Our Devotionals come from Love Worth Finding, the ministry founded by Adrian Rogers who has since graduated to Glory. These are so relevant even today!

The Blower’s Still Going, but the Furnace Is Out TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 14, 2025 “And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ So he awoke from his sleep, and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” JUDGES 16:20 PONDER THIS Samson defiled his purity and then diluted his power. His strength was not in his hair but in the Holy Spirit of God, who had left him. Samson said, “Here come the Philistines. Let me at them.” But he was just like other men. He had no strength, but he didn't know it. That challenges me. I wonder if some of us are like this: You were once a mighty power for God. You were once a faithful deacon, a wonderful Sunday School teacher, a soul winner. But you have compromised and played in sin, and the power of God is gone from you, and you don't even know it. The blower's still going, but the furnace is out. Without the power of God, you can put in all the effort but get so frustrated because you don’t see the results. This is why we must seek a vibrant relationship with God every day instead of growing complacent. There have been so many people who have begun in the Spirit and ended in the flesh. God is always present and ready to have that relationship, but we miss out on so much when we start to lose sight of Him. How would you describe your relationship with God right now? What is going well? Where are you struggling? What is the hardest part of maintaining a personal, vibrant relationship with God? PRACTICE THIS Confess to God where you are struggling in your relationship with Him.

Settling for Worthless Substitutes TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 13, 2025 “Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us!’ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to sway over trees?’ Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us!’ But the vine said to them, ‘Should I cease my new wine, which cheers both God and men, and go to sway over trees?’ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us!’ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me as king over you, then come and take shelter in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon!’” JUDGES 9:10-15 PONDER THIS The prophet Jotham lifted his voice and said, “You need to listen to God’s Word if you want God to listen to your words.” The one that turns away his ear from the hearing of the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination. Then he gave this parable about trees that said, “We need a king.” They went to the olive tree and asked, “Will you reign over us?” And the olive tree said, “No, I can’t reign over you, I’m too busy.” So, they went to the fig tree and asked, “Will you rule over us?” The fig tree said, “I can’t do that. I’m too busy producing sweet figs.” Each tree had its reason, each so busy doing good things. So, the trees went to the bramble and asked, “Will you rule over us?” He said, “I’ll be glad to. You can rest in my shade, and I’ll be a shadow for you.” Can you imagine a bramble being a shade tree? The bramble has no fruit. The bramble has no shade. This prophet gave the people this straightforward message to reveal what they were missing. He reminded them of the ways they had made compromises instead of coming to God and living in His provision. It seems silly at first glance, but this is easy to do. We look for our own way, and it never amounts to anything valuable. What are some things you have turned to instead of God? What happened? What makes us want to turn to other things instead of God? What are the benefits that come when we depend on God? PRACTICE THIS Share with another Christian the things you are tempted to turn to instead of God. Ask your friend to pray for you.

Trading Truth for Trends TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 12, 2025 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” JUDGES 17:6 PONDER THIS The Book of Judges is not only about what God has said in the past but also what God is saying to us today. The people were forgetful; from one generation to the next, they forgot the Word of God. The Book of Judges has an underlying theme, found in today’s verse. Everybody was choosing his or her own way to live. Everyone was following his or her own desires instead of following the way of the Lord. There was no fixed standard of morality. Does that sound familiar? We are seeing the same thing today. We’ve gone from authority to relativism. We have moved from truth to pragmatism. No longer do we ask if it’s true; we ask if it works. People choose religion to produce health, wealth, and happiness. It’s Man-centered rather than God-centered. Sin is no longer the enemy; sorrow is. The number one priority is to feel good about yourself. This is the culture we are part of. We need to consider how this culture has impacted us. How has this made us elevate ourselves? How has this caused us to forget our Lord? What are some ways you are forgetful in your relationship with God? What are some ways our culture has influenced you? PRACTICE THIS Start praying for God to show you how you have been influenced by the culture around you and what you have forgotten about Him.

Strength from the Power of God TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 11, 2025 “So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.” JUDGES 13:24-25 PONDER THIS Many of us know the story of Samson, but do you know the secret of his strength? There was something supernatural about his strength. His strength was in the power of God. The Bible says the Holy Spirit of God would come upon him. Don’t ever make the mistake that his strength was in his hair. His hair was only a symbol of that strength. The Spirit of God was on him, and yet he gave way to the appetites of the flesh. He was called on to declare war on the enemies of God, and yet he fraternized and fellowshipped with them. He fought the Lord’s battles by day and broke the Lord’s commandments by night. His name speaks of light, but he ended his life in darkness, having his eyes put out. It’s amazing how a man could soar so high and yet go so low. There are three persons occupying the place in which you stand: The person you are now; the person you could be for God; and the person you may be if you take your eyes off God. When has your focus most been set on God? What threatens that focus? What are some ways you would live differently if you followed God’s direction daily? PRACTICE THIS Talk to a Christian friend and ask him or her to keep you accountable for living in God’s way.

Pray Before the Battle TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 10, 2025 “So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, ‘If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?’ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ‘The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.’ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.” JUDGES 11:9-11 PONDER THIS Jephthah’s confidence was not in himself but in God. The words in this passage give us a glimmer of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus will ask you the same question: “If I deliver you, will I rule over you? Will I be your head?” I want to tell you very clearly and plainly that unless He is your Sovereign, He’ll never be your Savior. How much like our Lord was Jephthah? Those who despised him, rejected him, hurt him, and cast him out—they were the ones he came to save. In verse 11, we see that he went to God in prayer and asked for strength. He did this before he went to battle, not afterward. Prayer was not his last resort; it was his first thought. He entered battle in prayer. Don’t claim to be a person of strength if you’re not a person of faith, and don’t claim to be a person of faith if you’re not a person of prayer. What does it look like to have confidence in God daily? How does that change the way you live? What is your confidence in right now? What are some ways you need to grow in dependence on God? PRACTICE THIS Think about your last spiritual battle. Confess to God the places you often go before coming to Him for strength.

The Diamond of Grace on Black Velvet TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 09, 2025 “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.” JUDGES 11:1 PONDER THIS Not every person used by God has a great background. This man had a bad birth and bad background, but he was going to be used by God. Even if we look back and feel like our birth was a mistake, we can be born again and become a royal blueblood, a child of the King. If you've had a rough background, that may be the black velvet on which the diamond of God’s grace is displayed. Many people in Scripture rose up out of great difficulty to great power. Think of Joseph. He was disowned by his brothers, sold as a slave, lied about, slandered, and left in prison, but his abasement was God’s plan for his advancement. The Lord will often humble people before He exalts them. The power of God is greater than all the odds stacked against you, and the grace of God is greater than all your sins. It’s time to stop making alibis and excuses. Here was a man who had a bad background, but God used Him anyway. What was special was what Jephthah did in the face of those difficulties. It is time to disentangle yourself from the past. Quit trying to say, “I’m just a victim. I’m just a bundle of bad genes, or a victim of psychological muddles,” and instead say, “I can be what I should be by the grace of God.” What are some things in your background that feel like a mistake? How has God redeemed those things? PRACTICE THIS Talk to someone who loves Jesus but has come from a tough background. Ask that person to share his or her testimony with you.

When We Forget God TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 08, 2025 “So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god. Thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.” JUDGES 8:33-35 PONDER THIS When we look at this passage, it is clear there was a spiritual decline. Gideon had won a victory. How does spiritual decline happen after a victory? You would think that the people would be grateful and praise God so much that they would never face decline again, but they turned from God. After Gideon died, their loyalty to God died away too, and they turned to a fertility God. They turned to immorality, and the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God who had delivered them out of the hand of their enemies on every side. Isn’t that pitiful? God had given them a wonderful, wonderful victory, but they forgot it. They remembered it not. It is easy for us to judge, but how easy is it for us to fall into this same trap? When we forget God, we quickly desert loyalty to Him. What are some things that you easily forget about God? What makes it easy to forget? When have you felt far from God? What were some truths you forgot about Him in that time? PRACTICE THIS Write down the things that are easy for you to forget about God and ask for Him to help you remember.

Fear and Faith Can’t Coexist TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 07, 2025 “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’ Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’” JUDGES 6:12-14 PONDER THIS Fear is infectious. When Moses sent out the twelve spies (Numbers 13), ten came back and gave a fearful report and nobody wanted to go into the land. In churches today, we are always faced with people who are fearful, who don’t believe God can do what He says. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” The Bible says we are not to be terrified by our adversaries because “He who is in [us] is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Some reading this could teach, but you don’t teach because you're afraid. All are called to give, but perhaps you don't give because you’re afraid. All should witness, but perhaps you don’t witness because you’re afraid. If that is you, you need to know something important: Fear and faith don’t live in the same heart. Fear will conquer faith or faith will conquer fear. One will conquer the other. How can you live in faith? You need to do what Gideon did and see the Lord. Look at God. See who God is and, after you’ve seen God, see if anything else seems too big to you. How have you lived in fear? How has fear hindered you? What does it look like for faith to overcome fear? How has faith made a difference in your life? PRACTICE THIS Talk to a mentor or trusted friend about a time when he or she pursued faith over fear.

The Tide is Sure to Win TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 06, 2025 “And Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!’” JUDGES 4:8 PONDER THIS I love the ocean, and I love to watch the tide come in. Poet Priscilla Leonard once wrote, “On the far reef the breakers recoil in shattered foam, while still the sea behind them urges its forces home. Its song of triumph surges o’er all the thunderous din: The wave may break in failure, but the tide is sure to win. . . . Oh! Mighty sea, thy message in changing spray is cast. Within God’s plans of progress, it matters not at last how wide the shores of evil, how strong the reefs of sin. The wave may be defeated, but the tide is sure to win.” The same God who has programmed the planets to produce that undefeatable tide is the God who has programmed your life. When you get in league with God, when you say, “I’ll do what Barak did; I will hear the Word of God; I will believe the God of that Word, and I will live by that Word; and whether I see it now, or whether I see it later, I know that I know that I know,” then you can be confident. So, let’s be confident and prioritize seeking His way over our own. How can you look to God’s way instead of your own? What is difficult about doing that? Why is it worth it? How does God’s victory help you pursue Him? PRACTICE THIS Discuss with a friend some of the ways you have served God in the past and the areas that feel scary or intimidating. Lift these things up to God and ask Him to direct you.

Satan Sails a Sinking Ship TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 05, 2025 “They fought from the heavens; the stars from their courses fought against Sisera. The torrent of Kishon swept them away, that ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength!” JUDGES 5:20-21 PONDER THIS What does the phrase, “The stars from their courses fought against Sisera” mean? It means the fight was fixed. Sisera did not have a chance because God gave the victory. Sin can’t win and faith can’t fail. The whole Universe is against the person who is against God. All of creation is for God, and all of creation lives in submission to God and His created order. Don’t ever get the idea that you can sin successfully. Don’t ever get the idea that you can trust in God in vain. God lined the stars up behind Barak. God lined the whole Universe behind him. Satan sails a sinking ship. Satan rules a doomed domain. As the Psalmist says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). Believing this transforms how we see success. Success is finding out which way God is moving and joining Him. This changes the way we pursue our dreams and think about the future, and even the way we pray. We stop trying to see things from a perspective of primarily what we want and start to see things considering what He is doing. We go to Him for direction instead of finding our own way. What does success look like through a God-honoring view? How have you defined success in the past? How is that different from God’s perspective? What would it look like to pursue godly success in the future? PRACTICE THIS Talk to God and ask Him to lead you in His success and direction.

Clarity for the Road Ahead TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 04, 2025 “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’ Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’” JUDGES 6:12-14 PONDER THIS Gideon was threshing wheat, hunkered down hiding away in a winepress, afraid of the Midianites, and God appeared to him. He had a vision of the Almighty. Gideon was living in defeat and fear until he took his eyes from the enemy and put his eyes on God. You may say, “I wish God would speak to me as he spoke to Gideon through the angel of the Lord.” But you have something better than Gideon ever had. You have the Word of God, and you have the Holy Spirit of God living in you. It is a lie from the enemy that God is not speaking. God is speaking. Do you want to hear? Are you ready to listen to what God is saying? You will never have victory in your life, at home, in school, in business, in your neighborhood, in the Church, or in society until you get a vision of Almighty God. When we walk with Him and hear from Him, we see everything else more clearly. When have you struggled with a path forward through a difficult time? Where did you turn for help? What is your relationship with God like right now? Are you close enough to Him to hear Him speak? PRACTICE THIS Spend time with God in silence, listening for His voice and direction for your life.

Faith Is a Verb TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 03, 2025 “Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, “Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand”?’ And Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!’ So she said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.” JUDGES 4:6-9 PONDER THIS Where does faith come from? Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith is hearing God and believing God. That’s the origin of Barak’s faith. The object of his faith was the Lord God of Israel. Verse 6 says, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded?” People say, “Just have faith.” I ask, “Faith in what?” You can’t have faith unless it is faith in God. The origin of your faith is the Word of God. The object of your faith is the God of that Word. The Bible says in Mark 11:22, “Have faith in God.” What is faith? It’s not positive thinking; that’s faith in faith. It’s not believing you can do it; that's faith in yourself. Have faith in God. What is faith? Faith is hearing from God, trusting in God, and obeying God. Deborah, a prophetess, said this is what God said. Barak heard it. Barak believed it. Then in verse 8 he said, “I will go.” Do you know the difference between belief and faith? Faith is belief with legs on it; it is a verb more than a noun. What are some practical examples of what it looks like to have faith in God? When has it been hard for you to have faith in God? Why? PRACTICE THIS Discuss with another Christian what it looks like to have faith in God. Consider what step of faith you need to take today.

Further Than You Want to Go TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 02, 2025 “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” HEBREWS 3:12-13 PONDER THIS There was a man named Larry Waters. He lived about six or seven miles from the LAX airport. Every Saturday afternoon he’d sit in his lawn chair, but after a while he got bored and decided he would do something different. So, he decided he would get some balloons and tie them to his lawn chair so he could float up about a hundred feet over his neighbors’ backyards. He bought forty-two weather balloons, had them filled with helium, and tied them all to his lawn chair. He shot up not one-hundred feet, but sixteen thousand feet. Straight up! Those watching didn’t know what to do. They sent up helicopters. They couldn’t get him down. Larry Waters stayed at sixteen thousand feet for four hours. That’s so much like us with sin. We think, “I’m just going a hundred feet. I’m just going to do something my neighbors are not doing. It’s going to elevate me just a little bit. And I’m just going to skim over this neighborhood.” But here is the thing: Sin will take you further than you want to go; it’ll keep you longer than you want to stay; and it will cost you more than you want to pay. You think it will get you somewhere, but it won’t get you anywhere close to where you want to be. When has sin taken you beyond where you wanted to go? What were the consequences? How have you felt the fallout and hurt from sin? How do we deal with our sinful behaviors according to Scripture? PRACTICE THIS Confess to God the sin you are wrestling with; ask Him to help you walk away from that sin.

Telling the Next Generation TODAY'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL July 01, 2025 “Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: ‘I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, “I will never break My covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.” But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?’” JUDGES 2:1-2 PONDER THIS The angel said to the people, “Why have you done this?” God said, “I gave you everything. I brought you out of Egypt. I went with you to give you victory. I said not to make any league with the people who live in this land, and yet you’ve disobeyed me.” The later verses answer this question for us. Judges 2:7 says, “So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.” If they saw God working, they served Him. Joshua, the people with Joshua, and Joshua's descendants served the Lord. But then “another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). Time passed and the faith had not been shared. The generation speculated. The people had grown so distant from the memory of God’s provision that they stopped depending on Him. They took matters into their own hands. Are you depending on God’s provision just as firmly as you did from the beginning? Are you passing down your faith to the next generation, or have they missed how important this is to you? What makes it easy to forget the way of God? How are you clinging to God right now? How are you passing on your faith to the next generation? PRACTICE THIS Write down some ways God has worked in your life and share that with someone in the next generation.