From: April 25, 2026
“Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, yes, the clouds dropped water” (Judges 5:4 ESV).
Deborah and Barak sang to the people of Israel after the Lord delivered them from the Canaanite commander, Sisera. In this victory song, they described the Lord as a marching Warrior-King who came from Seir and Edom to fight for His people. The trembling earth and pouring rain revealed a divinely sent storm that contributed to Israel’s triumph. As the song later declared, even the stars fought from heaven and the torrent of the river Kishon swept the enemy away. The storm rendered Sisera’s chariots useless and demonstrated that creation itself obeyed the command of its Creator. Deborah proclaimed that this victory did not begin on the battlefield but in the heavens, when God rose to act. Nature was not random but an instrument of God’s judgment and deliverance.
We are reminded that our battles are not merely physical but spiritual. When opposition comes, we must recognize that the battle is the Lord’s (cf. 1 Sam. 17:47). We are called to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, putting on the full armor of God as taught in Ephesians 6. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. Therefore, we do not fight in our own strength. We trust the God who commands the storm, who marches ahead of us, and who works in ways we cannot see. When we face spiritual warfare, we stand firm in faith, knowing that the unseen God marches before us.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we praise You as the mighty Warrior who fights for Your people. Teach us to trust You when battles arise and to rely on Your strength rather than our own. Help us to put on Your armor and stand firm against every spiritual attack. Remind us that You are already at work, even when we cannot see it. Strengthen our faith as we follow You into every challenge. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: April 25, 2025
“Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Luke 22:46 ESV).
Jesus spoke these words to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, just moments before His betrayal and arrest. Though He was in deep agony over what lay before Him, He turned to His disciples and found them sleeping. Twice He had urged them to pray so that they would not enter into temptation (vv. 40, 46). Jesus knew that a time of intense testing was coming, not only for Himself but for them. Peter would soon deny Him. The others would scatter. Their failure to watch and pray left them spiritually unprepared. Jesus’ words echo the petition in the Lord’s Prayer that He had taught them: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
How often are we like the disciples, physically present but spiritually asleep? We are surrounded by daily temptations: to fear, to doubt, to lust, to speak harshly, to forget God, to live for self. Jesus knows the weakness of our flesh and calls us to rise and pray. Prayer is not just a means of request; it is a means of protection, a spiritual preparation, and a posture of dependence. If we neglect it, we are leave ourselves vulnerable. If we embrace it, we are strengthened.
Jesus didn’t tell His disciples to fight temptation with willpower or cleverness—He told them to pray. In moments of testing, we must learn to turn to God before we turn to sin. We pray not only to resist evil, but to remain close to the Father. Let us not sleep through the battle. Let us be awake and praying.
PRAYER: Dear Father, awaken our hearts. Forgive us for the times we have grown spiritually drowsy and failed to pray. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Teach us to be watchful and dependent on You. Strengthen us in the moments when trials come, and help us to cling to You in prayer. May we remain awake and ready to follow You faithfully. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
From: April 25, 2024
“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul” (Psalms 94:19 ESV).
Is your heart burdened with many “cares?” Are you worried and concerned about many things? Have you been bottling up your distress within you? Why not open up to the Lord about it? For He has a multitude of “consolations” that can bring delight to your soul. Notice that the psalmist doesn’t say that the Lord takes away his cares. Yet he does say that the Lord gives him “consolations,” surely one to match every concern, so that his gloomy soul is made glad.
What are these comforts and consolations that the Lord gives? The psalmist doesn’t name them, perhaps because they are “new every morning” (Lam. 3:22-23) as the prophet Jeremiah observed. Or perhaps because the psalmist wanted to move us to look to God’s Word for ourselves. For in the Bible there is a promised divine comfort to match every human care.
Yet we must learn how to lift up our cares to the Lord in order to receive His comfort. As the apostle Peter wrote, “Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).
PRAYER. Dear Father, we cast our cares, our worries and concerns, upon You. We leave them with You today. Apply your comfort to our souls. Replace our gloom with gladness and our worry with worship. Teach us to bring our burdens to You, not trying to carry them alone. Strengthen us for today’s journey now. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: April 25, 2023
“Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives” (Luke 22:39 NLT).
On the night that Jesus would be betrayed, He went out “as usual” to the Mount of Olives to pray. On this unusual evening, Jesus followed His usual habit: He prayed on the mountain. And His disciples followed Him. Yet, rather than praying, they slept. For they were exhausted with grief.
The disciples were accustomed to Jesus withdrawing to “lonely places to pray” (Luke 5:16). For this was His practice everywhere He went. And they knew He especially loved praying on the Mount of Olives, where He could see the entirety of Jerusalem and its Temple from the Mount’s greater elevation, yet still be hidden from the crowds.
Judas Iscariot knew where Jesus would be. His habit of praying on the Mount of Olives was well known to the betrayer. For he had been there with Him many times before. Yet this dark night, he came not to pray with Jesus, but to betray Him with a kiss, while thirty pieces of silver jingled in his pocket.
Have you learned to follow Christ’s habit of prayer, following Him so often that it becomes “usual?” And when you seek to follow Him in prayer, have you felt the temptation to either fall sleep or to let you mind wander to worldly things, like money and possessions? Yet as we grow in the discipline of praying with Jesus, we learn to stay awake and pray with Him, overcoming our physical exhaustion and temptation to sin.
PRAYER: Dear Father, our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. Teach us to pray as Jesus did. Lead us to follow Him up the Mount to pray “as usual.” Strengthen us to stay awake and not to give in to temptation, but to focus on His voice as we pray with Him. Father, help us to learn to follow Christ’s habit of prayer. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: April 25, 2016
On the night He was betrayed, Jesus quoted the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 53:12 to prepare the disciples for His crucifixion. He who knew no sin, would be “numbered” or counted among the sinners. And He would allow this accounting to take place willingly, so that those who believed in Him might be numbered among the righteous.