2026-08-28
1 John 2:1 NKJV
You might not know the name Angelo Dundee, but you’ve undoubtedly heard of world champion boxer Muhammed Ali. For more than two decades, Angelo was in Muhammed Ali’s corner – literally. He was Ali’s corner man! He also trained other world boxing champions. One of the great descriptions of Jesus is, “He’s our “corner man!” “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
In his letter to Timothy, Paul exhorts us to “fight the good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12 NIV). And you’re going to get knocked down a time or two. But you’ve got a corner man who once went three rounds with death itself. He got knocked down at the cross, but He got back up three days later. He walked out of the tomb, winning the fight against sin and death. Where is He now? He’s at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you. In other words, Christ is in your corner!
And He’s not the only one. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “paraclete,” which translates in English as comforter and counselor. Paraclete is a military term referring to Roman soldiers who would fight back-to-back when they got into hand-to-hand combat. They protected each other’s blind side, and that’s what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit has got your back. And Christ is in your corner. The prophet Isaiah calls Him our rear guard: “The Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard” (Isaiah 52:12 NIV).
You don’t just have one member of the Godhead interceding for you – you have two!
Soul food: Josh 8:30-10:43; Mark 9:30-37; Ps 119:169-176; Pro 22:20-23
2026-08-27
Philippians 4:8 NKJV
Experts estimate that we have 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts a day. So let’s use 60,000 as a happy medium. And let’s observe four important things about our thoughts:
(1) Psychologists say that 98 to 99 percent of our thoughts are habitual. In other words, they are basically the same thoughts we had yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and the day before that. Your mind must be renewed day by day (see Romans 12:2). You can’t keep thinking the same things and expect a different outcome or a different outlook. What’s the answer? Take on a learning mindset! “In all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you” (Proverbs 4:7-8 NKJV).
(2) Only 12 percent of our thoughts are focused on the future. But faith, by definition, is future oriented. “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT).
(3) A Harvard University study found that the average person spends 46.9 percent of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they are presently doing. And psychologists say, “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” Of course, the most obvious culprits are the digital devices that keep us disengaged. Nothing dumbs down our ability to dream like our so-called smartphones!
(4) The Cleveland Clinic estimates that 80 percent of our thoughts are negative. That’s 48,000 negative thoughts per day! And when we verbalize those thoughts, it compounds the problem. What’s the answer? “Whatever things are… noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things” (NKJV).
Soul food: Josh 5:1-8:29; Mark 9:14-29; Ps 119:161-168; Pro 22:17-19
2026-08-26
2 Corinthians 10:5 NKJV
Author Max Lucado wrote: “Some time back, a mother asked me to pray for her eight-year-old son. He was troubled by a constant barrage of images and scary visions that left him withdrawn and timid. They even took his sleep at night. On the day we met, his eyes filled with tears, and he clung to his mother. She had taken him to doctors, but nothing had helped. I told him that the devil had no authority over his life. That the real battles are fought in the mind. That God will help us take every thought captive. I urged him to memorize a Bible verse and quote it each time the fearful thoughts came to his mind.
‘Reach up with your hand,’ I urged, ‘and grab the thought and throw it in the trash. And as quickly as you do that, replace it with a verse of Scripture.’ We then anointed him with oil and prayed for him. Five days later, his mother reported great progress. ‘Since last week, the images are gone; he is no longer seeing them. He recites this Scripture from Psalm 25:5 NKJV nightly: ‘Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation.’ I believe this has brought him closer to Christ.
He uses the strategy of throwing the fearful thoughts away in the trash can. He said when he tried to throw them away, his head would hurt. I asked, ‘What made them go away?’ He smiled and said, ‘I know God made them go away.'” So, the word for you today is – “Grab it, and throw it in the trash.”
Soul food: Josh 1-4; Mark 9:1-13; Ps 119:145-160; Pro 22:14-16
2026-08-25
James 5:16 NKJV
Christian cardiologist Dr. Randolph Byrd had a great interest in knowing if prayer had a “scientifically measurable” impact on healing. He has said, “After much prayer, the idea of what to do came to me.” Over a ten-month period, a computer assigned 393 patients in the coronary care unit at San Francisco General Hospital to one of two groups. The first group was prayed for by home prayer groups. The second group was not remembered in prayer. The home prayer groups were from various Christian denominations. They were given only the first names of the patients and brief descriptions of their diagnoses and conditions. They were prayed for each day. The prayed-for patients differed from those not prayed for in these ways:
(1) They were five times less likely to need antibiotics.
(2) They were three times less likely to develop fluid in the lungs.
(3) None required an artificial airway attached to a ventilator.
(4) Fewer died.
If the technique being studied had been a new drug or procedure, it would have been heralded as a breakthrough. Even Dr. William Nolan, the author of a book denouncing faith healing, said, “It sounds like this study will stand up to scrutiny… Maybe we doctors ought to be writing on our order sheets, ‘Pray three times a day.'” In the Old Testament, we read: “‘For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:17 NKJV). In the New Testament, James wrote: “The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up… Pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:15-16 NKJV).
Soul food: 2 John; 3 John; Jude; Mark 8:27-38; Ps 119:137-144; Pro 22:11-13
2026-08-24
Amos 3:3 NKJV
It’s no secret that today, the majority of marriages fail because of financial issues. Other relationships can also be threatened when we fail to repay a personal loan or meet our financial expectations. The following three strategies will go a long way in mitigating these pitfalls:
(1) Discuss with your spouse the maximum amount each of you may spend without getting the other’s permission. Any amount above this limit will be considered “major” and will require complete agreement. Every couple defines a “major” purchase differently, depending on their household income, so stick to what has been agreed on. This is important. If you do not agree on a transaction, when the deal goes bad, the tendency is to point fingers.
(2) Advise your family that personal loans are against your “house policy.” Should you decide to make an exception to the policy, make sure your spouse is in complete agreement. If you are wise, you will put the terms and the due dates in writing.
(3) Don’t enable your child, spouse, or anyone else to remain irresponsible by bailing him or her out or always being their safety net. Just say no. By not saying no, you interrupt one of God’s most effective principles – sowing and reaping the consequences of individual behaviour. Real maturity occurs when this lesson is learned. Love must be tough! If you are an enabler, ask God right now to give you the strength to stop being so. For example, insist on that rent check from your still stay-at-home adult child. This demonstrates character-building love, which is genuine love. If you need to set financial boundaries, do it!
Soul food: 1 John 3:11-5:21; Mark 8:14-26; Ps 119:129-136; Pro 22:8-10
2026-08-23
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV
The words Jesus spoke changed the world forever. These were the last instructions to His disciples: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (vv. 18-20 NKJV). Jesus’ followers took this seriously: “Daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:42 NKJV).
They remembered that they followed a man who taught everyone, and who commanded them to teach all peoples. So they did. They began to teach both men and women, both slaves and free. Some of the world’s greatest teaching institutions were founded by followers of Christ. Oxford and Cambridge Universities began in the thirteenth century. (The motto of Oxford University is from Psalm 27:1: “The Lord is my light.”)
George Marsden noted: “One of the remarkable facts about American history is that within six years of landing in Massachusetts wilderness, Puritans established what would soon become a reputable college.” These words are from a student handbook: “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life (John 17:3), and therefore to lay Christ… as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.” That was Harvard University! And 92 percent of the first 138 colleges and universities founded in America were begun by followers of Christ. His words not only inform us; they also transform us.
Soul food: Exo 17:8-16; Ruth 2:12; Gal 3:27
