July 10, 2026 – Free
Days – “That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (I. Cor. ii. 12). Simpson starts us off today with these enlightening thoughts, “The highest blessings of the Gospel are just as free as the lowest; and when you have served Him ten years you cannot sit down and say, ‘I have got an experience now and I count on that.’ How often we do that; we say, ‘Now I know I am saved, I feel it.’ And so we are building a different foundation – we are building on something in ourselves. Always take grace as something you don’t deserve, something that is freely bestowed. The long, deep, boundless river is free; it is as free at the mouth as it is at the little stream, and free all the way along, and anybody can come and drink, and anybody can come and bathe in its boundless waters. Are you going to believe it? …God has given us His Holy Spirit that we may ‘know the things that are freely given of us of God.'”
Max – John 3:17 – God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Max makes it clear, “Only God saves. If we could save ourselves, why would we need a Savior? Jesus did not enter the world to help us save ourselves. He entered the world to save us from ourselves.”
JC – “Relax in My peaceful Presence. Do not bring performance pressures into our sacred space of communion. When you are with someone you trust completely, you feel free to be yourself. This is one of the true joys of friendship. Though I am Lord of lords and King of kings, I also desire to be your intimate Friend…. I long for you to trust Me enough to be fully yourself with Me…. I am able to bring out the best in you: the very gifts I have planted in your soul.” See Revelation 17:14 and John 15:13-15.
Prevail #190 – Daniel 3:25 – “Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!” Larson reminds us of Daniel and his friends being thrown into the fire for refusing to worship the king’s statue, “Though they had honored the king as leader and served him with nothing but excellence and integrity, they couldn’t and wouldn’t give him ultimate allegiance above God himself…. They felt no need to defend themselves because they trusted God to deliver them.” That was key in this. They trusted God’s free provision and grace.
Larson continues, “And even if He didn’t, He was still the God of the universe…. But God joined His sons in the fire and danced amidst the flames with them. They prevailed unbound and unharmed.” This freshly reminds me that God did, and still does, we sometimes assume there are many, very earthbound, situations that He couldn’t/wouldn’t step into for and with us because it would be against the laws of nature. He wrote the laws. He can save us and heal us and work all things out for our good. Larson concludes, “With that image in mind, hold fast to your convictions. Trust God to deliver you.”
Streams – Song of Songs 5:6 – I called him but he did not answer. Cowman offers this about God’s timing of deliverance, “Once the Lord has given us great faith, He has been known to test it with long delays…. True saints of God have endured lengthy times of patient waiting with no reply, not because their prayers were prayed without intensity, nor because God did not accept their pleas. They were required to wait because it pleased Him who is sovereign and gives ‘according to his good purpose’ (Phil. 2:13).” Perhaps, while we wait for one answer, we can pass the time remembering the many answers and blessings that we’ve already received.
Utmost – Hebrews 10:24-25 – Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Chambers curves away from the topic of waiting in order to seemingly admonish us a bit, perhaps to “provoke” us a bit. “We are all capable of being spiritual sluggards; we do not want to mix with the rough and tumble of life as it is, our one object is to secure retirement. The note struck in Hebrews 10 is that of provoking one another and of keeping together – both of which require initiative, the initiative of Christ-realisation, not of self-realisation. To live a remote, retired, secluded life is the antipodes of spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it…. We utilise God for the sake of getting peace and joy, that is, we do not want to realise Jesus Christ, but only our enjoyment of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things are effects and we try to make them causes…. It is a most disturbing thing to be smitten in the ribs by some provoker of God, by someone who is full of spiritual activity. Active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing…. The danger of spiritual sluggishness is that we do not wish to be stirred up, all we want to hear about it spiritual retirement. Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement – ‘Go tell My brethren….'”
JL – “Delightful Lord, Your comforts delight my soul…. Everywhere I look, I see problems and trouble. In the midst of all this mess, I need to look to You over and over again…. My perspective changes dramatically as Your Presence lights up my mind – brightening my worldview…. In Your wonderful Name, Jesus, Amen.”
