2026-09-03
Job 34:4 NKJV
When you make a mistake or a bad decision, if you’re wise, you’ll learn from it by asking, “Where have I gone wrong?” Here are three ways to avoid making a bad decision:
(1) Don’t get involved where you don’t belong. “Helping” without an invitation is called “meddling.” No matter how well qualified you are, no matter how badly other people may be messing things up, stepping in where God hasn’t called you to go never turns out well. Ask yourself, “What am I trying to avoid in my own life that makes me want to take over somebody else’s life?”
(2) Stop, think, and pray before you decide. “He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him” (Proverbs 18:13 NKJV). If you’re an achievement junkie – someone who thinks that doing something, anything, feels better than waiting – you can make kneejerk choices that make things worse rather than better. Include key people in your decision-making and listen to the counsel of the Holy Spirit before taking action (see John 16:13).
(3) Don’t wait too long to decide. If you’re a perfectionist, you’re at risk here. You become so concerned about making the wrong choice that you make none at all. Making no choice is actually a choice. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5 NKJV).
Best case? You’ll show courage and concern for others and improve things. Worst case? You’ll make a mistake and grow wiser because of it.
Soul food: Josh 22-24; Mark 10:35-52; Ps 142; Pro 23:7-9
2026-09-02
Ephesians 4:7 NLT
Paul said that when Jesus “ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people” (v. 8 NLT). He used the metaphor of a victorious king. It was common in Paul’s day for the conquering monarch to return to his palace with prisoners and treasures in tow. He celebrated his conquest by giving gifts to his people. So did Jesus. Having defeated sin and death on the cross, He ascended to heaven, took His rightful place at the right hand of God, and “gave gifts to his people.”
What a delightful thought! Jesus, eternally crowned, distributing abilities and skills: “Joe, take your place in the domain of medicine. Mary, your territory is accounting.” Everybody gets a gift. And these gifts come in different doses and combinations. “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is” (1 Corinthians 12:7 MSG).
Our inheritance is grace-based and equal, but our assignments are tailor-made. No two snowflakes are the same. No two fingerprints are the same. Why would two skill sets be the same? No wonder Paul said, “Make sure you understand what the Master wants” (Ephesians 5:17 MSG).
Do you understand what the Master wants? If not, you’ll lead a dull, joyless, and fruitless life. You’ll never sing the song God wrote for your voice and never cross the finish line with heavenward stretched arms and declare, “I was made to do this!” That’s why the Bible says: “Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that” (Galatians 6:4 MSG).
Soul food: Josh 19:24-21:45; Mark 10:23-34; Ps 111; Pro 23:4-6
2026-09-01
Psalm 103:2 NLT
It’s the bad days that help us to appreciate the good days. Without them, we’d have no comparison point. David was talking to himself one day, and he recorded his thoughts for us: “May I never forget the good things he does for me.” Here are six “good things” worth thinking about:
(1) If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million people who will not survive this week.
(2) If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are better off than five hundred million people in the world.
(3) If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
(4) If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world.
(5) If you have money in the bank or in your wallet, or spare change in a dish someplace, you rank among the top 8 percent of the world’s wealthy.
(6) If you can read this devotion, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.
There is always someone who is worse off. That doesn’t mean you revel in other people’s misery. But it ought to heighten your Christ-like compassion and give you a sense of gratitude that spills over into thanksgiving each day.
Soul food: Josh 16:1-19:23; Mark 10:13-22; Ps 103:13-22; Pro 23:1-3
2026-08-31
Galatians 6:9 NIV
Some of the world’s most successful people were told by so-called experts that they didn’t have what it took to be a success in the professions they had chosen. In 1927, Lucille Ball was told by an instructor at the John Murray Anderson Drama School, “Try any other profession. Any other.” Universal Pictures dismissed both Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, claiming that Reynolds had no talent and Eastwood talked too slowly. Malcolm Forbes, the late editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, failed to become part of the staff of his school newspaper when he was an undergraduate at Princeton University.
Decca Recording Company executives responded negatively to the audition of four young musicians, saying, “We don’t like their sound. Groups with guitars are on the way out.” So the Beatles took their sound elsewhere. For seven years, a young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to twenty corporations, all of which turned him down. The Haloid Company finally purchased the rights to his electronic paper-copying process. And Haloid became Xerox.
Don’t be discouraged if you are not finding the acceptance and success you desire right now. Your story is still being written! The Bible says, “… do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12 NKJV). Faith and patience are the two qualities that will bring you success. This is why the apostle Paul wrote: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Soul food: Josh 14-15; Mark 10:1-12; Ps 103:1-12; Pro 22:27-29
2026-08-30
1 Samuel 17:26 NKJV
Fourteen generations before David fought Goliath, God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3 NIV). Later, God extended this covenant to Abraham’s descendants and inserted a key provision: “You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you” (Genesis 17:11 NIV).
Apparently, no one in Saul’s army, including Saul himself, remembered they had a covenant with God, which led David to ask, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David was asking, “How could this man, who has no covenant with God, even think about conquering us?”
How strong is your faith in God’s covenant to bless, protect, and prosper those who are in right standing with Him? If you continue to run from the giants in your life, you will never see the power of God manifested. When you believe God’s promises, you won’t tolerate any giant in your life. Did you know that you’re an heir to the same covenant of blessing that God gave Abraham? “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29 NIV).
David rested on a covenant of protection that was fourteen generations old and is still good today. The story of David and Goliath is representative of the many battles we face on a regular basis: good over evil, God’s power over man’s strength, and faith over fear. Whatever the situation, we can rest on God’s Word: “We who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said” (Hebrews 4:3 NIV).
Soul food: Judg 6:24; John 14:27; 1 Pet 3:8
2026-08-29
Hebrews 9:24 NKJV
Growing up, many of us had no clue what our parents did forty hours a week. We might have known where they worked, but we weren’t altogether sure what they did. In much the same way, most of us don’t really know what Jesus does all day. And our lack of holy confidence stems from that very fact. So what does Jesus do all day, every day? He’s pleading your case, pleading your cause. All you have to do is plead the blood.
That phrase has fallen out of circulation in some circles. In part because of its misapplication. Let’s see if we can revive it. Pleading the blood is not some superstition. And it’s not an abracadabra; it’s an awareness of your authority in Christ. It’s an understanding that your forgiveness has already been paid for in blood money. It’s coming to terms with the fact that we overcome Satan by the blood of the lamb (See Revelation 12:11). Christ is in your corner, which means you have the full backing of the King and His kingdom. His full blessing – His full authority!
Satan would like to make you doubt that. Remember what he said to Eve in the Garden of Eden: “Has God indeed said… ?” (Genesis 3:1 NKJV). Translation? “God is holding out on you!” If Satan can get you to distrust God’s goodness, he wins, and you lose. Is it possible that because you’re holding out on God, you think God is holding out on you? Go all in with God! If you don’t hold out on Him, He surely won’t hold out on you.
Soul food: Josh 11-13; Mark 9:38-50; Ps 84; Pro 22:24-26
