July 24, 2026 – Circumstances
JA – “DO NOT BE AFRAID; do not be discouraged. You are looking ahead at uncertainties, letting them unnerve you…. Cling tightly to My hand, and walk resolutely past those dark presences of fearfulness and despair…. Your confidence comes from knowing I am continually with you and I am already in your future, preparing the way before you.” See Deuteronomy 31:8, Psalm 73:23 and 119:76, and Isaiah 41:10.
Power – Joyce uses Philippians 4:11 (“…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances“) to encourage us to be less afraid and more confident: “Stability and contentment enable us to enjoy our lives…. Becoming emotionally stable and content is very important to a powerful life, and as you grow in these qualities, you’ll find yourself strengthened as never before. Paul said he learned how to be content in all circumstances. Likewise, you will have to learn in this area and begin believing you can be content and stable before you actually see the fruit of it in your life. God’s Word states that we can and should speak of nonexistent things as if they already existed (see Romans 4:17). Begin to think and say you are content and emotionally stable, and it will help you become that way.”
Max – Ephesians 2:10 NKJV – We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Max offers another great perspective on being confident: “The word workmanship comes from the Greek word poiema, which could be translated ‘poetry.’* We are the poetry of God! What Longfellow did with pen and paper, our Maker has done with us. We are an expression of his creative best. Together we are God’s poetry. Independently we are nothing but small pieces on God’s page. You may be a verb, she may be a noun, and I’m probably a question mark. We’re just letters, marks from God’s hands.”
And, he adds this on being patient and tolerant with others: “What letter, then, has a right to criticize another? Dare the p to accuse the q of being backward? Dare the m mock the w for being too open-minded? Who are we to tell the writer how to form us or when to use us? We need each other. By ourselves we are just letters on a page, but collectively we are poetry.”
Prevail #205 – Larson continues in the book of Jonah telling how his fears and lack of confidence led him to greater faith in God, “When the Lord arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah, he thanked God for not allowing him to drown. Once Jonah got his heart right before God, the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach. Then God spoke to Jonah a second time. [Jonah 3:1] We don’t always get it right the first time. Most often we delay [and live in fear] because of self-protection. We prefer to save face or stay comfortable or avoid risk. And when we mess up, the enemy is right there to condemn us not only for a missed opportunity, but also for the consequences of our disobedience…. He also loves to throw you into a self-defeating, self-condemning cycle. Determine to have none of it. God knows your frame and your steps before you take even one. Plus, He’s the God of second chances…. Accept God’s grace and begin again. He’s doing a great work in you.”
JC – “Thankfulness opens the door to My Presence. Though I am always with you, I have gone to great measures to preserve your freedom of choice…. When thankful words stick in your throat, you need to check up on your foundation of trust…. I want you to learn the art of giving thanks in all circumstances. See how many times you can thank Me daily; this will awaken you awareness to a multitude of blessings. It will also cushion the impact of trials when they come against you.” See Psalm 100:4 and 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
Streams – Psalm 106:12-15 – Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them. Again, I am amazed at how these devotions, from separate books, aim at the same topic to a certain extent each day.
Larson told us about Jonah who believed but then turned away and now Cowman is reminding us of how the Israelites were easily swayed by what they experienced. “In Hebrews 11:27, we read that Moses ‘persevered because he saw him who is invisible.’ Yet in the above passage, exactly the opposite was true of the children of Israel. They persevered only when their circumstances were favorable, because they were primarily influenced by whatever appealed to their senses, instead of trusting in the invisible and eternal God…. God desires that we grow in our ability to see Him in everything and to realize the importance of seemingly insignificant circumstances if they are used to deliver a message for Him…. The world says that ‘seeing is believing,’ but God wants us to believe in order to see.”
Utmost – Chambers points out that, “Jesus says – ‘If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind’…. The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be re-made within, and this is what Jesus has undertaken to do by His Redemption. No man can make himself pure by obeying laws.”
New – Psalm 90:12 – So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Slawson offers these thoughts about learning about and growing closer to God which helps us in living without fear, “When something special is on our calendars, we tend to count the days…. Excitement builds as the date nears…. Numbering the days until we die, however, is not something we ordinarily think about. But God’s Word tells us to do this because in doing so we will gain wisdom. How so? When we contemplate the brevity of life or the fact that sooner or later our lives on earth do come to an end, we cannot help but reflect on our relationship to God and on who and what is important in our lives. When we think like this, we tend to reorder priorities, to set things right with other people, and to let go of the petty and shallow things in life and focus on what matters. This reflection and repentance opens the door to wisdom. Ecclesiastes 8:1 says wisdom brightens a man’s face, and Proverbs 24:14 says that wisdom is sweet to our souls.”
JL – “My guiding God, Thank You for this day of life; I receive it as a precious, one-of-a-kind gift. And I trust that You are with me each moment, whether I can sense Your Presence of not. Having a thankful, trusting attitude enables me to see events in my life from Your perspective…. Instead of following my natural tendency – to search for the easiest route through the day – I want to follow You, wherever You lead. No matter how steep or treacherous the path that lies before me, I don’t need to be afraid. You are always near. In Your protecting Name, Jesus, Amen.” See Psalm 118:24, Isaiah 41:10, and Psalm 56:3, 145:18.
*W. E. Vine, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words: A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Original Greek Words with Their Precise Meanings for English Readers (McLean, VA: MacDonald Publishing, n.d.), “Made,” 709-10.
