Daily Archives: August 2, 2026

Today in the Word

Today in the Word – Moody Bible Institute – Created for Communion

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Read Genesis 2:15–25

The Latin word communis means “common” or “shared by all.” It is the root for communication, community, communion, and commune. Community can form around our shared interests, values, purpose, resources, or responsibility. Communis implies a reciprocal relationship; community members give and receive within this shared culture.

The concept of communis is central to the story of creation. In Genesis 2:15, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” According to The Moody Bible Commentary, the emphasis here was not on the gardening assignment—as is often communicated. Instead, God is the subject, and His main action is the “taking” and “putting” of Adam. In the Hebrew, the verb for “put” means “to set him at rest.” This rest God intended for Adam in the Garden of Eden was not primarily a physical rest. After all, Adam was given work to do! Rather, this rest was “an all- encompassing rest of faith.”

The Moody Bible Commentary continues: “God immediately placed him in that state for which man was originally intended, the state of being in full relationship with God, the state of being at spiritual rest in and with Him.” Thus, man was created to commune—primarily with God.

However, God also created humans to live in community. The only aspect of creation that God declared “not good” was Adam’s lack of human partnership (v. 18). When the animals were brought before Adam, he used language to give them names—just as God had done (v. 19). But the suitable “helper” for Adam was not found, so God fashioned for Adam a perfect partner, Eve. Adam’s first recorded words are a poetic declaration of their complementary (v. 23), enduring (v. 24), and unabashed union (v. 25).

Go Deeper

Where have you experienced reciprocal community in your life? Where is God calling you to grow in communion?

Pray with Us

How easily we grow distracted and forget that we were created to commune with You, God! There is nothing better than spiritual rest in and with You. Help us fix our eyes on You.

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”Genesis 2:23

 

 

 

https://www.moodybible.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Walking in Integrity

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Whoever walks in integrity walks securely. Proverbs 10:9

Today’s Scripture

Proverbs 10:6-14

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Today’s Devotion

An Uber driver named Esbon Kamau picked up a sixteen-year-old rider who was on his way to purchase a motorcycle—a gift from his father. After Kamau dropped the passenger off, he noticed the teen had left a bag in the back seat. There was $8,000 inside—the cash needed for the purchase of the motorcycle. Kamau quickly contacted Uber to try and locate the passenger. Soon Kamau delivered the cash back to the grateful, relieved young man. “Do the right thing at the right time,” Kamau said, “and don’t let selfishness overpower [you].”

Kamau displayed integrity. He resisted making a fast buck or taking advantage of someone’s mistake. Instead, he chose to simply do the right thing. “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,” Proverbs says (10:9). When we practice integrity, we never have to worry about remembering what we said to whom, because truth is our only concern. When we practice integrity, we don’t have to fear for our reputation or that our schemes will catch up with us (v. 23). We don’t have to be concerned about being a person whose “crooked paths will be found out” (v. 9). We simply live true—displaying wisdom (v. 13) that comes from God. We’re secure and free in Him.

We face numerous temptations to lie or manipulate in life, but God calls us to walk with Him. And as we do, we can lead “blameless” (v. 29) lives of integrity.

Reflect & Pray

When has your integrity been challenged? How have you experienced others’ integrity?

Dear God, I want to live with integrity. Please help me be blameless in You.

Today’s Insights

In Proverbs, Solomon offers basic wisdom for life and often uses a Hebrew poetic device called parallelism, where two or more lines of poetry correspond with one another. Parallelism and other poetic devices are normal features of Hebrew poetry, which doesn’t operate with rhyme and meter like Western poetry.

In synonymous parallelism, the idea in the first half of the verse is repeated in the second half but with different wording: “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke” (3:11). Proverbs 10:9 is an example of antithetical parallelism, where two statements are contrasted with opposite language: “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.” Solomon exposes the folly of ignoring God’s wisdom and shows the consequences of that folly. Today, God will help us live by His wisdom and be marked as people of character who walk in integrity.

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Lots of people are “Bricking” their phones. Should you?

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If someone asked you, “Are you addicted to your phone?” you might feel a bit defensive. “Addicted” sounds like such a strong word and holds many negative connotations. However, when you break it down, the definition of “addiction” is simply “a strong inclination to do, use, or indulge in something repeatedly.” For most people, that is exactly the power their phone holds over them.

The reality is that the average person spends over five hours per day on their phone. Many would likely claim that a lot of those five hours are work-related. Yet, the truth of the situation remains. People are still spending five hours of their day locked in, staring at their phones.

Whether decompressing, doomscrolling on social media, responding to emails, or talking with friends, our relationship with our phones has created a seemingly unbreakable tension between connection and isolation. Our phones provide us with instantaneous connection, yet the mental health crisis of our day rages with more fury than ever. People are feeling lonely, burnt out, anxious, and depressed with no hope of escape.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Lots of people are “Bricking” their phones. Should you? →

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – I Am

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:62)

After His arrest, “the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none” (Mark 14:55). Then they got their sought-after witness from Jesus Himself when the high priest asked Him, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (v. 61). It only took two words from Him: “I am!”

As a matter of fact, this was not the first time He had thus identified Himself as the self-existent, eternal God. On an earlier occasion in Jerusalem, He told the Pharisees, “I am the light of the world,” and then, “I am from above . . . I am not of this world. . . . [I]f ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:12, 23–24; the “he” in verse 24 is not in the Greek original).

He made this especially clear a few minutes later when He asserted, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). But when He finally made this wonderfully truthful claim in the presence of the council, “they all condemned him to be guilty of death” (Mark 14:64). He had committed the capital crime of blasphemy in their opinion: He claimed to be God.

“I am” is, in fact, the very name of God. When Moses, at the burning bush, was called by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery, God said His name was “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). The name Jehovah (or Yahweh), the most frequently used name of the Lord in the Old Testament, is essentially this name.

One can count at least 196 “I am” claims of God in Christ in the Bible (“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” for example—John 14:6). Truly, our Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal, self-existent God, “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13). HMM

 

 

 

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

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – How Close You Are to God Is Your Choice

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And [so], the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed in (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on) God, and this was accounted to him as righteousness (as conformity to God’s will in thought and deed), and he was called God’s friend.

James 2:23 (AMPC)

It’s obvious some people are closer to God than others. These “close friends” of God speak of talking to Him as if they know Him personally. Their faces shine with enthusiasm as they testify, “And God told me…” while skeptical acquaintances grumble to themselves, “Well, God doesn’t talk to me like that!”

Why is that? Does God have favorites? No, Scripture teaches that each person determines his or her own level of intimacy with God, depending on their willingness to seek Him and put time into developing a relationship with Him. Everyone has been extended the same open invitation to …fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace… (Hebrews 4:16 AMPC). At this moment, you are as close to God as you choose to be.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, I want to know You more deeply—more intimately. I want that close personal relationship I hear so much about. Give me the desire and discipline to seek You daily, draw near to Your throne, and grow in true intimacy with You, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org