"Prayer Changes Everything" Devotion for Today

August 14, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Whatever Happens Here, Stays Here..." Jeremiah 23:23-24 New International Version 23 “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord “and not a God far away? 24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. Signs often seen in well-known tourist destinations promise that "whatever happe...

August 13, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Dedicated Warriors… " Jeremiah 48:10 New King James Version 10 Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood. No, you didn't misread that second sentence. For all the times God has condemned bloodshed, this time it is his idea! In fact wielding the sword is characterized as being “the Lord's work"! What...

August 12, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Culpable Ignorance" Jeremiah 36:23 New International Version 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the fire pot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. Few would be so called as to cut up a God-inspired scroll, as Jehoiakim did, or to literally rip out disturbing pas...

August 11, 2022 Daily Devotion: "The Book of the Law... " 2 Chronicles 34:19-21 New International Version 19 When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. Why then should Josiah be so grieved that in anguish and remorse he tears his robes? Has he not inherited from his ancestors the basic teachings of the Book of the Law and absorbed its fundamental moral standards virtually bysmosi...

August 10, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Fully Devoted... " 2 Kings 23:25 New International Version 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. If you could have anything at all said about you, what would you most want to hear? One would be hard-pre...

August 09, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Planting and Watering…" Isaiah 55:10-11 New International Version 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: I will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I de...

August 08, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Greatest Disappointments to become Precious Fruitful Gift… " Isaiah 47:13 New International Version 13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. This is one of several analogies Isaiah uses to predict Israel's fruit...

August 07, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Practice Humility" Isaiah 50:6-7 New International Version 6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.7 Because The Sovereign Lord helps me. I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint and I know I will not be put to shame. Three layers of teaching are e...

August 6, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Leave This Way… " Isaiah 30:10-11 New International Version 10 They say to the seers “See no more vision and to the prophets “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” Psychiatrists must surely have a word to describe folks who insis...

August 5, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Christian Nation…" 2 Kings 17:33-41 New International Version 33 They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. Previous examples of fickle faith have focused on Israel herself. For Israel, having mixed religious loyalties was a perennial problem. But our featured passage t...

August 04, 2022 Daily Devotion: "God's Boat Sails Best... " Isaiah 33:23-24 New International Version 23 Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure; the sail is not spread. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder. Have you seen pictures of sailboats leaning so far over they seem to be on the brink of overturning? Only those who have experienc...

August 03, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Hezekiah's Prayer" 2 Chronicles 30:18-20 New International Version 18 Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone 19 who sets their heart on seeking God—the...

Aug 02, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Beneath The Gravestones…" Isaiah 14:10-11 New International Version 10 They will all respond, they will say to you, “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.” 11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. When we think of a cemetery, our mind's eye...

August 01, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Unclean Lips, Hearts and Minds" Isaiah 6:5 New International Version 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Sounds like the apostle Paul, doesn't it – that "chief of sinners" so unworthy to be chosen. And what about that petulant hothead Pet...

July 31, 2022 Daily Devotion: "A Tremendous Responsibility We Assume in The Name that We Wear" Hosea 2:23 New International Version 23 I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one. I will say to those called ‘Not my people, ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” The names divinely chosen for Hosea's children bore a stinging...

July 30, 2023 Daily Devotion: "Screaming to Obedience... " Jonah 2:10 New International Version 10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Virtually every child knows the story of Jonah and "the whale." Because whales aren't actually fish, maybe it wasn't the gray, blue, or killer whale we see spouting off in all the drawings. But it's still the biggest fish tale ever...

July 29, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Take Up Your Positions... Do Not Be Discouraged... " 2 Chronicles 20:12 New International Version 12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” We've all been there. Somewhere along the line everybody experiences those desperate moments when we have run out o...

July 28, 2022 Daily Devotion: "God Who Brings Victory in the Valleys… " 1 Kings 20:28 New International Version 28 The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord.’” Even for us today, it's hard...

July 27, 2022 Daily Devotion: “Every Season Is Important… " Ecclesiastes 3:1 New International Version 3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: As with nature itself, all the many seasons of life also play a role. From the joyous season of birth to the culminating season of death, each season has its place. If perhaps the season of Jesus' birth was more...

July 26, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Speak the Truth in Love... " Proverbs 29:12 New International Version 12 If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked. Today's proverb concisely states how evil is introduced when a king, CEO, politician, president, or church leader surrounds himself with "yes-men." When a leader prefers a glowing image over dubious reality, those who wish his favor mu...

July 25, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Enlightening Green Arrows... " Proverbs 18:17 New International Version 17 In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines. Without cross-examination, even an honest witness might be telling the truth as he knows it, but perhaps not the whole truth-because he doesn't know it. The search for truth in any arena demands carefu...

July 24, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Complex Motives" Proverbs 16:2 New International Version 2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. When it comes to moral and spiritual actions, motives are equally complex. One can act from the purest of motives, yet violate God's commands. As Samuel reminded Saul, where there is outright disobedience, an act of sacrifice is worth...

July 23, 2022 Daily Devotion: "The Important Role of Discipline… " Proverbs 23:13-14 New International Version 13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.14 Punish them with the rod and save them from death. Spare the rod, and spoil the child" goes the adage drawn from biblical proverbs like the one above. By now the degree to which that adage ha...

July 22, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Hang onto God's every Word!" Proverbs 1:7 New International Version 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. No wonder there are so many fools around. If to be wise we must be afraid of God and sit in the corner all day for being naughty, not many are going to choose that option! Nor is the connection between fea...

July 21, 2022 Daily Devotion: "Dreaming Big Dreams for the Lord… " 2 Chronicles 6:8-9 Easy-to-Read Version 8 But the Lord said to my father, ‘David, it is good that you want to build a temple for my name, 9 but you cannot build the Temple. Your son will build the Temple for my name. Have you ever had a wonderful, exciting dream that never came true? Some grand idea that seemed so perfect, but came...