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Holy Spirit, I want to be a vessel for Your voice. Give me the courage to speak, and fill my words with grace and truth. Help me trust that You will speak through me-because You are always with me. in Jesus' name, Amen.

ROMANS 5:8 Bur God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

While you were unworthy of God's love, Christ died for you. Spend some time praising God for the relationship you have with Him because of His sacrificial love.

PSALMS 105:4 Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.

In what ways do you need God to show up today? Talk to God about what you need.

God, It's in Your presence that I find joy! You are so kind to me, and Your compassion and mercy follow me relentlessly. There is nowhere I can go to escape You, and there's nothing I can do that would scare You away. You are constantly inviting me to seek You and accept You. Thank You for never giving up on me. Today, I want to pursue You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

DAILY BIBLE READING: 2 KINGS 22-23 JOHN 4:31-54 JOSIAH REIGNS IN JUDAH JOSIAH REPAIRS THE TEMPLE HILKIAH FINDS THE BOOK OF THE LAW Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 19because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. 20Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’” And they brought back word to the king. JOSIAH'S REFORMS JOSIAH RESTORES THE PASSOVER Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. JOSIAH'S DEATH IN BATTLE JEHOAHAZ'S REIGN AND CAPTIVITY JEHOIAKIM REIGNS IN JUDAH JESUS AND THE WOMAN FROM SAMARIA I have food to eat that you do not know about. Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did. And many more believed because of his word. JESUS HEALS AN OFFICIAL'S SON 0Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. And he himself believed, and all his household.

PSALM 104:1-7, 10-16 O LORD MY GOD, YOU ARE VERY GREAT 1 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, 2covering yourself with light as with a garment, 5He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. 7At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. 14You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth 15and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart. 16The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. INSIGHT When God finished creating on the sixth day, He declared creation “very good” (Genesis 1:31). The psalmist David wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). When we gaze at the stars at night, we’re reminded of Him (8:1-4; Isaiah 40:26). When we observe animals, birds, and fish (Psalm 104:24-25), we see the “the hand of the Lord” (Job 12:9). Theologians call God’s revelation of Himself to us through nature “general revelation.” The apostle Paul declared: “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:20). Today, as we spend time in nature, we can respond in worship as we celebrate God’s beauty, goodness, and love for us.

By: Alyson Kieda

SEEING GOD'S GRANDEUR In nineteenth-century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins’ sonnet “God’s Grandeur,” this literary artist celebrates the countless ways creation is “charged”—intensely filled—with “the grandeur of God.” Hopkins describes God’s breathtaking glory flaming and glistening “like shining from shook foil.” But if God’s beauty is so vibrant, why do so many people miss it? Hopkins suggested one reason is that humanity has covered everything with “man’s smudge” and “man’s smell”—leaving many unable to see anything beyond themselves.

Psalm 104 is also a celebration of God’s beauty in creation. Using vivid imagery, the poet describes God “clothed with splendor and majesty” (v. 1), revealing His beauty, power, and care in wind and fire (v. 4), thunder and waves (v. 7), water, grass, and trees (vv. 10-16).

Countless gifts sustaining both body and soul (v. 15) point to “the glory of the Lord” (v. 31) whether we always realize it or not. In his poem, Hopkins concluded that, even when humanity is blind to God’s glory, because of His goodness, there always “lives the dearest freshness deep down things.” If only we’ll stop to see and wonder, there are countless reasons to see, believe in, and celebrate God’s beauty and goodness “as long as [we] live” (v. 33).

By: Monica La Rose

REFLECT AND PRAY What dulls your awareness of God’s glory? What helps you see and experience His beauty?

Dear God, thank You for the ways Your beauty fills the world. Please help me see and celebrate Your beauty and the work of Your Spirit all around us. in Jesus' name, Amen.

LESS NOISE, MORE GOD LIVING WITH THE END IN MIND I often think about standing before the Lord at the end of my life and asking, What would He say about this moment? That question has a way of sharpening focus. Sober-minded living keeps eternity in view.

Jesus regularly reminded His followers to live ready, to watch, to stay awake, to invest in what lasts. When we remember that our lives are accountable to God, it changes how we think, choose, and live.

A sober mind doesn’t live for the temporary approval of people but for the eternal pleasure of God. It evaluates moments through the lens of faithfulness. What feels small today may matter greatly in eternity.

Living with the end in mind brings freedom. It helps us prioritize obedience over comfort and faithfulness over popularity.

Reflection:

If you viewed today through the lens of eternity, what choice would you make differently?

My prayer is that your family lives alert and sober-minded lives, especially in this distracted world.

PROVERBS 19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

PROVERBS 21:5 5The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

MATTHEW 6:19-21 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

LUKE 9:23 23And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”