Numbers 18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: RIPPLE EFFECT - October 13, 2025

The first Christians were joyful Christians. The phrase “joyful Christian” is redundant. Do we need the adjective? Ideally, we should not have to put joyful in front of Christian. But we do because we tend to major in contingent joy and not courageous joy. Let’s invite God to deposit unspeakable joy in our hearts.

According to a study from sociologists at Harvard University, joy is contagious, spreading among friends, neighbors, and colleagues like the flu. Joy has a ripple effect. The pursuit of happiness is more than a line in the Declaration of Independence. It is a necessary step in enhancing the happiness of others. Is it time for you to bump up your joy level?

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Numbers 18

Duties in the Tent of Testimony

1–4  18 God said to Aaron, “You and your sons, along with your father’s family, are responsible for taking care of sins having to do with the Sanctuary; you and your sons are also responsible for sins involving the priesthood. So enlist your brothers of the tribe of Levi to join you and assist you and your sons in your duties in the Tent of Testimony. They will report to you as they go about their duties related to the Tent, but they must not have anything to do with the holy things of the Altar under penalty of death—both they and you will die! They are to work with you in taking care of the Tent of Meeting, whatever work is involved in the Tent. Outsiders are not allowed to help you.

5–7  “Your job is to take care of the Sanctuary and the Altar so that there will be no more outbreaks of anger on the People of Israel. I personally have picked your brothers, the Levites, from Israel as a whole. I’m giving them to you as a gift, a gift of God, to help with the work of the Tent of Meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests, working around the Altar and inside the curtain. The work of the priesthood is my exclusive gift to you; it cannot be delegated—anyone else who invades the Sanctuary will be executed.”

8–10  God spoke to Aaron, “I am personally putting you in charge of my contributions, all the holy gifts I get from the People of Israel. I am turning them over to you and your children for your personal use. This is the standing rule. You and your sons get what’s left from the offerings, whatever hasn’t been totally burned up on the Altar—the leftovers from Grain-Offerings, Absolution-Offerings, and Compensation-Offerings. Eat it reverently; it is most holy; every male may eat it. Treat it as holy.

11–13  “You also get the Wave-Offerings from the People of Israel. I present them to you and your sons and daughters as a gift. This is the standing rule. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it. I also give you all the best olive oil, the best new wine, and the grain that is offered to God as the firstfruits of their harvest—all the firstfruits they offer to God are yours. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it.

14–16  “You get every Totally-Devoted gift. Every firstborn that is offered to God, whether animal or person, is yours. Except you don’t get the firstborn itself, but its redemption price; firstborn humans and ritually clean animals are bought back and you get the redemption price. When the firstborn is a month old it must be redeemed at the redemption price of five shekels of silver, using the standard of the Sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

17–19  “On the other hand, you don’t redeem a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat—they are holy. Instead splash their blood on the Altar and burn their fat as a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God. But you get the meat, just as you get the breast from the Wave-Offering and the right thigh. All the holy offerings that the People of Israel set aside for God, I’m turning over to you and your children. That’s the standard rule and includes both you and your children—a Covenant-of-Salt, eternal and unchangeable before God.”

20  God said to Aaron, “You won’t get any inheritance in land, not so much as a small plot of ground: I am your plot of ground, I am your inheritance among the People of Israel.

21–24  “I’m giving the Levites all the tithes of Israel as their pay for the work they do in the Tent of Meeting. Starting now, the rest of the People of Israel cannot wander in and out of the Tent of Meeting; they’ll be penalized for their sin and the penalty is death. It’s the Levites and only the Levites who are to work in the Tent of Meeting and they are responsible for anything that goes wrong. This is the regular rule for all time. They get no inheritance among the People of Israel; instead I turn over to them the tithes that the People of Israel present as an offering to God. That’s why I give the ruling: They are to receive no land-inheritance among the People of Israel.”

25–29  God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Levites. Tell them, When you get the tithe from the People of Israel, the inheritance that I have assigned to you, you must tithe that tithe and present it as an offering to God. Your offerings will be treated the same as other people’s gifts of grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat. This is your procedure for making offerings to God from all the tithes you get from the People of Israel: give God’s portion from these tithes to Aaron the priest. Make sure that God’s portion is the best and holiest of everything you get.

30–32  “Tell the Levites, When you offer the best part, the rest will be treated the same as grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat that others give. You and your households are free to eat the rest of it any time and any place—it’s your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting. By offering the best part, you’ll avoid guilt, you won’t desecrate the holy offerings of the People of Israel, and you won’t die.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, October 13, 2025

by Lisa M. Samra

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Chronicles 16:8-14, 19-24

Thank God! Call out his Name!

Tell the whole world who he is and what he’s done!

Sing to him! Play songs for him!

Broadcast all his wonders!

Revel in his holy Name,

God-seekers, be jubilant!

Study God and his strength,

seek his presence day and night;

Remember all the wonders he performed,

the miracles and judgments that came out of his mouth.

Seed of Israel his servant!

Children of Jacob, his first choice!

He is God, our God;

wherever you go you come on his judgments and decisions.

Even though you’re not much to look at,

a few straggling strangers.”

20–22  They wandered from country to country,

camped out in one kingdom after another;

But he didn’t let anyone push them around,

he stood up for them against bully-kings:

“Don’t you dare touch my anointed ones,

don’t lay a hand on my prophets.”

23–27  Sing to God, everyone and everything!

Get out his salvation news every day!

Publish his glory among the godless nations,

his wonders to all races and religions.

Today's Insights

To celebrate the return of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, David composed this worship song in 1 Chronicles 16:8-36, a “song of thanksgiving to the Lord” (v. 7 nlt). The lyrics of this praise song are also presented as two different songs in the Psalms: Psalm 105:1-15 (1 Chronicles 16:8-22) and Psalm 96:1-13 (1 Chronicles 16:23-33). In 1 Chronicles 16, to show his gratitude to God for being the God of Israel, David recalled aspects of their history where God acted favorably and mightily to fulfill His covenant promises to His chosen people (vv. 8-22). He calls on the nations to worship God because He’s the true and holy God who is Creator, sovereign King, and righteous Judge (vv. 23-36). We too have many reasons to be grateful and thankful to God. Like the psalmist, when we gratefully recall who He is and what He’s done for us, we can respond in worship and praise.

Gratitude to God

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

Canada and the island of Saint Lucia celebrate a Thanksgiving holiday in October. Liberia sets aside a day for giving thanks at the beginning of November, while the United States and Australia mark the annual holiday at the end of the month. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, Rwanda, and the Philippines, have unofficial days to foster gratitude.

There’s something powerful about a nation collectively expressing gratitude. It’s a picture we see when King David assembled the nation of Israel to give thanks to God for His presence, protection, and promises. The celebration marked the return of the “ark of God” (1 Chronicles 16:1). The people rejoiced that the ark, a symbol of God’s presence with them, was in Jerusalem. As David led Israel in praise, he reminded them of God’s protection as the nation conquered the land of Canaan (vv.18-22) and celebrated His faithfulness to fulfill His promises (v. 15).

If you celebrate a Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family, consider making it a gratitude gathering and reflecting together on the ways you’ve experienced God’s presence, protection, and promises over the past year. Whether or not you live in a country that officially celebrates Thanksgiving, each of us can take time to “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (v. 34).

Reflect & Pray

How have you experienced God’s presence, protection, or promises? How can you express gratitude?

Dear God, please cultivate within me a spirit of gratitude as I remember all You’ve done.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, October 13, 2025

Individual Discouragement and Personal Growth

Moses . . . went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. — Exodus 2:11

Moses saw the oppression of his people and was certain that he was the one to deliver them. But after he’d struck his first blow for God and for rightness, God allowed him to be driven into blank discouragement. God sent Moses into the desert to tend sheep, then left him there for forty years. When, at the end of these years, God reappeared and told Moses to go and bring forth his people, Moses was baffled: “Who am I that I should go?” he replied (Exodus 3:11). He’d forgotten what he’d known in the beginning—that he was the man God had chosen for the task. Moses had always been the right person for the job, but before he could actually do the job, he had to be trained and disciplined. He was not fully prepared for his work until he had learned communion with God.

We may have a vision of what God wants us to do; we may even start to do it. Then comes the equivalent of forty years in the wilderness, as if God had ignored the whole thing. Then, when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives the call. We get nervous and say, “Who am I?” We have to learn to draw on God’s authority and power and say, “I am who I am . . . has sent me” (v. 14). Individual effort for God is an impertinence. Our individuality must be transformed by a personal relationship to him. We fixate on the individual aspect of the vision, seeing only what God wants us to do. If we have not entered into communion with him, we’ll meet with discouragement instead.

If you are going through a time of discouragement, take heart; there is a time of great personal growth ahead.

Isaiah 41-42; 1 Thessalonians 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.

The Place of Help

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, October 13, 2025

WHEN NO ONE'S WATCHING - #10111

When you play high school football, you learn to play another game too. It's called Impress the Coaches. Of course, the coaches decide who plays, who starts, who sits. All summer long players show up for weight lifting in this steamy, hot weight room. Now, they come three times a week. Why would guys want to come and sweat and strain? Because the coaches are there. You can't help but ask how many of those fellows would show up if, well let's say the coaches suddenly announced they were taking a week off, "Fellows, you keep coming. We just won't be here all next week, okay?" I have a feeling the attendance would really go down in the weight room.

One day back when my boys played football, there was a lot of football equipment that had to be moved to the school. Again, it was a hot, humid summer day. The coach needed volunteers. It's amazing! A lot of guys showed up to carry equipment! Of course, the coaches were going to be there and would notice who helped. Right? If the coaches weren't there to watch, how many guys would have been hauling equipment? I don't know. How many guys would lift on those hot days? How many players would run an extra lap? See, the real athlete works out whether anyone is watching or not.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When No One's Watching."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Philippians 2, and I'll be reading verse 12. "My dear friends," Paul says, "you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but how much more in my absence." Now, that's a description of authentic Christianity. This is the real deal. He says, "You are obeying the Lord whether I'm there to look at you and see you or not." Oh, I'm sure that they would like to impress their spiritual leader. Look, we like to impress ours. But he said, "It doesn't matter if I'm there or not. One way or the other, you continue to do what God tells you to do."

You know, that's the real test of how much you love Jesus - what you do when there's no one there to see you except Jesus. We're always on our best Bible behavior when the pastor's around, or when our Christian friends are around, or any Christian we want to impress favorably. That shows how important those people are to you. It doesn't tell you too much about how important Jesus is to you.

The way to find out how important Jesus is to you is the way you act when He's the only one watching. Are you into His Word when there's no one there to impress? Are you on your knees when there's no one there watching? Are you sexually pure when no one will probably know what you've done except Jesus? Are you unselfish? Are you loving with the people around you when there's no one around that will know? Do you watch, do you listen to, do you do things that you wouldn't ever do if you had other people's eyes on you? Well, Jesus is looking. Jesus is watching. He knows. He's there.

Does your family see the same Christian that the church does? Do your coworkers, your clients, your customers, your fellow students, your teammates? Take a good, honest look at the private you. Are you faithful to Jesus when there is no one there to impress? That's the real you!

The way you live when there's no one watching is the way you can tell how much you really love your Jesus.

Numbers 17, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  He Dismissed the Crowd

A world of insight is hidden in four words in Matthew 14:22: “He dismissed the crowd.”  This wasn’t just any crowd that Jesus dismissed.  This was a multitude with a mission. They’d followed Jesus around the sea.  They’d heard Him teach.  They’d seen Him heal.  And they were ready to make Him King.

No one would turn down an opportunity to minister to thousands of people—right?  Jesus did.  He dismissed the crowd!  Why?

Matthew 14:23 says, “After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray.”

Jesus said no to the important in order to say yes to the vital!  It wasn’t a selfish decision.  It was a deliberate choice to honor priorities.

If Jesus thought it necessary to say no to the demands of the crowds in order to pray—don’t you think you and I should to?

From In the Eye of the Storm

Numbers 17

Aaron’s Staff

1–5  17 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Get staffs from them—twelve staffs in all, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write each man’s name on his staff. Start with Aaron; write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi and then proceed with the rest, a staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe. Now lay them out in the Tent of Meeting in front of The Testimony where I keep appointments with you. What will happen next is this: The staff of the man I choose will sprout. I’m going to put a stop to this endless grumbling by the People of Israel against you.”

6–7  Moses spoke to the People of Israel. Their leaders handed over twelve staffs, one for the leader of each tribe. And Aaron’s staff was one of them. Moses laid out the staffs before God in the Tent of Testimony.

8–9  Moses walked into the Tent of Testimony the next day and saw that Aaron’s staff, the staff of the tribe of Levi, had in fact sprouted—buds, blossoms, and even ripe almonds! Moses brought out all the staffs from God’s presence and presented them to the People of Israel. They took a good look. Each leader took the staff with his name on it.

10  God said to Moses, “Return Aaron’s staff to the front of The Testimony. Keep it there as a sign to rebels. This will put a stop to the grumbling against me and save their lives.”

11  Moses did just as God commanded him.

12–13  The People of Israel said to Moses, “We’re as good as dead. This is our death sentence. Anyone who even gets close to The Dwelling of God is as good as dead. Are we all doomed?”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, October 12, 2025

by Arthur Jackson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 15

A David Psalm

1  15 God, who gets invited

to dinner at your place?

How do we get on your guest list?

2  “Walk straight,

act right,

tell the truth.

3–4  “Don’t hurt your friend,

don’t blame your neighbor;

despise the despicable.

5  “Keep your word even when it costs you,

make an honest living,

never take a bribe.

“You’ll never get

blacklisted

if you live like this.”

Today's Insights

David asks, “Who may dwell in your sacred tent?” (Psalm 15:1). If we answer this question honestly, we’ll admit we often fall short of the high standards enumerated here. Who among us can claim to be “blameless” (v. 2)? The writer to the Hebrews sheds light on this. Of Jesus, that New Testament letter says, “Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). Our high priest Christ “sacrificed for [our] sins once for all when he offered himself” (v. 27). This meant that He “entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (9:12). His once-for-all sacrifice on our behalf enables us to follow and obey Jesus as we treat others with the love and respect that honors our Father.

Communion with God

Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Psalm 15:1 nlt

In his book Man of Honor, Ray Pritchard shares the story of his stroll in a cemetery where he discovered a man’s grave marker with a wordy tribute. But he then describes a more eye-catching epitaph on the gravestone of the man’s son: “A man of unquestioned integrity.” As Pritchard wrote: “Five words to sum up an entire life. Sixty-plus years distilled into five words. But, oh what truth they tell.”

In Psalm 15:1, we find questions asking after a certain kind of person: “Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?” (v. 1 nlt). The answer involves integrity and is captured in the word blameless found in verse 2: “Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts” (v. 2 nlt). The question (v. 1) and answer (v. 2) combination refers to communion with God. The rest of the psalm summarizes—in positive and negative terms—what a God-honoring life looks like.

When we have intimate communion with God, it’s displayed in a life of integrity, particularly in how we treat others as the Spirit helps us (see Matthew 22:34-40; 1 John 3:16-18). It’s the posture of life that we assume when we believe in and follow Jesus—the one who lived in perfect communion with His Father.

Reflect & Pray

What does your life say about your closeness to God? What spiritual disciplines might you need to adopt to have a closer relationship with Jesus?

Dear Father, please give me strength to love You with all my heart and to demonstrate this by integrity in my life.

For further study, read Going the Distance.

 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, October 12, 2025

Getting into God’s Stride

Enoch walked faithfully with God. — Genesis 5:24

The test of my religious character isn’t what I do in exceptional moments; it’s what I do when nothing tremendous or exciting is happening. My worth to God is revealed in my attitude to ordinary things, when I’m out of the spotlight. Am I able to walk faithfully with him then?

It’s a painful thing to learn to walk faithfully with God. It requires getting our second wind spiritually, because before we’ve taken three steps we find that God has outpaced us. God has a different way of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined into his ways before we can keep up. When we do manage to get into God’s stride, the only characteristic that manifests itself in our life is his life. Our individual person is lost in union with him; his power alone is evident.

In the book of Isaiah, it was prophesied that Jesus would “not falter or be discouraged” (42:4). Jesus was able to keep pace with his Father because he never approached things from his own viewpoint, only from God’s. We have to learn to do the same, and the way we learn is by soaking in spiritual truth. Spiritual truth is learned by atmosphere, not by intellectual reasoning. God’s Spirit alters the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and things that were never before possible begin to be possible. We begin to see from God’s viewpoint, to understand his ways, and to fall into his stride.

Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give in, even if the pain is bad just now. Get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a new purpose.

Isaiah 39-40; Colossians 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). 

Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R

Mark 14:54-72, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Defiant Joy

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

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

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

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

From You'll Get Through This

Mark 14:54-72

Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest’s courtyard, where he mingled with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.

55–59  The high priests conspiring with the Jewish Council looked high and low for evidence against Jesus by which they could sentence him to death. They found nothing. Plenty of people were willing to bring in false charges, but nothing added up, and they ended up canceling each other out. Then a few of them stood up and lied: “We heard him say, ‘I am going to tear down this Temple, built by hard labor, and in three days build another without lifting a hand.’ ” But even they couldn’t agree exactly.

60–61  In the middle of this, the Chief Priest stood up and asked Jesus, “What do you have to say to the accusation?” Jesus was silent. He said nothing.

The Chief Priest tried again, this time asking, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed?”

62  Jesus said, “Yes, I am, and you’ll see it yourself:

The Son of Man seated

At the right hand of the Mighty One,

Arriving on the clouds of heaven.”

63–64  The Chief Priest lost his temper. Ripping his clothes, he yelled, “Did you hear that? After that do we need witnesses? You heard the blasphemy. Are you going to stand for it?”

They condemned him, one and all. The sentence: death.

65  Some of them started spitting at him. They blindfolded his eyes, then hit him, saying, “Who hit you? Prophesy!” The guards, punching and slapping, took him away.

The Rooster Crowed

66–67  While all this was going on, Peter was down in the courtyard. One of the Chief Priest’s servant girls came in and, seeing Peter warming himself there, looked hard at him and said, “You were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”

68  He denied it: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He went out on the porch. A rooster crowed.

69–70  The girl spotted him and began telling the people standing around, “He’s one of them.” He denied it again.

After a little while, the bystanders brought it up again. “You’ve got to be one of them. You’ve got ‘Galilean’ written all over you.”

71–72  Now Peter got really nervous and swore, “I never laid eyes on this man you’re talking about.” Just then the rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered how Jesus had said, “Before a rooster crows twice, you’ll deny me three times.” He collapsed in tears.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, October 11, 2025

by Nancy Gavilanes

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:1-6

The High Priest Who Cried Out in Pain

14–16  Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

1–3  5 Every high priest selected to represent men and women before God and offer sacrifices for their sins should be able to deal gently with their failings, since he knows what it’s like from his own experience. But that also means that he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the peoples’.

4–6  No one elects himself to this honored position. He’s called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!” In another place God declares, “You’re a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.”

Today's Insights

Jesus, our “great high priest” (Hebrews 4:14), is able to sympathize with us because He’s lived as a man, although without sin (vv. 14-15; 5:1-2). Christ took on “flesh and blood . . . for only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil” and offer “a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people” (2:14, 17 nlt). “Because of what Christ has done for us” (Ephesians 2:18 nlt), “we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence” (3:12 nlt). What a great privilege to offer prayers before “God’s throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16), for He’s our King and our Father.

Access Through Christ

Let us then approach God’s throne . . . with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us. Hebrews 4:16

As a young journalist, I quickly learned about the power of a “press pass.” That one credential—displaying my name, picture, and media outlet—granted me access to meet and interview athletes and celebrities before or after major events.

However, after I received Jesus as my Savior, I realized sports and my career had become my idols. Following God’s call elsewhere, I lost my press pass but gained access to God’s heavenly throne room through prayer because of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection.   

The writer of Hebrews points out that a high priest was selected from among the Israelites, specifically one of Aaron’s descendants, and appointed as the go-between representing the people before God. He alone could enter the Most Holy Place in the temple once a year “to offer gifts and sacrifice” to atone for his and the people’s sins (5:1), for he too was a mortal man.

Then Christ came, our great and perfect high priest. When He died, the veil in the temple was torn and the barrier that existed between God and humanity was removed (Matthew 27:51).

Because our loving Redeemer has reconciled us to His Father, we can freely pray to God: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

What a privilege to have access to God’s throne room as we talk to Him in prayer.

Reflect & Pray

How can you make time to pray more often? What stops you from praying?

Dear Jesus, thank You for giving me access to the Father.

Discover why we pray and why it is important.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, October 11, 2025

After God’s Silence, What?

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

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

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

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

Isaiah 37-38; Colossians 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

Not Knowing Whither, 900 L

Numbers 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: COURAGEOUS JOY - October 10, 2025

Jesus said: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11 NIV).

The joy Jesus offers is unlike the one promised at the car dealership or shopping mall. It is not a joy that depends upon circumstance. Peter spoke of this joy. “Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8 NKJV). Peter was writing to persecuted Christians. Adversaries took their rights, property, and possessions. But no one could take their Jesus. No one could take their joy.

Courageously joyful people have tethered their hearts to the foundation of God. Is that to say your life will be storm-free? Is that to say no sorrow will come your way? No. But that is to say your sorrow will not last forever.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Numbers 16

The Rebels

1–3  16 Getting on his high horse one day, Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, along with a few Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—rebelled against Moses. He had with him 250 leaders of the congregation of Israel, prominent men with positions in the Council. They came as a group and confronted Moses and Aaron, saying, “You’ve overstepped yourself. This entire community is holy and God is in their midst. So why do you act like you’re running the whole show?”

4  On hearing this, Moses threw himself facedown on the ground.

5  Then he addressed Korah and his gang: “In the morning God will make clear who is on his side, who is holy. God will take his stand with the one he chooses.

6–7  “Now, Korah, here’s what I want you, you and your gang, to do: Tomorrow, take censers. In the presence of God, put fire in them and then incense. Then we’ll see who is holy, see whom God chooses. Sons of Levi, you’ve overstepped yourselves!”

8–11  Moses continued with Korah, “Listen well now, sons of Levi. Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has selected you out of the congregation of Israel to bring you near him to serve in the ministries of The Dwelling of God, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? He has brought you and all your brother Levites into his inner circle, and now you’re grasping for the priesthood, too. It’s God you’ve ganged up against, not us. What do you have against Aaron that you’re bad-mouthing him?”

12–14  Moses then ordered Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, to appear, but they said, “We’re not coming. Isn’t it enough that you yanked us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you keep trying to boss us around! Face it, you haven’t produced: You haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, you haven’t given us the promised inheritance of fields and vineyards. You’d have to poke our eyes out to keep us from seeing what’s going on. Forget it, we’re not coming.”

15  Moses’ temper blazed white-hot. He said to God, “Don’t accept their Grain-Offering. I haven’t taken so much as a single donkey from them; I haven’t hurt a single hair of their heads.”

16–17  Moses said to Korah, “Bring your people before God tomorrow. Appear there with them and Aaron. Have each man bring his censer filled with incense and present it to God—all 250 censers. And you and Aaron do the same, bring your censers.”

18  So they all did it. They brought their censers filled with fire and incense and stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron did the same.

19  It was Korah and his gang against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. The entire community could see the Glory of God.

20–21  God said to Moses and Aaron, “Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I can finish them off and be done with them.”

22  They threw themselves on their faces and said, “O God, God of everything living, when one man sins are you going to take it out on the whole community?”

23–24  God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the community. Tell them, Back off from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

25–26  Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The leaders of Israel followed him. He then spoke to the community: “Back off from the tents of these bad men; don’t touch a thing that belongs to them lest you be carried off on the flood of their sins.”

27  So they all backed away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram by now had come out and were standing at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and babies.

28–30  Moses continued to address the community: “This is how you’ll know that it was God who sent me to do all these things and that it wasn’t anything I cooked up on my own. If these men die a natural death like all the rest of us, you’ll know that it wasn’t God who sent me. But if God does something unprecedented—if the ground opens up and swallows the lot of them and they are pitched alive into Sheol—then you’ll know that these men have been insolent with God.”

31–33  The words were hardly out of his mouth when the Earth split open. Earth opened its mouth and in one gulp swallowed them down, the men and their families, all the human beings connected with Korah, along with everything they owned. And that was the end of them, pitched alive into Sheol. The Earth closed up over them and that was the last the community heard of them.

34  At the sound of their cries everyone around ran for dear life, shouting, “We’re about to be swallowed up alive!”

35  Then God sent lightning. The fire cremated the 250 men who were offering the incense.

36–38  God spoke to Moses: “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, Gather up the censers from the smoldering cinders and scatter the coals a distance away for these censers have become holy. Take the censers of the men who have sinned and are now dead and hammer them into thin sheets for covering the Altar. They have been offered to God and are holy to God. Let them serve as a sign to Israel, evidence of what happened this day.”

39–40  So Eleazar gathered all the bronze censers that belonged to those who had been burned up and had them hammered flat and used to overlay the Altar, just as God had instructed him by Moses. This was to serve as a sign to Israel that only descendants of Aaron were allowed to burn incense before God; anyone else trying it would end up like Korah and his gang.

41  Grumbling broke out the next day in the community of Israel, grumbling against Moses and Aaron: “You have killed God’s people!”

42  But it so happened that when the community got together against Moses and Aaron, they looked over at the Tent of Meeting and there was the Cloud—the Glory of God for all to see.

43–45  Moses and Aaron stood at the front of the Tent of Meeting. God spoke to Moses: “Back away from this congregation so that I can do away with them this very minute.”

They threw themselves facedown on the ground.

46  Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and fill it with incense, along with fire from the Altar. Get to the congregation as fast as you can: make atonement for them. Anger is pouring out from God—the plague has started!”

47–48  Aaron grabbed the censer, as directed by Moses, and ran into the midst of the congregation. The plague had already begun. He put burning incense into the censer and atoned for the people. He stood there between the living and the dead and stopped the plague.

49–50  Fourteen thousand seven hundred people died from the plague, not counting those who died in the affair of Korah. Aaron then went back to join Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The plague was stopped.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, October 10, 2025

by Tim Gustafson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 88:1, 6-18

God, you’re my last chance of the day.

I spend the night on my knees before you.

You’ve dropped me into a bottomless pit,

sunk me in a pitch-black abyss.

I’m battered senseless by your rage,

relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger.

You turned my friends against me,

made me horrible to them.

I’m caught in a maze and can’t find my way out,

blinded by tears of pain and frustration.

9–12  I call to you, God; all day I call.

I wring my hands, I plead for help.

Are the dead a live audience for your miracles?

Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you?

Does your love make any difference in a graveyard?

Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell?

Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark,

your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory?

13–18  I’m standing my ground, God, shouting for help,

at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak.

Why, God, do you turn a deaf ear?

Why do you make yourself scarce?

For as long as I remember I’ve been hurting;

I’ve taken the worst you can hand out, and I’ve had it.

Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life;

I’m bleeding, black-and-blue.

You’ve attacked me fiercely from every side,

raining down blows till I’m nearly dead.

You made lover and neighbor alike dump me;

the only friend I have left is Darkness.

Today's Insights

Psalm 88 is an unusual song of lament. Lament psalms typically include a call for God’s help, a specific complaint or reason for lamenting, and an expression of trust in God. Some also offer thanksgiving after He responds. (Psalm 44 is a lament psalm that contains all these elements.) Psalm 88 includes the call for God’s aid (vv. 1-2) and reasons for lament (vv. 3-9, 15-18) but omits any expressions of trust in God. Instead, the psalmist asks accusatory questions (vv. 10-12, 14) and describes being completely alone and in excruciating pain (v. 18). That this psalm is part of inspired Scripture demonstrates that God welcomes complete honesty before Him when we’re struggling. In our pain, we can be assured that He’s there and He’s listening.

Prayer of the Desperate

You have taken from me friend and neighbor—darkness is my closest friend. Psalm 88:18

Charles had sunk into depression. Despite having a loving family, he felt all alone. “The overwhelming pressure of supporting them was continuing to build,” he said, “and I felt like taking my own life.” Surprisingly—or perhaps not—Charles Morris also led a Christian ministry.

A wise friend told him that when faced with depression, “We should soak in the Psalms.” Charles got through his deep despondency by reading relatable Bible passages, accepting prudent medical care, and pouring his heart out to God.

The Psalms are often brutally honest. Heman the Ezrahite wrote one of the most bitter. Hope is found only in the opening lines: “Lord, you are the God who saves me” (88:1). Heman seems to accuse God: “You have put me in the lowest pit” (v. 6). “You have overwhelmed me” (v. 7). And he had questions: “Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” (v. 14). Most psalms end with a message of hope. Not this one. Heman concludes, “Darkness is my closest friend” (v. 18). This is the prayer of a truly desperate man. Yet Heman directed all his pain to God.

When we read psalms such as this one, we realize we’re not alone. Others have experienced desperate feelings and have dared to put voice to them. God could take such honesty from Heman. He can take it from you too. He’s there, and He’s listening.

Reflect & Pray

What part of Psalm 88 do you most relate to? What will you ask God today?

Heavenly Father, sometimes I hurt too much even to pray. Thank You that You’re big enough to take all my pain and honesty.

Learn how to take wisdom from the book of Psalms.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, October 10, 2025

How Will I Know?

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

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

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

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

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

Isaiah 34-36; Colossians 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold. 

Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, October 10, 2025

YOUR TITANIC MISTAKE - #10110

It happened over 100 years ago, but we still seem to be fascinated with it - the Titanic. I mean, the Titanic has sailed into the Internet! You can find all kinds of information about the sinking of that "unsinkable" ship back in 1912. And then, there was the Academy Award-winning movie, endless TV shows, articles, and there was even a Broadway musical about it. It seems like fascination with the Titanic just never goes away.

A lot of this information has been known for decades, but now there's a tremendous appetite for that information. Like the tragic mistake that fatal night by the radioman on the Titanic. The ship had received a number of warnings about ice ahead and had adjusted her course southward as a result. But two hours before the Titanic hit the iceberg, the radioman received a warning from another ship about a major iceberg, along with longitude and latitude coordinates. They put that iceberg right in Titanic's path. It's the one that sank the ship. But the radioman didn't know it was in their path. He was busy that night, so he stuck that message on a spindle to be dealt with later. That one choice doomed him and 1500 other passengers who died that night.

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

That just makes the tragedy even more tragic, doesn't it? The warning of what was coming was sent, it was received, but a man decided he'd deal with it later. And later was too late. When the warning is life-or-death, you don't wait to deal with it, especially if the warning is from God, especially if the warning is about what's ahead for you. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 2:3. "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" Ignoring God's warning - fatal results.

What's the warning about our future? Here are God's words, "Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's only Son" (John 3:18). Like the Titanic on her last night, steaming headlong for a deadly rendezvous. Again, God in His own words, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36).

God says there are people who are forever safe and people who are headed for eternal destruction. The difference is what they do with His Son, Jesus. You can do a lot of things with Jesus: you can reject Him, or ignore Him, or postpone Him, or you can even agree with Him. But all of those responses lead to the same place - eternity without God. You might say, "You mean agreeing with Jesus, isn't that enough?" Well, you see, I wasn't married to my wife based on my agreeing with her views. I was married to my wife for one reason - there was a time I committed my life to her.

That's what you have to do with Jesus. Has there been a time when you did that? If not, you're still ignoring God's warning about eternity. He says we can't possibly escape if we neglect this great salvation. He calls it salvation because it's a rescue from a death sentence. Jesus dying on that awful cross - that was God's Son paying the death penalty for the sinning you and I have done. And our only hope is to put our total trust in Him - the only One who can rescue you from sin and its penalty.

So you have the warning. Maybe you've been saying, like a radioman on the Titanic that night, I'll deal with it later. Don't do that. When a warning is life-or-death, the only time to deal with it is now while there's time.

If there has never been a time when you have committed yourself to Jesus to be your Savior, tell Him right now you're putting your trust in Him and what He did on the cross for you. "Jesus, I'm yours."

I hope you'll go to our website as soon as you can today, because you will find the information you need to secure and be sure you belong to Jesus. It's ANewStory.com.

Without Jesus, you are steaming full speed into an eternity without hope. Deal with God's warning now. And you'll be on the course for a guaranteed arrival in heaven when your journey's done.

Numbers 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: TASTE AND SEE - October 9, 2025

Can we have the certainty of forgiven sin? God answers any hesitation with an invitation. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). This is God’s surprising encouragement to us. He throws open the pantry of his heart and says, “Taste and see how good I am.”

If you do not believe that God is good, you will not confess your sins to him. But if he is who he claims to be, you will. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Stand in the Bethlehem stable. How good of God to become flesh. At the foot of the cross, taste his forgiveness. At the vacant tomb, taste his power.

Was he not good then? Is he not good still? Will he not be good enough to receive your confession and forgive your sins? Wave the white flag. No more doubt.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Numbers 15

Matters of Worship

1–5  15 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter your homeland that I am giving to you and sacrifice a Fire-Gift to God, a Whole-Burnt-Offering or any sacrifice from the herd or flock for a Vow-Offering or Freewill-Offering at one of the appointed feasts, as a pleasing fragrance for God, the one bringing the offering shall present to God a Grain-Offering of two quarts of fine flour mixed with a quart of oil. With each lamb for the Whole-Burnt-Offering or other sacrifice, prepare a quart of oil and a quart of wine as a Drink-Offering.

6–7  “For a ram prepare a Grain-Offering of four quarts of fine flour mixed with one and a quarter quarts of oil and one and a quarter quarts of wine as a Drink-Offering. Present it as a pleasing fragrance to God.

8–10  “When you prepare a young bull as a Whole-Burnt-Offering or sacrifice for a special vow or a Peace-Offering to God, bring with the bull a Grain-Offering of six quarts of fine flour and two quarts of oil. Also bring two quarts of wine as a Drink-Offering. It will be a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God.

11–12  “Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this same way. Carry out this procedure for each one, no matter how many you have to prepare.

13–16  “Every native-born Israelite is to follow this procedure when he brings a Fire-Gift as a pleasing fragrance to God. In future generations, when a foreigner or visitor living at length among you presents a Fire-Gift as a pleasing fragrance to God, the same procedures must be followed. The community has the same rules for you and the foreigner living among you. This is the regular rule for future generations. You and the foreigner are the same before God. The same laws and regulations apply to both you and the foreigner who lives with you.”

17–21  God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter the land into which I’m bringing you, and you eat the food of that country, set some aside as an offering for God. From the first batch of bread dough make a round loaf for an offering—an offering from the threshing floor. Down through the future generations make this offering to God from each first batch of dough.

22–26  “But if you should get off the beaten track and not keep the commands which God spoke to Moses, any of the things that God commanded you under the authority of Moses from the time that God first commanded you right up to this present time, and if it happened more or less by mistake, with the congregation unaware of it, then the whole congregation is to sacrifice one young bull as a Whole-Burnt-Offering, a pleasing fragrance to God, accompanied by its Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering as stipulated in the rules, and a he-goat as an Absolution-Offering. The priest is to atone for the entire community of the People of Israel and they will stand forgiven. The sin was not deliberate, and they offered to God the Fire-Gift and Absolution-Offering for their inadvertence. The whole community of Israel including the foreigners living there will be absolved, because everyone was involved in the error.

27–28  “But if it’s just one person who sins by mistake, not realizing what he’s doing, he is to bring a yearling she-goat as an Absolution-Offering. The priest then is to atone for the person who accidentally sinned, to make atonement before God so that it won’t be held against him.

29  “The same standard holds for everyone who sins by mistake; the native-born Israelites and the foreigners go by the same rules.

30–31  “But the person, native or foreigner, who sins defiantly, deliberately blaspheming God, must be cut off from his people: He has despised God’s word, he has violated God’s command; that person must be kicked out of the community, ostracized, left alone in his wrongdoing.”

32–35  Once, during those wilderness years of the People of Israel, a man was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. The ones who caught him hauled him before Moses and Aaron and the entire congregation. They put him in custody until it became clear what to do with him. Then God spoke to Moses: “Give the man the death penalty. Yes, kill him, the whole community hurling stones at him outside the camp.”

36  So the whole community took him outside the camp and threw stones at him, an execution commanded by God and given through Moses.

37–41  God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them that from now on they are to make tassels on the corners of their garments and to mark each corner tassel with a blue thread. When you look at these tassels you’ll remember and keep all the commandments of God, and not get distracted by everything you feel or see that seduces you into infidelities. The tassels will signal remembrance and observance of all my commandments, to live a holy life to God. I am your God who rescued you from the land of Egypt to be your personal God. Yes, I am God, your God.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, October 09, 2025

by Sheridan Voysey

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Ecclesiastes 5:13-20

Here’s a piece of bad luck I’ve seen happen:

A man hoards far more wealth than is good for him

And then loses it all in a bad business deal.

He fathered a child but hasn’t a cent left to give him.

He arrived naked from the womb of his mother;

He’ll leave in the same condition—with nothing.

This is bad luck, for sure—naked he came, naked he went.

So what was the point of working for a salary of smoke?

All for a miserable life spent in the dark?

Make the Most of What God Gives

18–20  After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.

Today's Insights

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon seeks to answer the perplexing question of the meaning of life. He shows that life without God is futile, unfulfilling, miserable, and meaningless “under the sun” (see 1:3, 13-14; 12:8). Then he explains how and why God must fit into our lives (2:24-26; 3:11-14; 5:7, 18-20). He examines human accomplishments, pleasures, and intellectual pursuits (chs. 1-2); the repetitive mundane existential/experiential life (ch. 3); and social interactions and community (ch. 4). Though accumulating wealth through hard work in itself isn’t wrong, pursuing materialism for its own sake brings disillusionment and despair (chs. 5-6). But the person who reverently worships and fears God (5:1-7) will see and enjoy the fruit of his labor as a gift from God (vv. 18-20). Solomon offers us this recipe for a fulfilled life: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind” (12:13).

See how the wisdom of Ecclesiastes matches the teaching of Jesus.

A Cautionary Tale

I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners. Ecclesiastes 5:13

In the classic film Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane amasses wealth and power by building a newspaper empire. In a story reminiscent of Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, Kane spares himself no pleasure, building a castle with grand gardens full of artistic treasures.

Like other tycoons, what Kane really wants is adulation. He bankrolls his own political career and, when it fails, he blames the defeat on voter “fraud” to save face. He builds his wife an opera house and forces her into an ill-suited singing career to make him look good. Here too Kane’s story echoes Ecclesiastes, where wealth is found to harm those who chase and hoard it (5:10-15), leaving them eating “in darkness, with great frustration” (5:17). By the end of his life, Charlie Kane lives in that castle alone, isolated and angry.

Citizen Kane ends with the revelation that Charlie’s pursuits have been driven to fill a void in his heart—the parental love he lost as a child. I can imagine the author of Ecclesiastes agreeing. Our Father God has “set eternity in the human heart” (3:11), and life can only be enjoyed with Him (2:25). Charlie Kane’s cautionary tale speaks to us all: Don’t seek spiritual fulfilment through wealth and power, but through the one who pours His love into our hearts (Romans 5:5).

Reflect & Pray

How do you see yourself imitating Charlie Kane? What spiritual need does God need to meet in you today?

Loving God, please forgive my attempts to feel important through buying things or seeking praise. My spiritual need can only be met by You!

For further study read, Translucent Fruit: The Cost of Wealth.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, October 09, 2025

Pull Yourself Together

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

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

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

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

Isaiah 32-33; Colossians 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. 

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, October 09, 2025

PARALYZED PARENTS - #10109

I was once held hostage by a dragonfly. This is very embarrassing, but it is true. I was just a little guy and my cousin and I were sitting on these swings in her backyard. I believed everything she said. And a dragonfly started to circle us on the swings. He was a big old guy - at least he looked big compared to the size I was then. And then he landed on the swing, and my cousin said to me, "You know, if they get mad at you they'll drill a hole through you."

I took one look at him and he kind of dived back and forth and started to dive bomb us. I started imagining him boring a hole in me, and it seemed reasonable. So I was frozen to the swing. I must have been there for a half hour... maybe an hour, I don't know. I didn't move until the crazy dragonfly left. Did I mention this is embarrassing? Well, today I know a dragonfly is nothing to fear, but my cousin that day made me afraid of something that I didn't need to be afraid of. That might be happening at your house.

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

Our word for today from the Word of God is from 2 Timothy 1:7. "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline." This is a great verse for parents isn't it? Parents especially who are raising children in a very pagan, out-of-control world like ours. In fact, earlier in this chapter Paul talks about Timothy's Mother, Eunice, and how her faith was passed on to her son. She had an unbelieving husband, the Bible tells us, she was raising Timothy in a lost culture, and yet she turned out a son who was a great spiritual leader.

Now, one of the keys is in this seventh verse, "don't parent out of fear." You know, I'm a Dad of three kids that grew up in this kind of a world, and I know that we tend to look at a world where lies are taught as truth and where wrong is promoted as the right thing to do, and where sex outside of marriage is expected. That's the kind of world we're living in no doubt about it. Sin is boasted about. Our tendency is to grab our child and run to a cave with him or her and try to keep that child from ever rubbing shoulders with that nasty world.

Do you know what we're communicating? We're saying, "You know, that darkness out there is really big and strong, and I'm not sure Jesus is strong enough to compete with it." We're giving the Devil and we're giving the darkness a lot of credit when we teach our children to be afraid of it. Yes, we need to teach them to live in a dark world, but not to be afraid of it. We serve a Christ who blew the doors off of death. We serve a Jesus to whom demons surrender. Let's not hide from the darkness. He empowers His children to change the darkness.

Many days our kids came home from school with words they heard or ideas or questions. And, well, we found that those are the moments to seize, not to freeze. We can say to our kids, "You know, I'm glad that came up. Let me show you how much better Jesus' idea is." See, Jesus called us to be salt and light, and they have to be in contact with something if they're going to change it. Right? But we forfeit a whole generation if our kids withdraw from the people who've never touched Jesus. They're not sacrificial lambs. They're people who can make a difference and raise their kids on the two words I raised ours on: GO MAD! Go make a difference! You need to change things. Don't let them change you. You are their hope of another way to be.

I sat on a swing one day as a boy, paralyzed by something I didn't need to fear. As Christian parents let's not do that or cause our children to do it. Teach them the dangers of a lost world for sure; expose the darkness. And then outfit them with a strong version of Jesus who doesn't run from the darkness. He challenges the darkness.

Mark 14:27-53, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A GUILT-FREE HEART - October 8, 2025

Do you desire a guilt-free heart? Then equip yourself with this promise: “If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done” (1 John 1:9 NCV).

Oh, the sweet certainty of these words. “He will cleanse us.” Tell God what you did. The place and posture are your choice. Go on a walk and talk with him. Stand in a corner. Kneel in a closet. Hold up your hands. Revisit that moment and let him display his grace. Confess your sins to him. And confess your sins to others. James 5:16 (NKJV) reads, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Healing happens when we are honest with God and others about our struggles.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Mark 14:27-53

 Jesus told them, “You’re all going to feel that your world is falling apart and that it’s my fault. There’s a Scripture that says,

I will strike the shepherd;

The sheep will go helter-skelter.

“But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee.”

29  Peter blurted out, “Even if everyone else is ashamed of you when things fall to pieces, I won’t be.”

30  Jesus said, “Don’t be so sure. Today, this very night in fact, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

31  He blustered in protest, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” All the others said the same thing.

Gethsemane

32–34  They came to an area called Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him. He plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony. He told them, “I feel bad enough right now to die. Stay here and keep vigil with me.”

35–36  Going a little ahead, he fell to the ground and prayed for a way out: “Papa, Father, you can—can’t you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?”

37–38  He came back and found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”

39–40  He then went back and prayed the same prayer. Returning, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open, and they didn’t have a plausible excuse.

41–42  He came back a third time and said, “Are you going to sleep all night? No—you’ve slept long enough. Time’s up. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let’s get going. My betrayer has arrived.”

A Gang of Ruffians

43–47  No sooner were the words out of his mouth when Judas, the one out of the Twelve, showed up, and with him a gang of ruffians, sent by the high priests, religion scholars, and leaders, brandishing swords and clubs. The betrayer had worked out a signal with them: “The one I kiss, that’s the one—seize him. Make sure he doesn’t get away.” He went straight to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. The others then grabbed him and roughed him up. One of the men standing there unsheathed his sword, swung, and came down on the Chief Priest’s servant, lopping off the man’s ear.

48–50  Jesus said to them, “What is this, coming after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I’ve been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. What you in fact have done is confirm the prophetic writings.” All the disciples cut and ran.

51–52  A young man was following along. All he had on was a bedsheet. Some of the men grabbed him but he got away, running off naked, leaving them holding the sheet.

Condemned to Death

53–54  They led Jesus to the Chief Priest, where the high priests, religious leaders, and scholars had gathered together.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, October 08, 2025

by Adam R. Holz

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 4:1-6, 11-16

To Be Mature

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

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

filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

14–16  No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

Today's Insights

God’s love poured out through the creation of a new community made up of believing Jews and gentiles—something Paul calls “the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4)—is the foundation for the apostle’s encouragement to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (4:1). Jews and gentiles—two groups long estranged from each other—were called to devote themselves to cultivating the unity created through Christ’s Spirit (v. 3). They needed to serve one another “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” (v. 2 esv). Today, we’re also called to love and serve others with the gifts we’ve been given.

Jesus’ Work

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1

In 1997, Iowa State University named its football stadium after the school’s first black athlete: Jack Trice. Tragically, Trice had never even played in Ames, Iowa—he died from internal injuries sustained during a play in his second college game, played in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 6, 1923.

Trice wrote a note to himself the night before the game, bearing witness to his determination:

“The honor of my race, family, and self are at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will! My whole body and soul are to be thrown recklessly about on the field tomorrow. Every time the ball is snapped, I will be trying to do more than my part.” Trice profoundly understood that what he did flowed from the honor and dignity of who he was, infusing his character with courage. 

The apostle Paul says something similar in his letter to the Ephesians, challenging believers to let who they were in Christ influence every decision: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1). Paul challenges us to embrace a way of living shaped by Jesus’ work for us, in us, and through us, which yields humility, gentleness, patience, unity, love, and peace (vv. 2-3) as we use our God-given gifts to serve one another (vv. 15-16). 

Reflect & Pray

What’s the connection between our beliefs and actions? What gifts has God given you to serve others?

Dear Father, thank You for inviting me into a life filled with meaning and significance. Please help me to love and serve others with the gifts You’ve given.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, October 08, 2025

Come to Me

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

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

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

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

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

Isaiah 30-31; Phil 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it. 

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, October 08, 2025

NAILING YOUR COLORS TO THE MAST - #10108

Ah yes, World History class. I'm sure you remember everything you heard there very vividly, right? No. If you remember anything, you probably remember that for centuries the nations of Europe were fighting it out to be number one on their block - often using their ships to build their empires. Now, if you were out on the high seas back then, sailing, let's say for England, the only way you knew if an approaching ship was friend or foe was by their colors flying from the mast. That was also how they would know whether or not to shoot at you as well. As the story goes, many captains decided to strategically lower their colors in a risky situation so folks wouldn't know what their allegiance was. But apparently there were a few bold and courageous skippers who gave a different kind of order to their crew. It went like this: "Nail the colors to the mast." "Uh, sir, that means we can't lower our colors if we need to?" "That's right, matey. Nail them to the mast!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Nailing Your Colors to the Mast."

In the account of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection that first Easter week, we have the story of a follower of Jesus who knew all about lowering his colors when it might cost you to fly them. His name was Joseph, known by the town he was from, Arimathea. Apparently, he saw the crucifixion of Jesus, and then something happened.

In John 19:38 - it's our word for today from the Word of God - we read: "Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. You bet he feared the Jews. He was part of the ruling Council of the Jews that had engineered Jesus' execution. If they found out that he had given his heart to Jesus, he had everything to lose! So he just kept following Jesus "under cover." He never told anyone about his relationship with Him.

Joseph would, according to some modern surveys, be one of the 90% of Christians today who never tell anyone about Jesus. Think about that. I mean, how many spiritually dying people are, in essence, remaining under their spiritual death sentence because of the silence of the Christian they know? What a tragedy! And why do we stay silent about our Jesus? For the same reason Joseph did. Fear of what they'll think of me, fear of what I might lose, fear that I might damage a relationship or mess it up. Valid fears? Possibly. But the fears of what might happen if I do tell them about Jesus are nothing compared to the fears of what might happen to them if I don't tell them! They may die without ever knowing how they could have lived forever!

But silent believers don't have to remain with their true colors lowered out of sight. Look at Joseph. He's hope for all of us. He totally blew his cover by going to the Roman governor and saying, "I want to bury Jesus in my tomb." I mean, that will identify Joseph with Jesus for all the world to know. But he doesn't care anymore. You know why? He saw what Jesus went through on that cross for him, and he nailed his colors to the mast!

Isn't it time for you to do that? When you think about your Savior dying publicly on a cross for you, would you tell Him, "Jesus, you're not going to be a secret anymore. You're who I'm about. You are my true identity. You are what I'm about forever. I will not deny you any longer."

Too many times you've lowered your colors, but not anymore. Not after what Jesus has done for you. Not when somebody's eternity may depend on you telling what you know. For once, for all, you are nailing your Jesus-colors to the mast and they will never come down again.

Numbers 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: AGREE WITH GOD - October 7, 2025

Confession is agreeing with God. We agree about the reality of our sin. We don’t pretend we never sinned, nor do we discount its severity. We admit to it. God has an acceptable standard of behavior. “Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NCV). God’s standard is perfection, and we are anything but.

We are prone to tamper with the standard. We compare ourselves with others, we justify misbehavior, we downplay the severity of our sin. In confession we quit tinkering with the system. Our thought process should go something like this: I took the wrong path. I ignored the direction of God. But though my sin is great, God’s grace is greater. I trust him to forgive me. We agree with God about the reality of our sin.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Numbers 14

The whole community was in an uproar, wailing all night long. All the People of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The entire community was in on it: “Why didn’t we die in Egypt? Or in this wilderness? Why has God brought us to this country to kill us? Our wives and children are about to become plunder. Why don’t we just head back to Egypt? And right now!”

4  Soon they were all saying it to one another: “Let’s pick a new leader; let’s head back to Egypt.”

5  Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in front of the entire community, gathered in emergency session.

6–9  Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, members of the scouting party, ripped their clothes and addressed the assembled People of Israel: “The land we walked through and scouted out is a very good land—very good indeed. If God is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land that flows, as they say, with milk and honey. And he’ll give it to us. Just don’t rebel against God! And don’t be afraid of those people. Why, we’ll have them for lunch! They have no protection and God is on our side. Don’t be afraid of them!”

10–12  But, up in arms now, the entire community was talking of hurling stones at them.

Just then the bright Glory of God appeared at the Tent of Meeting. Every Israelite saw it. God said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me like dirt? How long refuse to trust me? And with all these signs I’ve done among them! I’ve had enough—I’m going to hit them with a plague and kill them. But I’ll make you into a nation bigger and stronger than they ever were.”

13–16  But Moses said to God, “The Egyptians are going to hear about this! You delivered this people from Egypt with a great show of strength, and now this? The Egyptians will tell everyone. They’ve already heard that you are God, that you are on the side of this people, that you are present among them, that they see you with their own eyes in your Cloud that hovers over them, in the Pillar of Cloud that leads them by day and the Pillar of Fire at night. If you kill this entire people in one stroke, all the nations that have heard what has been going on will say, ‘Since God couldn’t get these people into the land which he had promised to give them, he slaughtered them out in the wilderness.’

17  “Now, please, let the power of the Master expand, enlarge itself greatly, along the lines you have laid out earlier when you said,

18  God, slow to get angry and huge in loyal love,

forgiving iniquity and rebellion and sin;

Still, never just whitewashing sin.

But extending the fallout of parents’ sins

to children into the third,

even the fourth generation.

19  “Please forgive the wrongdoing of this people out of the extravagance of your loyal love just as all along, from the time they left Egypt, you have been forgiving this people.”

20–23  God said, “I forgive them, honoring your words. But as I live and as the Glory of God fills the whole Earth—not a single person of those who saw my Glory, saw the miracle signs I did in Egypt and the wilderness, and who have tested me over and over and over again, turning a deaf ear to me—not one of them will set eyes on the land I so solemnly promised to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with such repeated contempt will see it.

24  “But my servant Caleb—this is a different story. He has a different spirit; he follows me passionately. I’ll bring him into the land that he scouted and his children will inherit it.

25  “Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are so well established in the valleys, for right now change course and head back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea.”

26–30  God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “How long is this going to go on, all this grumbling against me by this evil-infested community? I’ve had my fill of complaints from these grumbling Israelites. Tell them, As I live—God’s decree—here’s what I’m going to do: Your corpses are going to litter the wilderness—every one of you twenty years and older who was counted in the census, this whole generation of grumblers and grousers. Not one of you will enter the land and make your home there, the firmly and solemnly promised land, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

31–34  “Your children, the very ones that you said would be taken for plunder, I’ll bring in to enjoy the land you rejected while your corpses will be rotting in the wilderness. These children of yours will live as shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, living with the fallout of your whoring unfaithfulness until the last of your generation lies a corpse in the wilderness. You scouted out the land for forty days; your punishment will be a year for each day, a forty-year sentence to serve for your sins—a long schooling in my displeasure.

35  “I, God, have spoken. I will most certainly carry out these things against this entire evil-infested community which has banded together against me. In this wilderness they will come to their end. There they will die.”

36–38  So it happened that the men Moses sent to scout out the land returned to circulate false rumors about the land causing the entire community to grumble against Moses—all these men died. Having spread false rumors of the land, they died in a plague, confronted by God. Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh were left alive of the men who went to scout out the land.

39–40  When Moses told all of this to the People of Israel, they mourned long and hard. But early the next morning they started out for the high hill country, saying, “We’re here; we’re ready—let’s go up and attack the land that God promised us. We sinned, but now we’re ready.”

41–43  But Moses said, “Why are you crossing God’s command yet again? This won’t work. Don’t attack. God isn’t with you in this—you’ll be beaten badly by your enemies. The Amalekites and Canaanites are ready for you and they’ll kill you. Because you have left off obediently following God, God is not going to be with you in this.”

44–45  But they went anyway; recklessly and arrogantly they climbed to the high hill country. But the Chest of the Covenant and Moses didn’t budge from the camp. The Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in the hill country came out of the hills and attacked and beat them, a rout all the way down to Hormah.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Read: Ephesians 5:1-13

 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.[a] 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.

Footnotes:

Ephesians 5:5 Or kingdom of the Messiah and God

Insight

The church at Ephesus faced strong challenges to their faith, unity, and lifestyle. In his letter to them, Paul clearly stated what their response should be in verse 2 of today’s text. They were to imitate the heart of self-sacrificial love that Christ Jesus displayed on the cross.

Fly The Flag

By Joe Stowell

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. —Ephesians 5:1

Queen Elizabeth II has reigned over the British Empire for more than 60 years. Her monarchy has been characterized by grace and class. She has diligently given her life to serve her people well, and as a result she is deeply loved and highly revered. So, you can understand the importance of the flag flying above Buckingham Palace. When the flag is flying, it means that she is in residence in the heart of London. The flag is a public statement that the queen is present with her people.

As I was thinking about that, it occurred to me that our King Jesus is in residence in our hearts as our “never leave you nor forsake you” Monarch (Heb. 13:5). As wonderful as that is to us personally, I wonder if those around us would recognize that He is in residence based on the way we live? If He is within us, that will show on the outside. As Paul says, we are to be “imitators of God” and to “walk in love, as Christ also has loved us” (Eph. 5:1-2). As we do so, we will display joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

So let’s fly the flag of His presence—the flag of His grace, righteousness, and love—so that others may see Him through us.

Lord, remind me that Your presence in my heart

is intended to be a public reality. May I so value

all the blessings of Your presence that I am

willing to share them generously with others.

Fly the flag of Christ’s presence to show that the King is in residence in your life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, October 07, 2025

Reconciliation

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

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

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

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

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

Isaiah 28-29; Philippians 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. 

Facing Reality, 34 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, October 07, 2025

FIGHTING IT WHEN IT'S SMALL - #10107

I think I've lost the same five pounds 200 times - uh-huh. That's enough to make about six of me! Actually, I used to weigh 55 pounds more a number of years ago, and I lost it. But that's no great accomplishment. As anybody will tell you who has that same battle, the challenge is to keep it off. So I set a certain ceiling, and then I would kind of have this anchor weight. And as my weight creeps up there, which it often does, I yell down to the engine room, "Reverse all engines! It's time to go to work!" Frankly, it's just too hard to fight 20 or 25 pounds. It's much smarter, I've learned, to fight the problem when it's a baby than when it's full grown.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fighting It When It's Small."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is in 2 Corinthians 10, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 3. It's a battle briefing for spiritual warfare. It talks about how to fight spiritual enemies - but that which will weigh us down, hold us back, make us spiritually unhealthy. Here's what it says: "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

That's an exciting passage. It talks about God's power to destroy fortresses of sin in our life. Then it goes on to talk, not about immoral behavior or pornography or attacks on people, it talks about our thoughts. It talks about arguments, pretensions, and then every thought. It presents the fantastic prospect of capturing every thought for Christ.

Now, when you're fighting being overweight, you have to fight that early in those first few pounds that you start to put on. When you're fighting sin, you have to fight it early, when it's just a thought. See, your mind is a jungle. Savage animals roam across it all day long, right? Thoughts of revenge, thoughts of lust, sexual impurities, proud thoughts, self-centered "me first" thinking, bitterness is there, anger. Usually we don't start fighting back until this idea animal becomes an action. Well, then it's too late. The Bible spells it out in James 1:15. It says that, "Desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." Seems like it would be easiest to fight it as a thought, as a desire, doesn't it?

Successful spiritual warfare doesn't wait for sin to become a plan or an action. Successful spiritual warfare has to be fought in the jungle of the mind. It's there we find sin in thought form - a thought that needs to be captured and not allowed to roam free any more. Daily we capture thoughts as soon as they appear, and then immediately, consciously you turn that sin idea over to Jesus Christ.

General Douglas MacArthur said, "The history of failure in war can be summed up in two words - too late. Too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy." Now, think about this in terms of sinful thoughts: too late in realizing the mortal danger, too late in preparedness, too late in uniting all possible forces to resist it. See, this passage says that sin, even the strongholds of sin, are beatable unless you wait until it's too late.

Capture sin when it's a thought...just a thought. Take it from a former guy battling the weight battles. You can stay spiritually fit if you learn to fight it early.