FOCUS OF THE MONTH (FOM)
HEAVEN BOUND WITH OUR SAVIOR
SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK (SOW)
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
— Philippians 3:20 KJV
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, — Philippians 3:20 ESV
Wednesday Corporate Fasting Scripture – Isaiah 58 (ESV); Isaiah 58 (KJV)
Friday End of Week Scripture – Ephesians 3:20-21 (KJV)
LET’S CELEBRATE YOUR NEW YEAR!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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ESV Translation Philosophy
The ESV is an “essentially literal” translation that seeks as far as possible to reproduce the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer. As such, its emphasis is on “word-for-word” correspondence, at the same time taking full account of differences in grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original languages. Thus it seeks to be transparent to the original text, letting the reader see as directly as possible the structure and exact force of the original.
In contrast to the ESV, some Bible versions have followed a “thought-for-thought” rather than “word-for-word” translation philosophy, emphasizing “dynamic equivalence” rather than the “essentially literal” meaning of the original. A “thought-for-thought” translation is of necessity more inclined to reflect the interpretive views of the translator and the influences of contemporary culture.
Every translation is at many points a trade-off between literal precision and readability, between “formal equivalence” in expression and “functional equivalence” in communication, and the ESV is no exception. Within this framework, we have sought to be “as literal as possible” while maintaining clarity of expression and literary excellence. Therefore, to the extent that plain English permits and the meaning in each case allows, we have sought to use the same English word for important recurring words in the original; and, as far as grammar and syntax allow, we have rendered Old Testament passages cited in the New in ways that show their correspondence. Thus in each of these areas, as well as throughout the Bible as a whole, we have sought to capture all the echoes and overtones of meaning that are so abundantly present in the original texts.
As an essentially literal translation, taking into account grammar and syntax, the ESV thus seeks to carry over every possible nuance of meaning in the original words of Scripture into our own language. As such, the ESV is ideally suited for in-depth study of the Bible. Indeed, with its commitment to literary excellence, the ESV is equally well suited for public reading and preaching, for private reading and reflection, for both academic and devotional study, and for Scripture memorization.
PRAISE & WORSHIP
DAILY DEVOTIONALS
Sunday, August 31, 2025 – JESUS REACHES FOR YOU – Mark 1:40-45
Our Daily Bread Focuses: Christ, person/work; God’s love and care
Today’s Devotional
Letty, a cleaner in an office building, was known for walking fast—really fast. In doing so, she could easily avoid people. Wounded by poverty and accustomed to condescension, she passed others with one hand reflexively covering part of her face. Her shame, in her words, over not being “like normal, beautiful, educated people,” was profoundly deep. When a woman at work extended her friendship, Letty began to heal.
A man with leprosy lived with a shame perhaps deeper than Letty’s. His disease rendered him revolting and ceremonially unclean by standards of the Mosaic law, separating him from mainstream society. The man’s wounds weren’t just physical; they were also lesions of the soul and spirit. With this woundedness, the leper approached Christ, begging, “If you are willing, you can make me clean” (Mark 1:40). Heal me, he was saying, but also remove my shame.
Jesus responded not with repulsion but with compassion. “I am willing,” He said, “Be clean!” as He reached out and touched the man (v. 41). Just like the friendship extended to Letty by a coworker, Jesus’ gesture was one of understanding all that the man had suffered and of acceptance despite it all.
We may walk through life hiding what we feel separates us from “normal, beautiful, educated people.” May we allow Jesus to touch and redeem these things that cause us shame. May we know that as God’s children, we’re accepted and loved.
Reflect & Pray
What makes you feel shame? How can you entrust this to Christ’s redeeming love?
Dear Jesus, thank You for reaching out to me.
For further study, read Fully Human and Fully Free.
Today’s Insights
After Jesus showed compassion and healed the man with leprosy, He gave him “a strong warning: ‘See that you don’t tell this to anyone’ ” (Mark 1:43-44). He gave similar warnings in Mark 1:34; 3:12 (these commands were to evil spirits); 5:43; 7:36; 8:30; and 9:9. Why wouldn’t Christ want people to know He was the Messiah? Because it wasn’t yet time for His identity to be fully revealed. Jesus was still establishing His authority over our enemy the devil with His miracles and teaching.
Christ understood how seeing these miracles might cause people to jump to the wrong conclusion about His mission and purpose. Regardless, He never sought publicity. In Mark 1, because the man spread the news of his healing despite Jesus’ warning, He chose to remain “outside [the towns] in lonely places. Yet the people still came to Him from everywhere” (v. 45). We’re always drawn to this one who lovingly removes our shame as we believe in Him.
Today’s Devotional
In her blog post “Regrets of the Dying,” Bronnie Ware outlines regrets she heard as a nurse caring for the terminally ill. Among them were “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard” and “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” Perhaps most intriguing: “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
“Facing our own inevitable death is a fabulous tool for joy-filled living,” Ware writes. That’s sound advice, but what is the source of such joy? Where do we find ultimate meaning?
As a young man, John the disciple held a distorted view of life’s purpose. He and his brother asked Jesus, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Their request only sparked dissension among the disciples (v. 41).
Decades later John held a drastically different view—one of love and community in Jesus. John saw Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as foundational to everything. “We proclaim to you the eternal life,” he wrote (1 John 1:2). John told us about Jesus so that “you also may have fellowship with us” (v. 3). Then he added, “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete” (vv. 3-4).
Life can bring regrets. Jesus invites us to exchange them for the complete joy only He can give.
Reflect & Pray
What regrets do you have? What’s keeping you from letting Jesus make your joy complete?
Heavenly Father, I regret ____________. Please step into this pain in my life. I need the joy that comes from being united with You.
For further study, read Origin Story: Following Jesus Back to the Beginning.
Today’s Insights
John wrote this letter to refute false teachers who said that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah and wasn’t a real human person (1 John 2:22; 4:1-3). The apostle testified that he’d personally heard, seen, touched, and been in fellowship with Christ, thus affirming His humanity (1:1-3). John also declared Jesus’ deity by calling Him “the Word of life” (v. 1), “the eternal life” (v. 2), and the “Son” of God (v. 3).
The same theme is seen in John’s gospel, which he wrote so that we’d “believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing [we’d] have life in his name” (John 20:31). Eternal life is the privilege and joy of knowing God and Christ (17:3; 1 John 2:25). Jesus promised that those who remained in Him would experience His joy to the fullest (John 15:11). He invites us to bring our struggles and regrets to Him and exchange them for His joy.
Today’s Devotional
Morse was the son of a Protestant minister and a struggling painter of landscapes. In the 1820s, he made a meager living as a limner—“an itinerant painter” of colonial America. But his was a life God led in another direction. Morse also had an interest in science. He learned about electromagnets, conceiving an idea that would change the world. In 1832, Samuel F. B. Morse conceived the idea of an electric telegraph and later went on to make the first working telegraph.
Probably the most dramatic biblical account of “career change” was that of Saul, who was “breathing out murderous threats” against believers in Christ (Acts 9:1). Jesus appeared to him in a great light (v. 3) saying that Saul was persecuting Him. Essentially, Saul was told to stop because he was under new orders now (v. 6). Saul did a U-turn in his life and assumed a new identity in Christ as the apostle who would eventually spread the gospel wherever he went.
Sometimes what we think is our future really isn’t. God leads us in another direction. Perhaps He needs to call us out of our sin. Or maybe it’s a change of ministry or vocation. When God redirects our lives, we do well to stop what we’re doing and follow our new orders. And as our new path opens before us, we might just echo the joy of the first dot-and-dash message of Morse’s telegraph: “What hath God wrought!”
Reflect & Pray
How has God led your life in a different direction? What word has He given you today to encourage others?
Dear God, please help me be open to Your leading as You guide my path and career in this current season.
For further study, read It’s Not Fair: Trusting God When Life Doesn’t Make Sense.
Today’s Insights
The book of Acts contains three accounts of Saul’s conversion: 9:1-19; 22:3-16; and 26:9-18. Saul (later called Paul) made “murderous threats” (9:1) against those who “belonged to the Way” of Christ (v. 2). The second and third times we read of his conversion, Paul is giving testimony of how he turned to Christ. He admitted, “I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death” (22:4). The apostle would’ve continued in the way of opposition to Christ had not Jesus intervened (9:3-5) and led him in a different direction. At times, God will also lead us in a different direction for our good and His honor.
Today’s Devotional
A pack of hyenas surrounded a lone lioness. When the cackling beasts attacked, the lioness fought back. Biting, clawing, growling, and roaring in a desperate attempt to ward off her enemies, she finally fell. As the clan engulfed her, another lioness came to the rescue with three helpers only seconds behind her. Though outnumbered, the big cats fought off the hyenas until they scattered. The lionesses stood together, scanning the horizon as if expecting another attack.
Believers in Jesus desperately need help from others too. The most powerful help we can offer is prayer. The apostle Paul wrote in a letter to the church in Rome, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me” (Romans 15:30). Paul asked them to pray that he would “be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea” and that the “Lord’s people” would receive him and his gifts “favorably” (v. 31). He acknowledged the rewards of being a part of their community (v. 32). He stood with them in prayer, too, ending his letter with a blessing: “The God of peace be with you all” (v. 33).
As we live for Jesus, we’ll face adversaries in the physical and spiritual realms. God promises to be with us and fight on our behalf, however, as we stand together . . . always ready to pray.
Reflect & Pray
How has God used intercessory prayer to strengthen you? How does He keep you ready to pray?
Mighty God, please make me steadfast in prayer as I thrive in community with You and others.
Discover the life-changing power of prayer.
Today’s Insights
When Paul asked believers in Jesus to “join” him in earnest prayer (Romans 15:30), the Greek word used conveys the idea of straining or striving together. Like athletes struggling to reach the finish line, he wanted the Roman believers to wrestle faithfully with God in prayer for the challenges he’d soon be facing. Paul’s concerns about the likelihood of facing fierce opposition in Judea (v. 31; Acts 20:22-25) were well founded. In Acts 21-27, we read of what the apostle experienced there. He was seized by a mob and arrested (21:27-36), religious leaders conspired to murder him (23:12-15), and he spent two years in prison before finally being sent to Rome (24:27; 26:32–27:1).
This likely wasn’t what Paul was hoping for when he asked for prayers to “be kept safe” (Romans 15:31), but he was able to trust in “God’s will” (v. 32) and powerful presence. As believers in Jesus, we can also trust in the one who’s with us and who will fight for us.
Thursday, September 4, 2025 – OUR CALLING IN CHRIST – Ezra 7:6-11, 27-28
Daily Bread Focuses: Service; Spiritual growth; Theology of mission
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 3:4-7; Colossians 4:6; Matthew 28:19-20
Today’s Devotional
Ginnie Hislop received a standing ovation as she received her master’s degree in 2024. Why? It came eighty-four years after she’d completed her coursework! In 1941, she needed only to submit her thesis. But her then boyfriend, George, was suddenly called to serve during World War II. The two quickly married and headed to his army outpost—leaving Ginnie’s nearly realized degree behind. But after a lengthy pause, she was finally able to complete what she’d started.
Ezra was a student of Scripture—one who truly had an “advanced degree” in God’s law—who’d been waiting years to return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. “Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees” (Ezra 7:10). Zerubbabel and a group of Israelite exiles had been permitted to return from Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem decades earlier (2:1-2). And now Ezra, who had “the gracious hand of his God . . . on him” (7:9), was leading more exiles to Jerusalem. God would use him to reform and restore the proper worship of Him according to Scripture: “Ezra opened the book [of the Law]. All the people . . . bowed down and worshiped the Lord” (Nehemiah 8:5-6).
Ezra had to wait decades, but he completed his calling in God’s strength. In His power, let’s persist in finishing the work He has for us.
Reflect & Pray
What can you do to press on in your calling from God? How can you persist in His power and wisdom?
Dear God, please help me finish well what You’ve called me to do.
Learn how to find and follow your calling.
Today’s Insights
The book of Ezra records the two returns of Jewish exiles from Babylon. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David (Matthew 1:12), led the first return of fifty thousand in 538 bc (Ezra 1-6). Some eighty years later (458 bc), Ezra led another five thousand in the second return (chs. 7-10). Nehemiah, a contemporary of Ezra, led the third return in 444 bc. Ezra, a priest and a teacher well-versed in the law of Moses, faithfully taught the Scriptures to the people, leading them in two spiritual renewals (Ezra 9-10; Nehemiah 8-10). As God helped Ezra, He can help us persist in finishing the work He has for us.
Today’s Devotional
A team of landscape architects studied the effects of providing a fence around a preschool playground. On playgrounds without fences, children tended to gather close to the school building and their teacher and didn’t stray away. But on fenced-in playgrounds, they enjoyed the entire area. The researchers concluded that boundaries can create a greater sense of freedom. This seems counterintuitive to so many of us who think boundaries restrict enjoyment. Yet fences can provide freedom!
God underlines the freedom His boundaries provide for us. In offering the Ten Commandments to Israel, He promised that a “prosperous” life would result from living within His divine boundaries. “Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess” (Deuteronomy 5:33). Here the concept of prosperity includes a life lived with good results—a life of quality.
Jesus, who fulfilled the law with His death on the cross, proclaimed, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). Indeed, God’s boundaries are for our good. “Fences” can free us to enjoy the life God created us to experience with Him.
Reflect & Pray
In what ways do God’s commands free you? How can you better embrace the freedom such boundaries offer?
Dear God, thank You for the wise parameters You put in place for my good
Today’s Insights
Deuteronomy records Moses’ words to the fledgling nation of Israel as they’re about to enter the promised land. Here in chapter 5, Moses reminds them of the Ten Commandments (vv. 6-21) given forty years earlier on Mount Sinai. At that time, God had spoken to them “face to face out of the fire on the mountain” (v. 4).
The people feared this awesome God and told Moses, “This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer” (v. 25). God was pleased with their reverential fear and said, “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always” (v. 29). He knew their inclination to violate His boundaries, which were given because He loved them. That’s why Moses urged them, “Be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you” (v. 32).
Saturday, September 6, 2025 – A SENSE OF GOD’S JUSTICE – Ecclesiastes 8:14-17
Our Daily Bread Focuses: God’s character; Mercy and justice
Today’s Devotional
The news was horrific. A live-in foreign domestic helper had been so ill-treated by the family she worked for that she died. The employers were eventually jailed, but I felt it wasn’t enough. They should have suffered the same horrors they put that poor girl through, I thought, and then put to death. Then I wondered if my anger had crossed the line. Was I wrong to think such things?
Reading Psalm 109 gave me an insight into our natural sense of justice. David, for one, wrestled with anger toward those who wronged the poor and needy. “May his days be few . . . . May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow,” he charged (vv. 8-9).
But King David didn’t take revenge on these men—even though he had the power to. Instead, he turned to God as the true source of justice and deliverance. “May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me,” he said. “Save me according to your unfailing love” (vv. 20, 26).
I believe God made us with an inherent sense of justice, for it reflects His own character. And we can express our feelings honestly. But ultimately we’re to leave judgment and punishment to Him—trusting Him to bring justice in His time and way. The apostle Paul states things clearly: “Do not take revenge . . . but leave room for God’s wrath” (Romans 12:19).
Reflect & Pray
What news or events disturb you? How can you pray for those in need and for victims of injustice?
Dear God, You are the all-seeing, righteous God. May Your justice prevail so that all may come to fear and worship You.
Today’s Insights
Psalm 109 is what’s known as an imprecatory psalm, where the author heaps curses, calamities, and destruction on the wicked, calling on God to judge them (see also Psalms 5, 35, 59, 69, 129, 137, 140). David had suffered unjustly in the hands of his enemies (109:1-5). In his imprecations or curses (vv. 6-20), he wasn’t seeking personal vengeance. Instead, he asked God to act on his behalf.
He prayed for God’s justice and righteousness to prevail over evil and for Him to intervene and save him (vv. 26-31). David confidently proclaimed God’s justice in another psalm: “Those who know your name trust in you . . . . The Lord is known for his justice” (9:10, 16 nlt). Our world is characterized by trials, injustice, and wickedness. The Psalms can help us express our praises, laments, petitions, and cries to God for help and trust Him to bring justice in His time.
THIS WEEK’S INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT BY SISTER CLOVIA
PRAYER WARRIORS
God is raising up an army of intercessors for these days. Some are enlisted to go and preach. Others will do the complex and vital work of intercession. Others will stand in their place, doing battle on their knees. All are laboring on the battlefield.
Lord, we ask You to strengthen every intercessor. Refresh their spirit. Sharpen their discernment and cover them with Your protection.
I AM A SOLDIER
(Prayer Warrior’s Oath)
I am a soldier, a prayer warrior, in the Army of my God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Commanding Officer.
The Holy Bible is my Code of Conduct.
Faith, Prayer, and the Word are my weapons of warfare.
I have been taught by the Holy Spirit.
Trained by the Experience.
Tried by adversity and tested by fire.
I am a volunteer in His Army, and I am enlisted for eternity.
I will either retire in His Army at the Rapture. Or die in His Army.
But I am faithful, capable, and dependable…
…I will not give up; I will not turn around!
I am a soldier, a prayer warrior, in the Army of God and
I am marching and claiming victory!
— Nora Eason
Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
CHRISTIAN-BASED MOVIE FOR THE MONTH
***The Daily Devotionals are taken from Our Daily Bread Ministries and the Scriptures are from the BibleGateway.***
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