In Acts 19, we witness a remarkable moment in Ephesus where believers, newly awakened by the gospel, came clean about their lingering practices—superstitions, occultism, and magical arts they had once accepted as normal. These weren’t pagans from outside the faith—they were followers of Christ who had unknowingly carried the baggage of spiritual bondage into their new life. But as they sat under the Spirit-filled teaching of Paul and witnessed the liberating reality of the kingdom, they saw clearly that light and darkness could not coexist.

Today’s reading from Bob Hoekstra reminds us that Jesus didn’t leave us to navigate the Christian life through willpower or intellect. He promised His Spirit to us—not as a distant influence, but as our present and personal teacher. From the moment we believed, the Spirit of truth was given to dwell within us, sent by the Father in Jesus’ name. He doesn’t merely assist in our learning; He is the one who opens our eyes, teaches us all things, and guides us into all truth.

Today’s reflection from AB Simpson turns our hearts toward the dual rhythm of prayer and praise—two facets of the abiding life that anchor us in God’s presence and release His life through us. It begins with the reminder that Jesus gave a parable to highlight our need to pray always and never lose heart (Luke 18:1). This is not about religious routine but about communion—a life lived in moment-by-moment interaction with our Father, attentive to His Spirit’s promptings and faithful in bringing others before Him.

When Jesus taught His disciples to turn the other cheek, He wasn’t calling them to passive cowardice or self-protective silence. He was revealing a new way to live—not by imitation, but by impartation. Oswald Chambers unpacks this by showing how the life of Jesus within us responds to insults, injuries, and injustice—not by retaliation, but by absorbing the blow without bitterness. This isn't weakness; it’s divine strength clothed in gentleness.

There is a tremendous distinction between knowing Christ as Savior and knowing Him as Life. For even the most earnest soul, the transformation from grasping truth intellectually to experiencing it in the Spirit can span decades. Truth is not downloaded like data—it is sown, watered, and cultivated by the Spirit over time.

The line of Christ does not pass through human effort, even if that effort is sincere or religious. Abraham had two sons—one born of self-effort and human logic, the other born through a promise received by faith. God makes it clear: only Isaac, the child of promise, counts toward the generation of Christ.

E. Stanley Jones reflects on the Spirit-lead life of Abraham, the man who dared to leave behind a thriving civilization in obedience to an inner prompting from God. What propelled Abraham out of Ur wasn’t an impulse of restlessness, but a creative urging born of faith—a faith that welcomed and yielded to the Spirit of God.

Psalm 1 opens the Psalter with a bold contrast: a life grounded in God versus a life untethered from Him. The blessed person delights in the Word of the Lord and is compared to a tree intentionally planted near streams of life-giving water. This isn’t random growth—this is placement with purpose. And where God plants, He sustains.

In Genesis 17, God meets Abram after thirteen silent years and does something extraordinary—He reaffirms His covenant, gives Abram and Sarai new names, and introduces a sign that will mark His people forever. Thirteen years since Ishmael’s birth have passed, and there is still no heir of promise. Yet God appears, now calling Himself El Shaddai—God Almighty—the One who is fully able to do what human effort cannot. This name anchors the weight of the promise.

Israel was once a nation set apart, a people called to reflect the character of their God in a world of idolatry and indulgence. But by the time Hosea delivers this ninth chapter, their identity has been exchanged for imitation. Their joyless festivals and polluted worship reveal a people who traded covenant intimacy for alliances with nations and idols. They mingled the sacred with the profane, turning celebration into self-indulgence and worship into empty ritual.

Psalm 29 lifts our eyes to the majesty of God, not just through what He does, but through what He says. This psalm gives voice—literally—to the unmatched power and authority of Yahweh, whose spoken word reverberates across nature, history, and the human heart. David’s poetic imagery takes us through a sweeping storm that begins over the Mediterranean Sea, moves north over the towering trees of Lebanon, and rolls into the dry southern wilderness of Kadesh. At every point, the voice of the LORD is more commanding than the forces it encounters. Seven times we read “the voice of the LORD,” emphasizing its completeness and perfection.

T. Austin-Sparks invites us to look through a simple but striking window: Jesus Christ is far superior to all else. In this short passage, he meditates on Psalm 125, where those who trust in the Lord are compared to Mount Zion—immovable, unshakable, and surrounded by God's protective presence. The imagery is not just poetic; it's deeply instructive.

When Paul arrived in Ephesus, he encountered disciples who had heard about Jesus, but their lives were missing something unmistakable: the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence. Paul’s question—“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”—wasn’t meant to start a theological debate. It was the Spirit in Paul discerning what was absent, not doctrinally but experientially.

Jesus made a bold and beautiful promise: “I will build My church.” In just five words, He captured the essence of our calling and confidence. First, He is the builder—not us. We may be tools in His hands, but the blueprint, power, and result belong to Him. Just as Paul saw himself laying the foundation by grace, we too serve under the direction of the true Master Builder.

Today’s devotional from AB Simpson reminds us that real joy is found not in being served, but in serving—forgetting ourselves in the lives of others, just as Christ did. He didn’t seek to please Himself, but bore the weight of our offenses out of love and obedience. That same posture—“I am among you as one who serves”—is the posture of heaven.

There are moments in our walk with God when someone or something we have leaned on—trusted in, admired, even cherished—suddenly fades from our life. It might be the passing of a mentor, the unraveling of a relationship, or the collapse of a plan we had pinned our hopes on. These losses can leave us stunned. But according to Oswald Chambers, it’s often through the removal of these “King Uzziahs” that our vision is clarified and we finally see the Lord.

There’s a deep spiritual principle embedded in today’s truth offered by Miles Stanford: we are transformed not by trying harder, but by beholding. As the sun draws the flower to bloom, so Christ draws our hearts upward. His Spirit does the changing—from glory to glory—not by our striving, but as we behold Him in faith through His Word.

When we pray, our natural mindset places God’s answer in the future. We ask, we wait, we hope. But Jesus, in Mark 11:24, doesn't invite us into future expectation—He calls us into present reception: “Believe that you have received them, and you will have them.” The emphasis is not on the eventual outcome but on the faith that embraces God’s provision as already accomplished.

“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” —Romans 6:11

Many believers walk through their days weighed down by anxiety, habitual reactions, and spiritual defeat. Often, the longing is not for knowledge—we know what Scripture says—but for experience: to live what we know. One of the most common questions from struggling believers is, “How do I live free in Christ like others seem to?”

Many believers still live as if the Spirit of God must be earned. E. Stanley Jones draws our attention to the silent but persistent striving of those who attempt to “climb the ladder” of spiritual worthiness—through discipline, diligence, or dependence on tradition. The effort is sincere, but the outcome is wearying. At the root of this frustration is a misunderstanding of how the Holy Spirit is received.