AUGUST 9, 2026

 “Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last 'trick', whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school.

'But how?' we ask.

Then the voice says, 'They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'

There they are. There *we* are - the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life's tribulations, but through it all clung to faith. 

My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.” 
― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

PSALM 85-87

11Teach me your way, Lord,

that I may rely on your faithfulness;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

12I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

13For great is your love toward me;

you have delivered me from the depths,

from the realm of the dead.(86:11-13)

ROMANS 8:19-39

35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^j

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^k neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

JOURNAL 

Sometimes life just gets the best of me. I get distracted, I lose perspective, I fall back into old patterns, and sometimes I simply blow it. Those are the moments when the temptation is strongest to hide, run away, or find some kind of relief that allows me to escape what I am feeling. Shame tells me to withdraw. Fear tells me to fix it myself. My pride tells me I should have been better than this.

But maybe this is exactly why surrender has to be daily. I am never going to surrender once and suddenly get everything right. Every morning I surrender myself, my plans, my outcomes, and my need for control to God, but inevitably there will be moments when I pick some of them back up again. There will be times when I fail. Grace means that failure does not have to send me running away from God. It can actually become the moment I run back to Him.

When I blow it, I don't have to hide. I don't have to run off somewhere and start over. I don't have to numb myself, distract myself, justify myself, or seek relief in something destructive. I can simply surrender again. I can come back to God exactly as I am, acknowledge what happened, lay it before Him, and once again make room for His Spirit. Maybe that is one of the greatest freedoms of the Gospel. There is always a way home, and that way is surrender.

That is what Paul's words make so powerful. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. Not hardship, failure, weakness, disappointment, or even my own worst moments. God's love is not dependent upon me getting everything right. His grace becomes the anchor that allows me to face the truth about myself without being destroyed by it. I don't have to pretend, hide, or escape because I already know where I am loved.

Maybe the storms, struggles, heartaches, frustrations, and even failures are part of where faith becomes real. They continually bring me back to the same place: open hands before God. Surrender is not something I accomplish. It is a way of living. Today I surrender. When I lose my way, I surrender again. When I blow it, I surrender again. And tomorrow morning, I begin again.

God is still faithful. God is still present. God still loves me. Nothing has separated me from Him. So I can stop running, stop hiding, and return to the God who is my strength and my shield. That is grace, and that is the freedom of daily surrender.

7The Lord is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy,

and with my song I praise him.

PSALM 28:7

AUGUST 8, 2026

  “He loves the unwanted, the weak and unloved. He is not just a king and we are the subjects; he is not just a shepherd and we are the sheep. He is a husband and we are his spouse. He is ravished with us—even those of us whom no one else notices.” 

― Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters

PSALM 82-84 

10Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;(84:10)

ROMANS 8:19-39

26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 

JOURNAL 

It hit me this morning that maybe I have sometimes thought about surrender in the wrong order. I want the Spirit of God to direct my life, change my desires, and guide my steps, but before that can truly happen, something has to be released. The self has to be surrendered first. My plans, expectations, desired outcomes, need for control, and even the version of myself I think I am supposed to become have to be laid down. As long as I am holding tightly to those things, I am still filling the very space I am asking God's Spirit to occupy.

Maybe that is what surrender really is. It isn't asking God to bless my plans or help me reach the outcomes I have already decided are best. It is coming before Him with open hands and saying, "This life is Yours. This day is Yours. I am Yours. Show me what You want to do with it." Then there is room for the Spirit. And when the Spirit begins to fill that space, my desires cannot possibly remain the same. The question begins to change from "What do I want to happen?" to "What is God doing here, today, in this moment, and how can I be part of it?"

The struggle with self will always be there. There will always be a part of me that wants to control the future, protect itself, seek approval, avoid pain, or manufacture a particular outcome. But maybe that struggle is exactly where transformation becomes visible. Every time I surrender those things again, I make room to hear, trust, and follow the Spirit.

That is what I see over and over in Scripture. Those who truly follow God aren't necessarily given easier circumstances or the outcomes they would have chosen. Instead, something changes within them. They persist, obey, love, and somehow find joy in suffering, hope in uncertainty, and peace when circumstances give them every reason to fear. That isn't typical human behavior. It is evidence that something else has taken up residence within them.

First the self must be surrendered. Then there is room for the Spirit. And from that place, a different life begins to emerge.

2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

ROMANS 12:1-2

AUGUST 7, 2026

     “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” 

― Timothy J. Keller, The Meaning of Marriage

PSALM 79-81

11“But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not submit to me.

12So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own devices.(81:11-14)

ROMANS 8:1-18

 15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^f 

JOURNAL 

In the scope of eternity, my life is barely a whisper, a blink, a moment that appears and disappears. The world existed long before me and, unless Christ returns, will continue long after me. Yet somehow, in this tiny moment I have been given, God calls me His child and an heir with Christ. That is almost impossible to comprehend.

I am flawed, inconsistent and temporary, yet the eternal God knows me, loves me and has adopted me as His own. My value does not come from how long I am here, what I accomplish or how well I perform. It comes from whose I am. I may be a wisp in eternity, but I am not insignificant. I am a son. I am an heir. And that is truly amazing.

Maybe embracing that reality is what changes everything. I do not have to spend this brief life desperately trying to prove that I matter. I already matter to God. My response is simply to trust Him, surrender to Him and live this small but incredibly meaningful moment I have been given as His child.

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.^a

PROVERBS 3:5-6

AUGUST 6, 2026

   “When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.” 

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

PSALM 78

32In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;

in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.

33So he ended their days in futility

and their years in terror.

34Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;

they eagerly turned to him again.

35They remembered that God was their Rock,

that God Most High was their Redeemer.

36But then they would flatter him with their mouths,

lying to him with their tongues;

37their hearts were not loyal to him,

they were not faithful to his covenant.(78:32-37)

ROMANS 7

21So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

JOURNAL 

The reality of being human is that I am going to be a slave to something, and perhaps the easiest thing to become enslaved to is the thing closest to me: myself. My body wants comfort, my emotions want satisfaction, my fears want security, my pride wants recognition, and my mind wants control. None of these things are necessarily evil, but when they become the authority directing my life, they become my master.

That is why following God cannot be a casual decision. It requires the daily surrender of my body, emotions, desires, fears, plans and understanding. And even with that commitment, I will struggle. Paul struggled. Israel struggled. Everyone who has seriously pursued God has struggled. The struggle does not mean God has abandoned me. It means there is something worth fighting for.

But I do not struggle without hope. Romans 7 ends not in despair but with, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Every time I surrender fear, desire, comfort or control, I make more room for God. I will serve something today. Something will capture my heart and direct my steps. So today I choose again to surrender myself to God, knowing that the struggle is real, but so is the joy that waits within and beyond it.

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.^a

PROVERBS 3:5-6

AUGUST 5, 2026

  “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.” 

― John Wooden

PSALM 75-77

1I cried out to God for help;

I cried out to God to hear me.

2When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;

at night I stretched out untiring hands,

and I would not be comforted.

3I remembered you, God, and I groaned;

I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.^b

4You kept my eyes from closing;

I was too troubled to speak.

5I thought about the former days,

the years of long ago;

6I remembered my songs in the night.

My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

7“Will the Lord reject forever?

Will he never show his favor again?

8Has his unfailing love vanished forever?

Has his promise failed for all time?

9Has God forgotten to be merciful?

Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

10Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:

the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.

11I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

12I will consider all your works

and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

13Your ways, God, are holy.

What god is as great as our God?

14You are the God who performs miracles;

you display your power among the peoples.

15With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.(77:1-15)

ROMANS 6

19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

20For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness. 21What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death. 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

JOURNAL 

Every heart will serve something. There is no neutral ground. My mind, my desires, my ambitions, my fears, my need for approval, my pursuit of comfort, success, control, or security will all eventually master me if they become the center of my life. I was created to worship, and if I do not willingly surrender myself to God, something else will gladly take His place. Whatever captures my heart ultimately shapes my life, and if that master is anything other than God, it always leads toward destruction, no matter how attractive it first appears.

That is why surrender is not a one-time decision but a daily one. Every morning I have the opportunity to decide who will rule my heart. Will I become a slave to fear, pride, comfort, achievement, or the opinions of others? Or will I willingly become a servant of the God who alone leads to life? Romans reminds me that slavery to sin always produces death, while slavery to God produces holiness, freedom, and life. What feels like surrender is actually the doorway to true freedom because I am placing myself under the only Master who loves me perfectly.

Looking back over my life, I see countless moments where God's grace carried me when my own choices deserved something very different. Had circumstances unfolded another way, I might not even be here today. Yet by His mercy I have breath in my lungs, a wonderful family, faithful friends, meaningful work, and another day to know Him. These blessings remind me that His grace has always been greater than my failures.

So today I choose again. I surrender my plans, my desires, my fears, and my outcomes to You, Father. Capture my heart before anything else does. Let my thoughts, words, and actions be shaped by Your Spirit rather than by the endless voices competing for my attention. Thank You for the priceless gifts of family, friendship, community, and above all, Your unfailing love. May I live today as Your servant, trusting that the path of surrender is not the loss of life, but the only path that truly leads to it.

 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^b Christ Jesus our Lord.

ROMANS 6:22-23