Max Lucado Daily: THE DISTANT CLOUD - September 15, 2026
The promises of God glitter like diamonds on the pages of Scripture. Will we gather them? claim them? delight in them? pursue them? Elijah did. He prayed, not just once, but seven times!
Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea” (1 Kings 18:43-44). God’s answer came as a cloud the size of a hand. That was enough to excite Elijah.
Faith sees the distant cloud. Faith sees promises as though they were fulfilled. Can you see the hint of an answer to your prayer?
Unbreakable Courage
Luke 24:36-53
While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. He continued with them, “Don’t be upset, and don’t let all these doubting questions take over. Look at my hands; look at my feet—it’s really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn’t have muscle and bone like this.” As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. They still couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was too much; it seemed too good to be true.
41–43 He asked, “Do you have any food here?” They gave him a piece of leftover fish they had cooked. He took it and ate it right before their eyes.
You’re the Witnesses
44 Then he said, “Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled.”
45–49 He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. He said, “You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem! You’re the first to hear and see it. You’re the witnesses. What comes next is very important: I am sending what my Father promised to you, so stay here in the city until he arrives, until you’re equipped with power from on high.”
50–51 He then led them out of the city over to Bethany. Raising his hands he blessed them, and while blessing them, took his leave, being carried up to heaven.
52–53 And they were on their knees, worshiping him. They returned to Jerusalem bursting with joy. They spent all their time in the Temple praising God. Yes.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
by John Blase
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Ephesians 4:1-6
To Be Mature
1–3 4 In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
4–6 You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.
Today's Insights
At the start of his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul reminds us how much God loves us: “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ . . . to adopt us into his own family” (1:4-5 nlt). To this undeserved love, the apostle urges us “to live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received” (4:1) and to manifest the Christlike virtues of humility, gentleness, patience, and love (v. 2). In humility, we “value others above [ourselves], not looking to [our] own interests but . . . to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4). In gentleness and patience, “we bear with each other and forgive one another . . . as the Lord forgave [us]” (Colossians 3:12-13). Because “God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us” (1 John 4:12 nlt), He’ll help us demonstrate His love to others by being patient with them.
For further study, read: Speaking in the Love of the Spirit
Be Patient
Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
Shiro Oguni once visited a group home for adults with dementia. Heartbroken at their isolation from the hum of society, he felt there ought to be a better way. Oguni’s creative genius led to what is known as the Restaurant of Mistaken Orders, an actual restaurant with this added twist—all the wait staff struggle with memory loss. Yes, you read that correctly. Every person in that pivotal role, which requires a strong memory, suffers in that exact area. Now, from the usual business perspective, the results were poor—thirty-seven percent of the time, the guests did not receive what they ordered. But those guests also expect such problems, so they understand. After these “surprises,” apologies and hearty laughter ensue, and customers leave happy.
Paul writes, “Be patient” (Ephesians 4:2)—and we all know that’s so much easier said than done because it involves bearing with each other, a word that can mean everything from “carrying” to “enduring” to “supporting.” In other words, effort is involved. Yet if the effort has its source in God’s love as opposed to our own strength, the burden is lightened and leads to a lighthearted way of living, full of surprises and apologies and even laughter. It’s a way of living where you may not get what you asked for, but you end up getting what we all really want—“a life worthy of the calling you have received” (v. 1).
Reflect & Pray
Who are two people you have little to no patience for? How will you show them patience this week??Dear God, I want to be patient. Please help my impatience.?For further study, read Speaking in the Love of the Spirit at odbm.org.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
What to Renounce
We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. — 2 Corinthians 4:2
Have you renounced all secret and shameful ways, all thoughts and behaviors that your sense of honor won’t allow to come to light? You know you can easily keep them hidden. Is there a thought in your heart about another person that you wouldn’t want revealed? Renounce it as soon as it springs up. Renounce all such thoughts, until there is nothing hidden or dishonest or cunning about you. Envy, jealousy, strife—these things don’t necessarily arise from your sinful disposition, but rather from the makeup of your body, which was used for this kind of thing in days gone by. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin” (1 Peter 4:1). Maintain a continual watchfulness over your flesh, so that nothing shameful arises in your life.
“Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully . . .” (2 Corinthians 4:2 kjv). To renounce craftiness is to give up the kind of sly, cunning arguments that will allow you to make your point. Craftiness is a great trap. You know that God will let you work in one way only—complete honesty and adherence to the gospel. Never try to catch people in any other way; God’s judgment will be upon you if you do.
Never blunt your sense of doing your utmost for God’s highest, and never compare yourself to others. Others may be operating in ways that are perfectly all right for them, but which for you would be sly and cunning. If you were to engage in these methods, it would mean using craftiness to achieve an end other than his highest, blunting the motive God gave you. Remember that God has given you a different point of view—his. Many have backed down because they are afraid of looking at things from God’s viewpoint.
Proverbs 22-24; 2 Corinthians 8
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.
He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
You Can't See, But He Can - #10352
Scripture: Galatians 5:16
The other night I saw one of the most adorable scenes I’ve seen in ages. I was coming out of a restaurant, and right ahead of me was a mother and a father. In between them was their little girl who was obviously a rookie at walking. She was just learning, and she had both hands extended upward. Mom had one hand and Dad had the other. She was dressed in this pretty little pink dress. She also had this cute, frilly little pink cap on. You can kind of picture it.
I came up behind them and I said, “Hey, she’s thinking this is really a big deal isn’t she folks? She’s kind of going, ‘I can walk! I can walk! Look at me!’” I walked past them and Dad at that point said to me, “Yeah, but she’s got a problem.” So, I looked back to see what he meant, and her little cap had fallen down over her forehead and was completely covering her eyes. So she’s still walking, sort of staggering around, and her Dad spoke for her when he said, “I can walk, but I can’t see!”
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “You Can't See, But He Can.”
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Galatians 5. Verse 16 says, “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Verse 25: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Now, here’s the description of an exciting lifestyle. The Apostle Paul calls it “keeping in step with the Spirit.” The old King James Version says “walking in the Spirit.”
Now, you can walk without the Spirit’s leading. Sure you can go through your day, make your choices, make your schedule, but there’s a problem. Like that little girl, you can walk but you can’t see. We make our plans. We make our schedule. We make our choices based on what looks best or what feels best, based on what we can see. We’ve got our cap over our eyes most of the time. We can’t see the long-range consequences of the choice we’re making today, but the Holy Spirit can.
We can’t see what choice would fit best into God’s plans for us, but the Spirit can. We can’t see where the resources will come from or the people, but the Holy Spirit can. The Holy Spirit has been placed by God inside your personality to nudge you to the right place at the right time in today’s schedule. So our job is to learn to recognize and respond to those inner Holy Spirit pushes and pulls and nudges.
How do you do it? Well, first you pray that God will sensitize you, “Lord, I want to be able to recognize those Holy Spirit nudges so I don’t disregard them. I want to know when you’re pushing me to do something.” Then frequently ask the Lord through the day, “Spirit, what’s the next step in this situation?” And then practice obeying those Spirit impulses: to make that phone call when He says to do it, to write that note, to go and just suddenly hug that family member, to drop everything for a person that He drops into your schedule, to open up to a certain passage of scripture.
The disciples had Jesus there and He said, “Follow me.” And it was easy, because He was right there physically. Well, we can do it today because we have His Spirit inside saying, “Come this way.” Don’t just pray in the morning and then go run off for the day with your pre-set course and then check back at bedtime.
You need the security, the adventure of following the Spirit’s leading all day long. After all, you can walk but you can’t see.
