning,

I haven’t removed any of it while ritually unclean,

I haven’t used it in funeral feasts.

I have listened obediently to the Voice of God, my God,

I have lived the way you commanded me.

15  Look down from your holy house in Heaven!

Bless your people Israel and the ground you gave us,

just as you promised our ancestors you would,

this land flowing with milk and honey.

16–17  This very day God, your God, commands you to follow these rules and regulations, to live them out with everything you have in you. You’ve renewed your vows today that God is your God, that you’ll live the way he shows you; do what he tells you in the rules, regulations, and commandments; and listen obediently to him.

18–19  And today God has reaffirmed that you are dearly held treasure just as he promised, a people entrusted with keeping his commandments, a people set high above all other nations that he’s made, high in praise, fame, and honor: you’re a people holy to God, your God. That’s what he has promised.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, December 13, 2025

by Katara Patton

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Nehemiah 8:5-6, 8-12

 Ezra opened the book. Every eye was on him (he was standing on the raised platform) and as he opened the book everyone stood. Then Ezra praised God, the great God, and all the people responded, “Oh Yes! Yes!” with hands raised high. And then they fell to their knees in worship of God, their faces to the ground.

They translated the Book of The Revelation of God so the people could understand it and then explained the reading.

9  Nehemiah the governor, along with Ezra the priest and scholar and the Levites who were teaching the people, said to all the people, “This day is holy to God, your God. Don’t weep and carry on.” They said this because all the people were weeping as they heard the words of The Revelation.

10  He continued, “Go home and prepare a feast, holiday food and drink; and share it with those who don’t have anything: This day is holy to God. Don’t feel bad. The joy of God is your strength!”

11  The Levites calmed the people, “Quiet now. This is a holy day. Don’t be upset.”

12  So the people went off to feast, eating and drinking and including the poor in a great celebration. Now they got it; they understood the reading that had been given to them.

Today's Insights

Nehemiah 8 captures a scene of God’s people unified by reverence for Scripture. As the priest Ezra read from the “Book of the Law” (likely a portion from the first five books of the Bible), “all the people listened attentively” (v. 3). He stood on “a high wooden platform built for the occasion” (v. 4), allowing for everyone to see him (v. 5). The people responded with awe-filled worship (v. 6). Perhaps recognizing their sin in the words read, they began to weep (v. 9), though the gathering was meant to be joyful (v. 11). So Nehemiah encouraged them to find strength in “the joy of the Lord” (v. 10). In our circumstances today, we also can find strength and joy as we focus on God and the Scriptures.

Joy and Strength in God

Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

In the midst of colorful creations made from old plastic bottles cut to resemble feathers and even lampshades, a tour guide at a New Orleans Museum shared the thinking behind the use of such material. “For a city that’s had such hardship, we’ve also learned to use what we have to create joy and beauty. We don’t focus only on the hard times; we celebrate the resilience.”

Nehemiah and the Israelites also faced hardship but resiliently pressed on in God’s joy. They’d been captured and taken away from their home, and at last were able to return to Jerusalem from exile (Nehemiah 3:7-12, 18). But upon arriving, they still faced opposition to rebuild the wall that protected Jerusalem (Nehemiah 6). Even after the wall was completed and they gathered for a celebration, hearing the words of God’s law, their spirits were heavy. They were “weeping as they listened” (8:9). But Nehemiah reminded them that they could find joy and strength in God—remembering who He was and what He’d brought them through. Nehemiah told them, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (v. 10).

Focusing on God can give us “great joy” and strength too, especially when our circumstances seem dire. God’s ability, character, and the Scriptures can renew our minds and bring us joy (v. 12)—providing the strength and resilience we need.

Reflect & Pray

When have you found joy and strength in God? How can you practice resilience amid your trials?

Holy God, when my circumstances seem bleak, please remind me to focus on You to find joy and strength.

For further study, read Why Should I Trust God? 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, December 13, 2025

What to Pray For

Jesus told his disciples… that they should always pray and not give up. — Luke 18:1

You cannot intercede in prayer for others if you don’t believe in the reality of the redemption. If you intercede without believing, you’ll wind up turning intercession into pointless sympathy. Sympathy never leads people to God; it only makes them more content to stay out of touch with him.

In proper intercession, you bring the person or circumstance that’s weighing on your mind before God until you are moved by God’s attitude toward that person or circumstance. Paul gave the model for intercession when he wrote, “I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24). This is why there are so few intercessors. Most of us, when we intercede, try to put ourselves in the place of the person for whom we pray. Never! We must try to put ourselves in God’s place.

As a worker for God, be careful to keep pace with him as he communicates things to you that require your intercession. If you seek to know more than he wants you to know, you won’t be able to pray because the condition of humanity is so crushing that you will be crushed and unable to get through to his reality.

Our work involves coming into contact with God about everything. We shirk this duty when we pursue busywork instead of intercession, even busywork for God’s ministry. Many of us will do tasks that can be easily checked off a list, but we won’t intercede. Yet intercession is the one thing which, spiritually speaking, has no pitfalls, because it keeps our relationship with God completely open.

The thing to watch for in intercession is that no soul is blocked because of us. Every individual soul must get into contact with the life of God. Think of the number of souls God has brought across our path that we have dropped by failing to intercede! When we intercede on the ground of the redemption, God creates something he can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

Hosea 12-14; Revelation 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R

Luke 6:27-49, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WHAT GOD WAS WILLING TO DO - December 12, 2025

Hollywood would recast the Christmas story. Joseph’s collar is way too blue. Mary is green from inexperience. The couple’s star power doesn’t match the bill. Too obscure, too simple. The story warrants some headliners. And what about the shepherds? Do they sing? A good public relations firm would move the birth to a big city. The Son of God deserves a royal entry. Less peasant, more pizazz.

But we didn’t design the hour. God did. And God was content to enter the world in the presence of sleepy sheep and a wide-eyed carpenter. No spotlights, just candlelight. No crowns, just cows chewing cud. If God was willing to wrap himself in rags, then all questions about his love for you are off the table. When Christ was born, so was our hope. That’s why I love Christmas.

Because of Bethlehem

Luke 6:27-49

 “To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

31–34  “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.

35–36  “I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.

37–38  “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”

39–40  He quoted a proverb: “ ‘Can a blind man guide a blind man?’ Wouldn’t they both end up in the ditch? An apprentice doesn’t lecture the master. The point is to be careful who you follow as your teacher.

41–42  “It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this I-know-better-than-you mentality again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

Work the Words into Your Life

43–45  “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.

46–47  “Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.

48–49  “If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, December 12, 2025

by Adam Holtz

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 9:1-12

 I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart,

I’m writing the book on your wonders.

I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;

I’m singing your song, High God.

3–4  The day my enemies turned tail and ran,

they stumbled on you and fell on their faces.

You took over and set everything right;

when I needed you, you were there, taking charge.

5–6  You blow the whistle on godless nations;

you throw dirty players out of the game,

wipe their names right off the roster.

Enemies disappear from the sidelines,

their reputation trashed,

their names erased from the halls of fame.

7–8  God holds the high center,

he sees and sets the world’s mess right.

He decides what is right for us earthlings,

gives people their just deserts.

9–10  God’s a safe-house for the battered,

a sanctuary during bad times.

The moment you arrive, you relax;

you’re never sorry you knocked.

11–12  Sing your songs to Zion-dwelling God,

tell his stories to everyone you meet:

How he tracks down killers

yet keeps his eye on us,

registers every whimper and moan.

Today's Insights

In the original language of the Old Testament, Psalms 9 and 10 form what’s called an acrostic poem. Each major thought or stanza begins with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The Septuagint—the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament—even combines Psalms 9 and 10 into one song, unifying the flow from beginning to end.

Acrostic poems and songs played an important function in ancient Israelite society. Because they were built on the alphabet, they were easy to remember. These two psalms of thanksgiving and help were designed to memorably remain in the minds of those who heard them. As a result, the reader or listener could quickly recall the message in the music. By rehearsing the words of David, they’d receive a regular injection of the importance of living a life of gratitude and dependence on God. Today, as we meditate on Scripture, may we also strive to cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving.

Examine other types of Hebrew poetry in the book of Psalms.

Cultivating Gratitude

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1

“Dad, can you get me some water?” my youngest daughter asked. “Sure,” I said, bringing her a full cup. She took it wordlessly. Then my oldest daughter made the same request. She didn’t respond either after I got her some water. Annoyed, I blurted out, “Is anyone going to say, ‘Thank you’? Why is that so hard?”

Sometimes there’s nothing like parental frustration to open the door for God to work. Immediately I felt the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit: Yes, Adam, why is it so hard to say, “Thank you”? Busted. Turns out a lack of gratitude isn’t just my kids’ problem; it’s mine too.

I don’t know why saying thank you can be so hard, but it certainly seems to be a part of the human condition. In the psalms, however, we see a model for growing in gratitude. There, David and others often praise God amid myriad trials. And a particular phrase frequently precedes their thanksgiving: “I will . . . .”

In Psalm 9:1, David deliberately chooses thankfulness: “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” We might be prone to think of gratitude primarily as a feeling. But David reminds us that it’s also a choice.

Like David, as we choose to cultivate a habit of giving thanks, we can gradually grow to recognize and appreciate God’s goodness in every aspect of life.

Reflect & Pray

How can we cultivate the habit of gratitude? What are some things you’re thankful for?

Dear Father, thank You for all You’ve given me. Please help me to choose gratitude today for the many ways You’ve blessed me.

To learn more about Psalm 9, read The Voice of the Silenced.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, December 12, 2025

. . . that they may be one as we are one. — John 17:22

Personality is that unique, incalculable thing we mean when we speak of ourselves as distinct from everyone else. Our personality is always too big for us to grasp. An island in the sea may be easily explored, but think how amazed we are when we realize that it’s only the top of a great mountain, most of which lies hidden beneath the waves. The tip of the island represents our conscious personality; we know nothing about the larger part underneath; consequently, there are upheavals from below that we can’t account for. We can’t comprehend ourselves at all. We begin by thinking we can, but eventually we realize that the only one who understands us is our creator.

Personality is the characteristic of the spiritual man or woman; individuality is the characteristic of the natural man or woman. Our Lord can never be defined in terms of individuality and independence but only in terms of personality: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Personality merges, and you only reach your real identity when you are merged with another person. When love, or the Spirit of God, strikes you, you are transformed. You no longer insist on your separate individuality. Our Lord never mentioned a person’s separate, isolated identity. He spoke of all people in terms of their ability to be merged: “… that they may be one as we are one.”

If you relinquish your right to yourself to God, the real, true nature of your personality will immediately answer to him. Jesus Christ sets the personality free, and individuality is transfigured. The transfiguring element is love—personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the outpouring of one personality in fellowship with another.

Hosea 9-11; Revelation 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” 

So Send I You, 1325 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, December 12, 2025

THE NO REGRETS ALARM - #10155

I opened the refrigerator and there it was again - the pig! Yes, years ago someone bought it, put it in the refrigerator for a while and then it disappeared. I thought maybe he'd gone to the bacon factory, but then the pig was back. See, this pig was actually plastic, and whenever you would open the door, the plastic pig started oinking at you. It's annoying, but it does make you think about what you're about to do to yourself.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The No Regrets Alarm."

Our word for today from the Word of God - very familiar verses from Matthew 6, beginning at verse 9: "This then is how you should pray." And this is what we commonly call The Lord's Prayer of course. Remember this phrase? Of course you do. "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." How many times have you prayed that? "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." Or as some translations say, "the evil one." That's an important prayer. We almost don't think about those words. "Lead me not into temptation; deliver me from evil."

In other words, "Lord, help me see where the temptation is. Help me steer away from it. Keep me from anything that the Devil might be trying to get me to do." Well, how do you do that? That's through His Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus said that the Holy Sprit, who He called the Comforter would do that. He said it in John 16:8. He promises "that the Holy Spirit - the Comforter - when He is come, He will convict the world of sin." He also said in John 14:26 He will "bring to your remembrance all the things that I have taught you." In other words, the Holy Spirit's going to bring to mind how Jesus feels about this.

The day you put your trust in Jesus as your Savior, God plants in your soul a sin alarm. Now somebody planted a gluttony alarm in our refrigerator - this noise that makes you stop and think before you reach for something. It was annoying, but the pig could keep you from doing something you would regret later; like how you'll feel when you step on the scale tomorrow.

We do need some noise inside of us when we're about to reach for something we're going to later regret. And God delivers us from evil if we will listen to the inner alarms He triggers when we are about to sin. He says something like, "That's not the truth; don't lie. That's not pure; don't watch it. That's going to hurt; don't say it. That's going too far; don't do it."

See, one alarm in us is what I call Scripture brakes. God brings to your mind a statement from the Word of God that keeps you from making a mistake if you listen. It's the brakes; step on the brakes. D. L. Moody said that "When you think sin you ought to think Scripture." That's why it's important to commit to memory verses that God can later use to warn you away from the edge. Psalm 119: "I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I will not sin against You."

Now, another sin alarm is what I call shame warnings. See, many of us don't carry a sense of shame from the sins of the past, and God erased those from His books if you've brought those sins to Jesus. But sometimes the shame feelings are there a long time after God has forgiven us. And that's actually not all bad, because God can remind you of the damage that comes from saying yes to that temptation, using the shame warnings from the past. Listen to those.

One other sin alarm that God uses when you're reaching for something that could hurt you is Spirit tremors. It's an uneasiness in your spirit that says, "This just isn't right." That's probably the stirring of the Holy Spirit. Listen to that inner warning. But respond immediately and put on the Scripture brakes, respond to the shame warnings, to the Spirit tremors before sin drowns them out and you grab a plateful of regrets.

After a while, I have to admit I got immune to that pig warning in the fridge. I finally just put it away. Don't do that with the Holy Spirit alarm system inside you. In God's words, "Do not quench the Spirit," because He knows the price tag for what you are about to grab.

Deuteronomy 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HE PAID THE PRICE - December 11, 2025

The Christmas tree hunt is on! The preferences are different, but the desire is the same—we want the perfect Christmas tree. You search for the right one, you walk the rows, you examine them from all angles. This one is perfect!

God does the same. He has picked you. He knows just the place where you’ll be placed. He has a barren living room in desperate need of warmth and joy. A corner of the world needs some color. He selected you with that place in mind. God made you on purpose with a purpose. He interwove calendar and character, circumstance and personality to create the right person for the right corner of the world, and then he paid the price to take you home.

1 Corinthians 6:20 (NLT) says, “God bought you with a high price.” The Christmas promise is this: we have a Savior, and his name is Jesus. 

Because of Bethlehem

Deuteronomy 25

When men have a legal dispute, let them go to court; the judges will decide between them, declaring one innocent and the other guilty. If the guilty one deserves punishment, the judge will have him prostrate himself before him and lashed as many times as his crime deserves, but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.

4  Don’t muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

5–6  When brothers are living together and one of them dies without having had a son, the widow of the dead brother shall not marry a stranger from outside the family; her husband’s brother is to come to her and marry her and do the brother-in-law’s duty by her. The first son that she bears shall be named after her dead husband so his name won’t die out in Israel.

7–10  But if the brother doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the leaders at the city gate and say, “My brother-in-law refuses to keep his brother’s name alive in Israel; he won’t agree to do the brother-in-law’s duty by me.” Then the leaders will call for the brother and confront him. If he stands there defiant and says, “I don’t want her,” his sister-in-law is to pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and say, “This is what happens to the man who refuses to build up the family of his brother—his name in Israel will be Family-No-Sandal.”

11–12  When two men are in a fight and the wife of the one man, trying to rescue her husband, grabs the genitals of the man hitting him, you are to cut off her hand. Show no pity.

13–16  Don’t carry around with you two weights, one heavy and the other light, and don’t keep two measures at hand, one large and the other small. Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God, your God, is giving you. Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God, your God—all this corruption in business deals!

17–19  Don’t forget what Amalek did to you on the road after you left Egypt, how he attacked you when you were tired, barely able to put one foot in front of another, mercilessly cut off your stragglers, and had no regard for God. When God, your God, gives you rest from all the enemies that surround you in the inheritance-land God, your God, is giving you to possess, you are to wipe the name of Amalek from off the Earth. Don’t forget!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, December 11, 2025

by Alyson Kieda

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Colossians 3:12-17

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

15–17  Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

Today's Insights

Paul’s encouragement to the believers in Jesus in Colossae to forgive and love each other (Colossians 3:13-14) is reminiscent of Christ’s words to His twelve closest followers in the upper room: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). Jesus reached out to the ostracized and called the sinner to repentance (Luke 5:32). His example is reflected in the apostle’s plea for the Colossian believers to live in such a way that benefits others (Colossians 3:12-17). Today, when we look for ways to love others and “clothe [ourselves] with compassion [and] kindness” (v. 12), our lives can point others to Christ.

Pointing to Jesus

As God’s chosen people . . . clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

An older man jogging down a street in New York City stopped in his tracks when he noticed a pair of battered sneakers placed near a homeless man’s sign requesting help. When the jogger learned that the two men wore a similar size, he gave the younger, homeless man the shoes (and socks!) off his feet and walked home barefoot. But not before explaining, “I’ve been blessed my whole life. God has been very good to me, so I feel like I should bless you too.”

Just as this man showed kindness to another because God had been good to him, so too believers in Jesus are called to “clothe [our]selves with . . . kindness” (Colossians 3:12). In fact, in whatever we do or say, we’re to do it as “a representative of the Lord Jesus” (v. 17 nlt). Along with kindness, we’re also to embody the characteristics of “compassion, . . . humility, gentleness and patience” (v. 12). The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) grows in us because we have the Spirit dwelling inside us; and this fruit is evidenced by God’s love for us flowing out to others—binding all these virtues “together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:14).

Like the jogger, may we be on alert for opportunities to be kind—an encouraging word, a thoughtful act, or even giving the shoes off our feet—and as we do, let’s point to Jesus (v. 17).

Reflect & Pray

What effect has another's kindness had on you? How might you show kindness to someone today?

Loving Father, please help me be attuned to opportunities to spread Your love through kind words and actions. I want to be more like You!

Consider three things we can learn from the kindness Jesus showed to everyday people.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, December 11, 2025

Individuality

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves. — Matthew 16:24

There’s a difference between individuality and personality. Individuality is the husk of the personal life; it separates and isolates and must stand alone. Personality is something that can be merged and blended. Individuality is God’s natural covering for the personal life, but individuality must go so that the personal life can emerge and be brought into fellowship with God. Individuality is the characteristic of the child, and rightly so. But as we age, if we mistake individuality for personality, we will remain isolated. Individuality counterfeits personality in the same way that lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for himself; individuality debases human nature for itself.

The hallmarks of individuality are independence and selfassertiveness. Continually asserting our individuality is what hinders our spiritual life more than anything else. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it’s because individuality is incapable of believing. Personality can’t help but believe. The Holy Spirit makes the difference clear. When the Holy Spirit is at work inside you, he pushes you to the margins of your individuality, forcing you to a crisis. Either you say “I won’t” or you surrender, breaking the shell of your individuality and letting your personal life emerge

When the Holy Spirit brings this crisis, he always narrows it down to one issue: “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,… first go and be reconciled” (Matthew 5:23–24). The thing inside you that refuses to be reconciled is your individuality. God wants to bring you into union with him, but he can’t if you’re unwilling to give up your right to yourself. When Jesus says that those who want to be his disciples “must deny themselves,” he means that they must give up their independent right to themselves. Only then will the real life have a chance to grow.

Hosea 5-8; Revelation 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. 

Shade of His Hand, 1226 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, December 11, 2025

HOW YOUR ROUGH TIMES CAN HELP YOU HELP OTHERS - #10154

I was in Georgia when a friend said to me, "Do you know which team is one of the best football teams in our state?" When I said I didn't know, he said, "The Georgia School for the Deaf." I've got to tell you that kind of caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a school for the deaf to be like football champions. He said, "Man, we played them when I was in high school and you always had to get up for that game. They were always the toughest."

I began to think, how could you play football if you can't hear the signals being called? He said, "Well, they bring their band to every game and the signals are called through the drum beats, and they feel the signals through their face." Well, I couldn't do that. But they can. They've got radar I don't have because they face a challenge I haven't faced.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Your Rough Times Can Help You Help Others."

Our word for today from the Word of God is in 2 Corinthians, the first chapter, beginning in verse 3. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of compassion, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow into our lives, so also should the comfort of Christ overflow."

Verse 3 here talks about this beautiful side of God. He's the God of all comfort. He's the God of compassion, the healing hugs of God, who brings what only He can bring us - a supernatural comfort deep inside of us where no human being can go. I hope you've experienced that.

There's a comfort cycle here. It says that we're supposed to comfort with the comfort we got from Him. This word comforting is really the Greek word that means "called alongside of to help." It's saying God comes alongside to encourage us so that we then can do that for others. The comfort isn't just for us to get comfortable. It's to fill us up with love and support that we pass on to others.

How does this happen? Well, you go through a deep valley. Maybe you lose someone, you have a season alone, some lingering illness, maybe a financial disaster, or you're abandoned, you're betrayed, and it hurts. But God does something beautiful with that hurt. He turns it into sensitivity, into radar for people who are hurting in that same area.

Joni Eareckson Toda was paralyzed as a teenager in a dive, and it was a terrible tragedy. But the worst thing that ever happened to her has given her a worldwide ministry. She knows how disabled and wounded people feel.

My friend, Jean, was abused as a girl. She's got a wonderful ministry to abused girls. My friend, Don, was raised in a broken home. He has an incredible ability to work with kids from troubled backgrounds. When you open up your hurt and your wounds to the God of all comfort, He can use you in ways you never dreamed.

When life's trouble hits you, it can be a tool either for Satan or for God. You dwell on the pain, you dwell on the people who hurt you or on yourself, and you're going to start a downward cycle of depression. That might be where you are right now.

But if you surrender to Jesus all the pain, all those people who hurt you, all the questions, you're on your way to turning a loss into a victory like those football players at the Georgia School for the Deaf. They have special sensitivity because of their loss, because of their handicap. You can too.

It might be that you're going through so many of life's troubles, so much of life's pain without the Great Comforter, without the God of all compassion because you don't have a relationship with Him. You might have a religion, but you don't know Him personally.

I tell you that Jesus came here to walk the most painful road anyone has ever walked, to die on a brutal cross to pay for the sin that keeps us from God, so the wall could come down between you and Him this very day. And all His resources are yours to walk through the pain and the storm. Our website will show you how to get started with Him - ANewStory.com.

God can give you radar from your rough times - radar that will make you the one who can be Jesus' person for another hurting person.