- Today's Devotional
Jesus in the Wilderness
Heaven opens over the Jordan River. The Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove as John baptizes him, and the Father declares, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16–17). Straight from this moment of blessing, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. Jesus fasts for forty days, echoing Israel's forty years in the wilderness. Israel gave in to grumbling and distrust, but Jesus remains faithful. The devil tempts him with bread, spectacle, and power, and each time Jesus answers with Scripture from Deuteronomy. Jesus is fully God and fully human, and in his humanity, he shows complete trust in God's Word. He proves himself the faithful Son that Israel never was...
Beyond the Weekend
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Each week ties directly to Sunday's sermon. Monday through Friday, a new reading drops.
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Latest Devotionals
For every step of your journey.
- Devotional
Prayers of Surrender
King Solomon writes the proverbs to guide his son and all who read them in the way of God’s wisdom. Proverbs use short, memorable sayings to teach general truths about right living, not specific promises for every situation. In this proverb, Solomon presents two paths: one crooked, bent by human understanding, and one made straight by trusting God and his ways. He calls his readers to surrender their own understanding and trust the Lord’s leading in every area of life, believing God will make their paths straight...
- Devotional
Growing in Faithfulness
A new generation stands at the edge of the promised land. Their parents never reached it. After forty years of wandering, they camp on the plains of Moab, ready to cross the Jordan. Moses looks back and reminds them why God let them go hungry before feeding them manna. God was humbling them and teaching them to depend on him instead of themselves, one day at a time. The hunger made room for something greater: real life comes from God's Word. Jesus speaks these same words to the devil ( Matthew 4:4 ). Where Israel failed to trust God, Jesus trusts his Father's Word above what he can see...
- Devotional
Jesus in the Wilderness
Heaven opens over the Jordan River. The Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove as John baptizes him, and the Father declares, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” ( Matthew 3:16–17 ). Straight from this moment of blessing, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. Jesus fasts for forty days, echoing Israel's forty years in the wilderness. Israel gave in to grumbling and distrust, but Jesus remains faithful. The devil tempts him with bread, spectacle, and power, and each time Jesus answers with Scripture from Deuteronomy. Jesus is fully God and fully human, and in his humanity, he shows complete trust in God's Word. He proves himself the faithful Son that Israel never was...
- Devotional
Provision in the Wilderness
God's presence has hovered over Israel for a full year. Now the people leave Mount Sinai with his law and instructions for the tabernacle ( Numbers 10 ). Complaints rise almost immediately. A rabble among them—likely non-Israelites who left Egypt with them—craves meat, and soon the whole camp weeps for the food of Egypt, the place of their slavery. They have God's presence, his direction, and fresh manna every morning, yet they focus on what they lack. Their complaining angers God because they are rejecting his faithful care. The grumbling so overwhelms Moses that he begs God to take his life. God responds with both anger and compassion. He provides quail and appoints seventy elders to help Moses carry the burden of leading the people...
- Devotional
Complaint in the Wilderness
Israel's song of victory still rings in their ears. Days earlier, they walked through the Red Sea on dry ground and watched the waters swallow Pharaoh's army ( Exodus 14 ). The people sang and danced, praising a God with no equal ( Exodus 15:1–21 ). Now the song fades into the silence of the desert. For three days, they trudge under a blazing sun without finding water. What they finally find at Marah is too bitter to drink. Even with the miracle fresh in their minds, the people grumble against Moses instead of bringing their need to God. Moses responds differently...
- Devotional
Constantly in Prayer Together
The book of Acts details the explosive growth of the early church following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. At first, the disciples are trembling in an upstairs room, unsure of what Jesus’s death on the cross meant. After his resurrection and ascension, however, the Spirit emboldens the disciples and empowers them to share the gospel. At the heart of that transformation is their commitment to pray together. The early church “joined together constantly in prayer.” This was not a haphazard rhythm they occasionally practiced, but a way of life to which they consistently devoted themselves.
- Devotional
Growing in Humility
Paul writes from a prison cell, chained for the same gospel he once tried to destroy. The believers in Philippi face opposition too, threatened from outside and battling division within their own church body. Into that pressure, Paul doesn’t call them to fight harder or defend themselves. He points them to Jesus, who left heaven’s glory and walked the hardest road imaginable, all the way to a cross. If anyone had the right to self-promotion, it was Jesus. Instead, he emptied himself to serve his people and obey the Father. His humility becomes the church’s example for every hard road they’ll walk.
- Devotional
The Damascus Road
The gospel spreads through Jerusalem, and so does persecution. Saul stands in the center of the persecution. He hunts down Christians and approves their deaths, convinced he’s defending God’s honor. He sets out for Damascus with letters authorizing more arrests, breathing out murderous threats. Nothing on that road prepares him for Jesus meeting him there. In one blinding moment, his path bends in the opposite direction, from persecutor to preacher, from Jesus’s enemy to his servant. He isn’t searching for Jesus. Jesus finds him anyway and completely changes his life.
