2026-05-09
Romans 12:6 NKJV
If you study famous musicians, you’ll often find that they learned their craft by playing in a band or orchestra. That’s because certain skills – learning to blend with other instruments, keeping tempo, learning to play louder or softer, following the conductor’s lead – can only be learned by playing with others.
And what’s true of a band or orchestra is even truer of a community of believers. Jesus illustrated this in His famous parable of the talents (see Matthew 25:14-30). One man was given five talents and ended up with ten. Another man was given two talents and ended up with four. A third man was given one talent, and he buried it. In a sense, Jesus was talking about people playing their parts and how important that is to God’s kingdom.
Not everyone plays the same instrument, and not everyone has the same part. Some instruments are louder than others, and some parts are bigger than others. It’s not how much you have that matters to Jesus; it’s what you do with what you have that matters to Him. There are no insignificant talents in God’s kingdom. Our talents may differ in amount, but they all come from the same source.
All Christ wants you to do is play your part. He does not expect the same results, but He does expect the same effort. He never compares you with anyone else. He compares you only with you. He doesn’t look at what you have; He looks at what you do with what you have. So just play your part.
Soul food: Deut 25-27; Matt 9:14-26; Ps 44:17-26; Prov 12:12-14
2026-05-08
Luke 24:16 MSG
When you face a crisis it’s easy to lose perspective. It happened to two of Christ’s disciples on the Emmaus Road. Discouraged about His death, they were ‘going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their… questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognise who he was’ (vv. 14-16 MSG). When you take your eyes off Jesus, you start to feel helpless about your situation.
Dr Michael Youssef says: ‘Facing a major crisis, I tend to be the kind of person whose vision becomes blurred. My perceptions are shot. My contemplations are one-sided. I often shut out the very people who can deliver me, just like those two disciples… Their vision was blurred about the person who was walking with them and talking to them. The one whose death they were mourning was alive… but they didn’t realise it because their focus was on the wrong thing.’
But everything changed the minute they recognised Jesus. ‘Within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There… the two… told… how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along… and how they had recognised him as he was breaking the bread’ (vv. 33-35 NLT). Note the words ‘within the hour’. In an instant they went from fear to courage, pain to joy, and despair to hope.
Paul wrote, ‘I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened’ (Ephesians 1:18 NIV). When you stop focusing on the problem and fix your eyes on Jesus, you get 20/20 vision and you’re filled with hope.
Soul food: Deut 22-24; Matt 9:1-13; Ps 44:9-16; Prov 12:10-11
2026-05-07
Revelation 12:10 NKJV
Satan is called “the accuser of our brethren” because he tries to remind us of everything we’ve done wrong. Why? So that all our emotional energy is spent on the past, and we’ve nothing left over to dream God-sized dreams or fulfill our God-given assignment in life. The irony of his accusations is this: he leaves our unconfessed sins alone. Why wake a sleeping dog? He’d rather you don’t deal with unconfessed sin at all. His accusations pinpoint confessed sin – sins that have already been forgiven. That is why they are false accusations; the sins have already been acquitted.
Now let’s stop and make a critical distinction. Condemnation is feeling guilty over confessed sin, whereas conviction is feeling guilty over unconfessed sin. Conviction is the way we get right with God and get on with our lives. So, learn to tune in the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit and tune out the condemning voice of the enemy. The Bible says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NKJV).
If we plead innocent, we’re guilty as charged. Even Jesus our advocate can’t come to our defense. But if we plead guilty as charged, we’re found innocent, and we come under God’s protective custody. Our record of wrong is completely expunged. And there is no double jeopardy – you cannot be tried twice for the same sin. Once confessed, your sins are forgiven once and for all. The sinless Son of God took the blame, took the hit, and took the fall for you (see 1 John 3:5).
Soul food: Deut 18-21; Matt 8:18-34; Ps 44:1-8; Prov 12:7-9
2026-05-06
Joshua 14:12-13 NKJV
When Moses sent Caleb to spy out the Promised Land, Caleb saw something that troubled him: the town of Hebron. Abraham buried his wife there. He was buried there. So were Isaac and Jacob. Hebron was a sacred site. Now it was inhabited by their enemies, and it bothered Caleb. It was more than he could take, so he asked Moses for Hebron. He didn’t ask for Jerusalem, perched on Mount Moriah; or the Valley of Eschol, where grapes grew as large as plums; or Jericho, where the Jordan River flowed. He wanted Hebron, whose soil had known the visitation of angels and whose earth entombed the holiest family. “Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb.” Caleb wanted to do something great for God. He lived with a higher call. Perhaps the reason your problems feel so great is that your call is too small.
Max Lucado tells of a doctor friend who makes regular medical trips to a remote jungle clinic to treat the disadvantaged. He’s a retired surgeon with ample income. He could spend every day of his life in ease and luxury. But he focuses on supporting the health clinic for his own good: “I need a cause that is greater than cable TV and Cadillacs,” he said. “If I focus on my comfort, nothing can satisfy me. But when I focus on the concerns of God, I am a happy man.”
Do you have a holy cause? A faith worth preserving? A mission worth living for? Ask God to give you a “Hebron” to claim for His glory.
Soul food: Deut 14-17; Matt 8:1-17; Ps 37:32-40; Prov 12:4-6
2026-05-05
Genesis 4:3 NKJV
There is a little phrase repeated 436 times in the Bible: “It came to pass.” Whatever trial you are going through today, remind yourself, “It came to pass – not stay.” If the fulfillment of the vision God gave you seems to be taking longer than you thought, remind yourself “it will come to pass!”
In his biography, God in My Corner, the two-time world heavyweight champion George Foreman tells a story about an elderly woman who was asked her favourite Scripture verse. She replied: “And it came to pass.” She explained why: “I know that whenever a trial comes, it doesn’t come to stay; it comes – to pass.”
And the Scripture on the flipside of this coin reads: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6 NIV). In other words, He will bring it to pass! Either way, God always finishes what He starts. “The vision is yet for an appointed time… Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come [to pass]” (Habakkuk 2:3 NKJV).
Battling an illness that threatened his life, and enemies who wanted to take his throne, David turned to the Lord for help. And God didn’t disappoint him. Read these two Scriptures and stand on them: “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5 NLT). “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!” (Psalm 30:11-12 NLT).
Soul food: Deut 11-13; Matt 7:15-29; Ps 37:25-31; Prov 12:1-3
2026-05-03
Acts 20:27 NKJV
More than a hundred years ago, William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, spoke prophetically when he said, “The chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.” That’s as true now as it was then.
Paul exhorted the leaders of the Ephesian church to declare, “The whole counsel of God.” He said: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (vv. 28-31 NKJV).
On the eve of his execution, Paul handed off the baton to his successor Timothy with these words: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine… they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables… be watchful… fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:2-5 NKJV).
Soul food: Gen 1:1-2:3; John 1:1-18
