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.

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Luke 22:1-23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD WILL TEACH YOU - June 10, 2026

This much is sure:  God will teach you to pray. Don’t think for a minute that he’s glaring at you from a distance with crossed arms and a scowl, waiting for you to get your prayer life together.  Just the opposite! In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you will eat with Me.”

Jesus waits on the porch.  He taps…and calls. He waits for you to open the door. To pray is the hand of faith on the door handle of your heart. The happy welcome to Jesus: “Come in, O King.  Come in. The kitchen is messy, but come in. I’m not much of a conversationalist, but come in.”

Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer! God changes His people through such moments.

Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

Luke 22:1-23

The Passover Meal

1–2  22 The Feast of Unleavened Bread, also called Passover, drew near. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way to do away with Jesus but, fearful of the people, they were also looking for a way to cover their tracks.

3–6  That’s when Satan entered Judas, the one called Iscariot. He was one of the Twelve. Leaving the others, he conferred with the high priests and the Temple guards about how he might betray Jesus to them. They couldn’t believe their good luck and agreed to pay him well. He gave them his word and started looking for a way to betray Jesus, but out of sight of the crowd.

7–8  The Day of Unleavened Bread came, the day the Passover lamb was butchered. Jesus sent Peter and John off, saying, “Go prepare the Passover for us so we can eat it together.”

9  They said, “Where do you want us to do this?”

10–12  He said, “Keep your eyes open as you enter the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him home. Then speak with the owner of the house: The Teacher wants to know, ‘Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will show you a spacious second-story room, swept and ready. Prepare the meal there.”

13  They left, found everything just as he told them, and prepared the Passover meal.

14–16  When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, “You’ve no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It’s the last one I’ll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God.”

17–18  Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, “Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I’ll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives.”

19  Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory.”

20  He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.

21–22  “Do you realize that the hand of the one who is betraying me is at this moment on this table? It’s true that the Son of Man is going down a path already marked out—no surprises there. But for the one who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man, this is doomsday.”

23  They immediately became suspicious of each other and began quizzing one another, wondering who might be about to do this.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
by Karen Huang

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Revelation 21:1-5

Everything New

1  21 I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea.

2  I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband.

3–5  I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”

Today's Insights
The “new heaven and . . . new earth” (Revelation 21:1) will permanently reestablish God’s original design that was present in the garden of Eden (see Genesis 1-2). In this new creation, predicted in Isaiah 65:17, His sovereign provision and protection will be enjoyed forever (Revelation 7:14-17). God offers His presence to His people throughout Scripture: the flood (Genesis 8:13-21), the exodus (Exodus 15), settling into the promised land (Deuteronomy 8:7-10; 12:10), the inauguration of the temple (1 Kings 8:27-29), and, especially, the ministry of Jesus (John 1:14, 18; 14:16-17). Believers in Christ have been “born again” (3:3) and have become a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The presence of God once enjoyed in Eden and then accessible primarily in the temple became available to all when Jesus came as Immanuel—“God with us” (Matthew 1:23). His Spirit indwells all believers who await His coming (Romans 8:9, 23). We can look forward to a future with Christ where we’ll experience His presence and joy that will never be taken away.

For further study read Yet We Shall Live.

Our Future with Christ
The old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4

Visiting Switzerland had been my dad’s lifelong dream. After his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, my mom decided to go with him while he was still physically able. “One day, with the snow blowing around us on Mount Titlis,” she said, “I saw the profound joy in your father’s face. It was the joy of a dream come true.” Later, however, my mom’s tears flowed when my dad asked, “Where are we again?”

My dad may have forgotten he was in Switzerland, but “the visit was worth it,” my mom said. “At least for one moment, he knew, and he was happy.” 

God reassures us of a time when joy will never be taken away from us again. Because of our hope in Jesus, we can look forward to “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1), where we’ll be free from sin and death (Romans 5:12). In this perfect world, God will make “everything new” (Revelation 21:5). “ ‘He will wipe every tear from [our] eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (v. 4). Whatever suffering we experience now is temporary. God promises that one day “the former things will not be remembered” (Isaiah 65:17). They will forever be no more.        

I know that one day, when we’re with God (Revelation 21:3), I’ll see profound joy on Daddy’s face. This time, it will stay.

Reflect & Pray

How does the hope of your future dwelling place give you hope now? What do you look forward to seeing there?
Dear Jesus, I praise You. One day, You’ll make all things new.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Seek If You Have Not Found

Seek and you will find. — Luke 11:9

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (James 4:3). What motivates you when you ask? If you are asking to receive things from life rather than from God, you are motivated by a desire for self-realization. Watch out if this is the case. The more you realize yourself, the less will you seek God.

“Seek and you will find.” Have you ever sought God with your whole heart? Or do you merely give a half-hearted cry in his direction in moments of doubt? Get to work. Narrow your interests until they are centered on God. Seek, concentrate, and you will find.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or are you so satisfied with your experience that you want nothing more from God? Experience is a gateway, not a destination. Beware of building your faith on experience. If you do, you run the risk of becoming so smug that you wind up driving others away from God. You can never give other people what you’ve found, but you can make them homesick for what you’ve got.

“Knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). The door is closed; your heart is pounding. “Wash your hands, you sinners.” Knock a bit louder; you notice that you are dirty. “Purify your hearts.” This is even more personal; you are filled with sincerity now. “Grieve, mourn and wail.” Have you ever gone before God full of grief about the state of your inner life? Have you gone without an ounce of selfpity remaining inside you, only a heartbreaking amazement that you are what you are? “Humble yourselves” (James 4:8–10). It is deeply humbling to knock at God’s door; you knock with the crucified thief. “To the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:8).

2 Chronicles 34-36; John 19:1-22

WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. 
Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Miracles With Damaged Goods - #10281
June 8, 2026

Scripture:  Revelation 21:5
As Lenny left our headquarters, I said, “Man, you have really made a difference around here!” He really had. A company that was getting rid of a lot of office furniture donated about a dozen desks to our ministry, and we were thrilled to get them! Good desks, but well, not exactly beautiful desks. They were all scarred and beat up, and on the surface they didn’t look particularly useful. In fact, the company that donated them actually was getting ready to discard them before they learned about our need. So, here in a storage area were all these ugly desks…until Lenny got his hands on them. One by one, he went to work with his magic touch and he slowly restored their original beauty. By the time he was done, it looked almost like we had just gotten a shipment of expensive new desks.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Miracles With Damaged Goods.”

As our amazing desk restorer stood in my office with hands so stained that they actually looked like they’d never be clean again, I thanked him for the amazing difference he’d made. He just broke into a big smile and he said, “Oh, I love doing this.”

I know someone else like that. His name is Jesus and He, too, is in the restoring business. It took His hands being stained with His own blood to make His restoring work possible. But as He looks at countless scarred and undervalued lives that He has restored, I believe He says, “Oh, I love doing this.” And He would love to do it for you.

There’s a simple, five-word promise Jesus made that might mark for you the possibility of a fresh new start. That promise is in our word for today in the Word of God in Revelation 21:5. Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Did you get that, “All things new”? That may be exactly the kind of miracle you need right now. Because, like that office furniture we received, life has left you pretty beat up…scarred, maybe deeply scarred. You feel broken—useless. You’ve never been able to answer that haunting question, “Why am I here?” You’re carrying a lot of regrets over things that, well, you wish you had done differently. You carry a lot of pain from things that have been done to you, and things you’ve done to others.

But then there’s Jesus, the one who makes all things new, but at a very high price—to Him that is, not to you. He said at the Last Supper as He broke a loaf of bread and handed it to His friend, “This is My body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19). He was broken so you could be fixed. He paid for your sin on the cross so you wouldn’t have to. That’s what was happening on that horrific cross when He died. And in dying for your sin and then coming out of His grave, He broke the power of the thing that ultimately causes all the scars, and the regrets, and the hurts—the spiritual cancer called sin. And with hands that bear nail prints from His sacrifice for you, He reaches out to you and says, “I will make all things new.”

The Bible says He will restore what sin has taken from you (Joel 2:25)…that He will “bind up the brokenhearted.” He’ll “release the prisoner from darkness.” He’ll “exchange the ashes of your life for beauty.” And then the Bible says, “He’ll turn a ‘spirit of despair’ into a ‘garment of praise’” (Isaiah 61:1-3). You don’t have to be defined any longer by your pain or by your sin. You can now be defined by who you belong to forever—to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the King of all kings. Your life-changing relationship with Him begins when you come to Him and you say, “Jesus, You’re my only hope. You died for me. Forgive me. Change me. I’m Yours.”

I want to be sure you belong to Him. That's why we've got our website. That's really what it's for, and I want to urge you to go there and check it out as soon as you can today...ANewStory.com.

Because of Jesus, who is the Master Restorer, your life doesn’t have to be more of what it’s been for so long. No, see, He makes all things new, and right now He is waiting to do that for you.

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