1 Kings 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: ANOTHER PLAN - November 5, 2026

My wife and I spent five years on a missionary team in Brazil. Our first two years felt fruitless and futile. More often than not I went home frustrated. So we asked God for another plan.

We prayed and read the Epistles. We especially focused on Galatians. When I compared our gospel message with Paul’s, I saw a difference. His was high-octane good news. Mine was soured legalism. So, as a team, we resolved to focus on the gospel. I did my best to proclaim forgiveness of sins and resurrection from the dead.

We saw an immediate change. We baptized forty people in twelve months. Quite a few for a church of sixty members! God wasn’t finished with us yet. We just needed to put God’s plan in place. Why don’t you ask God for his plan?

God Is with You Every Day

1 Kings 10

The Queen of Sheba Visits

1–510The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon and his connection with the Name of God. She came to put his reputation to the test by asking tough questions. She made a grand and showy entrance into Jerusalem—camels loaded with spices, a huge amount of gold, and precious gems. She came to Solomon and talked about all the things that she cared about, emptying her heart to him. Solomon answered everything she put to him—nothing stumped him. When the queen of Sheba experienced for herself Solomon’s wisdom and saw with her own eyes the palace he had built, the meals that were served, the impressive array of court officials and sharply dressed waiters, the lavish crystal, and the elaborate worship extravagant with Whole-Burnt-Offerings at the steps leading up to The Temple of God, it took her breath away.

6–9She said to the king, “It’s all true! Your reputation for accomplishment and wisdom that reached all the way to my country is confirmed. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself; they didn’t exaggerate! Such wisdom and elegance—far more than I could ever have imagined. Lucky the men and women who work for you, getting to be around you every day and hear your wise words firsthand! And blessed be God, your God, who took such a liking to you and made you king. Clearly, God’s love for Israel is behind this, making you king to keep a just order and nurture a God-pleasing people.”

10She then gave the king four and a half tons of gold, and also sack after sack of spices and expensive gems. There hasn’t been a cargo of spices like that since that shipload the queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon.

11–12The ships of Hiram also imported gold from Ophir along with tremendous loads of fragrant sandalwood and expensive gems. The king used the sandalwood for fine cabinetry in The Temple of God and the palace complex, and for making harps and dulcimers for the musicians. Nothing like that shipment of sandalwood has been seen since.

13King Solomon for his part gave the queen of Sheba all her heart’s desire—everything she asked for, on top of what he had already so generously given her. Satisfied, she returned home with her train of servants.

14–15Solomon received twenty-five tons of gold in tribute annually. This was above and beyond the taxes and profit on trade with merchants and assorted kings and governors.

16–17King Solomon crafted two hundred body-length shields of hammered gold—seven and a half pounds of gold to each shield—and three hundred smaller shields about half that size. He stored the shields in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

18–20The king built a massive throne of ivory accented with a veneer of gold. The throne had six steps leading up to it, its back shaped like an arch. The armrests on each side were flanked by lions. Lions, twelve of them, were placed at either end of the six steps. There was no throne like it in any of the surrounding kingdoms.

21King Solomon’s chalices and tankards were made of gold and all the dinnerware and serving utensils in the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold—nothing was made of silver; silver was considered common and cheap.

22The king had a fleet of ocean-going ships at sea with Hiram’s ships. Every three years the fleet would bring in a cargo of gold, silver, and ivory, and apes and peacocks.

23–25King Solomon was wiser and richer than all the kings of the earth—he surpassed them all. People came from all over the world to be with Solomon and drink in the wisdom God had given him. And everyone who came brought gifts—artifacts of gold and silver, fashionable robes and gowns, the latest in weapons, exotic spices, and horses and mules—parades of visitors, year after year.

26–29Solomon collected chariots and horses: fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses! He stabled them in the special chariot cities as well as in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common as rocks and cedar as common as the fig trees in the lowland hills. His horses were brought in from Egypt and Cilicia, specially acquired by the king’s agents. Chariots from Egypt went for fifteen pounds of silver and a horse for about three and three-quarter pounds of silver. Solomon carried on a brisk horse-trading business with the Hittite and Aramean royal houses.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, November 05, 2026

by Tim Gustafson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Joshua 15:13-19

Joshua gave Caleb son of Jephunneh a section among the people of Judah, according to God’s command. He gave him Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron. Arba was the ancestor of Anak.

14–15Caleb drove out three Anakim from Hebron: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, all descendants of Anak. He marched up from there against the people of Debir. Debir used to be called Kiriath Sepher.

16–17Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath Sepher and takes it, I’ll give my daughter Acsah to him as his wife.” Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave him his daughter Acsah as his wife.

18–19When she arrived she got him

to ask for farmland from her father.

As she dismounted from her donkey

Caleb asked her, “What would you like?”

She said, “Give me a marriage gift.

You’ve given me desert land;

Now give me pools of water!”

And he gave her the upper and the lower pools.

Today's Insights

In Joshua 15:13-19, we read about Caleb’s generosity when he gave away the land with valuable springs. Generosity is a recurring theme throughout the Bible and was one of the refreshing attributes of the early believers in Jesus. Their embrace of Christ and His teaching was reflected in their openhandedness. Luke says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. . . . God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:32-34). The early church lived together as a community which factored into how they functioned, but they also demonstrated their love for Jesus by caring for the needs of others. Today, we can ask God to give us compassion for others and show us how to be generous with what He’s given us.

For further study, listen to the podcast: Discovering His Generous Heart

Give While We Live

Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water. Joshua 15:19

With his team winning comfortably, Philadelphia Eagles’ superstar football player Saquon Barkley rested on the bench. There was no need for him to continue playing. Then his coach approached and told him he was close to breaking a record. Would he like to go back in? “I’m good,” said Barkley. “I’d rather see the young boys eat.” Barkley chose to give up a record so his young teammates could get playing time.

When Israel inhabited the promised land, Caleb was one of only two Israelites to survive the exodus all the way from Egypt (see Numbers 14:30). He’d enjoyed military success and had driven out an enemy nation (Joshua 15:14). Now, as he faced a Canaanite stronghold, he said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher” (v. 16). Othniel did so, and Aksah married him. Caleb gave them land in the Negev desert (v. 19), but Aksah approached her father with a request. “Do me a special favor,” she said. “Give me also springs of water” (v. 19).

For four decades, Caleb had toiled to get to the promised land. Still in good health (14:10-11), he could have kept the valuable springs for himself. But he didn’t.

Accumulating things for ourselves never means as much as we expect it to. Personal records get broken. Our possessions go to others. Let’s give while we live. As Saquon Barkley said, “[Let] the young boys eat.”

Reflect & Pray

What have others given to you? What has God given you that you might share with others?

Generous Father, please help me wisely share what You’ve given me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, November 05, 2026

Participants in His Sufferings

Rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ. —1 Peter 4:13

If you are going to be used by God, he will take you through a multitude of difficult experiences, asking you to participate in the sufferings of Christ. These experiences aren’t meant to enrich you or benefit you personally. They’re meant to make you useful in God’s hands and to enable you to understand what occurs in other people’s souls, so that you will never be surprised by what you encounter. If you don’t go willingly through these experiences, you might often find yourself saying, “I can’t deal with that person.” You should never feel this way about another soul. God has given you ample opportunity to come before him and soak up his wisdom about others.

It might seem pointless to spend time soaking before God in this way; you have to get to the place where you are able to understand how he deals with us, and this is only done by being rightly related to Jesus Christ and participating in his sufferings. The sufferings of Christ aren’t those of ordinary life. He suffered “according to God’s will” (1 Peter 4:19), not because his individual desires or pride were thwarted. It is part of Christian culture to know what God’s will is, yet in the history of the church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with Christ’s sufferings. People have tried to carry out God’s will using shortcuts. God’s way is always the “long, long trail,” the way of suffering.

Are you participating in Christ’s sufferings? Are you prepared for God to entirely stamp out your personal ambitions and destroy your individual determination? It doesn’t mean you’ll know exactly why God is taking you a certain way. In the moment, it’s never clear; you go through more or less blindly. Then, suddenly, you come to a luminous place and say, “Why, God was there all along, and I didn’t know it!”

Jeremiah 34-36; Hebrews 2

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me. 

The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, November 05, 2026

Someone to Trust With the Keys to Everything - #10389

Scripture:  Romans 8:32

It was home improvement time at our house, and I have a chronic sense of "uncoordinitis," so we obviously needed some help. And our friend Tim, he was the man for the job for two reasons. First, he’s good at designing and building and problem-solving. Of course, there are a lot of people who are craftsmen like that. The second reason is what really made Tim the man for the job. Sometimes we were gone when he was going to be at our house working. And since he was working in every part of the house, he needed keys to everything, and there was no place in our home he couldn’t go. That meant we needed not only someone who could do the job, yea, you got it. We needed someone we could totally trust. And we had someone like that.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Someone to Trust With the Keys to Everything.”

Finding someone to trust these days; I don't know about you, but I think it's getting harder and harder. Especially when it comes to someone you can trust with you; with your deepest hurts, your darkest secrets, your fondest hopes, your greatest needs. Someone from whom you have no fear of betrayal or desertion or rejection. I think we all hunger in our soul for one person we can just totally trust and we can trust them with all the keys to every corner of our house. Ultimately, you need someone you're never going to lose, not after you’ve trusted them with your heart and soul.

You know, deep in our soul there's this deep need for someone we can open up to, confide in, lean on completely, someone to give ourselves to. Actually, we were created for such a person. Your Creator. He's the only one who can fill the vacuum at the center of you, because that vacuum was made for Him.

So many who have looked for a harbor relationship where they won’t be hurt, won’t be used, won’t be left alone, have found that harbor in one man—Jesus Christ. Now you read what the Bible says about the purpose of your life, that shouldn’t be a surprise. For example, in Colossians 1:16, God says, about His Son, Jesus, “All things were created by Him and for Him.” So, you were created by Jesus; and for Jesus, and you’re going to have this huge hole in your heart until you have Jesus.

But He can be trusted with all the keys to your heart and your life. Why? Listen to Romans 8:32, our word for today from the Word of God, “God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”

See, the answer to whether you can trust Jesus completely is settled at the foot of that cross where He proved He loves you so much that He died to pay for every wrong thing you’ve ever done. And this man who loved you enough to die for you will never do you wrong. Beyond that, He’s proved there’s nothing He can’t do when He walked out of His grave under His own power. This is the end of your lifelong trust search. It's the greatest love there is and the greatest power there is. He’ll never leave you, never divorce you, or never die on you. He wants you with Him forever. He gave His life to make that possible.

But He's not going to force His way into your life. He is waiting for you to reach out to Him in total trust, like a child trusting his daddy to protect him, like a dying person grabbing a rescuer’s hand. If you’ve never given yourself to Jesus like that, you’re still on your own. But this could be your last day without Him.

If you want to finally begin your personal relationship with Him, experience this love for yourself, would you tell Him that this very moment, this very day? And let me invite you to check out our website because there’s where you're going to find a lot of great information about how to begin this relationship. You need to go to ANewStory.com.

In an insecure world like ours, it’s really hard to find a hand to hold that you can be sure will never let you go. There is one—that hand has nail prints in it because of His love for you. Would you grab His hand, would you give Him all the keys? Because then, you’re finally safe.

Acts 8:1-25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: BE SOMEONE - November 4, 2026

When disaster strikes, the human spirit responds by reaching out to help those afflicted. People stand in line to give blood. Rescue teams work for endless hours. But the most essential effort is accomplished by another valiant team. Their task?  To gird the world with prayer.

For the most part, we don’t even know their names. Such is the case of someone who prayed on a day long ago. He went to Jesus on behalf of a friend who was sick. No one was more vital than the one who went to Jesus. John writes, “So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick'” (John 11:3 NCV).

Someone went to Jesus on behalf of Lazarus. And because someone went, Jesus responded. Would you be someone for someone?

God Is with You Every Day

Acts 8:1-25

1Saul was right there, congratulating the killers.

Simon the Wizard

1–28That set off a terrific persecution of the church in Jerusalem. The believers were all scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. All, that is, but the apostles. Good and brave men buried Stephen, giving him a solemn funeral—not many dry eyes that day!

3–8And Saul just went wild, devastating the church, entering house after house after house, dragging men and women off to jail. Forced to leave home base, the followers of Jesus all became missionaries. Wherever they were scattered, they preached the Message about Jesus. Going down to a Samaritan city, Philip proclaimed the Message of the Messiah. When the people heard what he had to say and saw the miracles, the clear signs of God’s action, they hung on his every word. Many who could neither stand nor walk were healed that day. The evil spirits protested loudly as they were sent on their way. And what joy in the city!

9–11Previous to Philip’s arrival, a certain Simon had practiced magic in the city, posing as a famous man and dazzling all the Samaritans with his wizardry. He had them all, from little children to old men, eating out of his hand. They all thought he had supernatural powers, and called him “the Great Wizard.” He had been around a long time and everyone was more or less in awe of him.

12–13But when Philip came to town announcing the news of God’s kingdom and proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ, they forgot Simon and were baptized, becoming believers right and left! Even Simon himself believed and was baptized. From that moment he was like Philip’s shadow, so fascinated with all the God-signs and miracles that he wouldn’t leave Philip’s side.

14–17When the apostles in Jerusalem received the report that Samaria had accepted God’s Message, they sent Peter and John down to pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit. Up to this point they had only been baptized in the name of the Master Jesus; the Holy Spirit hadn’t yet fallen on them. Then the apostles laid their hands on them and they did receive the Holy Spirit.

18–19When Simon saw that the apostles by merely laying on hands conferred the Spirit, he pulled out his money, excited, and said, “Sell me your secret! Show me how you did that! How much do you want? Name your price!”

20–23Peter said, “To hell with your money! And you along with it. Why, that’s unthinkable—trying to buy God’s gift! You’ll never be part of what God is doing by striking bargains and offering bribes. Change your ways—and now! Ask the Master to forgive you for trying to use God to make money. I can see this is an old habit with you; you reek with money-lust.”

24“Oh!” said Simon, “pray for me! Pray to the Master that nothing like that will ever happen to me!”

25And with that, the apostles were on their way, continuing to witness and spread the Message of God’s salvation, preaching in every Samaritan town they passed through on their return to Jerusalem.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, November 04, 2026

by 

Anne Cetas

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 1:3-14

The God of Glory

3–6How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

7–10Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

11–12It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

13–14It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

Today's Insights

To encourage believers in Jesus to live godly lives in an ungodly world (Ephesians 4:1, 17), Paul begins this letter by reminding us how much God loves us and in Christ has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing” (1:3). Through Jesus, we’re chosen, redeemed, forgiven, saved, and adopted as His children into His family, destined to be His heirs. Distinctively marked and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we’re graciously cared for and given all that we need to live God-honoring lives as His children (vv. 3-14). Whatever challenges or trials we may face, and whatever losses and pain we may suffer, our heavenly Father “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,” for “his power . . . is at work within us” (3:20).

For further study, read: Personal Relationship with God

Hope in Loss

God . . . has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

While out walking the family dog, my nephew Andy was hit by a car. Someone saw the accident and stopped to give him CPR and call for an ambulance. A ventilator kept him alive for a week. Miraculously, he was weaned off the sedation medicines and vent the day after Christmas and told his wife, parents, brother, and five children, “I love you.” Emotions and hope soared! But the very next day, he died.

All of his children, ages fifteen to twenty-one, spoke through their tears at his God-honoring memorial service. Daughter Julia read a quote that made those in attendance think: “It’s not about how much we lost. It’s about how much we have left.”

But the truth is, those of us who knew and loved him lost so much with Andy’s passing—a beautiful life lived for Jesus—and he’s greatly missed. What do we have left that gives us hope? Ephesians 1 speaks of the spiritual blessings Andy and other believers have in Jesus: We’re “blameless in his sight” (v. 4), “predestined . . . for adoption to sonship” (v. 5), “[redeemed] through his blood” (v. 7), and “[forgiven] of sins [by] God’s grace” (v. 7). “The promised Holy Spirit” lives in us and guarantees “our inheritance” with Him in the life to come (vv. 13-14).

Those who love Jesus have His gift of eternal salvation.

Reflect & Pray

What have you lost? If you’re grieving, how much do you have left that you can thank God for?

Father God, please comfort me and enable me to depend on Your promises.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, November 04, 2026

Acting on His Truth

Come near to God and he will come near to you. —James 4:8

It’s essential for us, as ministers of the gospel, to give people a chance to act on the truth of God. We might wish we could act for them, but no individual can act for another. Our role is to share the evangelical message, a message which can and should lead to action. But the ultimate responsibility must be left with the individual. The paralysis of refusing to act leaves people exactly where they were before. Once they act, they are never the same again.

Acting on the truth of God can look like foolishness in the eyes of the world. Because of this, many who have been convicted by the Holy Spirit refuse to act. And yet the very second I act, I live; all the rest is mere existence. The moments when I truly live are the moments when I act with my whole will.

Never allow a truth of God that is brought home to your soul to pass without acting on it—not necessarily physically, but in your will. Record it with ink or with blood. The weakest saint is emancipated the instant she acts. In that instant, all the power of God Almighty is on her side.

We back down from acting on God’s truth all the time. We come up to the truth, confess we are wrong, then turn back. We do this over and over again, until we learn that we have no business going back. We have to transact business with our Lord on the truth he is showing us, whatever it may be. When he tells us, “Come,” he really means “transact with me.”

“Come near to God.” The last thing we’ll do is come to God, but all who do come know that the instant they come, the supernatural life of God invades them. The dominating power of the world and the flesh and the devil is paralyzed, not by their act of coming but because that act has linked them to God and his redemptive power.

Jeremiah 32-33; Hebrews 1 

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

God does not further our spiritual life in spite of our circumstances, but in and by our circumstances. 

Not Knowing Whither, 900 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, November 04, 2026

The Tragedy of Doing Nothing

We love it when we hear those stories in the news about ordinary people who come upon someone in danger and they risk their own lives to save them. And then there’s the kind of story that came from Mount Everest some years ago. A British mountaineer became desperate for oxygen on his descent from that mountain. And you know, it is a legendary mountain. Ultimately, he collapsed along a well-traveled route to the summit. He was dying. And more than forty climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and they passed him by. He died because of oxygen deficiency. But you know what? He sure didn’t have to die.

Im Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Tragedy of Doing Nothing.”

The official cause of death was probably something like “oxygen deficiency.” But apparently there was another cause of that climber’s death—human indifference; people too busy climbing their mountain to stop and help someone who was dying.

Sadly, that happens more than we know. And the ones who are dying may be people we see everyday. Without the Bible, we’d never know the real spiritual condition of the folks that we know who don’t belong to Jesus. But we have the Bible, and it describes every person without Christ in words like these: and I’ll just quote from the Bible, they are “lost,” they are “without hope and without God in this world,” Ephesians 2:12. Some folks you see often, are in God’s words, “condemned,” according to John 3:18. Or, they’re called in Proverbs 24, “those who are being led away to death.”

My Bible tells me that neighbors and friends of mine who don’t know Christ will be “shut out from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). There’s no way anyone can get into heaven with their sin unforgiven. And the only One who can forgive their sin is the One who died for those sins. So we have dying people all around us. People whose eternal destination may hinge on whether or not we stop for them to tell them what Jesus did for them on the cross. Look you could live a good life in front of them for fifty years and they’re not going to guess Jesus died for them. You have to tell them that.

Where are we in this disturbing story Jesus told in Luke 10:30-34, our word for today from the Word of God? “A man…fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him…beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.” And then another religious leader came along and it says he “passed by on the other side.” Then it says, “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds…he took him to an inn and took care of him.” What troubles me is that it’s the really religious folks who just keep walking by this man who needed them—people like me, and maybe like you.

So many times I’ve met people who have come to Christ late in life, and they just regret so much that they did not know Him sooner. And I’ve heard so many say something like, “I was 52 years old…I was 45 years old before I ever heard what Jesus did for me.” And it turns out, in retrospect, that they had known several folks along the way who were believers and who never told them about their Jesus.

Look around your personal world: those coworkers, the family members, your fellow students, your teammates, your fellow club members, how bout your friends, your neighbors. If you’ll let Jesus show you what He sees, you’re going to see people who are slowly dying spiritually; who are headed for an unthinkable eternity without Christ while you’re enjoying the glories of heaven. Silence is unacceptable. Silence is wrong.

Don’t talk to them about religion. Or your church. Or their lifestyle. Tell them about the Man who loved them enough to die in their place. God put you in their life to be their chance at Jesus. Don’t keep walking by their need. You know Jesus. They need your Jesus. Don’t let them down. Don’t let Him down.

1 Kings 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A LIFE OF VICTORY - November 3, 2026

Think about the Christian you want to be. What qualities do you want to have? More compassion? More conviction? More courage? What attitudes do you want to discontinue? Greed? Guilt? Endless negativity?

With God’s help you can close the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be. Indeed, the person God made you to be. You can live “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). To inherit your inheritance is God’s vision for your life. Imagine the thought! You as you were intended. It’s a life that is yours for the taking.

Expect to be challenged. The enemy will not go down without a fight. But God’s promises outweigh personal problems. Victory becomes, dare we imagine, a way of life. Isn’t it time for you to change your mailing address from the wilderness to the Promised Land? Are you ready to march?

God Is with You Every Day

1 Kings 9

After Solomon had completed building The Temple of God and his own palace, all the projects he had set his heart on doing, God appeared to Solomon again, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

3–5And God said to him, “I’ve listened to and received all your prayers, your ever-so-passionate prayers. I’ve sanctified this Temple that you have built: My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I’ve set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then I’ll back your kingly rule over Israel, make it a sure thing on a solid foundation. The same guarantee I gave David your father I’m giving you: ‘You can count on always having a descendant on Israel’s throne.’

6–9“But if you or your sons betray me, ignoring my guidance and judgments, taking up with alien gods by serving and worshiping them, then the guarantee is off: I’ll wipe Israel right off the map and repudiate this Temple I’ve just sanctified to honor my Name. And Israel will become nothing but a bad joke among the peoples of the world. And this Temple, splendid as it now is, will become an object of contempt; visitors will shake their heads, saying, ‘Whatever happened here? What’s the story behind these ruins?’ Then they’ll be told, ‘The people who used to live here betrayed their God, the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt; they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That’s what’s behind this God-visited devastation.’ ”

10–12At the end of twenty years, having built the two buildings, The Temple of God and his personal palace, Solomon rewarded Hiram king of Tyre with a gift of twenty villages in the district of Galilee. Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and cypress and gold that he had wanted. But when Hiram left Tyre to look over the villages that Solomon had given him, he didn’t like what he saw.

13–14He said, “What kind of reward is this, my friend? Twenty backwoods hick towns!” People still refer to them that way. This is all Hiram got from Solomon in exchange for four and a half tons of gold!

15This is the work record of the labor force that King Solomon raised to build The Temple of God, his palace, the defense complex (the Millo), the Jerusalem wall, and the fortified cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

16–17Pharaoh king of Egypt had come up and captured Gezer, torched it, and killed all the Canaanites who lived there. He gave it as a wedding present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. So Solomon rebuilt Gezer.

17–19He also built Lower Beth Horon, Baalath, and Tamar in the desert, backcountry storehouse villages, and villages for chariots and horses. Solomon built widely and extravagantly in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and wherever he fancied.

20–23The remnants from the original inhabitants of the land (Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—all non-Israelites), survivors of the holy wars, were rounded up by Solomon for his gangs of slave labor, a policy still in effect. But true Israelites were not treated this way; they were used in his army and administration—government leaders and commanders of his chariots and charioteers. They were also the project managers responsible for Solomon’s building operations—550 of them in charge of the workforce.

24It was after Pharaoh’s daughter ceremonially ascended from the City of David and took up residence in the house built especially for her that Solomon built the defense complex (the Millo).

25Three times a year Solomon worshiped at the Altar of God, sacrificing Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings, and burning incense in the presence of God. Everything that had to do with The Temple he did generously and well; he didn’t skimp.

26–28And ships! King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, located near Elath in Edom on the Red Sea. Hiram sent seaworthy sailors to assist Solomon’s men with the fleet. They embarked for Ophir, brought back sixteen tons of gold, and presented it to King Solomon.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, November 03, 2026

by James Banks

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 12:6-9

If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I’d still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I’ll spare you. I don’t want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you’d encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.

7–10Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.

My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness.

Today's Insights

God in His all-knowing wisdom doesn’t always give us what we ask for in prayer. Paul prayed for Him to remove the “thorn in [his] flesh,” whatever that may have been (2 Corinthians 12:7). But he knew God loved him and would do what was for his best (vv. 8-10; see Romans 8:28). The apostle’s weakness kept him humble and focused on God and His strength rather than on his own (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). And God used him to spread the gospel to many people. Paul had much he could boast about (11:16–12:5), but he chose instead to boast about the things that showed his weakness and God’s strength (12:6-9). Jesus’ prayer reminds us to pray according to God’s will: “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). As we pray today, we can be assured of God’s faithfulness and that He’ll provide what’s best for us.

For further study, read: The Wilderness of Broken Dreams

Praying for Answers

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 2 Corinthians 12:8

When Monica’s son Augustine wanted to leave home for a city known for its immorality, she pleaded with God not to let him go. But he went anyway, which greatly grieved his mother, yet it was there that God transformed his life. In his Confessions, Augustine later prayed, “Yet in your deep counsel you heard the central point of her longing . . . [so] that you would make me what she continually prayed for.” Augustine not only became a believer in Jesus, but he also became one of the most influential Christian thinkers in history.

Sometimes God doesn’t give us what we ask for—giving us instead something of greater worth. Like Monica, the apostle Paul asked God for something he didn’t receive. We don’t know what Paul’s “thorn” in his flesh was, but we know it tormented him, and “three times” he “pleaded with the Lord to take it” from him (2 Corinthians 12:7-8). Yet God responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9). In the end, Paul concluded that he would “boast all the more gladly” about his weaknesses so that he might know more of “Christ’s power” (v. 9).

Paul’s response shows us the way forward when we’re waiting for God’s answers, or when they aren’t what we expect. Jesus is our hope in all things, and in His strength we have more than we need.

Reflect & Pray

When have you asked God for something and received something else? How did Christ help you in this?

Ever-wise Savior, please help me to trust Your goodness in all things and to daily draw strength from You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, November 03, 2026

A Bond Servant of Jesus

I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. —Galatians 2:20

These words mean breaking my independence with my own hand and surrendering myself to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one else can do this for me; I must do it myself. God may bring me to the point of surrender three hundred sixty-five times a year, but he can’t push me through. Surrender means breaking the shell of my individual independence from God. It means the emancipation of my personality into oneness with him—not for any agenda of my own, but for absolute loyalty to Jesus. Very few of us know anything about this kind of loyalty. “Whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel . . .” (Mark 8:35): that is what makes an iron saint.

Has the break with my independence come? The one thing I must decide is, Will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, making no conditions? I must be broken of the desire for self-realization. Once this point is reached, supernatural identification with my Lord takes place immediately, and the witness of the Spirit of God within me is unmistakable: “I have been crucified with Christ.”

The passion of Christianity is that I deliberately sign away my rights and become a bond servant of Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I cannot begin to be a saint. When I have done it, God is able to help himself to my life. Will I let him? Or do I have my own ideas of what I’m going to be?

Jeremiah 30-31; Philemon

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus.

We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, November 03, 2026

The Surprising Secret of a Real Man - #10387

Scripture:  Proverbs 16:32

I think it was our older son's first official date with a girl; actually, just a couple of hours at the mall really. The next day he ran into some of the guys from school who just wanted to know one thing about his Friday night. "So how much did you get off her?" I know, it’s gross. They weren't talking about money. They were talking about conquest. Our son actually came home pretty disgusted, frankly. He said, "Man, those guys; they’re messed up!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Surprising Secret of a Real Man.”

Actually, a lot of us men have been raised on a messed up idea of what really makes you a man. Guys of all ages seem to think that it is conquest that makes you a real man: sexual conquest, athletic conquest, financial conquest, business conquest. So many men define their worth, their success, and their masculinity by whether or not they are conquering - conquistadores!

Virtually every guy has been told somewhere in his life, "Be a man!" But by whose definition? Is it your biceps that make you a man, your bank account, your bedroom exploits, being the boss? If you want to know what manhood is really all about, consult the Inventor of manhood. That would be God. If you go by His definition, you get Designer Manhood, and that is the real thing.

And guess what? It is all about conquest after all, but in a very different arena than most of us were ever taught. It's exemplified in our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 16:32. "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." You say, "Hey, look at these trophies. Look at all the victories I've won. Look, I conquered this whole city!" God isn't impressed. He says, "Oh, yeah? How are you doing with your temper? Are you really patient?"

Here's the surprising secret of a truly powerful man: he is conquering himself!

What's it mean to be a man who is conquering himself? Well, a powerful man conquers his mouth. He eliminates the trash talk, the angry words, the critical words, the hurting words. He knows the power of his words and he controls those destructive words and specializes in encouraging words.

A powerful man also conquers his passions, focusing all his desire on his wife. You know, if he's single, keeping his relationships pure and his body reserved for his life partner. A powerful man also conquers his coldness. He shows his love. He expresses his love so he doesn't leave a lonely son or a frustrated wife or daughter or a mother who just doesn’t know where she stands.

Another conquest that displays real manhood is conquering your hardness; that unwillingness to ever admit you're wrong or that you're hurting. A powerful man conquers his neglect as well; his failure to spend the time with the people who love him, the time they so desperately need. And, bottom line, a truly powerful man conquers his selfishness - his tendency to want everyone to revolve around him.

Many a man has found out he cannot be that kind of a man. The Apostle Paul said at one time, "The things I want to do, I don't do. And the things I ought to do, I don't." He said, "Why is it that I cannot get free of this darkness inside of me?" And then he said, "Thanks be to God, a rescue has come in Jesus Christ."

I can say as a man, and I can say on behalf of many men I know, that they never could have become the man they wanted to be and everyone they loved needed them to be until they surrendered to Jesus Christ, who died for their sins.

Maybe you've never done that. Well listen, I want to invite you to tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." If you want to know more about that relationship, and I hope you do, would you check us out at ANewStory.com.

1 Kings 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S HOLD IS SURE - November 2, 2026

Many Christians think they’re saved, hope they’re saved, but still they doubt, wondering, “Am I really saved?” Our behavior gives us reason to wonder. We’re strong one day, weak the next. Devoted one hour, flagging the next. Believing, then unbelieving.

Conventional wisdom draws a line through the middle of these fluctuations. Perform above this line, and enjoy God’s acceptance. But dip below it, and expect a pink slip from heaven. Salvation, then, becomes a matter of timing. You just hope you’ll die on an upswing.

Jesus’ language couldn’t be stronger: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages…and no one is able to snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28 AMPC). God doesn’t let go, and he won’t let go of you.

God Is with You Every Day

1 Kings 8

Bringing all this to a climax, King Solomon called in the leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the family patriarchs, to bring up the Chest of the Covenant of God from Zion, the City of David. And they came, all Israel before King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month, for the great autumn festival.

3–5With all Israel’s leaders present, the priests took up the Chest of God and carried up the Chest and the Tent of Meeting and all the holy vessels that went with the Tent. King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel were there at the Chest worshiping and sacrificing huge numbers of sheep and cattle—so many that no one could keep track.

6–9Then the priests brought the Chest of the Covenant of God to its place in the Inner Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim. The outspread wings of the cherubim stretched over the Chest and its poles. The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the entrance to the Inner Sanctuary, but were not noticeable farther out. They’re still there today. There was nothing in the Chest but the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb where God made a covenant with Israel after bringing them up from Egypt.

The Temple Finished, Dedicated, Filled

10–11When the priests left the Holy Place, a cloud filled The Temple of God. The priests couldn’t carry out their priestly duties because of the cloud—the glory of God filled The Temple of God!

12–13Then Solomon spoke:

God has told us that he lives in the dark

where no one can see him;

I’ve built this splendid Temple, O God,

to mark your invisible presence forever.

14The king then turned to face the congregation and blessed them:

15–16“Blessed be God, the God of Israel, who spoke personally to my father David. Now he has kept the promise he made when he said, ‘From the day I brought my people Israel from Egypt, I haven’t set apart one city among the tribes of Israel to build a Temple to fix my Name there. But I did choose David to rule my people Israel.’

17–19“My father David had it in his heart to build a Temple honoring the Name of God, the God of Israel. But God told him ‘It was good that you wanted to build a Temple in my honor—most commendable! But you are not the one to do it—your son will build it to honor my Name.’

20–21“God has done what he said he would do: I have succeeded David my father and ruled over Israel just as God promised; and now I’ve built a Temple to honor God, the God of Israel, and I’ve secured a place for the Chest that holds the covenant of God, the covenant that he made with our ancestors when he brought them up from the land of Egypt.”

22–25Before the entire congregation of Israel, Solomon took a position before the Altar, spread his hands out before heaven, and prayed,

O God, God of Israel, there is no God like you in the skies above or on the earth below who unswervingly keeps covenant with his servants and relentlessly loves them as they sincerely live in obedience to your way. You kept your word to David my father, your personal word. You did exactly what you promised—every detail. The proof is before us today!

Keep it up, God, O God of Israel! Continue to keep the promises you made to David my father when you said, “You’ll always have a descendant to represent my rule on Israel’s throne, on the condition that your sons are as careful to live obediently in my presence as you have.”

26O God of Israel, let this all happen;

confirm and establish it!

27–32Can it be that God will actually move into our neighborhood? Why, the cosmos itself isn’t large enough to give you breathing room, let alone this Temple I’ve built. Even so, I’m bold to ask: Pay attention to these my prayers, both intercessory and personal, O God, my God. Listen to my prayers, energetic and devout, that I’m setting before you right now. Keep your eyes open to this Temple night and day, this place of which you said, “My Name will be honored there,” and listen to the prayers that I pray at this place.

Listen from your home in heaven

and when you hear, forgive.

When someone hurts a neighbor and promises to make things right, and then comes and repeats the promise before your Altar in this Temple, listen from heaven and act accordingly: Judge your servants, making the offender pay for his offense and setting the offended free of any charges.

33–34When your people Israel are beaten by an enemy because they’ve sinned against you, but then turn to you and acknowledge your rule in prayers desperate and devout in this Temple,

Listen from your home in heaven,

forgive the sin of your people Israel,

return them to the land you gave their ancestors.

35–36When the skies shrivel up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, but then they pray at this place, acknowledging your rule and quitting their sins because you have scourged them,

Listen from your home in heaven,

forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel.

Then start over with them: Train them to live right and well; send rain on the land you gave your people as an inheritance.

37–40When disasters strike, famine or catastrophe, crop failure or disease, locust or beetle, or when an enemy attacks their defenses—calamity of any sort—any prayer that’s prayed from anyone at all among your people Israel, hearts penetrated by the disaster, hands and arms thrown out to this Temple for help,

Listen from your home in heaven.

Forgive and go to work on us. Give what each deserves, for you know each life from the inside (you’re the only one with such “inside knowledge”!) so that they’ll live before you in lifelong reverent and believing obedience on this land you gave our ancestors.

41–43And don’t forget the foreigner who is not a member of your people Israel but has come from a far country because of your reputation. People are going to be attracted here by your great reputation, your wonder-working power, who come to pray at this Temple.

Listen from your home in heaven.

Honor the prayers of the foreigner so that people all over the world will know who you are and what you’re like and will live in reverent obedience before you, just as your own people Israel do; so they’ll know that you personally make this Temple that I’ve built what it is.

44–51When your people go to war against their enemies at the time and place you send them and they pray to God toward the city you chose and this Temple I’ve built to honor your Name,

Listen from heaven to what they pray and ask for,

and do what’s right for them.

When they sin against you—and they certainly will; there’s no one without sin!—and in anger you turn them over to the enemy and they are taken captive to the enemy’s land, whether far or near, but repent in the country of their captivity and pray with changed hearts in their exile, “We’ve sinned; we’ve done wrong; we’ve been most wicked,” and turn back to you heart and soul in the land of the enemy who conquered them, and pray to you toward their homeland, the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you chose, and this Temple I have built to the honor of your Name,

Listen from your home in heaven

to their prayers desperate and devout

and do what is best for them.

Forgive your people who have sinned against you; forgive their gross rebellions and move their captors to treat them with compassion. They are, after all, your people and your precious inheritance whom you rescued from the heart of that iron-smelting furnace, Egypt!

52–53O be alert and attentive to the needy prayers of me, your servant, and your dear people Israel; listen every time they cry out to you! You hand-picked them from all the peoples on earth to be your very own people, as you announced through your servant Moses when you, O God, in your masterful rule, delivered our ancestors from Egypt.

54–55Having finished praying to God—all these bold and passionate prayers—Solomon stood up before God’s Altar where he had been kneeling all this time, his arms stretched upward to heaven. Standing, he blessed the whole congregation of Israel, blessing them at the top of his lungs:

56–58“Blessed be God, who has given peace to his people Israel just as he said he’d do. Not one of all those good and wonderful words that he spoke through Moses has misfired. May God, our very own God, continue to be with us just as he was with our ancestors—may he never give up and walk out on us. May he keep us centered and devoted to him, following the life path he has cleared, watching the signposts, walking at the pace and rhythms he laid down for our ancestors.

59–61“And let these words that I’ve prayed in the presence of God be always right there before him, day and night, so that he’ll do what is right for me, to guarantee justice for his people Israel day after day after day. Then all the people on earth will know God is the true God; there is no other God. And you, your lives must be totally obedient to God, our personal God, following the life path he has cleared, alert and attentive to everything he has made plain this day.”

62–63The king and all Israel with him then worshiped, offering sacrifices to God. Solomon offered Peace-Offerings, sacrificing to God 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. This is how the king and all Israel dedicated The Temple of God.

64That same day, the king set apart the central area of the Courtyard in front of God’s Temple for sacred use and there sacrificed the Whole-Burnt-Offerings, Grain-Offerings, and fat from the Peace-Offerings—the bronze Altar was too small to handle all these offerings.

65–66This is how Solomon kept the great autumn feast, and all Israel with him, people there all the way from the far northeast (the Entrance to Hamath) to the far southwest (the Brook of Egypt)—a huge congregation. They started out celebrating for seven days—and then did it another seven days! Two solid weeks of celebration! Then he dismissed them. They blessed the king and went home, exuberant with heartfelt gratitude for all the good God had done for his servant David…

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, November 02, 2026

by Leslie Koh

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Samuel 8:4-9

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.”

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

7–9God 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.”

Today's Insights

Key to understanding today’s Scripture (1 Samuel 8:4-9) is another passage that contains God’s instructions to Israel during their flight from Egypt. He told them, “The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6). He also said, “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you . . . and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses” (17:14-15). Despite their privileged status as His chosen people, He knew His people would yearn to be like the nations surrounding them. When Samuel prayed, God told him, “They have rejected me as their king” (1 Samuel 8:7). Yet they remained His people, and God did indeed choose their human king (9:16). We can remember today that God’s wisdom is available in every decision we make.

For further study, read: Making Decisions God's Way

God Our King

It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 1 Samuel 8:7

After being jobless for a year, Ethan finally got a good offer—but his wife stopped him from accepting it. “Is this good for you?” she asked. “It’s a night shift, so you’ll struggle to attend church on Sunday mornings, like with your previous job.” After praying and mulling over it, Ethan decided to turn down the offer. While there was nothing wrong with it, he knew it wouldn’t be good for him. Months later, he got another job—a day shift—that allowed him to attend church regularly.

Not all decisions that seem logical are God-honoring or wise. For example, it seemed natural for the Israelites to ask for a king. The prophet Samuel’s sons weren’t fit to lead (1 Samuel 8:3), and other nations seemed to be doing well with a king (vv. 5, 20). But God warned them about trusting solely in people; only He was their true king who could protect and provide for them perfectly (vv. 7, 11-18). Still, the Israelites insisted (v. 19), leading God to tell Samuel, “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king” (v. 7). Later, the Israelites would suffer under the rule of a string of evil kings.

Human wisdom can lead us to rely on ourselves rather than God. His ways may be counterintuitive, but they’re truly wise and lead to good. May we learn to trust Him and accept His rule in our lives, for He alone is our loving King.

Reflect & Pray

What decisions are you facing now? How can you seek God’s guidance and wisdom in making them?

Dear God, please teach me to trust in Your ways and follow them so I can obey and please You in all I do.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, November 02, 2026

Authority and Independence

If you love me, keep my commands. —John 14:15

Our Lord never insists on obedience. He tells us emphatically what we should do, but he never forces us to do it. Our reason for obeying him must be a oneness of spirit, not fear or coercion. When our Lord talked about discipleship, he prefaced it with an option, an “if ”: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 kjv). And, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). In these verses, our Lord isn’t talking of eternal positions but of being of value to him here, in this order of things; that is why he sounds so stern. Never interpret these words apart from the one who spoke them.

“If you love me, keep my commands.” Our Lord doesn’t give us rules; he simply makes his standards clear. If my relationship to him is one of love, I’ll do what he says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone else—myself—in competition with him. I have to give up my right to myself to become one with Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ won’t help me obey him; I have to obey him of my own free will. When I do obey, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty problems, things which seem entirely random and meaningless. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the midst of them, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God.

When I stand face-to-face with God, I discover that through my obedience, thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption comes to the point of obedience in a human soul, it always creates; his redemption pushes through me to other lives, because behind the act of obedience is the reality of the almighty God.

Jeremiah 27-29; Titus 3 

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else. 

The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, November 02, 2026

Nuisance or Need - #10386

Scripture:  Luke 18:35

You know a lot of life’s disrupting sounds you can learn to ignore: sirens screaming, telephones ringing, TV blasting, trains rumbling by. It is almost impossible to ignore a baby crying. If there’s a baby in your house and he starts crying, what should you do?

You could just go, “Oh what a nuisance!” No, You could close the door and pretend it isn’t there. You could turn up the music real loud, cover it up. Or you could yell back at him like he’s yelling at you. Obviously, if you do any of those, you are showing your inexperience. That’s not going to do anything. He’s just going to keep crying.

See, behind the cry is a need, and the crying isn’t going to stop until he gets his tummy filled, or the relief that only a burp can give, or until you get him out of his mess shall we say. Of course, we don’t stop crying just because we grow up; we just find grownup ways to cry. Maybe there’s someone crying around you right now. I wonder how you’re responding.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Nuisance or Need.”

Our word for today from the Word of God? It’s in Luke 18. I’m going to begin reading at verse 35. “As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.” Now, we’re told in other gospels that his name was Bartimaeus. “When he heard the crowd going by he asked what was happening. They told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.’ Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David have mercy on me!’ Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to Him, and he came near and Jesus asked him, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ ‘Oh, Lord, I want to see’ he replied. Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus praising God.” Love it.

Now, it’s interesting the two different ways people looked at Bartimaeus in this story. When the people of Jericho saw Bartimaeus, they saw a nuisance. “Will you stop crying? Stop making so much noise! You’re an embarrassment.” When Jesus saw Bartimaeus, He saw a need.

Now, in your life there are probably some obnoxious people. Can you think of one or two? Some mean people; maybe folks who demand a lot of your time and attention. Maybe there’s a complainer around you. You know, in all of our lives, there are people who are for one reason or another folks you’d just like to close the door on maybe. And you will unless you see them through the eyes of Jesus, and there you’ll see the need.

Like a mother who looks past a baby’s annoying cry to find out where it hurts. People are nuisances because they have needs; needs that no one has stopped to meet. I wonder, if like Jesus, you would stop for them? Maybe they need a listener; they need someone who sees the good in them…someone who notices them; someone who affirms that they matter. Maybe they need someone to reach inside and find out what’s really making them bleed; someone who will include them in the group.

See, that crying person, they’re a wounded person. And you can be part of God’s healing in that person’s life. We’re here to do what Jesus would do if He were there in person, and that means when others see a nuisance, you will see a need and you’ll do something about it.

Acts 7:44-60, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: He Gives Us What We Need

One morning Denalyn was with me in the car.  "I'm about to remind you why you married me," I told her as we drew near to the intersection.  "See that long line of cars?  See that humdrum of humanity?  It's not for me…hang on!"  I swerved from the six-lane onto the one-lane and shared with my sweetheart my secret expressway to freedom.

"What do you think?" I asked, awaiting her worship.

"I think you broke the law,"  she responded.

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"You just went the wrong way on a one-way street!" she answered.

I did.  She was right.  I had missed the "do not enter" sign.

Before coming to Christ, we all had our share of shortcuts. What we consider shortcuts God sees as disasters. He doesn't give laws for our pleasure.  He gives them for our protection. He knows what we need!

 from Lucado Inspirational Reader

Acts 7:44-60

“And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses. They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David. David asked God for a permanent place for worship. But Solomon built it.

48–50“Yet that doesn’t mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote,

“Heaven is my throne room;

I rest my feet on earth.

So what kind of house

will you build me?” says God.

“Where I can get away and relax?

It’s already built, and I built it.”

51–53“And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn’t get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you’ve kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God’s Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!”

54–56At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, “Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God’s side!”

57–58Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them.

59–60As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, “Master Jesus, take my life.” Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, “Master, don’t blame them for this sin”—his last words. Then he died.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, November 01, 2026

by Jennifer Benson Schuldt

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Romans 12:16-21

Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

17–19Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

20–21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Today's Insights

After explaining what the gospel is—the good news that God loved the world and gave His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins (Romans 1-11)—Paul applies it to everyday living, instructing believers in Christ how to live a holy life that pleases God (chs. 12-16). The clearest indication of a renewed mind and transformed life (12:1-2) is having “sincere” love for others (v. 9), demonstrated when we “love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]” (Mark 12:31; see Romans 13:8-10; 14:15). It’s easy to love those who love us. But to “bless those who persecute [us]” (12:14) is the litmus test of such a Christlike love (vv. 14-21). Rather than responding in anger or retaliation when we’re wronged, we can commit the situation to God. He’ll help us replace our anger with kindness and goodness (v. 20). In this way, we “don’t let evil conquer [us], but conquer evil by doing good” (v. 21 nlt).

For further study, read: Should We Be the Acts 2 Church?

Radiating God’s Goodness

As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

Where were the packages? An inner-city church was having problems receiving deliveries. Although its office staff requested that online orders be dropped off inside the building, the goods were regularly left outside on the street, and some items were never received.

Church workers were understandably vexed, but instead of griping on the company’s customer service hotline, the church’s employees created a snack station inside the building and invited the delivery people to stop in for food and water. Before long, packages began to show up at the right place at the right time, and the church was able to “deliver” a message to the couriers: We care about you as people, not just service providers.

Often, we can change distressing situations through kindness. Although our natural response might be to find fault and hold on to anger, the apostle Paul challenges us to let God’s goodness radiate through us, even when we feel it’s undeserved. Through the Holy Spirit’s power and with His wisdom, we can show kindness by being hospitable, thoughtful, and helpful (Romans 12:13-14). Even if this seems ineffective, we know it pleases God because the Bible encourages us, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (v. 18).

Reflect & Pray

When was the last time you traded anger for love? How might caring for others show the world God’s true nature?

Dear God, You’ve been so kind to me. Please show me how to change my corner of the world by passing Your love on to others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, November 01, 2026

You Are Not Your Own

Know ye not that…ye are not your own? —1 Corinthians 6:19

There’s no such thing as a private life—a “world within the world”—for those who are brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ’s sufferings. God breaks up the private life of his saints and makes it a thoroughfare for the world on the one hand and for himself on the other. No human being can stand that without being fully identified with Jesus Christ.

God calls his saints into the fellowship of the gospel, and it is for this fellowship that we are sanctified, not for ourselves. In everything that happens, in every circumstance that arises, God is bringing us into fellowship with himself. We must let him have his way. If we don’t, we won’t be of the slightest use in his redemptive work in the world. Instead, we’ll be a hindrance.

The first thing God does with his saints is to get them based on rugged spiritual reality. When we are spiritually real, we don’t care what happens to us individually; we only care that God gets his way for the purpose of his redemption. Why shouldn’t we go through heartbreak? Heartbreaks are doorways that God is opening into fellowship with his Son. Most of us collapse at the first sign of heartbreak or pain. We sit down on the threshold of God’s purpose, then turn to the people around us for sympathy. So-called Christian sympathy will soothe us all the way to our deathbeds! God never soothes us when what we need is to be roused; God comes with the grip of the pierced hand of his Son and says, “Arise; shine. Enter into fellowship with me.”

If through a broken heart God can bring his purposes to pass in the world, thank him for breaking your heart.

Jeremiah 24-26; Titus 2

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”? 

Disciples Indeed, 389 L

1 Kings 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Some Assembly Required

Do you want to see a father's face go ashen? Position yourself nearby as he discovers three words on the box of a just-bought toy: "Some assembly required!" What follows are hours of squeezing A into B, bolting D into F, sliding R over Z, and hoping no one notices if steps four, five, and six were skipped altogether. I'm convinced the devil indwells the details of toy assembly. Somewhere in perdition is a warehouse of stolen toy parts.

"Some assembly required." Not the most welcome sentence but an honest one.  Life is a gift, albeit unassembled. The pieces don't fit. When they don't, take your problem to Jesus. He says, "Bring your problems to Me!" In prayer, state them simply. Present them faithfully, and trust Him reverently!

Before Amen

1 Kings 7

It took Solomon another thirteen years to finish building his own palace complex. He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. There were four rows of cedar columns supporting forty-five cedar beams, fifteen in each row, and then roofed with cedar. Windows in groupings of three were set high in the walls on either side. All the doors were rectangular and arranged symmetrically.

6He built a colonnaded courtyard seventy-five feet long and forty-five wide. It had a roofed porch at the front with ample eaves.

7He built a court room, the Hall of Justice, where he would decide judicial matters, and paneled it with cedar.

8He built his personal residence behind the Hall on a similar plan. Solomon also built another one just like it for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

9–12No expense was spared—everything here, inside and out, from foundation to roof was constructed using high-quality stone, accurately cut and shaped and polished. The foundation stones were huge, ranging in size from twelve to fifteen feet, and of the very best quality. The finest stone was used above the foundation, shaped to size and trimmed with cedar. The courtyard was enclosed with a wall made of three layers of stone and topped with cedar timbers, just like the one in the porch of The Temple of God.

13–14King Solomon sent to Tyre and asked Hiram (not the king; another Hiram) to come. Hiram’s mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was a Tyrian and a master worker in bronze. Hiram was a real artist—he could do anything with bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all the bronze work.

15–22First he cast two pillars in bronze, each twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet in circumference. He then cast two capitals in bronze to set on the pillars; each capital was seven and a half feet high and flared at the top in the shape of a lily. Each capital was dressed with an elaborate filigree of seven braided chains and a double row of two hundred pomegranates, setting the pillars off magnificently. He set the pillars up in the entrance porch to The Temple; the pillar to the south he named Security (Jachin) and the pillar to the north Stability (Boaz). The capitals were in the shape of lilies.

22–24When the pillars were finished, Hiram’s next project was to make the Sea—an immense round basin of cast metal fifteen feet in diameter, seven and a half feet tall, and forty-five feet in circumference. Just under the rim there were two bands of decorative gourds, ten gourds to each foot and a half. The gourds were cast in one piece with the Sea.

25–26The Sea was set on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the bulls faced outward supporting the Sea on their hindquarters. The Sea was three inches thick and flared at the rim like a cup, or like a lily. It held about 11,500 gallons.

27–33Hiram also made ten washstands of bronze. Each was six feet square and four and a half feet tall. They were made like this: Panels were fastened to the uprights. Lions, bulls, and cherubim were represented on the panels and uprights. Beveled wreath-work bordered the lions and bulls above and below. Each stand was mounted on four bronze wheels with bronze axles. The uprights were cast with decorative relief work. Each stand held a basin on a circular engraved support a foot and a half deep set on a pedestal two and a quarter feet square. The washstand itself was square. The axles were attached under the stand and the wheels fixed to them. The wheels were twenty-seven inches in diameter; they were designed like chariot wheels. Everything—axles, rims, spokes, and hubs—was of cast metal.

34–37There was a handle at the four corners of each washstand, the handles cast in one piece with the stand. At the top of the washstand there was a ring about nine inches deep. The uprights and handles were cast with the stand. Everything and every available surface was engraved with cherubim, lions, and palm trees, bordered by arabesques. The washstands were identical, all cast in the same mold.

38–40He also made ten bronze washbasins, each six feet in diameter with a capacity of 230 gallons, one basin for each of the ten washstands. He arranged five stands on the south side of The Temple and five on the north. The Sea was placed at the southeast corner of The Temple. Hiram then fashioned the various utensils: buckets and shovels and bowls.

40–45Hiram completed all the work he set out to do for King Solomon on The Temple of God:

two pillars;

two capitals on top of the pillars;

two decorative filigrees for the capitals;

four hundred pomegranates for the two filigrees

(a double row of pomegranates for each filigree);

ten washstands each with its washbasin;

one Sea;

twelve bulls under the Sea;

miscellaneous buckets, shovels, and bowls.

45–47All these artifacts that Hiram made for King Solomon for The Temple of God were of burnished bronze. He cast them in clay in a foundry on the Jordan plain between Succoth and Zarethan. These artifacts were never weighed—there were far too many! Nobody has any idea how much bronze was used.

48–50Solomon was also responsible for all the furniture and accessories in The Temple of God:

the gold Altar;

the gold Table that held the Bread of the Presence;

the pure gold candelabras, five to the right and five to the left in front of the Inner Sanctuary;

the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;

the pure gold dishes, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers;

the gold sockets for the doors of the Inner Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, used also for the doors of the Main Sanctuary.

51That completed all the work King Solomon did on The Temple of God. He then brought in the items consecrated by his father David, the silver and the gold and the artifacts. He placed them all in the treasury of God’s Temple.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, October 31, 2026

By Brent Hackett

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 4:20-24

But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

In view of what God did through Jesus in choosing, redeeming, and predestining believers in Him to be His children (Ephesians 1:3-14), Paul instructs believers to “to live a life worthy of [His] calling” (4:1). We’re to “no longer live” the ungodly lives of our past (v. 17), for we’ve been given a new life (vv. 22-24). The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our new person is “created to be like God”—truly righteous and holy (Ephesians 4:24). We’re to “put to death . . . whatever belongs to [our] earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed” (Colossians 3:5) and to rid ourselves of “anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language” (v. 8). As we “clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (v. 12), God will help us live an authentic, Christlike life before others.

For further study, read: Don’t Run from Your Failures

Today's Insights

No Mask, Simply Jesus

Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:10

In ancient Greece, actors on stage would portray the emotions of their characters by wearing masks that either expressed tragedy or comedy. Masks also allowed the same actor to play multiple roles in the same production. They weren’t permanent, nor were they representative of the real person. Put on for the performance, the facial disguises were taken off when the production was over.

In Colossians 3:10, Paul writes to believers in Jesus to encourage them to “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Rather than a temporary mask worn to entertain people, it should be displayed as a permanent part of life that will be seen each day. The apostle says to “put off your old self” (Ephesians 4:22)—the sinful life we lived before receiving salvation in Christ.

Taking off our old habits and putting on a new self doesn’t just happen naturally. Paul says we need “to be made new in the attitude of [our] minds” (v. 23). This starts with how we think—recognizing that as believers we’re “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (v. 24).

The actors in Greece were paid to put on fake faces. Today, by God’s grace, let’s put on the true image of Jesus so the world knows that He’s living within us.

Reflect & Pray

What are some ways you wear a mask that reflects your old life? How can you “put on” Jesus each day?

I pray, dear Jesus, that my life may be a true representation of who You are. Please help me be real each and every day for You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, October 31, 2026

Discernment of Faith

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed . . . — Matthew 17:20

We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith. This might be true in the initial stages of our walk with him, but we don’t earn anything by faith. Faith brings us into right relationship with God and gives God his opportunity.

If you are walking with God, he will often knock the bottom out of your experience in order to bring you into immediate contact with him. God wants you to understand that it’s a life of faith, not of emotional enjoyment of his blessings. Your earlier life of faith was narrow and intense, settled around a little sunspot of experience that had as much sensibleness as faith in it; it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew his blessings—not all of them, just those you were conscious of—to teach you to walk by faith. Now you are worth far more to him than you were in your days of conscious delight and thrilling testimony.

Faith by its very nature must be tried. The real trial of faith isn’t that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character has to be cleared in our own minds. Faith in its actual working out has to go through spells of inexpressible isolation. Never confound the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life. Much that we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. In the Bible, faith means trusting God in the face of everything that contradicts him. Faith says, “No matter what God does, I will remain true to his character.” “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15): this is the most sublime utterance of faith in the whole of the Bible.

Jeremiah 22-23; Titus 1

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.”

Shade of His Hand, 1223 L

1 Kings 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN HOT PURSUIT - October 30, 2026

Jesus still finds blind people and restores their sight. Did you know he promised that through his ministry the blind shall see? Christ came to give light and sight.

Consider what he is doing in the Muslim world. According to Tom Doyle, more Muslims have become Christians in the last couple of decades than in the previous 1400 years since Muhammad and about one out of every three Muslim background believers has had a dream or vision prior to their salvation experience.

Jesus is in hot pursuit of the spiritually blind and he finds them, he touches them. He may use a vision or he may use the kindness of a friend or the message of a sermon or the splendor of creation. But believe this, he came to bring sight to the blind.

Remember friend, you are never alone.

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

1 Kings 6

Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, Solomon started building The Temple of God. The Temple that King Solomon built to God was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. There was a porch across the thirty-foot width of The Temple that extended out fifteen feet. Within The Temple he made narrow, deep-silled windows. Against the outside walls he built a supporting structure in which there were smaller rooms: The lower floor was seven and a half feet wide, the middle floor nine feet, and the third floor ten and a half feet. He had projecting ledges built into the outside Temple walls to support the buttressing beams.

7The stone blocks for the building of The Temple were all dressed at the quarry so that the building site itself was reverently quiet—no noise from hammers and chisels and other iron tools.

8–10The entrance to the ground floor was at the south end of The Temple; stairs led to the second floor and then to the third. Solomon built and completed The Temple, finishing it off with roof beams and planks of cedar. The supporting structure along the outside walls was attached to The Temple with cedar beams and the rooms in it were seven and a half feet tall.

11–13The word of God came to Solomon saying, “About this Temple you are building—what’s important is that you live the way I’ve set out for you and do what I tell you, following my instructions carefully and obediently. Then I’ll complete in you the promise I made to David your father. I’ll personally take up my residence among the Israelites—I won’t desert my people Israel.”

14–18Solomon built and completed The Temple. He paneled the interior walls from floor to ceiling with cedar planks; for flooring he used cypress. The thirty feet at the rear of The Temple he made into an Inner Sanctuary, cedar planks from floor to ceiling—the Holy of Holies. The Main Sanctuary area in front was sixty feet long. The entire interior of The Temple was cedar, with carvings of fruits and flowers. All cedar—none of the stone was exposed.

19–22The Inner Sanctuary within The Temple was for housing the Chest of the Covenant of God. This Inner Sanctuary was a cube, thirty feet each way, all plated with gold. The Altar of cedar was also gold-plated. Everywhere you looked there was pure gold: gold chains strung in front of the gold-plated Inner Sanctuary—gold everywhere—walls, ceiling, floor, and Altar. Dazzling!

23–28Then he made two cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, from olivewood. Each was fifteen feet tall. The outstretched wings of the cherubim (they were identical in size and shape) measured another fifteen feet. He placed the two cherubim, their wings spread, in the Inner Sanctuary. The combined wingspread stretched the width of the room, the wing of one cherub touched one wall, the wing of the other the other wall, and the wings touched in the middle. The cherubim were gold-plated.

29–30He then carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on all the walls of both the Inner and the Main Sanctuary. And all the floors of both inner and outer rooms were gold-plated.

31–32He constructed doors of olivewood for the entrance to the Inner Sanctuary; the lintel and doorposts were five-sided. The doors were also carved with cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, and then covered with gold leaf.

33–35Similarly, he built the entrance to the Main Sanctuary using olivewood for the doorposts but these doorposts were four-sided. The doors were of cypress, split into two panels, each panel swinging separately. These also were carved with cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, and plated with finely hammered gold leaf.

36He built the inner court with three courses of dressed stones topped with a course of planed cedar timbers.

37–38The foundation for God’s Temple was laid in the fourth year in the month of Ziv. It was completed in the eleventh year in the month of Bul (the eighth month) down to the last detail, just as planned. It took Solomon seven years to build it.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, October 30, 2026

by Leslie Koh

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Genesis 12:1-8

Abram and Sarai

112God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

2–3I’ll make you a great nation

and bless you.

I’ll make you famous;

you’ll be a blessing.

I’ll bless those who bless you;

those who curse you I’ll curse.

All the families of the Earth

will be blessed through you.”

4–6So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.

7God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

8He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God.

Today's Insights

Abraham is held up as a model of faith for good reason (see Hebrews 11:8-10). When he received his calling from God (Genesis 12:1), the Scriptures hadn’t begun to be written. God told him to leave his “country . . . people and . . . father’s household” (v. 1). As a nomadic herdsman living thousands of years ago, he had no way to research where he was going, and opportunities to communicate with those he left behind would’ve been extremely limited. Yet his commitment and his faith were resolute. Three times the New Testament tells us that Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23; see Genesis 15:6). Today, as we step into the unknown, we can remember that God is faithful and He’ll be with us.

For further study, listen to the following podcast: Your Everyday Purpose

Get Going with God

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1

It was raining, bringing the temperature down even more. We were on a multiday hike in Nepal, and leaving the warm mountain lodge to venture into the freezing weather was getting harder each morning. “Let’s go,” insisted our guide. “We can’t wait for the weather to get better. Don’t worry, I’ll be with you.”

Setting off in the rain and fog, I felt utterly miserable. It seemed pointless to keep going—what could we see? Many hours later, however, the skies cleared up, revealing breathtaking vistas of towering peaks in the distance—views that we would have missed had we stayed back.

In Genesis 12:1, God told Abram to head into Canaan: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” At that moment, there seemed little to look forward to; all Abram could see was a long, arduous journey through a foreign and inhospitable land where hardship and enemies awaited. The only assurance he had was God’s presence and promise of becoming “a great nation” (v. 2). Yet “Abram went, as the Lord had told him” (v. 4). Only many years later would he see the promises fulfilled.

Sometimes God may call us to a challenging job, ministry, or task that seems unrewarding. But, as He helps us to trust Him and step out in faith, He’ll always be there. As we get going, He goes with us.

Reflect & Pray

What is God calling you to do? What’s holding you back, and how will you get going?

Loving Father, please give me the faith to trust You to take a step into the unknown, knowing You’re always with me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, October 30, 2026

Faith

Without faith it is impossible to please God. —Hebrews 11:6

Faith in antagonism to common sense is fanaticism; common sense in antagonism to faith is rationalism. The life of faith brings the two into a right relationship. Common sense isn’t faith, and faith isn’t common sense. They stand in the relation of the natural to the spiritual, of impulse to inspiration. Nothing Jesus Christ ever said is common sense. His words are revelation sense; they reach the shore where common sense fails.

“In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Faith must be tested before it becomes real. If we love God and are called according to his purpose, we can rest assured that no matter what happens, the alchemy of his providence will transform the object of our faith—Jesus Christ—into an active, vital force in each of our lives. The whole purpose of God is to make faith real in the lives of his children. He does this for each one of us personally, working through our individual circumstances.

To turn head-faith into a personal possession is a fight always, not sometimes. God brings us into certain circumstances in order to test and educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make its object real. Until we know Jesus, God is a mere abstraction; we cannot have faith in him. But when we hear Jesus say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), we have something that is no longer abstract but real and limitless.

Faith is a tremendously active principle; it always puts Jesus Christ first. In any challenge, faith says, “This may seem foolish, Lord, but I’m going to venture forth on your word.” Faith knows that for every commonsense situation, there’s a revelation fact that can be drawn upon to prove in practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is the whole person rightly related to God by the power of Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 20-21; 2 Timothy 4

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.

Disciples Indeed

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, October 30, 2026

Trying to Be King - #10385

Scripture:  Revelation 1:5

For years, the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Middle-earth” were contained in his “Lord of the Rings” book trilogy and enjoyed by a relatively small number of people who loved those stories passionately. But since the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy exploded from books to blockbuster Hollywood movies, millions became enthusiastic fans. The engaging fantasy world of Tolkien’s “Middle-earth," the unique characters, the epic battles, and the spiritual themes that run through the stories; there are many layers that have blended into an experience that has magnetized millions of people. It’s a great story, but for many, this is a story that seems to say something — something important. Tolkien, the author of the “Lord of the Rings,” was a man with a deep Christian faith, and that faith helped to shape the provocative spiritual themes that many find in “Return of the King,” the finale of the trilogy. There is this ring. There is this king. And there, somewhere tied to both, are many of us.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Trying to Be King.”

At the center of “The Return of the King,” is the ring; the gold ring that many want to possess, no matter what the cost. The dark secret of owning that ring and its power is that the power ultimately comes to own you. It’s called by one of its owners, “The Precious”—demonstrating its perverse value to the one who has it. You can’t let go of it, even when it begins to destroy you…as it always does.

That image suggests a disturbing reality about our lives here on Real-earth. There are life-pursuits that we believe will fulfill us, answer our questions and give us the love we’re looking for, or the spiritual power that the human soul is hungry for. We want the power of whatever “ring” we feel compelled to pursue; someone who will love us, something we define as success, something that will relieve our pain, something that will make us feel significant. We all have our “Precious.” Sadly, our “Precious” ends up being less than we had hoped, but often something we can’t let go of.

Two words ultimately define the essence of all our “Precious” pursuits—my way or “sin,” as the Bible calls it. Time after time, the road marked “My Way” has turned out to be a dead-end street hasn’t it? And all too often, the ring that we have selfishly fought for has ended up hurting us and hurting those we love. That’s the point at which “The Return of the King” intersects the life of a real king; the one described in the Bible as the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). The one in whose honor we stand when we hear the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

The battles of Tolkien’s “Middle-earth” culminate with the return and the victory of a liberating king named Aragorn. The battles of Real-Earth culminate with the coming, and the victory, of the King of all kings - King Jesus.

The same book of the Bible that shows Jesus as this King of kings says of Him in Revelation 1:5, our word for today from the Word of God, “He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.” The King died for you because you have grabbed the “ring” of a self-run life; not realizing the ring will ultimately cost you everything including heaven. But heaven’s King loves you so much He paid that price himself for you on the cross. And then His ultimate victory came three days later when He walked right out of His grave.

The life-or-death choice before you is whether you will continue to grasp that life-sapping ring or release the ring so you can follow your King. The day you say, “Jesus, You died for me. I’m Yours” is the day the King of billions of galaxies moves into your life and does with it what you could never do. The rightful King of your life is coming to you today, because for Jesus, you are His “Precious.”

Are you ready to have that love? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website today because that's where you could find the information that will help you be sure you finally belong to Him. Go to ANewStory.com.

Jesus is the King who has never lost a battle. And my friend, you need Him.