June 25, 2026 · 5:30 AM

Open The Flow

During a drought one summer, my yard started to die. I began using the sprinkler in the evenings, and I moved it around every so often. Wherever I placed it, I would turn the water faucet on full blast in order to cover the most ground possible. Little by little, the grass began to turn green again. When I looked at my neighbor’s yards, many of them had started doing the same thing. I can honestly say that I didn’t see anyone watering their yards with the water barely turned on. Can you imagine how ineffective that would be? Yet some of us only open the flow of Jesus into our lives a little, and we wonder why we’re not growing.

When you accept Jesus as your savior, you are saved and begin your relationship with Him. However, you and I control the valve on how much we allow Him to influence our life. If we restrict the flow of Him into our life, not much is going to change in how we talk, act or live. We will remain in spiritual immaturity. Those who open the flow, will grow and be changed. The more of our life that we give Him access to, the more we become like Him. The more we move toward spiritual maturity. Our lives will bear the fruits of the Spirit as well. There are clear differences between those who restrict Jesus in their lives and those who don’t. Your spiritual life will always grow in proportion to the amount of influence you allow Jesus to have in it.

Colossians 1:10 says, “We pray that you would walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing God in every good thing you do. Then you’ll become fruit-bearing branches, yielding to his life, and maturing in the rich experience of knowing God in his fullness!” (TPT) God desires that each of us would yield all of our life to Him. When we do, we open ourselves up to His fullness. How much of your life have you yielded to Him? If you’re not bearing much fruit in your life or are not experiencing all He offers, surrender everything to Him. You’ve trusted Him with your eternity. Why wouldn’t you trust Him with this life? How He sees you has to become more important than how others see you. Open up the flow of His presence in your life and watch the growth take place.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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June 24, 2026 · 5:49 AM

Retrain Your Identity

I’ve had several friends and family members who have gone through the adoption process. One of the things I’ve noticed, especially when older kids were adopted, is that some assimilate into the family and others struggle with it. The ones who struggle have accepted that they’re legally sons and daughters of the couple, but emotionally they’re still in the environment where they came from. They tend to hoard food, expect disappointment and sabotage the relationship because they have the expectation of being on their own again. They may be in a new home and family, but they struggle with their identity and mindset. It’s heartbreaking to see. It’s a long process to help them retrain their identity.

In Exodus 16, Israel had been freed from Egypt after having been slaves for 400 years. They had left Egypt quickly, but they were struggling to get Egypt out of them. They complained about their conditions constantly on their way to the Promised Land and often said they had wished they were still in Egypt. One of the ways God was trying to help reshape their identity was to give them manna from heaven each day. They could get as much as they needed for the day, but not more. They had come from scarcity and God was leading them to abundance, but their mindset needed to change. God was telling them He would meet them daily and supply their needs. They only needed to carry what was necessary because they didn’t need to fear an unknown future. They were sons and daughters now and no longer slaves. The first generation struggled with that concept and wouldn’t assimilate. They died in the wilderness rather than in a place of abundance.

Galatians 4:7 says, “Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir” (NLT). When you accepted Jesus, you were adopted by God. You are no longer a slave to sin. However, many of us fall into the same category as those above. Were legally His children, but emotionally we struggle to assimilate. God wants to lead us to a place of abundance, but He can’t if we’re stuck in our old mindset. We must retrain our identity. Find one area of your life where you’re struggling to let go of because of where you’ve come from and ask our Heavenly Father to help you trust Him in that area. While your legal status with God changed in an instant, the process of becoming like Christ takes time and is retrained a little at a time. Let God help you retrain your identity so you can live like a son or daughter of His. You are His own child.

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June 23, 2026 · 5:36 AM

Quenching Your Thirst

What do you consider the best thirst quencher? Growing up, Gatorade’s slogan was “The thirst quencher!” I believed it too. I bought it all the time. When you’re thirsty, what do you go for? God created water to quench our thirst. Somewhere along the way, we invented other drinks to quench the thirst in ourselves. In a similar way, our soul gets thirsty. God’s design was that we would spend time with Him to quench it. Just like with our physical thirst, we began looking for other means to quench it. We drink from the wells of relationships, achievements, busyness, comfort and entertainment to try to quench it, but find ourselves still thirsty and unsatisfied.

In John 4, Jesus was tired and sat down next to a well to rest while the disciples ran into town for food. A lady came out around noon to draw water. Jesus asked her for a drink, but she was surprised that He asked since it was uncustomary for a Jew to speak with a Samaritan. Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water” (NLT). He went on to tell her to call her husband, but she was living with someone and had been married five times before. She had been drinking from the well of relationships to quench her soul’s thirst and Jesus was offering her living water instead. When they were through talking, she ran back to town telling everyone to come and see the Messiah. For the first time, that longing and unrest inside of her was satisfied.

Psalm 42:1-2 says, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?” The psalmist understood their soul’s thirst and the only thing that can satisfy it. In Jeremiah 2:13 God said, “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” What have you found yourself doing to quench that deep thirst of your soul? Have you been going to the cracked cisterns of relationships, achievements, busyness, comfort or entertainment? Only standing in the presence of God will truly quench it. Stand before Him in worship, prayer and adoration and your soul’s thirst will be quenched.

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June 22, 2026 · 5:40 AM

Pruned For Greatness

I’ve been leading a group of men through “Good To Great In God’s Eyes” by Chip Ingram. The first line of the book is the same as it is in its counterpart by Jim Collins. It says, “Good is the enemy of great.” That line hits me hard every time I read it. I think of how many times I settle for good enough. I think of all the ways I’ve been okay with average instead of greatness. The book goes through ten things we can do to adopt great habits in our life that draw us closer to God. One of the things I’m learning through the process of this book is that I have to learn to say no to good things in order to say yes to great things. I also have to let go of some good things so I can make room for the great things.

In Matthew 19:16 a young man asks Jesus what good thing does he need to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus then tells him to keep the commandments, but this guy wants to know which ones specifically. Jesus names several and the guy gets excited. “‘I’ve obeyed all these commandments,’ the young man replied. ‘What else must I do?’” (NLT) Jesus then tells him to go and sell everything he has, to give the money to the poor and then to follow Him. That young man went away sad that day. He couldn’t let go of the good things in his life to embrace the great Jesus was offering him. We look down on this person every time we read this story, but he’s more often a mirror into our lives than not.

In John 15:2 Jesus said, “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” Jesus is willing to cut off branches in our life that are bearing good fruit so He can produce great fruit. Pruning isn’t punishment. It’s designed to perfect us. It’s God cutting back something healthy for something holy. What good, healthy things are you holding onto that God wants to prune? Have you been settling for good when God wants to produce something great? Remember that good is the enemy of great. Don’t be like the young man and walk away satisfied with the fruit you’re bearing now when Jesus is asking you to let go and to trust and follow Him more closely.

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June 19, 2026 · 6:03 AM

Build On Obedience

In Matthew 7, Jesus told the parable of two builders. One built his house on the sand, and the other on the rock. They both heard God’s Word, but only one obeyed and put it into practice. When the storms came, it was the one who obeyed and had his house built on a rock that survived. All throughout the Bible we see this contrast of people. We are called to not just be a person who hears the Word of God, but puts it into action in our lives. Obeying God’s Word isn’t easy or everyone would do it. The person who builds their life on the sand is the one who goes to church on Sunday, listens to the message and then doesn’t live it out Monday through Saturday. If you want to survive life’s storms, you can’t just obey one day a week. Obedience has to become your lifestyle.

Here are some Bible verses on obeying God’s Word:

1. And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.

1 John 2:3-5 NLT

2. But for those who honor the Lord, his love lasts forever, and his goodness endures for all generations of those who are true to his covenant and who faithfully obey his commands.

Psalm 103:17-18 GNT

3. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.

1 John 5:2 NLT

4. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

John 15:10 GNT

5. That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 NLT

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June 18, 2026 · 5:30 AM

An “I Will” Attitude

One of my favorite shows is Alone. They take ten people, put them in a hostile environment with ten items and have them survive until everyone taps out. It appeals to me for many reasons, but one of my favorite parts is when the contestants have been alone and hungry for about 30 days. There is a huge psychological battle every contestant faces as they document themselves on this journey. Some grow to hate the location, the hunger, the isolation and the constant struggle for food and water. Then there are others who are in a similar location a few miles away that get ahold of the negative thoughts and begin speaking positive words instead. In every case, the ones who continue to speak negatively tap out of the contest. The one who can continue to find positive things through the struggle is the one who wins.

I’m not sure there’s another person in the Bible besides Jesus who suffered more than Paul. He was imprisoned multiple times in jails that were dark, nasty and had no humanitarian standards for prisoners. He was shipwrecked, beaten to a pulp many times, dragged out of cities, lied about, stoned, robbed, left for dead and abandoned. The things he went through, many of us couldn’t survive. However, Paul kept preaching the Gospel, writing letters and encouraging others through it all. My favorite story is when he was in the dungeon of a prison, bleeding and hungry, and he started singing praises to God for all to hear. No matter how bad things were, he found a way to praise and refocus his attention on God instead of his circumstances.

David was a lot like him too. In Psalm 34:1-2 David penned, “I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart” (NLT). He didn’t say, “I want to praise the Lord at all times.” He was saying, “I will,” as in he’s not going to give his mind the choice to do anything else. Do you have have an “I will praise the Lord at all times” attitude? You need to decide that attitude ahead of your circumstances, but even if you’re in the middle of hard times now, you can still choose it now. Praising God doesn’t change your circumstances, it changes you in the middle of them. It strengthens you and puts your focus on the One who is greater than what you’re facing. If you haven’t chosen to praise the Lord at all times, do it today and put it into practice. He deserves to be praised in the good times and the bad.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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June 17, 2026 · 5:45 AM

Meaningful Work

I’ve worked at enough jobs to know when I’m being handed busy work. I absolutely hate busy work with a passion. When there’s not enough real work to go around, they put you on fake projects that they will never use. It takes time, effort and energy to put something together that was never intended to be implemented. On the other hand, I love when my work is meaningful. I’ve worked for free at places when I knew the things I was working on were going to make a difference in the lives of others. It’s easy to have enthusiasm, to give it your all and to make it better when it’s meaningful.

Nehemiah was living in Babylon with the other Jews who had been exiled there. His job was to be a cupbearer to the king until he heard from those who had been to Jerusalem that its walls were still broken down. In that moment, he got clarity on what he needed to do. He went back to Jerusalem and rallied the people to rebuild the walls. When people tried to intimidate him to stop, he dug in and kept going. It wasn’t just a construction project to him. It was restoring their identity, creating a safe place for families to worship God and renewing their dignity. It looked like a construction project to others, but he was working for the Lord. He remained steadfast and persevered until the wall was built in record time.

1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (NLT). Everything you do for the Lord is meaningful work. Whether it’s construction, teaching, cleaning or whatever. God calls us to impact people where he plants us. He doesn’t give us busy work. Are you being strong, immovable and enthusiastic in that work? Are you doing it for His glory? When we reframe what we do as kingdom work, it gives it purpose. I go in looking for divine connections, life changing conversations and for relationships that need to be built. God will use anyone at anytime in any place when we do our work for Him.

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June 16, 2026 · 6:48 AM

Looking On Inside

In 1 Samuel 15, King Saul chose to listen to the people he was leading rather than God. Because of his continuous disobedience God tore the kingdom from him to give to someone who was better than him. As Samuel mourned for Saul, God told him to go to Bethlehem to anoint a new king from Jesse’s house. When Jesse’s firstborn went in front of Samuel, he looked at his height and build. He immediately thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed.” Then in 1 Samuel 16:7, God replied, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (NLT).

In the next chapter, King Saul and the Israelites are ready for battle with the Philistines when Goliath steps out. He challenged them to a one on one fight to determine the winner of the battle. Looking at his outward appearance and hearing his words, Israel became fearful. For forty days this happened until David showed up. Instead of seeing an intimidating, undefeatable giant, he saw victory through God’s strength. He offered to fight, but people laughed at him. When he went onto the battlefield, even Goliath laughed because he was looking at the outward appearance of things. David won the battle that day because he knew who God was and he stepped onto the battlefield risking everything and giving God the chance to show up.

1 John 4:4 reminders us, “The Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” I don’t know what giant you’re facing or how your situation looks. I do know that God is greater than it and more powerful. It’s time you quit looking on the outside of the situation and started looking inside of you. God does not give you fear. He gives you power (2 Timothy 1:7). If you’re feeling outmatched and overwhelmed with defeat on the horizon for certain, step aside for a minute, pray and remember who is within you. Through Christ Jesus we have victory and nothing we face is too big for Him. Your giant is small and helpless compared to Him. Quit looking on the outside and start looking on the inside.

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June 15, 2026 · 5:38 AM

God Uses Ordinary People

My social media algorithm knows I like food and cooking. It has started showing me videos of a content creator who goes to McDonald’s to buy ordinary meals, then takes them to Michelin chefs to see what they will create with the ingredients. I saw one chef take Quarter Pounder with Cheese and turn it into Beef Wellington. Another time a chef took a Filet-o-fish and create a French dish called Fish Quenelles. In every instance I found myself looking at the transformation wanting what they made. The power wasn’t in the ingredients. It was what could become of them in the hands of a master chef.

All throughout the Bible God chose to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things with. These people were simply willing to surrender the ingredients of their ordinary life for God to do something extraordinary with. Take the little boy with the five loaves and two fish. We don’t even know his name, but we know what Jesus did with what he handed Him. Also, think about David. One day he’s a shepherd boy keeping an eye on his flock. His dad doesn’t even think to call him when the prophet comes over looking for a king. There’s even Gideon who was hiding from his enemy’s when God called him to defeat his country’s oppressors. The power wasn’t in those people, but in the God who does the impossible with the ordinary.

2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves” (NLT). Each of us are just ordinary jars of clay. We’re fragile, common and ordinary. On our own, we may not feel or seem like much, but when we place our life in God’s hands He can do incredible things through us. The power and outcome are from God and for His glory. All we have to do is submit ourselves to Him, allow Him to fill our hearts and to pour out what He wants on whomever He wants. God still uses ordinary people to accomplish great things when we’re willing to submit to surrender our jar of clay to Him.

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June 12, 2026 · 6:11 AM

Receiving Rest

When I think of the opposite of rest, my mind thinks of busyness. However, when we read through the Bible, several with its were able to find rest in the middle of busy seasons. Rest that God gives comes from surrendering our burdens and the leadership of our life. We can have peace in chaos when we are carrying the Lord’s burdens rather than everyone else’s. We receive His rest when we come into alignment with His purpose for our life. You can be in the middle of a battle and find rest when God steps in. God gives us rest to restore us, to recharge us and to refocus our attention on Him. If you’re in a season where taking a break isn’t giving you the rest you need, ask God what you need to give Him so that He can give you the kind of rest only He can give.

Here are some Bible verses on the kind of rest God gives:

1. Now I can say to myself and to all, “Relax and rest, be confident and serene, for the Lord rewards fully those who simply trust in him.”

Psalms 116:7 TPT

2. This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Jeremiah 6:16 NLT

3. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

Psalms 127:2 NLT

4. The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need. He lets me rest in fields of green grass and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water.

Psalm 23:1-2 GNT

5. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Psalms 37:7 NKJV

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