Daily Devotion - October 28, 2025

Love is patient and kind …. It does not insist on its own way…. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (I Cor. 13:4-6)

Early in our marriage, my wife, Kathy, and I agreed not to belittle one another in public, even it was a common way our friends joked. Our agreement came after noticing how often these friends would use the protection of a public gathering to make embarrassing comments about a spouse’s habits, flaws, or foibles. 

Now don’t get me wrong, Kathy and I enjoy teasing one another, but we have learned that trying to correct or manipulate one another through public embarrassment, even in jest, isn’t helpful. Demeaning another for the sake of getting a laugh or gaining control is not a path to marital health.

Scripture is clear that we’re to exercise love and mutual respect toward our spouses. Our marriages should be places of mutual support – where we are secure enough to enjoy a tease and loving enough not to use it to mask manipulation.  

Mutual respect builds marriages. Teasing can make them fun. But public embarrassment, where the one teased cannot respond or defend without further embarrassment, is unfair. 

God’s grace flows through marriages where love does not seek its own way, does not rejoice in another’s discomfort, and teases to unite in fun not to embarrass anyone.  

Prayer: Father, help me to express love and honor in the way I speak to and about my spouse. Help me to build up another in love, as you knit us together by your grace. 

Daily Devotion - October 27, 2025

I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. (Ezek. 34:26)

Have you ever considered how strange it is that you can keep your balance in the shower when shampooing your hair? Think about it. There you are with eyes closed, standing without support, your hands flailing through your hair while you shake your head like a rock star.  Yet, despite the frenzied gyrations, you keep your balance. What keeps you from falling?

The water from the shower nozzle tapping you on the shoulder keeps you oriented.  Similarly, the blessings of God, gently shower over our lives keeps us spiritually oriented and in balance for his calling. 

When we are experiencing trials, there is never total absence of blessings. So, we praise God for the good we can see, despite the grace we cannot yet see. 

It may be good to remember the example of Bible commentator Matthew Henry. A man once stole his wallet. Henry’s response: “I am thankful he never robbed me before; that he took my wallet and not my life; although he took all I had, it was not much; and, I am glad that it was I who was robbed and not I who did the robbing.” 

Awareness of the constant stream of grace that flows over us keeps us steady for God’s service.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you have poured down showers of blessing in my life. May the good I can see prepare me for the grace I cannot yet see as you orient me toward your purposes. 

Daily Devotion - October 24, 2025

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:10-11)

I think it’s fair to say that many people honor God out of mere duty — or because they dread his anger. How many times have you heard someone say they did something wrong, and now they’re waiting for the proverbial bolt of lightning to strike? 

Yet, God wants the prime motivation of his children to be very different! That’s why his greatest commandment is for you to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matt. 22:37-8). 

That love relationship changes everything in our Christian walk. God’s love assures us that his rules are for our benefit, not the arbitrary commands of an eternal killjoy. Loving God’s makes our service to him joy, rather than a burden or a bribe.  

When we truly understand God’s heart of grace through the revelation of Jesus Christ, we’re drawn into a relationship with him that’s filled with love, calling us to a life that pleases and glorifies God.

That calling causes us to obey God not out of fearful dread or slavish fear, but out of a childlike love and willing heart. Our greatest delight is delighting him. The heart of gratitude (rather than earthly gain or divine avoidance) is the supreme motivation and power of those who grasp how great is God’s love. 

What communicates that love? Jesus. As we gaze upon his cross and marvel at his provision for sinners like us, we live to love him. That was the plan from the beginning. So live to love him, and love living for him!

Prayer: Father, thank you for loving me so much that you sent your Son as a “propitiation” to pay the penalty for my sins. May I respond to your love by loving to live for you.

Daily Devotion - October 23, 2025

Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)

When our children were small, we sometimes worried about their safety on the stairs of our home. The long staircase offered no landing to ease the danger of its steep slope. But the more we worried, the more the kids seemed attracted to the stairs – our youngest daughter especially.

Normally, we would scold the toddler for heading up the stairs alone, but one time, she was trying so hard that I didn’t have the heart to stop her. Instead, I followed close behind – with my hands ready to catch her. 

When she reached the top, she was so proud of her accomplishment that she raised her hands in triumph. If she had been a rooster, she would have crowed. 

She did not realize that her success and safety were secured by hands other than her own. Likewise, as much as we may think our accomplishments are all our doing, God is actually holding us in his hands, and directing the hosts of heaven to keep us secure for his purposes.

Prayer: Father, when my trials or my pride threaten to overwhelm my spirit, help me to remember the heavenly hosts that guard my soul and your hands that enable every accomplishment. 

Daily Devotion - October 22, 2025

You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. . . But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. (Eph. 2:1, 4-5)

Long ago, there lived a king who looked out from his palace window to see his young child gathering flowers for a royal bouquet. But the child did not only gather flowers. Because he was a child, he collected weeds as well.

To help his laboring child, the king tasked his eldest son with a mission: to go and remove the weeds from his younger sibling’s bouquet and replace them with flowers gathered from the king’s own garden. 

The older son did just as his father instructed.  Soon the beaming, younger child approached his father’s throne to present the beautiful bouquet to the king. “Here, my father,” he said, “are the flowers I have prepared for you.”

Only later would the younger child understand that his gift had been made acceptable by the gracious provision of his father who sent the older brother to make them right. In a similar way, our Heavenly Father provided Christ (our elder brother) to take all our works and weeds and turn them into acceptable gifts for God by his gracious provision!

Prayer: Father, thank you for making the bouquets of my works acceptable to you by the work of Jesus – not just at the end of my life, but every day of my life. May his gracious provision for my flawed flowers make me all the more desirous of bringing more to glorify you this day and every day.

Daily Devotion - October 21, 2025

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 2:5)

When construction began on a new development in our community, the builder placed a large fence around the property.  He wouldn’t allow anything inside the gate except what would advance the building of those new homes.

In a similar way, God puts a construction fence around our lives and allows nothing to enter except what will develop us more into the likeness of Jesus.

This fence of God’s care is one of the Christian’s greatest comforts. It assures us that nothing enters our lives except that which is for our ultimate good. The fence of God’s care doesn’t signal that everything will be easy or finished all at once, but it does mean that whatever we encounter inside the fence will have a purpose in the plan of the Architect.

So, remember, Christians are not perfect, but under construction. We have been fenced about with God’s love so that we can be built up according to his perfect plan, and nothing enters our lives except what will be used to make us more like Christ in holiness and service to God!

Prayer: Lord, whatever I face today, help me to remember that it would not have come if it did not have a purpose in your design for my life. Help me to respond with the faith that nothing can enter my life that does not help me better to understand and reflect my Savior.

Daily Devotion - October 21, 2025

You felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. (2 Cor. 7:9-10)

When we grieve for our wrongdoing, we are experiencing the conviction that that our sins have hurt the heart of God. No one should want to feel such pain, but God uses it to assure us of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. 

If the Holy Spirit were not in our hearts, then we would not grieve that we have aggrieved our God. The heart not indwelt by the Holy Spirit is hardened against God and cannot feel true conviction for sin. 

It is certainly possible to feel the guilt of having been caught, or the shame of failing loved ones, without being a true Christian. However, it is impossible to experience sorrow for grieving our Heavenly Father without believing that our sins have betrayed One who loves us. Such conviction is entirely and only by the work of the Holy Spirit. 

So, strange as it may sound, godly grief is confirmation of God in our hearts. We need not despair that our sin has forever separated us from God when our godly sorrow is the absolute proof of his continuing presence. 

The conviction that confirms God is still with us gives us fresh incentive to love and serve him. In fact, the Spirit uses your godly sorrow to grant confidence that he has not rejected you in order to encourage your prayers of repentance. 

Conviction of sin is the assurance of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling that makes us willing to confess sin and wanting to please him again!

Prayer: Father, thank you for the confirming work of the Holy Spirit! May he convict my conscience to assure me that I am yours and to lead me to the blessings of repentance.

Daily Devotion - October 20, 2025

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 2:5)

When construction began on a new development in our community, the builder placed a large fence around the property.  He wouldn’t allow anything inside the gate except what would advance the building of those new homes.

In a similar way, God puts a construction fence around our lives and allows nothing to enter except what will develop us more into the likeness of Jesus.

This fence of God’s care is one of the Christian’s greatest comforts. It assures us that nothing enters our lives except that which is for our ultimate good. The fence of God’s care doesn’t signal that everything will be easy or finished all at once, but it does mean that whatever we encounter inside the fence will have a purpose in the plan of the Architect.

So, remember, Christians are not perfect, but under construction. We have been fenced about with God’s love so that we can be built up according to his perfect plan, and nothing enters our lives except what will be used to make us more like Christ in holiness and service to God!

Prayer: Lord, whatever I face today, help me to remember that it would not have come if it did not have a purpose in your design for my life. Help me to respond with the faith that nothing can enter my life that does not help me better to understand and reflect my Savior.

Daily Devotion - October 17, 2025

…Be imitators of God, as beloved children. (Ephesians 5:1)

Before my wife and I really understood the gospel of grace, we would discipline our children the way we heard others discipline their kids. I would say to my son, “Colin, you’re a bad boy because you disobeyed.”

Such words were so common in our upbringing that we didn’t grasp their flaw. We were teaching our children that who they were was based on what they would do– that because they did a bad thing, they were bad. We based their who on their do. That’s not the gospel!

The good news Jesus came to share is that our identity is not determined by our behaviors but by the relationship his grace alone secures. We don’t imitate God to become beloved; we imitate him, as already beloved children.

To reflect this gospel in parenting, I had to learn to say, “Colin, don’t disobey, because you are my son, and I love you!” I wanted him to know in every way possible that our deeds do not determine our identity; our identity motivates our deeds! 

We do not obey God to gain his love, but to offer thanks for the grace that granted it. Grace prompts the gratitude of joyous devotion. 

Today honor the One who loves you, not because of what you do, but because you are his. Love him with the devotion of the child that you are by his grace alone. Such devotion will be your joy, not because it earns anything for you, but because Jesus gave everything for you.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for making me your child through the grace of Jesus Christ alone. Help me so to treasure this identity that my life reverberates with works of thanksgiving that honor you and demonstrate the depth of my affection for you.

Daily Devotion - October 16, 2025

All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. (Psalm 25:10)

In our national parks and forests, trails are designed to maintain the safety of the hikers, bikers, and campers. Similarly, the principles of God’s law establish the safe path for God’s people through all of life. So, taking such a path should not be something we dread but something we desire to experience God’s guidance and safekeeping.

Staying on the path never earns us God’s grace. If God were not already gracious to us, the path would never have been laid. 

The path of God’s law is an expression of God’s constant care. That’s why the psalmist could sing to God: “Oh how I love your law!  It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). 

Rejecting God’s good and safe path is not a walk into a carefree life, but foolish wandering from his steadfast love and abiding care.

Today, walk in the safe and good path God graciously provides, and you’ll discover more and more of the character and care of God!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, your Word lights the path that enables me to discover the greatest blessings you intend for my life. Please provide the grace I need today to walk this path with confidence in the love and care of the One who laid it. 

Daily Devotion - October 15, 2025

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules. (Psalm 119:105-06)

With an ascent that approaches 14,000 feet, Horn Peak is one of my favorite hikes in the Colorado Rockies. But on one sunny day, as our group reached the tree line, clouds rolled over the mountain. The peak was still visible, and I had hiked the trail before, so I wasn’t concerned. But I should have been.

As we climbed back down from the peak, dense fog enveloped us, hiding the trees and rocks we used to navigate our course. Without a familiar path to follow, we lost our way, came to a sheer drop off, retraced our steps up the mountain, and had to descend through increasing fog, then snow, then darkness for a safe path. 

As daylight waned and we prepared to spend a desperately cold night on the mountain without shelter, we wandered across a well-worn trail. God had graciously provided a path in the remaining light for our rescue!

Similarly, when we have been endangered by wandering from God in spiritual darkness, he provides for our rescue. Not only does his grace alone keep us from a fall into hell, but it also marks for us a path of safety and blessing by the law that shines his love on our path through this life.

Prayer: Lord, may your Word be a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path as I seek to follow you in the ways you have graciously designed and revealed for my life.

Daily Devotion - October 14, 2025

“And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him…whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:22-24)

Do you know how to win baseball’s World Series? Decades ago, when the New York Mets were the surprise champions, the team’s young pitchers told the secret: You gotta believe! In almost every championship series since, people take up that same slogan for their favorite team.  

Belief, it seems, is the magic potion to get what you want. Unfortunately, this superstitious notion of “believing” gets transferred to spiritual matters without spiritual priorities. For example, we can begin to think of prayer as a way of persuading God to give us the trinkets and treasures we desire as long as we “believe” enough that we will get them.  

This “genie in the bottle” approach to prayer, misses the words that began Jesus’ teaching: “Have faith in God.” Our belief is in God, not in the urgency of our desires or the degree of our belief. Our faith is in his wisdom, not ours; his plans, not ours; his fatherly care, not our childish understanding. 

Biblical prayer surrenders control to God, believing that He is already ahead of us, sovereignly responding to our prayers better than we can imagine. We offer meager desires to God, believing the One who made the mountains will move heaven and earth to bless those who have faith in his greater grace.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to trust that the One who made the mountains will move heaven and earth to bless me, so that I will pour out my heart’s desires to you in faith.

Daily Devotion - October 13, 2025

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. (Eph. 1:7-8)

What does it take for a marathon runner to power through the final miles?  Grit … determination … willpower … Oxygen!

To take in adequate oxygen in those final miles, even the fittest runners open their mouths. Of course, they don’t think that by opening their mouths they’re going to manufacture oxygen. No amount of human effort could do that! Instead, the runners open their mouths to take in what is already surrounding them.

In the same way, we shouldn’t read our Bible or pray or worship God with the expectation that we’re going to manufacture God’s grace for us.  His free, unconditional, unlimited grace has already been fully provided by the work of Jesus. 

When we read God’s Word, pray, and worship, we are relishing the grace that’s already been provided for us so that the joy of the Lord would be our strength (Neh. 8:10). 

We are not manufacturing grace by our performance of these Christian disciplines. We are practicing these disciplines because we rejoice in the grace they reveal and are strengthened by the joy they promote.

So, use every means of grace to breathe in deeply the beauty of God’s grace that every verse and every prayer and every true act of worship celebrates!

 Ready, set, breathe! Breathe in the goodness of God by using his Word, worship, and prayer to fill up your heart with celebration of the grace that is his free gift for your forever joy. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the grace that you lavishly supply through Jesus Christ. Help me this day to use every means of grace you provide to breathe in the goodness of your care so that your joy would be my strength.

Daily Devotion - October 10, 2025

These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deut. 6:6-7)

As parents, we all make mistakes. My wife, Kathy, and I have made our fair share. We can recall times of improper discipline, impatience, and poor judgment that we hope God will erase from our kids’ memories. But even if they remember, we won’t despair.

As Scripture describes the day-in-and-day-out patterns of biblical parenting, we are blessed by the realization that our patterns are more critical than a particular mistake. Momentary errors will not wreck our children’s souls. Otherwise, conscientious parents could become paralyzed, fearing to do anything with the concern that something might ruin our children. 

God’s grace not only pardons our sin, it provides the instruction that fallible parents need to establish home and life patterns that are more influential than any particular error resulting from temporary fatigue or an overwhelming day!

Our gracious Heavenly Father gives us second chances and long patterns to enable us to steer children in his ways! We may take an occasional wrong turn, but the road is long and forgiving. Praise God, and don’t give up on yourself or his map for the long journey of parenting.

Prayer: Father, I know that I make mistakes, but I thank you for always forgiving me in Christ. Please help me to trust your unconditional love and follow your patient plan as I raise children to know you.

Daily Devotion - October 9, 2025

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. (Hab. 3:19 NIV)

Driving through Colorado mountains on a vacation, my family discovered how easy it is to mistake an up for a down.  

Winding through an extremely difficult mountain pass where stony peaks arced away from the car at steep angles, it seemed as though the towering rock enveloping us was forcing us downward. 

Yet, despite our visual sensations, the struggling noise of the car engine indicated we were in fact on an incline. Only by looking in the rearview mirror could we compensate for the optical illusion and see that we were really climbing higher.

In a similar way, when faced with God’s discipline or the world’s difficulties, we may feel as though we’re being brought down, but as we look back over the path the Lord has enabled us to tread, we’ll see he was actually taking us to spiritual heights. 

The journey may be steep and hard, but God only works to lead us higher and closer to his heart.

Prayer: Sovereign Lord, you are my strength. Enable me today to walk through the valleys of this life and to the spiritual heights that are closest to your heart. 

Daily Devotion - October 8, 2025

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom. 12:2)

Maybe you’re like me. I was raised in a Christian home, but in my teens, my parents’ marriage was in crisis, and I retreated to my room most nights to escape the tensions and stress.

So, when I went off to college, and even began ministry, I didn’t have good perspectives on marriage or relationships of any kind. I lived in a protective shell, cool and aloof. I limited any expression of love or emotion, protecting myself from pain, while actually wanting love and connection. 

When the Lord first brought, Kathy, my future wife, into my life, I was sure that I could help her grow in spiritual understanding. I now praise God, that he used her to teach me far more of his grace for battered souls like mine. 

Kathy loved me past my aloofness, forgave my pride, and allowed me to grow in tenderness. Had she not expressed grace better than I can explain it, I shudder to think of the father, pastor, or man that I would have become. 

God’s transformation occurs when our minds are renewed by understanding how good, pleasing, and perfect is his will. His Word reveals that will; our relationships also have the power to make it real. Teaching and showing grace to one another breaks the patterns of the world and renews hearts for Jesus. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, continue to transform my heart and mind by the Word and work of your Holy Spirit, so that I can know your good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Daily Devotion - October 7, 2025

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:12-13)

Driving through the flat fields of our area, we often have an unobstructed view from one horizon to its opposite. When our children were small, we would encourage them to look one direction out our car windows, and then scan the horizon all the way to other side of the car. Then we would say, “That’s how far God has removed our sins from us.”

 The perspective that keeps us adults from fully appreciating that wideness of God’s mercy is one obstructed by our own sin. We imagine the heavenly expanse blocked by a God looking down on us with arms crossed and frowning face. That’s why the Bible not only tells us about how distant God makes our sin, but how open are his arms to draw us near.  

Our Maker remembers we are creatures of dust, needing his compassion, and he shares it as readily as a compassionate father embracing a child in need!

Prayer: Lord, help me remember your love removes my sins as far as the east is from the west, and you have fatherly compassion for all who confess they need such grace.

Daily Devotion - October 6, 2025

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. (Prov. 3:11-12)

A father who delighted in his son was genuinely surprised at an act of foolish rebellion. As was the habit of that family in that era, the disobedience resulted in a trip to the bathroom for a few whacks of mom’s hairbrush to “the seat of education.”

The son’s reaction to the punishment also surprised the father. The child shook with spasms of tears expressing far more pain than the controlled discipline could have inflicted. 

The father said, “Son, why are you so upset? You have never reacted this way before. Did I hurt you more than I intended?”

“No, Dad,” the child replied. “But always before, you left the bathroom door open. This time you shut it and in the mirror on the door I could see the pain in your face as you disciplined me. I did not know how much I hurt you, until I saw your face.”

So also our God takes no delight in our discipline, but because he delights in us, he will act to protect us from the harm of unchecked sin. How much our sin hurts him was revealed at the cross.

Prayer: Father, no child enjoys discipline – including me! Help me to realize and receive your discipline as an act of love intended to turn me from harm and to help me grow to maturity in Christ’s blessings.

Daily Devotion - October 3, 2025

He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

Perhaps the first children’s song we learned was Jesus Loves Me. The song teaches us about Jesus and also about ourselves: “Little ones to him belong; they are weak but he is strong.” We may get too old for the song’s tune, but should not mature beyond its truth.

 Even the Apostle Paul did not outgrow the confession of his weaknesses. If that seems humiliating, then we have not fully grasped the blessings of Jesus’ love. 

Our Savior delights to show himself strong in behalf of those who confess their need of him. When we acknowledge that our sins and our trials are beyond our resources, then we are signaling for our Savior to rescue with his. 

Our grownup tendency is to trust our abilities. Childlike faith that trusts Jesus’ love and power, confesses, “Jesus, I need your help.” Then, the same Jesus that loves the little children responds, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Prayer: Father, thank you for promising sufficient grace. Help me rely on my Savior’s strength more than mine by a willingness to boast of my weaknesses that require his rescue.

Daily Devotion - October 2, 2025

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:8)

I have seen the wall where the ink left its stain. A spattered shadow still appears where Martin Luther is said to have thrown his inkwell at the Devil’s appearance. The story is famous for its dramatic features and important because of its representation of spiritual warfare. 

Luther wasn’t running from God or pursuing an evil path when he felt most assaulted by Satan. The spiritual attack came while Luther was translating the New Testament into the language of his people.

After enduring great personal sacrifice and engaging in efforts that would change the face of the Western world, Luther’s faith was severely tested. His experience should teach us we are never immune to spiritual assault — not even when we are immersed in noble spiritual endeavors. 

Thus, we must resist the Devil, not only by doing important things for God, but by drawing near to him. Great men and women of God often receive their greatest spiritual challenge when engaged in their most important spiritual work. The key to our spiritual safety is not the greatness of our endeavor but the nearness of our God. 

Our temptation is to be fulfilled by doing a great work for God, but he first desires a great heart for God. We want the achievement; God wants our heart. 

Prayer: Father, help me to recognize and resist the attacks of the evil one. Let me not substitute the importance of doing work for you with the necessity of drawing near to you.