From: April 11, 2025
“When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.'” (Joshua 4:21-22 ESV).
After the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River, God instructed Joshua to have twelve men, one from each tribe, take a stone from the riverbed and set them up as a memorial at Gilgal. These stones were not just a monument for that generation but a testimony for future ones. God anticipated that their children would one day ask about the meaning of those stones, and He provided a story of deliverance for their parents to tell—a story of how God led His people through impossible waters into His promises.
We live in a fast-paced world today that quickly forgets what God has done. But God calls us to remember—and to help the next generation remember too. What “stones” have you set up in your life? What markers of God’s faithfulness, provision, or rescue can your children or others point to and ask, “What does this mean?” Whether it’s a journal entry, a verse framed on a wall, a photo, or even a specific tradition, we must be intentional about preserving testimonies of God’s work.
And the greatest memorial of all is the one Jesus gave us at the Last Supper: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Just as the Israelites remembered God’s deliverance through the Jordan, we remember our greater deliverance through Christ’s death and resurrection. Every time we take the bread and cup, we proclaim the greatest rescue story of all time—that Jesus made a way through sin and death so we could walk in new life.
May our lives be filled with visible reminders of God’s power and grace. And when the moment comes and someone asks, “What do these stones mean?” let us be ready to tell them our story, which is God’s story in Christ Jesus.
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for the times You have brought us through deep waters and led us safely to the other side. Help us never to forget Your faithfulness. Help us to always remember. And strengthen us to tell the next generation of Christ’s love. In His name we pray, amen.
From: April 11, 2024
“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ” (Luke 14:27-28 ESV).
Jesus gave the example of counting the cost before building a tower to illustrate the importance of doing the same before making a decision to follow Him. It’s true that Jesus has paid for our salvation, so we may receive it freely by faith. Yet saying yes to so great a salvation, let us not forget to calculate the cost to our former life.
For if we are to be raised with Christ to new life, then we must be crucified with Him in His death. In other words, we must count ourselves dead to our former life in the flesh and be born again spiritually to God.
The one who thinks he can cling to his old life of sin and still call himself a Christ follower has not considered the cost of discipleship. For following Jesus means leaving the former life behind. The one who thinks otherwise, will turn away when Christ asks him to choose, thus proving that he was never a true follower to begin with.
But the one who has decided to take up his cross daily, the emblem of his death and dying to the flesh, is ready to follow Jesus wherever He leads. As the the martyred missionary Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
PRAYER: Dear Father, we have put our yes on the table to You. Where You go we will go. Where You lead we will follow. Strengthen us by Your Spirit for the journey. And help us to travel light, setting our eyes on eternal things. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: April 11, 2017
Jesus taught this timeless spiritual principle promoting humility over self-promotion. He illustrated the principle with a parable concerning seat selection at a wedding banquet. He observed that it would be better to take a “lowly” seat at the table and have the master elevate you to a better one, than vice versa. A corollary to this principle is “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth” (Prov. 27:2).
From: April 11, 2015
This is the repetitive chorus of Psalm 80, perhaps written after the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon (“broken down hedges” – v.12). The psalm is a prayer to God, begging Him to “restore us” to Him. They recognized their inability to restore themselves. They needed God to restore them, to bring them out of captivity and return them to Himself. This is a powerful prayer: God restore us. God show mercy on us. God save us. And He did answer their prayer, especially the part found in verse 17 about the “son of Man.” This points to the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, who is the fulfillment of their prayer for restoration and salvation.
From: April 11, 2014
This is the repetitive chorus of Psalm 80, perhaps written after the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon (“broken down walls” – v.12). The psalm is a prayer to God, begging Him to “turn us again” to Him. They recognized their inability to turn themselves. They needed God to restore them, to bring them out of captivity and return them to Himself. This is a powerful prayer: God restore us. God show mercy on us. God save us. And He did answer their prayer, especially the part found in verse 17 about the “son of your choice” (“Son of Man”). This points to the Messiah, who is Jesus the Christ, who is the fulfillment of their prayer for salvation.
From: April 11, 2013
Joshua had replaced Moses as leader. God wanted to “exalt” Joshua so that the Israelites would respect his leadership, so He called him to part the Jordan much as Moses had been called to part the Red Sea. God instructed him to have the priests carry the Ark into the Jordan and as their soles touched the river, the waters would stop, so that the people could cross on dry land. I wonder if this is where the saying “Sometimes you just have to get your feet wet” came?
From: April 11, 2012
The Master wants a full house at the banquet. When every seat is taken the banquet will begin. Have you RSVP’d to reserve your seat?