Daily Devotionals for February 17, 2026

Our God is a God of patience. The Lord Jesus is the great Example of patience. The Holy Spirit is the Agent producing patience. Trials, troubles, and disappointments, are the means which exercise and strengthen it.

The patience required, is a disposition to bear all that God has appointed for us, without complaining; yea, with resignation and hope: to wait God's time for the mercies we need, or for answers to the prayers we put up. Patience is the daughter of faith; and it is only as...

We do not excuse Laban for his dishonesty, but we scruple not to learn from the custom which he quoted as his excuse. There are some things which must be taken in order, and if we would win the second we must secure the first. The second may be the more lovely in our eyes, but the rule of the heavenly country must stand, and the elder must be married first. For instance, many men desire the beautiful and well-favoured Rachel of joy and peace in believing, but they must first be wedded to...

"Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded." 2 Chronicles 15:7

God had done great things for King Asa and Judah, but yet they were a feeble folk. Their feet were very tottering in the ways of the LORD, and their hearts very hesitating, so that they had to be warned that the LORD would be with them while they were with Him, but that if they forsook Him He would leave them. They were also...

Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ … We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. § For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to...

O our God . . . we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee" (2 Chron. 20:12).

Many believers have gone only as far as justification can take them - spiritual birth, and a bit beyond. There they stagnate, in dire need of the fresh streams of living water that come from seeing their position in...

It is true that "calm seas never made a sailor." It is through tribulation that we develop patience. It is through pressure that we are enlarged.

Even men of the world have realized that difficulties have educative and broadening values. Charles Kettering once said, "Problems are the price of progress. Don't bring me anything but problems. Good news weakens me."

But especially from the Christian world come testimonies to the profit derived from trials.

We read, for...

It was when Samuel was old, that the people began to talk about wanting to have a king. It takes a great deal of grace to grow old sweetly and beautifully. It is not always possible to carry the alertness and energy of young manhood, into advanced years. There is much talk in our days about the "dead line," which seems to be set down at about fifty. It is not easy for a man who has crossed that line to get a position in business. Yet if we...

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 4:1-16

We turn now to consider that facet of God's character which we describe as "grace." Grace is more than a synonym for love; it is a characteristic of the Deity which is quite close to love (and mercy) but yet deserves to be seen as different and distinctive. I heard an old Welsh preacher say: "Grace is a word with a...

Such persons thought themselves safe because they were with both parties: they went with the followers of Jehovah, and bowed at the same time to Malcham. But duplicity is abominable with God, and hypocrisy his soul hateth. The idolater who distinctly gives himself to his false god, has one sin less than he who brings his polluted and detestable sacrifice unto the temple of the Lord, while his heart is with the world and the sins thereof. To hold with the hare and run with the hounds, is a...

It might be a humbling experience for some of us men to be allowed to see just how much of lasting spiritual value is being done by the women of the churches. As in the days of His flesh, Christ still has devout women who follow Him gladly and minister unto Him. The masculine tendency to discount these "elect ladies" does not speak too well for the male members of the spiritual community. A little humility might better become us, and a bit of plain gratitude as well.

If prayer is (as...

The miraculous events wrought in Jerusalem by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost indicated to the disciples that Jesus Christ, the Messiah-Savior, had indeed taken His place at the right hand of the Majesty on high. With Jewish critics all around, Peter lifted his voice and said that all who were in Jerusalem on that day were seeing the fulfillment of prophecy-the words of Jesus that He would send the Holy Spirit after His death and resurrection and exaltation. "Therefore," Peter cried,...

They took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him. § The bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the gate, bearing His reproach. § The fellowship...

" Even in Sardis." How full of reproach this little word " even." The wonder was that any good should live in such a sea of iniquity as that. Even in Sardis! It will be well for us to act as though our residence were in Sardis; as though there were the greatest possible danger of our soiling our robes. The robes that are polluted are robes that were given spotless. You cannot pollute that which is intrinsically vile. The garments which so many Sardians had defiled, were such as they had in...