Daily Challenges Archive

There is almost nothing more dangerous than a mother bear aroused to protect her cubs. She becomes fearless and doesn’t care what she is attacking when defending her young. On a list of dangerous encounters in nature, this ranks higher than a shar...

Sovereignty. One word that sums up this truth. It’s the story of Joseph—what you intended for evil, God intended for good. It’s my story at times too. That’s what Paul talks about in Romans 8:28, which until recently was my life verse. Oh, it may ...

This is not my favorite verse in chapter 15. The challenge for me today is that there are so many great verses in this chapter. As I read through looking for a prompting about one in particular, I was prompted by them all. However, since I only us...

If a direction in life appears correct, how can it lead to such a destructive outcome? There are many choices in life that clearly lead to destructive consequences, even death. For example, when someone considers trying heroin, there’s very little...

I’m always amazed at how often I can tell that a person is a follower of Christ during a first encounter with them. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it’s very fun. Sometimes they haven’t even said anything—it’s just how they carry thems...

Dr Billy Graham once said, “God does not discipline us to subdue us, but to condition us for a life of usefulness and blessedness.” Very few people initially read this verse and like it. Loving discipline doesn’t sound particularly normal. I am w...

Whether it’s at home, school, or work, integrity is something that’s learned and developed. We are not born with integrity. Children do come into the world with an inherent sense of right and wrong, but what they do with that depends a great deal ...

There are seasons and cycles in life. That is intentional. God has created a world that rotates through four seasons. Depending on where you live, they might manifest a bit differently. While living in Miami, I remember a joke about winter last ye...

Jesus tells the story in Matthew 22 of a man who sent his servants out to make sure the invited guests showed up for his feast. But they chose not to, and things got pretty ugly for them. That passage actually carries a very deep message that I ca...

One of my young grandchildren told a sibling that they hated them the other day. It broke my heart to hear those words come from their mouth, and it hurt even more to know that their sibling’s ears heard them. I told her she didn’t really hate the...

In this verse, Solomon is specifically warning young men about prostitutes. I doubt many of you reading this devotion this morning are struggling with prostitution—although you may be, and if so, pay close attention to what Solomon says in this ch...

A friend sent me an article today explaining why 100,000 churches are expected to close in America over the next 25 years. The article made some interesting observations and a few others that couldn’t have been more wrong. However, one point that ...