Daily Archives: May 17, 2026

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Our Daily Bread – Deep Roots

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Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. Jeremiah 17:7

Today’s Scripture

Jeremiah 17:5-8

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Today’s Devotion

As Douglas Kent, a landscape architect, toured a charred Los Angeles neighborhood after the city’s raging 2025 wildfires, he encountered a shocking surprise—trees, alive and green, right next to melted cars and burned buildings. Many of them bore lush palms and leaves, abundant fruit, and strong trunks and branches. How?

After two consecutive rainy winters, the trees’ roots had reached deep into the soil to draw moisture, carrying it to branches and leaves. In a fire, they proved resistant. “What I saw,” said Kent, “was that if you were deep-rooted, you survived.”

Our faith during the fiery trials of life can be like that. As we set our spiritual roots deep in Christ and His love, we become “like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8).

Jeremiah, who never minced words, warned that those who trust in “mere flesh” are “cursed” (v. 5). “That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes.” Instead, “they will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives” (vv. 5-6). How much better to trust in God! Well-watered by His sustaining love, we thrive even in raging times, bearing spiritual fruit in Him.

Reflect & Pray

How deep are your roots in Christ? How can you trust Him during fiery trials?

Dear God, as the world seems to burn around me, please remind me to trust in You.

Today’s Insights

Jeremiah warned the unrepentant, idolatrous people of Judah that God would exile them to Babylon for their unfaithfulness (Jeremiah 25:8-11). God persistently and patiently urged them to repent before it was too late (35:15) and promised restoration and blessing once discipline was complete (31:23-28). In chapter 17, Jeremiah contrasts the curses on the ungodly with the blessings on the godly (vv. 5-8). In language reminiscent of Psalm 1:1-3, the prophet proclaims: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. . . . They will be like a tree planted by the water” (Jeremiah 17:7-8). In contrast, cursed are those who “turn their hearts away from the Lord . . . with no hope for the future” (vv. 5-6 nlt). The curse and blessing motifs are also in line with the covenantal consequences laid out in Deuteronomy 28. In times of adversity, Jeremiah reminds us that our security, stability, faithfulness, and fruitfulness are rooted in our trust in God, not in men.

Learn how to move from a shallow life to the firm foundation of your identity in Christ.

 

http://www.odb.org

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – The Virtue of Having Enemies

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26)

It is no compliment to say about a Christian that he has no enemies, for that could mean he has accomplished nothing. The apostle Paul had many bitter enemies, and they finally got him executed. In fact, almost all of the great heroes of the faith, through all the centuries since Satan gained his victory over Adam and Eve, have had to overcome bitter opposition from that wicked one.

So, instead of resenting our enemies, we should thank God for them, for they enable us to become more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Only through such experiences can we learn what it means to say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Only if we have enemies can we learn to obey Christ’s difficult command to “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

The Lord Jesus easily could have called on 12 legions of angels to rout His enemies (Matthew 26:53). Instead, He submitted to their vicious insults and cruel tortures, even praying in His agony on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The enemies of Christ killed Him, but had they not done so He would not have died for our sins, and we would be lost eternally. This is a mystery to ponder and difficult to comprehend, yet, as the Bible promises, “surely the wrath of man shall praise thee” (Psalm 76:10).

The enmity of men can thus be a channel of divine grace to the believer, for “tribulation worketh patience” (Romans 5:3), and “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). HMM

 

 

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

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Power in Jesus’ Name

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I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

John 16:23-24 (AMPC)

When our youngest son was still in school, sometimes people stayed with him when Dave and I traveled. In order for them to get medical treatment for him if it was ever needed, we had to sign a legal document stating they had the right to use our names on our son’s behalf—literally to make decisions in our place.

This is exactly what Jesus did for His disciples and, ultimately, for all who would believe in Him—He gave us the right to use His name when we go to God in prayer. When we pray in His name, it is the same as if He were praying. This privilege seems almost too wonderful to believe! But we can believe it because we have Scripture to back it up.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, thank You for the authority of Jesus’ name. Help me pray with confidence and faith, knowing You hear me and respond as I trust in the power of His name, amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org