Apr 20 2025

Today's Bible Verse

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Today's Bible study

Today's verse comes from the Final Discourse: the last message that Jesus gave His disciples before the crucifixion. When He said today's verse, Jesus knew that He was about to lay down His life for His disciples. He was about to live out what He instructed them to do. When He went to the cross and died an innocent death, He was thinking of you and me. We could not have had a relationship with God with sin in our lives, and there was no way for us to atone for our sin. Jesus made both possible: His death wiped out our sin and made our relationship with God possible because it paid the price in full.

Jesus' resurrection, which we celebrate, was the final victory over sin and death. Because of what He did for us, we are no longer enslaved by sin and we have the promise of eternal life with God.

We can live in light of it every day. When we begin to feel discouraged or upset, we can remember that the greatest victory of all time happened on a cross more than two thousand years ago… and we are the unmerited, deeply blessed beneficiaries of it today and for all eternity.

Today's Prayer

Dear Lord, we celebrate the priceless gift of Jesus' resurrection. We may not be worthy of the life that Jesus has made possible, but you have blessed us with it anyway. We are so grateful for that, and for all that you do for us. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.

Apr 19 2025

Yesterday's Bible Verse

The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. :

Yesterday's Bible study

In this verse from Psalm 34, we get a sweet reminder that the Lord hears us when we call to Him. He does not turn a deaf ear to our prayers but instead is always listening and showing His love to us day after day.

Do you cry to the Lord when you are in trouble? Sometimes I get bitter and don't talk to God, especially since He must have allowed my troubles to begin with. However, this is the worst thing we can do. When we get upset or when troubles come, we should go to the Lord right away, knowing that He is our source of strength and hope.

The Lord will always hear us when we call out to Him. He will not forsake us, and He cares about our pain. Although we may feel like our prayers are hitting the ceiling, that feeling is not the truth! He is always listening to us, even if He seems silent. If we struggle to see this, we have only to look to the cross to remember that the Lord loves us. If Jesus loved us enough to die for us, He certainly loves us enough to listen to our prayers now.

The end of this verse says that the Lord delivers us out of our troubles. Deliverance looks different for each of us, though. Sometimes it means total healing. Other times, like in the case of Jesus' apostles, it means death—and then entering into eternal life with Christ. The common denominator in all deliverance is the presence and comfort of the Lord.

In every circumstance, we can have peace because we know that the Lord is with us. He declared His love for us more than two thousand years ago, and we can rest in that love for all eternity.

Yesterday's Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you so much for listening to us when we call out to you. Thank you for your goodness and mercy. Thank you for hearing me even when I struggle with believing or feel like you aren't listening to me. Thank you for your faithfulness. In Jesus' name, amen.

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