Some valleys leave us worn. Some battles drain us. Some days end with the kind of weariness no sleep can solve. And yet, the psalm says, “He restores my soul.” Not “He scolds,” not “He replaces,” but He restores. The Shepherd doesn’t look for a newer version of you. He brings you back. He repairs what’s broken. He breathes into what’s become dry. He mends what has been bruised and brings life where there was fading.

We live in a world that runs hard and rests rarely. Many believers walk around weary—trying to serve, trying to pray, trying to be enough, all while carrying silent exhaustion. But the Shepherd knows our limits. And He doesn’t merely allow us to rest—He makes us lie down.

David doesn’t begin Psalm 23 with a request. He begins with a quiet confidence: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” These are not the words of someone untouched by trouble. David had walked through betrayal, warfare, hunger, caves, and thrones. Yet here, he settles into a reality deeper than circumstance: he is not lacking, because the Lord is his Shepherd.

Psalm 23 is more than a beloved passage—it’s a quiet, unshakable testimony to the nearness of God in every season of the soul. These six verses have comforted generations not only because of their poetry, but because of their promise. Beneath the surface of David’s words lies something far more than sentiment: a living encounter with the Father who watches over us, the Son who walks with us, and the Spirit who dwells within us.

Paul brings his letter to a close with a pastoral reminder that life in the Spirit is not a solitary pursuit—it’s a shared life. The Spirit-led believer is called to gently restore those caught in sin, to shoulder the burdens of others with love, and to resist the temptation to elevate self. These closing verses echo the law of Christ: to love others as we have been loved. Paul affirms the role of personal responsibility, but only in the context of Spirit-enabled obedience, never as a measure of self-worth or performance.

John 5 opens a new section of escalating tension between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. It begins with a remarkable healing—Jesus restores a man who had been lame for 38 years. But instead of celebrating the miracle, the religious authorities accuse Jesus of breaking Sabbath laws, not only for healing, but for telling the man to carry his mat. This marks the first open hostility toward Jesus in John’s Gospel.

In today’s reflection, E. Stanley Jones takes us into the heart of Christ’s relationship with the Father—not through theological abstraction, but through something every one of us can relate to: outcomes. Jesus doesn’t argue for His divinity merely by asserting it. Instead, He invites us to look at the fruit—the visible, tangible expressions of His life: His works, His love, His mercy, His power over sin and death.

Ray Stedman points us today to the heart of the sin offering in Leviticus 4, where the priest applies the blood not just to the base of the altar, but to the very horns of the altar before the LORD—a visible, intimate place of worship and intercession. This act paints a picture not of vague forgiveness, but of assurance. The sinner was to see the blood. It was placed where God would see it too. It wasn’t hidden.

James 4:7 tells us plainly: submit to God and resist the devil—he will flee. This isn’t a conditional suggestion, it’s a divine promise. But Simpson reminds us that resisting isn’t just a matter of effort—it’s a matter of posture. When we remain in submission to God, we stand on holy ground. That ground is our place of victory. It’s not about striving to drive Satan away in our own might but about remaining where God has already declared victory through Jesus Christ. But if we wander from that place of yielded trust, the enemy gains a foothold—not because he’s stronger, but because we’ve temporarily stepped outside the covering God provided. It’s not that God withdraws His love or protection, but that we’re called to abide in His victory, not manufacture our own.

The heart of this devotional is clear: growth in Christ isn’t about effortful striving or self-improvement. It’s about knowing Jesus. True spiritual maturity flows from proclaiming, hearing, and responding to Him. As Paul said in Colossians 1:28, it’s Christ we proclaim—not moral standards, not self-discipline, not lofty philosophies—but Him. And the purpose of this proclamation is that we may be presented mature in Christ—not in ourselves, not as a better version of Adam, but as those conformed to the stature and fullness of Christ.

In today’s reflection, Oswald Chambers unpacks the sobering moment when Jesus told His disciples that they would be scattered. But His tone isn’t harsh—it’s compassionate. He isn’t questioning the reality of their faith; He’s revealing the instability of it when it's still tied to comfort, circumstances, and emotional highs. He points out that the disciples’ scattering wasn’t a failure, but a divinely allowed experience meant to produce spiritual grit—a tested, resilient faith not driven by blessings or feelings, but by a deeper confidence in the Person of Christ Himself.

Today’s entry is a gentle but urgent reminder that the Lord is far more interested in forming Christ within us than merely changing the external circumstances around us. The world wants to mold us into something generic—blending in, losing ourselves in the crowd. Even religion, apart from the Spirit, can drive us to imitate others or strive for an ideal that is not unique to our walk. But God never intended to erase our individuality; instead, He redeems it. His goal is to conform us into the image of His Son—yet in doing so, He restores and elevates our uniqueness through the character of Christ within.

The renewing of our mind is not about becoming better at being Christians in the traditional sense—more moral, more disciplined, or more outwardly “Christlike.” That kind of growth, while perhaps admirable to some, often keeps us trapped in the illusion that we are responsible for making the Christian life work through sustained effort. But Scripture paints a different picture.

The heart of today’s eManna devotional is this: God's saving grace isn't meant to stop with just one person in a family. In the New Testament, when one individual believed and received God's grace—whether healing, the Word, or the Spirit—the entire household often followed. We see this with the official whose son was healed (John 4:53), Lydia and her household (Acts 16:15), and Cornelius and his family and friends (Acts 10 and 11). What began as a personal experience of grace overflowed to the people closest to them.

Nehemiah, a faithful cupbearer to the Persian king, lived with a broken heart for a city he had not seen in years. Yet, he could not hide his grief when in the presence of King Artaxerxes—a breach of palace etiquette that could cost him his life. His sadness led to a surprising moment: the king took notice. But before speaking, Nehemiah whispered a quick, instinctive prayer. His life had been shaped by prayer, and in this critical second, he drew upon that deep well of communion with God.

Ezekiel 33 marks a pivot in the book—from judgment to the hope of restoration. The Lord renews Ezekiel’s role as a watchman, this time not just as a private charge, but a public responsibility. The metaphor is clear: if the watchman warns of danger and the people ignore it, their destruction is their own doing. But if the watchman remains silent and the people perish, their blood is on his hands.

Elihu continues his speeches in Job 35 by redirecting the focus from human fairness to divine transcendence. He addresses Job's complaint that righteousness seems to have no benefit when suffering still arrives. Elihu doesn’t dismiss Job’s integrity—but he points out a flawed conclusion. He lifts Job’s eyes upward to the heavens, inviting him (and us) to consider how infinitely beyond us God truly is. Our good behavior doesn’t manipulate God; our sins don’t diminish Him. He is not swayed by leverage, like a human would be. We do not live rightly to get a reward but because it reflects the order and beauty of the One we are united with. In this, Elihu actually affirms something Job modeled with his life, though his words started to waver.

Every believer on the journey toward maturity will one day reach a crossroads: continue striving in self-effort, or surrender fully to the indwelling Christ. For many, the concept of Christ as our very life is unfamiliar or remains theoretical. But for those who have tasted the futility of self-life and come to the end of themselves, the invitation to the exchanged life becomes not only appealing but essential.

E. Stanley Jones points us to a vital truth—when we focus on Christ, we are not diminishing God, but glorifying Him. Unlike human philosophies that allow us to mold God into an image of our liking, Jones reminds us that God has chosen to reveal Himself fully and finally through Jesus. To know Jesus is to know God, and the more we center our lives on Christ, the clearer God becomes to us—not blurred or crowded out, but glorified in brilliance. In contrast, focusing on abstract ideas of God apart from Jesus tends to lead not to divine revelation but to humanism, where God is lost in speculation and self-effort.

In today’s devotional, Ray Stedman unpacks the meaning behind the “fellowship offering” in Leviticus 3:1, which he clarifies is better understood as the peace offering. This isn’t about the peace that comes from being forgiven—peace withGod—that comes later through the sin and trespass offerings. No, this is something much more personal and daily: the peace of God.