Daily Devotionals for July 15, 2026

For Reading and Meditation:     Esther 2:11-14

We made the point yesterday that Mordecai advised Esther not to reveal her Jewish identity because of a divinely given consciousness that both he and she were part of God's purposes for their age. Can you imagine, therefore, with what care and concern he must have conducted his daily vigil outside the palace gates? We...

God is far more interested in how we treat other people than in how many religious ceremonies we go through. He prefers mercy to sacrifice. He places practical morality above ritual. It might seem strange to read that God doesn't desire sacrifice, because it was He who instituted the sacrificial system in the first place. But there is no contradiction. While it is true that He ordered the people to bring sacrifices and offerings, He never intended these to take the place of justice and...

I am not surprised that I still meet people who do not believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to earth. In fact, some of them, armed with their own Bibles and interpretations, are insistent on setting me "straight." One gentleman has written saying that I have it all wrong, and that Paul did not mean what I had said he meant, as I applied Paul's statement to everyday life. I took time to write a reply: "When it comes to saying what he meant, Paul's batting average has been pretty good...

The heart of the believer is Christ's garden. He bought it with his precious blood, and he enters it and claims it as his own. A garden implies separation. It is not the open common; it is not a wilderness; it is walled around, or hedged in. Would that we could see the wall of separation between the church and the world made broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear Christians saying, "Well, there is no harm in this; there is no harm in that," thus getting as near to the world as...

Jesus, the Redeemer, is altogether ours and ours for ever. All the offices of Christ are held on our behalf. He is king for us, priest for us, and prophet for us. Whenever we read a new title of the Redeemer, let us appropriate him as ours under that name as much as under any other. The shepherd's staff, the father's rod, the captain's sword, the priest's mitre, the prince's sceptre, the prophet's mantle, all are ours. Jesus hath no dignity which he will not employ for our exaltation, and...

I hope some of you will agree with me that it is of far greater importance that we have better Christians than that we have more of them! If we have any spiritual concerns, our most pressing obligation is to do all in our power to obtain a revival that will result in a reformed, revitalized, purified church. Each generation of Christians is the seed of the next, and degenerate seed is sure to produce a degenerate harvest; not a little better than but worse than the seed from which it sprang....

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. § Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. § I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. § Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. § He who is spiritual judges all things. § Take heed what you hear. § I know your works. You have...

This is said with reference to some that appear unto men to be the children of God, and afterwards fall away. Christians have no promise that they shall be kept from misconceptions on this point; and they are sometimes greatly shocked to find the court of God's house strewn with columns. God is the architect of his temple, and is cognizant of his own plan; he allows stones and pillars to be placed in the edifice which he knows do not permanently belong to it; but for the places they...

That I may know Him. . . being made conformable unto His death" (Phil. 3:10).

The life that emerges from death is administered by a loving, nail-pierced hand.

"As with the seed that is buried once for all, but then disintegrated through a gradual process that sets free the new...

"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4

By the valley of weeping we come to Zion. One would have thought mourning and being blessed were in opposition, but the infinitely wise Savior puts them together in this Beatitude. What He has joined together let no man put asunder. Mourning for sin — our own sins, and the sins of others — is the LORD's seal set upon His faithful ones. When the Spirit of grace...

Matthew 9:18-34

"A ruler came and knelt before him and said: My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live."

Only comparatively few of our Lord's healings are recorded. He seems never to have refused to heal any who came to Him or were brought to Him. Besides, He healed some for whom no one interceded. Here was a ruler - an exceptional case, for the rulers were not His...

IT is no unusual thing for the Lord's people to be cast down, and filled with tormenting fears. They fear their faith is presumption, their hope delusion, and that they shall one day disgrace that holy name by which they are called. They fear to rely on a naked promise, and want comfortable feeling to underprop their faith. But they should take up the Psalmist's resolution, " What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." Jehovah in Jesus is the only proper object of trust, and He should be...