June 20, 2026

Acts 5: 41 (NIV)

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

Something supernatural happens when Christians are so submitted to God’s will and his Spirit that they are willing to endure persecution – and even death – for his name’s sake.*

Can’t you just see the apostles – those formerly timid followers of Jesus – leaving their audience with the Sanhedrin, high-fiving and fist-bumping as they went? Their observers must have found it puzzling that these men would be so exuberant after having just been flogged for preaching the gospel.

We know that we, too, should “count it all joy,” but could we? Perhaps our faith is strong enough to defy those who persecute us. And we know we would never bow down to idols or deny Jesus; but just how happy would we be to suffer for our faith? I confess that I get whiney when I am merely inconvenienced!

What makes these men different from you and me? Turn back a page to Acts chapter four and read about Peter and John’s appearance before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish legal authorities, who badly wanted to penalize them for preaching the gospel but who were paralyzed by their fear of public opinion. When Peter and John’s “people” heard their story, they “raised their voices together in prayer to God.” (4: 24) Did they ask God to deliver them from those who were conspiring against them? Did they ask him to strike down their enemies? No. They said, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” (4: 29) And after they prayed, the room was shaken, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God boldly (4: 31).

Do you wish to be transformed from a timid follower of Jesus to a bold proclaimer of the gospel? Pray this same prayer for boldness. Pray that the Spirit will shake your house and fill you up and enable you to speak boldly. Then you can count yourself among those who rejoice when they have been found worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name!

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.*

June 19, 2026

I John 4: 18 (NIV)

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I
f it were a question of our own love, then every honest Christian would be continually in fear if he thought that his final acceptance depended on his own inward perfection in love.*

In First Corinthians, chapter 13, Paul defines love by listing examples of what love is and what love is not. When John writes about “perfect” love, is he adding another dimension to love? Or might we conclude that there is no such thing as “imperfect love”? We call it love but if it is selfish, jealous, neglectful, or abusive, is it really love?

In verse 16, John states that God is love. If we substitute God for love in our passage, it looks like this: There is no fear in God. But perfect God drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in God. Now we start to understand what John is trying to tell us. We know that if we are in God, we have no reason to fear punishment because God is – well . . . love.

The world doesn’t fear God's punishment. But just because a person doesn’t feel fearful doesn’t mean he has nothing to fear. So while John’s words offer comfort and relief for believers, those outside of God’s perfect love have an eternity to dread. If only they knew . . . Maybe someone should tell them . . .

The enemy of fear is love; the way to put off fear, then, is to put on love.*

June 18, 2026

II Timothy 2: 8, 9 (NIV)

This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.

How trivial and selfish my concerns are compared to those of people who seem to have stepped right out of the pages of the NewTestament.*

Thanks to Facebook posts from “Voices of the Martyrs,” I am often reminded to pray for the persecuted church around the world. I read of Christians who are beaten; imprisoned; forced to watch as loved ones are tortured. But not all persecution involves brutality - there are many nations where religious freedom is limited or nonexistent. These brothers and sisters manage to stand firm in their faith in spite of being deprived of a complete Bible in their own language (if they are even able to read at all!), and the freedom to gather with fellow believers. How do they do it? Access to the word of God and fellowship with other believers are so essential to my spiritual growth, how would I manage without them?

Paul answers my questions with one statement: God’s word is not chained. God’s word is not limited to paper and ink or biblegateway.com.  Its power cannot be defused by laws. Incomplete knowledge does not deter the Holy Spirit. The gospel is not confined by prison bars.

Pray with me for the persecuted church. Be mindful daily of the absolute luxury you have to pick up a Bible and read it. Take advantage of your many opportunities for sweet fellowship. Pray that the Lord will send workers where the gospel is needed most. Prepare yourself to be one of those workers.

I can pray that Lord of Heaven can so alter the affairs of earth that His spokesman will have special opportunity to speak for Him.*

June 17, 2026

Ephesians 5: 28,29  (NIV)

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.

True Christian love involves the submission of one’s desires and even one’s needs for the good of the person loved.*

Throughout history (and in many cultures today), couples didn’t meet, then fall in love, and then get married. When Paul says that husbands must love their wives, he doesn’t make exceptions for those who didn’t get to choose the women they married, so there is no loophole either for those who claim they just don’t love each other anymore.

In our culture, we can’t imagine wanting to marry someone we aren’t “in love with.” We forget that marriage is a legal contract between two parties. I suppose that we could make feelings part of the vows, therefore making “falling out of love” grounds for dissolution, but Christian marriages are held to a higher standard. Earlier in this chapter, wives are instructed to submit to their husbands as if to the Lord (a whole 'nother topic of discussion!) but here, Paul makes it clear what Christ’s definition of love is and that husbands are required to love their wives like that – no matter how they feel about it.

I am not proposing that love as defined by Christ will save all marriages. As in any legal agreement, there are terms and conditions that are binding on both parties. One person’s failure to comply can nullify the contract. But in any relationship between Christians, a third party is involved: Christ.* Love like his puts self last and transforms our expectations and priorities. And such love is required of all of us, not just husbands and wives.

In Christ, our relationship with each other is suddenly more intimate than any human relationship has ever been!*

June 16, 2026

John 2: 1-11 (NIV)

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. . . . and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine . . . This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee . . . [Read the entire passage]

Yahweh is constantly overseeing human affairs.*

Many – make that most – times, my prayers are shallow and selfish. I am aware of BIG needs in the world – lost souls, persecuted Christians, dying children, man’s inhumanity to man – but my world is small. Even when I pray for other people, they are usually the people in my world. As I grow in Christ and learn to delight in him, the desires of my heart become less frivolous and more in harmony with his will. But as my relationship with the Lord becomes more intimate, the more aware I am that he cares about what I care about – even in my small world.

Jesus demonstrates that he is interested in more than just the big picture by performing, as his first miracle, a favor for his mother. As Max Lucado writes, he “used his premiere miracle on a social miscue.”* Was there any eternal significance to saving his host from embarrassment? John says it was the first of his miraculous signs, that through it he revealed his glory, and that his disciples put their faith in him. As to his purpose in performing this particular miracle at this particular venue, we aren’t told; the facts in evidence, however, tell us two important things about Jesus:

• He chose to act on his own schedule for his own reasons.
• His interest in human affairs is not limited to weighty matters, but his involvement has eternal significance.

Invite Jesus into your life. I can’t promise that he will be the life of the party but he promises to give you life to the full (John 10: 10). Let him handle the details and the heavy lifting.

While he chided the religious elite of his day, he listened deeply and intently to the cries and the pleas of the common folk. They mattered to him. Their personal suffering provided the context for the gospel.*

June 15, 2026

Luke 5: 4-6 (NIV)

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

Trust always begins with one side taking a risk.*

I don’t know how long Peter (Simon) had been a fisherman but it was probably long enough that he could have resented Jesus’ recommendation. “I’m a professional,” he might have thought. “I know how to fish.” Was he just humoring Jesus when he agreed to try something different? Or did he give Jesus’ word higher authority than his own experience, as John Maxwell suggests?*

As humans, we may become experts in many areas, but as Christians we often have to set aside what we know from experience, training, and intuition, and do something illogical - because Jesus asked us to. If we are Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, we will find ourselves making choices that defy reason. Faith and common sense do not go hand-in-hand.

Being asked to fish in deeper water may not be as risky as taking your seven children to live in a middle-eastern country to minister to refugees (as my friends have done) but Jesus does not always require us to follow him into danger – only to trust him with every step we take.

The Christian may find himself in situations in which it appears impossible for God to keep His word. Satan would have us trust our senses. He assures us that faith is contrary to right reasoning.*

June 14, 2026

Psalm 71: 18 (NIV)

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your might to all who are to come.

God never gives us back our youth.*

I had a friend who was always the one that people called when they needed something – a meal, a ride, a hospital visit – but she was a widow and, in her 90s, she began to need others to take care of her. She once confided that she missed the sense of purpose she once had. 

Does the psalmist fear that God will forsake him just because he has grown too old to be useful? I suspect his concern involves his awareness that there is so much to do and so little time. Some senior Christians may need to be reminded that their works don’t save them, but most have spent their lives in service because they are saved, not as their hope of obtaining salvation. It is their spiritual act of worship - and now they are faced with learning a new way to worship. 

What words of comfort can we offer to aging saints whose days of productive service are dwindling away? We might remind them that they, as older people, have had “a peculiar privilege: the chance to see God’s faithfulness over a lifetime.”* Their lifetime of faithfulness can be a testimony to God’s faithfulness, a legacy to pass on to the next generation. A senior saint could also recall how blessed she was when she was being a blessing to others, and that now she becomes the vehicle of blessing by allowing others to serve her. This is truly the circle of life! 

A final reminder for every stage of life: God loves us because we are his, not for what we do and not for how we feel. Busyness – even in Kingdom work – distracts us from developing our relationship with the Lord. Feelings - of guilt, inadequacy, purposelessness, self-pity, unworthiness - hinder our spiritual growth. As we age and weaken physically, we should rejoice that, spiritually, we are now in the growing season.

Bringing enjoyment to God . . . is the first purpose of your life. When you fully understand this truth, you will never again have a problem with feeling insignificant. . . . If you are that important to God, and he considers you valuable enough to keep you with him for eternity, what greater significance could you have?*