Daily Archives: July 8, 2025

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Prayer of Desperation

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Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” John 11:23

Today’s Scripture

John 11:1-7, 17-25

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Today’s Devotional

In 2011, Karey Packard and her daughter were packing boxes for a move to a new home. Suddenly, Karey collapsed, and her heart stopped. Doctors revived Karey, but her condition worsened through the night. Her husband, Craig, was told to call family to say final goodbyes. They prayed what Craig called “a prayer of desperation.”

How often have we prayed a prayer of desperation in a crisis? Mary and Martha did. They sent a desperate message to Jesus: their brother Lazarus, “the one you love,” was gravely ill (John 11:3). When Christ finally arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Martha, in anguish, said to Jesus: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). She knew Christ could heal sick people but could not imagine His power to overcome death. Jesus, of course, raised Lazarus, a foreshadowing of His own resurrection weeks later.

Karey had officially flatlined, yet miraculously God brought her back to life. In the stories of both Karey and Lazarus, it’s easy to miss the point: God has purposes that we don’t know. He neither heals everyone nor brings all dead people back to life. But He gives us a transcending assurance: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (v. 25). As believers, whatever happens, we know we’ll be with Jesus. Maybe that makes our desperate prayers a little less desperate.

Reflect & Pray

What desperate experiences have you had? How have you prayed through them?

 

Father God, please help me see the bigger picture of Your purposes.

It can be hard to know God’s plan when we go through hardships. Learn how to change your perspective by reading Why Does God Allow Painful Circumstances?

Today’s Insights

The idea of a future resurrection (see John 11:23) was an ancient Jewish belief. Job was confident that after his death he would “see God” (Job 19:26-27). The prophets proclaimed that people would rise from the dead when the Messiah came (see Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2). Paul warned that “if there is no resurrection . . . , then not even Christ has been raised” and we “are still in [our] sins” (1 Corinthians 15:13, 17). Because Christ has “been raised from the dead” (v. 20), we can look beyond our desperate situation to the day when “the dead will be raised imperishable” (v. 52).

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Stirred to Action

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And Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab and every able and wisehearted man in whose mind the Lord had put wisdom and ability, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.

Exodus 36:2 (AMPC)

Something powerful happens in your life when your heart is stirred up for action. It doesn’t do us any good to say, “Oh, I wish I felt that way.” We can decide to do something about the way we feel by stirring up our own hearts to do what God has called us to do.

How do we stir up our faith? I have discovered that the Word of God coming out of my own mouth in the form of prayer, praise, preaching, or confessions is the best way that I can find to fan the fire. It stirs up the gift within, keeps my faith and my hope active, and prevents my spirit from sinking within me.

Passivity, procrastination, and laziness are tools the enemy uses against God’s people. A passive person waits to be moved by an outside force before taking action. But we can be motivated and led by the Holy Spirit within us, not by outside forces. The best way to guard against passivity is to do whatever is before you with all of your might.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, stir my heart and faith to take action. Help me speak Your Word and be led by Your Spirit, and please help me keep my hope active and my spirit energized. In the name of Jesus, amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Coast Guard swimmer rescues 165 in deadly Texas floods

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Shortly after I published yesterday’s Daily Article, Camp Mystic confirmed that at least twenty-seven campers and counselors were killed in flash floods last Friday, with ten children and one counselor still missing. As of this morning, the death toll across the area has now climbed to at least 104 people. The massive search continues for survivors and victims.

We are continuing to see tragic stories of those lost, such as Chloe Childress, a recent high school graduate who was set to attend the University of Texas at Austin this fall. She was co-president of her school’s honor council, ran varsity cross country, and founded a club devoted to helping senior citizens. Her death is a devastating loss to all who knew her and to the world she would have served so well.

In other heartbreaking news, the bodies of two sisters from Dallas, ages thirteen and eleven, were found fifteen miles from where their cabin was swept into the river. Their hands were locked together. They are just two of so many stories so grievous that our minds and hearts feel overwhelmed with unspeakable sorrow.

At the same time, heroic stories are emerging as well.

  • Emma Foltz of Alexandria, Louisiana, has been a counselor at Camp Mystic for three years and helped evacuate fourteen of her campers to safety.
  • Jonathan McComb, who lost his wife and children in a 2015 flood in Wimberly, Texas, is one of hundreds of volunteers helping search for victims.
  • Petty Officer Scott Ruskan, a Coast Guard swimmer, rescued 165 people at Camp Mystic.

So, here’s the question: If they did all they could do to rescue victims, why didn’t our omnipotent God do all his power enables him to do to prevent this tragedy from happening?

“Deceive yourself no longer”

The Bible says of our Lord, “You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills” (Psalm 104:10). Not only does God make the waters, but he can still control them today. The Savior who calmed the stormy Sea of Galilee could have done the same on the Guadalupe River last Friday (Mark 4:39).

Christians believe our Father to be all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful. When tragedy strikes, we need ways to trust him when we don’t understand his ways.

Here’s what we must not do: we must not settle for easy answers to innocent suffering. They are not only the wrong answers—they are the opposite of the hope we need today.

Secularists who consider faith in God irrelevant or outdated will obviously dismiss the question. Others will reject Christianity or deny God’s omniscience or his omnipotence.

However, in the face of tragedy, most of us do not question God’s existence, knowledge, or power, so we are left to question his love.

We love people enough to do all we can to help them, especially at times like this. If God does not follow suit, it must be because he does not love them enough to do so—or so we fear. We would never say this out loud, but it is the whispered doubt at the back of our grieving hearts.

I have often quoted C. S. Lewis’s response to the death of his wife from cancer:

Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about him. The conclusion I dread is not “So there’s no God after all,” but “So this is what God’s really like. Deceive yourself no longer.”

Three pathways to faith

If we deny God’s love, power, or knowledge, we “solve” our problem by creating a greater problem. Rather than settling for easy answers that offer no hope, let’s consider three pathways to faith today.

The first is rational:

  • If God is the Supreme Being (cf. Revelation 4:8), circumstances cannot make him less or more than he is; in either case, he would no longer be unchangingly supreme (Malachi 3:6). Therefore, nothing that happened last Friday can make him any less the omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent King of the universe.
  • If we are finite and fallen, our minds by definition cannot understand his mind and ways (Isaiah 55:8–9).
  • Because he is all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful, his character requires him to redeem all he allows (cf. Romans 8:28). We may never understand such redemption on this side of eternity, but one day we will “fully know” what we only know in part today (1 Corinthians 13:12).
  • If we allow the question of innocent suffering to drive us from God, we turn from the Source we need when we need him most. The greater our pain, the more we need our Great Physician.

The second is practical: The Bible does not always tell us all we want to know, but it does tell us what we need to know. For those who are suffering, understanding why last Friday’s tragedy occurred may be less relevant than responding to it in practical ways. By praying for them and helping financially and in other ways, we become an instrument of the grace they need. And the more we serve God, the closer we draw to him and find the hope and help of his Spirit.

The third is intuitive: All relationships require a commitment that transcends the evidence and becomes self-validating. If we choose to believe that God is who we hope him to be and trust him with our questions, doubts, and pain, we experience his presence in such a transforming way that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

(For more, please see the podcast I recorded yesterday with Dr. Mark Turman, “Why does God allow disasters like the Texas Hill Country floods?”)

“Beauty for brokenness, hope for despair”

Let’s close with this: Many of you have your own stories of unexplained suffering, as do I. If you have chosen to continue believing in the God who believes in you, you can now “comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

If you live where the floods have devastated so many, you know your mission field. If you do not, you nonetheless know someone who needs the sustaining grace you have experienced. You can now be the hands and feet of Jesus in the broken world he died to save.

The British songwriter Graham Kendrick prayed:

Beauty for brokenness
Hope for despair
Lord, in your suffering world
This is our prayer
Bread for the children
Justice, joy, peace
Sunrise to sunset
Your kingdom increase!

Will you help answer his prayer today?

Quote for the day:

“Peace isn’t a place to arrive at but a person to abide in.” —Ann Voskamp

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Denison Forum

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – The Light of the Word

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

As the sun provides physical light for the world, so Jesus Christ is spiritually “the light of the world” (John 8:12). However, we clearly can see His light only through the light holder, the lamp, as it were, of His written Word. The Word, therefore, is a lamp and, since it contains and reveals the light, is also a light in its own right. Without the Holy Scriptures, this world would lie in the deepest darkness, but “the entrance of thy words giveth light” (Psalm 119:130).

The Lord Jesus Christ is the living Word, and “without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:3-5). Although He “was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9), when He Himself came into the world, those who were made by Him refused to receive Him. “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

Just so, although the written Word has come into the world, the world does not receive it, either. The lamp and the light of the written Word have been in the world (in complete and final form) for 1,900 years, but people still reject and ridicule it, and the world still lies in darkness. Nevertheless, for those who receive it, there is wonderful light. “Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (John 12:35-36).

God’s Word always brings light. His first spoken Word was “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and wherever He speaks, God sees the light, and it is good! HMM

 

 

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6

My Utmost for His Highest

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers – The Will to Loyalty

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Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. —Joshua 24:15

I can’t give up my will; I must exercise it. Will is the whole person active. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God’s Spirit. When God gives me a vision of what should be, the question is never what he will do but what I will do.

Has the Lord been putting some big decisions before you? The best thing to do, as you consider your course of action, is to think back on what you did when you first were saved or realized some truth. Do you remember how easy it was to give allegiance to God? Recall those moments now as the Spirit of God brings new possibilities before you, asking you to be loyal to him.

Serving the Lord is a deliberate choice, not something you drift into. Everything else is put on hold until you choose. The decision is between you and God; you must not “consult any human being” (Galatians 1:16). With every new crossroads, other people’s ability to understand your specific situation diminishes, and that is where the strain comes in. God allows the opinions of his children to continue to matter to you, and yet you are brought more and more to a place where others can’t understand the steps you’re taking. What God is doing with you isn’t their business—but neither is it yours. You have no business trying to find out where God is leading you. The only thing God will explain to you is himself.

Profess to God, “I will be loyal.” The moment you choose to be loyal to Jesus Christ, you become a witness against your own selfishness and self-interest. Will to be loyal—and give other people proper credit for being loyal, too.

Job 36-37; Acts 15:22-41

Wisdom from Oswald

I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye.Disciples Indeed, 385 L

 

 

https://utmost.org/

Billy Graham

Billy Graham – Released From Selfishness

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He must increase, but I must decrease.

—John 3:30

Self-centeredness is the basic cause of much of our distress in life. Hypochondria, a mental disorder which is accompanied by melancholy and depression, is often caused by self-pity and self-centeredness. Most of us suffer from spiritual nearsightedness. Our interests, our loves, and our energies are too often focused upon ourselves. Jesus underscored the fact that His disciples were to live outflowingly rather than selfishly. To the rich young ruler He said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21). It wasn’t the giving away of his goods that Jesus demanded, particularly, but that he be released from selfishness, and its devastating effect on his personality and life.

Prayer for the day

Teach me to so completely open my heart to You that there will be no room for self. Cleanse me, Lord, of all selfish thoughts and deeds.

 

 

https://billygraham.org/

GuidePosts

Guideposts – Devotions for Women – Choose Peace

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Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.—Titus 3:1–2 (NIV)

In the face of injustice, your instinct might be to seek revenge, but God calls you to a higher path. He urges you to be peaceful, considerate, and gentle. As the Christian author Max Lucado said, “Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.” Choose to respond to conflict with God’s love.

Lord, give me the wisdom to respond to conflict with compassionate understanding.

 

 

https://guideposts.org/daily-devotions/devotions-for-women/devotions-for-faith-prayer-devotions-for-women/