Max Lucado Daily: Not Eloquent Prayers-Honest Ones
For two years, I've asked God to remove the pain in my writing hand. After writing thirty-plus books in longhand, the repeated motion has restricted my movement. I stretch my fingers. I avoid the golf course. But most of all, I pray.
Better said, I argue. Shouldn't God heal my hand? So far he hasn't healed me. Or has he? These days I pray more as I write. Not eloquent prayers, but honest ones. "Lord, I need help. . .Father; my hand is stiff." The discomfort humbles me. I'm not Max, the author. I'm Max, the guy whose hand is wearing out. I want God to heal my hand. Thus far he has used my hand to heal my heart!
Here's my challenge to you! Join me at BeforeAmen.com-then every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes. It'll change your life!
From Before Amen
Ecclesiastes 1
The Quester
11These are the words of the Quester, David’s son and king in Jerusalem
2–11Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.]
There’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke.
What’s there to show for a lifetime of work,
a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?
One generation goes its way, the next one arrives,
but nothing changes—it’s business as usual for old
planet earth.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
then does it again, and again—the same old round.
The wind blows south, the wind blows north.
Around and around and around it blows,
blowing this way, then that—the whirling, erratic wind.
All the rivers flow into the sea,
but the sea never fills up.
The rivers keep flowing to the same old place,
and then start all over and do it again.
Everything’s boring, utterly boring—
no one can find any meaning in it.
Boring to the eye,
boring to the ear.
What was will be again,
what happened will happen again.
There’s nothing new on this earth.
Year after year it’s the same old thing.
Does someone call out, “Hey, this is new”?
Don’t get excited—it’s the same old story.
Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.
And the things that will happen tomorrow?
Nobody’ll remember them either.
Don’t count on being remembered.
I’ve Seen It All
12–14Call me “the Quester.” I’ve been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there’s not much to write home about. God hasn’t made it easy for us. I’ve seen it all and it’s nothing but smoke—smoke, and spitting into the wind.
15Life’s a corkscrew that can’t be straightened,
A minus that won’t add up.
16–17I said to myself, “I know more and I’m wiser than anyone before me in Jerusalem. I’ve stockpiled wisdom and knowledge.” What I’ve finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind.
18Much learning earns you much trouble.
The more you know, the more you hurt.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, November 08, 2026
by Sheridan Voysey
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
1 Timothy 6:17-19
Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.
Today's Insights
The command to “be rich in good deeds” (1 Timothy 6:18) isn’t just for those who are “rich in this present world” (v. 17). The first reference to good deeds in the New Testament appears in the teaching of Jesus: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). While our standing with God isn’t based on what we do (Ephesians 2:8-9), we’ve been “created . . . to do good works” (v. 10) because God has graciously saved us. The apostle Paul also spoke about “good deeds” (things that benefit people and honor God) when writing to Titus. Believers are to be “eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14), to be “ready to do . . . good” (3:1), and to “devote themselves to doing what is good” (v. 8). We honor God when we use our God-given resources to invest in the lives of others.
For further study, read: The Community of Christ
Rich in Good Deeds
Command them to . . . be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 1 Timothy 6:18
Ross-on-Wye is a scenic town in Herefordshire, England. Marked by its high church spire and old market house, a hilltop park provides a stunning view of the nearby River Wye. As you wander Ross’ streets, one name stands out: John Kyrle.
Born in 1637 to a wealthy family, John put his inheritance to good use. He built that hilltop park not for himself but for the community—an uncommon act at the time. He made a promenade along the river for public enjoyment, brought running water to the town, funded schools, sponsored apprenticeships for the unemployed, opened his home to the poor, and distributed bread from the market house.
As a longtime worshiper at Ross’ church, I wonder if today’s Scripture passage had anything to do with Kyrle’s philanthropy so many years ago. In those verses, Paul counsels the well-off in Timothy’s church to avoid taking pride in their wealth but instead to use it to do good (1 Timothy 6:17-18). While other lords built grand manors full of exotic possessions, Kyrle amassed heavenly treasure by investing in others (v. 19).
Each of us has a certain amount of time, talent, and resources at our disposal, which we are called to use well. Whether a little or a lot, John Kyrle can be an example to us as we glorify God by investing in others’ lives.
Reflect & Pray
What amount of time, talent, and resources do you have right now? Where could you “invest” them in your community to God’s glory?
Dear God, please show me how to steward what I have to bless others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 08, 2026
The Unrivaled Power of Prayer
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. —Romans 8:26
Many of us know what it means to pray in the Spirit; we know that the Holy Spirit energizes us for prayer. But how many of us realize that the Holy Spirit prays prayers in us, prayers which we cannot utter? When we are born again of God and are indwelled by his Spirit, he expresses the unutterable for us.
“The Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:27). God searches your heart when you pray, but not to discover your own conscious prayers. Rather, God seeks to discover the prayers of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you.
“Your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Holy Spirit needs the body of the individual believer in order to offer his intercession, and he needs our bodies to be temples, kept as shrines for him. When Jesus Christ cleaned the temple, he “would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts” (Mark 11:16). Neither will the Spirit of God allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out all who bought and sold in the temple. He said, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers’” (Matthew 21:13).
Have we recognized that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? If so, we must be careful to keep them undefiled for him. We have to remember that our conscious life, although it only makes up a tiny bit of our personality, is to be regarded by us as a temple of the Holy Spirit. He will look after the unconscious part that we know nothing about, but we must make sure to guard the conscious part, for which we are responsible.
Jeremiah 43-45; Hebrews 5
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount