Max Lucado Daily: PRAYER 101 - June 3, 2026
When I pray, I think of a thousand things I need to do. I forget the one thing I set out to do: pray. Can you relate?
But wouldn’t we all like to pray… More? Better? Deeper? Stronger? With more fire, faith, or fervency? Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. We want to pray, but when? We want to pray, but why? We have our doubts about prayer, our checkered history of unmet expectations, unanswered questions. We aren’t the first. The sign-up for Prayer 101 contains familiar names: John, James, Andrew, and Peter. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance.
Here’s my challenge for you: every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before.
Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer
Matthew 26:36-75
Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.” Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he plunged into an agonizing sorrow. Then he said, “This sorrow is crushing my life out. Stay here and keep vigil with me.”
39 Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?”
40–41 When he came back to his disciples, he found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”
42 He then left them a second time. Again he prayed, “My Father, if there is no other way than this, drinking this cup to the dregs, I’m ready. Do it your way.”
43–44 When he came back, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open. This time he let them sleep on, and went back a third time to pray, going over the same ground one last time.
45–46 When he came back the next time, he said, “Are you going to sleep on and make a night of it? My time is up, the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the hands of sinners. Get up! Let’s get going! My betrayer is here.”
With Swords and Clubs
47–49 The words were barely out of his mouth when Judas (the one from the Twelve) showed up, and with him a gang from the high priests and religious leaders brandishing swords and clubs. The betrayer had worked out a sign with them: “The one I kiss, that’s the one—seize him.” He went straight to Jesus, greeted him, “How are you, Rabbi?” and kissed him.
50–51 Jesus said, “Friend, why this charade?”
Then they came on him—grabbed him and roughed him up. One of those with Jesus pulled his sword and, taking a swing at the Chief Priest’s servant, cut off his ear.
52–54 Jesus said, “Put your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords. Don’t you realize that I am able right now to call to my Father, and twelve companies—more, if I want them—of fighting angels would be here, battle-ready? But if I did that, how would the Scriptures come true that say this is the way it has to be?”
55–56 Then Jesus addressed the mob: “What is this—coming out after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I have been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. You’ve done it this way to confirm and fulfill the prophetic writings.”
Then all the disciples cut and ran.
False Charges
57–58 The gang that had seized Jesus led him before Caiaphas the Chief Priest, where the religion scholars and leaders had assembled. Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest’s courtyard. Then he slipped in and mingled with the servants, watching to see how things would turn out.
59–60 The high priests, conspiring with the Jewish Council, tried to cook up charges against Jesus in order to sentence him to death. But even though many stepped up, making up one false accusation after another, nothing was believable.
60–61 Finally two men came forward with this: “He said, ‘I can tear down this Temple of God and after three days rebuild it.’ ”
62 The Chief Priest stood up and said, “What do you have to say to the accusation?”
63 Jesus kept silent.
Then the Chief Priest said, “I command you by the authority of the living God to say if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64 Jesus was curt: “You yourself said it. And that’s not all. Soon you’ll see it for yourself:
The Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Mighty One,
Arriving on the clouds of heaven.”
65–66 At that, the Chief Priest lost his temper, ripping his robes, yelling, “He blasphemed! Why do we need witnesses to accuse him? You all heard him blaspheme! Are you going to stand for such blasphemy?”
They all said, “Death! That seals his death sentence.”
67–68 Then they were spitting in his face and banging him around. They jeered as they slapped him: “Prophesy, Messiah: Who hit you that time?”
Denial in the Courtyard
69 All this time, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard. One servant girl came up to him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean.”
70 In front of everybody there, he denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
71 As he moved over toward the gate, someone else said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.”
72 Again he denied it, salting his denial with an oath: “I swear, I never laid eyes on the man.”
73 Shortly after that, some bystanders approached Peter. “You’ve got to be one of them. Your accent gives you away.”
74–75 Then he got really nervous and swore. “I don’t know the man!”
Just then a rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” He went out and cried and cried and cried.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 03, 2026
by Winn Collier
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
1 Samuel 16:14-23
David—An Excellent Musician
14 At that very moment the Spirit of God left Saul and in its place a black mood sent by God settled on him. He was terrified.
15–16 Saul’s advisors said, “This awful tormenting depression from God is making your life miserable. O Master, let us help. Let us look for someone who can play the harp. When the black mood from God moves in, he’ll play his music and you’ll feel better.”
17 Saul told his servants, “Go ahead. Find me someone who can play well and bring him to me.”
18 One of the young men spoke up, “I know someone. I’ve seen him myself: the son of Jesse of Bethlehem, an excellent musician. He’s also courageous, of age, well-spoken, and good-looking. And God is with him.”
19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse requesting, “Send your son David to me, the one who tends the sheep.”
20–21 Jesse took a donkey, loaded it with a couple of loaves of bread, a flask of wine, and a young goat, and sent his son David with it to Saul. David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him immediately and made him his right-hand man.
22 Saul sent word back to Jesse: “Thank you. David will stay here. He’s just the one I was looking for. I’m very impressed by him.”
23 After that, whenever the bad depression from God tormented Saul, David got out his harp and played. That would calm Saul down, and he would feel better as the moodiness lifted.
Today's Insights
In the ancient Near East, it was common for court musicians to be hired for reasons such as entertainment or religious ceremonies. In the case of King Saul in 1 Samuel 16, his attendants believed his mental torment would be eased by lyre music (v. 16). Since David was a skilled lyre player as well as a warrior (v. 18), he became both a musician and armor-bearer—carrying Saul’s shield and weapons (vv. 21-23). David’s father, Jesse, sent gifts of food and wine with David (vv. 19-20), perhaps showing gratitude for the honor of having his son chosen to serve the king. Today, we can remember that God can use music to renew our hope and bring us joy.
The Power of Music
David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul. 1 Samuel 16:23
On November 21, 1915, the hope of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his twenty-seven crew members sank, along with their ship Endurance, into the darkness below the Antarctic ice. They were stranded thousands of miles from home. Later, the crew shared several things that aided their survival, including a banjo. Embarking on their brutal trek, Leonard Hussey (the expedition’s meteorologist) was the only person allowed more than two pounds of personal gear. He was allowed to bring his twelve-pound Windsor banjo. “It’s vital mental medicine,” Shackleton told Hussey, “and we shall need it.” The crew’s journals explained the power of Hussey’s music. “The banjo does . . . supply brain food,” wrote one sailor. Another reflected on “Hussey’s indispensable banjo.”
The Bible presents music as one of God’s immense gifts, a way His healing and comfort enter the human heart. In the tragic story of King Saul, we hear how (due to his disobedience) he was oppressed by an “evil spirit” (1 Samuel 16:14). And what did Saul’s attendants believe the king needed to provide relief? Music. So they found young David with his harp: “David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him” (v. 23).
Music offers more than mere entertainment. It can bring joy, renew hope, and comfort weary souls. It’s truly one of God’s powerful gifts.
Reflect & Pray
What encouragement has music offered you? How has it deepened your relationship with God?
Dear God, thank You for the gift of music!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 03, 2026
The Secret Of The Lord
The Lord confides in those who fear him. — Psalm 25:14
What is the sign of true friends? That they tell you secret sorrows? No, that they tell you secret joys. Many people will confide to you their secret sorrows, but the ultimate sign of intimacy is confiding secret joys. Have we ever let God tell us his joys? Or are we so busy telling God our secrets that we leave no room for him to talk to us?
At the beginning of our Christian life, our prayers are full of requests. Then we discover that what God wants is to bring us, through prayer, into a personal relationship with him so that he can reveal his will. Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer is, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Are we so committed to this way of praying that we catch the intimate secrets of God? God may bring us great big blessings, but it is the small, secret things that make us love him, because they show his amazing intimacy with us. They show that he knows every detail of our lives.
“He will instruct them in the ways they should choose” (Psalm 25:12). At the start of our life of faith, we want to be conscious of God guiding us. But as we go on, we no longer need to ask what his will is; the thought of choosing anything else no longer occurs to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God instructs us in every choice we make, guiding our common sense and alerting us when we are in danger of choosing something he doesn’t want. When God checks us in this way, we must obey. Never reason it out and say, “I wonder why I shouldn’t.” Whenever there is doubt, don’t.
2 Chronicles 19-20; John 13:21-38
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 03, 2026
The Dark and Lonely Stretches - #10277
June 2, 2026
Scripture: Romans 8:39
When you’re a five-year-old girl, going to dark places can be pretty scary. When my wife was that age, she lived in the country and she had this long, often dark road that she walked to get to the school bus. Part of the way, there was a grandma, and then there was a neighbor who watched and waved at her as long as she was in sight. See, it was that last stretch that was the problem. Trees covering that road, making it dark on the sunniest day, and sounds in the woods that reminded her of those wild critters that lived in their area. She told me how she made it down that stretch. She said, “There was one thing that got me through every day. I sang this little song, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know.’”
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Dark and Lonely Stretches.”
It was years later and my honey’s beloved grandfather was 94 years old. Little did we know that one particular call to him would be her last. It was brief, but it was memorable. Granddad was at the point where he often didn’t recognize even the people closest to him even though they had a pretty small family. When my wife called, she identified herself, and he responded, “I don’t know who this is.” She again gave her name and reminded him that she was his granddaughter, the daughter of his only son. Just a chuckle on the other end, and Granddad said, “I don’t know who this is.” Then, when she told him she loved him, he seemed a little embarrassed. "Who is this strange woman saying she loves me?"
That’s when my wife said, “Well, Granddad, that’s OK. Because all that matters is that you know that Jesus loves you.” We will never forget his suddenly animated response: “Now Him I know!” Think about it: a scared little girl, walking a stretch she had to walk alone; a grandfather, walking the final stretch of life so many have to walk alone. Each of them, at opposite ends of life, finding their anchor in the very same place—in the same person—in their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
He wants to be your anchor for every dark, every lonely stretch you're going to ever walk—including that final stretch. The one the Bible calls “the valley of the shadow of death.” The writer of that 23rd Psalm put it this way, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” One “unloseable” relationship that not even death can interrupt. The one that you were made for that you were never meant to lose.
The Bible says of Jesus that we were all “created by Him and created for Him” (Colossians 1:16). Problem: we haven’t lived for Him. We’ve chosen to usurp the throne of our life, to do what we want, not what God wants. So life is lonely and meaningless because we’re away from the One we were made for. And only the death of the Son of God could pay the penalty for that sin.
And how do you know you can count on Jesus for every stretch of the road? Well, our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:39, “Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s your ironclad promise from the one who’s never broken a promise.
He’s coming where you are today, offering you this relationship that He actually died to give you. If He wouldn’t turn His back on you when loving you meant dying for you, He will never turn His back on you. But you have to open your life to Him. Trust Him totally. Would you do that today? Tell Him, “Jesus, You’re my only hope. I’m Yours beginning today.” When you do that, that’s how your anchor relationship with Jesus begins.
I want you to be sure beyond any shadow of a doubt that you have got this settled with God once and for all. That's why I’m urging you to go to our website's today. It’s ANewStory.com. There you'll see the information that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus.
This is the only love that will not desert you, never divorce you, never disappoint you, and never die on you. From the moment you give yourself to Jesus, He's going to walk with you every step of the way—all the way to heaven.
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