Daily Archives: May 14, 2026

Turning Point

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – Your Home

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Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.
Psalm 127:1

Recommended Reading: Psalm 127

John MacArthur wrote, “It is no mere accident of history that family relationships have always been the very nucleus of all human civilization. According to Scripture, that is precisely the way God designed it to be. And therefore, if the family crumbles as an institution, all of civilization will ultimately crumble along with it.”1

When the Lord created humans, He immediately placed them in a marriage/family environment. The devil attacked that marriage, and he has been doing so ever since. But God is stronger than Satan, love is stronger than discord, and the Lord Jesus loves to be included in our homes. In fact, He expects to be first—the ever-near Savior whose presence fills our homes and hearts.

If you’re going to build your family successfully, you need to place God at the head of your home. If not, all your work will be in vain. To have Him at the head of your home, therefore, you need to install Him as the head of your life. Ask God to take charge of your life and of your family today.

God demands to be first in the family. It’s only when we love Him more than family that we can really love our families in the highest, purest sense.
John MacArthur

  1. John MacArthur, “The Nucleus of Civilization,” Grace to You, accessed January 29, 2026.

 

 

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Good Soil in God

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Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. Luke 8:8

Today’s Scripture

Luke 8:4-8, 11-15

Listen to Today’s Devotion

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Today’s Devotion

In late spring each year, I plant cucumber seeds in our garden. The seeds produce leaves quickly, but it takes time to see the fruit. In fact, one summer after I watered the seeds and waited, I questioned whether I’d get any cucumbers at all. I thought, Did I put too many seeds too close together, or was the ground not warm enough when I’d planted them? But one day, I spotted a green bulb. The next week, I spotted another. Then another. Within a few weeks, we moved from only vines to almost enough fruit to make salad for a week.

Spiritual growth looks like that sometimes. We don’t always see the things we’ve been praying for: patience, self-control, being gentle and loving (see Galatians 5:22-23). But if we ask God to help us create the conditions needed for growth—prayer, studying the Scriptures, worship, serving others—the Holy Spirit will produce the growth.

This is the crux of the parable Jesus shares in Luke 8: “A farmer went out to sow his seed” (v. 5). “The birds ate” some of the seeds that fell on the path (v. 5). Others landed on rocky ground, where they received no moisture and withered (v. 6). Some more fell among thorns and were choked before they could grow (v. 7). But the seed that was planted on good soil yielded a crop that was “a hundred times more than was sown” (v. 8).

As God helps us, let’s cultivate “good soil” and grow in Him.

Reflect & Pray

How is God helping you cultivate “good soil”? Where have you observed growth in your life?

Master Gardener, please help me produce good fruit from good soil.

For further study, read The Forever Race: A Model of Spiritual Growth.

Today’s Insights

In the parable of the sower in Luke 8:1-15, the focus isn’t on the sower who scatters the seed but on the soil where the seed is sown. The life-bearing seed is “the word of God” (v. 11), and the soil represents the heart condition of the one who receives it. Jesus highlights different outcomes depending on where the seed falls. The seed that falls on “good soil” (v. 8) represents receptive hearts “who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest” (v. 15 nlt). We are “God’s field” (1 Corinthians 3:9) where “the word of God” is planted. Even as we cultivate good soil, it’s God who makes “things grow” (v. 7) and makes us fruitful (vv. 6-9).

 

http://www.odb.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Dad climbs mountains while carrying weight of late daughter

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A grieving father recently ascended the tallest mountains in Scotland, England, and Wales while wearing a vest the weight of his late daughter. Nathan Morris completed the Three Peaks Challenge in honor of Zoë, who died of cancer in 2017, three months shy of her second birthday. He wore a twenty-two-pound vest, the same weight Zoë was when she died, to model her resilience through her treatment and to “carry” her with him every step of the way.

His decision illustrates the fact that leverage is central to life. The question is the ends we choose to serve.

In Nathan’s case, it was using tall mountains to honor his beloved late daughter. In several other examples in the news, the purposes are less uplifting.

The US and Iran are continuing their stalemate while blaming one another for the war. Russia and Ukraine are continuing their conflict despite a US-mediated ceasefire, each accusing the other of launching drone and artillery strikes. Republicans and Democrats are using the rise in consumer inflation to blame the other party and advance their midterm prospects.

You can see the pattern.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Dad climbs mountains while carrying weight of late daughter →

Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – A Matter of Perspective

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 They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they said. 

—Acts 14:21–22

Scripture:

Acts 14:21-22 

I believe that when we get to Heaven, we’ll look back at our time on earth from a different perspective. I believe we’ll realize that the things we viewed as good weren’t nearly as good as we thought they were. I also believe we’ll realize that some things we thought were bad were, in fact, beneficial.

For example, our culture has conditioned us to think of prosperity and success as good things. And for some people, they can be, if they’re used for God’s glory. But quite honestly, for others, financial well-being can be a great distraction, something that causes them to lose sight of God. Material possessions can weigh us down, spiritually speaking, when God wants us to travel light.

In addition, we think of sickness or loss or failure as things that are always bad. And they can be bad. Very bad. But they also can be good, because they cause us to cling to God and to lean on Him like we never would have if things had been easier. So, from Heaven’s perspective, a so-called bad thing can be a good thing.

When his friend Lazarus was sick, Jesus delayed going to see him in Bethany. John 11:5–7 says, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea’” (NIV).

Instead of running to help Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, as they hoped He would, Jesus delayed His arrival by two days. Why? He wanted Lazarus’ sickness to run its course. He didn’t simply want to heal His friend. He wanted to bring greater glory to His name. Sickness and death were the means to bring about that greater glory. The Lord doesn’t look at trials and suffering as we do. The question is, whose perspective will we trust?

Here’s a hint: “‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8–9 NLT)

I believe that God will reveal the whys of our suffering in time. He will help us see the big picture, how our trials ultimately led to a greater good. But until that day, we need to remember these words from Acts 14:21–22: “They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they said” (NIV).

No matter how many hardships we must endure, the result—eternity in the kingdom of God—is more than worth it.

Reflection question: How can you keep a godly perspective on the “good” and “bad” things that happen to you? Discuss this with believers like you on Harvest Discipleship!

 

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – Present with the Lord

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)

This verse has greatly comforted many a sorrowing believer who has just lost a loved one. Especially if they know that the parent or child or friend was also a believer in the saving work and person of Christ, then—although they sorrow—they “sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

For that loved one, though no longer in that old body that had perhaps been filled with pain, is now with the Lord. That is, he or she has been given a somewhat indescribable spiritual way in which to function in heaven until the coming resurrection day. Although that may not yet be the wonderful life that awaits them in their glorified, resurrection bodies in the ages to come, they will be “with Christ; which is far better” than this present life (Philippians 1:23).

There are a number of sincere believers who argue that dead Christians will simply “sleep” until He comes again to raise the dead. While a certain case can be developed for this “soul sleep” concept, it is hard to see how that could be “far better” than this present life. Paul said that he had a “desire to depart, and to be with Christ” and also that “to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:23, 21). But what “gain” could there be for him in simply sleeping instead of continuing to live in Christ?

The Scriptures do not reveal much about that intermediate state, as it has been called. But there is that intriguing verse about being “compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses” who perhaps are somehow watching us as we “run with patience the race that is set before us” here on Earth (Hebrews 12:1). This possibility can be a real incentive to do just that. HMM

 

 

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

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Love Endures Forever

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If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

1 Corinthians 13:1 (AMPC)

Most of the things we devote our time and energy to are things that are currently passing away, things that will not last. We strive to make money, build businesses, achieve great accomplishments, be popular, own buildings, cars, and jewelry. We want to expand our minds and see the world, yet all of these things are temporal. They will all come to an end. Only love never comes to an end. An act of love goes on and endures forever.

Thankfully, God allows us to have a lasting impact when He asks us to love others. Henry Drummond says that “to love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever.” In order to “love abundantly” and “love forever,” I encourage you to first receive God’s love for you…then you can walk in love toward everyone else.

Prayer of the Day: Father, I am grateful that I can live my life in such a way as to have a lasting impact. Thank You for the power of love. Help me exercise that power and make an eternal impact by showing love to those around me today. Help me to always know what is truly important.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Learning to Listen 

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I believe we can learn to listen to God if we are equipped with the right tools. The first tool is a regular time and place. Select a slot on your schedule and in a corner of your world, and claim it for God. Take enough time to say what you want and for God to say what he wants.

The second tool is an open Bible. Pray first, asking God to help you understand it. Study the Bible a little at a time. Read until a verse “hits” you. Then meditate on it and write it down.

The third tool is a listening heart. We know we’re listening when what we read in the Bible is what others see in our lives. If you want to be just like Jesus, spend time listening for him until you receive your lesson for the day, and then apply it.

 

 

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Today in the Word

Today in the Word – Moody Bible Institute – Hope and Judgment

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Read Numbers 15:1–41

Anticipating the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln faced a monumental decision on how they would treat the defeated Confederate states. His “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction” offered pardons to most Southerners who would take a loyalty oath. He knew that discipline without hope for restoration would breed more bitterness and division.

Numbers 15 presents a picture of God’s desire for restoration. Just after declaring that an entire generation would die in the wilderness for their unbelief, God gives detailed instructions for worship and offerings “after you enter the land I am giving you” (v. 2). This seems almost contradictory until we understand God’s heart. While judgment was necessary, God wanted Israel to know that His promises had not changed. The very generation that would be excluded were to teach their children about the land they would inherit. God provided specific instructions for different occasions—not as distant possibilities, but as certain realities.

The chapter addresses both intentional and unintentional sins, showing God’s provision for restoration. For unintentional sins, there were offerings that brought forgiveness (vv. 22–29). But for defiant sins, the consequences were severe, as illustrated by the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath and was stoned (vv. 32–36).

The chapter concludes with God’s command to wear tassels as reminders: “You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD” (v. 39). Then comes the beautiful purpose statement: “Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God” (v. 40).

Go Deeper

Do you trust that God’s discipline in your life does not cancel His promises for your future? What are some practical ways you can remind yourself to stay faithful to God’s commands?

Pray with Us

Holy Father, how often we fail You and disobey Your laws. Today, we confess our sins and ask for Your forgiveness. Impress Your Word upon our hearts to keep us faithful!

Remember to obey all my commands.Numbers 15:40

 

 

https://www.moodybible.org/