Daily Devotionals for November 17, 2026

Of all the people on the earth, the nation of Israel surely was the best prepared to receive the Christ of God. The children of Abraham, they were called to be a chosen people in an everlasting covenant with God, the Father. Yet they failed to recognize Jesus as Messiah and Lord. There is no doubt that theirs was the greatest moral blunder in the history of mankind. He came to His own people and they rejected Him! Jesus taught frankly that He was asking His followers to throw themselves out...

For Reading and Meditation:
     John 13:1-38

What other teacher has taken the Ten Commandments and had the right to add another commandment to them? But this is precisely what Jesus did, as we see from our text today. "A new command I give you," He said. "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

The Old Testament and other...

There was no question as to what God required in sacrificial animals. They had to be without spot or blemish. He expected His people to offer the choicest animals from their herds or flocks. God wants the best.

But what were the Israelites doing? They were offering blind, lame and sick animals. The choice animals would bring a high price in the market, or would be desirable for breeding. So the people offered the culls, saying in effect, "Anything is good enough for the...

Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it" (Matt. 26:26).

The Lord Jesus is not going to break' anything in our lives that does not require breaking. But that of the old which remains unbroken, which we seek to hold back from the processing of His nail-pierced hands, will continually leaven and...

One of the most touching and teaching of the Saviour's miracles is before us to-night. The woman was very ignorant. She imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity, without his knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a stranger to the generosity of Jesus' character, or she would not have gone behind to steal the cure which he was so ready to bestow. Misery should always place itself right in the face of mercy. Had she known the love of Jesus' heart, she would have...

"For the LORD will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance." Psalms 94:14

No, nor will He cast even so much as one of them. Man has his castoffs, but God has none; for His choice is unchangeable, and His love is everlasting. None can find out a single person whom God has forsaken after having revealed Himself savingly to him.

This grand truth is mentioned in the psalm to cheer the heart of the...

Our hearts by nature are like the dry, dead, and barren earth; there would be neither life, beauty, nor fruit, but for the grace of God. And even after regeneration, we are as much dependant upon God, as the earth in the east is dependant upon the dew.

If there be no dew, there will be no fruit, and if there be no grace, there will be no real religion. But our God has said, "I will be as the dew unto Israel." What the dew is to the earth, God will be unto His people. Does the dew cool...

Mark 7:24-30

Much of the public life of Jesus was devoted to caring for sufferers .

The doctor's little girl told the messenger where she thought her father could be found, as he was needed immediately, "I don't know, sir; but you'll find him somewhere, helping somebody." When people sought for Jesus and could not find Him, He was usually away with someone in need, doing good, helping somebody. At this...

Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of all the Lord's people. A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough...

It is really a blessed thing in our Christian fellowship and in our congregations that God never asks whether it is a big church or a little church! A young pastor, when introduced to a well-known church leader, said, "You do not know me. I am the pastor of a little rural church." I think it was a wise reply that came from the churchman: "Young man, there are no little churches; all churches are the same size in God's sight!" But, whether large or small, it must be an assembly of believers...

Those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. § They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. § He who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.He who sows righteousness will have a sure reward. § He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of...

The reference here would seem to be to the efforts made to intimidate the followers of Christ, by penal enactments, sanguinary edicts, or by popular violence. The early Christians were summoned before magistrates and commanded to renounce the faith they had embraced or had shown themselves ready to embrace, by some unequivocal act of homage to a heathen divinity or to the image of the emperor. Satan made himself as terrible as possible, saying, " Cast away your confidence, or I will tear you...

We … do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. § That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His...