Matthew 25:1-30, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: KEEP FORGIVING - June 9, 2025

Colossians 3:13 says, “As Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” Really, God? Begin the process of healing. How? Keep no list of wrongs. Pray for your antagonists rather than plot against them. Hate the wrong without hating wrongdoers. Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Christ did for you. Outrageous as it may seem, Jesus died for them, too. If he thinks they are worth forgiving, they are.

Does that make forgiveness easy? No. Quick? Seldom. Painless? Forgiveness vacillates. It has fits and starts, good days and bad. Anger intermingled with love. Irregular mercy. We make progress only to make a wrong turn. Step forward and fall back. But it’s okay. As long as you’re trying to forgive, you’re forgiving. It’s when you no longer try that bitterness sets in. So Keep trying, keep forgiving.

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Matthew 25:1-30

The Story of the Virgins

1–5 25 “God’s kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn’t show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep.

6  “In the middle of the night someone yelled out, ‘He’s here! The bridegroom’s here! Go out and greet him!’

7–8  “The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, ‘Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.’

9  “They answered, ‘There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.’

10  “They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked.

11  “Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Master, we’re here. Let us in.’

12  “He answered, ‘Do I know you? I don’t think I know you.’

13  “So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive.

The Story About Investment

14–18  “It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.

19–21  “After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

22–23  “The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

24–25  “The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’

26–27  “The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

28–30  “ ‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, June 09, 2025

by Amy Boucher Pye

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Ezekiel 36:22-28

“Therefore, tell Israel, ‘Message of God, the Master: I’m not doing this for you, Israel. I’m doing it for me, to save my character, my holy name, which you’ve blackened in every country where you’ve gone. I’m going to put my great and holy name on display, the name that has been ruined in so many countries, the name that you blackened wherever you went. Then the nations will realize who I really am, that I am God, when I show my holiness through you so that they can see it with their own eyes.

24–28  “ ‘For here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God!

Today's Insights

Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon (Ezekiel 1:1), ministered to the exiled Jewish community during and after the destruction of Jerusalem. God promised restoration and a bright future to His people if they’d repent of their covenantal unfaithfulness. He’d forgive them and transform them into a holy nation. Only with a new heart and a new spirit would they be able to honor God (36:26-28; see 11:19-20). This new heart and spirit are central to God’s redemption plan.

The prophet Jeremiah also prophesied of God’s new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34. And Jesus spoke of “the new covenant in [His] blood” (Luke 22:20) hours before He died on the cross. He’s the mediator of the new covenant through “the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness” (Hebrews 12:24 nlt). And He alone can change our hearts.

Heart Surgery

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. Ezekiel 36:26

Some years ago, after exchanging heated words, Carolyn and I resolved our conflict through compassion and love for each other. I confessed my wrongdoing, and she prayed for me, referencing Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” I sensed that God was conducting a form of spiritual heart surgery on me, taking away my fears and bitterness as He enfolded me in His love.

God delights for us to engage with the Scriptures as I did back then, but it’s important to note the passage’s original context. Ezekiel spoke on God’s behalf to His people with the promise that He would cleanse them. Why? “It is not for your sake . . . I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name” (v. 22). God would do His purifying work among His people so that all the nations would revere Him and know that He is God.

God works His purposes in our lives not only to help us flourish and grow, but so we would bring Him honor. Even as He gave the Israelites the promise of a new heart and a new spirit, so through the inward work of the Holy Spirit, God replaces our cold and hardened hearts with those that receive and share His love and life.

Reflect & Pray

How have you experienced God’s “heart surgery”? How have others noticed the changes that He’s brought about in your life?

God of all life, thank You for changing me, for forming in me a new self that’s rooted in You. Please pour out Your love on me today.

Learn more about having a personal relationship with God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, June 09, 2025

Ask If You Have Not Received

For everyone who asks receives. — Luke 11:10

There is nothing more difficult than to ask. We desire and crave and suffer, but only when we’ve reached our absolute limit do we ask. What finally makes us ask God for the Holy Spirit is a sense of unreality. We sense that we are not spiritually real and that we cannot become spiritually real on our own. When this happens, when we glimpse our powerlessness, we must ask God for the Spirit, basing our request on the words of Jesus: “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes real in us all that Jesus did on our behalf.

“For everyone who asks receives.” This doesn’t mean that if we don’t ask, we’ll get nothing; God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good” alike (Matthew 5:45). But until we ask, we won’t receive from God directly. To receive from God directly means that we have come into a specific relationship with him—we have become his children— and now we perceive, with moral appreciation and spiritual under- standing, that all things come from him.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God” (James 1:5). If you realize you lack wisdom, it is because you’ve come into contact with spiritual reality, and your eyes have been opened. Don’t put on the blinders of reasonableness again. Don’t listen when people say, “Be reasonable; preach the simple gospel. Don’t tell us we have to be holy, because that makes us feel abjectly poor.”

If we are abjectly poor, we are in the right condition for asking. “Ask” means “beg.” We must ask out of poverty. If instead we ask out of greed, we’ll never receive. We must ask because we know that, without God, we have nothing. A pauper isn’t ashamed to beg. Paupers beg because they are poor; there is no other reason. Blessed are the paupers in spirit (Matthew 5:3).

2 Chronicles 32-33; John 18:19-40

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10. 

Not Knowing Whither, 867 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, June 09, 2025

YOUR TRANSFORMATION MIRACLE - #10021

Caterpillars are ugly. I hope none are listening. I don't mean to be critical, but let's face it, those hairy crawlers are not the beauty queens of the animal kingdom. I suppose someone could try a makeover on a caterpillar, shave off some of that hair, give him a little color. But who could ever imagine that one of the uglier critters around could actually become one of the most beautiful animals in the world - a butterfly! You don't see many pictures of caterpillars on things, but you see pictures of butterflies everywhere! A critter covered with ugly black hair becomes a butterfly splashed with these amazing colors. An animal that lives off the leaves on the ground becomes the connoisseur of flower nectar. And a creature that once crawled everywhere becomes one that can fly everywhere. We're not talking makeover here. We're talking miracle!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Transformation Miracle."

The Creator who so miraculously transforms caterpillars does something far more amazing. He does it for people like you and me. He did it for my wife's grandfather, and He changed the course of her family's history...not to mention mine.

My wife's grandfather, Bill, was a handsome, successful guy with a fatal flaw - alcohol. He'd been hooked since he was 12 years old, and no one could get him unhooked...including himself. His addiction eventually cost him his job, his relationship with his family, even his freedom, landing him in prison for a while. He was, in essence, crawling through life on a caterpillar level because of something inside him he could not change.

So, one night Bill decided to die. He was on his way to Lake Michigan in Chicago to end his life when he heard this vaguely familiar song coming out of an old rescue mission. It was a song his mother used to sing. He decided to go in for a minute - never dreaming that the caterpillar who went into that mission would emerge a butterfly. From that night on, Bill never touched a drop of alcohol again. He became a wonderful husband, a loving father, and a respected spokesman for the Man who had changed his life. That night he was planning to die, Bill began a new life by beginning a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now, while your struggles with your own darkness may be different from Bill's, the same kind of miracle can happen to you. It's described in our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 5:17. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" For the rest of his life, my wife's grandfather dedicated himself to telling as many people as possible about the life-changing miracle that only Jesus could accomplish. And I've had the privilege of being married to some of his heritage - a heritage of spiritual transformation that has now affected another generation in our own children, and then again in our grandchildren.

Transformation? That's what Jesus does. Bill would always tell people, "An old derelict like me could never be reformed. I was transformed by Jesus Christ!" That's the testimony of millions of people over hundreds of years, including the guy talking with you right now. We all fight our own monsters inside us - the sinful, hurtful, even shameful urges, attitudes and actions that we've never been able to conquer. And even being religious or spiritual, even our best efforts at self-improvement have only turned out to be an unsuccessful makeover for a caterpillar.

See, Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sin that enslaves you, and now He offers to begin transforming you from the inside out if you'll invite Him to be your Savior. If you have never begun that relationship with Jesus Christ then tell Him, today, that you want to be His from now on.

And I think you'll be glad to find information at our website that will help you be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.

Trying to be reformed can only change you on the outside. Jesus offers to transform you from the inside out - to make what had been so ugly into something so beautiful. It's time to let Jesus do what only He can do.

Exodus 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Managing Our Thoughts

You’ve got to admit—anger shows up, and we let him in. Revenge needs a place to stay, so we have him pull up a chair. Pity wants a party, we show him the kitchen.

Don’t we know how to say no?  For most of us, thought management is, well, un-thought of.  Shouldn’t we be as concerned about managing our thoughts as we are managing anything else?

Jesus stubbornly guarded the gateway of his heart. On one occasion the people determined to make Jesus their king. Most of us would delight in the notion. Not Jesus.  When He saw they were about to grab him and make him king,  John 6:15 tells us, “Jesus slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself.”

Proverbs says, be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life!  (Proverbs 4:23).  Jesus did, shouldn’t we do the same?  Most certainly!

from Just Like Jesus

Exodus 8

Strike Two: Frogs

1–4  8 God said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘God’s Message: Release my people so they can worship me. If you refuse to release them, I’m warning you, I’ll hit the whole country with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs—they’ll come up into your houses, into your bedrooms and into your beds, into your servants’ quarters, among the people, into your ovens and pots and pans. They’ll be all over you, all over everyone—frogs everywhere, on and in everything!’ ”

5  God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Wave your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds. Bring up frogs on the land of Egypt.’ ”

6  Aaron stretched his staff over the waters of Egypt and a mob of frogs came up and covered the country.

7  But again the magicians did the same thing using their incantations—they also produced frogs in Egypt.

8  Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to God to rid us of these frogs. I’ll release the people so that they can make their sacrifices and worship God.”

9  Moses said to Pharaoh, “Certainly. Set the time. When do you want the frogs out of here, away from your servants and people and out of your houses? You’ll be rid of frogs except for those in the Nile.”

10–11  “Make it tomorrow.”

Moses said, “Tomorrow it is—so you’ll realize that there is no God like our God. The frogs will be gone. You and your houses and your servants and your people, free of frogs. The only frogs left will be the ones in the Nile.”

12–14  Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses prayed to God about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. God responded to Moses’ prayer: The frogs died off—houses, courtyards, fields, all free of frogs. They piled the frogs in heaps. The country reeked of dead frogs.

15  But when Pharaoh saw that he had some breathing room, he got stubborn again and wouldn’t listen to Moses and Aaron. Just as God had said.

Strike Three: Gnats

16  God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and strike the dust. The dust will turn into gnats all over Egypt.’ ”

17  He did it. Aaron grabbed his staff and struck the dust of the Earth; it turned into gnats, gnats all over people and animals. All the dust of the Earth turned into gnats, gnats everywhere in Egypt.

18  The magicians tried to produce gnats with their incantations but this time they couldn’t do it. There were gnats everywhere, all over people and animals.

19  The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s doing.” But Pharaoh was stubborn and wouldn’t listen. Just as God had said.

Strike Four: Flies

20–23  God said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes down to the water. Tell him, ‘God’s Message: Release my people so they can worship me. If you don’t release my people, I’ll release swarms of flies on you, your servants, your people, and your homes. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground under their feet will be thick with flies. But when it happens, I’ll set Goshen where my people live aside as a sanctuary—no flies in Goshen. That will show you that I am God in this land. I’ll make a sharp distinction between your people and mine. This sign will occur tomorrow.’ ”

24  And God did just that. Thick swarms of flies in Pharaoh’s palace and the houses of his servants. All over Egypt, the country ruined by flies.

25  Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, “Go ahead. Sacrifice to your God—but do it here in this country.”

26–27  Moses said, “That would not be wise. What we sacrifice to our God would give great offense to Egyptians. If we openly sacrifice what is so deeply offensive to Egyptians, they’ll kill us. Let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our God, just as he instructed us.”

28  Pharaoh said, “All right. I’ll release you to go and sacrifice to your God in the wilderness. Only don’t go too far. Now pray for me.”

29  Moses said, “As soon as I leave here, I will pray to God that tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. But don’t play games with us and change your mind about releasing us to sacrifice to God.”

30–32  Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God. God did what Moses asked. He got rid of the flies from Pharaoh and his servants and his people. There wasn’t a fly left. But Pharaoh became stubborn once again and wouldn’t release the people.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, June 08, 2025

by Lisa M. Samra

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Acts 2:1-12

A Sound Like a Strong Wind

1–4  2 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.

5–11  There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;

Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;

Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;

Even Cretans and Arabs!

“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”

12  Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”

Today's Insights

An unusual thread—language—connects Acts 2 to the story of the tower of Babel. “The whole world had one language and a common speech,” says Genesis 11:1. The citizens of Babel said, “Let us build ourselves a city, . . . so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (v. 4). God “confuse[d] their language” (v. 7) and “scattered them from there over all the earth” (v. 8). At Pentecost (Acts 2), people from many different nations and languages miraculously heard the good news of Jesus in their own tongue. By giving people understanding instead of confusion, God reversed what He’d done at Babel. In Acts 1:8, Christ had said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Pentecost launched that worldwide mission of believers telling others of God’s love.

Language of Love

All . . . were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:4

Mon Dieu. Lieber Gott. Drahý Bože. A?ap?t? Te?. Dear God. I heard French, German, Slovak, Greek, and English prayers echo through the central Athens church as, in unison, we prayed in our native languages for people in our home countries to hear of God’s love. The beauty of the gathering was magnified when we realized our gathering was happening on Pentecost.

In the Old Testament, Pentecost was a harvest festival celebrated fifty days after the Passover festival (Leviticus 23:15-21). On the first Pentecost following Jesus’ death and resurrection, believers gathered in Jerusalem. Suddenly a sound like “violent wind” came, and “what seemed to be tongues of fire” appeared as they were filled with the Spirit and “began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:2-4). Visitors from other nations heard “the wonders of God” in their own language (v. 11). Then, after Peter “addressed the crowd” (v. 14), many believed the message that Jesus was crucified and raised to life to offer forgiveness (vv. 22-41).

The multilingual prayers of the ministry leaders assembled in Athens reminded me that Peter’s message heard at Pentecost continues to be shared around the world, and people are still responding in faith.  

Let’s pray for the Spirit to empower us like the early believers in Jesus at Pentecost to tell of God’s love. And let’s pray for the message to be heard in every language spoken around the world.

Reflect & Pray

When did you first hear of God’s love for you? How can you pray for others to hear? 

Holy Spirit, please empower me to share God’s love.

Find out more about God's love by reading How God Loves Us.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, June 08, 2025

Determine to Know More

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. — John 13:17

If you do not cut the moorings, God will have to break them with a storm and send you out. Launch all on God, go out on the swelling tide of his purpose, and you will have your eyes opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time safe inside the harbor, full of delight. You have to get out into the great deeps of God and begin to know for yourself. You have to develop spiritual discernment.

When you know you should do a thing and you do it, God immediately grants you more knowledge. Look at the places where you’ve become stuck spiritually. You’ll find that your entrenchment began when you failed to do something you knew you should. You procrastinated, thinking there was no urgency. Now you have no perception and no discernment. In times of crisis, you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-possessed.

Your spiritual destiny is to know and to do the will of God (Romans 12:1–2). Many who refuse to know God’s will practice a counterfeit form of obedience: they manufacture crises in order to play at sacrificing themselves, hoping their passion will be mistaken for discernment. It’s easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, but God’s word on the matter is clear: “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22).

Never live on memories. Beware of nostalgically pining for the safety of the harbor, for the person you used to be. God wants you to be something you’ve never been. He wants you to find out all you long to know. “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out . . .” (John 7:17).

2 Chronicles 30-31; John 18:1-18

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.

Not Knowing Whither

Exodus 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Do it God’s Way

In the game of golf, logic says, “Don’t go for the green.” Golf 101 says, “Don’t go for the green.”  But I say, “Give me my driver, I’m going for the green!”  Golf reveals a lot about a person.  I don’t need advice—whack!  I can handle this myself—clang!

Can you relate? We want to do things our way.  Forget the easy way and forget the best way. Forget God’s way. Too much stubbornness. Too much independence.  Too much self-reliance.  All I needed to do was apologize, but I had to argue.  All I needed to do was listen, but I had to open my big mouth.  All I needed to do was be patient, but I had to take control.  All I had to do was give it to God, but I tried to fix it myself.

Scripture says, “Do it God’s way.”  Experience says, “Do it God’s way.”  And every so often, we do!  We might even make the green.

From Traveling Light

Exodus 7

God told Moses, “Look at me. I’ll make you as a god to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron will tell it to Pharaoh. Then he will release the Israelites from his land. At the same time I am going to put Pharaoh’s back up and follow it up by filling Egypt with signs and wonders. Pharaoh is not going to listen to you, but I will have my way against Egypt and bring out my soldiers, my people the Israelites, from Egypt by mighty acts of judgment. The Egyptians will realize that I am God when I step in and take the Israelites out of their country.”

6–7  Moses and Aaron did exactly what God commanded. Moses was eighty and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8–9  Then God spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, “When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, ‘Prove yourselves. Perform a miracle,’ then tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh: It will turn into a snake.’ ”

10  Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what God commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his servants, and it turned into a snake.

11–12  Pharaoh called in his wise men and sorcerers. The magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their incantations: each man threw down his staff and they all turned into snakes. But then Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

13  Yet Pharaoh was as stubborn as ever—he wouldn’t listen to them, just as God had said.

Strike One: Blood

14–18  God said to Moses: “Pharaoh is a stubborn man. He refuses to release the people. First thing in the morning, go and meet Pharaoh as he goes down to the river. At the shore of the Nile take the staff that turned into a snake and say to him, ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you with this message, “Release my people so that they can worship me in the wilderness.” So far you haven’t listened. This is how you’ll know that I am God. I am going to take this staff that I’m holding and strike this Nile River water: The water will turn to blood; the fish in the Nile will die; the Nile will stink; and the Egyptians won’t be able to drink the Nile water.’ ”

19  God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and wave it over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its bodies of water—so that they turn to blood.’ There’ll be blood everywhere in Egypt—even in the pots and pans.”

20–21  Moses and Aaron did exactly as God commanded them. Aaron raised his staff and hit the water in the Nile with Pharaoh and his servants watching. All the water in the Nile turned into blood. The fish in the Nile died; the Nile stank; and the Egyptians couldn’t drink the Nile water. The blood was everywhere in Egypt.

22–25  But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their incantations. Still Pharaoh remained stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to them as God had said. He turned on his heel and went home, never giving it a second thought. But all the Egyptians had to dig inland from the river for water because they couldn’t drink the Nile water.

Seven days went by after God had struck the Nile.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, June 07, 2025

by Lisa M. Samra

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,

This is my body, broken for you.

Do this to remember me.

After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:

This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.

Each time you drink this cup, remember me.

What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.

Today's Insights

Paul’s use of the words “on the night [Jesus] was betrayed” (1 Corinthians 11:23) underscores the serious nature of the matter he was addressing. It was Christ who implemented the first Communion (Lord’s Supper), and He did so on the Passover night before His crucifixion. Paul revisits the importance of this ordinance to correct a serious error in the church at Corinth. He leads into this section by saying, “In the following directives I have no praise for you” (v. 17)—stern words to hear from an apostle of Jesus. The apostle pointed out how there were “divisions” among the people (v. 18). Some were eating too much while others went hungry, and some were even getting drunk. Paul found such behavior appalling and warned of God’s judgment on those who were offending in this matter (vv. 27-32). He concluded by appealing for their renewed unity (v. 33)—a unity we can enjoy today with other sisters and brothers in Christ.

As One

Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26

A seemingly plain table with thirteen simple cups divided across separate panels make up the contemporary painting, “That They May All Be One,” which hangs in Wolfson College at Oxford University. Its simplicity actually emphasizes the significance of the event: Jesus’ last supper with His disciples. The most prominent panel, containing bread and a cup representing Jesus, is surrounded by twelve individual panels to signify the disciples’ presence.

The painting is a beautiful reminder of the meal where Jesus took bread and a cup to start a new celebration for all His followers, the practice of communion. And I appreciate the row of empty panels that complete the picture because the space seems to invite the viewer to join them at the table.

Paul encourages us that “whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Everyone who believes that Jesus’ death and resurrection provides the way for peace with God has a space waiting for them at the table.

And when we proclaim, or remember, Jesus’ sacrifice when we take communion, we act as one community of believers across the world and throughout time. It is as a beautiful image of the unity of the church.

Reflect & Pray

What is meaningful to you about communion? How does communion point to believers’ unity in Jesus?

Jesus, as we take part of the celebration You gave us, remind me that we do it as one community.

Learn about the importance of having faithful friends by reading this article from Reclaim Today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, June 07, 2025

Don’t Slack Off

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. — John 15:7

Am I fulfilling the ministry of the interior life, taking time alone with the Father to intercede for others in prayer? I need not worry that the moments I claim for prayer are selfish. There is no danger of infatuation or pride in intercession; it is a hidden ministry which brings forth the fruit that glorifies the Father. Am I slacking off in my spiritual life, allowing my spiritual energies to be frittered away? Or am I learning to remain in Jesus? To remain in Jesus is to concentrate my spiritual energies around a single point: the atonement of the Lord.

I must begin to realize this central point of power in my life. Do I give one minute out of sixty to concentrate upon it? “If you remain in me” means “If you continually act and think and work on the basis of my atonement.” What holds the most power over me right now? Is it my job? Serving others? Trying to work for God? It isn’t the thing I spend the most time on that shapes me the most; it’s the thing that exerts the greatest power over me. What ought to exert the greatest power over me is Jesus Christ. I must decide to be limited in my affinities, to choose carefully where I place my attention. If Jesus Christ is more and more my dominating interest, every phase of my life will bear fruit for him.

Jesus says that if we remain in him and his words remain in us, God will answer our prayers. Do we recognize this truth? “But,” you say, “suppose I ask for something not according to God’s will?” You won’t—not if you’re fulfilling Jesus’s wish that you remain in him. The disciple who remains in Jesus is the will of God. The choices this disciple makes, though they appear to be made freely, are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Mysterious? Yes. Logically contradictory and absurd? Yes. But a glorious truth to those who remain in him.

2 Chronicles 28-29; John 17

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. 

My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R

Matthew 24:29-51, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: STAY THE COURSE - June 6, 2025

Vengeance is God’s. He will repay—whether ultimately on the Day of Judgment or intermediately in this life. God can discipline your abusive boss. He can bring your ex to his knees or to her senses. Forgiveness doesn’t diminish justice; it just entrusts it to God. He guarantees the right retribution. The God of justice has the precise prescription.

Forgive your enemies? That’s where you and I come in. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger,” Paul wrote, “and do not give the devil an opportunity” (Ephesians 4:26-27 NASB). Don’t give the devil territory or ground. Bitterness invites him to occupy a space in your heart, to rent a room. Believe me, he will move in and stink up the place! When it comes to forgiveness, all of us are beginners. Stay the course.

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Matthew 24:29-51

 “Following those hard times,

Sun will fade out,

moon cloud over,

Stars fall out of the sky,

cosmic powers tremble.

30–31  “Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.

32–35  “Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.

36  “But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.

37–39  “The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah’s. Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They knew nothing—until the flood hit and swept everything away.

39–44  “The Son of Man’s Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.

45–47  “Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. It won’t be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation.

48–51  “But if that person only looks out for himself, and the minute the Master is away does what he pleases—abusing the help and throwing drunken parties for his friends—the Master is going to show up when he least expects it and make hash of him. He’ll end up in the dump with the hypocrites, out in the cold shivering, teeth chattering.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, June 06, 2025

by Tom Felten

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Exodus 3:1-4, 7-10

Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.

3  Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”

4  God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

He said, “Yes? I’m right here!”

7–8  God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

9–10  “The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Today's Insights

“God to the rescue!” is a major biblical/theological theme in Scripture and history. Because of His person and His promises, He’s mindful of the plight of His people throughout the ages. He’s loving, merciful, and compassionate; therefore, He sees the dilemmas and hears the groans of His people (see Exodus 2:23). And because He’s a promise keeper (v. 24), He acts for the well-being of those who belong to Him. We see this same dynamic in God’s ultimate rescue plan through Jesus (Galatians 4:4-5). Mary sang about such things in Luke 1:54-55: “[God] has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” And God was with Mary and Abraham as they experienced pain in life, just as He’s with us in our pain.

No Wasted Pain

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people . . . and I am concerned about their suffering.” Exodus 3:7

She looked into my eyes and said, “Don’t waste your pain.” My mind immediately returned to the time years prior when I’d led the memorial service for her young adult son whose life was taken in a car accident. She knew what she was talking about. She knew pain. But she also knew how God could use it to honor Him and help others—something this friend had done so very well. And as I heard her words, they comforted and encouraged me as I faced a serious cancer diagnosis. She was reminding me that God heard my cries and lament, and that He was with me in my pain and might use it to help others in a new way.

Moses also learned that God was with His people in their pain. “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt,” God said. “I have heard them crying out . . . and I am concerned about their suffering” (Exodus 3:7). The Israelites, like us at times, must have felt alone in their pain. But God assured them He had a plan to “rescue them” and that “the cry” of their hearts was heard (vv. 8-9). He would ultimately use their pain to grow their faith, defeat their enemies, and bring Him honor.

In Psalm 90, the only psalm attributed to Moses, he declared that even though our “best years are filled with pain” (v. 10 nlt), God’s “unfailing love” is with us “to the end of our lives” (v. 14 nlt). He lovingly won’t waste our pain—and neither should we.

Reflect & Pray

What does it mean for you to know God hears your cries? How is God using your pain to help others?

Loving God, thank You for hearing my cries and using my pain to help others.

Discover why we believe in a God who allows suffering.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, June 06, 2025

Work Out What God Works In

Work out your own salvation. — Philippians 2:12

After God has done the work of our salvation, there is something we must do: we must begin to work out what God has worked in, bringing every aspect of our lives into alignment with his will.

Do you find it difficult to do the will of God? Perhaps you want to obey, but something in your flesh makes you powerless to do what you know you should.

The barrier that keeps you from obeying God isn’t your own will. Will is the essential element in God’s creation of humankind; its source, in those who have been reborn, is almighty: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). What stops you from following God is the stub- bornness that arises from your sinful nature. Sin is something much less profound than will. Sin is a perverse disposition that entered into humanity after the fall; will comes directly from God. The only way to get rid of sin and stubbornness is to blow them up with dynamite— the dynamite of obedience to the Holy Spirit.

When you begin to obey the Holy Spirit, you’ll find that your will agrees with God, because God is its source. You do not bring an opposed will to God’s will; God’s will is your will. When the Lord, through the Spirit, presents himself to your conscience, the first thing your conscience does is ignite your will, urging you to action. If you remain steadfastly established on the complete and perfect redemp- tion of the Lord, this process becomes as natural as breathing, and stubbornness no longer gets in the way.

Do I believe that almighty God is the source of my will? God not only expects me to do his will; he is in me to help me do it.

2 Chronicles 25-27; John 16

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. 

My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, June 06, 2025

Extraordinary Ordinary - #10020

The occasion was a silver anniversary buffet for our 25th class reunion from college. Of course I was much younger than any of those mid-life folks that I graduated with. What happened to them? But anyway, the location was our alma mater, Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. That was a great training place - it was founded and named after the outstanding evangelist of the 19th century, D. L. Moody.

Now, we met for breakfast in one of several private dining rooms off of the main dining room; they kind of reserve these for special occasions. And as you might expect, each one is named after a person who prominently figured in the founding of the school or the leadership of the school. But we were in the Kimball Room. So, I surveyed our group of distinguished alumni and I said, "Who was Kimball? We're in his room. Who was Kimball?" No one knew. But none of us would have been there if it hadn't been for him. Who knows, maybe you're a Kimball.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Extraordinary Ordinary."

Our word for today from the Word of God - Acts 4:13. Peter and John are in big trouble. They have been preaching about Jesus in the temple, they have attracted quite a crowd, and as a result the Sanhedrin, the governing body, calls them before them for a private hearing. They are not pleased with the preaching of Peter and John. However, it says, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." The Jewish leaders were astonished that such ordinary men could be living such extraordinary lives.

Now back to the question we began with, "Who was Edward Kimball?" Well, he was a Sunday School teacher in Boston many years ago, teaching this little class of teenage boys. One of those boys in particular was biblically illiterate. He was out-of-step with everybody else in the class - he couldn't find anything in his Bible, didn't know anything in the Bible.

One day Edward Kimball felt led by the Lord to go where this lost young man worked at a shoe store. He felt led to go there and speak to him about accepting Christ, and the young man did. That shoe salesman prayed to give his heart to Jesus in the back room of that shoe store. Now, hardly anyone has ever heard of Edward Kimball the Sunday School teacher, but everyone in the Christian world has heard of D. L. Moody. Because it was Dwight Moody, that powerful evangelist, the founder of a place that has trained thousands of people for Christian work, that was the young man that gave his heart to Christ that day. There never would have been a D. L. Moody if it hadn't been for the faithfulness of one of God's ordinary people.

Is that an encouragement to you? I hope so. Maybe you consider yourself very ordinary, but God loves to do extraordinary things through ordinary people. That's what Acts 4:13 is all about. But they weren't ordinary anymore, because they had been with Jesus. Daily contact with Jesus leads to a total control by Jesus, and it leads to power being released in your life through which you can really make a difference.

You say, "Oh, I'm just a Sunday School teacher. I'm just a helper. I'm just a choir member. I'm just an untrained, simple person who loves Jesus." You're not a "just a..." Stop it! Don't keep saying you're "just a..." You're not that if you open yourself up to letting the Holy Spirit make your ordinary extraordinary. Did Edward Kimball know how extraordinary that little conversation would turn out to be? No, we never do. We do these little things for Jesus that turn out to be big things.

You can count on the Lord to take an ordinary person, doing ordinary things, and if you obey Him, He will make ordinary extraordinary.

Exodus 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD WILL EXECUTE JUSTICE - June 5, 2025

God moves us forward by healing our past. Can he really? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart? Of course he can. In fact, God cares about justice more than we do. God reminds us in Romans 12:17 and 19 (TLB): “Never pay back evil for evil…never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it.”

We fear the evildoer will slip into the night, unknown and unpunished. Escape to Fiji and sip mai tais on the beach. Not to worry.  Scripture says, “God will repay,” not God “might repay.” God will execute justice on behalf of truth and fairness. Unlike us, God never gives up on a person. Never. Fix your enemies? That’s God’s job.

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Exodus 6

God said to Moses, “Now you’ll see what I’ll do to Pharaoh: With a strong hand he’ll send them out free; with a strong hand he’ll drive them out of his land.”

2–6  God continued speaking to Moses, reassuring him, “I am God. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as The Strong God, but by my name God (I-Am-Present) I was not known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the country in which they lived as sojourners. But now I’ve heard the groanings of the Israelites whom the Egyptians continue to enslave and I’ve remembered my covenant. Therefore tell the Israelites:

6–8  “I am God. I will bring you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I will rescue you from slavery. I will redeem you, intervening with great acts of judgment. I’ll take you as my own people and I’ll be God to you. You’ll know that I am God, your God who brings you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I’ll bring you into the land that I promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and give it to you as your own country. I AM God.”

9  But when Moses delivered this message to the Israelites, they didn’t even hear him—they were that beaten down in spirit by the harsh slave conditions.

10–11  Then God said to Moses, “Go and speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he will release the Israelites from his land.”

12  Moses answered God, “Look—the Israelites won’t even listen to me. How do you expect Pharaoh to? And besides, I stutter.”

13  But God again laid out the facts to Moses and Aaron regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he again commanded them to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

The Family Tree of Moses and Aaron

14  These are the heads of the tribes:

The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi—these are the families of Reuben.

15  The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Saul, the son of a Canaanite woman—these are the families of Simeon.

16  These are the names of the sons of Levi in the order of their birth: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

17  The sons of Gershon by family: Libni and Shimei.

18  The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived to be 133.

19  The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi.

These are the sons of Levi in the order of their birth.

20  Amram married his aunt Jochebed and she had Aaron and Moses. Amram lived to be 137.

21  The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zicri.

22  The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

23  Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she had Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

24  The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites.

25  Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel and she had Phinehas.

These are the heads of the Levite families, family by family.

26–27  This is the Aaron and Moses whom God ordered: “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt clan by clan.” These are the men, Moses and Aaron, who told Pharaoh king of Egypt to release the Israelites from Egypt.

“I’ll Make You as a God to Pharaoh”

28  And that’s how things stood when God next spoke to Moses in Egypt.

29  God addressed Moses, saying, “I am God. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.”

30  And Moses answered, “Look at me. I stutter. Why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, June 05, 2025

by Arthur Jackson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 8:1-7

The Offering

1–4  8 Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.

5–7  This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. You do so well in so many things—you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you love us—now, do your best in this, too.

Today's Insights

A fitting label for the “Macedonian churches” (2 Corinthians 8:1)—Thessalonica and Berea—is “Exemplars of Grace.” These churches were planted by Paul on his second missionary journey in Philippi. Second Corinthians 8 describes these believers in Jesus. They weren’t content simply with being recipients of God’s favor (v. 1); they became channels of generosity. Furthermore, they didn’t allow their destitution to excuse them from sharing with others: “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” (v. 2). As recipients of God’s grace (v. 1), they viewed their participation not as an obligation but as a “privilege” (v. 4). Finally, the giving of their material possessions was the result of their having given themselves first to Christ (v. 5), who, “though he was rich . . . became poor, so that [we] through his poverty might become rich” (v. 9). As we give sacrificially to others in need, we reflect His giving ways.

Hear more about grace and gratitude in Greco-Roman culture.

The Gift of Giving

Each of you should give . . . not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

Today's Devotional

In his 2024 address to 1,200 university graduates, billionaire businessman Robert Hale Jr. said, “These trying times have heightened the need for sharing, caring and giving. [My wife and I] want to give you two gifts: The first is our gift to you, the second is the gift of giving.” His words were followed by the distribution of two envelopes each to the unexpectant graduates—five hundred dollars to keep and five hundred to give away to a person in need.

Though Robert Hale’s wealth has allowed him to share like this on more than one occasion, generosity isn’t reserved for those with great means. Believers in Jesus in ancient Macedonia gave out of their poverty so the needs of believers in Jerusalem could be met. Paul said of the Macedonians, “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:2). He commends them because “they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people” (vv. 3-4).

Those who recognize that they’ve been given much grace from God through Jesus can respond with generous hands to the needs of others. With God’s help, let’s give after the example of the one who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

Reflect & Pray

What can you offer generously to someone? How have you been the recipient of another’s generosity?

Heavenly Father, please help me to give generously to others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, June 05, 2025

God’s Promise

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” — Hebrews 13:5-6

“Never will I leave you.” God’s promise allows me to go through life without being haunted by fear. This doesn’t mean I won’t be tempted to fear; rather, in the midst of temptation, I will remember what God has said and so be full of courage—just like a child who picks himself up and dusts himself off in order to please his father.

So many of us stumble in our faith when fear sets in. We forget the power of God’s promise; we forget to take a deep breath spiritually. We become filled with dread, convinced that nothing and no one can help us.

What are you dreading? You are not a coward; whatever it is, you’re going to face it. Yet you still have a feeling of dread. Build on God’s promise. Say with confidence, “In this moment, in my present mind- set, the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”

“God has said. … So we say…” Are you learning to speak only after you’ve listened to what God has said? Or are you trying to make his words fit into what you already believe? The only way to move past dread is to grasp the full meaning of God’s promise. “Never will I forsake you”—no matter what kind of evil or challenge is in your way.

Another thing that gets in the way of God’s promise is our own weakness. When we realize how frail we are in facing difficulties, the difficulties become like giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God becomes a nonentity (Numbers 13:33). Have we learned to sing after hearing God’s melody? Are we finding the courage to say, “The Lord is my helper”? Or are we succumbing to the weak side of our nature?

2 Chronicles 23-24; John 15

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.

My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, June 05, 2025

The Peace Deficit - #10019

My wife and I had been staying at a friend's house at the New Jersey shore. It was a great setting to be working on a book about "Peaceful Living in a Stressful World." One night this powerful storm hit the area, and we heard the wind howling and the rain was bombarding that house all night long. By morning, the storm was over, and I wanted to go to the beach to see what the storm tide might have deposited there. Even though the sun was out and the storm was history, the sea was still churning all brown. In fact, even when there wasn't a storm that week, the ocean never rested.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Peace Deficit."

There are times when the sea is more turbulent than others - like during and after that storm we experienced - but it's never really calm. Not unlike what's going on inside a lot of people's hearts - maybe yours. There are times that are more turbulent than others for sure, but there's never any lasting personal peace. It's not that we don't try to find something that will give us peace. We try all kinds of antidotes, all kinds of anesthetics, all kinds of escapes, all kinds of experiences, relationships, or people. But still where's the lasting peace?

The Bible tells us about a condition that's described in our word for today from the Word of God very graphically in Isaiah 57:20-21. What a picture this is! "The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud." Now, we can all picture that. If you've ever been to the ocean, you can picture it. That's a human heart. "'There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked.'"

Now, we don't want to think we're part of the people God calls "the wicked." But I am and so are you. Because God is referring to all those who have broken His laws, who have run their own lives, and who have missed His standard of perfection. Hello? That would be every one of us. And the Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). And God's X-ray of what's going on in our heart reveals a two-word bottom line - "No peace." It may be a feeling that you know all too well. No relationship has ever given you lasting personal peace, no accomplishment, not even a religion or spiritual experience.

After golfer Payne Stewart died in a plane crash, some years ago really, a lot of us learned about a personal commitment he had made to Jesus Christ about a year before. In that last year of his life, he said "I'm so much more at peace with myself than I've ever been in my life. I don't understand how I lived so long without it." Maybe you've lived long enough without that peace. You'll find it where Payne Stewart and millions of others have found it...in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

There's no peace until you have peace with God. And there's no peace with God until that sin that separates you from Him is forgiven. And there's no forgiveness without the Savior who died to pay for your sin. As the Bible says, "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5).

Are you ready for some peace in your soul; the peace that has eluded you all these years? Then you're ready for Jesus. You're ready to begin your personal relationship with Jesus Christ - the love you were made for. And you begin it by giving you to Him. You can tell Him that right where you are, "Jesus, I'm done running my own life. I deserve the penalty for that, but you took it on the cross. And because you love me that much, I love you back and I'm giving me to you beginning today. I am yours."

At that point, I can say, "Welcome to the family of God." I want you to go to our website and there find the information that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. It's ANewStory.com.

Like the ocean that never rests, your heart may have never really been at peace. But it's about to be if you'll claim this promise from Jesus Himself, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you."

Exodus 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A LONELY HOUSE - June 4, 2025

In 1882 in New York City, Joseph Richardson owned a narrow strip of land, 5 feet wide and 104 feet long. Next door was a normal-sized lot owned by a man who wanted to erect an apartment building. He offered Richardson $1,000 for his plot. But Richardson built a house—blocking the view! Dubbed the “Spite House”, Richardson spent the last fourteen years of his life in the narrow residence that seemed to fit his narrow state of mind.

Revenge builds a lonely, narrow house, space enough for one person. The lives of its tenants reduced to one goal: make someone miserable. And they do—themselves. No wonder God insists we “keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent” (Hebrews 12:15 MSG).

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Exodus 5

Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh

1  5 After that Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh. They said, “God, the God of Israel, says, ‘Free my people so that they can hold a festival for me in the wilderness.’ ”

2  Pharaoh said, “And who is God that I should listen to him and send Israel off? I know nothing of this so-called ‘God’ and I’m certainly not going to send Israel off.”

3  They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can worship our God lest he strike us with either disease or death.”

4–5  But the king of Egypt said, “Why on earth, Moses and Aaron, would you suggest the people be given a holiday? Back to work!” Pharaoh went on, “Look, I’ve got all these people bumming around, and now you want to reward them with time off?”

6–9  Pharaoh took immediate action. He sent down orders to the slave-drivers and their underlings: “Don’t provide straw for the people for making bricks as you have been doing. Make them get their own straw. And make them produce the same number of bricks—no reduction in their daily quotas! They’re getting lazy. They’re going around saying, ‘Give us time off so we can worship our God.’ Crack down on them. That’ll cure them of their whining, their god-fantasies.”

10–12  The slave-drivers and their underlings went out to the people with their new instructions. “Pharaoh’s orders: No more straw provided. Get your own straw wherever you can find it. And not one brick less in your daily work quota!” The people scattered all over Egypt scrabbling for straw.

13  The slave-drivers were merciless, saying, “Complete your daily quota of bricks—the same number as when you were given straw.”

14  The Israelite foremen whom the slave-drivers had appointed were beaten and badgered. “Why didn’t you finish your quota of bricks yesterday or the day before—and now again today?”

15–16  The Israelite foremen came to Pharaoh and cried out for relief: “Why are you treating your servants like this? Nobody gives us any straw and they tell us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look at us—we’re being beaten. And it’s not our fault.”

17–18  But Pharaoh said, “Lazy! That’s what you are! Lazy! That’s why you whine, ‘Let us go so we can worship God.’ Well then, go—go back to work. Nobody’s going to give you straw, and at the end of the day you better bring in your full quota of bricks.”

19  The Israelite foremen saw that they were in a bad way, having to go back and tell their workers, “Not one brick short in your daily quota.”

20–21  As they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them. The foremen said to them, “May God see what you’ve done and judge you—you’ve made us stink before Pharaoh and his servants! You’ve put a weapon in his hand that’s going to kill us!”

22–23  Moses went back to God and said, “My Master, why are you treating this people so badly? And why did you ever send me? From the moment I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, things have only gotten worse for this people. And rescue? Does this look like rescue to you?”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, June 04, 2025

by John Blase

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Genesis 23:1-4, 17-20

Sarah lived 127 years. Sarah died in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham mourned for Sarah and wept.

3–4  Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites: “I know I’m only an outsider here among you, but sell me a burial plot so that I can bury my dead decently.”

17–20  That’s how Ephron’s field next to Mamre—the field, its cave, and all the trees within its borders—became Abraham’s property. The town council of Hittites witnessed the transaction. Abraham then proceeded to bury his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah that is next to Mamre, present-day Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The field and its cave went from the Hittites into Abraham’s possession as a burial plot.

Today's Insights

When we meet Sarah in Genesis 11, she’s introduced as Sarai, the wife of Abram, who “was childless because she was not able to conceive” (v. 30). They lived in Ur of the Chaldeans on the Euphrates River, which archaeologists have discovered was a thriving trade city with a vast library. So, when her father-in-law, Terah, uprooted his family (including his son Nahor and wife and Terah’s grandson Lot) and headed for Canaan, it may have been difficult to leave family and the amenities of a flourishing city. From Ur, they settled in Haran, where Terah died. There God called Abram to continue to Canaan, where He’d make Abram “into a great nation” (12:2). Many mishaps, missteps, and years later, elderly Abram and Sarai (now renamed Abraham and Sarah, 17:5, 15) became the joyful parents of Isaac, the fulfillment of God’s promise (21:1-7). Sarah died at the age of 127, and Abraham “[wept] over her” (23:2). We too will face grief, but God will lovingly provide the hope and comfort we need.

’Tis a Fearful Thing

Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. Genesis 23:2

“Tis a fearful thing / to love what death can touch.” That line begins a poem written more than a thousand years ago by the Jewish poet Judah Halevi, translated in the twentieth century. The poet clarifies what’s behind the fear: “to love . . . / And oh, to lose.”

In Genesis, an outpouring of emotion occurred when Abraham lost Sarah in death. “Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her” (23:2). The chapter unfolds the beautiful, grief-heavy story of the loss of one of Scripture’s most memorable characters: Sarah, the faithful wife of Abraham, that old woman who'd laughed at the news she’d be a mother (18:11-12) but had cried in pain as Isaac made his way into this world.

We make much of that crisp, humanity-rich verse in John’s gospel: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). The Messiah’s tears at the tomb of Lazarus emphasized Jesus’ loss. To love is indeed a fearful thing. The poet Halevi calls it “a thing for fools,” yet he follows by also naming it “a holy thing,” which it is, especially for those whose faith is “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

We love and lose everything from spouses to children to parents to friends to pets, and weeping with “painful joy” is oh so human. Yet for the believer in Jesus, our weeping only lasts for the proverbial night. As David wrote, “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Our Father hasn’t left us bereft of hope.

Reflect & Pray

What has affected your ability to love? Who is the last person you wept over and why?

Dear Father, please grant me the courage to love.

What does real love look like? Find out more by reading The Marks of Real Love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, June 04, 2025

The Never-Failing God

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” — Hebrews 13:5

What path do my thoughts take? Do they turn to what God says or to what I fear? “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” If I am listening to God, I won’t simply take his comforting words and leave it at that; I’ll build upon them, adding words of my own: “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid’” (Hebrews 13:6).

“Never will I leave you.” God has promised that he will never leave us—not for all our sin and selfishness and stubbornness. Have I truly let God say to me that he’ll never leave me? If I have, let me listen again.“Never will I forsake you.” Difficulty isn’t always what makes me think God will forsake me. Sometimes it’s the tedium of the day-to-day, of living with no great challenge to meet, no special vision to pursue, nothing wonderful or beautiful to urge me on. Can I hear God’s promise when life is uninspiring?

We have the idea that God is going to do something exceptional with us, that he’s preparing us for some extraordinary feat. But as we grow in grace, we find that he is glorifying himself through us here and now. If we hold fast to God’s promise, we will find that we have the most amazing strength, and we will learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways.

2 Chronicles 21-22; John 14

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

Wednesday, June 04, 2025

Surprisingly Competent - #10018

Every once in a while we think someone left the floodlight on in the backyard, so I look outside the window to discover the floodlight isn't on - the moonlight is! It's one of those really impressive full-moon nights. The most beautiful one that my wife and I had, was when we were on vacation in the mountains. Our cabin was nestled in this quiet valley next to a gentle little stream. Not long after dark, I noticed that the valley was ablaze with light! The full moon was rising in the eastern sky and it was casting this celestial glow over everything. It was perfectly positioned in the sky to just totally illuminate the valley we were in. But then, something made me realize what I was really looking at, and I said as we stood on the porch in admiration, "You know, that moon really isn't producing any light at all. It's just reflecting the light of the sun."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Surprisingly Competent."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 3:18. Paul says, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." Now as followers of Jesus Christ we're supposed to light our world. Right? God has positioned you where you work, or live, or go to school, or where you shop, to make a difference, a Jesus-difference by your love, joy, your Jesus-treatment of people. See, you're supposed to light up what would otherwise be a much darker environment.

But we are like the moon; we have no glory of our own. This verse says we reflect Jesus' glory! He says it in another way in chapter 4, verse 7. "We have this treasure in jars of clay so that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." See, anything we do for the Lord, it's all God.

Now we should be a lot brighter, I think, than we are. There are a lot of important things He wants to do through you, but maybe you're not making nearly the difference you should be making. It's probably because of one basic spiritual misunderstanding about who is the "sun" and who is the "moon." Maybe these are things you've been asked to do for the Lord, but you're afraid to say "yes" because you feel inadequate. You want people you're around to hear about Jesus, but you haven't said anything because you're afraid you'll mess it up.

God is putting before you some ways He wants you to make a difference, but you keep shrinking back. But see, you're missing something. You're not the "sun." You don't have to produce the power, or the words, or the strength, or the light to pull it off. It's Jesus who does the work. He's only asking for you to be available. He knows you and I can't produce the light - that's His job! He just wants you to be in a position to reflect His light onto the people around you. Doesn't that take a lot of pressure off? That means you can help somebody be in heaven with you someday.

In chapter 3, verse 5 in 2 Corinthians He says, "Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent." See, you can dare to step up to responsibility that would be impossible if it depended on you. It doesn't. It depends on the Son of God!

This "reflected" glory neutralizes our feelings of inadequacy and pride. Maybe you've begun to feel a little prouder of the kind of Christian you've been, or some of the things you've done for the Lord. News flash! You haven't done them! You are just - I am just - a glowing piece of rock. It's all Jesus, reflecting His glory through you. Why are you taking any credit for it?

If the sun were to go out some full-moon night, we would immediately know where the light's been coming from all along and how little the moon has to do with it. The light of the Son of God never goes out, and He chooses to reflect in your valley, through your life, your personality, your abilities, and even your weaknesses. Isn't that amazing? You can light up your world with light that doesn't come from you, but from the very Son of God himself!

Exodus 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD - June 3, 2025

Family pain is often the deepest pain because it was inflicted so early, and because it involves people who should’ve been trustworthy. You were too young to process the mistreatment. You didn’t know how to defend yourself. Besides, the perpetrators of your pain were so large. Your dad, mom, uncle, big brother—they towered over you, usually in size, always in rank. When they judged you falsely, you believed them. All this time you’ve been operating on faulty data.

Decades later these voices of defeat still echo in your subconscious. But they don’t have to! “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” These are the words from Romans 12:2 (NLT). And 1 Corinthians 13:11—let him replace childish thinking with mature truth. You are not who they said you were. You are God’s child!

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Exodus 4

Moses objected, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ‘God? Appear to him? Hardly!’ ”

2  So God said, “What’s that in your hand?”

“A staff.”

3  “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it. It became a snake; Moses jumped back—fast!

4–5  God said to Moses, “Reach out and grab it by the tail.” He reached out and grabbed it—and he was holding his staff again. “That’s so they will trust that God appeared to you, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

6  God then said, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” He slipped his hand under his shirt, then took it out. His hand had turned leprous, like snow.

7  He said, “Put your hand back under your shirt.” He did it, then took it back out—as healthy as before.

8–9  “So if they don’t trust you and aren’t convinced by the first sign, the second sign should do it. But if it doesn’t, if even after these two signs they don’t trust you and listen to your message, take some water out of the Nile and pour it out on the dry land; the Nile water that you pour out will turn to blood when it hits the ground.”

10  Moses raised another objection to God: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.”

11–12  God said, “And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God? So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with your mouth! I’ll be right there to teach you what to say.”

13  He said, “Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!”

14–17  God got angry with Moses: “Don’t you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He’s good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he’s on his way to meet you. When he sees you he’s going to be glad. You’ll speak to him and tell him what to say. I’ll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step. He will speak to the people for you. He’ll act as your mouth, but you’ll decide what comes out of it. Now take this staff in your hand; you’ll use it to do the signs.”

18  Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said, “I need to return to my relatives who are in Egypt. I want to see if they’re still alive.”

Jethro said, “Go. And peace be with you.”

19  God said to Moses in Midian: “Go. Return to Egypt. All the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

20  So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey for the return trip to Egypt. He had a firm grip on the staff of God.

21–23  God said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, be prepared: All the wonders that I will do through you, you’ll do before Pharaoh. But I will make him stubborn so that he will refuse to let the people go. Then you are to tell Pharaoh, ‘God’s Message: Israel is my son, my firstborn! I told you, “Free my son so that he can serve me.” But you refused to free him. So now I’m going to kill your son, your firstborn.’ ”

24–26  On the journey back, as they camped for the night, God met Moses and would have killed him but Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ member with it. She said, “Oh! You’re a bridegroom of blood to me!” Then God let him go. She used the phrase “bridegroom of blood” because of the circumcision.

27–28  God spoke to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” He went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. Moses told Aaron the message that God had sent him to speak and the wonders he had commanded him to do.

29–31  So Moses and Aaron proceeded to round up all the leaders of Israel. Aaron told them everything that God had told Moses and demonstrated the wonders before the people. And the people trusted and listened believingly that God was concerned with what was going on with the Israelites and knew all about their affliction. They bowed low and they worshiped.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

by Xochitl Dixon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 95:1-7

 Come, let’s shout praises to God,

raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!

Let’s march into his presence singing praises,

lifting the rafters with our hymns!

3–5  And why? Because God is the best,

High King over all the gods.

In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns,

in the other hand grasps the high mountains.

He made Ocean—he owns it!

His hands sculpted Earth!

6–7  So come, let us worship: bow before him,

on your knees before God, who made us!

Oh yes, he’s our God,

and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.

7–11  Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks:

Today's Insights

Psalm 95 together with Psalms 47, 93, 96-99 are known as “enthronement” or “royal psalms” because they use the image of a king to proclaim God’s absolute reign over the entire spiritual and physical realms—over all creation, history, nations, and peoples. The psalmists proclaimed God’s sovereignty and glory, greatness and power, justice and holiness: He is “the Lord Most High . . . the King of all the earth . . . seated on his holy throne” (47:2, 7-8). He’s “robed in majesty and armed with strength . . . . [His] throne was established . . . from all eternity” (93:1-2). “The Lord [Yahweh] is the great God, the great King above all gods” (95:3). “He is holy” (99:3, 5) and will come to “judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness” (96:13). He’s also “a forgiving God” (99:8). Because of who He is, we can trust Him and worship Him even in difficult times.

Unbroken Faith

He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Psalm 95:7

When Dianne Dokko Kim and her husband learned that their son's diagnosis was autism, she struggled with the very real possibility that her cognitively disabled son might outlive her. She cried out to God: What will he do without me to care for him? God surrounded her with a support system of other adults raising children with disabilities. He empowered Dianne to trust Him with her often-unexplainable guilt, feelings of inadequacy, and fear. Eventually, in her book Unbroken Faith, Dianne offered hope for “spiritual recovery” to other adults raising children with disabilities. As her son enters adulthood, Dianne’s faith remains intact. She trusts that God will always care for her and her son.

Uncertainties in life can harden our hearts toward God. We may be tempted to place our faith in other things or people, including ourselves. We can, however, depend on “the Rock of our salvation” (Psalm 95:1)—a phrase that points to the certainty of God’s character. “In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land” (vv. 4-5).

We can live with unbroken faith, worshiping our “Lord our Maker” (v. 6). We can trust Him to be with us and those we love because we’re “the flock under his care” (v. 7).

Reflect & Pray

How has God shown that He cares for you and your loved ones when you’ve felt helpless? How does knowing the certainty of His character help you trust Him as a promise keeper?

Great God, thank You for promising to care for me.

Watch this video to learn how we can count on God's promises.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

The Secret Of The Lord

The Lord confides in those who fear him. — Psalm 25:14

What is the sign of true friends? That they tell you secret sorrows? No, that they tell you secret joys. Many people will confide to you their secret sorrows, but the ultimate sign of intimacy is confiding secret joys. Have we ever let God tell us his joys? Or are we so busy telling God our secrets that we leave no room for him to talk to us?

At the beginning of our Christian life, our prayers are full of requests. Then we discover that what God wants is to bring us, through prayer, into a personal relationship with him so that he can reveal his will. Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer is, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Are we so committed to this way of praying that we catch the intimate secrets of God? God may bring us great big blessings, but it is the small, secret things that make us love him, because they show his amazing intimacy with us. They show that he knows every detail of our lives.

“He will instruct them in the ways they should choose” (Psalm 25:12). At the start of our life of faith, we want to be conscious of God guiding us. But as we go on, we no longer need to ask what his will is; the thought of choosing anything else no longer occurs to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God instructs us in every choice we make, guiding our common sense and alerting us when we are in danger of choosing something he doesn’t want. When God checks us in this way, we must obey. Never reason it out and say, “I wonder why I shouldn’t.” Whenever there is doubt, don’t.

2 Chronicles 19-20; John 13:21-38

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

So Send I You

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

WHEN IT'S DARK ALL THE TIME - #10017

The lady in the airplane seat next to me was from Norway. And I knew she had experienced something I needed to know about - winter months with very long nights and summer months with very long days. With our Native American team planning some major summer outreach among Native young people in Alaska at that point, I was especially interested in what our days would be like up there. My neighbor from Norway made the answer very clear - they'd be endless! She said that even after all the years living there, she could never sleep much in those northern days where there is virtually no dark. I thought, "O-o-o, it should be a lot of fun getting our team to sleep at night, when there is no night." But then I was curious to know about those December days when we have only about nine hours or so of daylight. She told me about a time when it was, in her words, "almost always dark" where she lives. It's hard for me to imagine weeks where you basically never see the light of the sun. It's not hard for me to imagine the way my Norwegian neighbor said many people feel during that time - really depressed.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When It's Dark All the Time."

A long, depressing darkness. You don't have to live in the North Country to know what darkness like that feels like. I mean you can feel it in your heart. It may have been winter inside your soul for a long time - maybe concealed from others. You've got this smile, this really busy life, but it's still dark inside most of the time.

Maybe it's the guilt of past mistakes you've made that has brought on the long winter. Or just this nagging sense of worthlessness that goes way back, or a chronic despair over the pain of your past or maybe the meaninglessness of the present, or it could be the darkness might be summed up in one increasingly, desperate word - loneliness. But whatever the cause, this heaviness inside, this relentless darkness has been there long enough.

The end of a long, long night can begin with a hope-filled promise made by Jesus Christ - who has never made a promise He did not keep. It's our word for today from the Word of God in John 8:12, "Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" Jesus promises that if you belong to Him, if you stay close to Him, He will lead you out of the darkness that no one else has been able to dispel. And that's the beginning of the end of your long, dark winter in your soul.

But only Jesus can replace your darkness with what He called "the light of life." Why? Because our problem really isn't the darkness. Near the North Pole in winter, the problem is that the sun doesn't shine there. Our problem isn't ultimately the darkness of our loneliness or our despair. It's the absence of the Light! We were created to live in the light of a love-relationship with our Creator, which we have lost by running our lives our way instead of His way. In God's words, "Your sins have separated you from your God." (Isaiah 59:2)

That separation could only be healed by the death penalty for your sin being erased. And that's what was going on when Jesus Christ was bleeding and dying on a cross. He was voluntarily paying for your sin, which is the ultimate cause of the darkness in your soul. And the forgiveness, the peace, and the light that He died to give you becomes yours when you tell Him you're trusting Him to be your Savior from your sin.

If you do that, Jesus will shed His light on every dark stretch you ever walk, including the darkest stretch of all, when one day you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Why don't you open your heart to Jesus today right where you are? It's been dark long enough. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours."

If you really want to know that you've begun this relationship, that's why our website is there. Check it out today! It's ANewStory.com.

This wonderful promise of God will be all about you. It says, "God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves" (Colossians 1:13).