Daily Devotionals

Zechariah 8:23 reads, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."   The prophet Zechariah writes, "Many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord...saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'" (Zechariah 8:22-23)....

Matthew 25:32 reads, "He will separate them one from another."   The Bible says: "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but...

Proverbs 5:12 reads, "You bless the righteous...with your favor."   When you ask someone for a favor, you're generally asking for something they don't owe you. The Bible says of God: "You bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor." This word "righteous"...

Proverbs 12:15 reads, "The wise listen to others."   Positioning yourself to receive - makes all the difference! For example, as you read this, if you position yourself to receive by saying to the Lord, "I will take action on what You show me," you'll benefit more...

Hebrews 1:3 reads, "The Son is...sustaining all things by his powerful word."   Are you so focused on your troubles that you've forgotten what God's Word says: "Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life"? (Psalm 23:6). We know about Job's troubles,...

John 15:16 reads, "I have...ordained you, that you should...bring forth fruit."   The word "ordained" comes from the word "ordered." God ordered and designed you specifically. He chose your life's direction. He preserve you when you thought you wouldn't make it. He...

Luke 15:18 reads, "I will arise and go to my father."   Once you grasp the fact that God has "chosen and appointed" you to accomplish certain things, many of your unanswered questions will begin to make sense. Like why you see things differently from others, or feel...

Galatians 4:5 reads, "You are now fully adopted as His own."   The word "appointed" means God has scheduled certain things to take place in your life at certain seasons. Sometimes people have to make lifestyle adjustments to accommodate an unexpected pregnancy - but...

John 15:16 reads, "I chose you and appointed you."   Jesus said, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain." How you begin a relationship is important. All parties need to feel secure...

Isaiah 6:8 reads, "I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"   Isaiah writes, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I fear? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I, send me!' He said, 'Go...!'" (Isaiah 6:8-9). In the preceding Scriptures Isaiah was...

1 Corinthians 15:10 reads, "By the grace of God I am what I am."   We all need good role models. But when you devote your life to being like somebody else, you risk becoming something God doesn't want you to be. Always remember, your "heroes" wrestle with blind spots...

2 Corinthians 4:7 reads, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels."   Christians aren't perfect! Here's why:   1) Because they're human. Yet with full knowledge of our highest potential and our lowest proclivities, God loves us unconditionally. The Bible says, "We...

Acts 27:31 reads, "Unless [you] stay with the ship, you cannot be saved."   Every church has problems - and the people who cause them. It has always been so. Consider the Corinthian church. Some members got drunk during communion, and others wouldn't attend unless...

Ephesians 5:25 reads, "Christ...loved the church and gave Himself for her."   Before you criticize your church, remember "Christ...loved the church and gave Himself for her." He hasn't given up on His church, so don't you give up on it! And stop talking so much about...

Hebrews 6:1 reads, "Let us go on...and become mature in our understanding."   Is what worked in the past not working for you now? Maybe it's a job you've outgrown, or a relationship you need to reexamine, or a method you need to change. Regardless of what it is, don't...

Matthew 9:36 reads, "He was moved with compassion for them."   The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance defines "compassion" as "being moved in one's bowels" (the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity). It shares a root system with splanchnology, the...

Proverbs 46:1-2 reads, "God is...always ready to help in times of trouble. And so, we won't be afraid!"   One day a woman was driving through the countryside when she saw a tornado approaching, so she hid behind her car and watched as it demolished a nearby house....

Proverbs 15:15 reads, "For the happy heart, life is a continual feast."   The story's told of a wise old man. Every day he and his granddaughter would sit outside his gas station in rocking chairs, waiting to greet tourists as they passed through their small town. One...

Acts 3:3 reads, "Who, seeing Peter and John...asked for alms."   Peter and John were willing to let the lame man at the temple gate interrupt their plans, and maybe make them late for "the hour of prayer" - which raises an important point. Is it possible to be so busy...

Acts 3:5 reads, "He gave them his attention, expecting to receive."   You can't help someone until they're ready. That calls for knowing the difference between those who are looking for solutions, and those who may just be looking for sympathy. Before the lame man at...

Acts 3:6 reads, "What I do have, I give you."   Notice two things in this story. First: It's important to know what you have and don't have. "Peter said, 'Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.'" You must be comfortable in your own skin and...

Acts 3:1 reads, "Peter...went up...to the temple at the hour of prayer."   The Bible says, "Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer...And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the...

Galatians 2:21 reads, "If a...relationship with God could come by rule-keeping...Christ died unnecessarily."   While grace doesn't give anyone a license to live as they please, the judgmentalism that comes from insisting that other people live by our standards has...

Psalm 40:8 reads, "I delight to do Your will."   Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, wrote: "Tonight I sit on the porch, our old German Shepherd dog lying at my feet. Thunder rumbles in the distance. As the storm nears he tears into the front yard to meet it...furiously doing...

Philippians 4:6 reads, "Offer up your prayers and requests to God."   The Bible says, "With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then...God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you...

Mark 14:6 reads, "She has done a beautiful thing to me."   Most of us are good actors, but it's difficult to fake a reaction. And when the woman broke the alabaster jar, the reaction of the disciples is telling, "Why this waste?" They thought she was pouring her...

Mark 14:5 reads, "More than a year's wages."   It's possible the alabaster jar of perfume represented every penny of this woman's life savings. The value is evidenced by the fact that two gospel writers find it noteworthy enough to give us a written estimate: 300...

Luke 7:37 reads, "A woman who had lived a sinful life...brought an alabaster jar of perfume."   The Bible says, "A woman who had lived a sinful life...brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping...poured perfume on them" (Luke...

Acts 6:4 reads, "We will give ourselves...to prayer and...the word."   In Disciplines of a Godly Man, pastor and author R. Kent Hughes says: "Jay Sidlow Baxter once shared a page from his own personal diary with a group of pastors who had inquired about the discipline...

2 Samuel 24:24 reads, "I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing."   Instead of trusting God for victory over his enemies, David decided of his own volition to count the number of troops in his army to...