Daily Devotionals for August 29, 2026

There is a tendency for us Christians to spend a great deal of our time looking for new spiritual experiences that will somehow guarantee permanent victory or freedom from the ups and downs of daily living. We rush around to conventions, conferences, seminars and workshops in search of the elusive magic formula that will smooth out the rough places of life. Glossy brochures assure us that Dr. So-and-So will share a great new breakthrough that will make us radioactive with the Spirit. Or some...

Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love each other "with a pure heart fervently" and he wisely fetched his argument, not from the law, from nature, or from philosophy, but from that high and divine nature which God hath implanted in his people. Just as some judicious tutor of princes might labour to beget and foster in them a kingly spirit and dignified behaviour, finding arguments in their position and descent, so, looking upon God's people as heirs of glory, princes of...

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night. § He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge. § As a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. § He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. § The darkness shall...

John 7:37-46

In the chapter from which our passage is taken, we find much about how different people regarded Jesus. His brothers did not believe on Him, and yet they urged Him to put on a bold face and go up to the feast. Just what their motive was, we are not told. They seem to have wanted him to make a display of His power at Jerusalem, to show the people there what He was, and what He could do. Or perhaps...

"I believe in the communion of saints."-Apostles' Creed

THESE WORDS WERE WRITTEN into the creed about the middle of the fifth century.

It would be difficult if not altogether impossible for us at this late date to know exactly what was in the minds of the Church Fathers who introduced the words into the creed, but in the Book of Acts we have a description of the first Christian communion: "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there...

One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and the spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same folly. Remphan's star shines no longer, and the women weep no more for Tammuz, but Mammon still intrudes his golden calf, and the shrines of pride are not forsaken. Self in various forms struggles to subdue the chosen ones under its dominion, and the flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them. Favourite children are often the cause of much sin in...

"Their soul shall be as a watered garden." Jeremiah 31:12

Oh, to have one's soul under heavenly cultivation; no longer a wilderness but a garden of the LORD! Enclosed from the waste, walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and guarded by divine power, one's favored soul is prepared to yield fruit unto the LORD.

But a garden may become parched for want of water, and...

One of the great religious thinkers of this century has pointed out a strange contradiction in the mental attitude of our times—our eager love of knowledge and our universal neglect of truth.

That men love knowledge is too well demonstrated to need proof, if by knowledge we mean facts, know-how, statistics, technical information, scientific and mechanical skills. Our printing presses are constantly rolling out books crammed with useful information. Our schools are bulging with eager...

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2).

It is sad to have to say that the present-day Church is so earthy that it is of little earthly good. "Sir, we would see Jesus"! (John 12:21).

"The great failure of...

WHEN we think of the warning Jesus has given, the promises He has made, and the precepts He has delivered, we are ready to conclude that His people must be always active and always happy. But when we look around us, or when we look at our own course, we are obliged to lament that this is not the case. Jesus is gone to receive a kingdom and to return; He has given talents to His servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. But it is said of the wise, as well as the...

We ought to be much affected by the condescension of God. He talks to us as to angels. What more could he say, in the way of commandment, to any being, than he here says to us? It is evident that he puts us in the first rank of his servants, he is willing to overlook the fact that we are moral cripples, spiritual lepers. He does not thrust us down into an inferior chamber and assign to us some base work, but he bids us do the work of Raphael; that is, to show forth the glory of God, in all...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 8:1

A centuries-old saying goes: "Wise men are rarely academics, and academics are rarely wise men." Whether that is true I do not know, but I do know from reading Solomon's writings that wisdom is not something academic; it is designed to have a practical outworking in our lives. Many commentators believe that Solomon is...

Abraham] did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. § The children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers.God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. § It is better...