Today Daily Devotional
Today is a daily devotional that helps God's people refresh, refocus and renew their faith through Bible reading, reflection, and prayer.
Episodes
September 2, 2025
Jesus went through all the towns and villages . . . proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
— Matthew 9:35
The first word we want to focus on as we think about God’s big mission is gospel. Here is a definition of the gospel that I think captures just how big and amazing this good news is: “The gospel is the good news of God’s reign, grace, and love in and through Christ for the redemption ...
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September 1, 2025
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
— Psalm 96:3
Recently our young grandson was lying quietly in his bed. Suddenly he piped up with a question: “Mommy, if God made everything, then who made God?”
What a good question! And just how big is God?
Psalm 96 reminds us that we serve the God of the universe. As followers of Christ, we are brought into a life-giving relationship with our big and ma...
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August 31, 2025
“When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
— John 21:18
When Peter questioned Jesus’ prediction about his death on the cross, the Lord strongly rebuked him (Matthew 16:21-23). Later, on the lakeshore where Jesus restored Peter, directing him to feed his sheep (John 21:15-17), Jesus predicted Peter’s death.
Though the details are unclear, Christian ...
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August 30, 2025
Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
— 2 Peter 3:8
A line in a popular song says, “The waiting is the hardest part.” Why is waiting so hard? Waiting can bring anxiety and a feeling of helplessness.
Today, nearly 2,000 years after the apostle Peter wrote about this, we’re still waiting for Jesus’ return, when the Lord will make all things new...
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August 29, 2025
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
— 2 Peter 1:3
Have you ever received gifts that you opened but never used? Sometimes the gifts we receive don’t have any practical use.
God has given us the greatest gift of all that we can use every day. Are we using it?
In his second letter to Christians scattered across Asia Minor (present...
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August 28, 2025
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
— 1 Peter 5:8
Appreciation for cats is not universal. Kittycats, like lions, evoke a mixed response.
In the Bible a lion can represent the sovereign strength of God—as in “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5). Or think of Aslan, who represents Jesus in the Chronicles of Narnia.
Peter mentions a different ...
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August 27, 2025
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
— 1 Peter 4:8
I’ve heard it said that grudges are like “ugly pets.” And if we let them, those ugly pets will sit on our shoulders while we feed and pamper them. Actually, grudges will weigh us down, and eventually they can consume us.
So how do we get rid of a grudge? The apostle Peter offers just the right formula for killing pet grudges.
Throughout...
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August 26, 2025
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
— 1 Peter 1:6
During the 19 years that our family lived in China, we were “resident aliens.” We were living in one country, but we had citizenship in another. Writing to Christians who were scattered throughout Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), Peter reminds them that they are like resident aliens, citizens of tw...
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August 25, 2025
When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
— Galatians 2:11
After his formative, life-changing encounter with Cornelius the centurion, Peter and others led the early church in understanding God’s grace for all people (see Acts 10-11, 15). Later, however, Peter tended to favor Jesus’ Jewish followers, while Paul continued working for the Lord as a missionary to Gentiles (Acts 9, 13-14, 16-2...
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August 24, 2025
“Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”
— Acts 10:47
Have you heard the saying “The more things change, the more they stay the same”?
Though Jesus had come to change the spiritual lives of all who would believe in him as Savior, some things in the lives of Peter and others remained the same. But a divine appointment changed everything.
As a leade...
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August 23, 2025
Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord?”
— Acts 5:9
“Kill the chicken to scare the monkey,” says a Chinese proverb. In other words, put the fear of punishment into people, and they will not break the rules. Is that what Peter does in this unnerving story about Ananias and Sapphira?
In the early chapters of Acts, the writer Luke includes progress reports on the growth and character of the early c...
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August 22, 2025
“When they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit. . . .”
— Matthew 10:19
Are you ever at a loss for words? I am, at times, in difficult or sensitive situations, where the cost might be high. In our reading for today, we see Peter and John living out a promise that Jesus had given them—that the Holy Spirit would provi...
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August 21, 2025
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”
— Acts 2:38
How many keys do you have? I have several keys that I use often, and we have lots of old or unused keys at home.
Jesus gave Peter the most important keys in the world. When Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” Peter declared, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15-16). Jesus affirmed Peter’...
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August 20, 2025
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty). . . .
— Acts 1:15
Have you heard of the “Peter Principle”? It’s a management theory by Laurence J. Peter suggesting that employees will rise to the level of their incompetence. In other words, people can be promoted into roles for which they don’t even have the necessary skills. And people at the top are often not the best suited to f...
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August 19, 2025
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
— John 21:17
This passage echoes a couple of earlier scenes in the story of Jesus and his disciples.
On the night Jesus was arrested, while Peter crouched for warmth by a fire in the high priest’s courtyard, he was asked three times by some of the people there if he was one of Jesus’ disciples. And he denied Jesus each time (John 18:15-27).
In our reading today we find another fire—this one for cookin...
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August 18, 2025
Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter. . . .
— John 20:3
I’m not much of a runner. I prefer walking. In an urgent situation, though, I would run if I had to. When Peter and John heard that Jesus’ tomb had been opened, they raced there urgently to see for themselves.
Significantly, Jesus’ first post-resurrection appearance was to Mary Magdalene and several other w...
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August 17, 2025
Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
— John 18:11
I sometimes carry a small pocket knife—not for protection, but for small tasks like slicing apples to eat. Peter, however, carried a sword for protection on the night that Jesus was arrested.
Anticipating a deadly trap, Peter concealed a sword in his cloak. And when some soldiers came along with several religious leaders ...
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August 16, 2025
Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
— Matthew 26:33
There’s wisdom in the saying “Never say never.” But when we are determined not to do something, we can easily say, “I’ll never do that!”
After the Last Supper, Peter passionately declared that he would never betray Jesus. But Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew himself.
After the Passover meal they had shared, Jesus made a dramatic announc...
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August 15, 2025
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
— John 13:8
In summertime I often wear sandals. If I walk on sidewalks and pavement, my feet stay relatively clean. But when I venture onto a dirt path, my feet will quickly get dirty, and they’ll need washing when I get home. At the Last Supper, foot washing was necessary.
In Bible times, foot washing was standard hospitality before a meal or a banquet. Typically it was performed...
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August 14, 2025
Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
— Luke 22:8
At our house, busyness swirls as we prepare for big meals at Thanksgiving and Christmastime. Wrestling a big meal onto the table requires lots of planning.
That was undoubtedly true for Jewish families looking forward to Passover as well. In our story today Jesus sends his trusted disciples Peter and John to make arrangements for...
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