A.B. Simpson reminds us that the world’s values are often turned upside down from God’s perspective. In Matthew 6:25, Jesus tells us not to worry about the things that dominate earthly concerns, for life is much more than what we eat, drink, or wear. In the same way, Simpson points out that God delights to use the things and people that the world rejects. The names “Nazarene” and “Christian” were once slurs of contempt, yet they became titles of honor in the Kingdom. God is not looking for those the world praises, but for those who are yielded to Him.

Oswald Chambers draws us into the heart of prayer, stripping away our ordinary assumptions and reminding us what prayer truly is. Too often, we treat prayer as a means of securing blessings or stirring up emotion, but Chambers points us higher. Prayer, he says, is the very nourishment of the life of Jesus within us. Just as physical food sustains the body, prayer sustains the divine life born in us when we were made new in Him.

Oswald Chambers warns us not to treat spiritual insights as trophies of past experiences, but as living truths meant to be obeyed in the present. He uses the picture of the mountaintop and valley to remind us that what God shows us in moments of clarity must be worked out in daily life. If we brush aside His revelation, the very light we once rejoiced in can become darkness, leaving us dry and restless.

Miles Stanford points us to the staggering reality that our acceptance before God is not earned but already secured in Jesus. For many, there are long seasons of reckoning without much relief, fighting sin in their own strength, only to find frustration and futility. Then, by the Spirit’s gracious leading, our eyes are lifted to the Deliverer Himself. We are reminded not only of what He has done, but of where He has placed us. We are raised up together with Him and seated in the heavenly places.

Miles Stanford draws us to Paul’s words in Philippians 3:7, where he declares that what once seemed valuable is now counted as loss compared to knowing Jesus. This is not a call to despise life’s blessings, but rather to see them in their proper place. When the Lord reveals Himself as our true life, our hearts begin to release their grip on things and hold fast to Him.

In today’s devotional, Witness Lee brings us back to the heart of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6. He shows us that righteous deeds such as giving, praying, and fasting are not meant to be displayed for others to applaud. The flesh naturally longs for recognition, but the children of God are called to live differently. We are invited into a hidden life with the Father, one that seeks only His pleasure and His presence.

Witness Lee draws our attention to the contrast between two ways of living. The first is the hopeless path of the natural life, which is weak and powerless to meet God’s standards. The second is the way of divine life, which God has given us in His Son. Through union with Jesus, we are no longer left to strive in the weakness of our flesh. Instead, we live by the life of the Spirit within us. This is the very life of the Father, expressed through the Son, now dwelling in us.

Romans 8:15-17 reminds us of a truth too great to overlook: as believers, we did not receive a spirit of fear or slavery, but the Spirit of adoption. By that Spirit we cry out, “Abba, Father.” This is not a distant God we approach, but a loving Father who calls us His children. And if children, then heirs. More than that, we are co-heirs with Jesus, destined to share not only in His glory but also in His sufferings.

E. Stanley Jones points us to the simple but searching truth found in Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” At first glance, it may seem like a common command, but Jones shows us it carries a deep principle about how we live under authority. The natural tendency of our flesh is to resist, saying, “I am free in Jesus, so I owe nothing to anyone.” Yet Paul insists that obedience and submission must be carried out “in the Lord.” This changes everything.

In today’s reading, T. Austin-Sparks draws us into the wonder of God’s unchanging nature. The Lord declares, “I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). From the old covenant to the new, the nature of God remains perfect in holiness and righteousness. Grace has not altered His standard, nor has it lowered His character. The difference between the old and the new lies not in God, but in the Mediator who stands between God and man.

Ray Stedman points us to a sobering truth from Jeremiah 34. The people of Judah had made a covenant before God, setting their slaves free as an act of obedience. Yet shortly afterward, they went back on their word, reclaiming those same people as slaves once again. God declared this to be no small matter. He said, you have profaned My name. The Hebrew meaning behind “profane” is to wound, pierce, or deface. In other words, God was saying, you have defaced Me by your actions.

Bob Hoekstra draws our attention today to one of the most beautiful promises in Scripture, the reality of shared life with Jesus. Peter calls it an exceedingly great and precious promise that we may become partakers of the divine nature, not in becoming divine ourselves, but in experiencing the life of God expressed through us. This is the same truth that Paul declared when he said it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

A.B. Simpson draws us to the simple yet powerful story of the widow with only a jar of oil in her house. To her, it seemed like nothing. To Elisha, it was everything, for it was the key to God’s provision. That jar became the source of her deliverance, multiplying as long as there were vessels ready to receive it.

Oswald Chambers speaks to the very heart of our struggles with inner rest. There are times when what we think of as peace is only ignorance. We may feel calm because we have chosen not to look too deeply at the pain and brokenness in the world. Yet when our eyes open to reality, that fragile calm disappears. It is then that the peace of Jesus becomes essential. His peace is not something we can generate or preserve. It flows directly from His presence. When He speaks peace, it is peace indeed.

Miles Stanford reminds us in today’s devotional that our true identity and inheritance are not tied to this earth, but to Jesus in the heavens. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs. This reality is not reserved for some distant future; it is our present possession in Christ. Too often we are tempted to measure God’s love by earthly blessings or comforts, but the Spirit lifts our eyes to see the risen Lord in His heavenly environment, drawing us from darkness to light.

Witness Lee reminds us that the Christian life is not about imitation, but about participation in the very life of God. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says, “You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” At first, such a command may sound impossible. Yet when we understand it from the perspective of being born into God’s family, it becomes a word of assurance rather than of burden. We are His children, not outsiders trying to mimic Him.

This passage draws us to the transforming power of the cross. When Jesus gave up His spirit, the earth shook, the temple curtain tore, tombs opened, and hardened soldiers confessed, “Surely he was the Son of God.” That moment of surrender was not defeat but overwhelming victory. In the shadow of the cross, even the timid are emboldened. Nick Harrison, through the selected devotion, shows how gazing upon the cross changes everything.

E. Stanley Jones reflects on Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:20, where believers are urged to give thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus. Jones reminds us that this is not exaggeration, but reality. The climate of life in Jesus is thanksgiving. Gratitude is not reserved for the pleasant and easy things. In Him, every circumstance can be received with thanksgiving, because nothing is wasted. Interruptions become interpretations, setbacks become opportunities, and even the cross becomes resurrection.

T. Austin-Sparks warns us of something subtle but devastating in the Christian journey: what he calls “the earth touch.” His words remind us that creation itself was subjected to frustration, not by choice, but under God’s ordering hand, as Romans 8:20 declares. That frustration is seen in confusion, breakdown, and the constant sense of things never fully arriving at their intended glory. Why do movements that once served God powerfully eventually crumble? Why do works begun in faith often dissolve into division and disappointment? Sparks points to one answer. Somewhere along the way, man reached out and tried to bring heavenly realities down to the level of earth.

Ray Stedman points us to a moment in Jeremiah’s life that demonstrates both faith and doubt working side by side. In Jeremiah 32, the prophet is instructed by God to buy a field even while Jerusalem is under siege by the Babylonians. Outwardly, this act of purchase was bold and resolute, a visible testimony that God’s word of restoration would surely come to pass. Jeremiah did not treat this as speculation or gamble. He treated it as certainty because God had spoken.