Deuteronomy 23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HE HOLDS IT ALL TOGETHER - December 9, 2025

Christmas is a season of interruptions. Some we enjoy, some we don’t. You may be facing an interruption during this season of life. What you wanted and what you received do not match, and now you’re troubled and anxious. Everything inside you and every voice around you says, “Get out. Get angry.” But don’t listen to those voices. You cannot face a crisis if you don’t face God first.

Colossians 1:16-17 (MSG) says, “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.” God holds it all together, and he will hold it together for you.

Because of Bethlehem

Deuteronomy 23

No eunuch is to enter the congregation of God.

2  No bastard is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children.

3–6  No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever. Those nations didn’t treat you with hospitality on your travels out of Egypt, and on top of that they also hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. God, your God, refused to listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing—how God, your God, loves you! Don’t even try to get along with them or do anything for them, ever.

7  But don’t spurn an Edomite; he’s your kin.

And don’t spurn an Egyptian; you were a foreigner in his land.

8  Children born to Edomites and Egyptians may enter the congregation of God in the third generation.

9–11  When you are camped out, at war with your enemies, be careful to keep yourself from anything ritually defiling. If one of your men has become ritually unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp and stay there until evening when he can wash himself, returning to the camp at sunset.

12–14  Mark out an area outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourselves. Along with your weapons have a stick with you. After you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the stick and cover your excrement. God, your God, strolls through your camp; he’s present to deliver you and give you victory over your enemies. Keep your camp holy; don’t permit anything indecent or offensive in God’s eyes.

15–16  Don’t return a runaway slave to his master; he’s come to you for refuge. Let him live wherever he wishes within the protective gates of your city. Don’t take advantage of him.

17–18  No daughter of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute; and no son of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute. And don’t bring the fee of a sacred whore or the earnings of a priest-pimp to the house of God, your God, to pay for any vow—they are both an abomination to God, your God.

19–20  Don’t charge interest to your kinsmen on any loan: not for money or food or clothing or anything else that could earn interest. You may charge foreigners interest, but you may not charge your brothers interest; that way God, your God, will bless all the work that you take up and the land that you are entering to possess.

21–23  When you make a vow to God, your God, don’t put off keeping it; God, your God, expects you to keep it and if you don’t you’re guilty. But if you don’t make a vow in the first place, there’s no sin. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Keep the vow you willingly vowed to God, your God. You promised it, so do it.

24–25  When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want until you’re full, but you may not put any in your bucket or bag. And when you walk through the ripe grain of your neighbor, you may pick the heads of grain, but you may not swing your sickle there.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, December 09, 2025

by Anne Cetas

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Acts 2:36-47

“All Israel, then, know this: There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.”

37  Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?”

38–39  Peter said, “Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites.”

40  He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!”

41–42  That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

43–45  Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.

46–47  They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

Today's Insights

Acts 2 offers a glimpse of early faith communities after the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost (vv. 1-13). In response to hearing that forgiveness, salvation, and the “gift of the Holy Spirit” (v. 38) were possible because of Jesus’ resurrection as “Lord and Messiah” (v. 36), “about three thousand” people became believers in Christ (v. 41). These new believers’ faith was deepened through “[devoting] themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (v. 42) and giving “to anyone who had need” (v. 45). God’s Spirit draws people into faith and deepens it through fellowship and service in community.

Being the Church

The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:47

On a sunny afternoon, I drew with sidewalk chalk with the Sudanese family next door. We could hear singing coming from the house next to theirs, where a small group holds worship services. The young mom I was talking with was curious about what was going on, so she and I walked over and listened in. They invited us to gather with them. A young man, standing in a tank filled with water for baptism, spoke about receiving forgiveness for his sins and committing himself to follow Jesus.

This was a unique opportunity for us to hear a testimony of salvation in the yard right next door. This group was being the church in our neighborhood.

Jesus is building His church around the world. In the days before His ascension, He told His followers that He would send the Spirit to live in them and that they would be His witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He would build His church through their Spirit-empowered preaching and teaching. And immediately God began to add “to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47).

We can be a part of building Christ’s church by being His church as we live out our faith in our neighborhoods and share with others what He’s done for us. He gave His life and was resurrected so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life. And He’ll help us learn how to serve others in His church today.

Reflect & Pray

In what ways might God be using you to build Jesus’ church? What more might you do?

Dear Jesus, thank You that You’re adding people to Your church daily.

Discover more about Acts 2 by reading Fulfillment, Foundation, and Foreshadowing.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, December 09, 2025

The Offense of the Natural

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. — Galatians 5:24

The natural life isn’t sinful; the disposition that rules the natural life is sinful. Sin belongs to hell and the devil, while I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and God and the disposition he has put in me. I must have nothing to do with sin in any shape or form. This isn’t a question of giving up sin, per se, but rather of giving up my right to myself. I have to give up my natural independence and self–assertiveness; this is where the battle must be fought.

The natural life can be made spiritual only through sacrifice. If I fail to resolutely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural in me. There’s no royal road I can take to get there, no smooth and well–marked path. I must make my own way. Sacrifice is not a question of praying but of performing; I have to strive if I wish to attain the highest goal.

The things that keep me from striving for God’s best and highest are those which, from a natural standpoint, appear right and noble and good. When I understand that natural virtues are at odds with my surrender to God, I bring my soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us are drawn by the sordid and evil and wrong, but many of us are drawn by the good. It is the good that hates the best. The higher we climb on the ladder of natural virtue, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh.” If you want to belong to Christ, it’s going to cost the natural part of you everything, not just something. When Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves” (Matthew 16:24), he meant that those who want to be his must entirely give up their right to themselves. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your independence.

Daniel 11-12; Jude

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it.

Not Knowing Whither, 900 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, December 09, 2025

WHAT YOU MISS WHEN YOU'RE A SELFIE - #10152

Jim cracked me up with the story he told in his recent family newsletter. He and his honey were enjoying some personal time at the Atlantic Ocean, which is really big. Jim decided to take a picture of himself and the ocean, which is really big. Later, he made a disturbing discovery which he reported this way. "I think I missed the ocean!" Which is really big. Oh, he's in the picture, but the Atlantic is nowhere to be seen. Now how can a smart guy miss something as big and as beautiful as the ocean? Well, by totally focusing on himself.

I've made that mistake. Missing the big thing because I was so focused on myself. I suspect I'm not alone.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What You Miss When You're a Selfie."

When we're hurting, when we're grieving, when we're grappling with this big problem, we tend to go inward and become all about ourselves. We miss the person we married because we're so focused on our frustrations with them. Before we married them, we magnified what we loved and minimized what bothered us. Now we're all about our frustrations with them, forgetting all we loved about them. So it's selfie time. All about me. Losing sight of the one we once could not live without. So we stop loving like we did, and they start responding to the change.

We can miss our kids the same way. By dwelling on how they're disappointing us, defying us, or distancing themselves from us. So we're sucked into a cycle of seeing - and talking about - only what they need to change. Not seeing - and talking about - the big picture of their strengths and their potential. We focus the lens on our hurt and our fear and our frustration, and we miss the big stuff. That masterpiece God made and entrusted to you in that child.

I know how much my picture can become a selfie when I'm going through a hurting time. Pain tends to make us selfish: self-centered, self-pitying and all those nasty self words. But my Bible tells me that there's always something bigger going on than the immediate situation. It's affirmed in our word for today from the Word of God from Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose." And the Bible says, "I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).

There's a Big Plan for my good. But I'll miss the big and beautiful part if I just focus on my pain. When my precious Karen was suddenly gone that May, my natural tendency was to be all about me - my grief, my life without her, my future.

But, thankfully, God quickly rescued me from my selfie. And He began to show me what I could become through this greatest heartbreak of my life. I can honestly say my heart is more open than it's ever been - open to God's voice, open to letting my journey help somebody else on their journey, open to broken and breaking hearts that are all around me.

What's scary is that our "selfie" can actually cause us to miss the biggest and most beautiful sight of all - the God who made us. We so want to have life our way that we live as if we've dethroned Him from the throne of our life. In the Bible's words, "Each of us has turned to His own way" (Isaiah 53:6). And, you know, all those choices where we've sort of said, "God, You run the universe, but I'll run me" - well, in the Bible's words they have "separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). And you knew that without listening today, you could feel that gap between you and Him.

All about me. Missing the God who's the reason we're here; whose love we're made for. Who thought we were worth sending His Son to die for.

Maybe this is the day that you release the wheel of your life - your selfie life - to the One you were made to know and made to belong to. And the One who gave you your life is the One who's supposed to be running it. Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, from now on I'm yours."

Go to our website. There's so much more there about how to be sure you've begun a relationship with God. It's ANewStory.com.

The Ocean of God's great love is right there within my sight, that big thing, unless I'm blocking the view.

Luke 6:1-26 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WHEN WE SEE THE FACE OF GOD - December 8, 2025

Would you like to see God? Take a look at Jesus. Hebrews 1:3 (NLT) says, “Jesus radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God.” In John 14:9 (NIV) Jesus himself said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Anyone who has seen me weep has seen the Father weep. Anyone who has seen me laugh has seen the Father laugh. Anyone who has seen me determined has seen the Father determined. Everything changes when we see the face of God.

He came with tears too. He knows the burden of a broken heart. He knows the sorrow life can bring. He could have come as a shining light or a voice in the clouds, but he came as a person. Does God understand you? Look into God’s face and be assured. Find the answer in Bethlehem.

Because of Bethlehem

Luke 6:1-26

In Charge of the Sabbath

1–2  6 On a certain Sabbath Jesus was walking through a field of ripe grain. His disciples were pulling off heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands to get rid of the chaff, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing that, breaking a Sabbath rule?”

3–4  But Jesus stood up for them. “Have you never read what David and those with him did when they were hungry? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? He also handed it out to his companions.”

5  Then he said, “The Son of Man is no slave to the Sabbath; he’s in charge.”

6–8  On another Sabbath he went to the meeting place and taught. There was a man there with a crippled right hand. The religion scholars and Pharisees had their eye on Jesus to see if he would heal the man, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath infraction. He knew what they were up to and spoke to the man with the crippled hand: “Get up and stand here before us.” He did.

9  Then Jesus addressed them, “Let me ask you something: What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?”

10–11  He looked around, looked each one in the eye. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” He held it out—it was as good as new! They were beside themselves with anger, and started plotting how they might get even with him.

The Twelve Apostles

12–16  At about that same time he climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles:

Simon, whom he named Peter,

Andrew, his brother,

James,

John,

Philip,

Bartholomew,

Matthew,

Thomas,

James, son of Alphaeus,

Simon, called the Zealot,

Judas, son of James,

Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

You’re Blessed

17–21  Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.

God’s kingdom is there for the finding.

You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.

Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.

Joy comes with the morning.

22–23  “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do … and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.

Give Away Your Life

24  But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.

What you have is all you’ll ever get.

25  And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.

Your self will not satisfy you for long.

And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.

There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.

26  “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, December 08, 2025

by Matt Lucas

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Deuteronomy 24:17-22

  Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights. Don’t take the cloak of a widow as security for a loan. Don’t ever forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

19–22  When you harvest your grain and forget a sheaf back in the field, don’t go back and get it; leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that God, your God, will bless you in all your work. When you shake the olives off your trees, don’t go back over the branches and strip them bare—what’s left is for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. And when you cut the grapes in your vineyard, don’t take every last grape—leave a few for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t ever forget that you were a slave in Egypt. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

Today's Insights

Deuteronomy 24 describes the act of gleaning, which served as one means for the Israelites to care for the marginalized and poor. The Scriptures record some instances of this practice (the story of Ruth being a prime example), but their failure in this area was commonplace. The prophets charged the Israelites with not being hospitable and oppressing the poor. Ultimately, it was part of the reason God sent them into exile (see Isaiah 1:17; Amos 4:1-3; Zechariah 7:9-10; Malachi 3:5). Today, He still desires that we practice hospitality by serving those in need. As the Spirit helps us, we can look for ways to be generous to others and celebrate the generosity of God.

Hospitable Generosity

When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. Deuteronomy 24:19

A few years ago, our church hosted refugees fleeing their country because of a change in their political leadership. Entire families came with only what they could fit in a small bag. Several of our church families opened their homes, some with little room to spare.

Such gracious hospitality echoes God’s command to the Israelites before they inhabited the promised land. As an agricultural society, they understood the importance of the harvest. Every bit of food would be essential to get them through until next year’s harvest. God told the Israelites when harvesting not to go back to retrieve what they may have missed. “Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow” (Deuteronomy 24:19). They were to practice generosity not by giving when they knew they had enough but by giving out of a heart of trusting in God’s provision “so that the Lord [their] God may bless [them] in all the work of their hands” (v. 19). God always has enough.

The practice of hospitality also reminded them that they had been “slaves in Egypt” (v. 22). While we may not have experienced such oppression, we’ve all experienced being an outsider or being in need. As we give to others, we do well to remember our most basic need: freedom from our sin. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Reflect & Pray

What needy person or group has God drawn your attention to? What might you give to them?

Dear Father, please open my eyes to those in need.

Discover more about serving others by reading Going the Extra Mile.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, December 08, 2025

Redemption through His Blood

For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. — Hebrews 10:14

We trample on the blood of the Son of God if we think the reason our sins are forgiven is that we are sorry for them. The only explanation for God’s forgiveness of our sins is the death of Jesus Christ. Our being sorry, our repenting, is merely an outcome, the effect of a personal realization of what Christ accomplished in the atonement: “Christ Jesus… has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). When we realize all that Christ has done for us, the boundless joy of God begins. Wherever the joy of God is absent, the death sentence is at work.

Who or what we are doesn’t matter; the only way we are reinstated into good standing with God is by the death of Jesus Christ. We can’t earn this reinstatement; we can only accept it. All the pleading we do with God amounts to a deliberate refusal to recognize the cross and is of no use. When we plead, it’s like we’re pounding on a door other than the one Jesus has opened. “I don’t want to go that way,” we say. “It’s too humiliating to be received as a sinner.” But there is only one way: “For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). God may appear heartless in his refusal to receive us in any state other than as lowly sinners. But his apparent heartlessness is the expression of his real heart, for there is boundless entrance into the holiness of Christ by the way he has designated for us

“In him we have redemption through his blood” (Ephesians 1:7). Identification with the death of Jesus Christ means identification with him and the death of everything not of him. God is justified in saving bad men and women only as he makes them good. He doesn’t pretend we’re all right when we’re all wrong. The atonement is an act by which God, through the death of Jesus, makes an unholy person holy.

Daniel 8-10; 3 John

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

The Shadow of an Agony

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, December 08, 2025

YOUR UGLY TIMES - #10151

Our dog, Missy, had just ridden with us on a 1,600-mile round trip to Chicago and back. That was the first for her. It was a first for me to do it, too, with a dog and we both survived! Miracles still happen. Missy had been through a lot of upheavals in her routine as a result of that trip, and she'd had an exhausting two days. I can't believe now I was empathizing with our dog!

Well, anyway, all of this might explain her uncharacteristic behavior when we returned home. She just hunkered down all day long underneath this white cabinet in the kitchen. There was barely enough room for her under there, but no one could coax her out. She was a grump! She didn't come out to eat. Now the two people she responded to the most got down there and tried to speak "doggy" to her. Nothing. Finally, her primary caregiver reached her hand under there and promptly got it nipped by a dog who never did that. This was an animal with an attitude!

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

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 13. You may recognize this as being maybe the greatest description of what love really is like in all the Bible. And in a world that's pretty confused about love, 1 Corinthians 13 is more relevant than ever. As you listen, would you think about the people you love and measure how you're treating them by these words from God?

Here's verse 4: "Love (and you could say my love for whoever) is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." See, love is not a feeling. It's not words. It's not the official status of certain people. It's an act or way of treating people - certain ways that I'd like to underscore from these verses. If you love someone it means you treat them with patience, you treat them kindly, and you look for what you can do for them, not what they can do for you. And your love doesn't get easily angered, it doesn't nip at people. Are you listening, Missy?

I think that too often we're all like the dog. We're exhausted, we're feeling low, we're thinking of ourselves a lot. Inwardly we've crawled under the cabinet, and instead of responding, we bite, we snarl, we punish people for needing us when we're low. But love is better than that. Just look at the One whose life we're trying to copy.

Look at Jesus, experiencing the greatest agony any human has ever experienced as He hangs on a cross, bearing in His soul all the hell of all of us. Is He lashing out? Is He demanding to be left alone in His pain? No, He's reaching out. Jesus - He's patient, He's kind, He's not rude, He's not self-seeking, and He's not easily angered on the cross. He's caring about the need of the man on the next cross, the needs of His mother. He's forgiving those who nailed Him there. I want to be like that, don't you?

I know that my tired times, my stressed-out times, my hurting times, a lot of times they don't bring out the best in me. I've nipped at too many people I'm supposed to love in times like that. But those are the times when love shows its true colors, when it's sacrificial, when you give it at a time when you feel like giving out.

So maybe you'd like to join me in making Jesus Lord of your ugly times. You say, "Lord, when I'm like this I'm often not like You. Please re-train me Lord. Help me to draw deeply on Your grace and Your love right now. Give me a victory in this time when I feel just like I want to focus on me. Empower me to love people in the times that I would normally be plain old ugly."

Remember, you will experience Christ's love and Christ's power on a new level as He overrules your tendency to snarl or to bite. The people around you don't need a wound from you, they need supernatural love.

Deuteronomy 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:The Gladdest News of All

Grace is simply another word for God’s reservoir of strength and protection.  Not occasionally or miserly but constantly and aggressively, wave upon wave.  We barely regain our balance from one breaker, and then, bam, here comes another!

We dare to stake our hope on the gladdest news of all:  if God permits the challenge, he will provide the grace to meet it.  We never exhaust his supply. “Stop asking so much!  My grace reservoir is running dry.”  Heaven knows no such words.  God has enough grace to solve every dilemma you face, wipe every tear that you cry, and answer every question you ask.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also graciously give us all things?  (Romans 8:32).

Having given the supreme and costliest gift, how can he fail to lavish upon us all he has to give?

From GRACE

Deuteronomy 22

 If you see your kinsman’s ox or sheep wandering off loose, don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it. Return it promptly. If your fellow Israelite is not close by or you don’t know whose it is, take the animal home with you and take care of it until your fellow asks about it. Then return it to him. Do the same if it’s his donkey or a piece of clothing or anything else your fellow Israelite loses. Don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it.

4  If you see your fellow’s donkey or ox injured along the road, don’t look the other way. Help him get it up and on its way.

5  A woman must not wear a man’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing. This kind of thing is an abomination to God, your God.

6–7  When you come across a bird’s nest alongside the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, don’t take the mother with the young. You may take the babies, but let the mother go so that you will live a good and long life.

8  When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof to make it safe so that someone doesn’t fall off and die and your family become responsible for the death.

9  Don’t plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard. If you do, you will forfeit what you’ve sown, the total production of the vineyard.

10  Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

11  Don’t wear clothes of mixed fabrics, wool and linen together.

12  Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you use to cover yourself.

13–19  If a man marries a woman, sleeps with her, and then turns on her, calling her a slut, giving her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I slept with her I discovered she wasn’t a virgin,” then the father and mother of the girl are to take her with the proof of her virginity to the town leaders at the gate. The father is to tell the leaders, “I gave my daughter to this man as wife and he turned on her, rejecting her. And now he has slanderously accused her, claiming that she wasn’t a virgin. But look at this, here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” And then he is to spread out her bloodstained wedding garment before the leaders for their examination. The town leaders then are to take the husband, whip him, fine him a hundred pieces of silver, and give it to the father of the girl. The man gave a virgin girl of Israel a bad name. He has to keep her as his wife and can never divorce her.

20–21  But if it turns out that the accusation is true and there is no evidence of the girl’s virginity, the men of the town are to take her to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death. She acted disgracefully in Israel. She lived like a whore while still in her parents’ home. Purge the evil from among you.

22  If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both must die. Purge that evil from Israel.

23–24  If a man comes upon a virgin in town, a girl who is engaged to another man, and sleeps with her, take both of them to the town gate and stone them until they die—the girl because she didn’t yell out for help in the town and the man because he raped her, violating the fiancée of his neighbor. You must purge the evil from among you.

25–27  But if it was out in the country that the man found the engaged girl and grabbed and raped her, only the man is to die, the man who raped her. Don’t do anything to the girl; she did nothing wrong. This is similar to the case of a man who comes across his neighbor out in the country and murders him; when the engaged girl yelled out for help, there was no one around to hear or help her.

28–29  When a man comes upon a virgin who has never been engaged and grabs and rapes her and they are found out, the man who raped her has to give her father fifty pieces of silver. He has to marry her because he took advantage of her. And he can never divorce her.

30  A man may not marry his father’s ex-wife—that would violate his father’s rights.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, December 07, 2025

by John Blase

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Daniel 9:4-6, 15-19

I poured out my heart, baring my soul to God, my God:

4–8  “ ‘O Master, great and august God. You never waver in your covenant commitment, never give up on those who love you and do what you say. Yet we have sinned in every way imaginable. We’ve done evil things, rebelled, dodged and taken detours around your clearly marked paths. We’ve turned a deaf ear to your servants the prophets, who preached your Word to our kings and leaders, our parents, and all the people in the land.

“ ‘Master, you are our God, for you delivered your people from the land of Egypt in a show of power—people are still talking about it! We confess that we have sinned, that we have lived bad lives. Following the lines of what you have always done in setting things right, setting people right, please stop being so angry with Jerusalem, your very own city, your holy mountain. We know it’s our fault that this has happened, all because of our sins and our parents’ sins, and now we’re an embarrassment to everyone around us. We’re a blot on the neighborhood. So listen, God, to this determined prayer of your servant. Have mercy on your ruined Sanctuary. Act out of who you are, not out of what we are.

18  “ ‘Turn your ears our way, God, and listen. Open your eyes and take a long look at our ruined city, this city named after you. We know that we don’t deserve a hearing from you. Our appeal is to your compassion. This prayer is our last and only hope:

19  “ ‘Master, listen to us!

Master, forgive us!

Master, look at us and do something!

Master, don’t put us off!

Your city and your people are named after you:

You have a stake in us!’

Today's Insights

Daniel’s commitment to prayer is seen throughout the book that bears his name. When threatened with death in response to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (ch. 2), he and his three friends prayed for God’s provision of an answer. We also see his commitment in chapter 6 when he continued his habit of prayer despite the king’s decree and the threat of death in the lions’ den. Here in chapter 9, we find Daniel’s great intercessory prayer on behalf of himself and his fellow captives. These situations demonstrate the priority he placed on prayer. As we make prayer a priority in our lives, we can boldly bring our concerns to God.

Pray What’s on Your Heart

Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. Daniel 9:17

Brenda and Eddie got in the car and began their Thursday evening ritual. “Where would you like to eat?” “Oh, Eddie, I don’t care, anywhere is fine, really.” Eddie’s been here before. “Okay, how about The Windmill?” Brenda bristles. “No, anywhere but there!” Eddie sighs. “So where, then?” Brenda insists, “Really, anywhere is fine.”

It’s the stuff of comedy sketches, humorous from a distance because we know how maddening it is in the moment.

Sometimes it can be that way in our prayer lives too. We’re too vague. In contrast, the prayer in Daniel 9 reveals Daniel boldly saying what he wants. First, he confesses the sins of his people: “We have sinned and done wrong” (v. 5). Then he makes his requests. “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant” (v. 17). “Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act” (v. 19). God owed nothing to Daniel, but such was Daniel’s trust in God’s “great mercy” (v. 18) that he felt free to bring the full weight of his desires to Him.

It’s always right to pray “not as I will, but as you will,” as Jesus prayed to His Father the night before He was crucified (Matthew 26:39). But there are also times when saying what we want is the way forward. God honors our boldness when we come before Him with repentant hearts. So be bold, pray what’s on your heart, and entrust it to the God of great mercy.

Reflect & Pray

How do your prayers compare to Daniel 9:4-19? What might you need to confess before making your requests to God?

Now, my God, please hear the prayers of Your servant.

To learn more, check out Forgiveness & Reconciliation Reading Plan.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, December 07, 2025

Repentance

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. — 2 Corinthians 7:10

Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things ever to strike us. It brings us to the threshold of a true understanding of God, showing us precisely whom we wrong when we sin: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4).

“When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin”(John 16:8). When the Holy Spirit rouses our conscience, bringing us into the presence of God and showing us that we are in the wrong about sin, what bothers us isn’t our relationship with other human beings but rather our relationship with our heavenly Father.

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.” Conviction of sin is so interwoven with the marvel of forgiveness and with holiness that it is only the forgiven person who is the holy person. The forgiven prove they are forgiven by becoming, by the grace of God, the opposite of what they were before. Repentance always brings us to this realization: “I have sinned.” The surest sign that God is at work in us is when we say this and mean it. Anything less is simply regret for having messed up, the reflex reaction of disgust at ourselves.

The entrance into the kingdom is through the pains of repentance. The Holy Spirit produces these pains and sends them crashing against our respectable “goodness.” Then the Spirit begins to form the Son of God in our old lives, transforming them into something new. This new life manifests itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way around.

Repentance is the bedrock of Christianity. Strictly speaking, we can’t choose to repent; repentance is a gift from God, the result of “godly sorrow.” The Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If you ever stop knowing the virtue of repentance, you are in darkness. Examine yourself and see if you’ve forgotten how to be sorry.

Daniel 5-7; 2 John

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. 

Disciples Indeed, 393 R

Deuteronomy 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:The Gladdest News of All

Grace is simply another word for God’s reservoir of strength and protection.  Not occasionally or miserly but constantly and aggressively, wave upon wave.  We barely regain our balance from one breaker, and then, bam, here comes another!

We dare to stake our hope on the gladdest news of all:  if God permits the challenge, he will provide the grace to meet it.  We never exhaust his supply. “Stop asking so much!  My grace reservoir is running dry.”  Heaven knows no such words.  God has enough grace to solve every dilemma you face, wipe every tear that you cry, and answer every question you ask.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also graciously give us all things?  (Romans 8:32).

Having given the supreme and costliest gift, how can he fail to lavish upon us all he has to give?

From GRACE

Deuteronomy 21

If a dead body is found on the ground, this ground that God, your God, has given you, lying out in the open, and no one knows who killed him, your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the body to the nearest cities. The leaders and judges of the city that is nearest the corpse will then take a heifer that has never been used for work, never had a yoke on it. The leaders will take the heifer to a valley with a stream, a valley that has never been plowed or planted, and there break the neck of the heifer. The Levitical priests will then step up. God has chosen them to serve him in these matters by settling legal disputes and violent crimes and by pronouncing blessings in God’s name. Finally, all the leaders of that town that is nearest the body will wash their hands over the heifer that had its neck broken at the stream and say, “We didn’t kill this man and we didn’t see who did it. Purify your people Israel whom you redeemed, O God. Clear your people Israel from any guilt in this murder.”

8–9  That will clear them from any responsibility in the murder. By following these procedures you will have absolved yourselves of any part in the murder because you will have done what is right in God’s sight.

10–14  When you go to war against your enemies and God, your God, gives you victory and you take prisoners, and then you notice among the prisoners of war a good-looking woman whom you find attractive and would like to marry, this is what you do: Take her home; have her trim her hair, cut her nails, and discard the clothes she was wearing when captured. She is then to stay in your home for a full month, mourning her father and mother. Then you may go to bed with her as husband and wife. If it turns out you don’t like her, you must let her go and live wherever she wishes. But you can’t sell her or use her as a slave since you’ve humiliated her.

15–17  When a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and they both give him sons, but the firstborn is from the hated wife, at the time he divides the inheritance with his sons he must not treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, cutting out the son of the hated wife, who is the actual firstborn. No, he must acknowledge the inheritance rights of the real firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double share of the inheritance: that son is the first proof of his virility; the rights of the firstborn belong to him.

18–20  When a man has a stubborn son, a real rebel who won’t do a thing his mother and father tell him, and even though they discipline him he still won’t obey, his father and mother shall forcibly bring him before the leaders at the city gate and say to the city fathers, “This son of ours is a stubborn rebel; he won’t listen to a thing we say. He’s a glutton and a drunk.”

21  Then all the men of the town are to throw rocks at him until he’s dead. You will have purged the evil pollution from among you. All Israel will hear what’s happened and be in awe.

22–23  When a man has committed a capital crime, been given the death sentence, executed and hung from a tree, don’t leave his dead body hanging overnight from the tree. Give him a decent burial that same day so that you don’t desecrate your God-given land—a hanged man is an insult to God.

by, December 06, 2025

by Poh Fang Chia

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Genesis 16:5-13

 Sarai told Abram, “It’s all your fault that I’m suffering this abuse. I put my maid in bed with you and the minute she knows she’s pregnant, she treats me like I’m nothing. May God decide which of us is right.”

6  “You decide,” said Abram. “Your maid is your business.”

Sarai was abusive to Hagar and Hagar ran away.

7–8  An angel of God found her beside a spring in the desert; it was the spring on the road to Shur. He said, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, what are you doing here?”

She said, “I’m running away from Sarai my mistress.”

9–12  The angel of God said, “Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse.” He continued, “I’m going to give you a big family, children past counting.

From this pregnancy, you’ll get a son: Name him Ishmael;

for God heard you, God answered you.

He’ll be a bucking bronco of a man,

a real fighter, fighting and being fought,

Always stirring up trouble,

always at odds with his family.”

13  She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me!

“Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!”

Today's Insights

The Bible introduces us early to a God who hears and sees each of us. In the midst of Hagar’s distress in Genesis 16, she names her son Ishmael, which means “God hears” (v. 11). Hearing implies listening attentively. God also sees Hagar’s distress. She feels isolated, alone, and abandoned, but He’s already listening and watching. She confesses, “You are the God who sees me” (v. 13). Later when Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac, he too recognizes God’s oversight. He names the place, “The Lord Will Provide” (22:14), or literally, He “sees.” Today, we can also be assured that God hears and sees us in our distress, and that He’s with us.

God Sees Me

You are the God who sees me. Genesis 16:13

When Sun’s husband had a stroke, her life took a dramatic turn. She found herself having to assist her husband with the activities of daily living and cope with his emotional outbursts. For seventeen years, she’d faithfully cared for her husband. When a fall hastened his decline, however, the weight of caregiving finally became too much, and Sun sank into depression. “I felt I’d lost my faith,” she shared, “and I couldn’t see God.”

But looking back, Sun now believes that God saw her because He provided subsidized home medical and nursing care to manage her husband’s chronic condition and sent social workers to support Sun in managing the emotional challenges of caregiving.

God revealed himself as the God who sees in the story of Hagar. In Genesis 16, the slave Hagar was running away from her mistress’ mistreatment (v. 6) when the “angel of the Lord” found her “near a spring in the desert” (v. 7). He urged Hagar to “go back to [her] mistress” (v. 9) and assured her of His blessing. Even though Hagar was a nobody in her culture, God was watching out for her well-being. In gratitude, Hagar declared, “You are the God who sees me” (v. 13).

God sees us in our distress too. We’re never alone because our loving Father knows our situation, and He’s trustworthy. We can cry out to Him for help, and He’ll lift us up.

Reflect & Pray

How have you experienced that God sees and knows your need in the past? How can this knowledge help you in your present trials?

Dear Father, thank You for assuring me that You see what I’m going through.

For further study, listen to What's True About God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, December 06, 2025

The Bow in the Cloud

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. — Genesis 9:13

God’s will is that human beings should enter into a moral relationship with him. All his covenants are for this purpose. “Why doesn’t God save me?” you ask. He has saved you, but you haven’t entered into a moral relationship with him. “Why hasn’t God answered my prayer?” He has answered it, but this isn’t the point. The question you must answer is, Will I step into a moral relationship with him? All of God’s great blessings are finished and complete, but they aren’t mine until I enter into a relationship based on his covenant.

Entering into a moral relationship with God requires exertion on my part. Just as God went beyond himself in his relationship with humanity, becoming flesh for our sake, so I must go beyond myself in my covenant with him. I can’t just sit back and wait. Waiting for God is like unbelief; it means that I lack faith in him, that I’m waiting for a specific thing to happen so that then I can have faith in that. God will never do the thing I’m waiting for, because that isn’t the basis of his relationship with humanity.

Faith in God is the rarest thing. Most of us have faith only in our feelings. We don’t believe God unless he places something in our hand, something we can point to and say, “Now I believe.” There’s no faith in that. God says, “Turn to me and be saved” (Isaiah 45:22), not “Turn to what I’ve given you.”

When I truly enter into a covenant relationship with God, letting go of everything else, I have no sense of having achieved something by my own merit. There’s no human ingredient in it at all, just an overwhelming feeling of being brought into union with him, the whole thing transfigured with peace and joy.

Daniel 3-4; 1 John 5

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

Deuteronomy 20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GO BOLDLY TO JESUS - December 5, 2025

A friend of mine asked her students to make a list of questions they would like to ask Mary. “What was Jesus’ first word?” “Did he ever get sick?” “Did Jesus ever misbehave?” All legitimate questions. And the fact that we can ask them raises a greater one: Why did God go so far? Why did he become a human being? A chief reason? He wants you to know that he gets you.

The Bible says in the book of Hebrews he understands how you feel and has faced what you face. “[Jesus] has been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin! So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help” (Hebrews 4:15-16 MSG). Because of Bethlehem, you can boldly go to him.

Because of Bethlehem

Deuteronomy 20

When you go to war against your enemy and see horses and chariots and soldiers far outnumbering you, do not recoil in fear of them; God, your God, who brought you up out of Egypt is with you. When the battle is about to begin, let the priest come forward and speak to the troops. He’ll say, “Attention, Israel. In a few minutes you’re going to do battle with your enemies. Don’t waver in resolve. Don’t fear. Don’t hesitate. Don’t panic. God, your God, is right there with you, fighting with you against your enemies, fighting to win.”

5–7  Then let the officers step up and speak to the troops: “Is there a man here who has built a new house but hasn’t yet dedicated it? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it. And is there a man here who has planted a vineyard but hasn’t yet enjoyed the grapes? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man enjoy the grapes. Is there a man here engaged to marry who hasn’t yet taken his wife? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man take her.”

8  The officers will then continue, “And is there a man here who is wavering in resolve and afraid? Let him go home right now so that he doesn’t infect his fellows with his timidity and cowardly spirit.”

9  When the officers have finished speaking to the troops, let them appoint commanders of the troops who shall muster them by units.

10–15  When you come up against a city to attack it, call out, “Peace?” If they answer, “Yes, peace!” and open the city to you, then everyone found there will be conscripted as forced laborers and work for you. But if they don’t settle for peace and insist on war, then go ahead and attack. God, your God, will give them to you. Kill all the men with your swords. But don’t kill the women and children and animals. Everything inside the town you can take as plunder for you to use and eat—God, your God, gives it to you. This is the way you deal with the distant towns, the towns that don’t belong to the nations at hand.

16–18  But with the towns of the people that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, it’s different: don’t leave anyone alive. Consign them to holy destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, obeying the command of God, your God. This is so there won’t be any of them left to teach you to practice the abominations that they engage in with their gods and you end up sinning against God, your God.

19–20  When you mount an attack on a town and the siege goes on a long time, don’t start cutting down the trees, swinging your axes against them. Those trees are your future food; don’t cut them down. Are trees soldiers who come against you with weapons? The exception can be those trees which don’t produce food; you can chop them down and use the timbers to build siege engines against the town that is resisting you until it falls.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, December 05, 2025

by Dave Branon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Galatians 5:7-10

 You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.

Today's Insights

In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul takes up one of his most passionate arguments—that believers in Jesus don’t need to become culturally Jewish in order to enjoy the blessings of Christ’s life of faithfulness. The apostle argues that he has the credentials to proclaim the gospel, recounting not only his history of Jewish perfectionism but also receiving Peter’s (Cephas’) stamp of approval on his call by Christ (1:18; 2:9). 

Then he tells the story of confronting Peter to his face about his choice to avoid the uncircumcised gentiles out of fear of some of the Jews (2:11-21). Chapter 5 reiterates that Christ has made us right with God and won our freedom. Requiring believers to follow the law denies the truth of the gospel (vv. 1-10). But encouraging them to spend time in the Scriptures directs their steps toward truth and keeps them from wandering in the wrong direction.

Walking with God

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13:20

It was Tuesday at the gym, so the people walking around the track were supposed to go clockwise. The first walkers my wife joined were doing that. But then another person walked onto the track going counterclockwise. A couple of her friends joined her—and then another. Suddenly there was chaos on the track—and it took a few minutes to restore order.

While the wrong-way walkers intended no harm, I couldn’t help but think about the power of influence. One person headed the wrong way leads to another, and on it goes. It’s a bit like Proverbs 13:20: “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” Following a person going the wrong way leads to trouble.

In Galatians 5, Paul explains how such a mistake can halt our spiritual progress. “You were running a good race,” he says. “Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you” (vv. 7-8). God, who desires obedience, never leads us away from truth and “into confusion” (v. 10). But those who oppose His truth can hamper our spiritual walk by redirecting us from Him.

God wants to be our guide. When we walk with Him, we’ll never wander in the wrong direction.

Reflect & Pray

In what situations are you allowing someone to lead you away from God? What can you do to change your course?

Dear God, thank You for Scripture, which tells me to direct my steps toward You. Please help me follow You better today.

Learn more about Paul's letter to the Galations.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, December 05, 2025

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? — 1 Corinthians 6:19

Do I realize that God holds me accountable for how I rule my body? Am I keeping my body under his rule, drawing on his grace in order to maintain righteousness? “I do not set aside the grace of God,” Paul writes, “for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21). To set aside the grace of God is to make it of no effect in my actual physical life.

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). I have to work out in my physical life the salvation that God, through his grace, has worked in. The grace of God is absolute; the salvation of Jesus is perfect; it is done, forever. I am not being saved; I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne. But I am responsible for working out that salvation. This means that I have to manifest in my physical body the life of Jesus—not mystically, but really.

All who have been born again are capable of keeping their bodies under absolute control for God. God gives us dominion over the temple of the Holy Spirit, over imagination and affection. I must never give way to inordinate affection. Most of us are much stricter with others than we are with ourselves. We make excuses for our own inclinations while condemning others for things to which we are not naturally inclined.

“Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God”(Romans 12:1). Do I agree with my Lord and Master that my body will be his temple? If I do, then the entirety of God’s law for my body is summed up in this revelation: my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Daniel 1-2; 1 John 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, December 05, 2025

THE PLACE WHERE HEAVEN COMES DOWN - #10150

There's a bridge in a park not too far from here - they take carriage rides there. It's just a bridge to most folks, but not to our son and daughter-in-law. That will always be a very special spot to them. It's where he asked her to marry him. It's interesting how a plain old piece of geography becomes forever special when something special in your life happens there: the place you were born, or maybe where you had your first date or your first kiss, or where you were married, or where some significant "first" in your life took place. When a certain place is where something important started, it will always be a special place.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Place Where Heaven Comes Down."

For many of us, there's been a place and there's been a time when everything changed, because it was there that we began our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. One day on my way to an assignment in downtown Chicago, my wife and I decided at the last second to take a certain exit ramp off the expressway. The exit sign indicated the street where I spent the first six years of my life. I haven't been back there since. And, no, it is not a cave.

We drove a few blocks until we spotted the three-story brick apartment building where my Mom and Dad, my baby brother and I lived. I knew it as soon as I saw it. We turned the corner to see if the school was still there. That old brick fortress was still standing, still a school like it was when I went there for my first day of school. Then I had to drive those three blocks to the church on the corner. It was like I was four or five years old again. My baby brother had died suddenly, and my grief-stricken father decided to take his other son to church - a place none of us ever went. I could almost see my Dad now, sitting in his old car by a side door, smoking his cigarette, reading his Sunday paper waiting for his boy to come out.

There was a choir rehearsal that night my wife and I found the church, and a nice lady took me up the long stairs to the third floor room that I remembered at the top of those stairs. That's where Junior Church met, and I choked up. I turned to my honey and I said, "This is it. This is where I asked Jesus into my heart." And there on the wall was the same image of Jesus I remembered most as a child - the Shepherd with a little lamb in His arms. Later, as I learned the Scriptures, I came to realize that in that room at the top of the stairs I had, in the Bible's words, "crossed over from death to life" (John 5:24).

I pray that if there has not been a time and a place like that for you, there will be soon...in fact, maybe today. In Genesis 28:16, our word for today from the Word of God, Jacob talks about the spot where he'd camped for the night and God showed up to change his life. He said, "Surely the Lord is in this place...how awesome is this place!" But after all is said and done, it's not the place that really matters. It's that there is a time when you open up your life to the Savior who died to pay for your sin. Jesus said it's like being born, and the birth is a definite beginning isn't it?

Has there ever been a time when you consciously gave yourself completely to Jesus as your only hope of being right with God? If you have, you know you have, whether or not you remember the exact time or place. If you don't know you have, you probably haven't.

Scripture says, "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:7). That could be today for you. The place might be right where you are. God is moving in your heart now and "surely the Lord is in this place." The Shepherd has come to you to pick you up and carry you from this moment on, all the way to heaven. But you've got to say yes to Him, to tell Him with all your heart, "Jesus, I'm Yours."

If that's what you want, then I would love to be an encouragement to you at this turning point in your life, like I had in that little room on the third floor so many years ago. If you'd let me have that privilege to show you the information that will secure your relationship with Jesus, I ask you to go to ANewStory.com.

This day can become your birthday and this place can become your birthplace, because you are about to be born into the family of God.

Luke 5:17-39, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE STORY OF A BABY - December 4, 2025

If you want to see people on the edge of insanity, just watch the way families treat their babies at Christmastime. The poor child has no warning. Red furry stocking cap, goofy elfish shoes that curl at the toes. And the pictures we take! Baby snoozing under the tree. Baby on Santa’s lap. Santa with wet spot on lap.

Is not Christmas the story of a baby? The moment that shaped all others? Mary’s eyes falling on the face of her just-born son. The first to whisper, “So this is what God looks like!” Never in mankind’s wildest imaginings did we consider that God would enter the world as an infant. John 1:14 (NKJV) says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Would you like to see God? Well then take a look at the baby Jesus.

Because of Bethlehem

Luke 5:17-39

One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was on him.

18–20  Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn’t find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, “Friend, I forgive your sins.”

21  That set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins.”

22–26  Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, “Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both.…” He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: “Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!”

27–28  After this he went out and saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” And he did—walked away from everything and went with him.

29–30  Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with crooks and ‘sinners’?”

31–32  Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.”

33  They asked him, “John’s disciples are well-known for keeping fasts and saying prayers. Also the Pharisees. But you seem to spend most of your time at parties. Why?”

34–35  Jesus said, “When you’re celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but this isn’t the time. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. When the groom is gone, the fasting can begin. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!

36–39  “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put wine in old, cracked bottles; you get strong, clean bottles for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, December 04, 2025

by Winn Collier

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Hebrews 11:1-4

Faith in What We Don’t See

1–2  11 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

3  By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.

4  By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.

Today's Insights

Hebrews 11 commends Old Testament men and women for their faith because of their hope in God. They believed He’d one day fulfill His promises, including sending a Savior. Yet even during Jesus’ ministry, seeing Him and His works wasn’t enough, for many rejected Him. In Romans 10:9, Paul states, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” He adds, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (v. 17). When we hear the gospel and believe in Him, we’re saved. Believers in Jesus are to “[fix their] eyes on [Him], the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Even though we haven’t physically seen Christ, Scripture tells us about Him, and the Holy Spirit works to increase our faith (John 14:16, 26).

Believing More Than We See

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

In the late nineteenth century, few people had access to the great sequoia groves in the United States, and many didn’t believe the reports of the massive trees. In 1892, however, four lumberjacks ventured into the Big Stump Forest in California and spent thirteen days felling the grand tree named Mark Twain. Twain was 1,341 years old, three hundred feet tall, and fifty feet in circumference. One observer described Twain as a tree “of magnificent proportions, one of the most perfect trees in the grove.” They shipped part of this remarkable beauty, now destroyed, to the American Museum of Natural History, where everyone could see a sequoia.

The reality, though, is that we can’t prove every truth with our eyes alone. Hebrews describes faith as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith isn’t irrational or a fit of fancy, because the whole story is grounded in a person—Jesus—who has entered human history. Faith includes human senses and reason, but it’s not limited to them. Faith requires more. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command,” Hebrews says, “so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (v. 3).

It’s often difficult to trust what we can’t touch or see or completely comprehend. But our faith in Christ, made possible by the Spirit, helps us to believe more than we can see.

Reflect & Pray

Where do you struggle with faith? How can you trust God more confidently?

Dear God, please help me to believe and have confidence in You.

Learn more about Hebrews 11 and faith by reading Faith that Endures.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, December 04, 2025

The Law of Antagonism

In this world you will have trouble. — John16:33

Life without war is impossible, either in nature or in grace. The basis of physical, mental, moral, and spiritual life is antagonism. This is the open fact of life.

The law of antagonism means that in order to stay healthy, I have to fight. Health is a kind of balance between things that would harm me and my ability to resist them. Physical health occurs when there is a balance between my body and those things in the external world that are designed to put me to death. If I have enough vitality, enough fighting power, I will produce a healthy balance.

The same is true both mentally and morally. If I want to maintain a vigorous mental life, I have to fight; this is how the mental balance called thought is produced. When it comes to morality, everything that doesn’t partake of the nature of virtue is the enemy of virtue in me, and whether I am able to overcome and produce virtue depends on my moral vitality. When I am tempted to immorality in some particular and I fight against it, I am instantly moral in that particular. No one is virtuous by accident; virtue is acquired.

Spiritually, too, it is the same. When Jesus said that we would have trouble in this world, he meant that everything that is not spiritual would seek my undoing. “But,” he added, “take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). I have to learn to face down the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness; then it becomes a delight to meet opposition. Holiness is the balance between my disposition and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 47-48; 1 John 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something.

The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, December 04, 2025

HELL'S HIGHEST COMPLIMENT - #10149

Missionary pilots are some of my greatest heroes. See, missionary pilots fly around the world and land places where you think a plane could never land. They know how to take their plane apart; they know how to put it back together again.

When I was in college, a few of my friends were in a missionary aviation course and it was tremendously competitive. They studied on campus for two years when we were there, and then if you made the list, if you made the cut, you went down south to the flight campus at an airport. I said if you made the cut. See, only half of the guys would end up going.

One Friday afternoon they posted those names, and I watched my friend sweat it out all week long. For some I think it might have been the longest week of their life. Finally the day came and there was a list. You could hear the shouting of some of the guys who had just experienced one of the most exciting moments in their life, because they found out they had made the list!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hell's Highest Compliment."

Our word for today from the Word of God: we're in Acts 19, and I'll begin at verse 13. "Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, 'In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.' Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, 'Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?' Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding."

That's a pretty enlightening passage because it appears that the forces of darkness have a list of people they consider a threat. The demons said, "We know Jesus. We know Paul. Who are you guys? Let me check the list. You're not there." These guys used the right words and they tried to do spiritual things, but they were spiritually powerless.

I always thought it would be a worthy if unusual goal to have my name known in hell. It's quite a list to be on, huh? I wonder if they've ever heard of me or you there? You don't make the list by attending meetings, or believing beliefs, or just saying Christian things, or even holding Christian offices. No, you make the Devil's list by making a difference for Christ.

Maybe you've been under fire lately. You've felt some pressure physically, or financially, or medically, maybe emotionally. It could be in your relationships. Maybe it's marital. Well, it's not time to blame everything on the Devil. I"m not a fan of that. But it is possible you made his list. Maybe you've started to take Jesus seriously for the first time in your life. Maybe you're starting to take some risks to move out for Him. Maybe you're finally moving from being a spectator to being a player for Him. Or you're daring to speak out about Jesus to lost people. Or possibly you're checking out your priorities and considering leaving your comfort zone to serve the Lord - stepping up to spiritual leadership.

Well, that means you are or you soon will be pushing back the darkness. A wise old pastor said, "The ferocity of Satanic attack upon you increases in direct proportion to your potential usefulness for Jesus Christ." That's true, but you have nothing to fear. No! The Bible says, "Greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world." But you need to know that the turbulence may be coming from the Devil, which is God's signal that it's time to get your armor on and fight with spiritual weapons. It may be that nothing is really wrong; something is very right in what's going on in your life. Your new commitment to Jesus Christ has set off an alarm bell in hell.

When you're making a difference for Jesus, you're on the enemy's list, and honestly I hope you're on it. Making that list, you might say, is Hell's highest compliment.

Deuteronomy 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HEART-SHAPING PROMISES - December 3, 2025

No day is accidental or incidental. No acts are random or wasted. Look at Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem. A king ordered a census. Joseph was forced to travel. Mary, round as a ladybug, bounced on a donkey’s back. The hotel was full, the hour was late. The event was one big hassle. Yet out of the hassle, hope was born. It still is.

I don’t like hassles. But I love Christmas because it reminds us of the heart-shaping promises of Christmas. Long after the guests have left, and the carolers have gone home, and the lights have come down, these promises endure: God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God. Perhaps you could use some Christmas this Christmas?

Because of Bethlehem

Deuteronomy 19

When God, your God, throws the nations out of the country that God, your God, is giving you and you settle down in their cities and houses, you are to set aside three easily accessible cities in the land that God, your God, is giving you as your very own. Divide your land into thirds, this land that God, your God, is giving you to possess, and build roads to the towns so that anyone who accidentally kills another can flee there.

4–7  This is the guideline for the murderer who flees there to take refuge: He has to have killed his neighbor without premeditation and with no history of bad blood between them. For instance, a man goes with his neighbor into the woods to cut a tree; he swings the ax, the head slips off the handle and hits his neighbor, killing him. He may then flee to one of these cities and save his life. If the city is too far away, the avenger of blood racing in hot-blooded pursuit might catch him since it’s such a long distance, and kill him even though he didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t his fault. There was no history of hatred between them. Therefore I command you: Set aside the three cities for yourselves.

8–10  When God, your God, enlarges your land, extending its borders as he solemnly promised your ancestors, by giving you the whole land he promised them because you are diligently living the way I’m commanding you today, namely, to love God, your God, and do what he tells you all your life; and when that happens, then add three more to these three cities so that there is no chance of innocent blood being spilled in your land. God, your God, is giving you this land as an inheritance—you don’t want to pollute it with innocent blood and bring bloodguilt upon yourselves.

11–13  On the other hand, if a man with a history of hatred toward his neighbor waits in ambush, then jumps him, mauls and kills him, and then runs to one of these cities, that’s a different story. The elders of his own city are to send for him and have him brought back. They are to hand him over to the avenger of blood for execution. Don’t feel sorry for him. Clean out the pollution of wrongful murder from Israel so that you’ll be able to live well and breathe clean air.

14  Don’t move your neighbor’s boundary markers, the longstanding landmarks set up by your pioneer ancestors defining their property.

15  You cannot convict anyone of a crime or sin on the word of one witness. You need two or three witnesses to make a case.

16–21  If a hostile witness stands to accuse someone of a wrong, then both parties involved in the quarrel must stand in the Presence of God before the priests and judges who are in office at that time. The judges must conduct a careful investigation; if the witness turns out to be a false witness and has lied against his fellow Israelite, give him the same medicine he intended for the other party. Clean the polluting evil from your company. People will hear of what you’ve done and be impressed; that will put a stop to this kind of evil among you. Don’t feel sorry for the person: It’s life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, December 03, 2025

by Marvin Williams

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 119:65-72

Be good to your servant, God;

be as good as your Word.

Train me in good common sense;

I’m thoroughly committed to living your way.

Before I learned to answer you, I wandered all over the place,

but now I’m in step with your Word.

You are good, and the source of good;

train me in your goodness.

The godless spread lies about me,

but I focus my attention on what you are saying;

They’re bland as a bucket of lard,

while I dance to the tune of your revelation.

My troubles turned out all for the best—

they forced me to learn from your textbook.

Truth from your mouth means more to me

than striking it rich in a gold mine.

Today's Insights

Psalm 119 is an extended song/poem about the beauty of the law even in hard times. In today’s text (vv. 65-72), the psalmist uses a variety of terms to describe the law, including “word,” “commands,” “decrees,” “precepts,” and “law.” These ideas are intensely personal for him, for he speaks from his experiences of pain. He uses terms like “afflicted” (vv. 67, 71) and “smeared . . . with lies” (v. 69) to cry out to God‚ grateful for all he’d learned from those seasons of struggle. In spite of his afflictions and mistreatment, however, he concludes in verse 68, “You are good, and what you do is good.” In a broken world filled with hatred and pain, we too can rest in the never-failing goodness of God. He uses all things, even our trials, for our spiritual growth and to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus.

Growth Through Pain

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. Psalm 119:71

The brain is remarkably small, but stress can make it even smaller. Recent research has revealed that cumulative stress can shrink the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for managing emotions, impulses, and social interactions. This shrinkage is linked to anxiety and depression, highlighting the toll that a lifetime of stress can take. But there’s good news—the brain’s plasticity allows it to heal through intentional practices like exercise, meditation, and meaningful relationships.

The psalmist in Psalm 119 understood this idea of growth and healing after facing stress and hardship: “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (v. 71). Affliction, though painful, became the psalmist’s teacher—taking us from being “astray” from God to choosing to “obey [His] word” (v. 67). The psalmist expresses gratitude for his bitter medicine and God’s goodness (v. 68). While he understood that affliction and suffering could diminish him, he trusted God to use those experiences to refine and restore him (v. 66).

Like our brains, our spirits are capable of being stretched. God uses this stretching to cause growth and renewal. Through Scripture, prayer, and a Spirit-inspired perspective, He can reverse the effects of our hardships. He can use our afflictions for our spiritual growth, transforming pain into purpose.

Reflect & Pray

How has God helped you grow in faith through suffering? How have you embraced gratitude?

Loving God, thank You for teaching me through my trials.

To learn more about faith in pain, read Why? Seeing God in Our Pain.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, December 03, 2025

By the Power of the Spirit

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. — 1 Corinthians 2:4

When you preach, never substitute your own experience of salvation or sanctification for confidence in the power of the gospel. If you do, you will become an obstacle, blocking others’ access to spiritual reality. You have to make sure that, if you do share your knowledge of the way of salvation, you remain rooted and grounded in faith in God. Never rely on rhetorical skills; never seek to preach “with wise and persuasive words.” Rely instead on the Holy Spirit and on the certainty of God’s redemptive power. When you do, he will create his own life in the souls of those to whom you preach.

Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is rooted only in your experiences, anything that happens is likely to disturb it. But nothing can ever disturb God or the almighty reality of redemption. Base your faith on redemption, and you will be as eternally secure as God. Get into personal contact with Jesus Christ, and you will never be moved again. This is what it means to be sanctified.

God puts his disapproval on our experiences when we begin to think of them as ends in themselves. Sanctification isn’t merely an experience; sanctification itself has to be sanctified. Jesus didn’t have a sanctified experience; he led a sanctified life, and he prayed that his disciples would do the same: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (John 17:18–19). After I’ve had the experience of sanctification, I must deliberately give my sanctified life to God for his service so that he can use me as his hands and feet.

Ezekiel 45-46; 1 John 2

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

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, December 03, 2025

NAMES ON YOUR HEART - #10148

One of the large churches in our area started a new building and they announced it would be for community outreach. But they did something I've never seen a church do before. They gathered the congregation around the just-completed foundation of that new building and they asked them to throw something into the foundation. Now you've no doubt seen people's names on the outside of a building's foundation, especially on the cornerstone. But these folks were actually putting names inside the foundation - the names of people they care about who don't belong to Jesus yet - people they are hoping and praying will be in heaven with them some day.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Names on Your Heart."

That's what should be at the foundation of every church, every ministry, every child of God - the names of specific lost people who we want to rescue. Here's a great example of how it's supposed to work. It's in our word for today from the Word of God.

In John 1:41-42, we find that a young fisherman named Andrew has just discovered Jesus Christ. Notice his very first instinct: "The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah'... And he brought him to Jesus." Notice the first thing that happened was that Andrew had a name laid on his heart, a specific person he wanted to meet Jesus as he had. And we all know what a world-changer Simon Peter turned out to be because of someone who loved him enough to bring him to Jesus.

There's someone like that in your life - someone who may never make it to Jesus if you don't bring them. And God is trying to plant their name deep in the foundation of your heart, so that person becomes your own personal spiritual mission from God. You need to begin to pray what I call the 3-open prayer on their behalf right now: First, "Lord, open a door." That's a natural opportunity for you to bring up your personal relationship with Jesus. Then, "Lord, open their heart." In other words, do things in that person's heart or life that will make them surprisingly ready to hear about You. And, finally, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the courage, the words, the tone, and the approach. Let's try those: "Lord, open a door. Lord, open their heart. Lord, open my mouth." By the way, you don't have to pray, "If it be Your will." It is.

It's one thing to talk and pray generally about all those people out there. It's something else to have a burden with a name - a burden that acknowledges your personal responsibility to be the one to introduce that person to Jesus. That's why Jesus put you in their life in the first place! You've been divinely assigned to them.

And lost people should be the consuming passion of every Christian church, every Christian ministry. Our Lord's personal mission statement was to "seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). How can ours be anything less than that?

For all of us, it's just so easy to fall into doing what's easy - which is to have a ministry that's "all about us," "by us," "to us." But Jesus is all about "them." We've got to ask Him to help us see what He sees when He looks at the people all around us. They are the future inhabitants of hell, unless someone intervenes with the love and the hope that only Jesus has.

So would you make the names of some lost people that you want to be in heaven with you part of the foundation of your life, your priorities, your passion, your prayer. They're why He came, and they are why He put you where you are.