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.