Luke 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A FAITHFUL FATHER - November 18, 2025

I can’t assure you your family will ever give you the blessing you seek, but God will. Let God give you what your family doesn’t. How do you do that? By emotionally accepting God as your father. It’s one thing to accept him as Lord, another to recognize him as Savior, but another matter entirely to accept him as Father.

To recognize God as Lord is to acknowledge that he is sovereign in the universe. To accept him as Savior is to accept his gift of salvation offered on the cross. But to regard him as Father is to go a step further. Ideally, a father is the one in your life who provides and protects. That’s exactly what God has done! God’s proven himself as a faithful father. Now let God fill the void others have left. You are his child, and he’ll give you the blessing he promised!

The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Luke 3

A Baptism of Life-Change

1–6  3 In the fifteenth year of the rule of Caesar Tiberius—it was while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea; Herod, ruler of Galilee; his brother Philip, ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis; Lysanias, ruler of Abilene; during the Chief-Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—John, Zachariah’s son, out in the desert at the time, received a message from God. He went all through the country around the Jordan River preaching a baptism of life-change leading to forgiveness of sins, as described in the words of Isaiah the prophet:

Thunder in the desert!

“Prepare God’s arrival!

Make the road smooth and straight!

Every ditch will be filled in,

Every bump smoothed out,

The detours straightened out,

All the ruts paved over.

Everyone will be there to see

The parade of God’s salvation.”

7–9  When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin. And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’ Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”

10  The crowd asked him, “Then what are we supposed to do?”

11  “If you have two coats, give one away,” he said. “Do the same with your food.”

12  Tax men also came to be baptized and said, “Teacher, what should we do?”

13  He told them, “No more extortion—collect only what is required by law.”

14  Soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He told them, “No shakedowns, no blackmail—and be content with your rations.”

15  The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, “Could this John be the Messiah?”

16–17  But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

18–20  There was a lot more of this—words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message! But Herod, the ruler, stung by John’s rebuke in the matter of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail.

21–22  After all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized. As he was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

Son of Adam, Son of God

23–38  When Jesus entered public life he was about thirty years old, the son (in public perception) of Joseph, who was—

son of Heli,

son of Matthat,

son of Levi,

son of Melki,

son of Jannai,

son of Joseph,

son of Mattathias,

son of Amos,

son of Nahum,

son of Esli,

son of Naggai,

son of Maath,

son of Mattathias,

son of Semein,

son of Josech,

son of Joda,

son of Joanan,

son of Rhesa,

son of Zerubbabel,

son of Shealtiel,

son of Neri,

son of Melchi,

son of Addi,

son of Cosam,

son of Elmadam,

son of Er,

son of Joshua,

son of Eliezer,

son of Jorim,

son of Matthat,

son of Levi,

son of Simeon,

son of Judah,

son of Joseph,

son of Jonam,

son of Eliakim,

son of Melea,

son of Menna,

son of Mattatha,

son of Nathan,

son of David,

son of Jesse,

son of Obed,

son of Boaz,

son of Salmon,

son of Nahshon,

son of Amminadab,

son of Admin,

son of Arni,

son of Hezron,

son of Perez,

son of Judah,

son of Jacob,

son of Isaac,

son of Abraham,

son of Terah,

son of Nahor,

son of Serug,

son of Reu,

son of Peleg,

son of Eber,

son of Shelah,

son of Kenan,

son of Arphaxad,

son of Shem,

son of Noah,

son of Lamech,

son of Methuselah,

son of Enoch,

son of Jared,

son of Mahalaleel,

son of Kenan,

son of Enos,

son of Seth,

son of Adam,

son of God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Monica La Rose

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Timothy 2:8-13

  Fix this picture firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the dead. It’s what you’ve heard from me all along. It’s what I’m sitting in jail for right now—but God’s Word isn’t in jail! That’s why I stick it out here—so that everyone God calls will get in on the salvation of Christ in all its glory. This is a sure thing:

If we die with him, we’ll live with him;

If we stick it out with him, we’ll rule with him;

If we turn our backs on him, he’ll turn his back on us;

If we give up on him, he does not give up—

for there’s no way he can be false to himself.

Today's Insights

Paul encourages Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the gospel (2 Timothy 2:3) and reminds him to “remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead” (v. 8). The faith of believers in Jesus is anchored in Christ’s death and resurrection. The apostle reminds us that those who endure suffering for Jesus’ sake will reign with Him, but those who reject Him in the face of persecution will be rejected by Him (v. 12; see Matthew 10:22, 32-33; Hebrews 10:38-39). We can endure suffering because of the faithfulness of Christ. And even when our commitment isn’t as consistent or strong as it should be, He’ll still be faithful: “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). In the face of death, we can witness for Jesus because “the one who calls [us] is faithful” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Living with Jesus

If we died with him, we will also live with him. 2 Timothy 2:11

Physician Christian Ntizimira sensed God’s calling to provide end-of-life care in under-resourced areas of his home country of Rwanda. Colleagues often didn’t see the value of such care because “these patients were already considered hopeless.” But Ntizimira found that for patients and their families, his “presence offered a rekindling of hope when all seemed lost.” Ntizimira is grounded in his work by the conviction that Jesus’ death and life can transform how we approach death because “the death of Christ is the source of life.”

In 2 Timothy, the apostle Paul testified to how the reality that Jesus “destroyed death and . . . brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (1:10) changed how he understood his suffering. Though Paul was a prisoner facing possible execution (2:9), Jesus’ resurrection grounded him in his calling—to point others to salvation through Christ (v. 10). For “if we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him” (vv. 11-12).

Dying with Jesus doesn’t just mean what happens at believers’ literal deaths. In his letter to the Romans, Paul explained that, as symbolized in baptism, believers are united with Christ’s Spirit in His death and resurrection life (Romans 6:4-8).

Because Christ lives in us, even when we face death’s terrors, we can live for and witness to Him.

Reflect & Pray

When have you unexpectedly witnessed hope? How can believers witness to Christ’s resurrection?

Merciful God, please help me witness to the love and hope of Jesus.

Learn more about being a witness by reading Faithful to the Gospel.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Free Indeed

If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. —John 8:36

After we are born again, any selfish individuality remaining inside us will always say “I can’t” when God calls. We have to leave off our individuality and develop our personality instead. The full meaning of the word personality is a being, created by God, who has lived on this earth and formed a godly character. The majority of us are not personalities yet. We are beginning to be, but we haven’t yet rid ourselves of our individuality.

Personality never says, “I can’t.” When it comes into contact with God, it absorbs and absorbs and always wants more. This is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin and individuality keep us from him. God delivers us from sin, but we have to deliver ourselves from individuality. We do this by offering our natural life to him and by sacrificing that life, through obedience, until it’s transformed into a spiritual life.

God doesn’t pay attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual lives, but he does expect us to pay attention to it. His order is present in every facet of our natural lives, and we have to make sure that we help that order along, not stand against it, saying, “I can’t.” God won’t discipline us; he won’t bring our thoughts into captivity. We have to do it.

Don’t go to God and say, “Oh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.” Don’t suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individuality and get emancipated into personality.

“If the Son sets you free . . .” Don’t substitute “Savior” for “Son.” The Savior sets us free from sin; the Son sets us free from individuality. It is what Paul means in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Paul’s individuality has been broken, and his personality is united with his Lord’s. He is “free indeed”—free from the inside out, free in the very essence of his being.

Ezekiel 8-10; Hebrews 13

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ.

Approved Unto God, 4 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

WHEN THE COACH CHANGES YOUR ASSIGNMENT - #10137

My son had the privilege of playing football for one of the best coaches in our state. Now, he had six years of championship football behind him when he took over our team. And they managed to win a conference championship every season, or in some cases, they won the state championship. One of the reasons is that he was a genius at knowing what position a boy would play best. Of course the player didn't always agree with that.

I was there in the locker room on some of the days when that coach announced that he was changing a certain player's assignment. And man, there were not happy campers in the locker room. There were cries of, "Hey, I'm a tackle! Coach, I'm an end. I'm a linebacker! What's he putting me in that position for?" Well, they weren't grumbling by the end of the season. By that time they were on a championship team and very often they received honors for playing the position he had assigned them to. But at the time the change was made, it didn't feel very right.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When the Coach Changes Your Assignment."

Paul's coach changed his assignment. Our word for today from the Word of God talks about it. It's Philippians 1:7 - Paul is writing from prison. Here he had been out preaching, building churches, and the coach said, "I've got a new assignment for you." I don't know how the player felt, but I can see how he is handling it. Because he says three different things - first in verse 7: "Whether I'm in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me." First, God's grace is carrying him through his change of assignment.

Secondly in chapter 1, verse 12, he says, "I just want you to know that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." So secondly he says, "Look, the kingdom's being advanced whether I'm doing it or not." Then in chapter 1, verse 20, he's got a third source of encouragement. He said, "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." Even here, even under these circumstances, whether by life or death.

He's saying, "Hey, look! I've got a new platform - this prison cell is a new platform, and the people here are watching me. You're watching me here. How am I handling it? It's a new platform from which I can honor my Jesus.

Maybe the coach is changing your assignment right now! It's the coach's right to do that. Players don't assign themselves. Maybe he's assigning you to a new job, or maybe he's pushing you to take on a larger responsibility than you feel ready for. Maybe, on the other hand, he's asking you to play a background, supporting role when actually you'd like something bigger where people will see you more.

Maybe he's assigned you to a hospital bed, or a nursing home, or to some physical restrictions; to singleness. Paul handled the changes in his life with three encouragements: number one, grace enough no matter where the assignment is. The grace always equals the assignment. Paul had decided "God, it's Your kingdom come, not my kingdom come." And he knew that God's Kingdom would be advanced by him being where God assigned him, not where he assigned himself.

Then thirdly, that God can give you a platform anywhere from which you can glorify Christ. And so Paul is able to say in chapter 4, "I have learned wherever I am to be content, because I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." Don't be afraid of the coach's assignment. He knows His players; He knows just the right spot for you. So trust the coach. He's never been wrong about anyone who plays on His team."

Deuteronomy 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WE TAKE ON GOD’S HEART - November 17, 2025

Healthy marriages have a sense of tenderness and honesty and ongoing communication. The same is true in our relationship with God. Sometimes we go to him with our joys, sometimes our hurts, but we always go. And as we go, the more we go, the more we become like him. Paul says we’re being changed from “glory to glory.”

People who live long lives together eventually begin to sound alike, to talk alike, even think alike. As we walk with God, we take on his thoughts, his principles, his attitudes. We take on his heart.

And just as in marriage, communion with God is no burden. Indeed, it’s a delight. The Psalmist says, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Psalm 84:1-2 NIV). Nothing—nothing—compares with it! 

The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Deuteronomy 7

When God, your God, brings you into the country that you are about to enter and take over, he will clear out the superpowers that were there before you: the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Those seven nations are all bigger and stronger than you are. God, your God, will turn them over to you and you will conquer them. You must completely destroy them, offering them up as a holy destruction to God.

Don’t make a treaty with them.

Don’t let them off in any way.

3–4  Don’t marry them: Don’t give your daughters to their sons and don’t take their daughters for your sons—before you know it they’d involve you in worshiping their gods, and God would explode in anger, putting a quick end to you.

5  Here’s what you are to do:

Tear apart their altars stone by stone,

smash their phallic pillars,

chop down their sex-and-religion Asherah groves,

set fire to their carved god-images.

6  Do this because you are a people set apart as holy to God, your God. God, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure.

7–10  God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations. But he also pays back those who hate him, pays them the wages of death; he isn’t slow to pay them off—those who hate him, he pays right on time.

11  So keep the command and the rules and regulations that I command you today. Do them.

12–13  And this is what will happen: When you, on your part, will obey these directives, keeping and following them, God, on his part, will keep the covenant of loyal love that he made with your ancestors:

He will love you,

he will bless you,

he will increase you.

13–15  He will bless the babies from your womb and the harvest of grain, new wine, and oil from your fields; he’ll bless the calves from your herds and lambs from your flocks in the country he promised your ancestors that he’d give you. You’ll be blessed beyond all other peoples: no sterility or barrenness in you or your animals. God will get rid of all sickness. And all the evil afflictions you experienced in Egypt he’ll put not on you but on those who hate you.

16  You’ll make mincemeat of all the peoples that God, your God, hands over to you. Don’t feel sorry for them. And don’t worship their gods—they’ll trap you for sure.

17–19  You’re going to think to yourselves, “Oh! We’re outnumbered ten to one by these nations! We’ll never even make a dent in them!” But I’m telling you, Don’t be afraid. Remember, yes, remember in detail what God, your God, did to Pharaoh and all Egypt. Remember the great contests to which you were eyewitnesses: the miracle-signs, the wonders, God’s mighty hand as he stretched out his arm and took you out of there. God, your God, is going to do the same thing to these people you’re now so afraid of.

20  And to top it off, the Hornet. God will unleash the Hornet on them until every survivor-in-hiding is dead.

21–24  So don’t be intimidated by them. God, your God, is among you—God majestic, God awesome. God, your God, will get rid of these nations, bit by bit. You won’t be permitted to wipe them out all at once lest the wild animals take over and overwhelm you. But God, your God, will move them out of your way—he’ll throw them into a huge panic until there’s nothing left of them. He’ll turn their kings over to you and you’ll remove all trace of them under Heaven. Not one person will be able to stand up to you; you’ll put an end to them all.

25–26  Make sure you set fire to their carved gods. Don’t get greedy for the veneer of silver and gold on them and take it for yourselves—you’ll get trapped by it for sure. God hates it; it’s an abomination to God, your God. And don’t dare bring one of these abominations home or you’ll end up just like it, burned up as a holy destruction. No: It is forbidden! Hate it. Abominate it. Destroy it and preserve God’s holiness.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, November 17, 2025

By Marvin Williams

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Proverbs 12:21-28

  No evil can overwhelm a good person,

but the wicked have their hands full of it.

22  God can’t stomach liars;

he loves the company of those who keep their word.

23  Prudent people don’t flaunt their knowledge;

talkative fools broadcast their silliness.

24  The diligent find freedom in their work;

the lazy are oppressed by work.

25  Worry weighs us down;

a cheerful word picks us up.

26  A good person survives misfortune,

but a wicked life invites disaster.

27  A lazy life is an empty life,

but “early to rise” gets the job done.

28  Good men and women travel right into life;

sin’s detours take you straight to hell.

Today's Insights

Although some sections of the book of Proverbs (such as chs. 3-5; 31:10-31) clearly go together, it’s most often the case that each proverb stands alone. We must slow down to read them. The verses contained in Proverbs 12:21-28 include eight seemingly unrelated sayings, yet there’s a common theme. Seven of these eight proverbs employ antithetical parallelism, where a truth is put forth and then contrasted with its opposite: the “righteous” contrasted with the “wicked” (v. 26), the “lazy” with the “diligent” (v. 27), “lying lips” versus “people who are trustworthy” (v. 22). The last verse of the chapter uses synonymous parallelism that builds on the stated truth: “In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality” (v. 28). As we read and meditate on these proverbs, their wisdom will build us up. We can ask God to show us who, in turn, might need to hear encouraging words from Scripture.

Christ-Based Connection

Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. Proverbs 12:25

Could eight minutes change someone’s life? In a world where meaningful connections can be rare, author Jancee Dunn proposes the power of an eight-minute phone call. She believes such brief calls can help us connect with family and friends. Studies show that such calls a few times a week help reduce depression, loneliness, and anxiety. And Dunn cites the research of other experts who affirm that minor relationship adjustments can profoundly affect our well-being and that of others.

This insight aligns with Proverbs 12:25, which states, “Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.” In this verse, anxiety refers to a person’s emotional response to a threat to their well-being. Being anxious can also stem from fear and uncertainty about the future. For believers in Jesus, reassuring and encouraging words can help transform others’ anxiety into cheerfulness and lead to real life (v. 28). Those words can also provide signposts to help others “choose their friends carefully” (v. 26).

Let’s pray and ask God who might need an eight-minute call with encouraging words based in Scripture. Though brief, this simple act of connection might just be the spark He uses to lighten someone’s load, brighten their day, and offer them hope and healing.

Reflect & Pray

How can you share Scripture-based words of hope with others today? Why is it vital to share the hope of Christ with those who are anxious?

Dear Jesus, please help me speak words of kindness and hope to those who are anxious and lonely.

For further study, read A Peaceful Heart.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, November 17, 2025

The Eternal Goal

I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son . . . I will surely bless you. —Genesis 22:16-17

Because you have done this . . .” Abraham had reached the place where he was in touch with the very nature of God. He understood the reality of God and obeyed instantly when God demanded his son.

If I want to reach the place Abraham reached—if I want to see who God is—I can only do it through obedience. Obedience is the key to developing my character.

It is my character, not God’s, which determines God’s revelation of himself to me.

’Tis because I am mean,

Thy ways so oft look mean to me.

—George MacDonald

Prompt obedience is the evidence that God’s nature is inside me. If God, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, is inside me, there’s no possibility of my questioning or refusing when he speaks, because he speaks to his own nature. When Jesus says, “Come,” I come. When he says, “Let go,” I let go. When he says, “Trust God in this matter,” I trust.

God’s promises are of no value to us until by obedience we understand his nature. We can read a certain passage of the Bible three hundred and sixty-five times without understanding it. Then all of a sudden, because we have obeyed God in some particular thing, the passage becomes clear. Our obedience has opened God’s nature to us, and we see what he means.

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God”(2 Corinthians 1:20). The “yes” must be born of obedience. When, by obedience, we say “amen” to a promise, the promise becomes ours. I never have a real God until I come face-to-face with him in Jesus Christ. Then I know that “earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25).

Ezekiel 5-7; Hebrews 12

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them.

Shade of His Hand, 1216 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, November 17, 2025

YOUR SAFE ROOM FOR THE STORM - #10136

There are few words that strike more fear into hearts in Middle America than the word "tornado." I grew up there. I mean, twisters can hit so suddenly and they do horrific damage. That was proven again when some deadly tornadoes tore through Oklahoma back in 1999. In fact, one of those was so strong it was almost classified as an F6, which would have created a whole new category of tornado. The story I saw on the evening news was pretty amazing. After hearing one of those tornado warnings for the tornadoes in Oklahoma that day, a mother and her adult daughter went into a room in their house for safety. It's called a safe room or a strong room, and it's built with concrete that's reinforced with metal. And it's built to withstand even a hit by a tornado. Well, sure enough, the tornado hit that house and there was basically nothing left except for one room - the safe room. And when it was all clear, the mother and daughter walked out unscathed in a neighborhood where virtually everything else had been blown away.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Safe Room for the Storm."

There are moments for all of us when we get hit head-on with the emotional equivalent of an F5 tornado. There are some of life's hits that threaten to blow away everything we've depended on. A divorce can do that, a disease can do that, a disappointment, boy...the death of someone you love - an anchor person. That sends everything spinning. We know that most of what matters to us is something we can lose, right? And if and when we do, there is sometimes not much left but the pieces.

We need a safe room. We need some place in our life that can withstand any blow that will still be there when the storm has moved out. In fact, we can never really be secure unless we know we have something we can't lose. Well, actually, someone. We've already lost enough in our life to know that our heart is hungry for one relationship that we'll never lose - that no storm can take away from us. A relationship like the one that's described in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:39.

God Himself, the Creator of you, promises unequivocally that "nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." In fact, just before this promise, God enumerates some of the most violent tornadoes that life can hit us with - and then He says that none of those, "nothing else in all creation," can take away this one anchor love, this unloseable relationship.

It turns out that this is the relationship the Bible says we were created for, the one with our Creator God. But it's also the relationship the Bible says we've all missed because we've done our life our way instead of God's way. We haven't lived for Him, we've lived for ourselves. So we're locked out of the safe room of belonging to God forever. That's why no love has ever been enough love - why your heart's never really been at peace. But notice, God says the love of God is "in Christ Jesus our Lord."

See, that's because Jesus opened the way to belong to God. He tore the lock off the safe room door by dying on the cross to pay the death penalty that you and I deserve. He really loves you. And He's waiting to welcome you into the safe room of this awesome love relationship with God, if you will grab Him as your Savior with all your heart.

Don't you want to live in this love, experience this love forever - God's unloseable love? Then tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." And let me invite you...urge you, really, to go to our website - ANewStory.com. Your new story can begin with the information that's there.

Ask anyone who has faced a major life storm with Jesus in their heart. They will tell you that He was still there when everything else was blown away. The safe room door is open for you, and Jesus is waiting to welcome you into the one love that you will never, never lose.

Deuteronomy 6, bible reading and devotionals.

MaxLucado.com: Crazy Idea?

My family consisted of me, two sisters and a brother.  We were siblings because we came from the same family.  I’m sure there have been times when they did not want to call me their brother, but they didn’t have that choice.  Nor do we.  When I see someone calling God Father and Jesus Savior,  I meet a brother or a sister—regardless of the name of their church or denomination.

What would happen—I know this is a crazy thought—but what would happen if all the churches agreed, on a given day, to change their names to simply “church?”   What if reference to any denomination were removed and we were all just Christians?  Then we Christians wouldn’t be known for what divides us; instead we’d be known for what unites us—our common Father.

Crazy idea?  Perhaps.  But I think God would like it.  It was his to begin with.

“Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God.” (Rom. 15:7)

 From A Gentle Thunder

Deuteronomy 6

This is the commandment, the rules and regulations, that God, your God, commanded me to teach you to live out in the land you’re about to cross into to possess. This is so that you’ll live in deep reverence before God lifelong, observing all his rules and regulations that I’m commanding you, you and your children and your grandchildren, living good long lives.

3  Listen obediently, Israel. Do what you’re told so that you’ll have a good life, a life of abundance and bounty, just as God promised, in a land abounding in milk and honey.

4  Attention, Israel!

God, our God! God the one and only!

5  Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!

6–9  Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.

10–12  When God, your God, ushers you into the land he promised through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, you’re going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn’t build, well-furnished houses you didn’t buy, come upon wells you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn’t plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content, make sure you don’t forget how you got there—God brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

13–19  Deeply respect God, your God. Serve and worship him exclusively. Back up your promises with his name only. Don’t fool around with other gods, the gods of your neighbors, because God, your God, who is alive among you is a jealous God. Don’t provoke him, igniting his hot anger that would burn you right off the face of the Earth. Don’t push God, your God, to the wall as you did that day at Massah, the Testing-Place. Carefully keep the commands of God, your God, all the requirements and regulations he gave you. Do what is right; do what is good in God’s sight so you’ll live a good life and be able to march in and take this pleasant land that God so solemnly promised through your ancestors, throwing out your enemies left and right—exactly as God said.

20–24  The next time your child asks you, “What do these requirements and regulations and rules that God, our God, has commanded mean?” tell your child, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and God powerfully intervened and got us out of that country. We stood there and watched as God delivered miracle-signs, great wonders, and evil-visitations on Egypt, on Pharaoh and his household. He pulled us out of there so he could bring us here and give us the land he so solemnly promised to our ancestors. That’s why God commanded us to follow all these rules, so that we would live reverently before God, our God, as he gives us this good life, keeping us alive for a long time to come.

25  “It will be a set-right and put-together life for us if we make sure that we do this entire commandment in the Presence of God, our God, just as he commanded us to do.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, November 16, 2025

by James Banks

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 14:25-35

Figure the Cost

25–27  One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.

28–30  “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

31–32  “Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?

33  “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.

34  “Salt is excellent. But if the salt goes flat, it’s useless, good for nothing.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

Today's Insights

Jesus said it would require self-denial and sacrifice to follow Him (Luke 14:26-27, 33; see 9:23-24). Christ wants us to consider carefully the radical commitment He demands. To “hate” (14:26) family and one’s own life is hyperbolic language, which means that no one is to take precedence over Jesus (Matthew 10:37-39). The rich young ruler wouldn’t pay that price (Luke 18:18-24). Peter exemplified the high cost of discipleship in his outburst: “We have left all we had to follow you!” (v. 28). There’s a cost to following Christ, but those who’ve committed to following Him will be blessed and “will have eternal life in the world to come” (v. 30 nlt).

Counting the Cost

Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost? Luke 14:28

Locals call it “The Road to Nowhere,” but its official name is Lakeview Drive. It’s a scenic six-mile stretch overlooking Fontana Lake in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, North Carolina. After the road goes through a 1200-foot-long tunnel blasted out of a granite mountainside, it abruptly stops. The government had spent millions of dollars until environmental concerns discovered later ended the project.

Jesus, who was a carpenter by trade, once told a construction parable about counting the cost of following Him. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower,” He asked. “Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” (Luke 14:28). Another parable follows about a king who considers the cost of going to war, and it makes the same point. Speaking to the “large crowds . . . traveling” with Him (v. 25), Christ wanted them to understand that there was a cost to sincerely believing in and following Him.

Following Jesus only because of what He can do for us is a “road to nowhere.” But following Him for Him—turning daily from sin and self-focus to live for Him and His kingdom (carrying our “cross,” as He put it in v. 27)—changes everything. The cost must be counted. But He’s worth it.

Reflect & Pray

What has believing in and following Jesus cost you? Why is nothing worth more than truly knowing and following Him?

Beautiful Savior, please help me live for You more than anything else. Nothing could ever compare with the goodness of knowing You!

For further study, read No Matter the Cost.No Matter the Cost.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Still Human!

Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31

The great marvel of the incarnation slips into ordinary childhood. The great marvel of the transfiguration vanishes into the demon-possessed valley. The great glory of the resurrection descends into breakfast on the seashore. The flow of these events is not an anticlimax; it is a great revelation of God.

We have the tendency to look for marvels in our experience. We mistake a sense of the heroic for being heroes. It’s one thing to go boldly through a crisis and another to go through every day glorifying God when there’s no limelight and no one to impress. If we don’t want halos about our heads, we at least want someone to say, “What a wonderful man of prayer he is! What a devoted woman of God she is!” If we were rightly related to Jesus Christ, we’d have reached the sublime height where no one even thinks of noticing us. All they’d notice in our presence is the power of God, coming through us all the time.

It takes the almighty God incarnate in us to enable us to do menial duties to his glory. It takes God’s Spirit inside us to make us so absolutely, humanly his that we are utterly unnoticeable. The test of the life of a saint is not success; it’s living faithfully in human life as it actually is. We tend to hold up success in Christian work as the goal. The goal is to manifest the glory of God, to live the life hid with Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited.

Ezekiel 3-4; Hebrews 11:20-40

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them.

The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R

Deuteronomy 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Becoming Like Him

Healthy marriages have a sense of tenderness, an honesty, an ongoing communication. The same is true in our relationship with God. Sometimes we go to Him with our joys, sometimes our hurts, but we always go. And as we go, the more we go, the more we become like Him. Paul says we're being changed from "glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

People who live long lives together eventually begin to sound alike, to talk alike, even think alike. As we walk with God, we take on His thoughts, His principles, His attitudes.  We take on His heart.

And just as in marriage, communion with God is no burden. Indeed, it's a delight.

The Psalmist says, "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (Ps. 84:1-2 NIV).

Nothing-nothing compares with it!

From The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Deuteronomy 5

Moses Teaches Israel on the Plains of Moab

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

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

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

6  I am God, your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

out of a house of slaves.

7  No other gods, only me.

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

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

12–15  No working on the Sabbath; keep it holy just as God, your God, commanded you. Work six days, doing everything you have to do, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, a Rest Day—no work: not you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, your ox, your donkey (or any of your animals), and not even the foreigner visiting your town. That way your servants and maids will get the same rest as you. Don’t ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength. That’s why God, your God, commands you to observe the day of Sabbath rest.

16  Respect your father and mother—God, your God, commands it! You’ll have a long life; the land that God is giving you will treat you well.

17  No murder.

18  No adultery.

19  No stealing.

20  No lies about your neighbor.

21  No coveting your neighbor’s wife. And no lusting for his house, field, servant, maid, ox, or donkey either—nothing that belongs to your neighbor!

22  These are the words that God spoke to the whole congregation at the mountain. He spoke in a tremendous voice from the fire and cloud and dark mist. And that was it. No more words. Then he wrote them on two slabs of stone and gave them to me.

23–24  As it turned out, when you heard the Voice out of that dark cloud and saw the mountain on fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your leaders, and said,

24–26  “Our God has revealed to us his glory and greatness. We’ve heard him speak from the fire today! We’ve seen that God can speak to humans and they can still live. But why risk it further? This huge fire will devour us if we stay around any longer. If we hear God’s voice anymore, we’ll die for sure. Has anyone ever known of anyone who has heard the Voice of God the way we have and lived to tell the story?

27  “From now on, you go and listen to what God, our God, says and then tell us what God tells you. We’ll listen and we’ll do it.”

28–29  God heard what you said to me and told me, “I’ve heard what the people said to you. They’re right—good and true words. What I wouldn’t give if they’d always feel this way, continuing to revere me and always keep all my commands; they’d have a good life forever, they and their children!

30–31  “Go ahead and tell them to go home to their tents. But you, you stay here with me so I can tell you every commandment and all the rules and regulations that you must teach them so they’ll know how to live in the land that I’m giving them as their own.”

32–33  So be very careful to act exactly as God commands you. Don’t veer off to the right or the left. Walk straight down the road God commands so that you’ll have a good life and live a long time in the land that you’re about to possess.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, November 15, 2025

by Amy Boucher Pye

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Song of Songs 1:1-6

 The Song—best of all songs—Solomon’s song!

The Woman

2–3  Kiss me—full on the mouth!

Yes! For your love is better than wine,

headier than your aromatic oils.

The syllables of your name murmur like a meadow brook.

No wonder everyone loves to say your name!

4  Take me away with you! Let’s run off together!

An elopement with my King-Lover!

We’ll celebrate, we’ll sing,

we’ll make great music.

Yes! For your love is better than vintage wine.

Everyone loves you—of course! And why not?

5–6  I am weathered but still elegant,

oh, dear sisters in Jerusalem,

Weather-darkened like Kedar desert tents,

time-softened like Solomon’s Temple hangings.

Don’t look down on me because I’m dark,

darkened by the sun’s harsh rays.

My brothers ridiculed me and sent me to work in the fields.

They made me care for the face of the earth,

but I had no time to care for my own face.

Today's Insights

For centuries, scholars have debated how to read the Song of Solomon. Some have maintained that the Song is an extended allegory portraying the love between God and His chosen people, Israel. Others say that it’s an allegory that describes the love between Christ and the church. Still others propose that the story is a celebration of love between a husband and wife. These three pictures all affirm a very high view of love and offer potential answers for why Song of Solomon has been preserved in the Scriptures. Throughout this song, we’re reminded of the beauty of love, which ultimately points to God’s love for us.

Singing the Scriptures

Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem. Song of Songs 1:5

For her daily devotions, Julie began singing the Scriptures. “As I sang, my heart and mind actually began to do and believe what I was singing about!” Through vocalizing God’s Word in song, Julie wanted His truth to shed light on the things she disliked about herself, such as her voice and her height.

She said, “I began to sing from Song of Solomon 1:5: ‘Dark I am, yet lovely.’ ” (In that agrarian culture, a woman tanned by the sun wasn’t seen as beautiful.)  As Julie sang the Scripture passage, God changed her thoughts. Suddenly she understood: “God loves me even though I am not perfect.”

Julie sang from a beautiful poem found in the Old Testament’s Wisdom Literature. Some people interpret the Song of Songs as an allegory of God’s love for His people, but many view it as a celebration of marital love. In witnessing the beauty of the couple’s commitment to each other, we can echo the friends’ words: “We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine” (v. 4).

However we interpret these ancient words, we can affirm with Julie that God revels in His chosen people. As He says elsewhere in the Old Testament: “You are precious and honored in my sight, and . . . I love you” (Isaiah 43:4).

Reflect & Pray

Along with singing, how else could you engage with the words of the Bible in new ways? How can you embrace the truth that God loves you?

Creator God, You’ve formed me in Your image and say that You love me. Please help me to know this truth in my head and my heart, that I might share Your love with others.

For further study, check out the Biblical Study Page.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, November 15, 2025

What Is That to You?

When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered . . . “What is that to you? You must follow me.” —John 21:21-22

One of the most difficult lessons we ever learn is that we must not interfere in other people’s lives. It takes us a long time to learn this lesson. We stubbornly refuse to realize the danger of playing the amateur providence by interfering with God’s plans for others. We see someone suffering, and we say, “That person will not suffer. I’ll make sure of it.” In order to prevent their suffering, we raise a hand against God’s permissive will. How does God answer? He says, “What is that to you? You must follow me.”

If you are stagnating spiritually, your own interference may be the cause. Never allow spiritual stagnation to continue unchecked. Get into God’s presence and find out why you’re stuck. You may find that it’s because you have inserted yourself into someone else’s business, proposing things that you had no right to propose, advising where you had no right to advise. Remember that if it’s ever necessary for you to give advice, you must lean on God’s nature inside you. God himself will advise through the direct understanding of his Spirit. Your part is to be so rightly related to God that his discernment comes through you all the time for the blessing of another soul.

Most of us live on the borders of consciousness—consciously serving, consciously devoted to God. This is immature; it is not the real life yet. The real, mature life is the life of the child, a life which is never conscious. When we live as children of God, we are so abandoned to our Father that the consciousness of being used by him never enters in. If we are still conscious of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have another stage to reach.Ultimately, all consciousness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us will be eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint; a saint is consciously dependent on God.

Ezekiel 1-2; Hebrews 11:1-19

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R

Luke 2:25-52, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN GIVE - November 14, 2025

Crankcase oil coursed my dad’s veins. He repaired engines for a living; Dad loved machines. God gave my dad a mechanical moron, a son who couldn’t differentiate between a differential and a brake disc. Dad tried to teach me. I tried to learn. Honestly, I did. Machines anesthetized me, but books fascinated me.

What does a mechanic do with a son who loves books? He gives him a library card. Buys him a few volumes for Christmas. Places a lamp by his bed so he can read at night. Pays tuition so his son can study college literature in high school. My dad did that. You know what he didn’t do? Never once did he say, “Why can’t you be a mechanic like your dad and granddad?”

Study your children while you can. The greatest gift you can give your children is not your riches, but revealing to them their own.

The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Luke 2:25-52

In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:

God, you can now release your servant;

release me in peace as you promised.

With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;

it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:

A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,

and of glory for your people Israel.

33–35  Jesus’ father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,

This child marks both the failure and

the recovery of many in Israel,

A figure misunderstood and contradicted—

the pain of a sword-thrust through you—

But the rejection will force honesty,

as God reveals who they really are.

36–38  Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.

39–40  When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.

They Found Him in the Temple

41–45  Every year Jesus’ parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up as they always did for the Feast. When it was over and they left for home, the child Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents didn’t know it. Thinking he was somewhere in the company of pilgrims, they journeyed for a whole day and then began looking for him among relatives and neighbors. When they didn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for him.

46–48  The next day they found him in the Temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. The teachers were all quite taken with him, impressed with the sharpness of his answers. But his parents were not impressed; they were upset and hurt.

His mother said, “Young man, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you.”

49–50  He said, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?” But they had no idea what he was talking about.

51–52  So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, November 14, 2025

by inn Collier

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Lamentations 3:22-33

 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,

his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.

They’re created new every morning.

How great your faithfulness!

I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).

He’s all I’ve got left.

25–27  God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,

to the woman who diligently seeks.

It’s a good thing to quietly hope,

quietly hope for help from God.

It’s a good thing when you’re young

to stick it out through the hard times.

28–30  When life is heavy and hard to take,

go off by yourself. Enter the silence.

Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:

Wait for hope to appear.

Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.

The “worst” is never the worst.

31–33  Why? Because the Master won’t ever

walk out and fail to return.

If he works severely, he also works tenderly.

His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.

He takes no pleasure in making life hard,

in throwing roadblocks in the way:

Today's Insights

The prophet Jeremiah wrote with heavy sorrow regarding Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon (586 BC) and the captivity of his people: “How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! . . . After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile” (Lamentations 1:1, 3). His call to be a prophet to Judah began during the righteous reign of King Josiah (Jeremiah 1:1-3). Josiah’s reforms didn’t last, and the people quickly returned to their idolatry. Jeremiah prophesied the Israelites’ seventy-year captivity and their return from exile. Despite all he suffered personally and in his role as prophet, however, he expresses hope and trust in God and stands firm in his faith: “Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). We also can share in this great hope as we patiently wait on God and trust Him to work in our lives.

Waiting for God

The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. Lamentations 3:24

When a country erupted in civil war, authorities conscripted a man into military service. However, he objected: “I don’t want any part in destroying [my country].” So he left it. Because he didn’t have proper visas, however, he eventually found himself stuck in another country’s airport. For months, airport employees gave the man food and thousands followed his tweets as he roamed terminals, knitted scarves, and clung to hope. Hearing of his perpetual plight, a community in Canada raised money and found him a job and a house.

The book of Lamentations presents the cry of Jeremiah, who waited for God and the end of His discipline for the sins of his people. The prophet remained confident in an everlasting God who he knew could be trusted. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him” (3:25). God’s people can experience hope even when troubles overwhelm and relief seems impossible. Though they might need to humbly accept God’s discipline, they can cling to the reality that “there may yet be hope” (v. 29). Those who know God can experience a hope that flows from Him. “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (v. 26).

Without answers or any clear way of escape, we wait for the God who’s proven Himself faithful over and over again to help us.

Reflect & Pray

What situation comes to mind when you think about waiting on God? Why is this difficult, and how is God meeting you there?

Dear God, please help me patiently wait for You to act out Your will in my life.

For further study, watch Waiting in Hard Times.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, November 14, 2025

Discovering Divine Designs

As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey. —Genesis 24:27

We have to be so one with God that we do not need to continually ask for his guidance. Sanctification means that we have been made God’s children, and the natural life of a child is obedience—until the child wishes to be disobedient. The instant we are disobedient, we get a warning; a kind of intuitive jolt alerts us. In the spiritual domain, this jolt comes from the Spirit of God. When he checks us, we have to stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind so that we may discern God’s will.

If we have been born again of the Spirit, we do not dictate to God where he should guide us. We simply know that “the Lord has led” us on our journey. When we look back, we see the presence of an amazing design, a design which, because we’ve been born of God, we credit entirely to him.

Anyone can see God in exceptional things, but it requires spiritual discipline to see him in every detail. If we have this discipline, we’re ready to discover divine designs everywhere. What appears random and haphazard to most people is to us nothing less than God’s appointed order.

Beware of making a fetish of consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are following Jesus Christ, you’ll probably find yourself doing things you swore you’d never do, because there was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord. But he was never inconsistent to his Father. The one consistency of the disciple is loyalty not to a conviction or a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life which continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It’s easier to be a fanatic than a faithful soul, because there is something amazingly humbling—particularly to our religious conceit—about being loyal to God.

Lamentations 3-5; Hebrews 10:19-39

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, November 14, 2025

MOM, DAD, I'M HOME - #10135

Not many parents can sleep real soundly until they know their children are in for the night. At our house, we asked our kids - big teenage guys to stop by our room no matter how late it was and just say, "Hey, we're here." Sometimes they get delayed, or sometimes they're in a situation where they couldn't call. And it's natural, I think, for a mom or a dad to be anxious until they can get a fix on where their kids are, and the great time of relief is when they come in the door and we know everything's okay. Right? I guess some of the most beautiful words in the English language are, "Mom, Dad, I'm home." Maybe you know a child who's way overdue.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Mom, Dad, I'm Home."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 7, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 12. "As Jesus approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out; the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Now, a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, 'Don't cry.' Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying stood still." This is truly a dramatic moment here. "He said, "Young man, I say to you, 'Get up!'" The dead man sat up and began to talk. And Jesus gave him back to his Mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God."

That's a powerful story! And the most touching words of all for me are these, "And Jesus gave him back to his Mother." You know, Jesus is still in the business of giving children back to their parents, even when it appears hopeless they'll ever come back. Maybe you or someone you know has a son or a daughter who's away right now; spiritually, emotionally, physically. My word of encouragement is this simple word from the Lord. He's still in the business of giving children back to their parents.

I don't know, for some reason, I just thought that this day should be the time when we should talk about this for someone who needs that little word of encouragement.

Maybe you know better than I do why we're talking about this today. Sometimes maybe it seems like your prayers just are not being answered for the one you love. But remember, much of God's work is invisible. Like plants getting ready to sprout and come out, and flowers blooming in the spring. We don't see anything going on all winter, looks like nothing is going on under the ground. But God is at work all the time. Much that God is doing to bring that child home, you can't see. But you'd better believe it's going on under the ground where you can't see it.

Secondly, the hound of heaven - the Holy Spirit - pursues that child wherever he goes. They can get away from you; they can't get away from Him. Thirdly, open arms do more than open mouths to bring kids home. Sometimes we can talk too much and push them so hard we actually push them away from the Lord. The Father of the prodigal son didn't chase the son. He just kept his arms open for him to come home.

And then fourthly, remember God does answer prayer. Release that child again to the Lord. Don't try to do God's job of changing that child's heart. I understand that John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace said his conversion came in a storm at sea with a mast crashing down on him as he cried, "My Mother's God save me!" And her prayers were answered.

Continue to claim that child for Jesus Christ. Do not give up! "Be not weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap if you do not give up!" Jesus is still in the business of bringing kids home to their parents and home to Him. Because of His love, I believe one day you will hear, "Mom... Dad... I'm home."

Deuteronomy 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IT’S WHAT HE DID - November 13, 2025

How would you fill in this blank: a person is made right with God through…what? A person is made right with God through…being good. Pay your taxes. Give sandwiches to the poor. Don’t drink too much, or drink at all. Christian conduct, that’s the secret. Suffering, there’s the answer. Doctrine, that’s how to be made right with God.

No, no, no. All of the above are tried, all are taught, but none are from God. In fact, that’s the problem – none are from God. Who does the saving, you or him?

Romans 3:28 says, “A person is made right with God through faith.” Not through good works, suffering, or doctrine. They may be the result of salvation, but they’re not the cause of it. Faith in God’s sacrifice, in the gift of his Son. It’s not what you do; it’s what he did.

The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Deuteronomy 4

Now listen, Israel, listen carefully to the rules and regulations that I am teaching you to follow so that you may live and enter and take possession of the land that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, is giving to you. Don’t add a word to what I command you, and don’t remove a word from it. Keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you.

3–4  You saw with your own eyes what God did at Baal Peor, how God destroyed from among you every man who joined in the Baal Peor orgies. But you, the ones who held tight to God, your God, are alive and well, every one of you, today.

5–6  Pay attention: I’m teaching you the rules and regulations that God commanded me, so that you may live by them in the land you are entering to take up ownership. Keep them. Practice them. You’ll become wise and understanding. When people hear and see what’s going on, they’ll say, “What a great nation! So wise, so understanding! We’ve never seen anything like it.”

7–8  Yes. What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God, our God, is with us, always ready to listen to us? And what other great nation has rules and regulations as good and fair as this Revelation that I’m setting before you today?

9  Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don’t forget anything of what you’ve seen. Don’t let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you’ve seen and heard to your children and grandchildren.

10  That day when you stood before God, your God, at Horeb, God said to me, “Assemble the people in my presence to listen to my words so that they will learn to fear me in holy fear for as long as they live on the land, and then they will teach these same words to their children.”

11–13  You gathered. You stood in the shadow of the mountain. The mountain was ablaze with fire, blazing high into the very heart of Heaven. You stood in deep darkness and thick clouds. God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but you saw nothing—no form, only a voice. He announced his covenant, the Ten Words, by which he commanded you to live. Then he wrote them down on two slabs of stone.

14  And God commanded me at that time to teach you the rules and regulations that you are to live by in the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.

15–20  You saw no form on the day God spoke to you at Horeb from out of the fire. Remember that. Carefully guard yourselves so that you don’t turn corrupt and make a form, carving a figure that looks male or female, or looks like a prowling animal or a flying bird or a slithering snake or a fish in a stream. And also carefully guard yourselves so that you don’t look up into the skies and see the sun and moon and stars, all the constellations of the skies, and be seduced into worshiping and serving them. God set them out for everybody’s benefit, everywhere. But you—God took you right out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to become the people of his inheritance—and that’s what you are this very day.

21–22  But God was angry with me because of you and the things you said. He swore that I’d never cross the Jordan, never get to enter the good land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance. This means that I am going to die here. I’m not crossing the Jordan. But you will cross; you’ll possess the good land.

23–24  So stay alert. Don’t for a minute forget the covenant which God, your God, made with you. And don’t take up with any carved images, no forms of any kind—God, your God, issued clear commands on that. God, your God, is not to be trifled with—he’s a consuming fire, a jealous God.

25–28  When the time comes that you have children and grandchildren, put on years, and start taking things for granted, if you then become corrupt and make any carved images, no matter what their form, by doing what is sheer evil in God’s eyes and provoking his anger—I can tell you right now, with Heaven and Earth as witnesses, that it will be all over for you. You’ll be kicked off the land that you’re about to cross over the Jordan to possess. Believe me, you’ll have a very short stay there. You’ll be ruined, completely ruined. God will scatter you far and wide; a few of you will survive here and there in the nations where God will drive you. There you can worship your homemade gods to your hearts’ content, your wonderful gods of wood and stone that can’t see or hear or eat or smell.

29–31  But even there, if you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find him if you’re serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul. When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to God, your God, and listen obediently to what he says. God, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you, he won’t bring you to ruin, he won’t forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.

32–33  Ask questions. Find out what has been going on all these years before you were born. From the day God created man and woman on this Earth, and from the horizon in the east to the horizon in the west—as far back as you can imagine and as far away as you can imagine—has as great a thing as this ever happened? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Has a people ever heard, as you did, a god speaking out of the middle of the fire and lived to tell the story?

34  Or has a god ever tried to select for himself a nation from within a nation using trials, miracles, and war, putting his strong hand in, reaching his long arm out, a spectacle awesome and staggering, the way God, your God, did it for you in Egypt while you stood right there and watched?

35–38  You were shown all this so that you would know that God is, well, God. He’s the only God there is. He’s it. He made it possible for you to hear his voice out of Heaven to discipline you. Down on Earth, he showed you the big fire and again you heard his words, this time out of the fire. He loved your ancestors and chose to work with their children. He personally and powerfully brought you out of Egypt in order to displace bigger and stronger and older nations with you, bringing you out and turning their land over to you as an inheritance. And now it’s happening. This very day.

39–40  Know this well, then. Take it to heart right now: God is in Heaven above; God is on Earth below. He’s the only God there is. Obediently live by his rules and commands which I’m giving you today so that you’ll live well and your children after you—oh, you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.

41–42  Then Moses set aside three towns in the country on the east side of the Jordan to which someone who had unintentionally killed a person could flee and find refuge. If the murder was unintentional and there was no history of bad blood, the murderer could flee to one of these cities and save his life:

43  Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

44–49  This is the Revelation that Moses presented to the People of Israel. These are the testimonies, the rules and regulations Moses spoke to the People of Israel after their exodus from Egypt and arrival on the east side of the Jordan in the valley near Beth Peor. It was the country of Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled from Heshbon. Moses and the People of Israel fought and beat him after they left Egypt and took his land. They also took the land of Og king of Bashan. The two Amorite kings held the country on the east of the Jordan from Aroer on the bank of the Brook Arnon as far north as Mount Siyon, that is, Mount Hermon, all the Arabah plain east of the Jordan, and as far south as the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea) beneath the slopes of Mount Pisgah.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

by Lisa M. Samra

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Obadiah 1:4-9, 12-13

Think again. Even if, like an eagle,

you hang out on a high cliff-face,

Even if you build your nest in the stars,

I’ll bring you down to earth.”

God’s sure Word.

5–14  “If thieves crept up on you,

they’d rob you blind—isn’t that so?

If they mugged you on the streets at night,

they’d pick you clean—isn’t that so?

Oh, they’ll take Esau apart, piece by piece,

empty his purse and pockets.

All your old partners will drive you to the edge.

Your old friends will lie to your face.

Your old drinking buddies will stab you in the back.

Your world will collapse. You won’t know what hit you.

So don’t be surprised”—it’s God’s sure Word!—

“when I wipe out all sages from Edom

and rid the Esau mountains of its famous wise men.

Your great heroes will desert you, Teman.

There’ll be nobody left in Esau’s mountains.

You shouldn’t have gloated over your brother

when he was down-and-out.

You shouldn’t have laughed and joked at Judah’s sons

when they were facedown in the mud.

You shouldn’t have talked so big

when everything was so bad.

You shouldn’t have taken advantage of my people

when their lives had fallen apart.

You of all people should not have been amused

by their troubles, their wrecked nation.

You shouldn’t have taken the shirt off their back

when they were knocked flat, defenseless.

Today's Insights

Edom’s betrayal of Israel cuts even deeper than one nation taking advantage of another nation’s plight (Obadiah 1:1-13). The nation of Edom descended from Jacob’s twin brother, Esau (Genesis 25:24-30). The tension between the brothers continued throughout their lives, but it’s epitomized in Jacob stealing Esau’s birthright and blessing from their father (25:29-34; 27:1-41). That family tension continued to plague Jacob’s descendants (Israel) for centuries (see Numbers 20:14-21).

The prophecies in Obadiah condemn Edom for rejoicing in God’s judgment against Judah and exploiting their vulnerabilities (Obadiah 1:12-14; see Amos 1:11-12). When someone is suffering, we honor God when we respond with kindness and generosity instead of exploitation.

Kindness for the Suffering

You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune. Obadiah 1:12

One of the deadliest wildfires in US history decimated the town of Lahaina, Hawaii, in August 2023, killing ninety-nine people and destroying more than two thousand buildings. Still reeling from the devastation, residents experienced additional trauma when some looters pillaged buildings and greedy realtors attempted to gobble up land.

The corrupt desire to take advantage of tragic circumstances is the backdrop of a strong message from God to the nation of Edom. The prophet Obadiah warned the Edomites, Israel’s enemies for generations (Ezekiel 35:5), of God’s coming justice because the Edomites used their geographic advantage (Obadiah 1:3) and acquired wealth (v. 6), alliances with other nations (v. 7), wisdom (v. 8), and military strength (v. 9) to exploit the weak. Obadiah also rebuked the way Edom gloated as Israel was sent into captivity. Instead of compassion, Edom looted Israelite homes and marched through defeated cities in victory (vv. 12-13).

Although Lahaina residents saw despicable actions, they also experienced kindness when churches on the island became hospitality centers offering shelter, hot meals, and emergency supplies.

When someone is suffering, we face a similar choice. We can try to benefit from their loss. Or we can respond in the way God desires, like the churches in Lahaina, with kindness and generosity.

Reflect & Pray

When have you been tempted to take advantage of someone’s suffering? How does God’s love compel us to kindness?

Dear God, please help me extend kindness when someone is hurting.

Learn more about Edom read, The Big Story in a Little Book.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

Faith and Experience

I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. — Galatians 2:20

We have to battle through our moods into absolute devotion to Jesus Christ, to get out of the hole of our own experience into abandoned devotion to him. Think about what the New Testament says about Jesus Christ, and then think about the trifling, inadequate faith many of us have. The New Testament says that Jesus Christ can present us faultless before the throne of God, unutterably pure, absolutely rectified, and profoundly justified. It says that he has “become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Yet we base our faith not in him but in our experiences. We complain that this or that hasn’t happened to us, and we talk about all the difficult things we’ve done on his behalf. How can we talk of making sacrifices for the Son of God? He has saved us from hell and perdition, and we talk about making sacrifices!

We have to continually move beyond our experiences into faith in Jesus Christ. We have to seek the New Testament Jesus Christ—not a prayer meeting Jesus Christ or a book Jesus Christ, but the Jesus Christ who is God incarnate, the Christ whose majesty so overwhelms us that we fall at his feet as if dead (Revelation 1:17). Our faith must be not in our experience but in the One from whom our experience springs. We can never directly experience Jesus Christ nor even hold him within the compass of our hearts, but we can build our faith in strong, emphatic confidence in him.

No wonder the Holy Spirit has such a rugged impatience with unbelief. He knows that all our fears are wicked, and that we fear because we won’t nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives in him should be psalms of irrepressible, triumphant belief.

Lamentations 1-2; Hebrews 10:1-18

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. 

The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

THE STRONGEST NAILS IN THE WORLD - #10134

My friend, Alan, was working with a carpenter friend of his on a building project. Out of the blue, Alan sprang this rather unusual question on the carpenter, "Do you know what the most powerful nails in the world are?" The craftsman paused on his ladder for a moment and then he said, "I don't know. US Steel?" Alan said, "No. The strongest nails in the world are the three nails that held Jesus Christ on His cross." Well, then Alan just walked into the other room. A few minutes later, the carpenter called for Alan. He said, "Man, you've got to help me. Every time I drive a nail now, it's like I'm nailing Jesus to the cross." My friend said, "Well, in a way, we did."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Strongest Nails in the World."

For some people, Jesus' death on the cross is just history. For others, it's a religious event. To some of us, the brutal death of Jesus on that Roman cross is a deeply personal event. I hope it is for you, or soon will be.

Galatians 2:20 is our word for today from the Word of God, and in it there are two words that are literally life-changing. Actually, eternity-changing. They're the difference between someone who has Christianity and someone who has Christ; between someone who has a Christian religion and someone who has a personal relationship with Jesus. Ultimately, these two words are actually the difference between heaven and hell.

Galatians 2:20 - "I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." There are the two words: "for me." One of my associates was on a plane with a man in his 30s who talked pretty openly about his years of spiritual searching. He said that as a young man he moved beyond his boyhood church and began experimenting with a buffet of spiritual beliefs and experiences. Nothing seemed to satisfy the restlessness in his heart.

Then one day he came back to visit the church he grew up in. Here's what he said: "As soon as I walked in the door, I saw something I'd seen hundreds of times as a boy - the cross at the front of the church. But suddenly I was overwhelmed with something I had never realized before, and I said out loud, "For me. What Jesus did on that cross was for me." He said his search ended that day, and the hole in his heart was finally filled.

My guess is that you know about Jesus dying on the cross. You know He died there to pay for our sins maybe. But you somehow may have missed that life-changing moment when, in your heart, you walk up to that cross and say those words, "For me, Jesus. What you're doing there is for me." When my friend said that in a way we all did help nail Jesus to the cross, he was right. Because it's our rebellion against God and against His ways, all our "my way" choices that left us cut off from God and under His death penalty until Jesus came and did all the dying for all our sinning. And in reality, it wasn't the nails that kept Him on the cross. After all, He's the Son of God! No, it was His deep love for you that kept Him there 'till your bill was fully paid with His life.

If you've never had your "for me" moment with Jesus, it could be this very day right now and right where you are. Would you tell Him, "Jesus, I'm taking for myself what you died to give me. You paid for my sin so I don't have to. You died for my sin so I don't have to. Now I embrace you as my Savior; as the new driver of my life. I'm taking you for me."

Hey, our website is there to encourage you and help you make sure you've begun this relationship. Go there, spend just a few minutes at ANewStory.com.

This could be your moment. This could be your day to finally make the Savior...your Savior. 

Deuteronomy 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD WORKS IN EVERYTHING - November 12, 2025

The Bible says in Romans 8:28 that “in everything God works for the good of those who love him.” Do this simple exercise. Remove the word “everything” and replace it with the symbol of your tragedy. How would Romans 8:28 read in your life? In hospital stays God works for the good. In divorce papers God works for the good. As hard as it may be to believe, you could be only a Saturday away from a resurrection. Hours from that precious prayer of a changed heart. “God, you did this for me?”

“Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,” Paul said. “The Scriptures give us patience and encouragement so that we can have hope” (Romans 15:4 NCV). These are not somewhere-over-the-rainbow illusions. They are historic moments in which a real God met real pain so we could answer the question, “where is God when I hurt?”

The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Deuteronomy 3

Then we turned north and took the road to Bashan. Og king of Bashan, he and all his people, came out to meet us in battle at Edrei.

2  God said to me, “Don’t be afraid of him; I’m turning him over to you, along with his whole army and his land. Treat him the way you treated Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled from Heshbon.”

3–7  So God, our God, also handed Og king of Bashan over to us—Og and all his people—and we utterly crushed them. Again, no survivors. At the same time we took all his cities. There wasn’t one of the sixty cities that we didn’t take—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. All these cities were fortress cities with high walls and barred gates. There were also numerous unwalled villages. We totally destroyed them—a holy destruction. It was the same treatment we gave to Sihon king of Heshbon, a holy destruction of every city, man, woman, and child. But all the livestock and plunder from the cities we took for ourselves.

8–10  Throughout that time we took the land from under the control of the two kings of the Amorites who ruled the country east of the Jordan, all the way from the Brook Arnon to Mount Hermon. (Sirion is the name given Hermon by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) We took all the towns of the plateau, everything in Gilead, everything in Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, the border towns of Bashan, Og’s kingdom.

11  Og king of Bashan was the last remaining Rephaite. His bed, made of iron, was over thirteen feet long and six wide. You can still see it on display in Rabbah of the People of Ammon.

12  Of the land that we possessed at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer along the Brook Arnon and half the hill country of Gilead with its towns.

13  I gave the half-tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, Og’s kingdom—all the region of Argob, which takes in all of Bashan. This used to be known as the Land of the Rephaites.

14  Jair, a son of Manasseh, got the region of Argob to the borders of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He named the Bashan villages after himself, Havvoth Jair (Jair’s Tent-Villages). They’re still called that.

15  I gave Gilead to Makir.

16–17  I gave the Reubenites and Gadites the land from Gilead down to the Brook Arnon, whose middle was the boundary, and as far as the Jabbok River, the boundary line of the People of Ammon. The western boundary was the Jordan River in the Arabah all the way from the Kinnereth (the Sea of Galilee) to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea or Dead Sea) at the base of the slopes of Mount Pisgah on the east.

18–20  I commanded you at that time, “God, your God, has given you this land to possess. Your men, fit and armed for the fight, are to cross the river in advance of their brothers, the People of Israel. Only your wives, children, and livestock (I know you have much livestock) may go ahead and settle down in the towns I have already given you until God secures living space for your brothers as he has for you and they have taken possession of the country west of the Jordan that God, your God, is giving them. After that, each man may return to the land I’ve given you here.”

21–22  I commanded Joshua at that time, “You’ve seen with your own two eyes everything God, your God, has done to these two kings. God is going to do the same thing to all the kingdoms over there across the river where you’re headed. Don’t be afraid of them. God, your God—he’s fighting for you.”

23–25  At that same time, I begged God: “God, my Master, you let me in on the beginnings, you let me see your greatness, you let me see your might—what god in Heaven or Earth can do anything like what you’ve done! Please, let me in also on the endings, let me cross the river and see the good land over the Jordan, the lush hills, the Lebanon mountains.”

26–27  But God was still angry with me because of you. He wouldn’t listen. He said, “Enough of that. Not another word from you on this. Climb to the top of Mount Pisgah and look around: look west, north, south, east. Take in the land with your own eyes. Take a good look because you’re not going to cross this Jordan.

28  “Then command Joshua: Give him courage. Give him strength. Single-handed he will lead this people across the river. Single-handed he’ll cause them to inherit the land at which you can only look.”

29  That’s why we have stayed in this valley near Beth Peor.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

by Adam R. Holz

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Peter 1:3-9, 13

A New Life

3–5  What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.

6–7  I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

8–9  You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

A Future in God

13–16  So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives.

Today's Insights

The apostle Peter wrote to encourage believers in Jesus scattered throughout the Roman provinces (1 Peter 1:1) in what is now Turkey. They faced persecution from three places: the Romans under evil Emperor Nero (AD 37-68), the Jews, and their own families. The Romans persecuted them because they refused to worship the emperor as God and to worship at pagan temples. The believers also didn’t support Roman ideals and rejected the immorality of that culture. Peter reminded them to stay strong (vv. 6-9), for they have a “living hope” (v. 3) and an everlasting “inheritance” (v. 4). Of 1 Peter 1:3-5, theologian Ray Stedman wrote: “Here is the hope of heaven—a place in eternity that is already reserved for [believers in Jesus]. . . . We not only have a living hope for the future and eternity, but we have present power—right now, today!” When we focus on Christ and set our desires on Him, the things of this world lose their appeal.

Beyond Dreamscrolling

In [God’s] great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

Each fall in my youth, my grandmother got the JCPenney Christmas catalog. With a zealous delight, I spirited it away to ponder its marvelous images.

These days, those images show up on our smartphones daily—the algorithmic distillation of our hopes and dreams, a personalized feed tailored to us. It’s easy to get lost in them. Recently, experts have named this digital phenomenon dreamscrolling. A survey conducted by OnePoll indicates that the average U.S. smartphone user dreamscrolls more than two hours a day! The images that tantalize our hearts invite us to hope, to believe, that if we just had this one thing, it would all be good.

Scripture, in contrast, invites us to relinquish our grip on material things. In 1 Peter 1:3-4, we read, “In [God’s] great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” Peter contrasts our temporal yearnings with the promise of something that will satisfy: placing our hope in God’s grace. Later he adds, “Set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” (v. 13). 

Truth? I’m a dreamscroller. But I’m asking God to help me gradually learn to lean into His bigger hope, to set my desire fully on Him.

Reflect & Pray

What are you truly seeking when you dreamscroll? What’s captivating your heart?

Dear Father, the world is full of promises that will only leave me empty. But my hope in You will never disappoint. Please help me set my hope on You today.    

Discover more about faith in a digital world.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

The Transfigured Life

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. — 2 Corinthians 5:17

What is your idea of salvation? The experience of salvation means that in your life things have actually been changed. When you are saved, you no longer look at things as you used to. Your desires are new. The things which used to rule you have lost their power.

A key question in this experience is, Has God changed the things that matter? If you still long for old things, it’s absurd to talk about being born from above. When you are born again, the Spirit of God manifests a change in your mind and life. Afterward, when a crisis arises, you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you caused this difference; you know beyond a doubt that it was the Spirit of God. This complete and amazing change is the evidence that you are a saved soul.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” (1 Corinthians 13:4). What difference has salvation and sanctification made in me? Can I walk tall in the light of 1 Corinthians 13, or do I have to shuffle? The salvation that is worked out in me by the Holy Spirit emancipates me entirely. As long as I walk in the light as God is in the light, he sees nothing to censure, because his life is working through every aspect of my own—not only those aspects I am conscious of but also those that lie deeper than my consciousness.

Jeremiah 51-52; Hebrews 9

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

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

RESCUE READY - #10133

On a visit to the home area where my wife grew up, she took me to this picturesque spot along the beautiful river there. When she was a little girl, she and her whole family went swimming there with the pastor of their church and his wife. That little patch of river became the scene of a dramatic rescue that afternoon. The pastor almost drowned and my father-in-law jumped in and literally saved this pastor's life. I learned recently that that pastor was one of four people that my father-in-law saved from drowning in his life. He got very serious about that when he told me the reason why. He told me about a time when he was a boy, and he literally watched two young girls drown in a river before he even knew how to swim. Immediately after that he learned to swim and to rescue drowning people. You know what motivated him? I'll tell you what, in his own words, he said, "I saw someone I couldn't rescue and I decided, right then, that it would never happen again."

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

Our word for today from the Word of God, 1 Peter 3:15 - "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Did you get those words? "Always be prepared!" to explain that hope that you found in Jesus. So, do you feel prepared to do that, always?

Why is it so important? Because of God's command. Proverbs 24:11 says, "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter." If you know Jesus, you know those about-to-die people it's talking about. You know who they are. Listen to Jesus' words in John 3:36 - "Whoever believes in the Son (that's Him) has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life." That's people you know, and it says about them, "God's wrath remains on him."

My father-in-law saw dying people he couldn't rescue, so he made up his mind, in his words, "to never let that happen again." He did what he had to do to learn how to be a rescuer, and he saved four lives as a result. People who are spiritually lost don't know they're dying, but you know it if you believe what Jesus said about heaven and hell. How many times have you felt like you should have said something about your Savior but you just weren't ready and another spiritually drowning person slipped beyond your grasp?

You can't do anything about those missed opportunities, and we all have a lot of those. I do. But you can make up your mind that you're going to do what you have to do to be ready for rescuing from now on. "Like what?" you say. Like thinking through how you would explain what Jesus did in the kind of non-religious words that a lost person would understand. Talk about life's most important relationship, not a religion!

I encourage people to present Christ this way. There's a relationship you're created to have. Colossians 1:16 - "All things were created by Him and for Him." But it's a relationship you don't have because of your sin; you running your life instead of God running it. Isaiah 59:2, "Your sins have separated you from your God." But it's a relationship you can have because of what Jesus did on the cross by paying the death penalty. And 1 Peter 3:18 talks about Him dying in your place.

And it's a relationship you must choose. That's all in John 3:16 - "God loved the world so much He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." But put their name in that verse.

You also get ready for rescue when you think through your personal Jesus-story - your Hope Story. How is your life different because of Jesus? They want to know what the difference is that Jesus makes.

Finally, pray daily for God to give you a natural opportunity to talk about your relationship with Jesus. Get yourself ready. We've let enough drowning people go. We've got to get ready for rescuing. Who knows how many people may live forever because you were ready!