Daily Devotionals for August 23, 2026

Believer, you can bear your testimony that Christ is the only begotten of the Father, as well as the first begotten from the dead. You can say, "He is divine to me, if he be human to all the world beside. He has done that for me which none but a God could do. He has subdued my stubborn will, melted a heart of adamant, opened gates of brass, and snapped bars of iron. He hath turned for me my mourning into laughter, and my desolation into joy; he hath led my captivity captive, and made my...

It is a bad bargain to exchange a fountain for cisterns, and especially for broken cisterns. A fountain is a spring of cool, pure, refreshing water, gushing forth from the earth. A cistern is an artificial reservoir for storing water. The water in it may become stagnant and foul. When the cistern is broken, the water leaks out and pollution seeps in.

The Lord is a Fountain of living waters. His people can find lasting satisfaction in Him. The world is a cistern, and a broken cistern at...

HE has pledged Himself to do so in His word, and He delights to make good His promise. He is our God by covenant, by a spiritual birth, through Christ Jesus, and at our own desire, request, and consent. He is the great God who fills heaven and earth; the all-sufficient God, who has all resources in Himself; the unchanging God, who is eternally the same. He espouseth the quarrel of His people, He dignifies and ennobles them, and proves Himself gracious and merciful unto them. He blesseth them...

We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. § [God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. § Your eyes saw my...

Thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.” § Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you!As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led...

John 4:4-15

The record tells us that Jesus in His journey, "must need go through Samaria." There was no other way unless He had gone far around it. But we may believe that there was another "must need" for His passing that way - there was this woman at Samaria who needed Him. It was worthwhile to go a long distance out of His way - to carry the water of life to a...

"I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me." Proverbs 8:17

Wisdom loves her lovers and seeks her seekers. He is already wise who seeks to be wise, and he has almost found wisdom who diligently seeks her. What is true of wisdom in general is specially true of wisdom embodied in our LORD Jesus. Him we are to love and to seek, and in return we shall enjoy His love and find Himself.

Our business is to...

The whole system of Christianity rests upon the fact that "Christ is risen from the dead;" for, "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins." The divinity of Christ finds its surest proof in his resurrection, since he was "Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." It would not be unreasonable to doubt his Deity if he had not risen. Moreover, Christ's...

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them" (Gal. 3:10).

None can be born again by the law, and none can live anew under the law - neither its precepts, nor its principle. "The life I now live by faith -...

When we study the New Testament record, we see plainly that Christ's conflict was with the theological rationalists of His day. John's gospel record is actually a long, inspired, passionately-outpoured account trying to save us from evangelical rationalism-the doctrine that says the text is enough. Divine revelation is the ground upon which we stand. The Bible is the book of God and I stand for it with all my heart; but before I can be saved, there must be illumination, penitence, renewal,...

When his Son was on the earth, clothing humanity with a perfection it had not known since it had forfeited paradise, the beautiful spectacle attracted the regard of God, and nothing would do but that he should send his voice down into the ranks of men exclaiming, " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

When Christ was about to depart out of the world, he took steps to have this pleased regard of the Father continue towards those whom he was to leave behind, even to his...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

An explanation is necessary for Solomon's reference to death in the verses we read yesterday: "In the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom" (v. 10). Death, to Old Testament saints, was a mystery. They believed in life after death, but they were not sure of the...

It is certainly a reality in our day that too few men and women are willing to keep the "top side" of their souls open to God and to His light from heaven. You may wonder about such expression as the "top side" of the soul, but I do think it is in line with Bible teaching, and certainly in line with all Christian experience. The heart and soul are open to God in some people's lives, but certainly not in others. We should be aware that man's forgiveness is not always like God's. When a man...