1 Samuel 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD - March 12, 2026

Can a holy God overlook our mistakes? Should a kind God punish our mistakes? From our perspective there are only two equally unappealing solutions.  But from God’s perspective there’s a third.  It’s called “the Cross of Christ.”

The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards.  How could he do this? In a sentence:  God put our sin on his Son and punished it there. “God put on him the wrong who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 MSG).

Why did he do it? Because “God so loved the world that he gave his only son” (John 3:16 NLT).  Aren’t you glad the verse doesn’t read “For God so loved the rich”?  Or “For God so loved the famous”? No. We simply (and happily) read: “For God so loved the world!” And you my friend, are included in that love!

He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

1 Samuel 8

Rejecting God as the King

1–3  8 When Samuel got to be an old man, he set his sons up as judges in Israel. His firstborn son was named Joel, the name of his second, Abijah. They were assigned duty in Beer-sheba. But his sons didn’t take after him; they were out for what they could get for themselves, taking bribes, corrupting justice.

4–5  Fed up, all the elders of Israel got together and confronted Samuel at Ramah. They presented their case: “Look, you’re an old man, and your sons aren’t following in your footsteps. Here’s what we want you to do: Appoint a king to rule us, just like everybody else.”

6  When Samuel heard their demand—“Give us a king to rule us!”—he was crushed. How awful! Samuel prayed to God.

7–9  God answered Samuel, “Go ahead and do what they’re asking. They are not rejecting you. They’ve rejected me as their King. From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they’ve been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they’re doing it to you. So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they’re in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they’re likely to get from a king.”

10–18  So Samuel told them, delivered God’s warning to the people who were asking him to give them a king. He said, “This is the way the kind of king you’re talking about operates. He’ll take your sons and make soldiers of them—chariotry, cavalry, infantry, regimented in battalions and squadrons. He’ll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury. He’ll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks. He’ll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends. He’ll tax your harvests and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy. Your prize workers and best animals he’ll take for his own use. He’ll lay a tax on your flocks and you’ll end up no better than slaves. The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves. But don’t expect God to answer.”

19–20  But the people wouldn’t listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We will have a king to rule us! Then we’ll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles.”

21–22  Samuel took in what they said and rehearsed it with God. God told Samuel, “Do what they say. Make them a king.”

Then Samuel dismissed the men of Israel: “Go home, each of you to your own city.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, March 12, 2026

by Xochitl Dixon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Timothy 1:6-14

And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.

8–10  So don’t be embarrassed to speak up for our Master or for me, his prisoner. Take your share of suffering for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we know it now. Since the appearance of our Savior, nothing could be plainer: death defeated, life vindicated in a steady blaze of light, all through the work of Jesus.

11–12  This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end.

13–14  So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.

Today's Insights

Imprisonment in the first century was filled with shame. Paul spent a great deal of time in Roman incarceration (see Acts 16; 21; 25-28). As a result, some churches struggled to see him as someone they could claim as their founding apostle (see 2 Corinthians 6:3-12). From that full knowledge of the shame associated with his chains, the apostle writes to Timothy, challenging him to endure all things out of love for God and in the grace that’s been offered through Jesus. No suffering is too shameful in light of everything that God has accomplished on our behalf through Christ.

The Cost of Commitment

The Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

A group of twenty-two Christian leaders traveled half a day to secretly meet and learn from a pastor who came from another country. If caught, the pastor would be deported, and the others would spend three years in prison. Eighteen of the twenty-two had already been imprisoned for their faith in Jesus.

After the pastor handed out fifteen Bibles he’d brought with him, one woman gave hers to someone else. Like many others, she’d memorized chapters of Scripture so she would have its wisdom secured in her heart if she were to go to prison. She later asked the pastor to pray that their church would be free to gather just like his. Instead, marveling at how they sacrificed, suffered persecution, and risked imprisonment, he prayed that his church would be just like theirs. 

Believers around the world are persecuted for their faith in Christ, some more severely than others. And all believers can be tempted to cower when the stakes of living for Christ are raised. But the Holy Spirit enables us to use our God-given gifts with “power, love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). God will help us share the gospel with boldness and compassion, wherever He leads. Because of all He did for us (vv. 9-10), we can embrace the sacrificial cost of commitment to Christ and preserve “sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus” (v. 13).

Reflect & Pray

How have you sacrificed to seek and share Jesus? Who will you share the gospel with today?

Mighty God, please deepen my commitment to know You and boldly share You with others.

For further study, read The Power of Prayer in Sharing the Gospel.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Our Abandonment to Him

Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” — Mark 10:28

Jesus replies to Peter that the disciples will be amply rewarded for their sacrifice. But he also makes clear that their reason for following him shouldn’t be anything they’ll get in return. It must be entirely for Jesus himself: “for me and the gospel” (Mark 10:29).

Beware of an abandonment that has a self-interested spirit in it. Too often, we abandon ourselves to God because we want to be made holy or delivered from sin. We will be, if we are rightly related to him, but this demanding spirit is not in line with the essential nature of Christianity.

Abandonment is not for any thing at all. We’ve become so commercialized in our thinking that we go to God only when we want something. It’s as if we’re saying, “I don’t want you, God. I want myself: a clean, Spirit-filled version of myself. I want to be put on display in your showroom, and to be able to say, ‘See what God has done for me.’”

If we give something to God only because we want something in return, there is nothing of the Holy Spirit in our abandonment: it is miserable, commercial self-interest. To gain heaven, to be delivered from sin, to be made useful to God: real abandonment never considers these things. Real abandonment is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ himself.

When we are forced to choose between our natural relationships and Jesus Christ, most of us desert him. “I did hear your call, Lord,” we say. “But my spouse needs me; my mother needs me; my self- interest needs me.” “Such a person,” Jesus replies, “cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). It is always natural devotion that tests abandonment. Rise to the test, and God will embrace all those you hurt when you abandoned yourself to him.

Deuteronomy 17-19; Mark 13:1-20

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.

Biblical Psychology, 199 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, March 12, 2026

PRAYER - THE LASER FROM HEAVEN - #10219

My wife and I were on a ministry trip to Phoenix, and much to my surprise she decided to have her gall bladder out there. Actually, it was much of a surprise to her, too. You don't plan these things. I remember that night she left dinner early, and I found her about an hour later in unbearable pain. Nothing was making a dent in that pain. Finally we went to the emergency room and they said, "Time for this gallbladder to come out."

Okay, I would never have chosen to do this out of town, a couple of thousand miles away from home. But in the providence of God it was a great hospital, and one of the best surgeons in this field practiced at that hospital. The classic gallbladder operation used to take several weeks to recover from. You know, they just make this big, long cut. Well, this doctor said, "I hope to do it by laser." Great news! He did, and there were only three little wounds. The gallbladder was gone, and she took just a few days to recover - all because of what a laser could do. One ray of focused energy aimed at this problem and you've got what feels like a miracle.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Prayer - The Laser From Heaven."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 4:16. What a great prayer promise this is! "Let us then approach the Throne of Grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Now, first in this verse you've got the macro - the Throne of Grace. You are going into the throne room to be with the One who created and manages 100 billion galaxies. Man! But then He brings all that power down to the micro. He says, "Come into that throne room with your little time of need." It's so little compared to His power. But He says, "Bring it in." And you focus all of His power on one person on earth who needs God's touch; one need, one situation, one impossibility.

The specific prayer for a supernatural intervention is like laser power. It's a ray of focused energy from heaven, aimed by your prayer at one need on earth. Wow! The power of that prayer laser is described in Matthew 18:18. It says there, "Whatever you will bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Several great things happen when you focus the energy of God on someone or something on earth. First, God really loves it. Revelation 5:8, Our prayers are a bowl of incense in heaven. It's like incense for God to smell. Secondly, your faith grows. You're stretching your faith to trust Him for a supernatural intervention, and the larger your faith, the bigger things you'll be able to trust God for in the future.

Thirdly, Satan's grip is broken when you focus God's laser on something on earth that he's holding onto. Pray for that. And if you really want to turn up the laser power, get others to pray with you, focusing their faith and God's power on that need. Matthew 18:19 says, "If two of you agree on earth on anything you ask it will be done for you by My Father in heaven."

Jesus told us in Luke 18:1 we "should always pray and not give up." So while you're waiting, let God turn His laser on your life. He may want to do some laser surgery first to remove some infection in you before that answer can come.

When that doctor aimed his laser at my wife's point of need, we experienced what seemed like a medical miracle. When you pray specifically, in faith believing, you focus the healing, heart-changing, mountain-moving power of God on something or someone that you care about. So expect a miracle!

1 Samuel 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE SEAMLESS CHARACTER OF JESUS - March 11, 2026

Garments can symbolize character, and like his garment, Jesus’ character was seamless. He was like his robe: uninterrupted perfection. A seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth…from God’s thoughts to Jesus’ actions. From God’s tears to Jesus’ compassion. From God’s word to Jesus’ response. All one piece. All a picture of the character of Jesus.

But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe– the wardrobe of indignity. Shamed before his family. The indignity of nakedness. The indignity of failure. Shamed before his accusers. Worst of all he bore the indignity of sin. The scripture says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV).  The clothing of Christ on the cross? Sin. It was yours and mine.

He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

1 Samuel 7

And they did. The men of Kiriath Jearim came and got the Chest of God and delivered it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. They ordained his son, Eleazar, to take responsibility for the Chest of God.

2  From the time that the Chest came to rest in Kiriath Jearim, a long time passed—twenty years it was—and throughout Israel there was a widespread, fearful movement toward God.

3  Then Samuel addressed the house of Israel: “If you are truly serious about coming back to God, clean house. Get rid of the foreign gods and fertility goddesses, ground yourselves firmly in God, worship him and him alone, and he’ll save you from Philistine oppression.”

4  They did it. They got rid of the gods and goddesses, the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and gave their exclusive attention and service to God.

5  Next Samuel said, “Get everybody together at Mizpah and I’ll pray for you.”

6  So everyone assembled at Mizpah. They drew water from the wells and poured it out before God in a ritual of cleansing. They fasted all day and prayed, “We have sinned against God.”

So Samuel prepared the Israelites for holy war there at Mizpah.

The Place Where God Helped Us

7  When the Philistines heard that Israel was meeting at Mizpah, the Philistine leaders went on the offensive. Israel got the report and became frightened—Philistines on the move again!

8  They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray with all your might! And don’t let up! Pray to God, our God, that he’ll save us from the boot of the Philistines.”

9  Samuel took a young lamb not yet weaned and offered it whole as a Whole-Burnt-Offering to God. He prayed fervently to God, interceding for Israel. And God answered.

10–12  While Samuel was offering the sacrifice, the Philistines came within range to fight Israel. Just then God thundered, a huge thunderclap exploding among the Philistines. They panicked—mass confusion!—and ran helter-skelter from Israel. Israel poured out of Mizpah and gave chase, killing Philistines right and left, to a point just beyond Beth Car. Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it “Ebenezer” (Rock of Help), saying, “This marks the place where God helped us.”

13–14  The Philistines learned their lesson and stayed home—no more border crossings. God was hard on the Philistines all through Samuel’s lifetime. All the cities from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored. Israel also freed the surrounding countryside from Philistine control. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

15–17  Samuel gave solid leadership to Israel his entire life. Every year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah. He gave leadership to Israel in each of these places. But always he would return to Ramah, where he lived, and preside from there. That is where he built an altar to God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

by Mike Wittmer

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Jeremiah 3:11-17

 Then God told me, “Fickle Israel was a good sight better than flighty Judah. Go and preach this message. Face north toward Israel and say:

12–15  “ ‘Turn back, fickle Israel.

I’m not just hanging back to punish you.

I’m committed in love to you.

My anger doesn’t see the nonstop.

Just admit your guilt.

Admit your God-defiance.

Admit to your promiscuous life with casual partners,

pulling strangers into the sex-and-religion groves

While turning a deaf ear to me.’ ”

God’s Decree.

“Come back, wandering children!”

God’s Decree.

“I, yes I, am your true husband.

I’ll pick you out one by one—

This one from the city, these two from the country—

and bring you to Zion.

I’ll give you good shepherd-rulers who rule my way,

who rule you with intelligence and wisdom.

16  “And this is what will happen: You will increase and prosper in the land. The time will come”—God’s Decree!—“when no one will say any longer, ‘Oh, for the good old days! Remember the Ark of the Covenant?’ It won’t even occur to anyone to say it—‘the good old days.’ The so-called good old days of the Ark are gone for good.

17  “Jerusalem will be the new Ark—‘God’s Throne.’ All the godless nations, no longer stuck in the ruts of their evil ways, will gather there to honor God.

Today's Insights

Jeremiah was a prophet to Judah, the Southern Kingdom, and its capital city of Jerusalem during the reign of its last five kings (Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah). Because of its idolatry and wickedness, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, had fallen to Assyria in 722 bc. During Jeremiah’s time, Judah was following in Israel’s footsteps, despite the reign of a few good kings like Josiah. The people had turned away from God and were worshiping idols. Through Jeremiah, God warned them that their wickedness would lead to discipline, yet He urged them repeatedly to repent and return to Him (Jeremiah 2:19; 3:14). In 586 bc, Judah fell to Babylon. Yet God restored a remnant to the land and promised a Savior, Jesus (23:5-6). Today, God still offers forgiveness and love to all who repent and turn to Him.

Rebellion and Return

No longer will [the Israelites] follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. Jeremiah 3:17

The Wild One is a 1953 movie starring Marlon Brando as Johnny Strabler, a troubled, brooding leader of a motorcycle gang. In one scene, a young woman notices a gang member’s jacket with the initials, B.R.M.C. When she learns that the R stands for “rebels,” she laughs and touches the arm of Brando as he idly pats a drum. “Hey, Johnny. What are you rebelling against?” He replies, “What do you got?”

What an apt description of our problem! We’re born with a drive to assert ourselves. We want to be in charge, preferably by getting our way. If that doesn’t work, we’ll assert ourselves by dragging our feet. The rebellion is the point.

Why did Israel foolishly worship idols of “stone and wood” (Jeremiah 3:9)? And why did Israel’s “unfaithful sister Judah” only pretend to return to God (v. 10)? Because that’s how they expressed their independence—“the stubbornness of their evil hearts” (v. 17). The rebellion was the point.

But God’s love is stronger. Jesus died for rebels and leaves the door open for their return. “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful . . . . Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the Lord your God’ ” (vv. 12-13).

We may be born rebels, but we can return. Let’s run home to our Father, where we find His forgiveness, love, and help.

Reflect & Pray

When do you take charge in foolish or bad ways? How have you been ignoring God, and how might you return to Him?

Dear Father, thank You for Your forgiveness. I’m coming home to You.

Obeying God takes practice, check out this article to learn more.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Vision

I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. — Acts 26:19

When Jesus Christ appeared to Paul and told him to preach the gospel, there was nothing hesitant about Paul’s response: he obeyed, keeping the vision from heaven bright before him as he began fulfilling his commission (Acts 26:12–19). If we lose the vision, we alone are responsible; it means that we’ve been lax and careless in our spiritual lives. The only way to be obedient to the vision God sends is to give our utmost for his highest, and this can only be done by continually and resolutely recalling the vision, while working steadily to realize it. The test is to keep the vision in our sights not only during times of prayer and devotion but sixty seconds of every minute, sixty minutes of every hour.

“Though it linger, wait for it” (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot rush the fulfillment of a vision; we have to live in its light until it accomplishes itself through us. Sometimes, after we receive a vision, we grow impatient. We go racing off into practical work, hoping to speed things along. Then the work becomes our focus, and we lose sight of the vision. We don’t even notice when it has been fulfilled! Working to realize the vision is necessary, but we must work steadily, without rush or force, and only when and where God chooses. Our ability to wait for the vision that lingers is a test of our loyalty to him.

After God gives a vision to his disciple, he always sends a whirlwind, flinging his disciple to the place where the seed of the vision will take root and grow. Are you ready to be sown, so that the vision can fulfill itself through you? The answer depends on whether or not you’re living in the light of what you’ve seen. Let God fling you out, and don’t go until he does. If you try to dictate where you’ll go, you’ll prove empty. But if you let God sow you, you will bring forth fruit.

Deuteronomy 14-16; Mark 12:28-44

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word.

Not Knowing Whither, 901 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

FROM THE BACKSEAT TO THE BATTLE - #10218

Ever since I was little I've been fascinated by the American Revolution, and I always wanted to see Concord Bridge, where it sort of all began. You know, the shot heard around the world? By the time I got there, I had two little boys of my own who were not fascinated by the American Revolution. I wanted to spend a while at Concord Bridge, imagining those Colonial farmers descending and the Red Coats stepping up to the bridge in their rigid formation.

Unfortunately my sons were not interested in all of that. I tried to tell them the story; yawn! Come on, this is vacation. Who cares about history, right? One last idea. I got their tricorn hats that we bought them and we got some sticks for them to use as muskets. I made them the Americans and I played Red Coat. So they came charging across one side of the Concord Bridge. I went running away from them. I eventually ended up fatally wounded. And when we were done they said, "Let's do it again, Daddy!" Of course they won every time. They became interested, but not until they had a part.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "From the Backseat to the Battle."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 20:6-7. Jesus is telling a story about a man who needs help at harvest time. He's gone out three times during the day to get more and more help. And finally, he goes out near the end of the working day, and it says this: "About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 'Because no one has hired us' they answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'"

There's an urgent job to be done! Harvest time passes fast; you've got to get to it. There's only a few days to make it all happen. Big job - urgent job with not enough help. Men standing around? Why? Because they said they didn't have a job to do. So Jesus says here basically there's a job for everyone in the harvest; the harvest of human hearts.

See, a lot of church folks are like my sons at Concord Bridge. You hear the facts about the battle. You hear stories of what other people have done to reach people, but you're not playing any active part. You're just watching.

Actually God doesn't intend to have any of His kids just be spectators. This is a war with life-or-death stakes going on. He wants you out of the stands and into the game. Maybe your Christianity is kind of gray and boring. And it is until you get a mission, not just hear about people with a mission.

You need a job to do for Jesus, and you can be sure He's got one. You're surrounded by work He needs done. There are boys who need you. There are girls who need you to reach out to them. There are senior citizens who are lonely and need to hear about Christ in their few remaining years. There are teenagers maybe you could connect with. There are homeless people. There are Christian workers who are buried in administrative detail and you could help relieve them for the work that only they can do. You are urgently needed somewhere I'll tell you.

When you get a mission, when you get a piece of the action, your faith comes alive. You read the Bible with a new appetite, you pray with a new intensity, and you listen with a new openness. You can't just go to church to get filled up and meet your needs. It's a staging area for God's rescue operation on earth launched at the cross. It's a place for God's soldiers. It's a place to get ready for the battles that affect people's eternities.

Christianity seems hollow, meaningless and boring without a personal mission, and you are needed. So don't just listen to secondhand facts about the battle for human souls and for eternities. Do what my boys did. Grab a musket and run to the battle in Jesus' name.

Luke 18:1-23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE VALUE OF ONE GOOD CHOICE - March 10, 2026

Think about the thief on the cross who repented! We know little about him, but we know this: He made some bad mistakes in his life. But is he spending eternity reaping the fruit of all the bad choices he made?  No, just the opposite. He is enjoying the fruit of the one good choice he made.

You may look back over your life and say, “If only. . .if only I could make up for those bad choices.”  You can!  One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth.

How could two thieves see the same Jesus and one choose to mock him and the other choose to pray to him? When one prayed, Jesus loved him enough to save him.  When the other mocked, Jesus loved him enough to let him. He allowed him the choice.  And He does the same for you.

He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

Luke 18:1-23

The Story of the Persistent Widow

1–3  18 Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’

4–5  “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’ ”

6–8  Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”

The Story of the Tax Man and the Pharisee

9–12  He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’

13  “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’ ”

14  Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

15–17  People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”

The Rich Official

18  One day one of the local officials asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to deserve eternal life?”

19–20  Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. You know the commandments, don’t you? No illicit sex, no killing, no stealing, no lying, honor your father and mother.”

21  He said, “I’ve kept them all for as long as I can remember.”

22  When Jesus heard that, he said, “Then there’s only one thing left to do: Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

23  This was the last thing the official expected to hear. He was very rich and became terribly sad. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let them go.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

by Dave Branon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The Master’s Coming

13–14  And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.

15–18  And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.

Today's Insights

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul comforts believers in Jesus who are grieving the loss of loved ones. He doesn’t dismiss their sorrow but reminds them of the greater reality of their shared hope in Christ’s resurrection and promised return. Because Jesus conquered death, we’re bound together not just in belief but in eternal hope and destiny. In moments that feel hopeless—when grief swells or life seems fractured—the love of Christ is our anchor. We don’t grieve “like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (v. 13), because our hope is rooted in a Savior who lives and who’ll return to take us to be with Him where He is forever. This promise unites hearts across generations, cultures, and death itself. In Jesus, separation is temporary, and reunion is certain. When everything else feels lost, His love holds us fast.

Learn more about types of loss.

The Hope Jesus Brings

Do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13

It began with an email a grieving father sent to me. He had lost his daughter Alyssa—a college junior—in a car accident, and he needed to hear from someone who understood his wrenching pain.

Nearly three hundred emails and four years later, Craig and I were finally able to meet in person. His job had taken him to a nearby city, so on a Sunday we shared a church service, lunch, and memories of our daughters: Melissa and Alyssa—two girls who’d made other people happy, enjoyed volleyball, loved Jesus, and innocently lost their lives in car accidents.  

What was the essence of our conversation that day? We discussed our sadness. And we cried. But mostly we spoke of hope. True, authentic hope based on God’s promises. “We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope,” the apostle Paul explained. “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and . . . God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). For the believer, beyond the grave is life—life eternal.

Craig and I ended the day by praying and thanking God that our daughters are secure in His loving arms. The shared love of Jesus binds hearts and gives hope in otherwise hopeless situations.

Reflect & Pray

What loss weighs heavy on your heart? Who can you talk with about it? How can your hope in Jesus help you face this difficulty?

Loving God, thank You for putting others in my life who understand my pain and for providing true, authentic hope.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Have a Message and Be One

Preach the word. — 2 Timothy 4:2

We aren’t saved to be mere mouthpieces for God; we’re saved to be his sons and daughters. God has no interest in turning his preachers into passive channels. He wants vigorous, alert, wide-awake men and women with all their powers and faculties intact. God’s disciples are spiritual messengers, not spiritual mediums, and the message they deliver must be part of themselves.

The Son of God was his message. His words were Spirit and life (John 6:63). As disciples, we must become the examples of what we preach; our lives must become the very sacrament of our message. It is natural to want to serve and give to others—that desire lies in most human hearts. But it takes a heart broken by the conviction of sin, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and crumpled into the purposes of God to turn a life into the sacrament of its message.

There is a difference between giving testimony and preaching. Anyone who is saved can give testimony. A preacher is someone who has answered the call of God and is determined to use every power to proclaim God’s truth. God takes his preachers out of their own ideas for their lives and shapes them for his use, just as the disciples were after Pentecost. Pentecost did not teach the disciples anything; it made them the embodiment of their message: “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

Before God’s message can liberate other souls, the liberation must be real in you. Gather the material you wish to preach, and set it alight. Let God have perfect liberty when you speak.

Deuteronomy 11-13; Mark 12:1-27

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. 

Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

AN "OTHERS" PERSON IN A "ME" WORLD - #10217

It was one of those 3-H summer days: hazy, hot, and humid. It's not advisable to sweat on those days, because there's really no place for it to go. You keep running into your own sweat. And you know how it is on those days; you kind of feel "ugh"...you feel like doing nothing. Well, it was one of those days, and a brief storm went through. It was the leading edge of a cold front the weather man said, and the temperature dropped almost 25 degrees in a four-hour period of time. That heavy, muggy, hazy air suddenly cleared out; people started moving around again. I'll tell you, the view all of a sudden was crystal clear. The atmosphere was refreshing finally. Did you know a person can actually have that effect?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "An 'Others' Person in a 'Me' World."

There was, in that upper room where Jesus held The Last Supper, a very tense atmosphere that night. There was an argument brewing in the corners of the room as to who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Several people were fighting over the job of Assistant Messiah, I guess, and it was a climate of real selfishness. "Me first." "King of the hill." And then a refreshing front moved through the room and changed everything.

Our word for today from the Word of God is in John 13, and I'll begin at verse 4. "Jesus got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing and wrapped a towel around His waist. And after that He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet; drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him." Later on in the chapter it says, "When He had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place."

"Do you understand what I've done for you?" He asked them. You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. No servant is greater than his master. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." Man, the atmosphere changed that night because of one thing Jesus did. He did the job no one else wanted to do; the lowly, smelly, dirty job that usually a slave did - washing feet.

Jesus did the job no one else wanted to do, and in so doing, He displayed the power of one person who decides he will be the servant in his little corner of the world. "I will be the servant in my family, I will be the servant in my business, I will be the servant in my church, in my circle of friends. You say, "Well, not me. I don't want to do it." Well, what about Him, the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. He did it. Think about the tasks that everyone avoids where you are.

Well, what if, in the name of Jesus, you just quietly started to do one of those? Notice, Jesus didn't say anything at first. He just unselfishly moved out and started doing it. When you do that, it defuses an atmosphere that's heavy with conflict and self-centeredness. It puts your faith into the kind of action that even your worst critic can appreciate, including a non-Christian family. They may not understand your beliefs, but they understand someone who will pitch in on what no one wants to do.

See, that makes you the Jesus-person in your situation. Just try it. Don't announce it; do it joyfully, do it consistently, and pretty soon you're going to win the special influence that only a servant has. See, you're a help and you're not a threat to people, so they'll listen to you. Now you said at one point in your life you would follow Jesus, right? And He's a foot washer.

Do the jobs no one else wants to do, and let God use you to clear out the oppressive heat of selfishness. What a refreshing change in the atmosphere you could bring to the place where you live.

1 Samuel 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE CHOICE IS OURS - March 9, 2026

In so many areas of life we have no choice. “It’s not fair,” we say. But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire. Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next. Wouldn’t you agree?

It would have been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. Would’ve been nice. But it didn’t happen. When it came to many details of your life on earth, you weren’t given a choice, a voice or a vote.  But when it comes to life after death, you were! In my book that seems like a good deal.  Wouldn’t you agree?

He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

1 Samuel 6

Gold Tumors and Rats

1–2  6 After the Chest of God had been among the Philistine people for seven months, the Philistine leaders called together their religious professionals, the priests, and experts on the supernatural for consultation: “How can we get rid of this Chest of God, get it off our hands without making things worse? Tell us!”

3  They said, “If you’re going to send the Chest of the God of Israel back, don’t just dump it on them. Pay compensation. Then you will be healed. After you’re in the clear again, God will let up on you. Why wouldn’t he?”

4–6  “And what exactly would make for adequate compensation?”

“Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “to match the number of Philistine leaders. Since all of you—leaders and people—suffered the same plague, make replicas of the tumors and rats that are devastating the country and present them as an offering to the glory of the God of Israel. Then maybe he’ll ease up and not be so hard on you and your gods, and on your country. Why be stubborn like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? God didn’t quit pounding on them until they let the people go. Only then did he let up.

7–9  “So here’s what you do: Take a brand-new oxcart and two cows that have never been in harness. Hitch the cows to the oxcart and send their calves back to the barn. Put the Chest of God on the cart. Secure the gold replicas of the tumors and rats that you are offering as compensation in a sack and set them next to the Chest. Then send it off. But keep your eyes on it. If it heads straight back home to where it came from, toward Beth Shemesh, it is clear that this catastrophe is a divine judgment, but if not, we’ll know that God had nothing to do with it—it was just an accident.”

10–12  So that’s what they did: They hitched two cows to the cart, put their calves in the barn, and placed the Chest of God and the sack of gold rats and tumors on the cart. The cows headed straight for home, down the road to Beth Shemesh, straying neither right nor left, mooing all the way. The Philistine leaders followed them to the outskirts of Beth Shemesh.

13–15  The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. They looked up and saw the Chest. Jubilant, they ran to meet it. The cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth Shemeshite, and stopped there beside a huge boulder. The harvesters tore the cart to pieces, then chopped up the wood and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to God. The Levites took charge of the Chest of God and the sack containing the gold offerings, placing them on the boulder. Offering the sacrifices, everyone in Beth Shemesh worshiped God most heartily that day.

16  When the five Philistine leaders saw what they came to see, they returned the same day to Ekron.

17–18  The five gold replicas of the tumors were offered by the Philistines in compensation for the cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. The five gold rats matched the number of Philistine towns, both large and small, ruled by the five leaders. The big boulder on which they placed the Chest of God is still there in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, a landmark.

If You Are Serious About Coming Back to God

19–20  God struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh who, out of curiosity, irreverently peeked into the Chest of God. Seventy died. The whole town was in mourning, reeling under the hard blow from God, and questioning, “Who can stand before God, this holy God? And who can we get to take this Chest off our hands?”

21  They sent emissaries to Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the Chest of God. Come down and get it.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, March 09, 2026

by Katara Patton

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Genesis 25:7-11

Abraham lived 175 years. Then he took his final breath. He died happy at a ripe old age, full of years, and was buried with his family. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, next to Mamre. It was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried next to his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived at Beer Lahai Roi.

Today's Insights

Abraham’s faith journey began when he was seventy-five years old: “Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran” (Genesis 12:4). He took his last breath one hundred years later: “Abraham lived for 175 years, and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death” (25:7-8 nlt). What a beautiful end-of-life scene! Yet, while Abraham’s dying “at a ripe old age” or “full of years” (niv) was an accomplishment, he’s most known for being “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:21). One doesn’t have to be full of years to be full of faith. Today, as we experience times of loss and hardship, our true quality of life and satisfaction comes from faith in the living God, who has revealed Himself in Jesus.

True Satisfaction in God

Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years. Genesis 25:8

Thirty years ago, I participated in an activity at an unemployment workshop that I still remember today. My fellow laid-off coworkers and I were asked to write our retirement speeches. Huh? We were looking for work and far from retirement age. But the facilitator revealed the purpose of the activity by saying, “Your speech will probably have little to do with your work.” She explained to us that a job really isn’t the center of our lives. And while we may be grieving the loss of a job, our lives mean much more than being employed.

The details about the end of Abraham’s life remind me of this lesson. He died at a “ripe old age” and had lived a “long and satisfying life” (Genesis 25:8 nlt). Throughout Scripture, we read about Abraham’s faithfulness in following God’s instructions, but we don’t read much about his work. The faith the patriarch displayed (15:6) reminds me of the Teacher’s conclusion in Ecclesiastes: “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness” (2:26). The Teacher said this after considering the meaning of life and how one can find enjoyment in the midst of work or toil (vv. 24-25).

Even during times of loss and anxiety brought by unemployment, it’s helpful to reflect on Abraham’s example and the Teacher’s words—pointing us to true satisfaction found only in God.

Reflect & Pray

What do you believe you’ll be known for? How does focusing on your legacy help you live today?

Dear God, please remind me to live faithfully as I walk with You—experiencing satisfaction in Your presence.

For further study, read Giving Up on Perfect.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, March 09, 2026

Going with Jesus

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

March 09

EDITION

Modern Classic

Updated

Classic

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. — John 6:67

Our Lord’s words hit home most forcefully when he talks in simple ways. Like the disciples in this passage, we are aware of who Jesus is; we know him and love him. But he still asks if we are going to leave him. Why? Jesus wants to drive home that the attitude we have to maintain toward him is one of total trust and abandon. We must always be journeying forth in his name, following wherever he leads. “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). These disciples lost the bold and reckless commitment Jesus wanted them to have. They didn’t stop believing or fall back into sin, but they gave up their intimacy with him.

Many of us today are guilty of this. We may be spending ourselves and being spent in Jesus’s name, but we aren’t walking with him; we aren’t drawing close to him with perfect trust and confidence. Yet this is the one thing God holds us to steadily: that we be one with Jesus as Jesus is one with the Father.

After Christ is formed inside us, the discipline of our spiritual life centers on this question of oneness. If God gives you a clear and emphatic message about something he wants you to accomplish, let oneness be your guide in how to pursue it. Don’t struggle to find any particular method; don’t create a plan that isn’t his. Simply live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ, and God will bring about the thing he wants.

Never try to live in any way other than God’s, and remember that God’s way is absolute devotion to him. The certainty that I know I do not know—that is the secret of going with Jesus.

Deuteronomy 8-10; Mark 11:19-33

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

When we no longer seek God for His blessings, we have time to seek Him for Himself. 

The Moral Foundations of Life, 728 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, March 09, 2026

THE LEADERSHIP LIFESTYLE - #10215

Every summer we used to take a large delegation to a great youth conference in Ocean City, New Jersey. One of our veteran staff was in charge of that delegation, and it was a big responsibility at the shore. When my son was old enough to go to that conference, he commented on Greg's leadership. He said, "You know, Greg's really serious." Well my wife and I kind of laughed. We said, "Oh, you should hear some of the crazy things he's done down at Ocean City." And then my son said, "Not any more. He's in charge now." Well, my son was making a pretty valid observation. As your authority increases, so does your responsibility. Followers, I guess, can goof off, but leadership; oh, that's serious business.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Leadership Lifestyle."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about leaders, and you might be one whether you realize it or not. Hebrews 13:17 - "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority." Now, I've always thought "Hey, wouldn't it be great to be one of those leaders? You get to be obeyed and submitted to." Yeah, wait until you hear the rest of the verse. "...they keep watch over you as men who must give an account." Whoa.

That means that if you have anyone looking to you, you will one day have the privilege and the opportunity to explain to God what you did with those people. Man! "God, here's how I influenced those people and why they ended up as they did."

Well see, God's looking for people that He can trust with a promotion. He's looking for teachers and leaders, and musicians, and shepherds for His Kingdom. And maybe He's trusted you with some influence: a class, or a study group, a church, maybe a musical ministry, a position of authority in God's work. Well, then, be careful how you live. You can do so much good, and you can do so much harm.

In a letter that James Dobson wrote years ago he told about an incident that occurred when he went to a Christian book seller's convention and for the first time he saw all of his materials displayed and his picture all over the place. And he said, "I heard as it were almost an audible voice saying, 'Jim, look around you. I have chosen for reasons that you don't understand to make you visible and influential with My people. And in that sense, I am preparing to make the work of My Kingdom vulnerable to you. That's why I'm telling you to be careful; think before you act; hold a tighter reign on your tongue and on your thought life than ever before. When your natural impulse is to become angry or vindictive, resist the temptation as much as possible, and keep your life free of willful and deliberate sin. You will soon be in a position to hurt my people. See that it doesn't happen.'" Whew! Man!

Now, you're not a Dobson, or some spiritual star perhaps, but maybe God's lifted you to a place where others are looking at you or to you. And it's exciting, but it's a heavy responsibility, one for which you must give account the Bible says. Exercise care in what you say, what you joke about. Be careful what you watch. Stop with the negative comments, the critical comments before anybody can hear them, those displays of anger. Not for you; not now.

God has called you to some measure of leadership and the responsible lifestyle that goes with that. I think that's an awfully powerful incentive to be all you were meant to be in Christ. It's a good thing; a good reason to live up to what Jesus wants for all of His kids. But He has put trust in your hands. He's put His reputation in your hands. He has made His Kingdom vulnerable to you. You are in a position to hurt some of God's people. See that it doesn't happen.

1 Samuel 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Never Gives Up

God’s people often forget their God, but God never forgets them.  When Joseph was dropped into a pit by his own brothers, God didn’t give up. When Moses said, “Here am I, send Aaron,” God didn’t give up. When the delivered Israelites wanted Egyptian slavery instead of milk and honey, God did not give up. When Aaron was making a false god at the very moment Moses was with the true God, God did not give up.

And when human hands fastened the divine hands of Jesus to a cross with spikes, it wasn’t the soldiers who held the hands of Jesus steady.  It was God, the God who never gives up on his people, who held them steady. He held them to the cross where, with holy blood, the divine hand wrote these words, “God would give up His only son before He’d ever give up on you!” (John 3:16)

from Six Hours One Friday

1 Samuel 5

Threatened with Mass Death

1–2  5 Once the Philistines had seized the Chest of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod, brought it into the shrine of Dagon, and placed it alongside the idol of Dagon.

3–5  Next morning when the citizens of Ashdod got up, they were shocked to find Dagon toppled from his place, flat on his face before the Chest of God. They picked him up and put him back where he belonged. First thing the next morning they found him again, toppled and flat on his face before the Chest of God. Dagon’s head and arms were broken off, strewn across the entrance. Only his torso was in one piece. (That’s why even today, the priests of Dagon and visitors to the Dagon shrine in Ashdod avoid stepping on the threshold.)

6  God was hard on the citizens of Ashdod. He devastated them by hitting them with tumors. This happened in both the town and the surrounding neighborhoods. He let loose rats among them. Jumping from ships there, rats swarmed all over the city! And everyone was deathly afraid.

7–8  When the leaders of Ashdod saw what was going on, they decided, “The chest of the god of Israel has got to go. We can’t handle this, and neither can our god Dagon.” They called together all the Philistine leaders and put it to them: “How can we get rid of the chest of the god of Israel?”

The leaders agreed: “Move it to Gath.” So they moved the Chest of the God of Israel to Gath.

9  But as soon as they moved it there, God came down hard on that city, too. It was mass hysteria! He hit them with tumors. Tumors broke out on everyone in town, young and old.

10–12  So they sent the Chest of God on to Ekron, but as the Chest was being brought into town, the people shouted in protest, “You’ll kill us all by bringing in this Chest of the God of Israel!” They called the Philistine leaders together and demanded, “Get it out of here, this Chest of the God of Israel. Send it back where it came from. We’re threatened with mass death!” For everyone was scared to death when the Chest of God showed up. God was already coming down very hard on the place. Those who didn’t die were hit with tumors. All over the city cries of pain and lament filled the air.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, March 08, 2026

by Anne Cetas

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 107:1-11, 41-43

Oh, thank God—he’s so good!

His love never runs out.

All of you set free by God, tell the world!

Tell how he freed you from oppression,

Then rounded you up from all over the place,

from the four winds, from the seven seas.

4–9  Some of you wandered for years in the desert,

looking but not finding a good place to live,

Half-starved and parched with thirst,

staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.

Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.

He got you out in the nick of time;

He put your feet on a wonderful road

that took you straight to a good place to live.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;

the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

10–16  Some of you were locked in a dark cell,

cruelly confined behind bars,

Punished for defying God’s Word,

for turning your back on the High God’s counsel—

treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.

42–43  Good people see this and are glad;

bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.

If you are really wise, you’ll think this over—

it’s time you appreciated God’s deep love.

The book of Psalms is divided into five books or subsections. Psalm 107 is in Book 5 and celebrates Israel’s salvation history. Much of it is a reminder of the ways that God had delivered Israel time and again in her history. Some have speculated that this psalm may have been written after the Babylonian captivity upon Israel’s return to the land of promise they’d received so many years before. As such, it’s fitting to say, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (vv. 8-9). But gratitude isn’t reserved for Israel alone, for God has done loving deeds for all people. Today, as we reflect on His loving deeds to us, we can share our story with others.

God’s Loving Deeds

Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2

They sit side by side on Ball Street in my city—the Grand Ideas Garden and the county jail. My friend Joann loved both places. She loved to sit in the garden, thinking about the goodness of God and her love for Him because of what He’d done in her life. She also loved to share with the women in the jail and tell her story of God redeeming her life after many bad choices and wandering far from Him. Often, she would tell me of her passion: her dream that all the women there would someday understand and experience the love of God for them personally.

The psalmist told his fellow Israelites to “tell their story” of how God redeemed them from their enemies (Psalm 107:2). They had “wandered in desert wastelands,” “they were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away” (vv. 4-5). At times they rebelled against God, and He disciplined them (vv. 10-12). Yet every time “they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, . . . he delivered them from their distress” (v. 6). They had much to give God thanks for and to talk about with others. As the Israelites learned, and we can learn also, He has a love that will never let us go. 

We too can take opportunities to “ponder the loving deeds of the Lord” toward us (v. 43), give thanks to Him, and tell our own story of His rescue.

Reflect & Pray

What has God done for you to transform your life? Who can you share your story with?

You are so good, and what You’ve done for me is worth telling others about, dear God. Please give me the words and open my mouth to speak about You.

Look at what Scripture says about witnessing to others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, March 08, 2026

The Relinquished Life

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. — Galatians 2:20

It is impossible to be united with Christ unless we are willing to let go: to let go not only of sin but of our entire way of looking at things. In 1 Timothy 6:19, Paul writes that God wants us to “take hold of the life that is truly life.” But before we can take hold, we must let go. If we wish to be born from above in the Spirit, the first thing we have to let go of is pretending we’re something we’re not. What our Lord wants us to present to him isn’t goodness or honesty or endeavor; it’s real, solid sin. In exchange, he gives us real, solid righteousness. First, though, we must give up the idea that we are worthy of God’s consideration; we must give up the thought that we are anything at all. After we do, the Spirit will show us what else there is to relinquish. The giving up must happen repeatedly, in every phase. Every step of the way, we must give up the claim to our right to ourselves.

Am I willing to relinquish my hold on my possessions and affections? On everything? Am I willing to be identified with the death of Jesus? There is always a painful shattering of illusions before we finally do relinquish.

When we truly see ourselves as the Lord sees us, it isn’t the abominable sins of the flesh that shock us; it’s the awful nature of pride in our hearts against Jesus Christ. When we see ourselves in the light of the Lord, shame and horror and desperate conviction strike home. If you have come to the point where you must relinquish or turn back, go on through. Relinquish all, and God will make you fit for what he requires.

Deuteronomy 5-7; Mark 11:1-18

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.

Disciples Indeed

Luke 17:20-37 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God as Heart Surgeon

Grace is God as heart surgeon! Grace is God cracking open your chest, removing your heart, poisoned as it is with pride and pain, and replacing it with his own.

God's dream isn't just to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you. Grace lives because Jesus does, works because he works, and matters because he matters. To be saved by grace is to be saved by Jesus-not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership, but by Jesus himself, who will sweep into heaven anyone who so much as gives him the nod. Grace won't be stage-managed.  I have no tips on how to get grace.  Truth is, we don't get grace.  But it can sure get us.

If you wonder whether God can do something with the mess of your life, then grace is what you need!  Make certain it happens to you!

From GRACE

Luke 17:20-37

When the Son of Man Arrives

20–21  Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, “The kingdom of God doesn’t come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, ‘Look here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ And why? Because God’s kingdom is already among you.”

22–24  He went on to say to his disciples, “The days are coming when you are going to be desperately homesick for just a glimpse of one of the days of the Son of Man, and you won’t see a thing. And they’ll say to you, ‘Look over there!’ or, ‘Look here!’ Don’t fall for any of that nonsense. The arrival of the Son of Man is not something you go out to see. He simply comes.

24–25  “You know how the whole sky lights up from a single flash of lightning? That’s how it will be on the Day of the Son of Man. But first it’s necessary that he suffer many things and be turned down by the people of today.

26–27  “The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah—everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away.

28–30  “It was the same in the time of Lot—the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual right up to the day Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burned everything to a crisp. That’s how it will be—sudden, total—when the Son of Man is revealed.

31–33  “When the Day arrives and you’re out working in the yard, don’t run into the house to get anything. And if you’re out in the field, don’t go back and get your coat. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.

34–35  “On that Day, two men will be in the same boat fishing—one taken, the other left. Two women will be working in the same kitchen—one taken, the other left.”

37  Trying to take all this in, the disciples said, “Master, where?”

He told them, “Watch for the circling of the vultures. They’ll spot the corpse first. The action will begin around my dead body.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, March 07, 2026

by Lisa M. Samra

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 4:1-7

To Be Mature

1–3  4 In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

4–6  You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

7–13  But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.

Today's Insights

Disunity keeps the church weak and ineffective in its role of making disciples. In John 17, Jesus prayed for unity among believers in Him (vv. 20-23). He knew they’d need each other as they faced trials because of their faith. Paul also had much to say about the importance of unity. In Ephesians 4, he urged believers “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (v. 1) and to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (v. 3). In Philippians, he called Euodia and Syntyche “to be of the same mind in the Lord” (4:2). Finally, in Colossians he urged his readers to “bear with each other and forgive one another” and “put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (3:13-14). When believers in Christ are unified in love for Him, they bring hope and light to a dark world (Matthew 5:14-16).

One in Christ

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

In January 1967, the town of Winneconne discovered it had been mistakenly omitted from the official Wisconsin state road map, costing the town vital tourist revenue. So the town decided to secede from Wisconsin and become its own sovereign state on July 21 of that year. Some say the secession was a move to embarrass the state government, while others claim it was a tongue-in-cheek act of humor. In any case, months of negotiations resulted in state and town coming together again on July 22, 1967.

Most division isn’t as good-natured or as easily resolved. Division is such a threat that the book of Proverbs lists “the person who stirs up conflict” (6:19) as one of seven things “that are detestable to [God]” (v. 16). 

Division may not only cause problems but misrepresents Jesus and His Father. The night before the cross, Christ prayed that His followers would be one in Him, “that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).

Jesus made it clear that our unity as brothers and sisters in Christ (or lack of it) impacts the world’s belief in Him! Perhaps that’s why Paul told the Ephesians, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). May we allow the Spirit of Christ to make us one—that the world may be drawn to Him.

Reflect & Pray

What are some of the things that can divide you from other believers? How can those potential points of conflict be resolved, so that the body of Christ might know and display unity?

Dear Father, please give me a heart for my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Learn how you can cultivate unity within your church and community.

The book of Obadiah is the least read book of the Bible. Check out this offering from Reclaim Today to learn how to apply the teachings of Obadiah.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, March 07, 2026

Undaunted Radiance

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. — Romans 8:37

In all these things . . .” Paul is speaking here of things that might seem likely to separate the sanctified soul from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can separate the two. Certain things can and do come between God and our devotional practices or private life with him. But nothing can separate the sanctified soul from his love.

The bedrock of Christian faith is the unearned, fathomless marvel of the love of God displayed on the cross, a love we never can and never will deserve. Paul says that this is the reason we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us.” We are super-victors through Christ, and the joy we take in this fact is directly related to the magnitude of the challenges we face.

The wave that distresses the new swimmer gives the seasoned surfer the extreme joy of riding clean through it. For the sanctified soul, tribulation, distress, and persecution are not things to fight or fear or avoid: they are sources of jubilation. In them, we are more than conquerors through Christ—not in spite of them but in the middle of them. If certain things didn ’t seem likely to overwhelm us, we wouldn’t fully appreciate Christ ’s victory. We know the joy of the Lord not in spite of hardship but because of it. “In all our troubles my joy knows no bounds,” Paul says (2 Corinthians 7:4).

Undaunted radiance is not built on anything passing. It is built on the love of God, which nothing can alter. The experiences of life, however terrible or monotonous, are powerless to touch it.

Deuteronomy 3-4; Mark 10:32-52

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”

The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

1 Samuel 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE PENITENT THIEF - March 6, 2026

Much has been said about the prayer of the penitent thief on the cross next to Jesus. But dare we forget the one who didn’t pray? He offered no request. He, too, could have requested mercy. He, too, could have asked Jesus to remember him in the new kingdom. But he didn’t. He offered no prayer of repentance. And Jesus didn’t demand one.

Jesus gave both criminals the same choice. One said, “Remember me.” The other said nothing. There are times when God sends thunder to stir us. There are times when God sends blessings to lure us. But then there are times when God sends nothing but silence as he honors us with the freedom to choose where we spend eternity.

He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

1 Samuel 4

The Chest of God Is Taken

1–3  4 Whatever Samuel said was broadcast all through Israel. Israel went to war against the Philistines. Israel set up camp at Ebenezer, the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines marched out to meet Israel, the fighting spread, and Israel was badly beaten—about four thousand soldiers left dead on the field. When the troops returned to camp, Israel’s elders said, “Why has God given us such a beating today by the Philistines? Let’s go to Shiloh and get the Chest of God’s Covenant. It will accompany us and save us from the grip of our enemies.”

4  So the army sent orders to Shiloh. They brought the Chest of the Covenant of God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the Cherubim-Enthroned-God. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the Chest of the Covenant of God.

5–6  When the Chest of the Covenant of God was brought into camp, everyone gave a huge cheer. The shouts were like thunderclaps shaking the very ground. The Philistines heard the shouting and wondered what on earth was going on: “What’s all this shouting among the Hebrews?”

6–9  Then they learned that the Chest of God had entered the Hebrew camp. The Philistines panicked: “Their gods have come to their camp! Nothing like this has ever happened before. We’re done for! Who can save us from the clutches of these supergods? These are the same gods who hit the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues out in the wilderness. On your feet, Philistines! Courage! We’re about to become slaves to the Hebrews, just as they have been slaves to us. Show what you’re made of! Fight for your lives!”

10–11  And did they ever fight! It turned into a rout. They thrashed Israel so mercilessly that the Israelite soldiers ran for their lives, leaving behind an incredible thirty thousand dead. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Chest of God was taken and the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas—were killed.

Glory Is Exiled from Israel

12–16  Immediately, a Ben-jaminite raced from the front lines back to Shiloh. Shirt torn and face smeared with dirt, he entered the town. Eli was sitting on his stool beside the road keeping vigil, for he was extremely worried about the Chest of God. When the man ran straight into town to tell the bad news, everyone wept. They were appalled. Eli heard the loud wailing and asked, “Why this uproar?” The messenger hurried over and reported. Eli was ninety-eight years old then, and blind. The man said to Eli, “I’ve just come from the front, barely escaping with my life.”

“And so, my son,” said Eli, “what happened?”

17  The messenger answered, “Israel scattered before the Philistines. The defeat was catastrophic, with enormous losses. Your sons Hophni and Phinehas died, and the Chest of God was taken.”

18  At the words, “Chest of God,” Eli fell backward off his stool where he sat next to the gate. Eli was an old man, and very fat. When he fell, he broke his neck and died. He had led Israel forty years.

19–20  His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and ready to deliver. When she heard that the Chest of God had been taken and that both her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went to her knees to give birth, going into hard labor. As she was about to die, her midwife said, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve given birth to a son!” But she gave no sign that she had heard.

21–22  The Chest of God gone, father-in-law dead, husband dead, she named the boy Ichabod (Glory’s-Gone), saying, “Glory is exiled from Israel since the Chest of God was taken.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, March 06, 2026

by James Banks

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Deuteronomy 6:10-19

When God, your God, ushers you into the land he promised through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, you’re going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn’t build, well-furnished houses you didn’t buy, come upon wells you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn’t plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content, make sure you don’t forget how you got there—God brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

13–19  Deeply respect God, your God. Serve and worship him exclusively. Back up your promises with his name only. Don’t fool around with other gods, the gods of your neighbors, because God, your God, who is alive among you is a jealous God. Don’t provoke him, igniting his hot anger that would burn you right off the face of the Earth. Don’t push God, your God, to the wall as you did that day at Massah, the Testing-Place. Carefully keep the commands of God, your God, all the requirements and regulations he gave you. Do what is right; do what is good in God’s sight so you’ll live a good life and be able to march in and take this pleasant land that God so solemnly promised through your ancestors, throwing out your enemies left and right—exactly as God said.

Today's Insights

Our reading from Deuteronomy 6 takes us to a major moment in Israel’s story. The Israelites had left Egypt and had depended on God’s miraculous daily provision in the desert just to be alive (8:16). They were now on the threshold of entering a settled land with cities, homes, wells, and farms they had no part in building (6:11). In moving from slavery to satisfaction, they’d be tempted to forget the source of all this goodness. Jesus would identify Himself as this source one day when feeding multitudes, providing enough for everyone to eat and be satisfied and even to have leftovers (Matthew 14:18-21). As we reflect on God today—the source of all good things—we can respond with gratitude.

God’s Goodness

Be careful that you do not forget the Lord. Deuteronomy 6:12

“Oh no!” That was my response upon opening a beehive and discovering the colony had suddenly died. It had been a thriving hive with lots of honey. I’d carefully maintained it throughout a mild winter and anticipated an early harvest. But a cold snap in the warm weather had led to collapse.

I checked with local experts. “Many beekeepers lost hives this time,” they reassured me. Mild winters present challenges for bees, even healthy hives. Bees fan their wings to maintain warmth in the hive in winter, but when the weather warms briefly, they exhaust themselves seeking even more food. If temperatures drop quickly, they don’t have strength to keep warm. Their “distraction” leads to destruction.

Even good things can become dangers when they turn us from what matters most. Moses cautioned God’s people about this after they left Egypt and before they entered the land God was about to give them—a land with “houses filled with all kinds of good things” that they “did not provide” (Deuteronomy 6:11). “When you eat and are satisfied,” Moses warned, “be careful that you do not forget the Lord” (vv. 11-12).

Remembering God in our blessings helps us because He is the source of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17). When we humbly respond to His goodness by loving Him with heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), we find in Him the best blessing of all.

Reflect & Pray

What are you grateful for? How do all good things ultimately come from God?

Thank You, heavenly Father, for Your goodness to me. Please help me to remember You today!

For further study, read The Goodness of Creation.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, March 06, 2026

Amid a Crowd of Paltry Things

As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses. — 2 Corinthians 6:4

It takes almighty grace to take the next step—the next step in devotion, the next step in our studies, the next step in the kitchen, the next step in our duty—when there’s nothing to inspire us and no one to cheer us on. When there’s no vision from God and no enthusiasm, when it’s just the daily routine and the trivial task, it takes almighty grace.

Sometimes, it requires far more of the grace of God to take the next step than it does to preach the gospel. Perhaps at one time we had a clear vision of something God wanted us to accomplish, and we threw ourselves into it with excitement. But now the excitement has waned and we wonder how we’ll keep going. We begin to doubt that the vision will ever be realized. It will be, if we’ll keep working steadily until it is fulfilled. Every Christian has to participate in the essence of the incarnation; we have to bring it down into flesh-and-blood life and work it out through our fingertips. In the long run, what counts for God—and for people—is steady, persevering work in the unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18). The only way to live our lives uncrushed is to live looking to God.

Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to crush you. Continually get away from pettiness of mind and thought. Remember Jesus’s example: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

Deuteronomy 1-2; Mark 10:1-31

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own.

Conformed to His Image, 381 L

THE LEADERSHIP LIFESTYLE - #10215

Every summer we used to take a large delegation to a great youth conference in Ocean City, New Jersey. One of our veteran staff was in charge of that delegation, and it was a big responsibility at the shore. When my son was old enough to go to that conference, he commented on Greg's leadership. He said, "You know, Greg's really serious." Well my wife and I kind of laughed. We said, "Oh, you should hear some of the crazy things he's done down at Ocean City." And then my son said, "Not any more. He's in charge now." Well, my son was making a pretty valid observation. As your authority increases, so does your responsibility. Followers, I guess, can goof off, but leadership; oh, that's serious business.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Leadership Lifestyle."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about leaders, and you might be one whether you realize it or not. Hebrews 13:17 - "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority." Now, I've always thought "Hey, wouldn't it be great to be one of those leaders? You get to be obeyed and submitted to." Yeah, wait until you hear the rest of the verse. "...they keep watch over you as men who must give an account." Whoa.

That means that if you have anyone looking to you, you will one day have the privilege and the opportunity to explain to God what you did with those people. Man! "God, here's how I influenced those people and why they ended up as they did."

Well see, God's looking for people that He can trust with a promotion. He's looking for teachers and leaders, and musicians, and shepherds for His Kingdom. And maybe He's trusted you with some influence: a class, or a study group, a church, maybe a musical ministry, a position of authority in God's work. Well, then, be careful how you live. You can do so much good, and you can do so much harm.

In a letter that James Dobson wrote years ago he told about an incident that occurred when he went to a Christian book seller's convention and for the first time he saw all of his materials displayed and his picture all over the place. And he said, "I heard as it were almost an audible voice saying, 'Jim, look around you. I have chosen for reasons that you don't understand to make you visible and influential with My people. And in that sense, I am preparing to make the work of My Kingdom vulnerable to you. That's why I'm telling you to be careful; think before you act; hold a tighter reign on your tongue and on your thought life than ever before. When your natural impulse is to become angry or vindictive, resist the temptation as much as possible, and keep your life free of willful and deliberate sin. You will soon be in a position to hurt my people. See that it doesn't happen.'" Whew! Man!

Now, you're not a Dobson, or some spiritual star perhaps, but maybe God's lifted you to a place where others are looking at you or to you. And it's exciting, but it's a heavy responsibility, one for which you must give account the Bible says. Exercise care in what you say, what you joke about. Be careful what you watch. Stop with the negative comments, the critical comments before anybody can hear them, those displays of anger. Not for you; not now.

God has called you to some measure of leadership and the responsible lifestyle that goes with that. I think that's an awfully powerful incentive to be all you were meant to be in Christ. It's a good thing; a good reason to live up to what Jesus wants for all of His kids. But He has put trust in your hands. He's put His reputation in your hands. He has made His Kingdom vulnerable to you. You are in a position to hurt some of God's people. See that it doesn't happen.

1 Samuel 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: JESUS HIMSELF CHOSE THE CROSS - March 5, 2026

God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, cannot be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins hidden. “He has forgiven you all your sins:  he has utterly wiped out the written evidence…and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14 Phillips).

He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails.

The verdict behind the death was not decided by jealous Jews. With a flex of the biceps, Jesus could have resisted. No. Jesus himself chose the nails. He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his sacrifice—nailed to the cross, covered by his blood.

He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

1 Samuel 3

“Speak, God. I’m Ready to Listen”

1–3  3 The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli’s direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen. One night Eli was sound asleep (his eyesight was very bad—he could hardly see). It was well before dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still burning. Samuel was still in bed in the Temple of God, where the Chest of God rested.

4–5  Then God called out, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Yes? I’m here.” Then he ran to Eli saying, “I heard you call. Here I am.”

Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” And so he did.

6–7  God called again, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel got up and went to Eli, “I heard you call. Here I am.”

Again Eli said, “Son, I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” (This all happened before Samuel knew God for himself. It was before the revelation of God had been given to him personally.)

8–9  God called again, “Samuel!”—the third time! Yet again Samuel got up and went to Eli, “Yes? I heard you call me. Here I am.”

That’s when it dawned on Eli that God was calling the boy. So Eli directed Samuel, “Go back and lie down. If the voice calls again, say, ‘Speak, God. I’m your servant, ready to listen.’ ” Samuel returned to his bed.

10  Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Speak. I’m your servant, ready to listen.”

11–14  God said to Samuel, “Listen carefully. I’m getting ready to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention. The time has come for me to bring down on Eli’s family everything I warned him of, every last word of it. I’m letting him know that the time’s up. I’m bringing judgment on his family for good. He knew what was going on, that his sons were desecrating God’s name and God’s place, and he did nothing to stop them. This is my sentence on the family of Eli: The evil of Eli’s family can never be wiped out by sacrifice or offering.”

15  Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then rose early and went about his duties, opening the doors of the sanctuary, but he dreaded having to tell the vision to Eli.

16  But then Eli summoned Samuel: “Samuel, my son!”

Samuel came running: “Yes? What can I do for you?”

17  “What did he say? Tell it to me, all of it. Don’t suppress or soften one word, as God is your judge! I want it all, word for word as he said it to you.”

18  So Samuel told him, word for word. He held back nothing.

Eli said, “He is God. Let him do whatever he thinks best.”

19–21  Samuel grew up. God was with him, and Samuel’s prophetic record was flawless. Everyone in Israel, from Dan in the north to Beer-sheba in the south, recognized that Samuel was the real thing—a true prophet of God. God continued to show up at Shiloh, revealed through his word to Samuel at Shiloh.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, March 05, 2026

by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Romans 5:1-5

Developing Patience

1–2  5 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

3–5  There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Today's Insights

Paul’s argument throughout the book of Romans is complex, and there’s a reason that it forms the foundation of much of our theology of salvation. Chapter 5 comes as the conclusion to his opening argument—that no one is justified (made right) by God on their own. The gentiles failed, and the Jews couldn’t perfectly keep the law. Only through faith (modeled by Abraham as Paul points out in the previous chapter) can we enter into a right relationship with God. But that relationship won’t always be framed in roses. Faith results in more than the hope we have; it’s also experienced in the refinement we undergo as we endure suffering. We become more like Christ as we grow in both character and faith in the midst of our struggles.

Strength from Struggle

We know that suffering produces perseverance; . . . and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

Jess was getting on in years when he first heard the children’s folktale about the boy and the butterfly. Right away, he understood the story’s lesson on gaining strength from struggle. In the tale, a boy is given a butterfly cocoon but told not to open it. But as the cocoon slowly twists and shudders in his hand, the boy can’t resist using scissors to split it open so the butterfly inside can escape.

Freed from the struggle, however, the butterfly falls to the ground and dies without ever flying. “What happened?” the boy cries. Jess, after a long life, understood instantly. “The boy prevented the butterfly from using the muscles needed to grow strong and fly.”

The children’s lesson may be a fable, but it affirms the bracing biblical truth taught by Paul to persecuted believers in Jesus in Rome: “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).

Paul wasn’t saying to celebrate pain or deny its heartbreak. He confirmed instead that God will use life’s troubles to build our character, growing our hope in Him.

It’s in His strength that God develops our trust in His overcoming power. The butterfly was cheated from growing stronger to fly. But in Christ, we can rejoice as struggles lift us with character to God our deliverer.

Reflect & Pray

What’s your attitude regarding struggle? How has struggle grown your trust in God?

As I face life's struggles, dear Jesus, I thank You for building my character and trust in You.

How can we find joy amidst struggling? Join the Discover the Word podcast as they discuss Paul's letter to the Philippians.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, March 05, 2026

Is He Really Lord?

So that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus. — Acts 20:24

Joy comes from the ultimate fulfillment of my life’s purpose—that for which I was created and reborn. It doesn’t come from the successful performance of a task. Jesus’s joy lay in doing what the Father had sent him to do, and this is also where our joy lies: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

Have I received a ministry from the Lord? If so, I have to be loyal to it. I have to count my life precious only for its fulfillment. Think of the joy and satisfaction that will come from hearing Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21). We all have to find our place in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive our ministry from the Lord. First, though, we must get to know Jesus as more than our personal savior; we must know him as an intimate companion. Only then will he reveal to us our purpose.

“Do you love me?” Jesus asked Peter. “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Notice how Jesus doesn’t offer Peter, doesn’t offer us, a choice about how to serve. The only possibility is absolute loyalty to his command, absolute loyalty to what we discern when we are close to him.

Sometimes we misunderstand the call. We think that we are being called by a certain need—the need of God’s children to hear the gospel, for instance, or to have someone intervene for them in prayer. But the need isn’t what’s calling us; the need is simply an opportunity for answering the call. The call itself is a call to absolute loyalty. God wants you to be loyal to the ministry you receive when you are close to him, whatever it may be. This doesn’t imply that there is a specific campaign of service marked out for you, but it does mean that you will have to ignore the demands for service along other lines.

Numbers 34-36; Mark 9:30-50

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, March 05, 2026

THE WRONG NUMBER FOR HEAVEN - #10214

My son bought an old Mustang when he was in high school. No, not the kind with four legs. The kind with four wheels. He actually used money he got from selling some of his valuable baseball card collection. Some years later, he wanted to sell it and put the proceeds into the work he was going to be doing with Native Americans. He put an ad in the paper about it. First day - no calls. Second day - no calls. He wasn't expecting a line at the door exactly, but he thought he'd get a little more response than that. Then he found out why. He checked the ad and found that the newspaper had goofed and published a phone number that was a wrong number. But what a difference that one little number made! When we dialed the number in the paper, there never was any answer. You gotta feel bad for some guy who's looking in the paper, sees a car he wants at a price he likes, and dials the magic number that cannot possibly reach the person who has what he's interested in.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wrong Number for Heaven."

There's someone you want to reach; someone you need to reach. They have what you're interested in, but maybe you've got the wrong number. It doesn't matter how many times you try, you just can't get through to them.

For many people, the One they want to reach, the One they believe has what they're looking for is God himself - the One who made them. In fact, in this age of growing interest in spirituality, there are more and more people who are realizing that the answer for their soul and their life has got to be a spiritual one. What we've accomplished, what we've owned, who we've known - none of those has filled the hole in our heart. So we want to reach our Creator - the One who has the peace and the meaning we need now, and the eternal life that we'd like to have when this life is over.

But just as people may have sincerely tried to reach my son about his car, many spiritual seekers never get through because they're sincerely dialing the wrong number. But God has published His number - very clearly, in bold print - actually in Bible print. Anyone who tries to reach the Creator this way is going to get through. Remember, in the midst of a thousand theories about how to reach God, the only One who can really tell us how is God himself - and He has.

Our word for today from the Word of God is John 14:6 - "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." In a world of listings with God's name on them, there's only one that reaches Him - the one marked Jesus. Jesus doesn't say, "I will show you the way." He says, "I am the way." Whether or not we reach our Creator is all wrapped up in what we do with Jesus - not with His teachings, not the religion named after Him, but with Jesus himself.

The reason He is the way is explained in 1 Timothy 2:5-6. The Bible says, "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all men." We can't understand what it takes to reach God until we understand what it is that keeps us from being able to reach Him. We have this wall between God and us called sin - which means we've made ourselves our own god by choosing to do it our way instead of God's way. And we've earned an eternal death penalty, which only one person even claimed to pay; only one person could pay. God's Son, Jesus, who loved you enough to do the dying for your sin on the cross. All our religious and moral efforts to reach Him are all wrong numbers and they're deadly.

You may be a very decent person, a sincere seeker, an accepted member of the Christian community, and still not reach the God who has what you need. Because you can only reach Him by putting your total trust in Jesus to rescue you from the penalty of your sins. Have you ever done that? Would you like to?

Tell Him that now. "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website, the information is there to help you be sure you've begun a relationship with Him. The website is ANewStory.com

He's been waiting for your call for a long time, but you've got to come the way that He's provided, the only way. Through His Son, who loved you enough to die for you. When it comes to eternity, a wrong number can cost you everything.