God has not merely improved the old way—He has replaced it entirely. The first covenant, built on law, had a divine purpose: to expose the need for righteousness and point sinners toward it. But it was never meant to impart life. Instead, it held up a mirror that reflected our inability to fulfill the law’s demands. As good and holy as it was, the law could never justify or sanctify.

Oswald Chambers invites us to confront a subtle but powerful resistance to Jesus: our temperament. We often use personality traits—our preferences, introversion or extroversion, aversions, even our so-called gifts—as excuses to maintain control of how we live. But Jesus doesn’t ask us to offer up what we’re comfortable surrendering. He asks for the one thing we always try to keep—our right to ourselves.

Today’s meditation from Miles Stanford draws our gaze upward and inward, anchoring us in the reality that suffering is not just a season to survive—it’s a sacred thread in the tapestry of transformation. The devotional invites us to see life’s trials not as detours, but as part of God’s deliberate and loving path to conform us into the image of His Son.

The heart of today’s reflection by Witness Lee is simple yet powerful: refreshing doesn’t come from relief in circumstances—it flows from rejoicing in the presence of the Lord. Isaiah points to this refreshment using the image of drawing water from the wells of salvation. It’s not a casual or silent drawing; it's done with joy, even with a strong, audible call upon the Lord’s name.

E. Stanley Jones invites us to pause and consider what true freedom looks like—not in the worldly sense of doing whatever we wish, but in the liberating safety of living in the Lord. Reflecting on Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 7:39, he points out that even our personal desires, such as the desire to remarry, must remain guarded by this phrase: only in the Lord. Within that boundary lies both blessing and security, even if not always immediate happiness.

It’s easy to read Jesus’ words—“ask anything in My name and I will do it”—as if He’s handing us a blank check. But our hearts instinctively know it can’t mean asking for anything and everything without boundaries. A Christian athlete praying for sunshine and a Christian farmer praying for rain can’t both receive their wish if Christ’s name is simply a spiritual tagline.

Today’s reflection from A.B. Simpson invites us to fix our eyes on Jesus so intently that His image becomes imprinted upon every facet of our lives. Just as those Greeks approached Philip with a sincere longing—“Sir, we want to see Jesus”—we too are drawn by the Spirit into deeper vision, one that alters how we perceive everything else.

Today’s devotional from Bob Hoekstra reminds us that the Christian life begins by grace and continues by grace—not by effort, striving, or willpower. Paul’s words to the Galatians confront the absurdity of beginning with the Spirit but trying to finish the race with the flesh. The same Spirit who brought us new life is the One who grows that life within us.

Oswald Chambers invites us into the simple, stunning reality of abiding with Christ—not for a moment, not even just a day, but continually. Many of us begin well—we hear Jesus say, “Come,” and we do. We enter into sweet fellowship with Him. But then life interrupts. Worries press in, self-focus returns, and the nearness of Christ seems to drift into the background. Chambers reminds us that abiding in Christ is not situational—it’s unconditional. No life circumstance excludes His presence. He is the One who makes His home in us.

Many believers have never tasted the simplicity and joy of enjoying the Lord—not merely knowing about Him, but delighting in His presence moment by moment. Today’s devotional from Witness Lee invites us into this refreshing reality: that we can experience peace, release, and joy simply by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus.

When we first awaken to the seriousness of our call as Christ-followers, it’s common to grieve over how feeble our love for Him seems. We want to love Him more purely, more faithfully, more consistently—but we discover our love is often selfish, distracted, and weak. Yet the answer is not in trying harder to love Him more. It is in resting deeper in the truth of His great love for us.

E. Stanley Jones takes us to 1 Corinthians 7:21–22 to unveil a liberating truth: in Christ, every believer is called. Not just pastors, missionaries, or those in formal ministry—but every man, woman, and child indwelt by Christ carries a divine calling. Even a slave in Paul’s day was not without purpose, for he was “called in the Lord.” This calling sanctifies even the most mundane or constrained earthly circumstance.

Ray Stedman reminds us that the fullness of Jesus Christ is not revealed in isolated believers, but through shared life in the Body of Christ. The promise of “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20) isn’t about quantity, status, or visibility. It’s about presence—Christ’s presence manifesting through unity, humility, and shared dependence on Him.

Today’s reflection from A.B. Simpson reminds me that life truly shifts when Christ becomes not only our Savior but our energizing source. The psalmist paints a picture of divine vigor—“the dew of Your youth”—fresh, invincible, radiant with early-morning readiness. It’s a call to behold Jesus in His victorious glory, so vibrant and alive that weariness and small frustrations lose their power to distract.

God’s grace is not just a pardon—it’s a pathway. Today’s reflection from Bob Hoekstra reminds us that obedience isn’t born of grit but of grace. Romans 6:14 assures us that sin no longer has dominion over us—not because we’ve become better rule-keepers, but because we are no longer under the law. We are under grace. And grace does what law never could: it transforms from within.

Today’s devotional from Oswald Chambers highlights the transformative simplicity of Jesus’ invitation: Come to Me. It’s not a call to more striving or moral checklist-living, but a summons into a relationship that reorders the heart and infuses the soul with divine vitality. Chambers emphasizes that true rest isn’t passive—it’s an enlivening rest, a Spirit-sustained kind of living.

Today’s reflection from Abide Above reminds us of the staggering truth of our spiritual inheritance in Christ. Though the flesh remains present in our mortal experience, we are no longer in the flesh—we are in the Spirit, and that changes everything.

This morning’s reflection from Witness Lee presses gently yet firmly into one of the most sensitive areas of the heart—how we handle money. The Word doesn't say money itself is evil, but the love of money—a disordered craving—is a root from which all kinds of evils grow. It quietly shifts our allegiance from Christ to control, from generosity to self-preservation, from integrity to compromise.

Paul moves from instructing Timothy on church leadership to preparing him for life and ministry within a culture gone adrift. The opening verses reveal a world where people have rejected the goodness of God—denying the beauty of marriage and the nourishment of food. But Paul calls such rejection demonic, not holy. True godliness, Paul insists, receives God’s gifts with thanksgiving rather than scorn. In a world full of self-made restrictions and religious performance, Paul urges believers to see creation not through suspicion but through celebration.

God’s gospel crosses every boundary—He welcomed Cornelius (a Gentile “God‑fearer”) through his generosity, prayer, and fasting, then sovereignly orchestrated Peter’s vision to declare that Christ’s message and Spirit are for all who believe. Cornelius received the Spirit and baptism without adopting Jewish ritual law, revealing that new covenant inclusion is by faith in Christ alone, not cultural or ceremonial credentials. Peter’s realization—that no person should be deemed unclean—shattered longstanding divisions and sealed God’s corporate purposes in unity.