Max Lucado Daily: OPEN THE BOOK - September 12, 2025
I’ve listened to lesser voices. Locker-room know-it-alls. Godless teachers. Messed-up movie stars. Self-absorbed talk show hosts. They don’t know what they are talking about. I need an authoritative voice, an owner’s manual. And so do you.
I played catcher in Little League baseball, Pony League baseball, and high school baseball. I noticed something: the width of home plate never changed. It was always seventeen inches wide. The width of the plate was permanent.
So is the truth of God. It’s why Jesus said in John 8:31-32 (NIV), “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Healthy thinking happens as we submit to Scripture. Do you want to know God’s thoughts about anything? Open the book!
Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life
Leviticus 24
Light and Bread
Light and Bread
1–4 24 God spoke to Moses: “Order the People of Israel to bring you virgin olive oil for light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. Aaron is in charge of keeping these lamps burning in front of the curtain that screens The Testimony in the Tent of Meeting from evening to morning continually before God. This is a perpetual decree down through the generations. Aaron is responsible for keeping the lamps burning continually on the Lampstand of pure gold before God.
5–9 “Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using about four quarts of flour to a loaf. Arrange them in two rows of six each on the Table of pure gold before God. Along each row spread pure incense, marking the bread as a memorial; it is a gift to God. Regularly, every Sabbath, this bread is to be set before God, a perpetual covenantal response from Israel. The bread then goes to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a Holy Place. It is their most holy share from the gifts to God. This is a perpetual decree.”
10–12 One day the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites. A fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name of God and cursed. They brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put him in custody waiting for God’s will to be revealed to them.
13–16 Then God spoke to Moses: “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. Have all those who heard him place their hands on his head; then have the entire congregation stone him. Then tell the Israelites, Anyone who curses God will be held accountable; anyone who blasphemes the Name of God must be put to death. The entire congregation must stone him. It makes no difference whether he is a foreigner or a native, if he blasphemes the Name, he will be put to death.
17–22 “Anyone who hits and kills a fellow human must be put to death. Anyone who kills someone’s animal must make it good—a life for a life. Anyone who injures his neighbor will get back the same as he gave: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. What he did to hurt that person will be done to him. Anyone who hits and kills an animal must make it good, but whoever hits and kills a fellow human will be put to death. And no double standards: the same rule goes for foreigners and natives. I am God, your God.”
23 Moses then spoke to the People of Israel. They brought the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The People of Israel followed the orders God had given Moses.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 12, 2025
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Philippians 4:4-9
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
6–7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
8–9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
Today's Insights
In this “joyful” letter (Philippians 1:4, 25; 2:2, 29; 4:1), Paul challenged believers in Jesus to “rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4). He explains why he’s rejoicing and encourages believers to do the same (1:18; 2:17-18; 3:1; 4:4, 10). When he first visited the Roman colony of Philippi on his second missionary journey about ten years earlier, he’d been falsely accused of disturbing the social peace of the city. Even though he’d been illegally beaten and unjustly imprisoned (Acts 16:20-24), he was a picture of calmness and peace, “praying and singing hymns to God” (v. 25). In Philippians 4, Paul says not to “worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. . . . Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (vv. 6, 8 nlt). As we focus our thoughts on what God’s done, we can worship Him even in the midst of trials.
Guarding Thoughts in Christ
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure . . . think about such things. Philippians 4:8
Lap after lap, Katie Ledecky was in a familiar spot during the 1500-meter freestyle race at the 2024 Paris Olympics. For some fifteen minutes, she was far ahead of the rest of the swimmers and alone with her thoughts. What was Ledecky thinking about during the long race? In an interview conducted immediately following her gold-medal-winning performance in which she set a new Olympic record, Ledecky said she was thinking about her training partners and saying their names in her head.
Distance swimmers aren’t the only ones who need to focus their minds on the right things. We as believers in Jesus also need to guard our thoughts throughout our faith journey.
The apostle Paul encouraged the Philippian church to “rejoice in the Lord,” not be “anxious about anything, but pray about everything (Philippians 4:4, 6). The result? “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). Jesus, the Prince of Peace, helps put our worries and troubles in perspective.
Paul also encouraged believers: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (v. 8).
As we go about our day, let’s be aware of our thoughts. When we see God’s hand in our life, we can count our blessings and worship Him.
Reflect & Pray
What have you been thinking about lately? How can you honor God with your thoughts?
Dear God, may my thoughts be pleasing to You.
Learn how to grow in faith by reading The Confidence to Grow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 12, 2025
Spiritual Confusion
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. — Matthew 20:22
Sometimes in our life with God, there is spiritual confusion. At such times, it’s no use saying there shouldn’t be confusion. Confusion isn’t a question of right and wrong. It’s a question of God taking you down a path you don’t understand. The only way you’ll get at what God wants is to keep going through the confusion until you reach clarity.
The hiding of his friendship. “Suppose you have a friend . . .” (Luke 11:5). Jesus tells the story of a man who seemed not to care for his friend. Sometimes, Jesus says, that is how your heavenly Father will appear. In your confusion, you will think he’s an unkind friend, but he is not. Don’t give up. Remember, Jesus is the one who said, “Everyone who asks receives” (Matthew 7:8).
The shadow on his fatherhood. “Which of you fathers . . .” (Luke 11:11). Jesus says there are times when your Father will appear like an unloving father, but he is not. If a shadow covers the face of your Father just now, rest in confidence that he will ultimately reveal his purposes and will justify himself in everything he has permitted. Often even love itself has to wait in pain and tears for the blessing of fuller communion.
The strangeness of his faithfulness. “In a certain town there was a judge . . .” (Luke 18:2). At times, Jesus says, your Father will look like an unjust judge, but he is not. Stand firm in the belief that what Jesus says is true, and remember that God has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you ask. The time is coming, Jesus says, when we shall see perfectly clearly. Then the veil will be lifted, the shadows will disappear, the confusion will go, and we will begin to understand the friendship, the fatherhood, and the faithfulness of God with regard to our own lives.
Proverbs 13-15; 2 Corinthians 5
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.
Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 12, 2025
THE UNSEEN SECRET OF SPIRITUAL CHAMPIONS - #10090
It was one of those really special 90-degree days, when it is very humid and I was just finishing about eight miles on my bike. I was feeling all fit, and then I passed Tom running all ten and a half miles around that lake. Well, I realized that Tom did that every day. Nobody knew; nobody noticed actually.
But I knew that he'd be in the headlines back home, and he'd be in the headlines a lot. Because he was one of the county's champion track stars. And I yelled to him from my bike, "No time off for vacation?" And he reminded me that running is a 12-month sport.
Champions aren't made on the day of the race with the crowd applauding. It turns out they're made on like 1,000 unsung mornings.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Unseen Secret of Spiritual Champions."
I've never understood people who get involved in a sport or an activity or in anything and just settle for like being mediocre. If you're going to get into something, well, aim to be all you can be. Right? If that's true in sports, it's really true when it comes to serving the King - the Lord Jesus Christ.
Maybe you've looked at spiritual champions you know, or some leader, or somebody you admire as a spiritual person and you said, "Boy, I'd like to be used by God that way. I wish I could teach, or preach, or minister musically, or lead like that. I'd like to make a difference. I'd like to influence people for Christ like that person does." And you see them in a public setting at the pulpit, or you watch them on television or you hear them on radio. You read their book, maybe hear them in concert. But the ministry you see in a spiritual champion is because of something you don't see. Just like that championship runner, chugging out those miles on those back roads. Nobody noticed, nobody seeing him, but that's where the champion is built.
Okay, Isaiah 50:4, our word for today from the Word of God says this: "The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary." Now, how does he keep coming up with the words that people need? It says that "God wakens me morning by morning; wakens my ear to listen like one being taught." Okay, the great prophet of God says here, "morning after morning" there is a meeting with his Lord that nobody sees.
And while others are resting, the champion is in God's Word, he's on his knees, not going on spiritual binges occasionally to get some great spiritual insight. No, no, no, no. He does it day after day, week after week, month after month. And finally there's all these years of accumulated time with God, and how He's touched you, and how He's changed you, and how He's moved you. So, when he speaks, he speaks with a "God-instructed tongue" because he shows up for class every morning. See, there's no glory there. There's no crowds applauding. It's just Christ's personal presence, and you're there with Him.
Anything I have ever said for the Lord that has ever touched anyone has been because He touched me in private first where no one could see, no one else could hear. He wants to do that for you. He wants to do that for all His kids. Do you want to be used greatly by your Lord? Well, before you try to do a great work for Him, why don't you let Him do a great work in you? And you wake up each morning and let Him teach you before you leave.
I saw that in a young track star; a picture of any of us who would like to be God's champion, a winner who's being built on 1,000 unsung mornings.
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