Daily Bible Verse

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1 John 1:9 KJV
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.


Weeding Out Sins

When I noticed a sprig budding next to the garden hose by our porch, I ignored the seemingly harmless eyesore. How could a little weed possibly hurt our lawn? But as the weeks passed, that nuisance grew to be the size of a small bush and began taking over our yard. Its stray stalks arched over a portion of our walkway and sprouted up in other areas. Admitting its destructive existence, I asked my husband to help me dig out the wild weeds by the roots and then protect our yard with weed killer.

When we ignore or deny its presence, sin can invade our lives like unwanted overgrowth and darken our personal space. Our sinless God has no darkness in Him . . . at all. As His children, we’re equipped and charged to face sins head-on so we can “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (1 John 1:7). Through confession and repentance, we experience forgiveness and freedom from sin (vv. 8–10) because we have a great advocate—Jesus (2:1). He willingly paid the ultimate price for our sins—His lifeblood—and “not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (v. 2).

When our sin is brought to our attention by God, we can choose denial, avoidance, or deflection of responsibility. But when we confess and repent, He weeds out sins that harm our relationships with Him and others.


Reflect & Pray
How does knowing your sins are offenses against God change your view about repentance? What sins have taken root and need to be weeded out of your life?

Loving Father, please uproot the sins from my life so I can grow closer to You and others.


Insight
The apostle John reminds us that “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and encourages us to walk in fellowship with Him (vv. 6–7). Elsewhere, Paul reminds us that we “are not in darkness” but are “children of the light” (1 Thessalonians 5:4–5). In 1 John, the apostle challenges us to “not sin” (2:1). But because we’re still not perfected, we do continue to sin (1:8). John assures us that when we confess and repent, God will “forgive us our sins” (v. 9). Our “advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (2:1), “through the shedding of his blood” (Romans 3:25), is “the atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins” (1 John 2:2; see 4:10). The NIV Zondervan Study Bible describes “atoning sacrifice” as what Jesus did on the cross in “removing guilt and purifying sinners (expiation) and appeasing God’s anger toward sinners (propitiation).”
 

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Acts 9:17 KJV
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.


Brother Saul

“Lord, please send me anywhere but there.” That was my prayer as a teenager before embarking on a year as a foreign exchange student. I didn’t know where I would be going, but I knew where I didn’t want to go. I didn’t speak that country’s language, and my mind was filled with prejudices against its customs and people. So I asked God to send me elsewhere.

But God in His infinite wisdom sent me precisely where I asked not to go. I’m so glad He did! Forty years later, I still have dear friends in that land. When I got married, my best man Stefan came from there. When he got married, I flew there to return the favor. And we’re planning another visit soon.

Beautiful things happen when God causes a change of heart! Such a transformation is illustrated by just two words: “Brother Saul” (Acts 9:17).

Those words were from Ananias, a believer God called to heal Saul’s sight immediately after his conversion (vv. 10–12). Ananias resisted at first because of Saul’s violent past, praying: “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people” (v. 13).

But Ananias was obedient and went. And because he had a change of heart, Ananias gained a new brother in faith, Saul became known as Paul, and the good news of Jesus spread with power. True change is always possible through Him!


Reflect & Pray
How have you sensed God calling you to have a change of heart? How can you encourage a new believer today?

Jesus, thank You for changing my heart with Your love. Help me to extend it to others.


Insight
In Acts 9:1–30, Luke tells of Paul’s dramatic conversion—how the persecutor of the church (8:3) became the propagator of the gospel of Jesus. Paul had the opportunity to retell his conversion testimony in Acts 22:1–21 and 26:1–29. He also made references to his conversion in his letters: 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8–10; Galatians 1:13–24; Philippians 3:4–7; 1 Timothy 1:12–16. Of Ananias (his name means “God is merciful”), Luke says he was a disciple of Jesus (Acts 9:10). Paul describes him as “a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus” (22:12).
 

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Psalm 131:2 KJV
Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.


Catching Contentment

In a psychiatrist’s advice column, he responded to a reader named Brenda, who lamented that her ambitious pursuits had left her discontented. His words were blunt. Humans aren’t designed to be happy, he said, “only to survive and reproduce.” We’re cursed to chase the “teasing and elusive butterfly” of contentment, he added, “not always to capture it.”

I wonder how Brenda felt reading the psychiatrist’s nihilistic words and how different she may have felt had she read Psalm 131 instead. In its words, David gives us a guided reflection on how to find contentment. He begins in a posture of humility, putting his kingly ambitions aside, and while wrestling life’s big questions is important, he puts those aside too (v. 1). Then he quiets his heart before God (v. 2), entrusting the future into His hands (v. 3). The result is beautiful: “like a weaned child with its mother,” he says, “I am content” (v. 2).

In a broken world like ours, contentment will at times feel elusive. In Philippians 4:11–13, the apostle Paul said contentment is something to be learned. But if we believe we’re only designed to “survive and reproduce,” contentment will surely be an uncatchable butterfly. David shows us another way: catching contentment through quietly resting in God’s presence.


Reflect & Pray
When do you most feel content? How could you set aside unhurried time to be quietly present with God today?

Dear God, I rest in You, the deepest well of my truest contentment.


Insight
Psalms 120–134 are known as the Songs of Ascents, so called because the fifteen psalms in the collection were sung by the ancient people of God as they journeyed up to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. Psalm 131 is among the shorter of these songs. Nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon noted that this psalm “is one of the shortest psalms to read but one of the longest to learn.” What makes it the longest to learn is that it challenges one of the most difficult aspects of our human behavior, our pride. In this psalm we hear the heartfelt prayers of one who’s renounced pride. The psalmist also expresses and encourages humble satisfaction with God by using the universally familiar image of a mother and child. Though weaned, the child’s contentment is found in the mother’s loving presence and not just in her nourishing provision.
 

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2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.


Spiritual Renewal

Chinese medicine has practiced pearl powder exfoliation for thousands of years, using ground pearls to scrub away dead cells resting at the top of the skin. In Romania, rejuvenating therapeutic mud has become a widely sought-after exfoliant that’s purported to make skin youthful and glowing. All over the world, people use body care practices they believe will renew even the dullest of skin.

The tools we’ve developed to maintain our physical bodies, however, can only bring us temporary satisfaction. What matters more is that we remain spiritually healthy and strong. As believers in Jesus, we’re given the gift of spiritual renewal through Him. The apostle Paul wrote, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The challenges we face daily can weigh us down when we hold on to things like fear, hurt, and anxiety. Spiritual renewal comes when we “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen” (v. 18). We do this by turning our daily worries over to God and praying for the fruit of the Holy Spirit—including love, joy, and peace—to emerge anew in our lives (Galatians 5:22–23). When we release our troubles to God and allow His Spirit to radiate through us each day, He restores our souls.


Reflect & Pray
How can you ask God to renew your spirit? How does the work of the Holy Spirit encourage you today?

Jesus, each day I face obstacles that try to break my spirit. Sometimes I feel defeated, but I know that through You my spirit can be renewed.


Insight
In 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, Paul describes finding hope—despite earthly suffering—because of an inward renewal (v. 16) and the assurance that through our struggles God draws us toward an “eternal glory that far outweighs” (v. 17) all suffering. The ideas in this passage are closely echoed and developed in Romans 8. There Paul writes that believers, as coheirs with Christ, “share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (v. 17) and concludes that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (v. 18)—a future when all of creation will be “liberated from its bondage to decay” (v. 21). And like the reminder of 2 Corinthians 4:18 which affirms that the believer’s hope is grounded in unseen, eternal realities, Romans 8 reminds us that “hope that is seen is no hope at all” (v. 24).
 

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Genesis 2:2 KJV
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.


Permission to Rest

We sat atop some beach boulders, my friend Soozi and I, watching the foam send up sea spray in arched curls. Looking at the incoming waves crashing one after another against the rocks, Soozi announced, “I love the ocean. It keeps moving so I don’t have to!”

Isn’t it interesting how some of us feel we need “permission” to pause from our work to rest? Well, that’s just what our good God offers us! For six days, God spun the earth into existence, creating light, land, vegetation, animals, and humans. Then on the seventh day, He rested (Genesis 1:31–2:2). In the Ten Commandments, God listed His rules for healthy living to honor Him (Exodus 20:3–17), including the command to remember the Sabbath as a day of rest (vv. 8–11). In the New Testament, we see Jesus healing all the sick of the town (Mark 1:29–34) and then early the next morning retreating to a solitary place to pray (v. 35). Purposefully, our God both worked and rested.

The rhythm of God’s provision in work and His invitation to rest reverberates around us. Spring’s planting yields growth in summer, harvest in autumn, and rest in winter. Morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night. God orders our lives for both work and rest, offering us permission to do both.


Reflect & Pray
How would you assess the balance in your life between work and rest? When and how might you pause each day to reflect on God’s example of rhythm and rest?

Dear God, thank You that You made me to follow after Your heart, to both work and rest for Your glory and my good.


Insight
All major ancient cultures have creation legends, and they often depict creation as taking place through some sort of sexual activity among the gods or through acts of violence. Genesis is startlingly different from these stories; it simply states that God spoke all things into existence (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24) and that He formed Adam “from the dust of the ground” (2:7; see 1:26). When these creative acts were completed, God established His Sabbath rest (2:2–3). This rest would later be implemented for God’s chosen people, the fledgling nation of Israel (Exodus 20:8–11). When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, He reminded the people, “In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (v. 11).
 

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Psalm 19:7 KJV
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.


Why Do This?

As I was helping my sixth-grade grandson, Logan, with some tough algebra-type homework, he told me of his dream of becoming an engineer. After we returned to figuring out what to do with the x’s and y’s in his assignment, he said, “When am I ever going to use this stuff?”

I couldn’t help but smile, saying, “Well, Logan, this is exactly the stuff you’ll use if you become an engineer!” He hadn’t realized the connection between algebra and his hoped-for future.

Sometimes we view Scripture that way. When we listen to sermons and read certain parts of the Bible, we may think, “When am I ever going to use this?” The psalmist David had some answers. He said God’s truths found in Scripture are effective for “refreshing the soul,” “making wise the simple,” and “giving joy to the heart” (Psalm 19:7–8). The wisdom of Scripture, found in the first five books of the Bible as referred to in Psalm 19 (as well as all of Scripture), helps us as we daily rely on the Spirit’s leading (Proverbs 2:6).

And without the Scriptures, we’d lack the vital way God has provided for us to experience Him and better know His love and ways. Why study the Bible? Because “the commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes” (Psalm 19:8).


Reflect & Pray
Why is the wisdom found in Scripture relevant for you today? How can you grow in your understanding of it?

Loving God, please make Your Word a light to my path. Help me to use the wisdom of Scripture to direct my steps and grow to love You more.


Insight
While the specific occasion for writing Psalm 19 isn’t stated, it’s been suggested that as a shepherd boy tending sheep, David was awed by the immensity and beauty of the open skies. So inspired, the psalmist celebrates the splendor of creation: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (v. 1). He points us to the creator God who’s worthy of honor and worship. David reflects on how He has revealed Himself to humanity so that we can know Him. First, He reveals Himself through His created works (vv. 1–6). He also reveals Himself through the Scriptures (vv. 7–14). Speaking of God’s self-revelation, Bible expositor Warren Wiersbe writes: “The heavens declare God’s glory, and the Scriptures declare His grace.” In this passage, Scripture refreshes the soul, gives wisdom and joy, and enlightens those who would obey it, guiding them into godliness.
 

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Acts 20:32 KJV
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.


Recognizing God’s Voice

After years of research, scientists have learned that wolves have distinct voices that help them communicate with each other. Using a specific sound analysis code, one scientist realized that various volumes and pitches in a wolf’s howl enabled her to identify specific wolves with 100 percent accuracy.

The Bible provides many examples of God recognizing the distinct voices of His beloved creations. He called Moses by name and spoke to him directly (Exodus 3:4–6). The psalmist David proclaimed, “I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain” (Psalm 3:4). The apostle Paul also emphasized the value of God’s people recognizing His voice.

When bidding farewell to the Ephesian elders, Paul said the Spirit had “compelled” him to head to Jerusalem. He confirmed his commitment to follow God’s voice, though he didn’t know what to expect upon his arrival (Acts 20:22). The apostle warned that “savage wolves” would “arise and distort the truth,” even from within the church (vv. 29–30). Then, he encouraged the elders to remain diligent in discerning God’s truth (v. 31).

All believers in Jesus have the privilege of knowing that God hears and answers us. We also have the power of the Holy Spirit who helps us recognize God’s voice, which is always in alignment with the words of Scripture.


Reflect & Pray
What false teaching has God helped you combat as you studied Scripture? When has He used the Bible to encourage you?

Dear God, when the noise of the world around me threatens to make me wander from You, please help me recognize and obey Your voice.


Insight
Luke, the author of Acts, describes Paul’s determination to follow the Spirit’s leading and go to Jerusalem in ways that seem to parallel Jesus’ own determination to go to the city. Jesus “resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51) despite knowing what awaited Him there. Paul said, “compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there” (Acts 20:22), despite being warned that this journey would result in suffering (v. 23). Paul’s single-minded purpose was to share the gospel by following Christ’s example of humility and love (vv. 19, 23–24; see also Philippians 2:3–5).
 

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Lamentations KJV
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.


The Reboot of Grace

Over the last several decades, a new word has entered our movie vocabulary: reboot. In cinematic parlance, a reboot takes an old story and jumpstarts it. Some reboots retell a familiar tale, like a superhero story or a fairytale. Other reboots take a lesser-known story and retell it in a new way. But in each case, a reboot is a bit like a do-over. It’s a fresh start, a chance to breathe new life into the old.

There’s another story that involves reboots—the gospel story. In it, Jesus invites us to His offer of forgiveness, as well as abundant and eternal life (John 10:10). And in the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah reminds us that God’s love for us makes every day a “reboot” of sorts: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (3:22–23).

God’s grace invites us to embrace each day as a fresh opportunity to experience His faithfulness. Whether we’re struggling with the effects of our own mistakes or going through other hardships, God’s Spirit can breathe forgiveness, new life, and hope into each new day. Every day is a reboot of sorts, an opportunity to follow the lead of the great Director, who is weaving our story into His bigger one.


Reflect & Pray
How do you think reflecting upon and remembering God’s faithfulness in the midst of trials changes your perspective on them? How has God’s forgiveness and grace brought a reboot to your life?

Father, thank You that Your grace and forgiveness invite me to start over, fresh, every morning.


Insight
The writer of Lamentations is not named, but Jewish tradition identifies the prophet Jeremiah as its author. Consisting of five dirges or funeral laments, Jeremiah gives an emotionally charged eyewitness account of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonians in 586 bc (see 2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 52). Yet amid the devastation and despair, Jeremiah also expressed great hope (Lamentations 3:19–21). God, who judged rightly their covenantal unfaithfulness, remained the God of unfailing love and compassion (vv. 22, 32–33), the God of faithfulness (v. 23), the God of hope (vv. 24–25), and the God of their salvation (v. 26).
 

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1 Samuel 18:3 KJV
Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.


The Telling Room

Northern Spain produced a beautiful way of expressing communion and friendship. With the countryside full of handmade caves, after each harvest some farmers would sit in a room built above a cave and inventory their various foods. As time passed, the room became known as the “telling room”—a place of communion where friends and families would gather to share their stories, secrets, and dreams. If you needed the intimate company of safe friends, you would head for the telling room.

Had they lived in northern Spain, the deep friendship shared by Jonathan and David might have led them to create a telling room. When King Saul became so jealous that he wanted to kill David, Jonathan, Saul’s oldest son, protected and befriended him. The two became “one in spirit” (1 Samuel 18:1). And Jonathan “loved him as himself” (vv. 1, 3) and—though he was heir apparent to the throne—recognized David’s divine selection to be king. He gave David his robe, sword, bow, and belt (v. 4). Later, David declared that Jonathan’s deep love for him as a friend was wonderful (2 Samuel 1:26).

As believers in Jesus, may He help us build our own relational “telling rooms”—friendships that reflect Christlike love and care. Let’s take the time to linger with friends, open our hearts, and live in true communion with one another in Him.


Reflect & Pray
What kinds of commitments have you made to your friends? How can you express your love to them this week?

Dear God, please help me to pursue vulnerable, loving, and authentic friendships.


Insight
We first read of Jonathan, King Saul’s oldest son, in 1 Samuel 13–14, 18–20. Jonathan was a valiant soldier. In a heroic move, Jonathan and his armorbearer went against the Philistines at Mikmash and singlehandedly killed twenty men. Saul and his men joined the battle, and God led the Israelites to victory (13:23–14:23). Earlier, Saul had made the rash oath, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” (14:24). So, his men went into battle hungry. But Jonathan hadn’t been around to hear the oath and had refreshed himself with honey while pursuing the enemy. Fortunately, the soldiers prevented Saul from carrying out his foolish oath (vv. 41–45). In today’s text, we learn of Jonathan and David’s friendship. Jonathan put David ahead of his own interests and saved him from Saul’s attempt to kill him (ch. 20).
 

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James 5:16 KJV
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.


God Is Listening

Chuck, an actor and martial artist, honored his mother on her hundredth birthday by sharing how instrumental she’d been in his spiritual transformation. “Mom has been an example of perseverance and faith,” he wrote. She raised three boys on her own during the Great Depression; suffered the death of two spouses, a son, a stepson, and grandchildren; and endured many surgeries. “[She] has prayed for me all my life, through thick and thin.” He continued, “When nearly losing my soul to Hollywood, she was back home praying for my success and salvation.” He concluded, “I thank [my mom] for helping God to make me all I can and should be.”

The prayers of Chuck’s mother helped him to find salvation—and a godly wife. She prayed fervently for her son, and God heard her prayers. We don’t always get our prayers answered the way we’d like, so we cannot use prayer as a magic wand. However, James assures us that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (5:16). Like this mom, we’re to continue to pray for the sick and those in trouble (vv. 13–15). When, like her, we commune with God through prayer, we find encouragement and peace and the assurance that the Spirit is at work.

Does someone in your life need salvation or healing or help? Lift your prayers to God in faith. He’s listening.


Reflect & Pray
When have you seen God answer your fervent prayers? Who continues to be in your prayers?

Dear Father, help me to continually be in prayer and not to give up. Thank You for Your love that helps me persevere.


Insight
The words pray[ed] or prayer occur seven times in James 5:13–18 (niv), but they’re derived from three different Greek words. The word rendered “pray” in verse 13 (also vv. 14, 17, 18) is proseuchomai, to pray to God, to supplicate, worship. This is the word most often used in the New Testament in reference to prayer. The word translated “prayer” in verse 15 is euchē, which denotes a wish, expressed as a petition to God. The verb form of this word, euchomai, appears in verse 16: “pray for each other so that you may be healed.” The other word translated “prayer” in James 5 also appears in verse 16: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” The word here is deēsis, a petition, prayer, request, supplication. Prayers of various kinds find their way to the listening ear and caring heart of God.