Daily Devotion - November 26, 2025

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3)

If grace doesn’t erase God’s commands, how does it affect the way we teach them? Can we teach his commands without becoming legalistic?

The answer is a resounding, “Yes!” But only when we understand the purpose of God’s commands for our life. If we think they are given so that we might earn or retain his love, that can’t work, because our best works are like polluted garments to him (Is. 64:6). Manufacturing divine affection will always be beyond our abilities!

God has given us his law so that we will experience, not earn, the good he intends for our lives. When we teach that God’s law is an expression of his gracious care for those that he redeemed through the sacrifice of his Son alone, then we will teach the law to bless not to burden. 

The commandments of God demonstrate his love for us, not how we extract love from him.  Teaching the standards God outlines for us to experience the best this life can offer is not the teaching of legalism but of love. 

When we teach the grace that gave the law, and the grace that secures our hearts despite our transgressions of it, then destructive legalism gives way to compulsive love.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I know that your commands are given for my good and are an expression of your grace. Help me today to show my love for you by obeying your Word, repenting of my sin, and growing in your grace.

Daily Devotion - November 25, 2025

Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Eph. 5:33)

The Apostle Paul’s description of the biblical role of a wife in marriage culminates in a single word: respect. That’s a word that seems to make half of humanity applaud, while the other half cringes.

The cringe factor only increases when we realize that the apostle uses the same word to describe the reverential awe that all Christians should have toward our Lord. No human and certainly no husband would seem to deserve that kind of regard. 

The impossible requirement imbedded in the word respect actually signals its purpose. A wife’s respect cannot be rooted in her husband’s deserving, but in God’s purposes. We revere a divine design.

A wife’s obligations of attitude and action have to come from her respect for God’s purposes more than her husband’s perfections. A husband will never deserve the reverential regard that he needs to fulfill God’s calling on his life. It is only granted by a gracious wife.

As the spiritual head of the home, the husband will stand before God and give account of his family’s spiritual nurture. The wife who reveres that calling will support her husband with the respect that helps him to honor God for the whole family’s sake.

Prayer: Lord, help me to honor my spouse more for divine purposes than for human perfections. Your perfect love did not await my deserving. Nurture such grace in my family, as I love and honor an imperfect person for Christ’s sake.

Daily Devotion - November 24, 2025

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Rom. 10:14)

The Navigators is an international ministry founded in 1933 by Dawson Trotman. It all started at a Texaco service station in Lomita, California. Trotman offered a baked bean dinner to two young sailors in order to share his testimony and the belief that God would use them if they trusted in him. 

A few months later, the sailors persuaded Trotman to become a missionary to the fleet. None knew the assignment ahead…Pearl Harbor.

By the time of the attack, 120 to 130 men were regularly meeting in Bible studies aboard ship. And when their ship was destroyed, the surviving sailors were distributed on ships across the Pacific fleet. By the end of the war, there were 800 ships with Bible studies being led by the Navigators. 

Trotman’s story is a great reminder that others will call upon Jesus when they hear what to believe. And they hear what to believe when someone loving and bold enough speaks of him.

 Jesus works when we speak!

Prayer: Lord, help me to share your good news with my family, friends, and neighbors. How can they believe in you if they do not hear of you? Help me to speak for you.

Daily Devotion - November 21, 2025

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph. 5:21 NIV)

Each one of us possesses a unique personality, a unique set of talents, and a background that God desires to use to make our churches, homes, and each other better. 

But if you’re dealing with a difficult person, their foibles and faults can make it difficult to assess why the Lord allows such people in our lives. Why would God do such things?

Difficult people require Christlike patience. The loveless require Christ’s love. We require God’s character to express his care to those without his character. God expects us to confront error in ways that are boldly faithful and humbly submissive to his will. In this way, he builds aspects of our faith that we may not even want.

That’s why biblical submission to one another’s needs is not the suppression of gifts but full expression for mutual benefit. The one receiving the care and the one giving it grow in Christlikeness.

When we submit to one another, we are not backing away from challenges, we are using the heart and gifts of God to reflect his goodness and character into the life of someone he loves – including us!

Prayer: Lord, thank you for saving me despite my flaws. As I reflect this grace boldly for your sake and humbly for others’ sake, help me to remember that difficult people are meant to bring out the grace in me that you poured into me. 

Daily Devotion - November 20, 2025

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Phil. 2:3-4)

A selfie taken by a police officer with a Houston area teen went viral. The picture got such attention because it was such a contrast to recent events. 

A week earlier, in the same city torn by racial tensions, a policeman had been gunned down while pumping gas. So, when this teenager offered to stand behind a police officer in the rain, as she pumped gas — “to make sure you are safe” — that was a contrast and a picture the world was longing to see. 

The officer later said, I’m the one with the gun on my hip, . . . but he for sure had my ‘6’ while my back was turned.”

The message of “I’ve got your back” is exactly what we should be saying and showing to each other in our churches and in our communities. Biblical faith is not selfish but considers the needs of others more significant than our own. 

Jesus exposed his back and body to cruelty to secure our eternity. The world should see in us this grace that Jesus selflessly provided to make his message plain – even viral! 

Prayer: Lord, help me to consider the needs of others more significant than my own, praying for them and offering needed support to demonstrate the grace of my Savior.

Daily Devotion - November 19, 2025

He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! . . . And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25, 27)

Every page of Scripture contributes to our understanding of the grand theme of God’s intention to rescue people who cannot rescue themselves from a world of sin. 

Unlike every other religion that details what humans must do or think to escape the pains and pressures of this world, the Bible teaches that God himself provides our rescue. 

We don’t climb to him; he reaches to us. That message is so counter-intuitive even disciples of Jesus were “slow of heart” to receive it. So, like a legendary coach at a pro training camp saying, “Gentlemen, this is a football,” Jesus goes back to the basics. 

Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained how all the Scriptures related to him. He had said it all before, telling the religious leaders of that day, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you will have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me.” 

No one should contend that every passage of Scripture mentions Jesus, but all coordinate to reveal our spiritual inadequacy and God’s gracious provision that culminates in a Redeemer. When we see how resolute, unrelenting, and undeterred our God’s grace toward us has been, then our hearts greatest priority is to glorify and enjoy him. 

Prayer: Jesus, open my eyes to see how your Word has revealed your grace – from Genesis to Revelation – so that I will love and live to serve you above all and for all my days.  

Daily Devotion - November 18, 2025

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:11-12)

We all know, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the size of the fight in the dog.”  But, as believers, what is our fight?

In Ephesians 6:12, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that our fight is spiritual in nature, not physical. He tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the powers of this dark world.

So, how do we prevail in spiritual warfare? First, admit it’s real! Then, remember what the Apostle Paul teaches — your strength is not your armor. 

God provides armor of his making for you: his truth, his righteousness, his peace, his faith, his salvation, his Word, and prayer. Rely on these!

An old hymn reminds us the Lord is “power of my power, and sword for my fight.” So, stand firm in his protection and provision. The battle may be fierce, but evil will not ultimately prevail. Our gospel armor is secure, and our victory is already won in Christ.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving me all the spiritual armor I need in Christ. Help me to stand firm as I wrestle with evil, trusting in your provision and protection.

Daily Devotion - November 17, 2025

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Rom. 8:26)

Have you ever wondered what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that the Spirit is interceding for believers with groans beyond words? Paul had a specific meaning in mind. Earlier in this chapter, he said that creation groans for the fulfillment of God’s purposes with the cries of a mother giving birth.  

The reference reminds us that the Holy Spirit is advocating for our concerns with greater fervor than we can muster. We may be nodding off in our own bedtime prayers, but the Spirit is appealing to God with the fervor of a mother in final stages of bringing new life into the world. 

Not only does the Spirit intercede with such fervor but with such intent. We can be praying with cold or selfish hearts, but the Holy Spirit is interceding for the sake of new life on earth and in us.

While our prayers may be reflecting desires that are immature, ill-informed, or self-seeking, the Spirit is transforming our prayers into petitions for God’s purposes and priorities to be born in us.

We pray, and the Spirit brings the fervor and power to petition God for new life in and through us. 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the Spirit who makes my prayers into godly petitions that have the power to bring new power and priorities into my life that are birthed by you.

Daily Devotion - November 14, 2025

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. (Heb. 10:24)

When our youngest daughter was in high school, her life became an incredibly busy whirlwind of activities.  With my own hectic schedule, connecting with her was sometimes a challenge. 

But I wanted to connect with her, and so my wife suggested I get up early to fix my daughter breakfast the mornings that I was home. Nothing special — just a bowl of cereal.

On those mornings, as I joined my daughter, I would often consider what was my most important responsibility as the father of this young Christian woman. As I filled her cereal bowl, I realized what it was. My most important task was so to fill her heart with love for Christ.

Why? Because all responsible parents know that there are trials and temptations ahead for each child. But, if my child’s heart is full of love for Christ, she cannot be more safe or strong. 

That is not only true of my child but of every child of God. When our hearts are full of love for Christ, then we are never more spiritually safe or strong.

We stir up one another to love and good deeds by filling up hearts with love for the One who loved us and gave himself for us. Such encouragement is spiritual power!

Prayer: Father, help me to stir up loved ones to honor you by filling them up with love for Jesus. May a supreme love for him keep us all spiritually safe and strong by diminishing all other desires that would lead us from him. 

Daily Devotion - November 13, 2025

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God. (Eph. 6:12-13)

Many attempts have been made to classify the demonic forces of darkness the apostle Paul identifies in Ephesians chapter 6. Most of the classifications are speculative, but there is no doubt that the Apostle Paul wants us to know that Satan works through evil forces that are present in this world — though not apparent to natural eyes.  

Our natural inclination when facing enemies we do not see is to assume that they are not present and pose no threat. Yet, when we put on the spiritual glasses that Scripture provides, we see that Satan’s forces constantly threaten our spiritual wellbeing.

Wicked leaders, lustful pursuits, unchallenged injustice, and blinding materialism are but examples of the weapons of those who intend our undoing. 

Forget the sham impressions of Halloween costumes and horror movie spooks. The Evil One appears as an angel of light, blinding us to the devastations of acceptable sins, distracting us from his destruction with promises of painless pleasures. 

The Bible reminds us that we are to be on guard, equipping ourselves with the armor God graciously provides to those otherwise no match for demonic powers and pervasive deceits. Apart from Christ, we are helpless against evil; with Christ, the demons flee.

Prayer: Father, help me not to be distracted or deluded by evil. May your spiritual armor protect me from spiritual foes as I depend upon Christ’s strength rather than my own! Open my eyes to real spiritual dangers and a stronger Savior.

Daily Devotion - November 12, 2025

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Understanding that God’s primary goal for allowing the trials we face is our spiritual transformation helps to explain why God delays his response to some requests. Though we may be interested in a change of circumstances, God is more interested in changing us!

When we want a quick solution, God may be wanting us to grow in patience! When we want a troublesome co-worker removed, God may desire a greater understanding of his heart in them – and us. We always want closure for all our problems, but God wants us to learn to trust him in everything!

God never hesitates because he is incapable or unwilling to bless. As Richard Trench once wrote, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of his highest willingness.” What is he most willing to do? Make us reflect ever more the heart, the hope, and the eternal joy of Jesus.

As another wrote long ago: “God is perfect love and perfect wisdom. We do not pray in order to change his will, but in order to bring our will in harmony with his.” 

Prayer: Lord, help me to pray for your will more than mine, so that whether you change my circumstances or me, I will know and reflect more of my Savior. May confidence in your perfect grace for me grant your perfect peace to me.

Daily Devotion - November 11, 2025

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:34-36)

I have lived in the Land of Lincoln, a region in Illinois where legends and facts about the 16th president are so intertwined that it’s sometimes difficult to determine all that’s true. But the tales of his life consistently reflect the principles he lived by.

One account is that he collected all the savings of his meager income as a young lawyer to cast the highest bid at a slave auction. After purchasing the slave, he immediately set her free and told her she could go wherever she wished. She replied to him, “I wish to go with you!”

Such loyalty naturally results from gratitude for being freed from slavery. So, when we have been supernaturally released from slavery to sin by the Son of God, our hearts are freed to give even greater loyalty to Him.

Biblical gratitude does not attempt to repay the debt for grace our meager efforts could never offset, but responds in grateful loyalty, going with Jesus wherever desires to do whatever he requires!

Prayer: Lord, thank you for removing my chains and setting me free in Christ. Now that I am no longer a slave, fill me with such gratitude for my freedom that my heart is bound to you in loyalty and love!

Daily Devotion - November 10, 2025

Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Eph. 5:33)

Proverbs 31 describes a godly woman as one who brings honor and blessing to her husband. But a husband is not the only one who benefits from the respect of a godly wife? She benefits as well!  

No woman wants to be married to a man that she does not respect. So, the respect a wife offers her husband does not only benefit him. It provides the deep levels of marital fulfillment that her heart yearns for. The more a wife treasures her husband, the more satisfying and precious she will find their union.

Of course, this instruction seems unfair when a husband seems unworthy of respect – and one apostle even tell wives to “reverence” their husbands. None are worthy of that. So how do we think about these instructions?

The simple answer is a willingness to respect others is more often a product of what is in our hearts than what is in their lives. Everyone has flaws that we cannot respect, and everyone has features we can choose to respect. From Scripture we learn that the more we respect the features we can, the less we see the flaws we cannot.  

Yes, it’s hard. But the grace God extends to you is the grace available to you to love another as you have been loved. Fulfilling marriages are built on mutual respect from mutual sinners. You have to respect the spouse you married to be married to a spouse you respect. 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for my spouse! Help me to learn from your grace toward me so that I will love my spouse as you have loved me, and will respect as I wish to be respected. 

Daily Devotion - November 7, 2025

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Pet. 1:8-9)

Pro basketball star, Jeremy Lin, was having a bad year. In the midst of a terrible slump, he wrote on his blog, “I am in the fight of my life for joy … Only when I focus on who God is … and how much He loves me, am I able to live with joy and freedom.”

How could he say this? Because he put on his gospel glasses. While he was reading sports headlines of criticism, he was also considering the salvation that would remain long after critics were gone. He used the absence of the world’s acclaim to focus on the eternity of God’s love. 

The same can be true for us! No matter what we’re presently facing, when we focus on the grace of God that has no limit in amount or duration then we’re able to live with continuing joy. Such joy is true freedom from voices of criticism from the world or from within.

Prayer: Father, when the outcomes of my life seems joyless, please help me to focus on the outcome of my faith, the salvation of my soul and eternity with you.

Daily Devotion - November 6, 2025

I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1 Tim. 1:16)

If God shows mercy to people who have messed up as badly as the Apostle Paul (and David, and Abraham, and Gideon, and Peter, and the whole host of Biblical “heros”) then, there is hope of for us – even when there are messes in our background, too. 

One of the leaders of our church, was shattered by a series of bad decisions that destroyed his income, his adult children’s security, his community esteem, and ultimately his health. As he left church one day, he paused at the door with weary and watery eyes to say, “Pastor, now I’m just a zero.”

Much of the man’s status had been reduced to nothing in the world’s eyes, but our church was also watching. As this faithful man responded to his trials without bitterness, his children awoke from the nominal faith of their former affluence. Our church leadership also became attentive to his counsel when economic hardship rocked our community. 

Families fractured by loss were healed by the experienced care of this man and his loving wife. The “zero” became such a hero of God’s grace that this pastor realizes he would not have been prepared for his own trials, or perhaps have remained in ministry, without the grace displayed in one who thought so little of himself. 

Failure is never the final chapter of lives turned to hope by a greater grace! God will patiently work his grace for eternal purposes. Wait patiently for him, trusting Jesus until his perfect will is done.

Prayer: Father, thank you for Christ’s patience with me. Please give me patience for his perfect will to be done, trusting the love that sent him will rescue me and use me for eternity.

Daily Devotion - November 5, 2025

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. (Eph. 3:16-17 NIV)

The Apostle Paul’s example encourages us to pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen others. When others are strengthened by the Spirit through our prayers, our own hearts are encouraged and we become more aware of the power of prayer to build the community of faith that supports us. 

I have stood in pulpits with hopeful and supportive faces waiting to be fed with the Word of God. I have also stood facing suspicious and angry faces unwilling to hear anything I would say. 

I know that God’s Word can work in both, but I treasure the sense of soaring power that comes from evidence of supportive prayer for me from the congregation; and I know the sense of power being sapped from me by lack of support.

These differences remind me of Jesus’ lack of miracles due to the lack of faith from his hometown (Mark 6:5-6). Advancing God’s work is not just about praying for personal effectiveness, but praying for those about us – that God’s Spirit would strengthen them for his work and that his Son would indwell their hearts.

 Such a shared spirit fuels the power of the church to shine God’s heart and to do his will. So, today, take a moment to pray that God’s Spirit would supply the strength of faith for those about you!

Prayer: Father, today graciously supply me with the desire to pray that others would be strengthened by the Spirit and indwelt by Christ so that we all might be united in your service.

Daily Devotion - November 4, 2025

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19-21)

It’s almost a human reflex to think that greater obedience to God guarantees that we will have a problem-free family, material comforts, and a successful career. But that’s clearly not the case for many persecuted or impoverished believers throughout history or across our present world.

Our reflex mistake is trying to assess God’s faithfulness by earthly measures rather than eternal blessings. Not all Christians will have what the world most treasures, because worldly things are not what God most treasures.

The blessings of living for Christ will always include being able to look in the mirror without shame, having spiritual peace in a troubled world, and absolute confidence that God is working all things for the eternal good of those who love him. 

Righteousness, peace, and eternal joy are the blessings God grants his people that the world cannot grant nor take away. Be encouraged today – even if it’s a tough day – knowing that you can always trust in the perfect plan and gracious provision of your eternal God!

Prayer: Lord, please help me not to assess your faithfulness by earthly measures. Rather teach me the certainty, beauty, and eternity of your spiritual blessings that the world can neither give nor take away.

Daily Devotion - November 3, 2025

Christ himself gave some to be the apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. (Eph. 4:11-12 NKJ and NIV)

My sons are best buddies, even though they are very different personalities. One is a deliberate thinker; the other an impulsive adventurer. 

Their distinctive personalities came out when we built a backyard swing set with a tall slide. One of my sons went to the slide, stood aside to measure its height, and then climbed carefully up the steps to get the best angle of descent to the adjoining sandpile. 

The other son donned his roller skates and leaped to the top of the slide to achieve maximum velocity! 

 Without one of our sons, life would have been a lot more dangerous; without the other life would have been a lot less exciting. Without one, there would be fewer Ph.D. degrees in our house; without the other, there would be fewer mountaintops in our lives. 

These two men remain best friends and, when they are working together, our family experiences are the absolute best!  

That’s what our Lord intends for the family of God, also. He provides unique personalities, using our diversity for experiencing and sharing the gospel in ways we could not as individuals. 

The Apostle Paul writes, “To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it” (Eph 4:7). Embracing this wisdom makes the body of Christ the amazing instrument of grace God intends.  

Prayer: Jesus, help me to discover the gifts you have given me and to appreciate those you have given others, as you build up the body of Christ for the full reach of the gospel.

Daily Devotion - October 31, 2025

Now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 1:6-7)

Often, we experience Jesus more intimately during times of trial. Though no one should desire such seasons of difficulty, Scripture describes the beauty that comes of emerging from them by faith. 

The Apostle Peter’s words remind me of the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with melted gold. Kintsugi pottery is renowned as “more beautiful for having been broken.” 

As much as I don’t want to be broken, I am thankful for the example of how something damaged can be made more beautiful than the original. A wise preacher once said, “It is unlikely that God can use anyone for great purposes, until that person has been broken by trials.” 

When I’ve been bruised, battered, and broken, I am reminded that Jesus helped me through those difficulties, and he can do the same for others. If I never had to turn to him or ask his healing, then how would I or others know his grace. 

When we reflect the beauty of Christ that comes from our mended brokenness, the world sees more of God’s grace and so do we. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, when I’m tested by fiery trials, may you refine me like gold, so that I can glorify you and shine the beauty of the Savior who mends me.

Daily Devotion - October 30, 2025

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. (Eph. 6:14-15)

My father-in-law’s unit was assigned to face down a line of tanks barreling toward Allied troops at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. The weapons in his unit were totally inadequate for the task. He later said, “Those tanks cut through us like we were paper.”

I cannot imagine the experience of those men, trying to stand against such an onslaught as the ground beneath them shook and death for many approached.  

The Apostle Paul’s imagery puts us into a setting of similar spiritual warfare. We are forced to picture ourselves standing before powerful evil. We are up against the powers of overwhelming wickedness that cause our world and our hearts to shake. But then God speaks: Stand firm. 

Our doubts and fears, driven by honest assessment of our inability cause us to cry out, “How can I possibly stand against this?” Then our God replies, “You have my armor. Evil will not prevail over you. Stand firm.”

The Bible never promises an immediate end to all your trials, but God promises to equip you with all that is necessary for your spiritual victory. Believe him. In Christ you can. So, stand firm!

Prayer: Lord, enable me to stand firm in the realities of spiritual warfare, putting on your armor and trusting your grace to provide all that is necessary for Christ’s victory.