Daily Archives: August 11, 2026

Turning Point

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – A Good Thing

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He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.
Proverbs 18:22

Recommended Reading: Proverbs 31:10-29

The Bible was not written primarily as a marriage manual, but if you study the Word of God carefully, you’ll find invaluable principles that will help you build a strong family. The book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom for choosing a spouse, establishing a marriage, building a home, and safeguarding one’s relationships.

Proverbs tells us that one of the building blocks of marriage is spiritual. If you are married or if you are considering marriage, it’s important to make sure the Lord is in the equation. The man who finds a godly wife—and the wife who finds a godly husband—finds something priceless.

If you are asking God for someone to marry, read through the book of Proverbs and notice how involved the Lord can be in the process. Proverbs 19:14 says, “Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.” Proverbs 31:10 asks the question, “Who can find a virtuous wife?” Or husband? The implied answer is—the Lord!

As someone once said, “We can do more than pray after we’ve prayed, but we can’t do more than pray before we’ve prayed.”

A good marriage isn’t something you find; it’s something you make.
Gary L. Thomas

 

 

 

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – What My Rental Car Taught Me

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You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Today’s Scripture

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Listen to Today’s Devotion

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Today’s Devotion

I recently traveled to Los Angeles and had to rent a car. Soon, I was driving through narrow downtown lanes, full of traffic and people. I found myself driving very carefully, slower than normal. Why? Well, I didn’t want to have an accident. But I really didn’t want to damage my rental car. It wasn’t mine, after all. I was just, well, borrowing it.

Most of the time, we’d rather be owners than renters. But as I drove, I couldn’t help but think that renting that car illustrated something important about my relationship to God.

Scripture teaches that even our bodies—which we might think we own—don’t belong to us. In a larger conversation about sexual sin in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul concludes, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (vv. 19-20).

I’ll admit, it’s hard to completely comprehend that my body isn’t my own. Still, God calls us to honor Him with it. To care for our bodies. To realize that we’re stewards—renters, if you will—of these vessels He’s given us, that we might use them to honor and serve the one whose own broken body and blood saves us.

Reflect & Pray

How do you respond to the idea that God wants us to honor Him with our bodies? How could this truth change how you live?

Dear Father, thank You for the amazing gift of my body. Please help me to honor You by using it to love and serve others today.   

Today’s Insights

Some scholars believe that people in Corinth may have viewed Christianity as a means of advancing through society (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Slaves and nobles stood equal before Jesus (Galatians 3:28), so perhaps they thought they could also move up through the social ranks. In his first letter to the misguided church in Corinth, Paul challenged many of the wrong beliefs about what it means to be a servant of Christ. Following the risen Messiah doesn’t mean pride in social status (1 Corinthians 1:26-31), abusing food (ch. 8), or indulging in all kinds of licentious behavior (ch. 5; 6:12-20). Instead, God calls us to honor Him with every part of our lives, including our bodies.

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – From the Depths of Gambling into the Love of Christ

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My Story (in Four Verses)

The weight of a double life

On January 19, 2015, I boarded a plane headed home from West Palm Beach. I boarded that plane a dead man. What I professed with my mouth was in direct contradiction to how I was living. I was lying and deceiving everyone in my life.

For the previous seven years, I had willfully given my heart over to gambling. No one in my life knew anything. And worse still, in order to fund my gambling habit, I stole money from my company.

I was a fraud – in every sense of the word. It was the activity that I was perpetuating at my company. I am a thief. I am a white-collar criminal.

Yet, even in a larger sense, my entire life had become a sham. I was stuck in a Psalm 40 pit of miry clay. I had gotten to where I couldn’t stand to hear anyone praise me, for I knew the real truth about myself. I struggled to accept relational intimacy with my wife, for I was an unworthy husband. I couldn’t even accept the hugs of my four young children (at the time), for I knew who their daddy truly was.

Continue reading Denison Forum – From the Depths of Gambling into the Love of Christ →

Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – No Compromise

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 How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. 

—Psalm 36:7

Scripture:

Psalm 36:7 

First Kings 18 tells the story of the prophet Elijah’s epic showdown with the prophets of Baal and Asherah. But before that decisive contest occurs in the chapter, we find a brief encounter between two of God’s servants that illustrates what real, difference-making servanthood looks like.

The chapter begins with these words: “Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain!’ So Elijah went to appear before Ahab” (1 Kings 18:1–2 NLT). Ahab and his wife Jezebel were two of the evilest characters in Israel’s history. Not only did they oppose the God of Israel, but they also ordered the execution of His prophets. And Elijah was at the top of their hit list.

Even so, when God told Elijah to confront Ahab, the prophet didn’t hesitate to obey. On his way to find Ahab, Elijah encountered Obadiah, “a devoted follower of the Lord” (verse 3 NLT), who was also in charge of Ahab’s palace.

Obadiah had remained faithful to God in a difficult and dangerous environment. In fact, when Jezebel sought to kill the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah hid one hundred of them in caves and supplied them with food and water (see verses 3–4). His actions required courage and helped preserve the lives of God’s servants.

Yet Obadiah and Elijah represent two different ways of serving God during a time of spiritual crisis. Obadiah faithfully served the Lord from within Ahab’s administration, while Elijah openly confronted the king and called the nation back to God. Both men were devoted to the Lord, but Elijah’s assignment required a public stand.

As believers, there are times when our faith is expressed through quiet faithfulness and courageous service behind the scenes. But there are also moments when God calls us to speak openly and stand firmly for what is right. If we remain silent when He calls us to speak, others may mistake our silence for approval.

Look again at how Elijah instantly obeyed and firmly declared God’s will. We need the courage of Elijah, who stood openly and boldly for the Lord. It is possible to believe quietly, as Obadiah did, but there are moments when God calls His people to speak and stand without compromise.

Elijah realized that he stood in the presence of the most powerful King of all: God Himself. Elijah understood what David, the writer of Psalm 36, meant when he wrote, “How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings” (verse 7 NLT).

Have you ever tried to stand in someone’s shadow? You must stay very close to the person. If they move, you must mirror their actions. Elijah stood in the shadow of God no matter where he was. Sometimes we forget that. We think that when we leave church, we somehow leave God’s presence. The truth is, wherever we go, God is with us.

When we stand in the presence of God, we will not bow before any person. Proverbs 28:1 says, “The godly are as bold as lions” (NLT). There is no room for spiritual compromise in the lives of God’s people.

 

Reflection question: What would a refusal to compromise, spiritually speaking, look like in your life? Discuss this with believers like you on Harvest Discipleship!

 

 

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – True Prosperity

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (3 John 2)

This text has been misused by many who promote the modern false gospel of health and wealth—teachers who promise healing and financial success to every believer whose “soul prospereth.” The negative implication of such teaching, of course, is that Christians who are not in robust physical health and enjoying material affluence are somehow lacking in faith and are not in the will of God.

This pernicious notion is disproved, of course, merely by the example of Paul the apostle. He was a far more exemplary Christian than any of these latter-day false teachers, yet his earnest prayer for healing from his “thorn in the flesh” was denied, and he died in poverty and martyrdom in a Roman dungeon (2 Corinthians 12:7). There are numerous modern examples as well: Fanny Crosby was blind but wrote many wonderful hymns, for example, or many have given their lives in sacrificial service on a thousand mission fields.

Note that our text is not a promise but a prayer. Furthermore, that prayer will be answered in great fullness, but not necessarily now! “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. . . . He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelation 21:4,7).

In the meantime, we should remember that this coming time of true prosperity will be measured in accordance with the health and prosperity of our souls, exactly as John had prayed for his spiritual children, for Jesus said, “My reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). HMM

 

 

 

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

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Staying Peaceful Under Pressure

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Blessed [with wisdom and prosperity] is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, and whom You teach from Your law, that You may grant him [power to calm himself and find] peace in the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked and ungodly.

Psalm 94:12–13 (AMP)

We sometimes reach a tipping point in our lives when we recognize we are under so much pressure that we are on the verge of losing our peace and are about to start behaving badly. In today’s scriptures, the psalmist writes of the Lord granting a person [power to calm himself and find] peace in the days of adversity (Ps. 94:13 AMP).

Here are some steps that will hopefully help the process:

  • Step 1: Slow down (or stop), take a deep breath, and regroup.
  • Step 2: Regain your perspective. Be realistic about what is really happening.
  • Step 3: Resist the devil at his onset, when you first realize he is pressuring you.
  • Step 4: Cast your care on God and let Him show you what He can do. Keep saying, “God, I let this go. I trust You!” until you feel yourself calming down.
  • Step 5: Think about what you are thinking about concerning the things that frustrate you and stop thinking about it. Instead, think about something good and positive.
  • Step 6: Exercise self-control and manage your emotions instead of letting them control you.
  • Step 7: Ask yourself if you can delay or delegate any of the things that are causing you stress, and make a plan to do so.

Prayer of the Day: I thank You, God, for the peace You give and for granting me the ability to calm myself and find peace in the midst of troubling situations.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Savor the Stillness 

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Do you feel isolated from family and friends? Perhaps your isolation is less geographical and more ideological. Do you feel alone in your opinions and concerns? When we follow the crowd, we feel safe.  When we swim against the tide, we need strength.

Turn to God as your best friend. Find what it means to walk in the Spirit, to lean on and lean into him as your comforter. Meditate on Scripture. Read inspirational books. Enjoy times of worship. Lay claim to a quiet spot where you can hear God’s voice. Speak less when you are in his presence.

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 NKJV). Learn to savor the stillness. Trust God’s stops as well as God’s steps.

 

 

 

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Today in the Word

Today in the Word – Moody Bible Institute – Power of Life and Death

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Read Proverbs 18:1–24

We’ve all heard the children’s rhyme: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” The irony, of course, is that this much-recited ditty about brushing off wounding words is itself a lie. Words can hurt—and often do—even more than stones.

The power of words—both harmful and healing—is highlighted throughout the book of Proverbs. There are 915 proverbs in the entire biblical book, and approximately 150 address our speech. Proverbs 18 is another key chapter that focuses on this theme.

Verse 1 warns against social isolation and antagonistic communication. A fool selfishly holds himself aloof from community and spurns connection by starting arguments. The fool rushes to share opinions before taking the time to learn relevant information (v. 2). In verse 4, the “deep waters” are likely the deeper thoughts and feelings from which the bubbling “fountain of wisdom” will flow (v. 4). Our external communication reflects our interior world.

Verses 6–8 hammer home the devastating effects of the “lips of fools.” They initiate and intensify conflict. The fool’s words not only destroy other people; they also bring devastation upon oneself. Gossip is a particularly damaging use of language, which tastes deceptively sweet in the mouth. It spreads fast because we like how it tastes. But then, it penetrates our hearts and minds and soul, damaging our character.

The fool also jumps in prematurely, bringing shame upon himself (v. 13). In contrast, the wise man listens well and pursues knowledge (v. 15). Our words have consequences—both for the hearer and for us (vv. 20–21). They can hasten death or foster life.

Go Deeper

Proverbs 18 is convicting for all of us! What lesson struck home to you? How will you apply it?

Pray with Us

In the beginning You spoke life into existence, God. Teach us how to foster life through our words. May we have the self-control to not use words that will damage.

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.Proverbs 18:21

 

 

 

https://www.moodybible.org/