Proverbs 29, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Defiant Joy

My friend Rob cried freely telling his story about his young son's challenging life.

Daniel was born with a double cleft palate, dramatically disfiguring his face.  He had surgery, but the evidence remains, so people constantly notice and occasionally make remarks.

Daniel, however, is unfazed! He just tells people God made him this way so, what's the big deal?  He was named student of the week, so was asked to bring something to show his classmates for show and tell. Daniel told his mom he wanted to take the pictures that showed his face prior to the surgery. His mom was concerned. "Won't that make you feel a bit funny?" she asked. But Daniel insisted, "Oh, no, I want everyone to see what God did for me!"

Try Daniel's defiant joy and see what happens. God has handed you a cup of blessings. Sweeten it with a heaping spoonful of gratitude!

From You'll Get Through This

Proverbs 29

If People Can’t See What God Is Doing

1  29 For people who hate discipline

and only get more stubborn,

There’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break,

but by then it’ll be too late to help them.

2  When good people run things, everyone is glad,

but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans.

3  If you love wisdom, you’ll delight your parents,

but you’ll destroy their trust if you run with whores.

4  A leader of good judgment gives stability;

an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste.

5  A flattering neighbor is up to no good;

he’s probably planning to take advantage of you.

6  Evil people fall into their own traps;

good people run the other way, glad to escape.

7  The good-hearted understand what it’s like to be poor;

the hardhearted haven’t the faintest idea.

8  A gang of cynics can upset a whole city;

a group of sages can calm everyone down.

9  A sage trying to work things out with a fool

gets only scorn and sarcasm for his trouble.

10  Murderers hate honest people;

moral folks encourage them.

11  A fool lets it all hang out;

a sage quietly mulls it over.

12  When a leader listens to malicious gossip,

all the workers get infected with evil.

13  The poor and their abusers have at least something in common:

they can both see—their sight, God’s gift!

14  Leadership gains authority and respect

when the voiceless poor are treated fairly.

15  Wise discipline imparts wisdom;

spoiled adolescents embarrass their parents.

16  When degenerates take charge, crime runs wild,

but the righteous will eventually observe their collapse.

17  Discipline your children; you’ll be glad you did—

they’ll turn out delightful to live with.

18  If people can’t see what God is doing,

they stumble all over themselves;

But when they attend to what he reveals,

they are most blessed.

19  It takes more than talk to keep workers in line;

mere words go in one ear and out the other.

20  Observe the people who always talk before they think—

even simpletons are better off than they are.

21  If you let people treat you like a doormat,

you’ll be quite forgotten in the end.

22  Angry people stir up a lot of discord;

the intemperate stir up trouble.

23  Pride lands you flat on your face;

humility prepares you for honors.

24  Befriend an outlaw

and become an enemy to yourself.

When the victims cry out,

you’ll be included in their curses

if you’re a coward to their cause in court.

25  The fear of human opinion disables;

trusting in God protects you from that.

26  Everyone tries to get help from the leader,

but only God will give us justice.

27  Good people can’t stand the sight of deliberate evil;

the wicked can’t stand the sight of well-chosen goodness.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, October 11, 2026

by Tom Felten

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 15:3-7

Their grumbling triggered this story.

4–7  “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

Today's Insights

In our text, Jesus points to the rejoicing that follows when a sinner “repents” (Luke 15:7). The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible defines repentance as “a change in the whole personality from a sinful course of action to God.” It’s a complete about-face. This theme of repentance is found throughout the Bible and was especially prominent in the ministries of Christ and John the Baptist. Mark tells us, “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (1:4). In fact, John’s very first recorded words were, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). Jesus’ ministry began with the very same message (4:17). It’s imperative that all of us, as sinners, repent: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). The way to salvation is through belief in Christ, who died so we could live (John 3:16).

For further study, read: The Gift of Confession

Jesus Looks for the Lost

Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Luke 15:6

“I’ve been looking for him all my life.” With tears in his eyes, Bill Cordes spoke those words after being reunited with his younger brother, Robert. The men hadn’t seen each other for eighty years after being split up when Robert was just four months old due to a troubled family situation. Bill’s granddaughter helped him finally find his baby brother—someone he’d never stopped thinking about or seeking to find.

In Luke 15, Jesus told three parables of people who refused to stop looking for something or someone precious. In the parable of the lost sheep, He said to the Pharisees who were challenging Him, if a shepherd lost one sheep of his hundred, wouldn’t he “leave the ninety-nine . . . and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” (v. 4). His point? The Pharisees—the “ninety-nine”—thought they were right with God, but they weren’t. And Christ told them, there’s “more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents”—who turns from sin to God’s forgiveness—than for those who don’t think they need to (v. 7).

Our Great Shepherd never stops looking for us, and He’ll never stop seeking others as well. When we repent and receive salvation in Christ, there’s great joy in heaven—in God’s heart—because what “was lost . . . is found” (v. 32). And what joy we experience in being found by the one who sought us!

Reflect & Pray

Why should you repent of your sins? How does it encourage you to know that Jesus looks for the lost?

Dear Jesus, because You sought me, I can repent of my sins and receive Your salvation.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, October 11, 2026

After God’s Silence, What?

When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. — John 11:6

Has God trusted you with a silence, one that is full of meaning? God’s silences are his answers. Think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany, as Lazarus lay sick and dying, tended by Mary and Martha (John 11). Is there anything similar to those days in your life? Can God trust you as he trusted Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, or are you still asking for a visible answer? If you refuse to go on without certain blessings, God will give them to you. But his silence is the sign that he is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? You will find that God has trusted you in the most intimate way possible—with a silence that is not of despair but of pleasure, because he saw that you could handle a bigger revelation.

If God has given you a silence, praise him. He is bringing you into the great flow of his purpose. Precisely when the answer will manifest itself is a matter of God’s sovereign choice. Time is nothing to God. Perhaps you’ve grown impatient and you think, “I asked God to give me bread, and he gave me a stone.” He did not. Soon you will find he gave you the bread of life.

A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that the contagion of his stillness gets into you and you become perfectly confident: “I know God has heard me.” His silence is the proof that he has. As long as you have the idea that God will bless you in answer to a prayer, he will do it. But he will never give you the grace of silence. When Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer isn’t for blessings but for the glorifying of the Father, he will give you the first sign of his intimacy—silence.

Isaiah 37-38; Colossians 3

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. 

Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L

Proverbs 28, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  The Land is Conquered

If we are co-heirs with Christ, why do we struggle through life? Our inheritance is perfect peace, yet we feel like a perfect mess. God promises to meet every need, yet we still worry and fret. Why? Perhaps no one ever told us about what Paul describes in Ephesians 1:19- "the exceeding greatness of His (God's) power toward us who believe." No one told us the land is already conquered. The gift has been given. Will you trust it? Joshua 1:3 is the reminder, "I made this offer to the people of Moses' day but they didn't take it. They chose the wilderness."

You are embedded with the presence of God. You can't break the habit, but God can. You can't control your temper, or sexual urges, but God can. You can say with confidence, "These days are Glory Days…God will get me through!"

Join me at GloryDaysToday.com.

Proverbs 28

If You Desert God’s Law

1  28 The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off

even when no one’s after them;

Honest people are relaxed and confident,

bold as lions.

2  When the country is in chaos,

everybody has a plan to fix it—

But it takes a leader of real understanding

to straighten things out.

3  The wicked who oppress the poor

are like a hailstorm that beats down the harvest.

4  If you desert God’s law, you’re free to embrace depravity;

if you love God’s law, you fight for it tooth and nail.

5  Justice makes no sense to the evil minded;

those who seek God know it inside and out.

6  It’s better to be poor and direct

than rich and crooked.

7  Practice God’s law—get a reputation for wisdom;

hang out with a loose crowd—embarrass your family.

8  Get as rich as you want

through cheating and extortion,

But eventually some friend of the poor

is going to give it all back to them.

9  God has no use for the prayers

of the people who won’t listen to him.

10  Lead good people down a wrong path

and you’ll come to a bad end;

do good and you’ll be rewarded for it.

11  The rich think they know it all,

but the poor can see right through them.

12  When good people are promoted, everything is great,

but when the bad are in charge, watch out!

13  You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it;

you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.

14  A tenderhearted person lives a blessed life;

a hardhearted person lives a hard life.

15  Lions roar and bears charge—

and the wicked lord it over the poor.

16  Among leaders who lack insight, abuse abounds,

but for one who hates corruption, the future is bright.

17  A murderer haunted by guilt

is doomed—there’s no helping him.

18  Walk straight—live well and be saved;

a devious life is a doomed life.

Doing Great Harm in Seemingly Harmless Ways

19  Work your garden—you’ll end up with plenty of food;

play and party—you’ll end up with an empty plate.

20  Committed and persistent work pays off;

get-rich-quick schemes are ripoffs.

21  Playing favorites is always a bad thing;

you can do great harm in seemingly harmless ways.

22  A miser in a hurry to get rich

doesn’t know that he’ll end up broke.

23  In the end, serious reprimand is appreciated

far more than bootlicking flattery.

24  Anyone who robs father and mother

and says, “So, what’s wrong with that?”

is worse than a pirate.

25  A grasping person stirs up trouble,

but trust in God brings a sense of well-being.

26  If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure;

real survivors learn wisdom from others.

27  Be generous to the poor—you’ll never go hungry;

shut your eyes to their needs, and run a gauntlet of curses.

28  When corruption takes over, good people go underground,

but when the crooks are thrown out, it’s safe to come out.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, October 10, 2026

by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 26:3-7

People with their minds set on you,

you keep completely whole,

Steady on their feet,

because they keep at it and don’t quit.

Depend on God and keep at it

because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.

Those who lived high and mighty

he knocked off their high horse.

He used the city built on the hill

as fill for the marshes.

All the exploited and outcast peoples

build their lives on the reclaimed land.

7–10  The path of right-living people is level.

The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.

Today's Insights

The book of Isaiah can be divided into two major sections. In The Bible Knowledge Commentary, J. A. Martin writes, “Some have suggested that the book has two themes, one for chapters 1-39 and another for chapters 40-66. Judgment seems to be the emphasis in the first part, and salvation and comfort are prominent in the second.” That makes Isaiah 26 powerful, for it lies ensconced in the section of the book that deals primarily with judgment. Nevertheless, even when the focus is on judgment, God’s compassion for His people is displayed. Verse 3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” No matter what season we’re in, God offers His undeniable peace to those whose hearts are focused on Him.

For further study, read: A World Wanting Peace

A Sound Mind

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you. Isaiah 26:3 NLT

As a player for the San Francisco Giants baseball team, Drew Robinson knew mental highs and lows. Whenever injuries demoted him to the Giants’ minor league affiliate, he’d fall into a depressive state. Will I be replaced? Will I recover? At home, watching teammates playing on TV, “I just felt completely isolated, alienated and lonely.” After a suicide attempt during the pandemic, he shared his troubles with the Giants’ team psychologist. He got so much help he urged other players to come forth with their mental struggles. Now he’s the Giants’ full-time mental health advocate, urging physically tough players to seek strong mental health too. After surviving his worst, Robinson believes his purpose is to encourage others.

The Bible regards a sound mind as a wise goal but also a gift from a loving God. In song, the prophet Isaiah said of Him, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (26:3 nlt). What a consoling promise during a time of great trouble! Sin and rebellion had turned the hearts of God’s people away from Him, leaving their thoughts and minds in turmoil. So Isaiah urged them, “Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock” (v. 4 nlt).

During our anxious times, we too can trust God in our journey. Fixing our minds on Him points our trust to our daily peace—Jesus.

Reflect & Pray

Why does trusting God help us find peace? What worry can you give to Him today?

Please quiet my mental struggles, dear God, as I trust in You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, October 10, 2026

How Will I Know?

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. — Matthew 11:25

In our spiritual relationship with God, we do not grow step-by-step; we’re either there or we’re not. The same is true when it comes to sin. God doesn’t cleanse us more and more from sin; either we are free of sin or we’re not. It’s a question of obedience, of keeping ourselves in the light. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus . . . purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The instant we obey, our relationship with God is perfected. But if we disobey, even for a second, darkness and death are immediately at work.

All of God’s revelations are closed to us until we obey; only through obedience are they opened. Beware of becoming wise and learned; you will never get his revelations open by thinking about them. But when you obey, a flash of light comes. You have to let God’s truth work its way in by soaking yourself in it, not by worrying about it. The only way you can get to know the great truths of God is to stop trying to know and to be born again.

Obey God in the thing he places before you, whatever it may be, and the next thing will open up to you instantly. We read book upon book about the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total obedience would make things clear as a sunbeam.

“I guess I’ll understand one day,” you say. You can understand now. It isn’t studying that will get you there; it’s obedience. God will never reveal more truth about himself until you have obeyed what you already know. The tiniest fragment of obedience on your part will cause heaven to open and the profoundest truths of God to become yours.

Isaiah 34-36; Colossians 2

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

Proverbs 27, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GET UNSTUCK - October 9, 2026

Life feels stuck when life makes no progress. When you battle the same discouragement you faced a decade ago or struggle with the same fears you faced a year ago. When you feel as though everyone gets to the pool before you and nobody wants to help you.

Friend, Jesus sees you. He has a new version of you waiting to happen. He says to you what he said to the man near the Pool of Bethesda. “Stand up, pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:8 NLT).

Stand up, do something, take action. Pick up your mat, make a clean break with the past, and walk…hit the trail. Assume that something good is going to happen. Set your sights on a new destination and begin the hike.  Getting unstuck means getting excited about getting out. And remember friend, you are never alone.

You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence & Power

Proverbs 27

You Don’t Know Tomorrow

1  27 Don’t brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow;

you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow.

2  Don’t call attention to yourself;

let others do that for you.

3  Carrying a log across your shoulders

while you’re hefting a boulder with your arms

Is nothing compared to the burden

of putting up with a fool.

4  We’re blasted by anger and swamped by rage,

but who can survive jealousy?

5  A spoken reprimand is better

than approval that’s never expressed.

6  The wounds from a lover are worth it;

kisses from an enemy do you in.

7  When you’ve stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert;

when you’re starved, you could eat a horse.

8  People who won’t settle down, wandering hither and yon,

are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.

9  Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight,

a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.

10  Don’t leave your friends or your parents’ friends

and run home to your family when things get rough;

Better a nearby friend

than a distant family.

11  Become wise, dear child, and make me happy;

then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.

12  A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks;

a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.

13  Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger;

be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.

14  If you wake your friend in the early morning

by shouting “Rise and shine!”

It will sound to him

more like a curse than a blessing.

15–16  A nagging spouse is like

the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;

You can’t turn it off,

and you can’t get away from it.

Your Face Mirrors Your Heart

17  You use steel to sharpen steel,

and one friend sharpens another.

18  If you care for your orchard, you’ll enjoy its fruit;

if you honor your boss, you’ll be honored.

19  Just as water mirrors your face,

so your face mirrors your heart.

20  Hell has a voracious appetite,

and lust just never quits.

21  The purity of silver and gold is tested

by putting them in the fire;

The purity of human hearts is tested

by giving them a little fame.

22  Pound on a fool all you like—

you can’t pound out foolishness.

23–27  Know your sheep by name;

carefully attend to your flocks;

(Don’t take them for granted;

possessions don’t last forever, you know.)

And then, when the crops are in

and the harvest is stored in the barns,

You can knit sweaters from lambs’ wool,

and sell your goats for a profit;

There will be plenty of milk and meat

to last your family through the winter.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, October 09, 2026

by Winn Collier

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 8:4-15

The Story of the Seeds

4–8  As they went from town to town, a lot of people joined in and traveled along. He addressed them, using this story: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some of it fell on the road; it was tramped down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

9  His disciples asked, “Why did you tell this story?”

10  He said, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. There are others who need stories. But even with stories some of them aren’t going to get it:

Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing,

Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing.

11–12  “This story is about some of those people. The seed is the Word of God. The seeds on the road are those who hear the Word, but no sooner do they hear it than the Devil snatches it from them so they won’t believe and be saved.

13  “The seeds in the gravel are those who hear with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm doesn’t go very deep. It’s only another fad, and the moment there’s trouble it’s gone.

14  “And the seed that fell in the weeds—well, these are the ones who hear, but then the seed is crowded out and nothing comes of it as they go about their lives worrying about tomorrow, making money, and having fun.

15  “But the seed in the good earth—these are the good-hearts who seize the Word and hold on no matter what, sticking with it until there’s a harvest.

Today's Insights

When it comes to spiritual growth, we sometimes fail to consider how growth happens in other areas of life. Becoming more and more like Jesus takes time. The parable of the sower in Luke 8 includes the element of time. The word persevering (v. 15) is a translation of the Greek word hypomone, which means “a patient, steadfast waiting.” Here’s a helpful way to remember the importance of time in spiritual growth: Good seed in good soil produces good fruit in good time. We can ask God to help us trust Him as the Holy Spirit produces growth in us.

For further study, read: The Forever Race

Slow, Patient Growth in God

The seed on good soil stands for those . . . who hear the word, retain it, and . . . produce a crop. Luke 8:15

A saguaro cactus is never in a hurry to grow. Flourishing amid some of the most barren desert climates in the world, the plant slowly takes root over a lifetime of steady, plodding growth. Over its first decade, a Saguaro may grow as little as 1.5 inches. It may take thirty-five years to flower, and its arms can take fifty years to form. The cactus, however, can live up to two hundred years, reach forty-five feet high, and weigh up to two tons. Over a lifetime, it yields a remarkable forty million seeds. A Saguaro’s growth is slow, but resilient.

Jesus used agricultural imagery to describe how His believers grow in the kingdom of God. Telling a parable of seeds sowed among various types of soil, He concluded with a description of how the final seeds “fell on good soil . . . and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown” (Luke 8:8). Christ explained how those seeds “in the good soil” are ones who “[hear] the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience” (v. 15 esv). There’s a strong yield, abundant growth—but it only comes when we receive the wisdom of God and then patiently allow the Holy Spirit to produce growth in us.

This is how spiritual growth typically works. We may have explosive spurts, but our progress will typically be slow, as we receive God’s wisdom, follow His ways, and watch the Spirit work.

Reflect & Pray

Where do you get impatient with the slow way of spiritual growth? How can you relax and trust?

Dear God, please help me to patiently trust Your ways.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, October 09, 2026

Pull Yourself Together

Offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. — Romans 6:19

There are many things I cannot do: I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot make right what is wrong, pure what is impure, holy what is unholy. All this is the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what God, through Jesus Christ, has done? He has made for us a perfect atonement, placing us back in a right relationship with him. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it?

The great need in each of our lives isn’t to do things or to experience things but to believe them. The atonement isn’t something I experience. It is the great act of God, upon which I build my faith. If instead I build my faith upon my experiences, I will produce the kind of life that isn’t found in Scripture—an isolated life, in which I fix my eye upon my own spotlessness. Isolation has no basis in the atonement. The piety isolation produces is useless for God and a nuisance to other people, because it denies the reality of how things actually are. It’s easy to shine in the sun when we’re up on the mountaintop, alone with God, but Jesus wants us to shine where there is no sun, down in the valley, where it is dark with the press of practical things.

Do I understand that Jesus Christ wants his atonement to be recognized in every practical thing I do? In my home life? In my business? The grace of God is absolute, but I must prove, through obedience, that I do not receive his grace in vain. I must continually bring myself to judgment and ask, “Am I looking at this matter in the light of the atonement, or am I lacking Christ’s discernment?” Every time I obey, absolute Deity is on my side. Obedience means that I’ve placed all my hope in the atonement, and everything I do is met by the supernatural grace of God.

Isaiah 32-33; Colossians 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The Bible does not thrill; the Bible nourishes. Give time to the reading of the Bible and the recreating effect is as real as that of fresh air physically. 

Disciples Indeed, 387 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, October 09, 2026

Trash Talk - No Way to Win - #10370

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:29

I used to be undefeated in Scrabble. I’m sure you're real excited about that. Of course I’ve never heard of an Olympic Scrabble Tournament, or I would have entered it. But you notice what I said…I used to be undefeated? Yeah.

See, a long time ago my son broke my winning streak. You say, “Well, it couldn’t have been too impressive.” Yeah, my son is a smart kid. And near the end of that game that finished my future as the King of Scrabble I was getting desperate! I had a few high-scoring letters left, maybe you’ve done this. Some of those eight and ten-point scorers, you know, and some Zs and Qs. So I put down a word that is sort of a word but sort of not a word, and it was sort of debatable. So guess what we did? We debated it. I got out the dictionary, and I got absolutely no support. After arguing my case a little bit more, I finally gave in and lost. I’ll tell you, there’s no satisfaction winning on words that I probably shouldn’t use anyway in Scrabble or in everyday life.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Trash Talk - No Way to Win.”

Our word for today from the Word of God is about no way to score points. Ephesians 4:29, says this, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” And it says in verse 31, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

These verses that we’ve read here are about what you do with your mouth. And it says to us that the easiest thing to do with your mouth is to tear people down. The book of Proverbs says “the tongue has the power of life or death” and you can, with what you say, either make a person feel more alive or more dead inside. You’ve had it happen to you. You know. It’s so easy though, isn’t it, to use our mouth to score points on the other person, to defend ourselves, to get out of a jam, to express our anger.

But it’s no way to score points. Just think about the people who are most important to you that you spend the most time with; your family, your coworkers, your friends, people at school. You’ve learned that there are things you can say that help you get your way. Right?

Every married couple knows this, that there are some things you can say to silence your partner. There’s a way to make sure you win the argument, right? But usually it’s in a way that cuts them down. There’s a sarcasm maybe that can leave the people around you quivering.

There’s the attack on their weak spot; you know where they’re weak, you know how to get at them. If you attack that spot, their physical weak spot, their emotional weak spot, you know you can get your way. You can use guilt to get your way, to manipulate them into whatever you want. Oh, you win for the moment, but you leave them feeling very small. And guess what? You got smaller in the process.

And like Scrabble, there are words; there are kinds of sentences you should never allow. You should never allow to come out of your mouth any words that make someone else feel smaller. The Bible says to only allow words that build people up. That’s the test.

What if you listened to a recording of yourself for the last couple of days? Would you hear criticism, attacks, negativity that put the other person on the defensive, names called, put-downs given? Oh, maybe you scored some points for the moment, but you’re both smaller as a result of it.

We’re told in 1 Peter 2, that Jesus did nothing wrong. It says, “Did no guile and no accusation came out of His mouth.” Would you let His lordship reach your mouth? Eliminate the cutting words, the hurting words. They’re words you should never use; they’re just no way to score points.

Acts 4:23-37, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: QUESTION AT BETHESDA - October 8, 2026

On that particular day at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus was drawn to the main character of this miracle. John 5:5-7 (NLT) reads like this: “When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’ ‘I can’t, sir,’ the man said, ‘for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up.'”

What an odd question to ask a sick person. Why would Jesus pose such a question? The man was 38 years as an invalid. The duration of the condition prompted Jesus to ask, “Would you like to get well?”

Getting well means getting up, getting a job, getting on with life. Do you really want to be healed? That’s the question Jesus asked then. That’s the question Jesus asks all of us. Do you want to get well? Remember my friend, you are never alone.

You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence & Power

Acts 4:23-37

One Heart, One Mind

23–26  As soon as Peter and John were let go, they went to their friends and told them what the high priests and religious leaders had said. Hearing the report, they lifted their voices in a wonderful harmony in prayer: “Strong God, you made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. By the Holy Spirit you spoke through the mouth of your servant and our father, David:

Why the big noise, nations?

Why the mean plots, peoples?

Earth’s leaders push for position,

Potentates meet for summit talks,

The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers!

27–28  “For in fact they did meet—Herod and Pontius Pilate with nations and peoples, even Israel itself!—met in this very city to plot against your holy Son Jesus, the One you made Messiah, to carry out the plans you long ago set in motion.

29–30  “And now they’re at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31  While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s Word with fearless confidence.

32–33  The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn’t even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, “That’s mine; you can’t have it.” They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.

34–35  And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person’s need.

36–37  Joseph, called by the apostles “Barnabas” (which means “Son of Comfort”), a Levite born in Cyprus, sold a field that he owned, brought the money, and made an offering of it to the apostles.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, October 08, 2026

by Amy Boucher Pye

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

John 16:5-15

But now I am on my way to the One who sent me. Not one of you has asked, ‘Where are you going?’ Instead, the longer I’ve talked, the sadder you’ve become. So let me say it again, this truth: It’s better for you that I leave. If I don’t leave, the Friend won’t come. But if I go, I’ll send him to you.

8–11  “When he comes, he’ll expose the error of the godless world’s view of sin, righteousness, and judgment: He’ll show them that their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin; that righteousness comes from above, where I am with the Father, out of their sight and control; that judgment takes place as the ruler of this godless world is brought to trial and convicted.

12–15  “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you.’

Today's Insights

As Jesus was about to return to His Father (John 16:5), He comforted His disciples and promised to send them the Holy Spirit, “the Advocate” (v. 7). When the Spirit came, He would “guide [them] into all the truth” (v. 13). Believers in Christ receive the Spirit when they trust in Him for salvation (Acts 2:38; Ephesians 1:13). We can rely on the Spirit’s guidance in our day-to-day lives to convict us of sin and remind us of the truth (John 14:26; 15:26). As He did with the disciples, the Spirit will provide the words we need to honor Christ in difficult circumstances (Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11-12). We can ask God to give us a responsive heart to respond to the nudging of the Spirit.

For further study, read: The Promise of Presence

The Holy Spirit’s Work

When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin. John 16:8

When Oswald Chambers, author of My Utmost for His Highest, ran a small Bible college, he learned that a couple who worked there was stealing supplies. Although at times it’s right to address wrongdoing, Oswald decided in this instance not to confront them, instead asking God to bring the matter to their hearts and minds. After several weeks, they came clean, expressing regret. “I’ve known about it all along,” Oswald said, “but we wanted to wait until God’s Spirit spoke to you.” Moved and astonished, the couple surrendered their lives to Jesus.

God’s Spirit at work is what Jesus promised His friends before He died: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). The disciples grieved at the thought of Jesus going away, but He reassured them that this was for their good. Then “the Advocate,” God’s Holy Spirit, would come to them (v. 7). Through the Spirit, God convicts people of their sin: “He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (v. 8). He also guides people “into all the truth” (v. 13).

The Spirit continues His work today so we too might not “fall away” (v. 1) but rather enjoy life eternal. God gives us the Advocate to convict us when we’re wrong, comfort us when we’re sad, and lead us to worship God.

Reflect & Pray

How have you experienced the prompting of the Holy Spirit? How do you see the Spirit at work in your life?

Faithful God, please help me to have a tender heart, that I might respond to Your Spirit’s nudges of grace. For further study, read The Promise of Presence: John 14 at odbm.org.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, October 08, 2026

Come to Me

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28

Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus? As long as we have even the tiniest bit of spiritual rebellion inside of us, we long for God to ask us to do something grand and important. Instead, he tells us to do something infinitely simple: “Come.”

Think of all the things you won’t come to the Lord about. If you want to know how spiritually real you are, test yourself with these words: “Come to me.” In every degree to which you are not real, you will argue rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; you will do anything rather than present yourself, just as you are, to your Lord.

“Come to me.” When you hear these words, you know that a change must happen inside you before you will come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do. He will show you that you must take an axe to the thing that is preventing you from getting through to the Lord. You will never get any further until you do. The Holy Spirit will locate the one unmovable thing in you, but he won’t budge it unless you let him.

How often have you come to God with your requests and had the feeling that you’d achieved your goal, only to come away with nothing? And yet all the time, God has stood with outstretched hands, not only to take you but so that you will take him. Think of the invincible, unconquerable, untiring patience of Jesus as he says, “Come to me.”

Isaiah 30-31; Phil 4

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.

So Send I You

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, October 08, 2026

Dreams On the Scrapheap - #10369

Scripture:  Jeremiah 29:11

It's really a beautiful area of the southwestern United States, except for this one horrendous eyesore. It's a graveyard for cars. Acre after acre. They’re covered with cars that have been discarded, or wrecked, or crushed, and stacked several cars deep. And every time I pass this one and I see all these trashed and mashed cars, I can't help but thinking to myself, "Just think, one day that car was somebody's dream come true." Someone probably wished for that car, got that car, and showed everybody this car they were so proud of. Look at it now!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dreams On the Scrapheap."

When I look at that auto junkyard, I see what was once somebody's dream now just another piece of junk on the scrapheap. Some of us have lives that are like that junkyard; a pile of what was once our dreams, now laying on the scrapheap. Dreams that either didn't happen or didn't turn out to be what we thought they would; a lot of disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment, and as a result, a search now for a dream that won't let us down or maybe even won’t turn into a nightmare.

It's strange, in a way, that it's often at the end of our dreams that we find the reason we're living. Until then, we're pouring everything we've got into what we think will give us the love and meaning and fulfillment that we're looking for. But sooner or later, our path of dreams lets us down and it leaves us empty.

That's when we might finally be ready to consider what God thinks will make our life make sense. Since He's the One who made you, He's the One who knows why you're here. It was the dream He dreamed for you even before there was a you! It's the destiny you were made for, lived out one meaningful day at a time.

God actually talks about His plans for you in Jeremiah 29:11, our word for today from the Word of God. "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Those are the plans you were created for. Unfortunately, we've spent most of our life on our own dreams; a lot of which are now on the scrapheap. But now may be the time when you finally embrace what you were made for by embracing the One who made you; the One of whom the Bible says, "All things were created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). And that includes you and me.

But we've been building our life without the Architect, and things keep collapsing on us—disappointing us. We have, in the Bible's words, "gone astray" and turned to our "own way"(Isaiah 53:6). We've all gotten way off course and you know it took the greatest act of love in cosmic history to get us back—the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for our rebellion, for our sin, for our takeover of a life God made.

The moment you reach out to this Jesus and tell Him you want to be His from now on, you start to belong to your Creator, to experience His forgiving for every wrong thing you have ever done. You start living God's great dream for your life when you give yourself to Jesus, the One who loved you so much He would die for all your sin.

I would say today would be the best day of your life to say “yes” to Jesus. To tell Him, "I am yours. After what you did for me, you loved me enough to die for me, you would never do me wrong. I'm ready to live the way I was created to live. Jesus, I'm yours."

Maybe you'd like a new story to begin for you today. Well, then why don't you go to our website which is called ANewStory.com. I think you'll find the information there that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus from this day on.

Those wasted days, wasted years, end the moment you open your life to Jesus Christ. For you, the dream that will never disappoint could begin this very day.

Proverbs 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WAITING ON HELP - October 7, 2026

The man near the pool of Bethesda didn’t use the word “stuck,” but he sure could have. For 38 years near the edge of a pool, it was just him, his mat, and his paralyzed body. And since no one would help him, help never came.

Crowds of people, despondent, dejected, one after the other, awaited their chance to be placed in the pool where healing waters bubbled up. Can you envision them? And more important, can you envision Jesus walking among them?

All the gospels’ stories of help and healing invite us to embrace this wonderful promise: “Wherever Jesus went, he healed people of every sort of illness. And what pity he felt for the crowds that came because their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help” (Matthew 9:35-36 TLB).

My friend, remember Jesus sees you and you are never alone.

You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence & Power

Proverbs 26

Fools Recycle Silliness

1  26 We no more give honors to fools

than pray for snow in summer or rain during harvest.

2  You have as little to fear from an undeserved curse

as from the dart of a wren or the swoop of a swallow.

3  A whip for the racehorse, a tiller for the sailboat—

and a stick for the back of fools!

4  Don’t respond to the stupidity of a fool;

you’ll only look foolish yourself.

5  Answer a fool in simple terms

so he doesn’t get a swelled head.

6  You’re only asking for trouble

when you send a message by a fool.

7  A proverb quoted by fools

is limp as a wet noodle.

8  Putting a fool in a place of honor

is like setting a mud brick on a marble column.

9  To ask a moron to quote a proverb

is like putting a scalpel in the hands of a drunk.

10  Hire a fool or a drunk

and you shoot yourself in the foot.

11  As a dog eats its own vomit,

so fools recycle silliness.

12  See that man who thinks he’s so smart?

You can expect far more from a fool than from him.

13  Loafers say, “It’s dangerous out there!

Tigers are prowling the streets!”

and then pull the covers back over their heads.

14  Just as a door turns on its hinges,

so a lazybones turns back over in bed.

15  A shiftless sluggard puts his fork in the pie,

but is too lazy to lift it to his mouth.

Like Glaze on Cracked Pottery

16  Dreamers fantasize their self-importance;

they think they are smarter

than a whole college faculty.

17  You grab a mad dog by the ears

when you butt into a quarrel that’s none of your business.

18–19  People who shrug off deliberate deceptions,

saying, “I didn’t mean it, I was only joking,”

Are worse than careless campers

who walk away from smoldering campfires.

20  When you run out of wood, the fire goes out;

when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.

21  A quarrelsome person in a dispute

is like kerosene thrown on a fire.

22  Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy;

do you want junk like that in your belly?

23  Smooth talk from an evil heart

is like glaze on cracked pottery.

24–26  Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend,

all the while conniving against you.

When he speaks warmly to you, don’t believe him for a minute;

he’s just waiting for the chance to rip you off.

No matter how cunningly he conceals his malice,

eventually his evil will be exposed in public.

27  Malice backfires;

spite boomerangs.

28  Liars hate their victims;

flatterers sabotage trust.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, October 07, 2026

by Lisa M. Samra

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Philippians 3:17-21

 Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.

20–21  But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

Today's Insights

When Paul wrote Philippians, he was writing from prison (1:13). While there, he also wrote Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, which are referred to as the Prison Epistles. How did the apostle endure such difficult times? In part, by focusing beyond that moment to when he’d see his Savior and in part by focusing on others. While imprisoned, his heart was breaking for those who were living in opposition to the gospel: “As I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18). His tears demonstrated his concern for others. Our hope in Jesus and concern for others can lift us beyond our present circumstances to lives of hope and purpose as we wait for our longings to be fulfilled when Christ returns (vv. 14, 21).

For further study, read: All Things New

Longing For Jesus’ Return

Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20

When I was young, I loved going to Chick-fil-A, a US-based fast-food restaurant, for waffle fries and sweet tea. When, as an adult, I moved to another state, I was shocked to discover there weren’t any locations for hundreds of miles! On family road trips, we’d even plan our routes to allow for stops at Chick-fil-A, all the while hoping someday one would open closer to home.

Longing. We all experience it. Sometimes we don’t actually need what we long for, such as a favorite restaurant. Other times, our longings reflect deeper, more desperate yearnings.

Writing to the Philippian believers, Paul reminded them to live their lives in light of their deepest longing—Christ’s return and the full coming of His kingdom (Philippians 3:20). Jesus’ coming would make everything whole and transform believers to be like Him (v. 21).

Rather than merely longing for what can’t bring lasting satisfaction, Paul says it’s this coming reality that believers “eagerly await” (v. 20)—the day when there will be no more suffering, when we’ll see Jesus face-to-face.

Knowing our longings will one day be satisfied gives us the hope we need to live for Christ each day (vv. 12-14).

A Chick-fil-A recently opened a few miles from my house, a small reminder that a much more important longing will one day be fulfilled. Until then, we wait.

Reflect & Pray

What do you long to see Jesus make right? What do you most anticipate about your future with Jesus?

Dear Jesus, please fill us with hope as we wait for Your return.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, October 07, 2026

Reconciliation

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Sin is a fundamental relationship. It isn’t wrongdoing; it’s wrong being. Sin is deliberate and emphatic independence from God. The Christian religion bases everything on the radical, singular nature of sin. Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin. The heredity of sin in humankind was the first thing Jesus Christ addressed. Because we have ignored this in our preaching, the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” The revelation of the Bible isn’t that Jesus Christ took upon himself our sins, but that he took upon himself the heredity of sin, which no human being can touch. God made his Son to “be sin” so that any sinner could “become the righteousness of God.”

The Bible reveals that our Lord bore the sin of the world by identifying himself with sin, not by sympathizing with it. He deliberately took the whole massed sin of humankind and placed it on his own shoulders; he bore that sin in his own being. By doing this, he redeemed all of humanity, rehabilitating it and putting it back where God designed it to be. Now, thanks to what Jesus Christ did on the cross, anyone can enter into union with God.

Human beings cannot redeem themselves. Redemption is God’s work, and it is work that has already been done; it’s finished and complete. How individuals experience redemption is a question of their individual choices. A distinction must always be made between the revelation of redemption, which applies equally to all, and the conscious experience of salvation in an individual’s life.

Isaiah 28-29; Philippians 3

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, October 07, 2026

No Time For Picnics - #10368

Scripture:  Numbers 32:6

It was the strangest picnic in American history I think. It was July 1861, on a hill in Northern Virginia, overlooking a stream called Bull Run. The Southern states had seceded from the Union, they’d attacked a Union fort in April, and now what the North called “the rebel army” was headed for Washington, D.C. Most people in the capitol thought the Union Army was going to mop up these Southern forces in a matter of weeks, and they wanted to see it happen as the Northern troops moved to engage the Confederates at Bull Run. They came from church in their Sunday best, the ladies and gentlemen of Washington arriving at the hill overlooking Bull Run in their carriages. They laid out their tablecloths, commenced their picnic, and started passing the fried chicken. Down below, the men in blue and the men in gray mingled their blood in the waters of Bull Run.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “No Time For Picnics.”

How can people have a picnic when there’s a battle going on? That’s a question God must be asking of His own children—those who are supposed to be the soldiers in His army.

It’s a scene reminiscent of the day the ancient Jews were getting ready to invade the Promised Land, and a couple of the tribes asked if they could just take their inheritance on the safe side of the Jordan River and settle in there. In Numbers 32:6, our word for today from the Word of God, Moses asks them this haunting question, “Shall you sit here while your brothers go to war?” Well that’s a great question. How can you just settle into a comfortable little spot while there are battles to fight for God that require every one of us to be in the fight? A picnic while a battle is going on.

We were shocked that September 11, 2001, when nearly 3,000 Americans died in one day. Did you know that more than twice that many will die in America every day? On an average day in the United States, over 6,000 people go into eternity. Sadly, many—maybe most of them—will not be ready for eternity. Today in our world, over 150,000 people will go into eternity. Again, many with no relationship with Jesus and no hope of heaven. And there is a battle raging to get the Good News about Jesus to those folks in time!

There’s a small army of believers who understand that the battle is the responsibility of every one of us who belongs to Jesus. But, tragically, so many of those who could help rescue the spiritually dying are sitting on a hill with other believers, enjoying the view, passing the blessings, and playing no active role in the battle for human souls.

Yes, it’s true. God has to draw people to Him—spiritual rescue is totally a God-thing! But the same man who wrote the verses about us being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world is the same Apostle Paul who was driven to get the Gospel to as many people as possible…even at the cost of his own life.

The battle for a lost world. You know where it begins? It begins with your own family, your own co-workers, fellow students, and friends. When it comes to telling them what you know about Jesus, silence is not golden. No, it’s deadly. They need to see Jesus in your life but they need to hear about Jesus from your lips.

You can’t just enjoy the fellowship of those who are already headed for heaven while so many around you are headed for hell! God has a place for you in this battle, my friend, and the battle is the Lord’s! For you, this is no time to be passing the chicken. It’s time to be passing the ammunition!

As that great missionary Amy Carmichael said, “We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few short hours to win them.” And we are in those few short hours.

Proverbs 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: TAKE JESUS AT HIS WORD - October 6, 2026

This life contains many walks from Cana to Capernaum. Journeys between prayer offered and prayer answered. Jesus promised the boy’s father a sure blessing at the end of the journey. He promises the same to us.

We will meet this father when we get to heaven, and when we do I’m gonna ask him about that walk. I want to hear how he felt. I want to know what he thought. But most of all, I want to thank him for inspiring this verse: “The man took Jesus at his word and departed” (John 4:50 NIV).

Do likewise. Set your compass on the pole star of God’s promise. Place one weary foot in front of the other. Jesus has spoken. Let his word do what it was intended to do, and that is lead you home. Remember my friend, you are never alone.

You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence & Power

Proverbs 25

FURTHER WISE SAYINGS OF SOLOMON

The Right Word at the Right Time

1  25 There are also these proverbs of Solomon,

collected by scribes of Hezekiah, king of Judah.

2  God delights in concealing things;

scientists delight in discovering things.

3  Like the horizons for breadth and the ocean for depth,

the understanding of a good leader is broad and deep.

4–5  Remove impurities from the silver

and the silversmith can craft a fine chalice;

Remove the wicked from leadership

and authority will be credible and God-honoring.

6–7  Don’t work yourself into the spotlight;

don’t push your way into the place of prominence.

It’s better to be promoted to a place of honor

than face humiliation by being demoted.

8  Don’t jump to conclusions—there may be

a perfectly good explanation for what you just saw.

9–10  In the heat of an argument,

don’t betray confidences;

Word is sure to get around,

and no one will trust you.

11–12  The right word at the right time

is like a custom-made piece of jewelry,

And a wise friend’s timely reprimand

is like a gold ring slipped on your finger.

13  Reliable friends who do what they say

are like cool drinks in sweltering heat—refreshing!

14  Like billowing clouds that bring no rain

is the person who talks big but never produces.

15  Patient persistence pierces through indifference;

gentle speech breaks down rigid defenses.

A Person Without Self-Control

16–17  When you’re given a box of candy, don’t gulp it all down;

eat too much chocolate and you’ll make yourself sick;

And when you find a friend, don’t outwear your welcome;

show up at all hours and he’ll soon get fed up.

18  Anyone who tells lies against the neighbors

in court or on the street is a loose cannon.

19  Trusting a double-crosser when you’re in trouble

is like biting down on an abscessed tooth.

20  Singing light songs to the heavyhearted

is like pouring salt in their wounds.

21–22  If you see your enemy hungry, go buy him lunch;

if he’s thirsty, bring him a drink.

Your generosity will surprise him with goodness,

and God will look after you.

23  A north wind brings stormy weather,

and a gossipy tongue stormy looks.

24  Better to live alone in a tumbledown shack

than share a mansion with a nagging spouse.

25  Like a cool drink of water when you’re worn out and weary

is a letter from a long-lost friend.

26  A good person who gives in to a bad person

is a muddied spring, a polluted well.

27  It’s not smart to stuff yourself with sweets,

nor is glory piled on glory good for you.

28  A person without self-control

is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, October 06, 2026

by Tim Gustafson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Samuel 21:10-15

  “Oh,” said David, “there’s no sword like that! Give it to me!”

And at that, David shot out of there, running for his life from Saul. He went to Achish, king of Gath. When the servants of Achish saw him, they said, “Can this be David, the famous David? Is this the one they sing of at their dances?

Saul kills by the thousand,

David by the ten thousand!”

12–15  When David realized that he had been recognized, he panicked, fearing the worst from Achish, king of Gath. So right there, while they were looking at him, he pretended to go crazy, pounding his head on the city gate and foaming at the mouth, spit dripping from his beard. Achish took one look at him and said to his servants, “Can’t you see he’s crazy? Why did you let him in here? Don’t you think I have enough crazy people to put up with as it is without adding another? Get him out of here!”

Today's Insights

When “the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled [Saul] with depression and fear” (1 Samuel 16:14 nlt), David was enlisted to soothe him by playing the lyre (v. 23). The king “liked him . . . and David became one of his armor-bearers” (v. 21). But Saul’s admiration for him was short-lived. After David defeated Goliath (ch. 17), Saul was overtaken by jealousy and tried to kill him (18:6-11). In chapter 21, David is on the run from Saul and hiding among the Philistines, Israel’s enemies. He “pretended to be insane” (v. 13) because it was believed that harming someone who was insane would bring misfortune. Even as David took desperate measures to escape death, his psalms exhibit his trust in God. He wrote, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3). When trouble strikes, we too can put our trust in God.

For further study, listen to the following devotional: Presented without Fault

David’s Deliverance

The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. Psalm 34:22

In the semifinals of his high school wrestling tournament, Dave cracked a rib on his right side. He won the match but wondered how he’d survive the championship with a damaged ribcage.

In the finals, Dave limped out to the mat on his left, uninjured leg. So his opponent targeted Dave’s left leg throughout the match. Dave protected his right side and won.

Another “Dave” used deception to extract himself from a tough situation. David had been fleeing a murderous King Saul. He found refuge among Israel’s enemies, but word soon got to the enemy king that David was a Hebrew war hero (1 Samuel 21:11). Fearing for his life, David “pretended to be insane . . . making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard” (v. 13). The ploy worked (vv. 14-15).

Good people can debate such tactics and arrive at different conclusions. But Psalm 34 sheds light on David’s experience. There, David credited not his deception but God for his deliverance. He sang, “I sought the Lord, and he . . . delivered me from all my fears” (v. 4). And again, “This poor man called, and the Lord . . . saved him out of all his troubles” (v. 6). David had sought safety with the Philistines, but he found his only reliable refuge when he turned to God (vv. 8, 22).

Reflect & Pray

When have circumstances caused you to take desperate measures you regretted? How does turning to God first change your response?

Dear Father, when I rely on my own cleverness, I get into trouble. Please help me see my challenges as an opportunity to turn to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, October 06, 2026

A New Heredity

God . . . was pleased to reveal his Son in me. — Galatians 1:15–16

If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem he is up against? I’ve inherited a sinful nature, a heredity I had no say in. I am not holy, nor am I likely to become holy. If all Jesus Christ can do is tell me to be holy, I’ll end in despair. But since Jesus Christ does more than tell, since he is a regenerator who can impart to me his own heredity—the heredity of holiness—I begin to see what he’s getting at when he tells me to be holy.

Redemption means that Jesus Christ can remake anyone by putting his own holy nature into them. The standards he sets for us are based on this new heredity; his teaching is directed at what he puts into me, not at what I was before I received him. The moral obligation on my part is to agree with God’s verdict on sin in the cross of Jesus Christ.

What the New Testament teaches about spiritual rebirth is that when people are struck by a sense of their need, God will begin to put the Holy Spirit into their spirit, not stopping until they have been fully remade—that is, “until Christ is formed” inside them (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can instill in me a holiness that enables me to live a totally new life. But it isn’t until I reach the frontier of need and understand my limitations that Jesus says, “Blessed are you” (Matthew 5:11). God cannot put the holiness that was in Jesus Christ into someone who is still convinced of their own morality. I have to be consciously in need of him to receive his heredity.

Just as the disposition of sin entered humanity through one man,

so the Holy Spirit entered humanity by one man. Redemption means

that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin and receive the spotless

heredity of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 26-27; Philippians 2

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. 

Shade of His Hand, 1200 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, October 06, 2026

When You Can’t Find the Trail - #10367

Scripture:  John 8:12

One of our team members is quite the woodsman and hiker. And one foggy Saturday morning, he volunteered to lead a group of men who wanted to go hike to this distinctive rock formation called Hawksbill Crag. He had the book on the trails in that area; a book written by the man considered the expert. My friend kept consulting the book as they went along, pretty confident that they would soon end up at Hawksbill Crag. They ended up lost in a poison ivy patch, and the fog wasn't helping much. As they tried to retrace their steps, they passed a house set back in the woods and they happened to see its owner outside. My friend called to him and asked him if he would help them get "un-lost." That man went above and beyond. He actually came to where they were, helped them make sense of the map that they had, and pointed them right to the trail that got them to their goal. Of course, it turns out he was the man who wrote the book.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You Can’t Find the Trail.”

Those men finally found the trail they needed to be on from the person who knew the trail best. There's not one of us who doesn't need that same kind of direction for our life! Most of us have lived long enough to have already tried several trails that looked good to us, that we were sure would lead us to the meaning we were looking for, and to the love we were looking for, and to the inner freedom and peace we've always wanted. But so far, no trail has led us there. We're lost. In fact, some of us have found ourselves standing in poison ivy rather than looking at the beautiful view we had hoped for.

But all the dead-end trails you've tried, all the fog, all the disappointments, all the brokenness, have been preparing you to meet the person who knows the trail better than anyone else. And He has our word for today from the Word of God. It's Jesus, of course, and we're reading His words in John 8:12. "Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" So, Jesus is offering here a relationship with Him that opens up that awesome possibility of being led by the very person who designed us in the first place, who wrote the book of our life.

So you don't have to "walk in darkness" any more. The problem is that we've all, as the Bible says, "gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We're lost. We're wondering which way is the right way because we've consistently chosen to go our own way instead of God's way. That's what the Bible calls sin. And we were never meant to blaze our own trail. There's a trail you were made for. But following our own trail has left behind us a trail of brokenness, guilt, restlessness, scars and tears. And ultimately our trail leads right over a cliff into an eternity without God and without hope.

But Jesus left His home in heaven to come where we are to actually give His life to pay for every wrong thing we have ever done. And today He is saying to you, "Will you follow Me from this point on? I'll forgive your sin, I’ll come into your life, and I’ll lead you on the trail you were created for." You'll have to resign from being your own guide; from depending on your religion to get you to heaven, and you just tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, Lord. I'm pinning all my hopes on You. You died for me. You've got me."

It may be that you’re just tired of wandering, tired of feeling lost…off the right trail, and you are ready for the life you were made for. This is the day you can reach out to Jesus Christ, who will bring you into that very life that has your name on it. It begins when you say to Him, “I’m Yours.”

Your new story could begin today. Our website is called ANewStory.com because it's all about helping you get that story started. I hope you go there today - ANewStory.com.

Don't walk any further down a trail that ultimately goes nowhere. You don't have to be lost one more day. With Jesus out in front from now on, you will finally be able to find what you've been looking for all this time.

Acts 4:1-22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: STUDIO OF THE DIVINE ARTIST - October 5, 2026

Do your days feel like a hike on an Appalachian Trail in winter? A struggle to place one foot in front of the other? If so, I urge you friend, hang on, hang on. Don’t give up. Help is here. It may not come in the manner you requested or as quickly as you desire, but it will come.

Assume that something good is going to happen. The door of tomorrow is unlocked from the inside. Just turn the knob and step out. The divine artist isn’t finished. The earth is his studio. Every person on earth is one of his projects. Every event on earth is a part of his great mural. He is not finished. The scripture says in Philippians 1:6 (NCV), “God began doing a good work in you, and I’m sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.” Remember friend, you are never alone.

You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence & Power

Acts 4:1-22

Nothing to Hide

1–4  4 While Peter and John were addressing the people, the priests, the chief of the Temple police, and some Sadducees came up, indignant that these upstart apostles were instructing the people and proclaiming that the resurrection from the dead had taken place in Jesus. They arrested them and threw them in jail until morning, for by now it was late in the evening. But many of those who listened had already believed the Message—in round numbers about five thousand!

5–7  The next day a meeting was called in Jerusalem. The rulers, religious leaders, religion scholars, Annas the Chief Priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander—everybody who was anybody was there. They stood Peter and John in the middle of the room and grilled them: “Who put you in charge here? What business do you have doing this?”

8–12  With that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: “Rulers and leaders of the people, if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick man, put under investigation regarding this healing, I’ll be completely frank with you—we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One you killed on a cross, the One God raised from the dead, by means of his name this man stands before you healthy and whole. Jesus is ‘the stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone.’ Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one.”

13–14  They couldn’t take their eyes off them—Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education. They recognized them as companions of Jesus, but with the man right before them, seeing him standing there so upright—so healed!—what could they say against that?

15–17  They sent them out of the room so they could work out a plan. They talked it over: “What can we do with these men? By now it’s known all over town that a miracle has occurred, and that they are behind it. There is no way we can refute that. But so that it doesn’t go any further, let’s silence them with threats so they won’t dare to use Jesus’ name ever again with anyone.”

18–20  They called them back and warned them that they were on no account ever again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John spoke right back, “Whether it’s right in God’s eyes to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. As for us, there’s no question—we can’t keep quiet about what we’ve seen and heard.”

21–22  The religious leaders renewed their threats, but then released them. They couldn’t come up with a charge that would stick, that would keep them in jail. The people wouldn’t have stood for it—they were all praising God over what had happened. The man who had been miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, October 05, 2026

by Nancy Gavilanes

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Matthew 13:44-46

  “God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.

45–46  “Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.

Today's Insights

The two parables in Matthew 13:44-46 appear amid the telling of several parables on the kingdom of heaven (vv. 1-52). After Jesus told the first parable of the sower (vv. 3-9), His disciples asked why He always spoke in parables (v. 10). His answer was telling: “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them” (v. 11). He told the disciples, “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (v. 16). Then He explained the parable (vv. 18-23). The disciples desired to know the true meaning of Christ’s words, and their desire was rewarded. They’d left everything to follow Him. In essence, they were living out the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl (vv. 44-46). They’d found the true treasure because they were receptive to the gospel. When we place our faith in Jesus, we receive the free gift of eternal life with Him—the true treasure of heaven.

For further study, feel free to browse through our resources at the store: Reclaim Today Guide - Ecclesiastes

True Treasure

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. Matthew 13:44

James threw a long rope with a powerful magnet tied to it into the waters of a New York lake. The “magnet fisher” was stunned when he pulled out a grimy safe filled with stacks of muddy one-hundred-dollar bills. Police said James could keep the money since it wasn’t linked to a crime. Some of the bills were in such poor condition they couldn’t be authenticated, though he hoped to salvage as much of the money as possible to perhaps buy a home.

Finding hidden treasure is exciting, and Jesus told a parable about a man who did just that: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44). The man recognized the value of the treasure he’d found and was willing to sell all his possessions to purchase the field.

As we consider that parable, no amount of wealth or possessions could pay the debt we owe for our sins. Only Jesus could pay the incredible price to redeem us and to reconcile us with His Father, through His sacrificial death and resurrection.

Earthly treasures may be nice, but they can be lost, stolen, or destroyed. We can gratefully accept Jesus’ supreme sacrifice for us and His free gift of eternal life, knowing that living in heaven with Him is our great reward.

Reflect & Pray

Why is Jesus so precious to you? Why are you willing to let go of your old life to spend eternity with Him?

Dear Jesus, thank You for giving me the true treasure of heaven when I placed my faith and trust in You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, October 05, 2026

The Disposition of Sin

Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. — Romans 5:12

The Bible doesn’t say that God punished humanity for one man’s sin, but that the disposition of sin entered into humanity by one man. Then another man, Jesus Christ, took the sin of humankind upon himself and put it away (Hebrews 9:26)—an infinitely profounder revelation.

The disposition of sin isn’t immorality and wrongdoing; it’s the disposition of self-realization, the natural-born inclination that says, “I am my own god.” This disposition may show itself in immoral acts or in acts that appear moral, but underneath them all is a single claim—the claim to my right to myself. Our Lord faced people with all the forces of evil inside them, and he faced people who were clean-living and moral and upright. But he never paid attention to moral achievements or to moral failings. He looked for something we do not see: the disposition beneath the act.

The disposition of sin is a thing I am born with and cannot touch. Only God can touch sin, and he touches it through redemption. In the cross of Jesus Christ, God redeemed the whole of humanity from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. Being born with this heredity doesn’t condemn me. But if, when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this disposition, I refuse to let him do so, from that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the verdict”—the moment of judgment—“Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light” (John 3:19).

Isaiah 23-25; Philippians 1

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.

The Place of Help

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, October 05, 2026

When You're the Only One Standing - #10366

Scripture:  Daniel 3:1

The church we attended in New Jersey grew a lot over the years. So much so, that it was hard to spot visitors. So, our pastor would ask first-timers to stand and introduce themselves right where they were. He'd take one section of the sanctuary at a time, and ask the visitors to stand and introduce themselves.

Well, our family brought our share of visitors, and many of their faces went through three or four colors when they were asked to stand up! We brought Nancy one day. When the pastor mentioned standing up, we gave her that “How about it, Nancy?” She gave us a look back. I would interpret it as saying, “No way!” Well, you can’t blame people. I mean, most of us have a pretty great fear of being conspicuous, and hey, what if no one else stands?

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You're the Only One Standing.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of Daniel 3:1. “King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura.” Okay, now, a decree went out that everyone was supposed to bow down to this image. Here’s how the decree went: “As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” It goes on to say, “Therefore, everyone fell down and worshipped it.” Well, almost everyone.

Okay, get the picture. In verse 12, this complaint comes back to the king, “There are some Jews who you’ve set over the affairs of this province—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, O king. They did not worship the image.” Here’s the scene, and it is incredible! This flat plain, this big statue, everyone’s on their knees, there’s no place to hide, and here are these three men standing. You talk about conspicuous! And they got heat for it…I mean literally. They got the furnace. And then verse 30 says, “Afterward the king promoted them.” What just happened here? The story has this happy ending!

Actually I think the King — that is capital K, The King — promoted them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego should still be our heroes, because they had the courage to be the only one standing. Do you? Everyone else at your school, your office, among your friends may be bowing down to the gods of pleasure, money, sex outside of marriage, and increasingly you’ll have to be the only one standing. Don’t bow down.

There may be something even more difficult, though, than taking a stand among unbelievers, and that’s taking a stand among believers. See, the standards and boundaries are moving inside the church today too. Not just in our culture; the church is moving with the culture. God’s people are increasingly compromising on what they watch, and they listen to, and they talk about, and tolerate. Biblical standards on marriage, and divorce, and sexuality are drifting. Christians are tending to forget the lost, and they are retreating into a comfortable entertainment faith, “Just meet my needs.” Sometimes you even are being asked to bow down and compromise within the context of the church when the majority have followed the culture instead of Christ. But God’s truth has never been decided by a vote, and God’s truth hasn’t changed—and it won’t.

As sin seduces more believers, you’ll need the courage to feel a little old fashioned, a little lonely even at church, but you’ve got to remain standing. People sometimes feel conspicuous when they’re asked to stand at our church. Well, more and more, discipleship will mean what it did in Shadrach’s day: the courage to be conspicuous; to be, even among God’s people sometimes, the only one standing - but applauded by Christ.