JANUARY 10, 2026

 You stumble through your days

1. Got your head hung low
   Your skies' a shade of grey
   Like a zombie in a maze
   You're asleep inside
   But you can shake away
   
   'Cause you're just a dead man walking
   Thinking that's your only option
   But you can flip the switch and brighten up your darkest day
   Sun is up and the color's blinding
   Take the world and redefine it
   Leave behind your narrow mind
   You'll never be the same..."

GENESIS 25-26

 23From there he went up to Beersheba. 24That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

25Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

26Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”

28They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”

30Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.(26:23-30)

MATTHEW 9:1-17

9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^a For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

JOURNAL 

The pages of Scripture are filled with a staggering truth: one ordinary life, fully yielded to God, carries a power that ripples far beyond what can be seen or explained. Isaac did not conquer kingdoms or command armies. He built an altar, pitched a tent, and dug a well. Yet the presence of God in his life was so evident that even those who had opposed him were compelled to come near and say, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you.” One faithful life changed the posture of enemies into seekers of peace.

This is the quiet miracle of God’s Spirit at work. When a single human life is plugged into the Creator and Author of all things, something unexplainable happens. There is a kind of power that cannot be manufactured or defined. It is not loud or flashy, but it is undeniable. Others feel it. They are drawn toward it. They begin to seek its source.

Jesus shows this again when He calls Matthew. A man dismissed as corrupt, selfish, and spiritually bankrupt rises from a tax booth and follows Him. Jesus does not wait for Matthew to clean himself up. He sits at his table. He shares a meal. He restores dignity before demanding perfection. And two thousand years later, the good news of the kingdom bears Matthew’s name. One life awakened by grace became a vessel that carried light across centuries.

This dismantles the lie that only the impressive, the wealthy, or the outwardly righteous are used by God. The Spirit of God is available to all. It meets us when our heads are hung low, when our skies are grey, when we feel half alive and sleepwalking through our days. And yet, by grace, the switch can be flipped. Light breaks in. The world is redefined from the inside out.

Every human being carries terrifying and beautiful potential. We can bring great harm or great good into the world. What makes the difference is not our past or our status, but what spirit we surrender to. When we yield our one fragile, ordinary life to God, that life becomes a beacon. It becomes an invitation. It becomes a doorway through which others glimpse the kingdom of heaven.

This is why stories of awakening resonate so deeply. Not because of the greatness of the hero, but because they remind us of our own calling. God’s gift to each of us is a singular life, unrepeatable and sacred. When that gift is embraced and offered back to Him, hearts are set on fire. Purpose is restored. Fear loosens its grip. And the quiet, holy work of bringing God’s kingdom into the world begins in ways we may never fully see, but eternity will remember.

It's also why we can never count anyone out, or dismiss any human soul. God's greatest work happened over and over again in those the world dismissed. Because in the end, regardless of background or history...those who are led by the Spirit of God are His children. We are not slaves to fear. We are sons and daughters. And through one surrendered life at a time, God continues to change the world.

14For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 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 And by him we cry, “Abba,^g Father.” 

ROMANS 8:14-15