Max Lucado Daily: HEED THE PROMISES - September 16, 2026
Reading from 1 Kings 18:45-46, “Meanwhile the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came on Elijah and…he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel” (NIV).
Elijah, the prophet who brought down fire, is now the prophet who brings down rain. Elijah, the prophet who knelt on Mount Carmel in prayer, becomes the prophet who descends in a flurry.
His action inspires us to do likewise. Lift up your eyes! Trust the promises of God. Apart from them life will beat you up. But armed with them, you will weather any storm. How different our lives would be if we heeded the promises and not the problems!
Unbreakable Courage
Proverbs 10
THE WISE SAYINGS OF SOLOMON
An Honest Life Is Immortal
1 10 Wise son, glad father;
stupid son, sad mother.
2 Ill-gotten gain gets you nowhere;
an honest life is immortal.
3 God won’t starve an honest soul,
but he frustrates the appetites of the wicked.
4 Sloth makes you poor;
diligence brings wealth.
5 Make hay while the sun shines—that’s smart;
go fishing during harvest—that’s stupid.
6 Blessings accrue on a good and honest life,
but the mouth of the wicked is a dark cave of abuse.
7 A good and honest life is a blessed memorial;
a wicked life leaves a rotten stench.
8 A wise heart takes orders;
an empty head will come unglued.
9 Honesty lives confident and carefree,
but Shifty is sure to be exposed.
10 An evasive eye is a sign of trouble ahead,
but an open, face-to-face meeting results in peace.
11 The mouth of a good person is a deep, life-giving well,
but the mouth of the wicked is a dark cave of abuse.
12 Hatred starts fights,
but love pulls a quilt over the bickering.
13 You’ll find wisdom on the lips of a person of insight,
but the shortsighted needs a slap in the face.
14 The wise accumulate knowledge—a true treasure;
know-it-alls talk too much—a sheer waste.
The Road to Life Is a Disciplined Life
15 The wealth of the rich is their bastion;
the poverty of the indigent is their ruin.
16 The wage of a good person is exuberant life;
an evil person ends up with nothing but sin.
17 The road to life is a disciplined life;
ignore correction and you’re lost for good.
18 Liars secretly hoard hatred;
fools openly spread slander.
19 The more talk, the less truth;
the wise measure their words.
20 The speech of a good person is worth waiting for;
the blabber of the wicked is worthless.
21 The talk of a good person is rich fare for many,
but chatterboxes die of an empty heart.
Fear-of-God Expands Your Life
22 God’s blessing makes life rich;
nothing we do can improve on God.
23 An empty-head thinks mischief is fun,
but a mindful person relishes wisdom.
24 The nightmares of the wicked come true;
what the good people desire, they get.
25 When the storm is over, there’s nothing left of the wicked;
good people, firm on their rock foundation, aren’t even fazed.
26 A lazy employee will give you nothing but trouble;
it’s vinegar in the mouth, smoke in the eyes.
27 The Fear-of-God expands your life;
a wicked life is a puny life.
28 The aspirations of good people end in celebration;
the ambitions of bad people crash.
29 God is solid backing to a well-lived life,
but he calls into question a shabby performance.
30 Good people last—they can’t be moved;
the wicked are here today, gone tomorrow.
31 A good person’s mouth is a clear fountain of wisdom;
a foul mouth is a stagnant swamp.
32 The speech of a good person clears the air;
the words of the wicked pollute it.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
by Amy Boucher Pye
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
John 11:17-27
When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.
21–22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”
23 Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”
25–26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”
Today's Insights
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He demonstrated His power over death by raising several individuals from death to life. These included Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43), the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), and Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Christ not only had power over death, but He had within Himself the power of life: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind” (1:4). The cross of Christ was the necessary payment to rescue us from our sins, and His resurrection offers to us the way of eternal life (see 1 Corinthians 15:54-58). When we place our trust in Jesus, His resurrected life becomes ours—forever. Because of His resurrection, we can confidently say, “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (v. 54).
For further study, read: 3 Ways Celebration Connects Us to God
Eternity with God
Whoever lives by believing in me will never die. John 11:26
On England’s south coast, two women who are both named Kate run the Coffin Club. They created this place for people to prepare for their eventual death through selecting and decorating their coffins. Kate’s dad died when she was thirteen, and she said, “It was horrendous. No one wanted to talk about death.” Their club is a way to normalize an experience we will all go through one day.
Death may be “normal” because it will happen to everyone. But those who love and serve Jesus can prepare for their death without fear, as we see in Jesus’ conversation with His beloved friend Martha after her brother had died. Jesus promised her that Lazarus would “rise again” (John 11:23). He told her that He is “the resurrection and the life” and that “the one who believes in [Him] will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in [Him] will never die” (vv. 25-26). Martha responded by making one of the few professions in the New Testament that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God (v. 27). She believed.
We may or may not be keen to decorate our own coffins, but we all can prepare for death by placing our hope in God, trusting in the salvation Jesus offers. Knowing that we will continue to live after we die gives us true comfort, hope, and peace. We can join Martha in believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who saves.
Reflect & Pray
How do you react to the idea of a “Coffin Club”? What could you do today to celebrate life and eternity with God?
Dear Jesus, You’re the Messiah. Please help me to trust in You now and always.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
The Divine Region Of Religion
When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. — Matthew 6:6
It’s impossible to conduct your life as a disciple without setting aside definite times for secret prayer. The main idea of the life of faith is “My eyes on God, not on people.” When you pray, your motive shouldn’t be to be known as one who prays. Go into an inner chamber—a place where no one will know you are praying—then shut the door and talk to God in secret. Have no motive other than to know your Father in heaven.
“Do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7). God is never impressed by earnestness. It isn’t because we go to him with an earnest desire to be heard that he hears us. He hears us on the basis of the redemption; only because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross are we able to approach God in prayer. If Jesus Christ has been formed inside us by spiritual rebirth, he will press forward in our minds and change our attitude about prayer. No longer will we be driven by commonsense concerns for our lives. No longer will we go to God to get our earthly desires met. We’ll go in order to get into perfect communion with him.
“Everyone who asks receives” (7:8). We pray pious nonsense, without putting our will into it. Then we say that God doesn’t answer our prayers. But we haven’t asked for anything! “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Asking means willing ourselves to ask for those things which are in keeping with the God whom Jesus Christ revealed; if we are remaining in him, this is exactly what we’ll do. Whenever Jesus talked about prayer, he talked about it with the simplicity of a child. We complicate things and argue with God. We say, “Yes, Lord, but . . .” Jesus said, simply, “Ask.”
Proverbs 25-26; 2 Corinthians 9
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.
My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Things That Really Last Really Matter - #10353
Scripture: Daniel 12:2-3
Our son had the privilege of playing on a state championship football team in high school. And that’s a really big deal! They were the toast of the school, heroes of the town, for a while, until next year. Some of those heroes came back from college to visit the old alma mater, and you know what? They just weren’t a big deal anymore. Some new guys were the ones wearing the jerseys now and getting all the attention. Sorry, guys! Last year’s glory - yesterday’s news. What do you bet those guys will still be looking for someone to tell about the big game when they’re 70 years old?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Things That Really Last Really Matter.”
Forgotten victory, tarnished trophies—that’s the story of most of life’s great achievements, isn’t it? A big deal for a while but quickly faded. The title we fought for and got will be someone else’s before long, and it won’t even take a day to change the name on the door. All those achievements that mean so much at the time, all the rewards we wanted so long—gone so soon…except for one.
And it’s revealed in our word for today from the Word of God in Daniel 12:2-3. “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Two eternal addresses—every person you’ve ever met, every person in your life will spend forever at one of these two eternal destinations—heaven or hell. The only thing they have in common is that they’re both “everlasting.”
That ultimate values-clarifier provides the backdrop now for Daniel 12:3, the path to a greatness that will never die. “Those who are wise shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.” Tell me, what have you done in your life, or what can you do with the rest of your life that will give you a greatness that will make you “shine like the stars for ever and ever?” Only one thing. Lead people to God’s way, and in so doing, help them change their eternal address from hell to heaven. That’s ultimate greatness. It’s the kind of spiritual greatness your heart is hungry for.
What’s exciting about this greatness is it’s within everyone’s reach. You don’t have to be especially intelligent, or educated, or talented, or good-looking, or rich, or well-connected. This has nothing to do with your ability, only your availability for God to speak through you to explain what His Son did on the cross for the people you know. And, in fact, this helping people to go to heaven is the real reason why you are where you are. Jesus placed you there so people there could find Him. So, how are you doing with that? Your eternity-changing assignment is why you are who you are, why you’ve been through what you’ve been through, so you could talk to people like you and they’d listen to you when you tell them about what Jesus did for them.
I don’t know what you’re focusing your best energies on right now, your influence, your prayers, your time, your ambitions. But if it doesn’t impact eternity, it is too small to matter. That’s why the Bible says, “He who wins souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30). I know you want to make a greater difference with the rest of your life than you’ve made until now, don’t you? There is no greater difference you could possibly make in the life of someone you care about than to help them be in heaven with you forever.
Every person you know who doesn’t know Jesus - in your family, every person you work with, every person you go to school with, that’s a future in hell or heaven. Be the one who tells them how they can be a future resident of Heaven. Introduce them to Jesus and your Bible says you’re going to shine like the stars, forever and ever!