Confirming One’s Calling and Election

2 Peter 1:5-7 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Monday, October 27, 2025

Luke 1:1-20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD - October 27, 2025

“‘The battle belongs to the Lord” (1 Samuel 17:47 MEV). When everyone stared at Goliath, David never gave him the time of day. David found a source of strength into which he could tap. The right thoughts led to the right reaction.

No one needs to tell you giants roam this world. No one needs to tell you this life is a battle. But maybe someone needs to remind you the battle belongs to the Lord. You never fight alone. You never fight solo. You never face a challenge without the backup of God Almighty. God is with you as you face your giant. With you as you are wheeled into surgery. With you as you enter the cemetery. With you, always. Silence the voice that says, “The challenge is too great.” And welcome God’s voice that reminds, “The battle belongs to the Lord.”

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

Luke 1:1-20

So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.

A Childless Couple Conceives

5–7  During the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived honorably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. But they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were quite old.

8–12  It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear.

13–15  But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.

15–17  “He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”

18  Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

19–20  But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 27, 2025
by Kirsten Holmberg

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Genesis 1:1-8, 31

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

3–5  God spoke: “Light!”

And light appeared.

God saw that light was good

and separated light from dark.

God named the light Day,

he named the dark Night.

It was evening, it was morning—

Day One.

6–8  God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;

separate water from water!”

God made sky.

He separated the water under sky

from the water above sky.

And there it was:

he named sky the Heavens;

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Two.

31  God looked over everything he had made;

it was so good, so very good!

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Six.

Today's Insights
God declared that “all that he had made . . . was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Scripture also records the thoughtful musings and celebrations of poets, prophets, and apostles regarding creation. In Psalm 8, observing God’s handiwork in creation, David wrote: “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. . . . When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (vv. 1, 3-4). Paul joined the biblical chorus with these words about Jesus’ role in creation: “In him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). The wonders of creation compel us to worship the Creator.

The God Who Made It All
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31

In 2021, Star Trek actor William Shatner enjoyed the opportunity to be catapulted into space in a rocket capsule. When he later reflected on the voyage, he said everything he had expected about the experience was wrong. He’d anticipated the vastness of space would give him a deep sense of connection to all living things, but instead he felt grief: He found the darkness of space cold and empty, which distilled in him a new awareness of earth’s beauty and fragility.

Not many people have ventured into space to have such an experience firsthand. The Bible’s account of God’s creative work in the cosmos invites us to see it through His eyes. God’s first recorded actions were to create “the heavens and the earth” bringing order to what was “formless and empty” and “[separating] the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:1-2, 4). The rest of the creation account unfolds all the good things God brought into being, including vegetation, creatures, and, ultimately, His image bearers—humans.

While the entirety of creation—even the darkest, farthest reaches of space—reveals God’s power and might, we’ve been given special insight into His work right here on earth. The beauty that surrounds us beckons us to worship the one who made it all.

Reflect & Pray

When has God drawn you to worship Him through His creation? For what in creation can you thank Him today?

Father God, thank You for making and sustaining the earth and those of us who inhabit it. I worship You as the creator of it all.

For further study, read How Nature Makes God Visible at ODBM.org.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 27, 2025

The Method of Missions

Go and make disciples of all nations. —Matthew 28:19

Jesus didn’t tell his disciples, “Go and save souls”; salvation is the sovereign work of God. He said, “Go and make disciples.” But you can’t make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself—that is, unless you are rightly related to Jesus Christ.

When the disciples came back from their first mission, they were filled with joy at what they’d been able to do: “Lord, even the demons submit to us” (Luke 10:17). Jesus replied, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (v. 20). He was saying, “Do not rejoice in successful service. The great secret of joy is that you are rightly related to me.”

We have to keep this secret at the forefront of our minds, so that we may remain true to the call of God. God calls his missionaries to a single purpose: discipling men and women to Jesus Christ. If we aren’t rightly related to our Lord, we risk losing focus and giving in to a passion for winning souls that doesn’t spring from God but from the desire to make converts to our point of view.

The challenge the missionary faces isn’t that people are difficult to save or that the world is full of indifference. The missionary’s challenge lies in maintaining a relationship with Jesus Christ; it lies in believing that what he said is true. In every case we encounter as missionaries, our Lord asks us: “Do you believe I am able to do this?” In turn, we have to ask ourselves: “Am I wise enough in God’s sight, and foolish enough in the world’s sight, to bank on what Christ has said, or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of boundless confidence in him?” If I take up any method other than acting in total confidence on what Jesus Christ has said, I depart from the method he set down: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go” (Matthew 28:18–19).

Jeremiah 12-14; 2 Timothy 1

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

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 27, 2025

HOW TO WARM A HARD, OLD HEART - #10121

Our second child was in college; we had just one left at home. And honestly, I hadn't totally figured out the adjusted grocery needs at our house. I always made sure we had plenty of quick breakfast food around. We needed that because of our crazy lifestyle. And because I hadn't figured out the new math for our new family configuration, I bought way too many donuts or muffins or bagels or whatever a few times. When that happened they sat around a lot longer and they turned a little dry, a little tough, and then they got a little hard. But that's where the microwave comes to the rescue. You pop them in, you warm them up briefly, and what was hard turns soft.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Warm a Hard, Old Heart."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 1, beginning at verse 21: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to Him. But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man, and birds, and animals and reptiles." That's a pretty sad testimony here to the downward spiral of people getting away from God.

No one starts out real far from God; we go through stages of getting away. The Bible says, "We wander away like sheep." So, first of all, you start thinking confusing thoughts. It says their thoughts became futile, and then your heart gets darker and your heart gets harder. You hardly even realize it. And then you start to get all full of yourself. It says here that they claimed to be wise and became fools. Well pretty soon you end up worshiping earth stuff rather than worshiping the Lord. You didn't mean to get there. You know how it starts? It starts when your heart just begins to get dark and hard.

Maybe you could notice that happening to you lately. Now, your actions haven't changed that much, you're still at the meetings, you're singing the songs and you're doing jobs for the Lord. But you get more confused in your thinking and your heart is drying out like my old donuts. You're tougher and you're harder inside. You need to warm up that heart again. How do you do it?

Well, the Bible says you do that when you glorify Him as God and give thanks to Him. That's how you keep from having a hard heart. That's the way to soften a brittle heart, to review what God has done for you. Gratitude is the key to attitude. If you're not specifically looking for and saying thanks for all God is doing in your life, your spirit starts to turn sour.

Let me suggest a daily thank you agenda. First of all, you start at the cross and just review. Picture yourself there and review what was paid for you and how much you are loved. Then secondly, review the big tapestry that God's been putting together so far in your life. Go back and thank Him for the people, the provisions, the circumstances that He's unfolded so skillfully so far, that He's architected, that He's woven together. It's helpful to look at that big picture that He's been painting. Not just at today's thread, but at the big tapestry. And then, thank Him for His gifts and His interventions in the past 24 hours. Bring your thanks up-to-date.

As you get on your knees and you specifically start to review what your Father has done, at the cross, in the tapestry of your life up to this point, and in the last 24 hours, you'll find that toughness, that hardness starting to melt away.

Praise and gratitude are like a spiritual microwave. They warm the heart that has gotten hard and they make it soft again.

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Mark 11:19-33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Mournful to Hopeful

In May of 2008, Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth lost their five-year-old daughter in an automobile accident. They were deluged by messages of kindness. One in particular gave Steven strength.  It was from a pastor friend who’d lost his son in an auto accident. “Remember, your future with your daughter will be greater than your past with her.”

Death seems to take so much. We bury the wedding that never happened, the golden years we never knew. We bury dreams. But in heaven these dreams will come true. Acts 3:21 says that God has promised a “restoration of all things.”

All things includes all relationships. Our final home will hear no good-byes. Gone forever. Let the promise change you. From sagging to seeking, from mournful to hopeful! From dwellers in the land of good-byes to a heaven of hellos!  You’ll get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Mark 11:19-33

At evening, Jesus and his disciples left the city.

20–21  In the morning, walking along the road, they saw the fig tree, shriveled to a dry stick. Peter, remembering what had happened the previous day, said to him, “Rabbi, look—the fig tree you cursed is shriveled up!”

22–25  Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, ‘Go jump in the lake’—no shuffling or shilly-shallying—and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it’s not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins.”

His Credentials

27–28  Then when they were back in Jerusalem once again, as they were walking through the Temple, the high priests, religion scholars, and leaders came up and demanded, “Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to speak and act like this?”

29–30  Jesus responded, “First let me ask you a question. Answer my question and then I’ll present my credentials. About the baptism of John—who authorized it: heaven or humans? Tell me.”

31–33  They were on the spot, and knew it. They pulled back into a huddle and whispered, “If we say ‘heaven,’ he’ll ask us why we didn’t believe John; if we say ‘humans,’ we’ll be up against it with the people because they all hold John up as a prophet.” They decided to concede that round to Jesus. “We don’t know,” they said.

Jesus replied, “Then I won’t answer your question either.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 26, 2025
by John Blase

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
2 Samuel 9:1-7, 13

An Open Table for Mephibosheth

1  9 One day David asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family? If so, I’d like to show him some kindness in honor of Jonathan.”

2  It happened that a servant from Saul’s household named Ziba was there. They called him into David’s presence. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?”

“Yes sir,” he replied.

3  The king asked, “Is there anyone left from the family of Saul to whom I can show some godly kindness?”

Ziba told the king, “Yes, there is Jonathan’s son, lame in both feet.”

4  “Where is he?”

“He’s living at the home of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

5  King David didn’t lose a minute. He sent and got him from the home of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

6  When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan (who was the son of Saul), came before David, he bowed deeply, abasing himself, honoring David.

David spoke his name: “Mephibosheth.”

“Yes sir?”

7  “Don’t be frightened,” said David. “I’d like to do something special for you in memory of your father Jonathan. To begin with, I’m returning to you all the properties of your grandfather Saul. Furthermore, from now on you’ll take all your meals at my table.”

13  Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, taking all his meals at the king’s table. He was lame in both feet.

Today's Insights
Mephibosheth was five years old when his grandfather Saul and father, Jonathan, perished at Mount Gilboa (2 Samuel 4:4; see 1:5-6). When his nurse heard the news, she “picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled [lame in both feet]” (2 Samuel 4:4). He was the last surviving member of the house of Saul (9:3). Even though David had been Saul’s bitter enemy, David and Jonathan had loved each other like brothers and were “one in spirit” (1 Samuel 18:1). So, to honor his friend Jonathan, David showed great kindness to Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth. In response to the great kindness God has shown us (Titus 3:4-5), we, like David, in gratitude can show kindness to others.

The Work That Matters
[Mephibosheth] always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet. 2 Samuel 9:13

There’s a poignant scene near the end of Frederick Buechner’s historical novel Brendan. The character Gildas stands up to reveal one of his legs missing from the knee down. As he reaches for his walking stick, he loses his balance. Brendan leaps up and catches him.

“I’m as crippled as the dark world,” Gildas says. “If it comes to that, which one of us isn’t?” Brendan replies. “To lend each other a hand when we’re falling. Perhaps that’s the only work that matters in the end.”

In 2 Samuel 9, we find King David desiring to show kindness to anyone still living from the house of Saul (v. 1). There is one, Mephibosheth, “a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet” (v. 3). Mephibosheth is ushered into the king’s presence, where he hears these words: “I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table” (v. 7). And he always did.

Scripture is full of unforgettable stories of David and giants and armies and kings and kingdoms—the stuff of movies. But the Bible also remembers this poignant kindness shown toward a person in need—the story of someone lending a hand to another.

After all the big, flashy scenes fade, it’s possible that kindness such as David extended to Mephibosheth is the work that matters most in the end. Lending a hand is the kind of work you and I can be about each and every day.

Reflect & Pray

Who is a Mephibosheth in your life? How can you lend a hand to that person?

Compassionate God, please show me the one in my life that I can lend a hand to. 

Discover more caring for others by reading Why Should We Help?



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 26, 2025

What Is a Missionary?

As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. —John 20:21

A missionary is one sent by Jesus Christ as Jesus Christ was sent by God. A missionary’s purpose isn’t serving the needs of humanity; it’s obeying the command of Jesus: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

The inspiration for the missionary’s work lies behind, not before. Today, the tendency is to put the inspiration out front; we look forward to our own success. In the New Testament, the inspiration for doing God’s work is found in Jesus Christ, in what he has already accomplished. The missionary’s ideal is to be true to the Lord and to carry out his enterprises.

Personal attachment to Jesus and his point of view is the one thing that must not be overlooked in the missionary’s work. The great danger is in getting so wrapped up in people’s needs that our sympathy drowns out God’s call and overwhelms the meaning of being sent by Jesus. Humanity’s needs are so enormous, and the conditions of human life so perplexing, that every power of mind falters and fails when confronted with them. It’s easy to forget that the great reason for the missionary enterprise isn’t educating people or meeting their needs but first and foremost obeying the command of Jesus Christ.

When looking back on the lives of missionaries who seem to have risen to every challenge and perplexity, we have the tendency to say, “What wonderful wisdom they had! How perfectly they understood what God wanted!” It wasn’t human wisdom at all; the astute mind behind what they did was the mind of God. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to divine guidance. If any man or woman seems to possess divine wisdom, it’s because they were childlike and simple enough to trust the supernatural guidance of God.

Jeremiah 9-11; 1 Timothy 6

WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray.
So Send I You, 1325 L

Saturday, October 25, 2025

Numbers 27,Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Heaven’s Throne Room

You sleep alone in a double bed. You walk the hallways of a silent house. You catch yourself calling out his name or reaching for her hand. Good-bye is the challenge of your life! To get through this is to get through this raging loneliness, this strength-draining grief.  Just the separation has exhausted your spirit. You feel quarantined, isolated.

May I give you some hope?  If heaven’s throne room has a calendar, one day is circled in red and highlighted in yellow. The Bible says that the The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder!  God’s trumpet blast! He will come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then the rest of us who are still alive will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. (I Thessalonians 4:15-17).

Oh, what a day that will be! We’ll be walking on air! And there will be one huge family reunion. I leave you with this reminder: You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Numbers 27

The Daughters of Zelophehad

1  27 The daughters of Zelophehad showed up. Their father was the son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Makir son of Manasseh, belonging to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

2–4  They came to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. They stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and before the leaders and the congregation and said, “Our father died in the wilderness. He wasn’t part of Korah’s rebel anti-God gang. He died for his own sins. And he left no sons. But why should our father’s name die out from his clan just because he had no sons? So give us an inheritance among our father’s relatives.”

5  Moses brought their case to God.

6–7  God ruled: “Zelophehad’s daughters are right. Give them land as an inheritance among their father’s relatives. Give them their father’s inheritance.

8–11  “Then tell the People of Israel, If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter. If he has no daughter, give it to his brothers. If he has no brothers, give it to his father’s brothers. If his father had no brothers, give it to the nearest relative so that the inheritance stays in the family. This is the standard procedure for the People of Israel, as commanded by God through Moses.”

Joshua

12–14  God said to Moses, “Climb up into the Abarim Mountains and look over at the land that I am giving to the People of Israel. When you’ve had a good look you’ll be joined to your ancestors in the grave—yes, you also along with Aaron your brother. This goes back to the day when the congregation quarreled in the Wilderness of Zin and you didn’t honor me in holy reverence before them in the matter of the waters, the Waters of Meribah (Quarreling) at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.”

15–17  Moses responded to God: “Let God, the God of the spirits of everyone living, set a man over this community to lead them, to show the way ahead and bring them back home so God’s community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

18–21  God said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun—the Spirit is in him!—and place your hand on him. Stand him before Eleazar the priest in front of the entire congregation and commission him with everyone watching. Pass your magisterial authority over to him so that the whole congregation of the People of Israel will listen obediently to him. He is to consult with Eleazar the priest who, using the oracle-Urim, will prayerfully advise him in the presence of God. He will command the People of Israel, the entire community, in all their comings and goings.”

22–23  Moses followed God’s orders. He took Joshua and stood him before Eleazar the priest in front of the entire community. He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, following the procedures God had given Moses.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 25, 2025
by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Exodus 34:4-10

So Moses cut two tablets of stone just like the originals. He got up early in the morning and climbed Mount Sinai as God had commanded him, carrying the two tablets of stone. God descended in the cloud and took up his position there beside him and called out the name, God. God passed in front of him and called out, “God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient—so much love, so deeply true—loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Still, he doesn’t ignore sin. He holds sons and grandsons responsible for a father’s sins to the third and even fourth generation.”

8–9  At once, Moses fell to the ground and worshiped, saying, “Please, O Master, if you see anything good in me, please Master, travel with us, hard-headed as these people are. Forgive our iniquity and sin. Own us, possess us.”

10–12  And God said, “As of right now, I’m making a covenant with you: In full sight of your people I will work wonders that have never been created in all the Earth, in any nation. Then all the people with whom you’re living will see how tremendous God’s work is, the work I’ll do for you.

Today's Insights
At the heart of the book of Exodus is the question whether God’s presence can dwell in the midst of a sinful people. In chapter 33, Moses petitions God to go with him and the Israelites: “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?” (v. 16). God responds by saying that He will indeed do what Moses asks (v. 17).

This conversation takes place immediately after Israel sins with the golden calf. Would their betrayal of God prevent Him from ever dwelling in their presence? God’s answer is clear: He shows compassion and grace and abounds in love and faithfulness (34:6-7). He’d go with them no matter what. The same is true today for believers in Jesus. God forgives our sins and yearns to restore us.

When God Forgives
[The Lord] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God.” Exodus 34:6

After a four-year-old boy accidentally broke a rare 3,500-year-old Bronze Age jar displayed at a museum in Israel, he received a kind and surprising response. The museum staff forgave him and invited him back. Roee Shafir, speaking for the Hecht Museum, said doing so heightened global interest in the restoration process and might serve to inspire the boy’s interest in history and archaeology—a healing and positive outcome.

The story brings to mind God’s compelling declaration of His forgiveness after rebellion by the Israelites. They’d rebelled against Him by begging Moses’ brother Aaron to make a gold calf for them for idol worship (Exodus 32:1). “When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets [of covenant law] out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain” (v. 19).

At God’s instruction, “Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning” (34:4). When God came down, He “passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God . . . maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin’ ” (vv. 6-7).

What a profound reminder. Despite our worst sins, God still forgives. He yearns to restore us.

Reflect & Pray

What sins of yours has God forgiven? Why is His forgiveness an amazing gift of grace?

When my sin angers or disappoints You, dear God, please invite me back into the compassion of Your love with forgiveness.

For further study, read Accepting God's Forgiveness.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 25, 2025

All Things to All People

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. — 1 Corinthians 9:22

A Christian worker must learn how to be God’s noble man or woman amid a crowd of ignoble things. Never make this plea: “If only I were somewhere else, then I would be noble.” You can be noble now, no matter the setting, no matter the limits of your natural abilities. All God’s workers are ordinary people, made extraordinary by what he has put into them.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you” (John 15:16). If you ever begin to doubt that you’re up to the task God has set for you, remember that it isn’t your own choice that has made you his worker. It isn’t that you’ve got hold of God, but that he has got hold of you. Keep this note of greatness in your creed. God is at work in you even now, bending, breaking, molding, doing just as he chooses. Why? For one purpose: that he will be able to say, “This is my man; this is my woman.”

We have to be in God’s hand so that he can plant others on the rock as he has planted us. Many people do deliberately choose to be God’s workers, but they have nothing in them of God’s mighty grace, nothing of his mighty word. Unless we have the right things in our minds intellectually and the right things in our hearts affectionately, we will be useless to God. Paul had the right things in his heart and mind and soul; he was entirely taken up with what Jesus Christ came to do. We, too, must focus on this one central fact: “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Never choose to be God’s worker, but never turn away when God’s call comes. He will do with you what he never did with you before. He will do something unique, something he isn’t doing with other people. Let him have his way.

Jeremiah 6-8; 1 Timothy 5

WISDOM FROM OSWALD
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own.
Conformed to His Image, 381 L

Friday, October 24, 2025

Numbers 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOUR MOST VALUABLE TOOL - October 24, 2025

Your mindset is your most valuable tool. It’s time to screen thoughts, interrupt thoughts, extract and replace thoughts. And I know just the fellow to help us. God called him “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22 NIV). Why? He made this six-word motto his mantra: “The battle belongs to the Lord” (1 Samuel 17:47 MEV).

Goliath stood nine feet nine inches tall and wore 126 pounds of armor. David was the youngest in his family—a teenager. He showed up and piped up. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26 NIV).

David sees a battle; he thinks of God. He sees the Philistines; he thinks of God’s armies. And he announces, “The battle belongs to the Lord.” How does David’s reaction to the enemy compare with yours?

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

Numbers 26

Census on the Plains of Moab

1–2  26 After the plague God said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, “Number the entire community of Israel by families—count every person who is twenty years and older who is able to serve in the army of Israel.”

3–4  Obeying God’s command, Moses and Eleazar the priest addressed them on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho: “Count off from age twenty and older.”

4–7  The People of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt:

Reuben, Israel’s firstborn. The sons of Reuben were:

Hanoch and the Hanochite clan,

Pallu and the Palluite clan,

Hezron and the Hezronite clan,

Carmi and the Carmite clan.

These made up the Reubenite clans. They numbered 43,730.

8  The son of Pallu: Eliab.

9–11  The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. (These were the same Dathan and Abiram, community leaders from Korah’s gang, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the Korah Rebellion against God. The Earth opened its jaws and swallowed them along with Korah’s gang who died when the fire ate them up, all 250 of them. After all these years, they’re still a warning sign. But the line of Korah did not die out.)

12–14  The sons of Simeon by clans:

Nemuel and the Nemuelite clan,

Jamin and the Jaminite clan,

Jakin and the Jakinite clan,

Zerah and the Zerahite clan,

Shaul and the Shaulite clan.

These were the clans of Simeon. They numbered 22,200 men.

15–18  The sons of Gad by clans:

Zephon and the Zephonite clan,

Haggi and the Haggite clan,

Shuni and the Shunite clan,

Ozni and the Oznite clan,

Eri and the Erite clan,

Arodi and the Arodite clan,

Areli and the Arelite clan.

These were the clans of Gad. They numbered 40,500 men.

19–22  Er and Onan were sons of Judah who died early on in Canaan. The sons of Judah by clans:

Shelah and the Shelanite clan,

Perez and the Perezite clan,

Zerah and the Zerahite clan.

The sons of Perez:

Hezron and the Hezronite clan,

Hamul and the Hamulite clan.

These were the clans of Judah. They numbered 76,500.

23–25  The sons of Issachar by clans:

Tola and the Tolaite clan,

Puah and the Puite clan,

Jashub and the Jashubite clan,

Shimron and the Shimronite clan.

These were the clans of Issachar. They numbered 64,300.

26–27  The sons of Zebulun by clans:

Sered and the Seredite clan,

Elon and the Elonite clan,

Jahleel and the Jahleelite clan.

These were the clans of Zebulun. They numbered 60,500.

28–34  The sons of Joseph by clans through Manasseh and Ephraim. Through Manasseh:

Makir and the Makirite clan

(now Makir was the father of Gilead),

Gilead and the Gileadite clan.

The sons of Gilead:

Iezer and the Iezerite clan,

Helek and the Helekite clan,

Asriel and the Asrielite clan,

Shechem and the Shechemite clan,

Shemida and the Shemidaite clan,

Hepher and the Hepherite clan.

Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, only daughters.

Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

These were the clans of Manasseh. They numbered 52,700.

35–37  The sons of Ephraim by clans:

Shuthelah and the Shuthelahite clan,

Beker and the Bekerite clan,

Tahan and the Tahanite clan.

The sons of Shuthelah:

Eran and the Eranite clan.

These were the clans of Ephraim. They numbered 32,500.

These are all the sons of Joseph by their clans.

38–41  The sons of Ben-jamin by clans:

Bela and the Belaite clan,

Ashbel and the Ashbelite clan,

Ahiram and the Ahiramite clan,

Shupham and the Shuphamite clan,

Hupham and the Huphamite clan.

The sons of Bela through Ard and Naaman:

Ard and the Ardite clan,

Naaman and the Naamite clan.

These were the clans of Ben-jamin. They numbered 45,600.

42–43  The sons of Dan by clan:

Shuham and the Shuhamite clan.

These are the clans of Dan, all Shuhamite clans. They numbered 64,400.

44–47  The sons of Asher by clan:

Imnah and the Imnite clan,

Ishvi and the Ishvite clan,

Beriah and the Beriite clan.

The sons of Beriah:

Heber and the Heberite clan,

Malkiel and the Malkielite clan.

Asher also had a daughter, Serah.

These were the clans of Asher. They numbered 53,400.

48–50  The sons of Naphtali by clans:

Jahzeel and the Jahzeelite clan,

Guni and the Gunite clan,

Jezer and the Jezerite clan,

Shillem and the Shillemite clan.

These were the clans of Naphtali. They numbered 45,400.

51  The total number of the People of Israel: 601,730.

52–54  God spoke to Moses: “Divide up the inheritance of the land based on population. A larger group gets a larger inheritance; a smaller group gets a smaller inheritance—each gets its inheritance based on the population count.

55–56  “Make sure that the land is assigned by lot.

“Each group’s inheritance is based on population, the number of names listed in its ancestral tribe, divided among the many and the few by lot.”

57–58  These are the numberings of the Levites by clan:

Gershon and the Gershonite clan,

Kohath and the Kohathite clan,

Merari and the Merarite clan.

The Levite clans also included:

the Libnite clan,

the Hebronite clan,

the Mahlite clan,

the Mushite clan,

the Korahite clan.

58–61  Kohath was the father of Amram. Amram’s wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, born into the Levite family during the Egyptian years. Jochebed bore Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam to Amram. Aaron was the father of Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar; however, Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized sacrifice in the presence of God.

62  The numbering of Levite males one month and older came to 23,000. They hadn’t been counted in with the rest of the People of Israel because they didn’t inherit any land.

63–65  These are the ones numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, the People of Israel counted in the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho. Not one of them had been among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest in the census of the People of Israel taken in the Wilderness of Sinai. For God had said of them, “They’ll die, die in the wilderness—not one of them will be left except for Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun.”



Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 24, 2025
by Bill Crowder

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
1 Timothy 1:12-20

  I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were invective and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing—didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus.

15–19  Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever.

Deep honor and bright glory

to the King of All Time—

One God, Immortal, Invisible,

ever and always. Oh, yes!

I’m passing this work on to you, my son Timothy. The prophetic word that was directed to you prepared us for this. All those prayers are coming together now so you will do this well, fearless in your struggle, keeping a firm grip on your faith and on yourself. After all, this is a fight we’re in.

19–20  There are some, you know, who by relaxing their grip and thinking anything goes have made a thorough mess of their faith. Hymenaeus and Alexander are two of them. I let them wander off to Satan to be taught a lesson or two about not blaspheming.

Today's Insights
Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to work with the young and troubled church there. Although Timothy was to aid the church in its struggles against false teachers (1 Timothy 1:3-7), Paul instructs him that he also needed to grow in his own faith (vv. 18-20). He was to “fight the battle well” (v. 18), most commonly referring to spiritual warfare (see Ephesians 6:10-18); “[hold] on to the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19), referring to trust in Jesus (see Titus 1:1-3); and maintain “a good conscience” (1 Timothy 1:19), keeping his actions commendable (see Titus 3:14-15). The journey of discipleship is lifelong. Actively nurturing our relationship with God helps us grow strong in our faith and avoid spiritual shipwreck.

Growing Strong in God
Fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience. 1 Timothy 1:18-19

As a boy, I loved reading stories about pirates. How those adventures spurred my imagination! Now I live in an area where one of the most infamous of those pirates—Blackbeard (real name, Edward Teach)—had his headquarters. Shipwrecked in the waters off the coast here is Blackbeard’s ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

We can easily romanticize the wrecks and the high-sea adventures of history. The apostle Paul, however, wrote about a very different kind of shipwreck that provides us with a caution and an exhortation. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul warned his son in the faith to “[hold] on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19). What is this “shipwreck”? Two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, had in some devastating way departed from the true faith, and the apostle turned them over to Satan “to be taught not to blaspheme” (v. 20). Paul desired them to repent, but the consequences of their actions were dire.

Our faith isn’t static, nor can it exist in a vacuum. We must actively nurture and cultivate our relationship with God to grow strong and healthy in faith and good conscience. May we join with other believers, yield to God’s Spirit, and allow Him to work in us. We can avoid shipwreck.

Reflect & Pray

How would you describe your relationship with Jesus? If you’ve drifted from Him, what’s the first move you can make back to Him?

Wise Father, may Your Spirit work in my heart to keep me close to You and growing in my faith.

For further study, read A Prayer for the Holy Spirit, written by Reclaim Today.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 24, 2025

The Viewpoint

Thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession. — 2 Corinthians 2:14

For God’s workers, the viewpoint we have to maintain isn’t one that comes near the highest. It is the highest—the viewpoint of God himself. God’s viewpoint, according to Paul, is that we are here for a single purpose: to be “captives in Christ’s triumphal procession.”

Be careful to maintain God’s viewpoint rigorously, every day, minute by minute. Don’t think on the finite. God’s viewpoint is infinite and inviolable; no outside power can touch it. How small are other points of view in comparison! They always place the wrong thing at the center: “I am standing alone, battling for Jesus,” we say. Or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold this fort for him.” Paul knows who comes first. He says that he is in the procession of a conqueror, and that it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are. He knows that he is always led in triumph.

Is this idea being worked out practically in your life? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him—a red-handed rebel against Jesus Christ—and turned him into a captive. Once Paul belonged to God, he had no other interest; he was here for one thing and one thing only. It is shameful for a Christian to talk about winning a victory. We ought to belong so completely to the Victor that we know it’s his victory, all the time, that only through him are we “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). Once we’ve learned this, we become a wonderful refreshment to God, a delight to him wherever we go.

Jeremiah 3-5; 1 Timothy 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.
Biblical Psychology

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 24, 2025

It was supposed to be a one-hour fishing trip off the coast of South Carolina. For 17-year-old Josh and his 15-year-old friend Troy, it turned out to be a six-day nightmare at sea. When they set out on their little 14-foot Sunfish, they didn't know about the small craft warnings in the area. Within hours, the fierce winds had pulled them out to sea - to a point 111 miles north - well outside of the Coast Guard's search area. They fought to stay alive, eating raw jellyfish and gargling sea water. They were severely sunburned, exhausted and dehydrated.

After 48 hours, the Coast Guard announced they were suspending their search and moving from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. But there was this uncle who refused to concede the boys were dead. He's a police officer, so he thinks of rescue. After studying the weather and the currents, he concluded they might be as far as the area where they actually were found. He made sure that fishing vessels in the area were alerted to be looking for the boys. And as they were praying that God would either take them home or take them to heaven, some fishermen spotted them and saved them.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Love That Cannot Let You Go."

That's what that uncle had. When everyone else had given up hope of saving those boys, he was looking for a way to do it. He was a rescuer who refused to give up, who would not quit.

You have someone who loves you like that - someone who has refused to give up on rescuing you. You say, "Do I need rescuing?" We all do. Because we are paying the price for all the times we've done things our way instead of God's way - all the times we've broken God's laws, all the times we've pushed our Creator to the margins of our life.

Isaiah 53:6, our word for today from the Word of God, describes our lostness this way: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We are paying the price in guilt, and stress, and loneliness, and the bitter consequences of our selfish mistakes. Worse yet, that's only a taste of the ultimate price we'll pay for drifting so far from our home port.

If we don't get rescued, we'll end up separated from God and His love forever. That's the penalty for spiritual hijacking - taking over a life that God was supposed to direct. So whether or not you realize the spiritual danger you're in, your only hope is still a rescuer. And there is one - only one. He does not want to leave you lost. Here's how He proved that. He found a way to bring you home, but it cost Him everything. Speaking of Jesus, that statement in Isaiah says, "The Lord has laid on Him the wrongdoing of us all." For Jesus, the road to rescue you led to a cross, and that is where He paid for your sin.

Jesus said He leaves the sheep that are already in to "go after the lost sheep." Could that be you today? He's come right to where you are to reach out His hand to you. When you grab His hand, when you grab Him as your only hope, you are rescued. You are headed for the home your heart's been missing your whole life.

But you've got to be willing to leave the course that has been taking you away from God and to depend totally on Jesus to make you clean and take you to heaven someday. This could be the day of your rescue. Would you say to Him, "Jesus, I've run my life long enough. I'm ready to turn that over to you. And my only hope of going to heaven, my only hope of ever having my sins forgiven is what you did on the cross and the fact that you are alive and walked out of your grave. I want to invite you to walk into my life this very day."

Our website is there for you at a point just like this. So you can be sure you have begun a relationship with Jesus. It's ANewStory.com.

See, Jesus really, really loves you. He doesn't want to lose you. He went all the way to a cross to bring you home. Now He's reaching for you to rescue you. Now, while you can, grab His hand.

Thursday, October 23, 2025

Mark 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: TIME TO COME HOME - October 23, 2025

Satan wants you to look back, to obsess over past failures. Yet, the grace of Christ invites you to move forward, enter a new life. “His blood will make our consciences pure from useless acts so we may serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14 NCV).

The disciples of Christ abandoned their Lord. They left him to carry his cross alone. What would have happened if they had lived in the past? We would not have their gospels, their influence, their teachings.

What about you? If you fail to move forward, who wins? What messages will go untaught? Words unsaid? People unloved? Organizations unled? Children unparented? Confess your struggle to God.  He will hear, and he will help. Help will come through a circle of good friends. Get smart, make some changes, time for a new start! It’s time to come home.

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

Mark 16

The Resurrection

1–3  16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, “Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?”

4–5  Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back—it was a huge stone—and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.

6–7  He said, “Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He’s been raised up; he’s here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty. Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You’ll see him there, exactly as he said.”

8  They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.

9–11  [After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary Magdalene, whom he had delivered from seven demons. She went to his former companions, now weeping and carrying on, and told them. When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well, they didn’t believe her.

12–13  Later he appeared, but in a different form, to two of them out walking in the countryside. They went back and told the rest, but they weren’t believed either.

14–16  Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up. Then he said, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.

17–18  “These are some of the signs that will accompany believers: They will throw out demons in my name, they will speak in new tongues, they will take snakes in their hands, they will drink poison and not be hurt, they will lay hands on the sick and make them well.”

19–20  Then the Master Jesus, after briefing them, was taken up to heaven, and he sat down beside God in the place of honor. And the disciples went everywhere preaching, the Master working right with them, validating the Message with indisputable evidence.]

Note: Mark 16:9–20 [the portion in brackets] is contained only in later manuscripts.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 23, 2025
by Leslie Koh

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Proverbs 27:17-27

Your Face Mirrors Your Heart

17  You use steel to sharpen steel,

and one friend sharpens another.

18  If you care for your orchard, you’ll enjoy its fruit;

if you honor your boss, you’ll be honored.

19  Just as water mirrors your face,

so your face mirrors your heart.

20  Hell has a voracious appetite,

and lust just never quits.

21  The purity of silver and gold is tested

by putting them in the fire;

The purity of human hearts is tested

by giving them a little fame.

22  Pound on a fool all you like—

you can’t pound out foolishness.

23–27  Know your sheep by name;

carefully attend to your flocks;

(Don’t take them for granted;

possessions don’t last forever, you know.)

And then, when the crops are in

and the harvest is stored in the barns,

You can knit sweaters from lambs’ wool,

and sell your goats for a profit;

There will be plenty of milk and meat

to last your family through the winter.

Today's Insights
Learning to view troubles and trials as instruments in God’s hand is an important key to our spiritual growth. His goal for us isn’t that we have an easy or pain-free life, but rather that we “be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). As fire purifies gold (Proverbs 17:3; 27:21), so the heat of trials can be God’s tool to purify us and make us more like Jesus. Christ’s half brother James affirms this in his letter: “The testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete” (James 1:3-4). Part of walking by faith is trusting that God doesn’t waste anything. We can be sure that when difficult times come, He has a purpose for those trials in refining and shaping us to become more like Jesus.

Sharpened by Iron
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

Louise, a project manager, regretted taking on the freelance job. Both the client and designer were testing her patience. Why is it so difficult? she wondered. Why can’t these people get it together?

Weeks later, as she read Proverbs 27, verse 17 stood out—“iron sharpens iron.” “You can’t file down rough edges with something soft, like silk,” she told her small group soon after. “You need something hard, like iron.”

Louise realized that the challenges in the project were smoothing down some rough edges of her own. She was learning to be more patient and humble, and to adapt to different working styles. God, she concluded, was using the project to expose her flaws and teach her new lessons about working with others.

Much of the book of Proverbs extols the value of godly wisdom, but this wisdom doesn’t come easily. It needs to be sought after with obedience and discernment (3:13; 13:20; 19:20), and refined in crucibles and furnaces, with mortars and pestles (27:21-22)—situations that may mean temporary pain and suffering.

Yet the Bible reminds us that challenges come with rewards: In seeking God’s wisdom diligently and obeying His ways, we’ll find true security, satisfaction, and blessing (vv. 26-27).

Reflect & Pray

What lessons can you learn from difficult situations you’re facing? How might God be refining and shaping you to be more like His Son, Jesus?

Loving Father, please grant me strength to endure my trials and a humble heart to learn from life’s challenges. Thank You for shaping and molding me each day.

Disover more about A Resilient Life.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 23, 2025

Not a Bit of It!

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! — 2 Corinthians 5:17

Our Lord never nurses our prejudices; he destroys them. We imagine that God has a special interest in our personal preferences. We’re sure he’ll never deal with us as he does with others. We think, “Well, of course God has to handle those people in a very stern way, but he knows my prejudices are OK.” Not a bit of it! Instead of God being on the side of our prejudices, he is deliberately wiping them out. It’s part of our moral education to have our prejudices pierced straight through by his providence.

God wants only one thing from us: unconditional surrender. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work his new creation inside us, and a time will come when the old life will have gone entirely—the old sense of self-importance, the old attitudes and bigotries. Then we will be a “new creation,” knowing that “all this is from God” (2 Corinthians 5:17–18).

How are we to get this new life? The life that has no lust, no self-interest, no oversensitivity? How will we get the love that is not easily angered, that thinks no evil, that is always kind (1 Corinthians 13:4–6)? The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain—only simple, perfect trust in God, such trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, only God himself. Have we come to the place where God can withdraw his blessings and it doesn’t shake our trust in him? Once we’ve seen God at work, we will never again worry ourselves about what happens. All our trust will be in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

Jeremiah 1-2; 1 Timothy 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD
We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. 
Conformed to His Image, 354 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 23, 2025

LEAVING A TRAIL OF GIFTS - #10119

My wife was one of the most generous people I've ever known. We never had a whole lot to spend on gifts, but somehow she usually found a way to give them. Over the years God has blessed us with some friends who have been very generous with us. They have invited us to get away to their cabin or their cottage or their farm. I can remember occasions where I've been all packed and ready to go and anxious to leave, and my wife hadn't come out yet. I'd go back inside and I'd say, "Honey, what are you doing?" You know where she is? She's rummaging through her gift box or her gift closet, and she would say, "Wait a minute, Honey, I'm looking for a gift."

Sure enough she almost always left a gift behind for those friends. She found something of hers that she could give. I can't tell you how many times she did that for a dinner host, for a sick friend, for a new mom. She just left a gift in so many lives.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Leaving a Trail of Gifts."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 1:11. Paul says to the Roman Christians, "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong." Whoa! That reminds me of my Karen! "I want to be with you. And when I am, I'll leave you with a gift."

What kind of trail do you leave with the people you touch? It's exciting to live like Paul describes here, consciously asking as you're with a person, "Lord, what spiritual gift could I give him or her? How could I leave this person a little better off than they were before I was with them?" Whether you're on the phone or on the Internet with them, or you're in an appointment, or whether it's a casual contact on social medis, or it's with your mate, or your roommate, or your son or your daughter, or you parents, what kind of gift could I give them on this occasion? I want to impart to you, he said, "some spiritual gift."

Too often we look at it the other way, "What gift can they give me?" We go looking to them for some attention, or information, or affection. What connection does this person have that I could use? What promotion could they give me? What money could they give me? Well, this doesn't talk about living for you to impart to me. It's about me imparting to you.

Or maybe, you too often impart a gripe instead of a gift. There are some people who just tend to drop bad news or some burden on everybody they meet. You walk away and they are feeling down or suddenly heavier than before you were with them.

Because Jesus lives in you, people should feel richer after they have been with you. Do they? What gift could you give them? A word of encouragement maybe, or just to put your arm around them and pray with them if that would be appropriate right now, or a testimony of how God is at work in your life right now that might help them see how He can work in theirs. Maybe you could share with them just something you're thankful for that God has done for you, a God-sighting you've had today, or maybe some good news about a friend instead of bad news, a verse that came alive for you recently. Maybe just give them a chance to laugh when it's been mostly tears.

The gifts will differ with the person's need, but your mission - your attitude - should always be "What gift can I leave today?" I remember singing that song "Make me a blessing to someone today." Well, you will be a blessing if you approach folks as a giver and not a taker.

I've watched the blessing a person can leave because she was always looking for a gift to give. Why don't you try that as a lifestyle? I think you'll like it, and they'll love it.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Numbers 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: FROM SELF-RELIANCE TO GOD-RELIANCE - October 22, 2025

I do not know how to say this tactfully, so I won’t try: don’t listen to stupid people. And when it comes to sexuality, everyone is stupid but God. Don’t think you can lust and not get hurt or hurt someone else. At the same time, don’t underestimate God’s love. You have not out-sinned God’s grace. Move from self-reliance to God-reliance.

One of the greatest toys is the Etch-A-Sketch. Twist the two knobs and watch a figure appear. The genius of the device is not in the creating but in the erasing. Just shake the toy and you get a fresh start. In God’s hands, your heart is an Etch-A-Sketch. And he can do what you cannot do: he can wipe away the past.

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

Numbers 25

The Orgy at Shittim

1–3  25 While Israel was camped at Shittim (Acacia Grove), the men began to have sex with the Moabite women. It started when the women invited the men to their sex-and-religion worship. They ate together and then worshiped their gods. Israel ended up joining in the worship of the Baal of Peor. God was furious, his anger blazing out against Israel.

4  God said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of Israel and kill them by hanging, leaving them publicly exposed in order to turn God’s anger away from Israel.”

5  Moses issued orders to the judges of Israel: “Each of you must execute the men under your jurisdiction who joined in the worship of Baal Peor.”

6–9  Just then, while everyone was weeping in penitence at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, an Israelite man, flaunting his behavior in front of Moses and the whole assembly, paraded a Midianite woman into his family tent. Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw what he was doing, grabbed his spear, and followed them into the tent. With one thrust he drove the spear through the two of them, the man of Israel and the woman, right through their private parts. That stopped the plague from continuing among the People of Israel. But 24,000 had already died.

10–13  God spoke to Moses: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has stopped my anger against the People of Israel. Because he was as zealous for my honor as I myself am, I didn’t kill all the People of Israel in my zeal. So tell him that I am making a Covenant-of-Peace with him. He and his descendants are joined in a covenant of eternal priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the People of Israel.”

14–15  The name of the man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the head of the Simeonite family. And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

16–18  God spoke to Moses: “From here on make the Midianites your enemies. Fight them tooth and nail. They turned out to be your enemies when they seduced you in the business of Peor and that woman Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed at the time of the plague in the matter of Peor.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
by Monica La Rose

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Hebrews 2:7-15

You made them not quite as high as angels,

bright with Eden’s dawn light;

Then you put them in charge

of your entire handcrafted world.

When God put them in charge of everything, nothing was excluded. But we don’t see it yet, don’t see everything under human jurisdiction. What we do see is Jesus, made “not quite as high as angels,” and then, through the experience of death, crowned so much higher than any angel, with a glory “bright with Eden’s dawn light.” In that death, by God’s grace, he fully experienced death in every person’s place.

10–13  It makes good sense that the God who got everything started and keeps everything going now completes the work by making the Salvation Pioneer perfect through suffering as he leads all these people to glory. Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family, saying,

I’ll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters,

all I know about you;

I’ll join them in worship and praise to you.

Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says,

Even I live by placing my trust in God.

And yet again,

I’m here with the children God gave me.

14–15  Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.

Today's Insights
Hebrews 2:6-8 references Psalm 8:4-6. In this psalm, David is in awe of God for creating and caring for creation, particularly people: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (v. 4). It likewise amazes the psalmist that God entrusted the creation into our care (vv. 5-8). The author of Hebrews references Psalm 8 to point to Jesus, who, by becoming a man, lowered Himself so that He could die for our sins (Hebrews 2:7, 9). He loves us that much—and understands all we’re going through!

God Understands
[Jesus] shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death.  Hebrews 2:14

In his Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, John Koenig offers a collection of new words, each invented to give a name to complicated feelings we previously lacked a word for. His book includes words like dés vu, “the awareness that this moment will become a memory,” and onism, “the frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at one time.” Koenig says his mission is to shed light on all of the unique and strange experiences of being human, so that people can feel less alone in those experiences.

While we might not always be able to find a word for what we’re going through, believers in Jesus can take great comfort in knowing that God values and understands what it’s like to be human. He values people so much that He chose to entrust humanity with caring for creation (Hebrews 2:7-8). And because of Jesus, God understands completely what it’s like to live as a human. Christ is God made fully human, which means other believers are called Jesus’ “brothers and sisters” (v. 12).

Christ not only understands all our experiences and temptations (4:15) but He has also broken “the power of death” over our lives (2:14). Because of Him, our experiences need not cause us to feel afraid or alone. Instead, we can celebrate the gift of being human.

Reflect & Pray

What experiences do you sometimes struggle to find words for? How does it encourage you to know God understands and values your experience?

Dear God, thank You that You value being human and empathize with all that I experience.

Discover more by reading One of Us.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 22, 2025

The Testimony of the Spirit

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit. — Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a negotiating mindset with God, of trying to haggle him into giving us the testimony of the Spirit before we’ve done what he tells us to do. “Why isn’t the Spirit testifying with my spirit?” you ask. “Why doesn’t God reveal himself to me?” The answer is that he won’t, not as long as you are in his way, refusing to abandon yourself to him. The instant you do abandon, God begins to testify to himself. He can’t testify to you—that is, to your human nature. Rather, he testifies to his own nature inside you, the nature you received when you were baptized by the Holy Spirit.

If you were to receive the testimony of the Spirit before the Spirit was a reality inside you, it would end in sentimental emotion. But the moment you stop debating and complete the spiritual transaction, the moment you ask for the Holy Spirit and receive him, God gives you the testimony. When you abandon intellectual reasoning and argument and hand yourself in faith to God, you will be amazed at your impertinence in having kept him waiting so long.

If you are debating the question of whether God can deliver you from sin, either let him do it or tell him he can’t. Don’t come at him with evidence, quoting this or that expert. Instead, try Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.” Come, when you are burdened with doubt. Ask, if you know you are evil: “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

The simplicity that characterizes commonsense decisions is easy to mistake for the testimony of the Spirit. But the Spirit testifies only to his own nature and to the work of redemption, never to our human reason. If we try to make him testify to our reason, it is no wonder we remain in darkness and perplexity. Fling your doubting and debating overboard, trust in God, and his Spirit will give the testimony.

Isaiah 65-66; 1 Timothy 2

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
Wednesday, October 22, 2025

TODAY'S BATTLES, YESTERDAY'S WEAPONS - #10118

Look, whether you're a Yankee or a Confederate at heart, you don't take much joy in what happened at what is called the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy." If you're a Civil War buff, you know that's where the Union Army turned back Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Some 15,000 Confederate soldiers marched courageously across a field in a very tightly-packed formation, advancing on 40,000 Union soldiers. Only 150 of those Southern soldiers made it. General Lee had made an honest but tragic mistake. See, he'd been trained at West Point in Napoleon's war tactics - masses of men, advancing against imprecise, short-range weapons until they could overwhelm the opposing troops in hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, things had changed since that kind of strategy had won battles for Napoleon. Recent technology of that time had greatly improved the range and the accuracy of the rifles that the Union Army was using, which meant those masses of men were brought down long before they could ever reach enemy lines.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Today's Battles, Yesterday's Weapons."

Robert E. Lee, the great general that he was, made the fatal mistake of fighting today's battles with what used to work. You know, a lot of us are still making that fatal mistake when it comes to fighting the battle for which Jesus gave His life - turning people from the death penalty of their sin to the eternal life that only Jesus can give them. When we lose that battle, a soul is lost forever.

The message that Jesus died for our sin and came back from the dead to be our living Savior: that message, wow, that never changes. The Good News about Jesus always has been and it always will be the unchanging (in God's words) "power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). That message is always relevant, it's always powerful, it's never to be tampered with or watered down, or compromised.

But the methods by which we present His message are always subject to change. And, frankly, many of us haven't changed our methods for a long time. We're still trying to reach people with what used to work. But today's lost people? They don't know the Bible, they don't understand our "Christianese" words we use to explain what Jesus did, they don't ever plan to come to our religious meeting to hear our religious speaker talk on a religious subject in a religious place, which describes a lot of the ways we try to reach them.

The Apostle Paul, who never compromised his message, of course, was the same one who said in 1 Corinthians 9:22, our word for today from the Word of God, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." In terms of method, Paul tells us you have to be willing to do whatever it takes, within Biblical boundaries, to rescue the dying.

Which today may mean going to where they are instead of counting on them to come where we are, doing outreach in places where they feel comfortable - neutral ground - instead of where we feel comfortable in our religious setting, communicating Christ in non-religious words that a lost person can understand. Delivering the message in music that is their musical language instead of ours, realizing it's going to be the everyday believer like you that we'll have to depend on to rescue the lost more than those programs we've created. See, the program of God for rescuing the dying is the people of God.

If we insist on fighting today's battle for the lost with what worked yesterday, we'll keep on reaching who we've already been reaching, while most of the spiritually dying people around us will live and die without God and without hope. We can't lose them because we insist on doing what we've always done, sticking to what we're comfortable with.

The eternity of people all around us is at stake - this is a battle that is too costly to lose.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Numbers 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: RUN TOWARD GOD - October 21, 2025

Romans 6:13 (NCV) reads, “Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil…Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good.”

When temptation strikes, immediately initiate the Uproot and Replant strategy.  Go nuclear on the immoral. Yank lust like a dentist yanks a rotten tooth—pull it out by the roots. Lay claim to scriptures like this one: “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV).

Meditate on Christ. Running toward him is the easiest way to run from sin. We keep wrong thoughts out by keeping the right thoughts in. Ponder heaven. Memorize verses. Write psalms. Listen to Christian worship music. In running toward God, you are running from sin, and the run is so much more enjoyable.

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

Numbers 24

By now Balaam realized that God wanted to bless Israel. So he didn’t work in any sorcery as he had done earlier. He turned and looked out over the wilderness. As Balaam looked, he saw Israel camped tribe by tribe. The Spirit of God came on him, and he spoke his oracle-message:

3–9  Decree of Balaam son of Beor,

yes, decree of a man with 20/20 vision;

Decree of a man who hears God speak,

who sees what The Strong God shows him,

Who falls on his face in worship,

who sees what’s really going on.

What beautiful tents, Jacob,

oh, your homes, Israel!

Like valleys stretching out in the distance,

like gardens planted by rivers,

Like sweet herbs planted by the gardener God,

like red cedars by pools and springs,

Their buckets will brim with water,

their seed will spread life everywhere.

Their king will tower over Agag and his ilk,

their kingdom surpassingly majestic.

God brought them out of Egypt,

rampaging like a wild ox,

Gulping enemies like morsels of meat,

crushing their bones, snapping their arrows.

Israel crouches like a lion and naps,

king-of-the-beasts—who dares disturb him?

Whoever blesses you is blessed,

whoever curses you is cursed.

10–11  Balak lost his temper with Balaam. He shook his fist. He said to Balaam: “I got you in here to curse my enemies and what have you done? Blessed them! Blessed them three times! Get out of here! Go home! I told you I would pay you well, but you’re getting nothing. You can blame God.”

12–15  Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I tell you up front when you sent your emissaries, ‘Even if Balak gave me his palace stuffed with silver and gold, I couldn’t do anything on my own, whether good or bad, that went against God’s command’? I’m leaving for home and my people, but I warn you of what this people will do to your people in the days to come.” Then he spoke his oracle-message:

15–19  Decree of Balaam son of Beor,

decree of the man with 20/20 vision,

Decree of the man who hears godly speech,

who knows what’s going on with the High God,

Who sees what The Strong God reveals,

who bows in worship and sees what’s real.

I see him, but not right now,

I perceive him, but not right here;

A star rises from Jacob

a scepter from Israel,

Crushing the heads of Moab,

the skulls of all the noisy windbags;

I see Edom sold off at auction,

enemy Seir marked down at the flea market,

while Israel walks off with the trophies.

A ruler is coming from Jacob

who’ll destroy what’s left in the city.

20  Then Balaam spotted Amalek and delivered an oracle-message. He said,

Amalek, you’re in first place among nations right now,

but you’re going to come in last, ruined.

21–22  He saw the Kenites and delivered his oracle-message to them:

Your home is in a nice secure place,

like a nest high on the face of a cliff.

Still, you Kenites will look stupid

when Asshur takes you prisoner.

23–24  Balaam spoke his final oracle-message:

Doom! Who stands a chance

when God starts in?

Sea-Peoples, raiders from across the sea,

will harass Asshur and Eber,

But they’ll also come to nothing,

just like all the rest.

25  Balaam got up and went home. Balak also went on his way.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
by 


Jennifer Benson Schuldt

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Mark 4:35-41

The Wind Ran Out of Breath

35–38  Late that day he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”

39–40  Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”

41  They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!”

Today's Insights
The story of Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4:35-41 is the first in a series of four miracles in chapters 4-5 that demonstrate Christ’s power. In stilling the sea, He demonstrates His power over the chaos of nature. The disciples ask, “Don’t you care if we drown?” (4:38). Jesus’ calming of the storm is a concession to their doubt (v. 40). 

But the next three miracles show that Christ does, indeed, care for the plight of the hurting, the desperate, and the grieving. He demonstrates His authority over demons (5:1-20), over illness (vv. 21-34), and over death itself (vv. 35-43). He expends His power not to gain influence or fame but to serve those who are suffering. Jesus’ miracles point to a future where, one day, fear and pain will completely disappear. When we face difficulties and trials today, we can trust His same power and presence to help us.

Calming the Storm
Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? Mark 4:40

My three-year-old niece is beginning to understand that she can trust Jesus in any situation. One night as she prayed before bedtime during a thunderstorm, she pressed her hands together, closed her eyes, and said, “Dear Jesus, I know You’re here with us. I know You love us. And I know that the storm will stop when You tell it to stop.”

I suspect she had recently heard the story of Jesus and the disciples as they crossed the Sea of Galilee. It’s the one where Jesus fell asleep in the back of the boat just before a squall nearly capsized the vessel. The disciples woke Him and said, “Don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus didn’t speak to them but instead addressed the natural world: “Quiet! Be still!” (Mark 4:38-39).

Immediately the water stopped splashing into the boat. The howling wind subsided. There in the silence, Jesus looked at His followers and said, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (v. 40). I imagine their wide eyes staring back at Him as water coursed down their faces and dripped from their beards.

What if we could live today with the awe the disciples felt in that moment? What if we could view every concern with a fresh awareness of Jesus’ authority and power? Maybe then our childlike faith would chase away our fear. Maybe then we would believe that each storm we face is at His mercy.

Reflect & Pray

What are the barriers to faith in your life? How can you recapture a sense of wonder of Jesus?

Dear Jesus, please increase my faith as I meditate on Your power and presence. 

Check out this video on The Compassion of Jesus.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Impulse

Building yourselves up in your most holy faith . . . — Jude 1:20

There was nothing impulsive and nothing cold-blooded about our Lord, just a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the line of our own impulses rather than along the line of God. Impulsiveness is a natural human trait, but our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple.

Watch how the Spirit of God checks our impulses. His checks bring a rush of self-consciousness that instantly makes us want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is fine in a child but disastrous in a man or a woman; an impulsive adult is always a petulant adult. Impulsiveness has to be trained into intuition by discipline.

Discipleship has no impulsiveness in it; it is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy in an impulsive burst of courage, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a different thing. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus (Matthew 14:29)—but he also walked far with Jesus on the land. We don’t need the supernatural grace of God in order to weather crises; human nature and pride are sufficient for that. But we do need his grace in order to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a child of God, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We think that we have to do exceptional things for God, but this isn’t true. We have to be exceptional in ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, and this isn’t learned in five minutes.

Isaiah 62-64; 1 Timothy 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. 
Disciples Indeed, 386 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 21, 2025

NO DIRT IN THE THRONE ROOM - #10117

It's a nice deal when your auto mechanic is also your good friend. And I've had that opportunity. What I've really appreciated about my friend, the auto mechanic, was the fact that he worked long, hard, and professionally.

However, it was unfortunate that when I stopped by his station, I was usually all dressed up on my way somewhere. Now, instinctively, what would we do with a friend? We'd extend our hands to shake. Well, we would immediately hesitate and both of us would look at the layers of grease on his hand and then we'd look at my suit and my white shirt and my clean hands. Yeah, pretty boy over here. I didn't have any time to clean up, and he would say, "We'd better not." Now, I'd love to shake hands with my buddy, but it just might be a problem. It's actually best to get the dirt off your hand before you reach for a really clean one.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Dirt In the Throne Room."

Our word for today from the Word of God is from 1 Timothy 2:8. Guess what it's about? Hands. "I want men everywhere," Paul says, "to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger or disputing." Now, we could probably get into a little debate on that most cosmic theological issue of all, "Should we pray with upraised hands?" You say, "Ron, I pray with my hands in my pocket." Well, listen, I'm not going to get into that. There's a much larger point that Paul is making here.

Whether you lift up your hands to God literally or symbolically to offer praise to the Lord, to get something you need from the Lord, the bigger issue is this: What kind of hands are you lifting up? He says here, "Lift up holy hands to the Lord." Make sure your hands are clean before you reach up for a holy God.

The failure to do that? Well, that just might explain why God hasn't reached back toward you yet with the answer you've been seeking. You've praised Him. You've petitioned Him over and over again, but you haven't heard anything back. Could it be that you haven't cleaned up a part of you that in His eyes is giving you unholy hands? See, a sinless God cannot bless your sin. He can't respond to sin.

And so if you could hear His voice, He might be saying, "I see you reaching for Me, and I've got something I want to give you, but what's that in your hand? See, I can't have that." So, before you reach out to God, review the last 24 hours. Where did you get some dirt on your spiritual hands? You might need to look at the last hour. Has there been some dishonesty, you've told something less than the truth? Did you display a little less than total integrity? Have there been impure thoughts, impure motives? Have you hurt someone in these last hours? Have you neglected someone?

Whatever the dirt, deal with the dirt first. In fact, this scripture talks about anger and disputing. It suggests that maybe what we need to take care of is some broken relationships before we ever lift up our hands, so our hands will be holy. The Bible says, "If you have something against your brother, or your brother has something against you, leave the altar. Leave your sacrifice there and go and make it right with him." David said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Now there are many reasons we may not have heard an answer to prayer but this one we need to check out in our own heart: Is it because of dirty hands to receive the request? There's so much He wants to do for you, so much He has to bless you with. But He can't hand it to you while your hands are dirty with sin.

Whether you reach for God literally or symbolically, would you be sure your hand is emptied of anything sinful. If you want God to put His hand in yours, be sure you're not offering Him a dirty hand.