Judges 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:LOOK FOR JESUS IN THE STORM - February 18, 2026

Peter and his fellow storm riders knew they were in trouble. According to Matthew 14:24-26, “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” About 4:00 a.m. the unspeakable happened. They spotted someone walking on the water. “‘A ghost!’ they said, crying out in terror!” They didn’t expect Jesus to come to them this way.

Neither do we. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expect to see him in a storm. But that’s where he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention. He said. “Take courage; I am here” (Matthew 14:27 NLT).

Look over your shoulder friend; that’s God following you. Look into the storm friend; that’s Christ coming toward you.

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Judges 16

Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute. He went to her. The news got around: “Samson’s here.” They gathered around in hiding, waiting all night for him at the city gate, quiet as mice, thinking, “At sunrise we’ll kill him.”

3  Samson was in bed with the woman until midnight. Then he got up, seized the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, bolts and all, hefted them on his shoulder, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

4–5  Some time later he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek (Grapes). Her name was Delilah. The Philistine tyrants approached her and said, “Seduce him. Discover what’s behind his great strength and how we can tie him up and humble him. Each man’s company will give you a hundred shekels of silver.”

6  So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, dear, the secret of your great strength, and how you can be tied up and humbled.”

7  Samson told her, “If they were to tie me up with seven bowstrings—the kind made from fresh animal tendons, not dried out—then I would become weak, just like anyone else.”

8–9  The Philistine tyrants brought her seven bowstrings, not dried out, and she tied him up with them. The men were waiting in ambush in her room. Then she said, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He snapped the cords as though they were mere threads. The secret of his strength was still a secret.

10  Delilah said, “Come now, Samson—you’re playing with me, making up stories. Be serious; tell me how you can be tied up.”

11  He told her, “If you were to tie me up tight with new ropes, ropes never used for work, then I would be helpless, just like anybody else.”

12  So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. She said, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The men were hidden in the next room. He snapped the ropes from his arms like threads.

13–14  Delilah said to Samson, “You’re still playing games with me, teasing me with lies. Tell me how you can be tied up.”

He said to her, “If you wove the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and drew it tight, then I would be as helpless as any other mortal.”

When she had him fast asleep, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the fabric on the loom and drew it tight. Then she said, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He woke from his sleep and ripped loose from both the loom and fabric!

15  She said, “How can you say ‘I love you’ when you won’t even trust me? Three times now you’ve toyed with me, like a cat with a mouse, refusing to tell me the secret of your great strength.”

16–17  She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. Finally, he was fed up—he couldn’t take another minute of it. He spilled it.

He told her, “A razor has never touched my head. I’ve been God’s Nazirite from conception. If I were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would be as helpless as any other mortal.”

18  When Delilah realized that he had told her his secret, she sent for the Philistine tyrants, telling them, “Come quickly—this time he’s told me the truth.” They came, bringing the bribe money.

19  When she got him to sleep, his head on her lap, she motioned to a man to cut off the seven braids of his hair. Immediately he began to grow weak. His strength drained from him.

20  Then she said, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He woke up, thinking, “I’ll go out, like always, and shake free.” He didn’t realize that God had abandoned him.

21–22  The Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They shackled him in irons and put him to the work of grinding in the prison. But his hair, though cut off, began to grow again.

23–24  The Philistine tyrants got together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They celebrated, saying,

Our god has given us

Samson our enemy!

And when the people saw him, they joined in, cheering their god,

Our god has given

Our enemy to us,

The one who ravaged our country,

Piling high the corpses among us.

25–27  Then this: Everyone was feeling high and someone said, “Get Samson! Let him show us his stuff!” They got Samson from the prison and he put on a show for them.

They had him standing between the pillars. Samson said to the young man who was acting as his guide, “Put me where I can touch the pillars that hold up the temple so I can rest against them.” The building was packed with men and women, including all the Philistine tyrants. And there were at least three thousand in the stands watching Samson’s performance.

28  And Samson cried out to God:

Master, God!

Oh, please, look on me again,

Oh, please, give strength yet once more.

God!

With one avenging blow let me be avenged

On the Philistines for my two eyes!

29–30  Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars that held up the building and pushed against them, one with his right arm, the other with his left. Saying, “Let me die with the Philistines,” Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life.

31  His brothers and all his relatives went down to get his body. They carried him back and buried him in the tomb of Manoah his father, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

He judged Israel for twenty years.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

by Nancy Gavilanes

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Joel 2:21-27

The Trees Are Bearing Fruit Again

21–24  Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate!

God has done great things.

Fear not, wild animals!

The fields and meadows are greening up.

The trees are bearing fruit again:

a bumper crop of fig trees and vines!

Children of Zion, celebrate!

Be glad in your God.

He’s giving you a teacher

to train you how to live right—

Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words

to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do.

And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain,

casks of wine and barrels of olive oil.

25–27  “I’ll make up for the years of the locust,

the great locust devastation—

Locusts savage, locusts deadly,

fierce locusts, locusts of doom,

That great locust invasion

I sent your way.

You’ll eat your fill of good food.

You’ll be full of praises to your God,

The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder.

Never again will my people be despised.

You’ll know without question

that I’m in the thick of life with Israel,

That I’m your God, yes, your God,

the one and only real God.

Never again will my people be despised.

Today's Insights

For believers in Jesus, perhaps the greatest impact of Joel 2 comes when Peter quotes a portion of it during his Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:17-21) and rightly shows the timeless nature of God’s plan for the rescue and restoration of His lost creation (Joel 2:28-32). Yet, while Peter used Joel 2 to help explain the divine purpose behind the events of those recent days in Jerusalem (Acts 2:22-24), some of the things Joel prophesied would reach even further into the future: “I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below . . . . The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord” (Acts 2:19-20; see Joel 2:30-31). The events preceding Pentecost fulfilled one part of these prophecies, and Christ’s return will fulfill the rest! His faithful ways allow us to experience a relationship with Him and a bright future in His presence.

Divine Restoration

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten. Joel 2:25

My heart sank. My mind started to swirl. A friend who’d been helping set up my new laptop accidentally deleted all the photos and videos I’d transferred to it. Years of precious memories with family and friends were all gone in an instant. Panic set in.  I’d never be able to recreate those cherished moments from past holidays, travels, and special occasions. Before sentimental me could have a complete meltdown, my friend said he was hopeful he could recover my files. Thankfully, a few agonizing hours later I was overjoyed to see my special media files reappear.

I waited anxiously for only a few hours, but the fear was real. Loss can be scary and painful. In Joel 2, the prophet called the people of Judah to repentance after devastation by a horde of locusts that destroyed the grain fields, vineyards, gardens, and trees. The prophet had warned the people of the impending consequences of their rebellion against God. But God hadn’t abandoned them. He would help and bring restoration if they placed their trust in God: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” (2:25).

God restored Judah when they turned to Him. God wants to restore you as well.

Whatever circumstances you’re in, you can turn to God and trust Him—knowing that He’s “the Lord your God, and that there is no other” (v. 27). He is faithful to help you recover from what was lost and bring you into a relationship with Him.

Reflect & Pray

How has God helped you during loss? How can you turn to God in your current situation?

Dear God, thank You for restoring me.

Do you trust God to look after you? Learn more by reading The Lord is My Shepherd.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

The Initiative against Despair

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’s disciples fell asleep when they were supposed to be keeping watch. When they awoke and realized that Jesus was about to be taken, they were filled with despair.

We might imagine that this kind of despair is unusual; in fact, it’s a very common human experience. Whenever we realize that we’ve done something we can’t undo, whenever we let a magnificent opportunity pass us by, despair is the natural response. Sometimes, our feeling of despair is so deep we can’t lift ourselves out of it. At these moments, we need Jesus Christ to come to us and say, “Rise! Let us go!”

When our Lord comes to us in this way, he tells us to accept the reality of our situation. “That opportunity is lost forever,” he says. “You can’t change what has happened. But rise now, and go on.” In Gethsemane, the disciples had done something they felt was unforgivable. Jesus came with his spiritual initiative against despair, telling them to move on to the next thing. What is the next thing? If we are inspired by God, the next thing is always to trust him absolutely and to pray on the ground of his redemption.

Never let a sense of failure alter your new plans and actions. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep with Christ. Step out into the irresistible future with him.

Leviticus 23-24; Mark 1:1-22

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight. 

The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

WHY IT IS TOO SOON TO GIVE UP - #10203

Ten more minutes and my wife would have never been born. The story that changed everything is hope for any of us who love someone who's making some very bad choices. My wife's grandfather, Bill, had given up on life. Trashing a profitable career for the alcohol and cocaine he could not resist. He was labeled with a prison record, he was penniless, he was hopeless and he was suicidal.

And that night, as he walked South State Street in downtown Chicago, he was minutes away from Lake Michigan where he'd decided to end it all. One thing saved him. A mother who had never given up on him. There, on the street, he heard the song, the one his mother used to sing to him. It was coming from the rescue mission he had just passed. Something made him stop and go inside. And there a caring mission worker shared a Bible verse that has probably changed more lives than any other. The worker started, "For God so loved the world that He gave..." Suddenly, Bill finished it. "...His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). Somewhere in the long-clouded corners of his memory, he could hear his mother teaching him those words.

And that night - minutes away from ending his life - he found life. He never touched or wanted alcohol or drugs from that night on. And he spent the rest of his life bringing the hope he'd found to forgotten people across the country. And now three generations Bill never met are here, and they're living and spreading that same hope because of one man's choice that night.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why It Is Too Soon to Give Up."

The story behind the story is told in the inscription on the back of a photo of young Bill. His mother wrote, "O Will, every night when I read my Bible, I look at this picture and I ask God to keep you and somehow seal your heart with His love. You may see this after I'm gone and you'll know that I never ceased to pray for you. Mother." She did live ten years after the night God answered those prayers.

Even as her son's life got darker and darker, this mother was hanging onto a powerful but easily-forgotten truth. That's one that I, too, have hung onto - even today. Because so much of my life's work has been trying to love and rescue people who just keep spiraling downward. It's a hope-preserver for all of us who grieve and who pray for broken, prodigal people.

Never forget the difference between a chapter and a book. See, many a book with a happy ending has some very dark chapters. A loved one's seemingly unstoppable rush to the edge of the cliff? That's not the book. It's a chapter. If we lose that wide angle lens perspective, we're going to lose hope. But the Bible urges us in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 6:9, "Do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest..." And Jesus said that we "should always pray and not give up" (Luke 18:1).

That's what Bill's mother did. She wept over many chapters. She never lost sight, though, of the ending God could write to the book of her son's life. She just kept loving, praying and believing. And the final chapters of Bill's life were more glorious and more miraculous than she could have ever dreamed.

If we can remember, in the darkest hours of a loved one's heartbreaking journey, that this is a chapter, then hope can win when despair is strong. Even as I write this, there are young men and women whose life-eroding choices I grieve for. But I know there is a relentless Shepherd who came, He said, to "seek and save those who are lost" (Luke 19:10). He says, "I will search for the lost and bring back the strays" (Ezekiel 34:16). He will do whatever it takes to bring them home. Even when it meant a cross.

So, as long as there's breath, there's hope. I know, because Bill's beautiful granddaughter, my wife, told me.

Luke 15:1-10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S HEART FOR HURTING PARENTS - February 17, 2026

Jairus heard two voices and had to choose which one to heed. The first, from the servants in Luke 8:49, “Your daughter is dead.”  The second, from Jesus in verse 50, “Don’t be afraid.”

We need to know what Jesus will do when we entrust our kids to him. In the case of the story of Jairus, Jesus united the household (vs. 51).  “…he let only Peter, John, James, and the girl’s father and mother go inside with him.”  Next, he banished unbelief, the scoffers. “He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, ‘Little girl, arise” (vs. 54 NKJV).

God has a heart for hurting parents.  After all, God himself is a father. Keep giving your child to God, and in the right time and the right way, God will give your child back to you.

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Luke 15:1-10

The Story of the Lost Sheep

1–3  15 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

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

The Story of the Lost Coin

8–10  “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

by Dave Branon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

John 3:1-6, 9, 14-16, 36

Born from Above

1–2  3 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”

3  Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”

4  “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”

5–6  Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

9  Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”

In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

16–18  “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn’t see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that.”

Today's Insights

Nicodemus genuinely didn’t understand Jesus’ challenge that only those who were “born again” could see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). The language of rebirth, though it might be familiar to us today, was strange to the Pharisee, and his follow-up questions highlight his confusion (v. 4). With great patience, Christ unpacks His meaning for Nicodemus, culminating in verse 16, one of the most dearly loved verses in the Bible. The impact on him is inescapable. He advocated for Jesus to receive a fair hearing (7:50-51) and helped prepare Him for burial (19:39-41). Nicodemus’ fledgling faith in Christ prompted his love for the Savior and challenges us to also extend His love to others.

Belle’s Belief

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life. John 3:36

Belle wanted nothing to do with her parents’ faith in Jesus. In college, she proclaimed herself an agnostic and sought to live without God. But a breakup with her boyfriend and growing depression sent her on a downward spiral. She thought of ending her life.

In those depths of despair, she thought of her parents’ joy in Christ and, despite her struggles, eventually trusted Jesus as Savior. Later, she heard a man speak about a people group in China who’d never heard the gospel. She wanted to go there to tell them, but some people discouraged her because of the danger. She went anyway. Together with a young man she met in college and whom she later married, Belle spent the rest of her life taking the gospel to people in China and Thailand. Thousands of people trusted Jesus, and the legacy of this woman, Isobel Kuhn, lives on in those lands.

Who gave a young woman a new life and hope and walked with her as she dealt with difficult life challenges? Jesus.

Are you wondering what life is about? Perhaps questioning your existence? Turn to Christ—“God’s one and only son” (John 3:18) who died for you (Romans 5:8). He loves you enough to provide life that lasts forever (John 3:16). Yes, “whoever believes in [Jesus] the Son has eternal life” (3:36). And when we believe in Him, as Belle did, He will be with us as we face life’s challenges and help us extend His love to others.

Reflect & Pray

How does God provide purpose for your life? What does it mean for you to find hope in Christ?

Dear Jesus, thank You for the purpose and plans You have for me!

Learn more about having a personal relationship with God

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

The Initiative against Discouragement

An angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” — 1 Kings 19:5

When the angel came to Elijah, the prophet was in a terrible state, huddled under a bush in the wilderness, afraid and miserable and wanting to die: “‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life’” (1 Kings 19:4).

How did the angel respond? He didn’t give Elijah a vision or an explanation of Scripture; he told him to get up and eat. When we are feeling discouraged, we often turn away from ordinary activities. But most of the time, when God comes to us, he doesn’t bring visions. He gives us the inspiration to do the simplest, most natural things— things we would never have imagined he was in. As we do them, we discover him there.

Discouragement is an inevitable part of human experience. It’s in the nature of a rock to never be sad, not of a human being. If we were never sorrowful, we would never be overjoyed. We have a capacity for delight and sadness both, and it is only normal that we should be brought low by certain things.

In times of difficulty, our safeguard lies in doing what God asks of us, however small and insignificant his request may seem. If instead we try to block out our sadness, if we ignore it or push it down, we will only succeed in deepening it. But if we sense intuitively that the Spirit wants us to do something and we do it, our sadness begins to lift. Immediately we arise and obey; we enter a higher plane of life.

Leviticus 21-22; Matthew 28

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. 

Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

SIN'S DEADLY SECRET - #10202

You may have seen an actor named Iron Eyes Cody in a lot of roles as an Indian. He used to tell an old legend about a young Indian brave, going through the rites of manhood. As he hiked solo into this beautiful valley, he decided to test himself against that rugged, snow-capped mountain that dominated the valley. When he reached the top, he felt like he was standing on the rim of the world. Then he heard this rustle at his feet. It was a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke. He said, "I am about to die. It's too cold for me up here and there's no food. Would you put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley?" The young brave refused. He said, "I know your kind! You're a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you'll bite me and you'll kill me." But the snake said, "No, I promise to treat you differently. If you do this for me, I will not harm you."

Finally, the young man was persuaded, so he tucked the snake under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. But as soon as he laid it on the ground, the snake suddenly coiled, rattled, leaped and bit him on the leg. The young brave could only cry out, "But you promised!" As the snake slithered away, he hissed back his answer, "You knew what I was when you picked me up."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sin's Deadly Secret."

The story is a legend. But the Indian brave's mistake has been repeated in real life over and over again. God wants you to be sure you know exactly what that snake is - and what it will do to you - before you're fatally bitten.

Which takes us to our word for today from the Word of God in James 1:15 - it's an anatomy of how sin gets us to pick it up and what the inevitable outcome will be. "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin." Looks good...looks harmless - or at least I think it's worth the risk. First, I want it, then I do it, then I pay for it. It goes on to say, "And sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

See, sin always works the same way - first it fascinates, then it assassinates. Always. The killer snake will always be a killer snake, no matter how harmless it appears or how likely it looks that you'll get away with it. Not a chance. Sin always kills. It kills your self-respect, it kills your reputation, your closeness to God. You're not going to get away with it. God says, "Be sure that your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).

You might be entertaining thoughts right now that you should have never let in, flirting with something you should be fleeing, making compromises that have brought you to the edge of a spiritual disaster, getting close to someone that you should be getting away from, or you could be harboring hard feelings that you really should have let go of by now.

Down in your soul, you know what it is. It's sin that killed your Savior, sin that always bites the one who handles it. And just because you can't see any consequences now, don't be fooled. Satan will be sure you're hooked and in a position where your fall will do the most damage - then you'll feel his fangs. This is God's loving warning, "Drop it now, while you can, before the inevitable deadly consequences come."

My friend, this is why Jesus is called Savior. Because we need to be saved from the killer of Sin. It kills everything, it will take us one day to a Christless eternity. It will take us out of His Heaven to his Hell. We'll never make it to His Heaven. But that's why Christ died, He took the sting of the serpent, He did the dying. And today He offers you eternal life in exchange for your sin and your death penalty. Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I want to be forgiven, I need to be forgiven." He will come into your life and change what you could never change.

Listen, if you want this relationship with Him, go to our website and we'll help you get started with Him. It's ANewStory.com.

You can't afford to hold the snake of sin close one day longer. You know what it is when you pick it up. And you know what it will do. And Jesus has come to rescue you.

Judges 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: ENTRUST CHILDREN TO CHRIST - February 16, 2026

Fear turns some parents into paranoid prison guards who monitor every minute and check the background of every friend.  A family with no breathing room suffocates a child.

On the other hand, fear can also create permissive parents.  Fearing that their child will feel too confined or fenced in, they are high on hugs and low on discipline.  They don’t realize that appropriate discipline is an expression of love.

Permissive parents.  Paranoid parents.  How can we avoid the extremes?  We pray. Jesus’ big message to moms and dads?  Bring your children to me. Pray that your children have a profound sense of place in this world and a heavenly place in the next. Parents, we can entrust our kids to Christ.

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Judges 15

Later on—it was during the wheat harvest—Samson visited his bride, bringing a young goat. He said, “Let me see my wife—show me her bedroom.”

But her father wouldn’t let him in. He said, “I concluded that by now you hated her with a passion, so I gave her to your best man. But her little sister is even more beautiful. Why not take her instead?”

3  Samson said, “That does it. This time when I wreak havoc on the Philistines, I’m blameless.”

4–5  Samson then went out and caught three hundred jackals. He lashed the jackals’ tails together in pairs and tied a torch between each pair of tails. He then set fire to the torches and let them loose in the Philistine fields of ripe grain. Everything burned, both stacked and standing grain, vineyards and olive orchards—everything.

6  The Philistines said, “Who did this?”

They were told, “Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite who took his bride and gave her to his best man.”

The Philistines went up and burned both her and her father to death.

7  Samson then said, “If this is the way you’re going to act, I swear I’ll get even with you. And I’m not quitting till the job’s done!”

8  With that he tore into them, ripping them limb from limb—a huge slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in a cave at Etam Rock.

9–10  The Philistines set out and made camp in Judah, preparing to attack Lehi (Jawbone). When the men of Judah asked, “Why have you come up against us?” they said, “We’re out to get Samson. We’re going after Samson to do to him what he did to us.”

11  Three companies of men from Judah went down to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines already bully and lord it over us? So what’s going on with you, making things even worse?”

He said, “It was tit for tat. I only did to them what they did to me.”

12  They said, “Well, we’ve come down here to tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines.”

Samson said, “Just promise not to hurt me.”

13  “We promise,” they said. “We will tie you up and surrender you to them but, believe us, we won’t kill you.” They proceeded to tie him with new ropes and led him up from the Rock.

14–16  As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of God came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands. He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company. And Samson said,

With a donkey’s jawbone

I made heaps of donkeys of them.

With a donkey’s jawbone

I killed an entire company.

17  When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. He named that place Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).

18–19  Now he was suddenly very thirsty. He called out to God, “You have given your servant this great victory. Are you going to abandon me to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” So God split open the rock basin in Lehi; water gushed out and Samson drank. His spirit revived—he was alive again! That’s why it’s called En Hakkore (Caller’s Spring). It’s still there at Lehi today.

20  Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, February 16, 2026

by Anne Cetas

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Genesis 33:1-10

Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.

5  Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are these with you?”

Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.”

6–7  Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.

8  Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?”

“I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.”

9  Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.”

10–11  Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me.

Today's Insights

The rift between Jacob and his brother Esau began when Jacob first stole Esau’s birthright and then through treachery gained the blessing his father had intended for his older brother Esau (Genesis 27:27-36). Esau had vowed to murder Jacob in revenge (v. 41). In Genesis 32-33, Jacob sent ahead of his traveling party many gifts, hoping the gifts would soften Esau’s anger (32:13-21). When Jacob finally encountered Esau face to face, he said, “Please accept the present that was brought to you” (33:11). The word translated “present” here is literally “blessing,” the same word used for the blessing Jacob stole from Esau (27:35-36). In this way, Jacob emphasized that he recognized how he’d harmed Esau and desired to make amends. Today, as we humbly seek to bring healing to our broken relationships, God will help us.

It Takes Humility

[Jacob] bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. Genesis 33:3

My cousins, who lived only two miles away when we were growing up, weren’t allowed to interact with my family. They never came to reunions or talked to us at the local grocery store. Their parents said it was because, back then, we didn’t attend church and we’d be a bad influence on them. What a surprise when many years later, a cousin attended my eldest brother’s funeral! He approached us one by one and humbly apologized for their attitude. Our relationship with him began to be restored. 

Jacob needed a humble heart to seek restoration with his twin brother, Esau. Jacob, the second born, had connived against Esau: He stole his brother’s birthright (Genesis 25:19-34) and deceived his elderly father into giving him the firstborn’s blessing (26:34–27:40). Furious, Esau threatened to kill him, so Jacob had run to another country.

Years later, Jacob wanted to return home but was afraid the deep division between him and his brother wouldn’t be resolved without bloodshed (32:6-8). When he and Esau finally met, he humbly “bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother” (33:3). He feared Esau would kill him, but instead Esau came running “and embraced him” (v. 4).

Whether we’ve harmed another or have been harmed, it takes humility, openness, and often much work to heal the brokenness. But God can and will help us.

Reflect & Pray

What relationships in your life might need restoration? How can you start the process?

Dear Father, please keep me from holding grudges or becoming bitter and help me forgive others and ask for forgiveness.

Broken relationships can be hard to mend, but God calls us to be in community with one another. Learn how we can work to mend relationships by reading this article.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, February 16, 2026

Inspired Initiative

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. — Ephesians 5:14

Not all initiative is inspired. “Just do it,” people say. “Just get on with it.” That is ordinary human initiative. But when the Spirit of God comes in and says, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead,” we find ourselves genuinely inspired and ready to act.

We all have visions and ideals when we are young, but sooner or later we find that we have no power to make them real. We give up on our dreams and let them die; we let our ideals wither away. Then God comes in with his miraculous power, and we find we are able to do the impossible.

A mistake we make is believing that, because God is capable of miracles, we don’t need to put forth any effort of our own. When God says, “Rise from the dead,” we have to get up; God will not lift us up. In Matthew 12, Jesus heals a man with a shriveled hand—but first, Jesus asks the man to reach out to him. “He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ So he stretched it out and it was completely restored” (v. 13). As the man acted in faith, Jesus acted to help the man. The same principle holds true in our lives: Although God, in his infinite power, could give us a life of instant, effortless gratification, this is not his will for us. Instead, he asks us to extend ourselves to him as he extends himself to us.

If the Lord has extended the hand of spiritual initiative to you, reach out and take it. As soon as you do, you will find that the light of God’s inspiration is yours: “And Christ will shine on you.”

Leviticus 19-20; Matthew 27:51-66

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, February 16, 2026

AT THE DOWN END OF YOUR DAY - #10201

Our family, and probably yours, can be divided into two functional groups: the morning people and the night people. Which, by the way, are dysfunctional the other part of the day. You have those at your house? Well, often they marry each other. I don't know why that happens. And then they drive each other nuts at the beginning and at the end of the day. Now, my daughter, for example, oh, she was the slow freight train in the morning. She was almost a no freight train in the morning. It was hard to get her up; it took a long time to get her going, not much spark there, not too many smiles. She was not really like that the rest of the day. But morning was just not her time.

Now, I'm a morning person. Then about 10 or 11 o'clock at night, I start to unravel. I'm the slow freight or the no freight then. Well, I hate to tell you this, but I get to be less and less fun to be with as it gets a little later. Meanwhile, guess what my daughter was doing? She was bouncing off the walls at this point. See, we both could use a little help at the down end of our day. So could you probably.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "At the Down End of Your Day."

Well, our word for today from the Word of God has something for both the morning people and the night people. It comes from Psalm 92:1-2. "It is good to praise the Lord and to make music to Your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night." This is talking about praising, and making music at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. It says we should be, as followers of the Most High God, positive at the beginning and at the end - both ends of the day.

Now, I've noticed a gap between my metabolism; especially my late night metabolism, and my desire to be like Jesus. See, they're in conflict. Oh, I can be having a good day of serving, and being unselfish, and caring about other people, being positive all day, and then the hour starts getting late. The later it gets, sometimes it just seems like the more selfish I get, the crankier I get, the more brittle, irritable. I'm less likely to go out of my way. I'm more likely to say something cutting or sarcastic, or to complain about having to do something. Now, maybe that happens to you in the morning.

Guess when I need God's resources the most? I need them at night, because I'm a morning person. I need to consciously stretch the lordship of Christ to cover the down end of my day. There's a part of my day that seems like I'm the least under His lordship, and I'll bet there's one for you. And that's the part I need to depend on Him the most. Maybe morning's your toughest time to be a Christian.

Well, David said in Psalm 90:14, "Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." See, in your case, you've got to wake up and think of Jesus first thing. Whichever is your down end of the day, be sure that Christ's lordship reaches from your first waking moments to your last conscious moments. You can really hurt those you love the most at your harsh end of the day.

Remember, our Lord is the One who gives you a pillar of cloud to wake up to in the morning assuring you of a God-designed day, and who gives you a pillar of fire at night to assure you of His illuminating presence at night time.

So, here's a practical take home test on your spiritual maturity. What difference is Christ making at the down end of your day?

Judges 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Little Over a Lifetime

Will I learn what God intends?  If I listen, I will.  A little girl returned from her first day at school. Her mom asked, "Did you learn anything?" "I guess not," the girl responded.  "I have to go back tomorrow and the next day and the next day. . ."

Such is the case with learning. And such is the case with Bible study.

Understanding comes a little at a time over a lifetime. James said:  "The man who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and makes a habit of doing so is not the man who hears and forgets.  He puts that law into practice and wins true happiness." (James 1:25).

The Bible is not a newspaper to be skimmed but rather a mine to be quarried.  Proverbs 2:4 says to "search for it like silver, and hunt for it like hidden treasure."

And we need to do it today, and the next day, and the next….

From Just Like Jesus

Judges 14

 Samson went down to Timnah. There in Timnah a woman caught his eye, a Philistine girl. He came back and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, a Philistine girl; get her for me as my wife.”

3  His parents said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among the girls in the neighborhood of our people? Do you have to go get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”

But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the one I want—she’s the right one.”

4  (His father and mother had no idea that God was behind this, that he was arranging an opportunity against the Philistines. At the time the Philistines lorded it over Israel.)

5–6  Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When he got to the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion came at him, roaring. The Spirit of God came on him powerfully and he ripped it open barehanded, like tearing a young goat. But he didn’t tell his parents what he had done.

7  Then he went on down and spoke to the woman. In Samson’s eyes, she was the one.

8–9  Some days later when he came back to get her, he made a little detour to look at what was left of the lion. And there a wonder: a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass—and honey! He scooped it up in his hands and kept going, eating as he went. He rejoined his father and mother and gave some to them and they ate. But he didn’t tell them that he had scooped out the honey from the lion’s carcass.

10–11  His father went on down to make arrangements with the woman, while Samson prepared a feast there. That’s what the young men did in those days. Because the people were wary of him, they arranged for thirty friends to mingle with him.

12–13  Samson said to them: “Let me put a riddle to you. If you can figure it out during the seven days of the feast, I’ll give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of fine clothing. But if you can’t figure it out then you’ll give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of fine clothing.”

13–14  They said, “Put your riddle. Let’s hear it.” So he said,

From the eater came something to eat,

From the strong came something sweet.

14–15  They couldn’t figure it out. After three days they were still stumped. On the fourth day they said to Samson’s bride, “Worm the answer out of your husband or we’ll burn you and your father’s household. Have you invited us here to bankrupt us?”

16  So Samson’s bride turned on the tears, saying to him, “You hate me. You don’t love me. You’ve told a riddle to my people but you won’t even tell me the answer.”

He said, “I haven’t told my own parents—why would I tell you?”

17  But she turned on the tears all the seven days of the feast. On the seventh day, worn out by her nagging, he told her. Then she went and told it to her people.

18  The men of the town came to him on the seventh day, just before sunset and said,

What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?

And Samson said,

If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer,

You wouldn’t have found out my riddle.

19–20  Then the Spirit of God came powerfully on him. He went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, stripped them, and gave their clothing to those who had solved the riddle. Stalking out, smoking with anger, he went home to his father’s house. Samson’s bride became the wife of the best man at his wedding.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, February 15, 2026

by Marvin Williams

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

John 13:31-38

A New Command

31–32  When he had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him. The moment God is seen in him, God’s glory will be on display. In glorifying him, he himself is glorified—glory all around!

33  “Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. But just as I told the Jews, I’m telling you: ‘Where I go, you are not able to come.’

34–35  “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

36  Simon Peter asked, “Master, just where are you going?”

Jesus answered, “You can’t now follow me where I’m going. You will follow later.”

37  “Master,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow now? I’ll lay down my life for you!”

38  “Really? You’ll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times.”

Today's Insights

John 13 forms the prelude to Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse (ch. 13-17)—His final teaching time with His disciples before going to the cross. Throughout the discourse, He speaks of the need for those who believe in Him to love one another (13:34-35; 15:12, 17). But before speaking about that important truth, He modeled it by taking upon Himself the place of the lowliest servant and washing His disciples’ feet (13:2-12). He went on to explain that this act was to set an example to them of humble sacrificial service (vv. 12-17). This humble service found its fullest expression when Christ said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (15:13). Those powerful words would be enacted in a few short hours as Jesus would lay down His life on the cross to take away the sins of the world. Because of His sacrificial love for us, He can help us sacrificially love others.

Learn how to care for others like Jesus.

Handle with Care

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34

Stradivarius violins, cellos, and guitars are among the most treasured musical instruments in the world. Crafted during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the pieces are rare and invaluable. Something so precious deserves the utmost care. So when a Stradivarius cello—worth more than $20 million—fell off a table during a photo shoot, it was truly shocking!

Just as a Stradivarius must be handled carefully, so must our relationships. We’re to love others because Christ demonstrated His love toward us. In John 13:34, Jesus gave His disciples a command that requires careful attention: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Why did Christ call it a new command? It was new because it was rooted in the way Jesus loved people. This new command to love wasn’t careless or casual but intentional, precious, and sacrificial. Loving this way would lead to discipleship, self-denial, and possibly even death for the disciples. This care for one another would be how they survived in a difficult and hostile world after Christ’s departure. And Jesus told them, “Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (v. 35).

Let’s carefully and sacrificially love others—reflecting Jesus’ precious and priceless love.

Reflect & Pray

Why is it difficult to show love to some people? What can help you love them in a way that reflects the love Jesus revealed?

Dear Jesus, thank You for sacrificially loving me. Please help me love others the same way.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, February 15, 2026

Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

For none of us lives for ourselves alone. — Romans 14:7.

Has it ever dawned on you that you are spiritually responsible for other souls? If you ever find yourself turning away from God, even in private, watch out: you will cause harm to everyone around you. “There are many parts, but one body,” Paul wrote. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Corinthians 12:20, 26).

If we care about our friends, families, and communities, we must set a close guard on our hearts and minds. To give in to physical selfishness, intellectual laziness, or spiritual stubbornness is to put everyone around us at risk. “But who is strong enough to meet a standard like that?” you say. Our strength comes from God, and God alone.

When Jesus called us to be his witnesses, he meant that we should spend every bit of our mental, moral, and spiritual energy for him (Acts 1:8). When we embrace this calling, we will find that we’ve been made entirely useless from every viewpoint but his. It takes time; we must be patient with ourselves. But we must also remember why we are here: not to be saved and sanctified but to give our all for his sake. This is how we say thank you to God for the unspeakable gift of our salvation.

Leviticus 17-18; Matthew 27:27-50

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. 

Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Judges 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Come to Me

Invitations are special.

         "You're invited to a gala celebrating the grand opening of. . ."

         "Mr. and Mrs. John Smith request your presence at the wedding of their daughter. . ."

To be invited is to be honored-to be held in high esteem! The most incredible invitations aren't found in envelopes, but rather, they are found in the Bible. God invited Eve to marry Adam, the animals to enter the ark, and Mary to give birth to His son.

"Come," he invited, "Come to me all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28)."

"Come," he would say.  God is the King who invites us to come, who prepares the palace, sets the table, and invites his subjects to come in. His invitation for you, however, is not just for a meal, it's for life!

From And the Angels Were Silent

Judges 13

Samson

1  13 And then the People of Israel were back at it again, doing what was evil in God’s sight. God put them under the domination of the Philistines for forty years.

2–5  At that time there was a man named Manoah from Zorah from the tribe of Dan. His wife was barren and childless. The angel of God appeared to her and told her, “I know that you are barren and childless, but you’re going to become pregnant and bear a son. But take much care: Drink no wine or beer; eat nothing ritually unclean. You are, in fact, pregnant right now, carrying a son. No razor will touch his head—the boy will be God’s Nazirite from the moment of his birth. He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression.”

6–7  The woman went to her husband and said, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the angel of God—terror laced with glory! I didn’t ask him where he was from and he didn’t tell me his name, but he told me, ‘You’re pregnant. You’re going to give birth to a son. Don’t drink any wine or beer and eat nothing ritually unclean. The boy will be God’s Nazirite from the moment of birth to the day of his death.’ ”

8  Manoah prayed to God: “Master, let the man of God you sent come to us again and teach us how to raise this boy who is to be born.”

9–10  God listened to Manoah. God’s angel came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field; her husband Manoah wasn’t there with her. She jumped to her feet and ran and told her husband: “He’s back! The man who came to me that day!”

11  Manoah got up and, following his wife, came to the man. He said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

He said, “I am.”

12  Manoah said, “So. When what you say comes true, what do you have to tell us about this boy and his work?”

13–14  The angel of God said to Manoah, “Keep in mind everything I told the woman. Eat nothing that comes from the vine: Drink no wine or beer; eat no ritually unclean foods. She’s to observe everything I commanded her.”

15  Manoah said to the angel of God, “Please, stay with us a little longer; we’ll prepare a meal for you—a young goat.”

16  God’s angel said to Manoah, “Even if I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a Whole-Burnt-Offering for God, go ahead—offer it!” Manoah had no idea that he was talking to the angel of God.

17  Then Manoah asked the angel of God, “What’s your name? When your words come true, we’d like to honor you.”

18  The angel of God said, “What’s this? You ask for my name? You wouldn’t understand—it’s sheer wonder.”

19–21  So Manoah took the kid and the Grain-Offering and sacrificed them on a rock altar to God who works wonders. As the flames leapt up from the altar to heaven, God’s angel also ascended in the altar flames. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. Manoah and his wife never saw the angel of God again.

21–22  Only then did Manoah realize that this was God’s angel. He said to his wife, “We’re as good as dead! We’ve looked on God!”

23  But his wife said, “If God were planning to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted our Whole-Burnt-Offering and Grain-Offering, or revealed all these things to us—given us this birth announcement.”

24–25  The woman gave birth to a son. They named him Samson. The boy grew and God blessed him. The Spirit of God began working in him while he was staying at a Danite camp between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, February 14, 2026

by Karen Pimpo

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Jeremiah 31:1-4, 7, 9

 “And when that happens”—God’s Decree—

“it will be plain as the sun at high noon:

I’ll be the God of every man, woman, and child in Israel

and they shall be my very own people.”

2–6  This is the way God put it:

“They found grace out in the desert,

these people who survived the killing.

Israel, out looking for a place to rest,

met God out looking for them!”

God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.

Expect love, love, and more love!

And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again,

dear virgin Israel.

You’ll resume your singing,

grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.

7  Oh yes, God says so:

“Shout for joy at the top of your lungs for Jacob!

Announce the good news to the number-one nation!

Raise cheers! Sing praises. Say,

‘God has saved his people,

saved the core of Israel.’

Today's Insights

God disciplined His chosen people because of their unfaithfulness. Jerusalem was destroyed and the Israelites exiled to Babylon (Jeremiah 1:14-16; 5:15-19; 6:22-23; 25:9-11). But once the discipline was complete, God brought them back from exile (30:8-17), restored their privileges as His chosen nation (vv. 18-24), and, most important, restored the people to Himself (ch. 31). He did this because of His special love and unmerited mercy. God is “Israel’s father and [Israel] is [his] firstborn son” (v. 9). He assured them, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (v. 3). God’s discipline isn’t inconsistent with His love, for “the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Proverbs 3:12). We can be assured that God loves us and pursues us with His everlasting love.

God’s Eternally Beloved

I have loved you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3

One of the most dramatic and mysterious love letters of all time was penned by composer Ludwig van Beethoven and was only discovered after his death in 1827. The hastily handwritten letter is full of passionate lines like, “My eternally beloved . . . I can only live either wholly with you or not at all.” Tragically, it appears the letter was never sent, and his intended recipient remains unknown. 

Beethoven’s letter is treasured by readers who can identify with his desperate yearning for love. We seek love and fulfillment in many people, things, and experiences that cannot fully satisfy. But far greater than a fleeting romance is the love of God for His covenant people, to whom He showed great love for the sake of all people. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God declared, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). Because of His great love, God promised a future of rest and favor (v. 2) and the restoration of anything that was broken (v. 4). Despite their repeated rejection and rebellion, God vowed to bring them back to Himself (v. 9).

Many years later, that same everlasting love motivated Jesus to endure death for sinners, even before we ever returned His love (Romans 5:8). We don’t have to search for love or try to earn it. We’re already loved with an everlasting love!

Reflect & Pray

In what ways do you look for love on earth? How has God demonstrated His eternal love to you?

Loving God, I’m so grateful for the way You pursue me with an everlasting love.

How can we love each other the way God calls us to? Find out more by watching A Different Kind of Love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, February 14, 2026

The Discipline of Darkness

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. — Matthew 10:27

At times, God puts us into the shadow of his hand, holding us in darkness so that we might be still and learn to listen. Songbirds are taught to sing in the dark; we are taught to hear our Lord.

Are you in the dark right now, confused about your circumstances or your life with God? If you are, keep quiet: darkness is the time to listen. If you talk in the dark, you will talk in the wrong mood. Don’t consult other people about your problem; don’t seek the answers in a book. Other people’s voices and opinions will drown out what God is trying to tell you. Listen to God in the dark, and he will give you a precious message for someone else when you get back into the light.

After every time of darkness, there comes a mixture of delight and humiliation. There is delight at finally hearing God, and humiliation at how long it took to listen. “How slow I’ve been in understanding!” you’ll say. “And yet, God has been saying it all these days and weeks.” If you feel only delight, it is doubtful you have heard him at all.

Learn to welcome the humiliation as a gift: it is God’s way of teaching you how to listen better in the future. If you do, you will develop the softness of heart that always hears God now.

Leviticus 15-16; Matthew 27:1-26

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L

Luke 14:25-35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: TAKE PARENTING FEARS TO CHRIST - February 13, 2026

Parenting comes loaded with fears. Dangers buzz in the background. No parent can sit still while his or her child suffers.

Luke 8 tells us Jairus couldn’t. “Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying” (Luke 8:41-42 NLT).

Jesus heeded his fears. He still does. Jesus heeds the concern in the parent’s heart. After all, our kids were his kids first.  Even as they are ours, they are still his. We forget that fact. Wise are the parents who regularly give their children back to God. Parents, we can be loyal advocates, stubborn intercessors. And we can take our parenting fears to Christ.

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Luke 14:25-35

Moses Teaches Israel on the Plains of Moab

1  5 Moses called all Israel together. He said to them,

Attention, Israel. Listen obediently to the rules and regulations I am delivering to your listening ears today. Learn them. Live them.

2–5  God, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb. God didn’t just make this covenant with our parents; he made it also with us, with all of us who are alive right now. God spoke to you personally out of the fire on the mountain. At the time I stood between God and you, to tell you what God said. You were afraid, remember, of the fire and wouldn’t climb the mountain. He said:

6  I am God, your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

out of a house of slaves.

7  No other gods, only me.

8–10  No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God. I hold parents responsible for any sins they pass on to their children to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation. But I’m lovingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.

11  No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, February 13, 2026

by Alyson Kieda

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

James 4:1-10

Get Serious

1–2  4 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

2–3  You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

4–6  You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”

7–10  So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

Today's Insights

In addition to the admonitions of Peter (1 Peter 5:8) and James (James 4:7) regarding spiritual vigilance in resisting temptation, Paul also had something to say about it. After noting how the Israelites had succumbed to temptation in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-11), he warned the Corinthians: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful . . . . When you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (vv. 12-13). The apostle lists two examples of how the “way out” can sometimes involve fleeing. He says we’re to “flee from idolatry” (v. 14) and “sexual immorality” (6:18). The Holy Spirit helps us to succeed in overcoming temptation.

Be Careful!

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

After years of struggle and crying out in prayer, Frank quit drinking. He attributes his continued sobriety to God’s work in his life. But he also made some important changes. He no longer kept alcohol in the house, watched for warning signs in his thinking and moods, and was wary of certain situations. He leaned on God and knew not to leave an opening for temptation or sin.

“Be alert and of sober mind,” the apostle Peter warned. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Peter knew we needed to be watchful because the devil’s attacks are often unexpected—when it seems like our life couldn’t be better, or we think we’d never be tempted in a certain area.

James too warned his readers to submit to God and “resist the devil.” When we do, our enemy “will flee” (James 4:7). The best way to resist him is to stay close to God through prayer and time in Scripture. When we do, God comes near to us (v. 8) through His Spirit (Romans 5:5). James also offered this encouragement: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).

We all face challenging moments in life when we’re tempted and struggle. We can rest knowing that God wants us to succeed and overcome. He is with us in our troubles.

Reflect & Pray

When do you seem to be more susceptible to temptation? How has God helped you in those times?

Dear God, please help me draw near to You instead of pulling away. I need Your daily guidance to keep me on the right path.

Learn how the Spirit fights on your behalf.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, February 13, 2026

The Devotion of Listening

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” — 1 Samuel 3:10

Am I hearing what God is saying? Perhaps I’ve listened well to one of his commands, but I’ve turned a deaf ear to the rest. This is how I show God that I don’t love or respect him: I act like I can’t hear him, even though he is speaking to me clearly. Samuel deliberately turned his attention to God, and assured God that his ears were open.

Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14). Am I being a friend to the Lord, or am I disobeying his commands? If I’d been listening, I wouldn’t have consciously disobeyed. Most of us don’t care enough to listen. Our Lord might as well have said nothing at all.

The goal of my spiritual life is to be so closely identified with Jesus Christ that I always hear God and I know that he always hears me (John 17). When I am identified with the Lord like this, my ears are attuned to his voice at every moment and in every situation. A lily, a tree, the words of one of his servants: all may convey God’s message. If I haven’t cultivated this devotion of listening, his voice comes through to me only at certain times. Most of the time, caught up in serving or in my convictions, I pretend I’m too busy to listen. Serving is a good thing, but if it drowns out God’s voice, I know my devotion is running in the wrong direction.

Have I heard God’s voice today, or have I become deaf to him?

Leviticus 14; Matthew 26:51-75

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

For the past three hundred years men have been pointing out how similar Jesus Christ’s teachings are to other good teachings. We have to remember that Christianity, if it is not a supernatural miracle, is a sham. 

The Highest Good, 548 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, February 13, 2026

LOVING GOD BACK - #10200

I thought she was the cutest little thing in junior high. She didn't think I was the cutest little thing in junior high, though. See, I decided to make an all-or-nothing play for her. I went downtown and I spent all my allowance money on this necklace for her; the finest rhinestones you have ever seen. Then I wrote this eloquently mushy note to go with it and I sealed them both in an envelope which I proceeded to hand her one day as she passed by my desk in study hall. The next day, she passed by my desk again, and I looked down and there was a familiar looking envelope with the note and the necklace in it. Ouch!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Loving God Back."

I'll tell you, it hurts to spend a lot on someone you care about and basically have them not care. It's a feeling Jesus Christ knows all too well. In fact, without even knowing it, you may have been responding to His love that way.

That love, and the response Jesus should get from us, is clearly described in 1 John 4:10, and then verse 19, our word for today from the Word of God. Here's what it says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." And what a sacrifice - the sinless Son of God taking the filth of your sin and mine so we could be forgiven. God's one and only Son, the Prince of Heaven, abandoned by Father God because He was carrying your sin and mine. The One angels worship, with nails driven angrily through His hands and feet, a spear thrust into His side, absorbing your hell so you would never have to go there. Amazing love - unspeakable love - love which demands a verdict from you and me. Will you give yourself to the man who gave His life for you? Or will you, however politely or religiously, withhold your life from Him?

1 John 4:19 explains the only response worthy of the sacrifice. "We love Him because He first loved us." As actor-director Mel Gibson immersed himself in the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus in preparation for his movie, "The Passion of the Christ," here's how he described its impact. "The full horror of what Jesus suffered didn't really strike me. But when you finally see it and understand what He went through, it makes you feel not only compassion, but also a debt. You want to repay Him for the enormity of His sacrifice. You want to love Him in return."

It's possible to appreciate Jesus' death on the cross, to respect Him for doing it, even to be grateful for it and still miss the only response that really matters to Him - the only response that makes what He did for you on the cross really yours. The incredible Bible verse that says, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son" says He did that so that, "whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). "Believe" means you grab Jesus like He's your only hope. You're abandoning every other hope you might have clung to for getting to God.

You say to Jesus, "I cannot resist this love, not any longer. Your death for me is my only hope of being forgiven and going to heaven. So Jesus, I'm giving you what you paid for. You paid for my life and my future and my eternity. Jesus, I'm Yours."

If you want that, I want to help you be sure you've got it and that's why our website is there. So I urge you, at your first opportunity, to visit me there at ANewStory.com. Come and be sure that you belong to Jesus from this day on.

After all God's Son gave for you, I can assure you of this, God is never going to forget what you do with His Son.

Judges 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: EIGHT WORRY STOPPERS - February 12, 2026

Here are eight worry-stoppers, found in the letters of the word P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L:

Pray, first.  “Casting the whole of your care upon Him …”

Easy, now.  “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.”

Act on it.  Be a doer, not a stewer.

Compile a worry list.  Keep a list of things that trouble you.  How many have turned into a reality?

Evaluate your worry categories.  Pray specifically about them.

Focus on today.  God meets daily needs daily.

Unleash a worry army.  Ask a few loved ones to pray with you and for you.

Let God be enough.  “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else

P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L. Peaceful!

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Judges 12

 The men of Ephraim mustered their troops, crossed to Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you go out to fight the Ammonites without letting us go with you? We’re going to burn your house down on you!”

2–3  Jephthah said, “I and my people had our hands full negotiating with the Ammonites. And I did call to you for help but you ignored me. When I saw that you weren’t coming, I took my life in my hands and confronted the Ammonites myself. And God gave them to me! So why did you show up here today? Are you spoiling for a fight with me?”

4  So Jephthah got his Gilead troops together and fought Ephraim. And the men of Gilead hit them hard because they were saying, “Gileadites are nothing but half breeds and rejects from Ephraim and Manasseh.”

5–6  Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan at the crossing to Ephraim. If an Ephraimite fugitive said, “Let me cross,” the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” and he would say, “No.” And they would say, “Say, ‘Shibboleth.’ ” But he would always say, “Sibboleth”—he couldn’t say it right. Then they would grab him and kill him there at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two Ephraimite divisions were killed on that occasion.

7  Jephthah judged Israel six years. Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city, Mizpah of Gilead.

Ibzan

8–9  After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside his clan and brought in thirty daughters-in-law from the outside for his sons.

10  He judged Israel seven years. Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

Elon

11–12  After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. He judged Israel ten years. Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Abdon

13–15  After him, Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel eight years. Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the Amalekite hill country.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, February 12, 2026

by John Blase

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 4

A David Psalm

1  4 When I call, give me answers. God, take my side!

Once, in a tight place, you gave me room;

Now I’m in trouble again: grace me! hear me!

2  You rabble—how long do I put up with your scorn?

How long will you lust after lies?

How long will you live crazed by illusion?

3  Look at this: look

Who got picked by God!

He listens the split second I call to him.

4–5  Complain if you must, but don’t lash out.

Keep your mouth shut, and let your heart do the talking.

Build your case before God and wait for his verdict.

6–7  Why is everyone hungry for more? “More, more,” they say.

“More, more.”

I have God’s more-than-enough,

More joy in one ordinary day

7–8  Than they get in all their shopping sprees.

At day’s end I’m ready for sound sleep,

For you, God, have put my life back together.

Today's Insights

Psalm 4 expresses David’s quiet confidence in God amid distressing circumstances and slanderous attacks (vv. 1-2, 8). Affirming that God had set him apart to live a life that honored Him (v. 3) and acknowledging his propensity to seek revenge on those who’d attacked him, the psalmist reminded himself, “Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent” (v. 4 nlt). Instead of angry retribution, he chose silent reflection on God’s goodness and faithfulness (vv. 4-8). In another psalm, David similarly wrote, “Be still before the Lord . . . . Do not fret—it leads only to evil” (37:7-8). Today, when we’re anxious, we can ask God to help us and to remind us of His presence and faithfulness.

Discover the secret to lasting peace in Christ.

A Nonanxious Presence

In peace I will lie down and sleep. Psalm 4:8

In his 1985 book Generation to Generation, family therapist and Rabbi Edwin Friedman introduced the phrase “a nonanxious presence.” Friedman’s thesis, later articulated in A Failure of Nerve, is that “the climate of contemporary America has become so chronically anxious that our society has gone into an emotional regression that is toxic to well-defined leadership.” Friedman focused on how chronic anxiety spreads within a system—a family, a workplace, a congregation. Yet in the same way, a leader can offer a nonanxious presence that will spread through a system, becoming a person of peace in the middle of a storm.

Psalm 4 is a psalm of David, written in the middle of one of life’s storms. David was in the grip of anxiety. So he cried out to God, “Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer” (v. 1). While he was fearful for his life, he was also aware that his followers were fearful too: “Many, Lord, are asking, ‘Who will bring us prosperity?’” (v. 6).

David’s decision to trust God created a nonanxious presence in the presence of anxiety! “In peace I will lie down and sleep,” he said. David could rest because “you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (v. 8).

We too can rest in the nonanxious presence God provides. We can spread His peace wherever we go.

Reflect & Pray

What’s a current situation causing you anxiety? What would it look like to lead with a nonanxious presence?

You alone, God of peace, are my safety. May my trust in You encourage others to do the same.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Must I Listen?

They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” — Exodus 20:18-19

There are times when we’re not consciously disobeying God; we’re just not paying attention. God has given us his commandments: there they are, set down in Scripture, along with a clear directive that we should follow them. “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15). And still, we look the other way. We don’t do this out of willful disobedience. We do it because we don’t love and respect God.

“Speak to us yourself,” the Israelites told Moses. “But do not have God speak to us.” We show God how little we love him when we prefer to listen only to his servants. We’ll listen to personal testimonies, but we won’t listen to God himself. Why are we so terrified of him speaking directly to us? Because we know that if he does, we’ll have a choice to make: obey or disobey. If it’s only a servant’s voice we hear, we feel free to disregard it. “Well, that’s just your own idea,” we say. “Even though I don’t deny it’s probably God’s truth.”

Am I putting God in the humiliating position of having treated me as his child, while I’ve been ignoring him? When I do finally listen, the humiliation I’ve been putting on him comes back on me, and my delight at hearing him is tempered by the shame of having shut him out for so long.

Leviticus 13; Matthew 26:26-50

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else.

Approved Unto God, 11 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, February 12, 2026

One day when our daughter was a teenager, I heard an interesting variety of emotions coming from her room. First, I'd hear her laughing, then sniffling, then she'd let out an occasional "I can't believe it!" Finally, my curiosity got the best of me; I had to know what she was doing. She said, "I'm reading my diary, Dad." Well, as she was reading that diary, she was reliving a lot of great moments, some hard times, and a number of lessons learned. I've often wished I could go back and enter into how I felt at some key moments in my life. The problem is I didn't write it down.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of Journaling God."

Now, it really is true: if you want to keep something, write it down. Like a friend once told me, "The weakest ink is stronger than the strongest memory. In fact, when it comes to some of life's experiences - some of life's most eternally important experiences - writing it down shouldn't be optional.

Your most important experiences in life are your personal times with Jesus Christ. They are what shape your life here. They're a foretaste of what your eternity is going to be about - being with Jesus. And this side of heaven, the primary place where you meet your Lord is in His Word - the Bible. But it won't change you if you don't remember what He says to you.

Which is what God is saying in our word for today from the Word of God in James 1:22-25. God says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does."

Like a person looking in the mirror in the morning, you're supposed to look into God's Word to see what needs to change. First, God says to reflect on what He's saying to you in His Book, "looking intently" into it. Then He says to remember what He's said to you, and that's usually the problem. Even a few hours later, we probably can't remember what He said or what we read. And these verses in James imply that we will only make spiritual progress if we are "not forgetting" what we heard from the Lord.

That's why I tried something many years ago; keeping a daily spiritual journal. If I gave it a title, I'd just call it "My Times with Jesus." I never kept a personal diary about how I was feeling but I did start a journal of my times with Jesus. And I started doing it and I haven't stopped, including this very morning. Those entries in a notebook have turned out to be the tangible proof of God at work in my life - an album literally showing my growth in Jesus Christ.

I really want to strongly recommend this spiritual journaling to you. As you browse back through it later on, you'll be able to see the pattern of God's leading as it's unfolded and you'll find in it an incredible faith-builder in the crunch times.

Write down the date and where you're reading. Then read a few verses two or three times. Then write down two things: first, what did you read? Summarize what God was saying in your own words, not Bible words. Secondly, write down what you're going to do differently that day because of what God said. (1) What did God say? (2) What am I going to do differently because of it?

It's really exciting to keep a record of what God says and what He does in your life. That diary will be filled with the power and the presence of your Lord. And when you're feeling discouraged or confused or alone, reach for the record and experience again the wonderful power of a journal that is glowing with your personal experience of God.

Luke 14:1-24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: LOAVES, FISH, AND JESUS - February 11, 2026

In Matthew 6:25 Jesus says, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough.”

On one occasion, Jesus had taken the disciples on a retreat.  Then came the hungry crowd.  Then the disciples issued a command to Jesus. “Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus issued an assignment, “You give them something to eat.” Do you suppose Jesus was hoping someone would count all the possibilities: “we have five loaves, two fish, and … Jesus!” (Matthew 14: 15-17 NLT)

Standing next to the disciples was the solution to their problems … but the disciples stopped their counting and worried. What about you? Are you counting your problems or are you counting on Christ?

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Luke 14:1-24

One time when Jesus went for a Sabbath meal with one of the top leaders of the Pharisees, all the guests had their eyes on him, watching his every move. Right before him there was a man hugely swollen in his joints. So Jesus asked the religion scholars and Pharisees present, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath? Yes or no?”

4–6  They were silent. So he took the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. Then he said, “Is there anyone here who, if a child or animal fell down a well, wouldn’t rush to pull him out immediately, not asking whether or not it was the Sabbath?” They were stumped. There was nothing they could say to that.

Invite the Misfits

7–9  He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Red-faced, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.

10–11  “When you’re invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, ‘Friend, come up to the front.’ That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I’m saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

12–14  Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.”

The Story of the Dinner Party

15  That triggered a response from one of the guests: “How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!”

16–17  Jesus followed up. “Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’

18  “Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’

19  “Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’

20  “And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’

21  “The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’

22  “The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded—and there’s still room.’

23–24  “The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’ ”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

by 

Arthur Jackson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Matthew 26:6-13

When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper, a woman came up to him as he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. When the disciples saw what was happening, they were furious. “That’s criminal! This could have been sold for a lot and the money handed out to the poor.”

10–13  When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened. “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives, but not me. When she poured this perfume on my body, what she really did was anoint me for burial. You can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she has just done is going to be remembered and admired.”

Today's Insights

In Matthew 26:10, Jesus described a woman’s act of devotion as a “beautiful thing.” It was selfless, thoughtful, and costly. What a contrast with the selfish, ugly actions recorded by Matthew on either side of this account. Plotting religious leaders devised a murderous plan to kill Christ (vv. 3-5). And, from within the band of His own disciples, Judas Iscariot’s plan to betray Him was set in motion (vv. 14-16). Given these circumstances, the woman’s act of honor shines even more brightly.

In a world that includes misguided and unflattering sentiments toward Jesus, those who believe in Him can show how precious He is by honoring Him through thoughtful, caring actions that may cost us time, money, or things we value. Honoring Christ by loving others is still a beautiful thing.

Honoring Jesus

She has done a beautiful thing to me. Matthew 26:10

A twenty-dollar bill and two leaflets with messages about Jesus. That’s what was inside an envelope labeled “John Daniels Sr, Random Act of Kindness Day.” A woman gave it to me while I was on my walk at the community college campus. A year earlier, John had been fatally struck by a car after helping a homeless man and sharing words about Christ’s love with him. John’s legacy of witnessing through words and deeds lives on through the woman I met that day, along with John's other family members.

In Matthew 26:13, one woman was memorialized by Jesus with these words: “Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” The woman’s tender heart for Christ compelled her to anoint Him with expensive ointment (v. 7). What was misunderstood and criticized by others as wasteful (vv. 8-9) was commended by Jesus as “a beautiful thing” (v. 10). The woman’s costly devotion was used by God in a unique way, just as He uses our deeds today for His purposes.

The envelope I received reinforced my desire to distribute resources to those on the street corners in my city, but honoring Jesus can happen in a variety of ways. Let’s tell others about Him and demonstrate His love practically.

Reflect & Pray

Who has inspired you to honor Jesus in practical ways? What acts of kindness might your love for Him compel you to do?

Heavenly Father, the lives of other believers in Jesus inspire me to love You more. Please help me to see ways to share my love for You.

Jesus teaches us how to be in right relationship with Him. Check out Joy to the Full to learn more.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Is Your Hope in God Faint and Dying?

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. — Isaiah 26:3 (kjv mg)

Is your imagination stayed on God, or is it starved? A starved imagination is one of the greatest sources of exhaustion in a disciple’s life. To attain the perfect peace Isaiah describes, we must set our minds steadfastly on God, trusting entirely in him.

If you have never used your imagination to put yourself deliberately before God, begin to do it now. It is no use waiting for God to come to you: you must go to him, turning your gaze away from the faces of idols. Imagination is the greatest gift God has given us, and it ought to be devoted entirely to him. If you learn to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, it will be one of the greatest assets to your faith when the time of trial comes, because your faith and the Spirit of God will work together.

“We have sinned, even as our ancestors did. . . . They did not remember your many kindnesses” (Psalm 106:6–7). If you find that your mind is not steadfastly set on God, if you cannot remember his kindness and love, drive a stake through the heart of your forgetfulness. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. If you do, your affection for God will increase tenfold, your imagination will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.

Leviticus 11-12; Matthew 26:1-25

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

The Shadow of an Agony

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

EVERY DAY, EVERY PLAY MATTERS - #10198

As a longtime New York Giants football fan, it's hard for me to tell a story where a Dallas Cowboys player is the hero, but this one I couldn't resist. Charles Lowery tells the story of a visit by then Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman to visit this young patient's ward in a children's cancer hospital. T.J. was one of those patients, a young boy who was dying of cancer. After visiting with him, Troy promised that he would score a touchdown in that boy's honor. As he was leaving, T.J.'s mom took the quarterback aside and told him that the boy didn't have long to live. Well, the promise stood. The following week was the Cowboys' first preseason exhibition game, and they didn't even play Troy that week. But T.J., of course, was glued to that whole game hopefully.

The next week the Cowboys played in Mexico City, putting starters like Troy Aikman in for only the first quarter. The Cowboys had driven to their opponents' 20-yard line where Troy dropped back to launch a pass - only to tuck the football and, much to everyone's surprise, run the ball in for a touchdown - and then to be tackled in the end zone by these two monster defenders. Well, some Dallas sports writers were all over Aikman because he did what he's not supposed to do as a quarterback. He risked injury like that in what they called a meaningless game. They should have talked to T.J.'s mom. She said, "Troy knew it wasn't a meaningless game; not when he was playing for someone who was dying."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Every Day, Every Play Matters."

You know, it really is true. There is no such thing as a meaningless anything when you do it for someone who's dying, which in terms of God and eternity, many of the people all around us are doing. The Bible clearly says that anyone who "does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12) and that they are "without God and without hope in this world" (Ephesians 2:12). That includes anyone in your personal world who has not had their sins forgiven by faith in the Christ who died for them: coworkers, neighbors of yours, fellow students, people at the gym, at the club, teammates, family members.

But Jesus has placed you where you are, right next to those folks, so they could have a chance at Him, a chance at heaven. And He's depending on you to tell them - to play your position each day as if you were playing for someone who's dying. You are. The Biblical story of Esther is, in a way, the story of everyone who belongs to Christ. She is the Jewish girl who, by God's design, became the Queen of Persia with no one knowing she was a Jew. Then, through the treachery of an anti-Semitic aide to the king, a decree was issued that mandated the death of every one of her people.

For Esther to appeal to the king would mean the very real risk of her own life. But her godly cousin gives her this haunting challenge, "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" That's Esther 4:14, and it's our word for today from the Word of God. And she realizes she is in that position to save dying people, and she risks everything to rescue them.

Now, something very exciting, very enlarging happens to your life when you realize that what you do every day doesn't have to be "everyday stuff." It's relationships and opportunities to point someone where you are to life in Christ. So nothing you do is meaningless, not when you do it to help someone who's spiritually dying. And the life of a church or a ministry is suddenly electrified when the leaders and the members there decide to do what they do, not just to make themselves comfortable and blessed, but to rescue the dying people all around them in their community. It changes everything.

There's a lot at stake in whether you are a silent follower of Christ or one who breaks your silence to tell them about the Jesus who is their only hope. My friend, this is life-or-death. And it means that the way you play really, really matters.