When Jeremiah faced heartbreaking injustice and violence, he cried out to God with the same “why” questions we still ask today. If God is loving, why doesn’t He stop it? If He is powerful, why doesn’t He intervene? God’s answer to Jeremiah was not to explain the reasons or immediately remove the pain. Instead, He asked Jeremiah what he would do when it became worse. If running with ordinary men exhausts you, how will you run with horses? If you stumble on level ground, how will you make it through the tangled thickets by the Jordan?

Jeremiah’s ministry was anything but easy. God had called him to speak to a nation in spiritual decay, a people unwilling to heed His warnings. Instead of softening with time, the ministry became more intense. In this particular passage, God told Jeremiah not to pray for the nation, explaining that prayer would delay the judgment they needed. For a man who loved his people, this was a severe instruction. Yet it was part of God’s plan to strengthen and prepare him for even greater challenges.

God’s promises are not fragile hopes that depend on our circumstances. They are firm realities grounded in His own character and power. Today’s devotional from Bob Hoekstra draws us into the example of Abraham, who faced decades of delay between God’s promise and its fulfillment. Each repetition of God’s word to him came against the backdrop of growing human impossibility, yet Abraham grew stronger in faith, not weaker.

Abraham’s life reminds us that even the strongest faith is often refined through repeated testing. In today’s passage, we meet him at the height of his spiritual journey. The long-awaited promise had finally come true: Isaac, the son through whom God’s covenant blessings would flow, was here. Yet the very God who gave Isaac now called Abraham to place him on the altar.

In today’s devotional from A.B. Simpson, the focus is on the Holy Spirit’s tender, protective, and purposeful work within us. His love is not passive or distant. It is the jealous love of God, intent on keeping us free from anything that would mar the beauty of our life in Jesus. This is not the jealousy born of insecurity, but the holy jealousy of a Bridegroom who treasures His Bride and will not tolerate anything that diminishes her glory.

In the Old Testament, the high priest would place both hands on the head of the live goat, confess the sins of the people over it, and send it away into the wilderness. That goat, bearing the iniquities of the nation, was a vivid picture of removal, the sins were gone, never to return. This was a shadow pointing forward to Jesus, the true Sin Offering, who bore our sins and carried them away forever.

In today’s devotional, Oswald Chambers draws a sharp distinction between choosing suffering and choosing God’s will when it includes suffering. The healthy believer does not pursue hardship for its own sake but pursues the Lord’s will, trusting Him whether that path is smooth or difficult. Jesus is our example. He never sought pain, but He walked directly into it when it was the Father’s will.

Today’s devotional from Oswald Chambers reminds us that when Jesus prayed, His consciousness was filled with the presence of His Father. The Father always heard His Son. Now, because the Spirit of the Son dwells in us, the same intimacy of hearing is ours. The key is not in presenting impressive requests, but in living so united to the Son that His prayer to the Father becomes our own.

In today’s devotional from Miles Stanford, the law is described as a “beloved enemy” for the believer. It is beloved because many Christians see it as their trusted companion for living a righteous life. Yet, when the law is placed in the hands of the Holy Spirit, it becomes an instrument that brings us to the end of self-effort. Its purpose is not to help us succeed in our own ability, but to bring us to the place where we cry out with Paul, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Hard as it may be for a believer to rest in the certainty of salvation, the greater challenge often comes in learning to rest in Jesus for life and service. Many approach the Christian journey with the assumption that their responsibility is to accomplish God’s will through personal determination and discipline. Yet, as the devotional points out, the real breakthrough often comes only after painful seasons of failure. These failures open the door to a deeper understanding: that rest in God is not inactivity, but the cessation of self-effort and the full surrender of faith to His working within.

When Jesus said, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 5:10), He made it clear that righteousness and persecution are often inseparable. The world, lying in the evil one, is marked by unrighteousness in its systems, motives, and actions. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to invite resistance. Righteousness by its very nature disrupts what is unjust, so those who walk in it can expect opposition.

The heart of today’s devotional from Witness Lee shows that true peacemaking is not a matter of political diplomacy or skillful compromise. Instead, it is the natural outflow of a transformed heart in union with Jesus. Those who are strict with themselves, merciful toward others, and pure before God naturally live at peace with those around them. This peace is not forced, nor is it a tactic to avoid conflict for personal advantage. It is the fruit of God’s nature within us.

In today’s devotional, T. Austin-Sparks points us to the danger of deception that begins in the soul rather than in the spirit. He reminds us that from the beginning, the enemy sought to disrupt humanity’s fellowship with God by bypassing the spirit, where man is joined to the Lord, and instead appealing to the soul; our reasoning, emotions, desires, and will.

In today’s devotional from Ray Stedman, the prophet Jeremiah’s words cut straight through human pretensions and self-reliance. God declares that wisdom, strength, and wealth—though admired by the world—are deeply limited and ultimately incapable of bringing what truly matters. Human wisdom sees only part of the picture. History is full of examples where our “solutions” have worsened the very problems they were meant to fix. Strength, no matter how impressive, can only reach so far, impacting physical realities but powerless to alter the human heart or moral truths. Wealth, though alluring, deceives with a sense of security and influence that evaporates when the deeper needs of the soul surface.

In today’s devotional from Bob Hoekstra, we are reminded that living by grace and trusting in God’s promises are not separate disciplines but two expressions of the same reality. Grace is God working in and through His people, and His promises are the revealed foundation of that work. Faith, therefore, is not a mere mental exercise or an act of stubborn willpower, but a confident reliance on the God who speaks truth and keeps His word.

In today’s devotional from A.B. Simpson, the imagery of the dove nesting at the mouth of a cave paints a picture of purity and shelter. Jesus described His disciples as being “harmless as doves,” highlighting a heart undefiled by selfish ambition or corruption. The Holy Spirit, who is Himself purity in essence, cannot take up residence in what is unclean or remain in the mindset of the flesh. In the Old Testament, the anointing oil was never to be poured on man’s flesh, symbolizing that God’s presence rests only on what has been set apart for Him.

In today’s devotional, Oswald Chambers draws our attention to a breathtaking reality: the Son of God lives within every believer by the direct act of God. Just as Jesus entered the world through Mary by divine initiative, He has entered our lives in the moment of new birth. This is not a figure of speech or a poetic sentiment, but a present and actual truth — Jesus Himself indwelling mortal flesh.

Today’s devotional from Miles Stanford focuses on prayer that flows from the heart of God rather than from our own impulses. It begins by reminding us that readiness for prayer is a work God performs in us over time. Even when something aligns with His will, He may not yet lead us to pray for it because He is still preparing us for the burden and responsibility of intercession. This patient preparation is part of His loving design.

Today’s devotional from Witness Lee reminds us that peacemaking is not simply avoiding conflict, but living from the nature of God Himself. In contrast to Satan, who stirs rebellion, God is the God of peace, and those born of Him share His peaceful nature. When we live out this divine life, we naturally become peacemakers.

Ephesians declares that Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it. Today’s reading compiled by Nick Harrison slows us down to notice that specific, covenant language. God loves the world, and He calls all people to Himself, yet this verse shows a distinct devotion of the Savior to His people. He set His heart on a people who would be His own, a people gathered into one body by grace.