Fit for the KING

10/24/2025

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26

10/18/2025

09/17/2025

Our hearts should remain humble, for the Lord God desires to reside within us; thus, we are His temple and bear the responsibility of tending to it with care.

07/02/2025

KrissOga happed on June 28 🧘‍♀️🍷

What a beautiful day for morning yoga and enjoy food and wine after!

Thank you Kriselle Cellars for spectacular service and a beautiful setting.
(https://www.facebook.com/share/1AqbGsugcy/?mibextid=wwXIfr)

07/01/2025

First summer storm.

05/28/2025

Go and Tell

Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord . . . . Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel. 2 Timothy 1:8

READ 2 Timothy 1:6-14

Elliot is passionate about telling others about Jesus. During a week spent teaching from 2 Timothy for church leaders in a South Asian country, he reminded them of Paul’s farewell to Timothy. He urged them not to be ashamed of the good news but instead to embrace suffering and persecution for the gospel’s sake as did Paul (1:8-9). A few days later, Elliot learned that evangelism and Christian conversion had been banned in that country. With deep concern for their welfare, he prayed for these leaders to persevere and to boldly and with urgency continue to proclaim the gospel.

Paul understood the danger inherent in proclaiming the good news. He spent time in prison (vv. 8, 16) and had suffered in many other ways because of his teaching (vv. 11-12)—including being beaten, whipped, and stoned (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-29). But nothing kept Paul from telling others about Jesus. His philosophy? “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). He lived to tell others about Christ, but he knew that if he died, he would be with Jesus. Paul reminded Timothy that the Holy Spirit would empower him (2 Timothy 1:7).

God calls all of us who believe, wherever we are—at home or abroad—to tell others about Jesus. We may suffer, but He is right there with us.

By Alyson

REFLECT & PRAY
What helps you to tell others about Jesus?

How have you suffered for telling someone the good news?

Dear God, I want others to know You as I do! Please empower me through Your Holy Spirt to tell them the great news about You.

Our Daily Bread Ministries

05/26/2025

From the Deadly Sword

I will sing a new song to you, my God. Psalm 144:9

READ Psalm 144:1-2, 9-15

Sabin Howard’s remarkable sculpture A Soldier’s Journey breathes with vitality and anguish. Thirty-eight bronze figures lean forward across a fifty-eight-foot bas-relief that traces the life of a World War I soldier. Completed in 2024, the panorama begins with a heartrending goodbye to family, leads us through the naive elation of departure, and moves into the horrors of battle. Finally the sculpture returns us home, where the veteran’s daughter peers into his upturned helmet—only to foresee World War II.

Howard sought “to find the thread that runs through humanity—that human beings can reach great heights, and they can sink to the level of the animal.” War reveals this reality.
The psalmist David knew well the bloody consequences of war. Aware of its tragic necessity to confront evil, he praised the God who “trains my hands for war” (Psalm 144:1). Yet he also recoiled from combat, praying, “From the deadly sword deliver me” (vv. 10-11). David looked forward to the time when the young won’t die in war, but sons “will be like well-nurtured plants” and daughters “like pillars carved to adorn a palace” (v. 12). On that day “there will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets” (v. 14).

Looking back, we remember those who’ve fallen in battle. Looking ahead, we sing with David, “I will sing a new song to you, my God” (v. 9).

By Tim Gustafson

REFLECT & PRAY
How has war affected you?
What can you do to work for peace?

Father, we remember those who’ve died in war. We long for Your lasting peace.

Our Daily Bread Ministries

05/24/2025

Leap of Faith

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

READ Hebrews 11:1-8

About seven hundred emperor penguins in West Antarctica, only six months old, huddled together at the edge of a towering icy cliff fifty feet above the frigid water. Finally one penguin leaned forward and took “a leap of faith,” diving into the icy water below and swimming away. Soon scores of penguins took the plunge.
Young penguins typically jump just a couple of feet into the water for their first swim. This group’s death-defying leap was the first to be caught on camera.

Some people would say that the blind leap into the unknown by those penguins is similar to what happens when a person trusts in Jesus for salvation. However, faith in Him is just the opposite. The author of Hebrews said, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).
Enoch’s faith pleased God: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (v. 6). The world hadn’t seen anything like the great flood, and yet Noah “in holy fear built an ark to save his family” (v. 7) because he trusted in God. By faith Abraham followed God “even though he did not know where he was going” (v. 😎.
When we first put our trust in Jesus, it’s by faith. As we continue following Him and our faith is tested, we can remember how God came through for these men. Even when we don’t know the whys and hows, we can trust God with the outcome.

By Nancy Gavilanes

REFLECT & PRAY
When has your faith resulted in God’s hand of protection?

How do you see God working in your life because of your faith in Him?

Dear Jesus, thank You for being so faithful.

REFLECT & PRAY
When has your faith resulted in God’s hand of protection?

How do you see God working in your life because of your faith in Him?

Dear Jesus, thank You for being so faithful.

Our Daily Bread Ministries

05/23/2025

Love the Truth

They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2:10

READ 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12

Jack hates school. The lectures on algebra, grammar, and the periodic table bore him. But he loves building houses. His father takes him to work in the summer, and Jack can’t get enough. He’s only sixteen, but he knows about cement, shingles, and how to frame a wall. What’s the difference between school and construction? Love. Jack loves one and not the other. His love fuels knowledge.

As believers in Jesus, we’re to “love the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Paul says a satanic figure will use “signs and wonders” (v. 9) to deceive “those who are perishing” (v. 10). Why are they perishing? “They refused to love the truth and so be saved” (v. 10). Their failure to love the truth blinds them from knowing it. They’ll be duped (v. 11).

What do we know? That important question depends on a more basic one: What do we love? Our passions incline our heart and direct our mind. We cherish what we love. We protect it and seek more of it. If we love truth and wisdom, we’ll search for them as precious gold (Proverbs 3:13-14; 4:7-9). They’ll guard us. “Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you” (4:6).
What is true wisdom? Jesus says it’s Him. “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Our most important question is who do we love? Love Jesus and you’ll learn His way. He’ll guard your life by guiding you into His truth.

By Mike Wittmer

REFLECT & PRAY
Why is it important to love the truth?
Why does Jesus say He is the truth?

Dear Father, please fill my heart with love for You and what’s true.

Our Daily Bread Ministries

05/22/2025

Love Worthy of Our Life

Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Matthew 16:25

READ Matthew 16:21-28

William Temple, a twentieth-century English bishop, once concluded a sermon to Oxford students with the words of the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” But he cautioned against taking the song lightly. “If you mean [the words] with all your hearts, sing them as loud as you can,” Temple said. “If you don’t mean them at all, keep silent. If you mean them even a little, and want to mean them more, sing them very softly.” The crowd went quiet as everyone eyed the lyrics. Slowly, thousands of voices began to sing in a whisper, mouthing the final lines with gravity: “Love so amazing, so divine / Demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Those Oxford students understood the reality that believing in and following Jesus is a serious choice, because it means saying yes to a radical love that demands everything from us. Following Christ requires our entire life, our whole being. He plainly told His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). No one should make this choice flippantly.

Yet following Jesus is also the way to our deepest joy. Life with Him, we’ll discover, is the life we truly desire. It appears to be a great paradox. However, if we respond to God’s love, believe in Christ, and relinquish our selfish, shortsighted demands, we’ll find the life our soul craves (v. 25).

By Winn Collier

REFLECT & PRAY
What will believing in and following Jesus cost you?
What will you gain?

Dear God, following You isn’t easy, but I want to give You my life and my all.

Our Daily Bread Ministries

05/19/2025

Better Together

One can help the other up. Ecclesiastes 4:10

READ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Meggie’s ten years of drug use kept her in and out of jail. Without a life change, she’d soon return. Then she met Hans, a former addict who almost lost his hand when a vein ruptured due to his substance abuse. “That was the first time I cried out to God,” Hans said. God’s answer prepared him to be a peer specialist for an organization that coordinates recovery for jailed addicts.

Called Stone Soup, the program is helping an American jail provide formerly imprisoned people with support to reenter their communities. Through the plan, Meggie moved into a sober-living house and has stayed sober. Hans now helps her and others with job placement, educational options, treatment, and family resources—a coordinated approach.

The Bible describes the strength of wise partnering: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). However, “pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” (v. 10).

Like the “Stone Soup” folktale, where a hungry traveler invites townspeople to each share one ingredient to make a delicious soup for all, the Bible confirms we’re stronger and better together (v. 12). God’s plan is for us to live in community, helping others and receiving help in return. That’s no fairy tale; it’s truth for life.

By Patricia Raybon

REFLECT & PRAY
How can pooling our resources help us serve people better?

What can you give to make a “stone soup” for your community?

Please bless me, dear God, to join others to help well.

Our Daily Bread Ministries