“But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12 NLT)

A woman strolling on a beach noticed a man catching crabs. Every time he caught one, he placed it in an open bucket.

“Don’t you need a lid on that bucket?” the woman asked.

“No,” the man replied, “they can’t get out.”

“Why not?” the woman asked. “The bucket isn’t that big.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” the man explained. “Whenever one crab tries to go over the side, the others reach up and pull it back down again.”

Sounds like human behavior, doesn’t it? There are many people who don’t like to see others reach for the top. When a person begins to climb, they think, “How dare you succeed? How dare you do better than me? How dare you get that promotion? How dare you get that attention? How dare you do well when I’m not doing just as well? You get back down here with me!”

Envy and jealousy are sure signs of misplaced priorities. They spring from a me-first attitude like the kind Jesus was talking about when He said, “But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12 NLT).

It’s been said that envy shoots at another and wounds itself. And it’s hard to deny the truth in that. Left unchecked, envy and jealousy can eat us up inside.

Proverbs 14:30 warns, “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones” (NLT).

James 3:16 says, “For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind” (NLT).

And Galatians 5:26 warns, “Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another” (NLT).

What’s more, envy causes us to take our eyes off what God has done for us. If we pay too close attention to the good things in other people’s lives, we’re not paying close enough attention to the blessings in our own lives. And we miss the opportunity to give thanks and grow closer to the One who gave them.

The best way to deal with envy is to recognize it as sin and repent of it. We may try to rationalize our jealousy, but we need to realize that it’s wrong and ask God to forgive us. God wants us to put the needs of others above our own, to love one another, and to care for one another. These are essential aspects of our Christian faith.

Instead of worrying about what other people have, let’s be thankful that we’re even drawing breath in our lungs. That in itself is a gift from God. And if God lifts us to an exalted position, then that’s His grace. If He lifts someone else, that also is His grace. None of us deserve it; it’s all the grace of God. Our responsibility is to be faithful to what God has called us to do.

Reflection question: How can you keep envy from getting a foothold in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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“You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” (Genesis 4:7 NLT)

Years ago, my son Christopher was lying out in the sun at our house when he woke up to find a huge gopher snake, coiled up and hissing at him, poised to strike. It must have been six or seven feet long. Terrified, he ran into the house and shut the door behind him.

His experience reminds me of a hard truth about the Christian life. Like that gopher snake, sin is poised to strike—usually when we least expect it. And it’s been that way since the very beginning.

When Cain saw that the Lord accepted Abel’s offering but not his, he was angry. So, God gave him a warning. He essentially told Cain what was going to happen to him if he didn’t get himself under control: “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master” (Genesis 4:7 NLT). The passage portrays sin as a dangerous wild animal, always ready to pounce.

The apostle Peter used similar imagery in his description of the devil in 1 Peter 5:8: “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (NLT). And while the imagery is certainly sobering, we need to keep these words of Scripture in proper perspective. It’s not so much an emergency broadcast warning as it is a word to the wise. Peter doesn’t tell us to panic, hide, or be afraid. He tells us to be alert.

Our enemy isn’t all-powerful, but he is always watchful. He looks for opportunities to make us stumble, to make us doubt, to make us lose sight of the path God would have us travel. He attacks us when we’re weak—physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally. He also attacks us when we seem to be strong, after a spiritual victory or a “mountaintop” experience. In good times and bad, he keeps sin crouched at our door, ready to pounce.

But we need not fear. As the psalmist wrote, “The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17 NLT).

So, the next time sin comes knocking at your door, you might say, “Lord, would You mind getting that? I’m going to stand in Your strength. I’m going to trust in You. You are the only one who can give me the strength to overpower sin.” If we will master sin, then we must first be mastered by Him who mastered it.

Reflection question: What types of sin often crouch at your door, poised to strike? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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“I have followed your commands, which keep me from following cruel and evil people.” (Psalm 17:4 NLT)

When the devil wanted to lead the first man and woman into sin, he started by attacking their minds. According to Genesis 3:1, “The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, ‘Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?’” (NLT). A simple question was enough to plant a seed of doubt. That seed quickly sprouted into full-fledged action. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the forbidden tree. The devil’s strategy worked so well that he still uses the mind-targeting tactic to this day.

The apostle Paul warned of this when he wrote, “But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent” (2 Corinthians 11:3 NLT). The hard truth about spiritual warfare is that the devil attacks our minds incessantly. He knows that our brain, our thoughts, and our imagination are our command center. When you have power over someone’s mind, you can reach into the past through memories, and you can reach into the future through imagination. The devil knows that if he can get us to think about something, to contemplate it, to consider it, then he is halfway to getting us to sin.

Paul also wrote, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5 NLT).

It’s been said, “Sow a thought; reap an act. Sow an act; reap a character. Sow a character; reap a destiny.” What starts with a thought can lead to a destiny.

Eve’s mind certainly wasn’t filled with the things of God when the devil approached her. Had it been, she could have effectively resisted his temptations. The psalmist wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11 NLT).

Jesus used God’s Word three times in response to the devil’s temptations in Matthew 4:1–11. The devil had no defense against Scripture. Verse 11 says, “Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus” (NLT).

The devil still has no defense against God’s truth. So, when we hide the Word of God in our hearts, we have everything we need to stand strong against our spiritual enemy and effectively resist his temptation.

In his passage on the armor of God, Paul wrote, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17 NLT). Knowing how to wield that sword will keep our enemy out of our minds.

Reflection question: How can you fix your mind on God and His Word so that you’re less vulnerable to the devil’s attacks? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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"For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3 NLT)

There was a time when we were bombarded by a one-sided view of God as an angry deity, ready to throw people into the open fires of Hell. People complained about too much hellfire-and-brimstone preaching.

But when was the last time anyone has heard a hellfire-and-brimstone message? Sadly, the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” that Jonathan Edwards preached in 1741 would not be allowed in many churches today.

Many people have gone too far in the other direction, teaching that God is an all-loving, benign, supreme being that doesn’t seem to have any opinions about the way we live. The assumption is that as long as we’re true to ourselves, then it’s okay with Him. He accepts us the way we are.

We like the qualities of God such as love, forgiveness, and compassion and the incredible fringe benefit of eternal life in Heaven. On the other hand, we’re appalled by a God of holiness who desperately loves us yet requires repentance as well as trust, a God who promises to judge those who refuse to come to Him on His terms.

Others look at God as some kind of pagan deity who simply needs to be appeased. They think that if they go through religious rituals, they’ve done their part and they can build up credit for sinning that week. People can follow that god as much as they want. But that is not the God of the Bible.

When we start picking and choosing the things about God that appeal or do not appeal to us, we are not only diminishing our view of who God is but also believing and teaching a false gospel.

Some preachers today offer weak, watered-down proclamations in the name of the gospel. They tell you to believe, but they don’t tell you to repent. They tell you there’s a Heaven, but they don’t tell you there’s a Hell. And they tell you there’s forgiveness, but they don’t tell you there’s repentance.

If we don’t include those things, then it isn’t the gospel. We cannot edit the gospel according to what we like or don’t like. It’s for us to share it as God gave it. Otherwise, we strip the gospel of its power and effectiveness.

We cannot control what happens in the world. But at the same time, we cannot allow the belief system of a secular society to influence the way we believe. The idea is not to conform ourselves to the world’s way of thinking. It is not to bend the Bible to the culture.

When we desperately want to please everyone and not offend anyone, we will fail to make an impact on our culture.

When we start tampering with the essentials of our faith such as the Bible, the gospel, and the nature of God Himself, we are making God into a different image.

The God of the Bible does love us and accept us as we are. But the God of the Bible also wants to change us. He wants to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ.

Reflection question: What does it practically look like to share the full gospel—both grace and repentance—without compromising truth? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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“Many people say, ‘Who will show us better times?’ Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.” (Psalm 4:6–8 NLT)

Dissatisfaction is the last of life’s headwinds that we’ll be talking about this week. It’s also one of the most common. Even those of us who like to think of ourselves as low-maintenance and unassuming harbor certain hopes and expectations for this life. We want meaning and purpose, among other things. When life fails to deliver, we’re left feeling disappointed, dissatisfied, and maybe even a little cheated.

Only humans have a longing for meaning in life. I can assure you that my dog doesn’t sit around pondering the reason for his existence. He won’t be looking back on his life and saying, “You know, I tried it all as a dog. I chased cats. I drank toilet water. I tried bones. But deep inside of me, there was a void.” Dogs don’t think that way. They mainly think, “Food . . . sleep.”

Dogs, you see, aren’t made in the image of God. You and I are. We are living souls, designed to know God and to experience something more than a mundane, directionless existence.

From the time of our birth, we’ve been on a quest to discover that “something more.” And we keep searching until we discover that the answer to all our questions is found in a relationship with our Creator. God can give us a sense of joy and fulfillment that far surpasses the puny, fleeting pleasures this world offers. Even better, there’s no hangover in the morning. There’s no guilt or shame that accompanies it.

The psalmists understood this. Psalm 4:6–8 says, “Many people say, ‘Who will show us better times?’ Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe” (NLT).

And Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever” (NLT). There’s pleasure in knowing God, not in chasing after happiness.

In fact, we’ll never find happiness by chasing it. But what we will find is that as we chase God—as we pursue and walk with Him—then one day we will realize that we’ve become happy people. Happiness doesn’t come through actively seeking it but by getting our lives into proper balance, by aligning ourselves with God and His will for our lives. Happiness and joy are the byproducts of that balance and alignment.

Jesus said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33 NLT). In other words, if you seek God and His plan first, everything else in life, including happiness and peace, will fall into place.

Reflection question: What would seeking God and His plan first look like in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT)

Another of life’s difficult headwinds is guilt. The head of a mental institution in London once said, “I could release half of my patients if I could find a way to relieve them of their sense of guilt.”

Almost all people have a sense of guilt. Some may try to mask it with alcohol or drugs. Some try to work through it with mental health professionals. But the reality is that people must deal with their guilt over the things they’ve done wrong.

There are three things we need to understand about guilt. First, we are all guilty. The apostle Paul wrote, “As the Scriptures say, ‘No one is righteous—not even one.’ . . . For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:10, 23 NLT).

Adam and Eve recognized their guilt in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:7 says, “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (NLT).

Recognizing our guilt—the fact that we have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard—is what compels us to confess our sin, ask for forgiveness, and receive Christ as Savior and Lord.

Second, for those who receive Christ as Savior and Lord, guilt becomes part of the work of the Holy Spirit. He dwells inside all believers and stirs our conscience from within when there are things we need to confess that get in the way of our relationship with God. That’s what Paul was talking about when he wrote, “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow” (2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT).

And that leads us to the third thing about guilt that we need to understand. Satan uses false guilt to neutralize believers and keep us from growing in our faith. That’s why Paul warned, “But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death” (2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT).

If we allow false guilt to get a foothold in our life, we are, in essence, doubting Jesus’ ability to wipe away our sin. We are also dimming Christ’s light in our lives—the light that should be shining before others (see Matthew 5:16). If unbelievers see a believer who struggles with guilt, they will likely (and understandably) question Jesus’ ability to change lives.

The words of 1 John 1:9 are definitive: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (NLT). So, if we’ve been forgiven and cleansed, we must stay alert to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. We must allow our constructive guilt to accomplish its purposes and confess our sins as needed. And then we must embrace and celebrate our righteous standing before God so that others will be drawn to what we have.

Reflection question: What role does guilt play in your daily life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

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“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4 NLT)

One of the most unpredictable headwinds we face in this life is grief. Grief can be expected in the aftermath of a loss. But it isn’t confined to a specific period of mourning. There’s no way to anticipate how long it will last or when it will come roaring back without warning.

Though we may not fully understand grief, we have a Savior who does. Isaiah 53:3–4 says, “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!” (NLT).

Not only did He carry our sin, but He also carried our sorrows. He was acquainted with our grief. He has a deep and abiding concern for our emotional well-being. The psalmist wrote, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book” (Psalm 56:8 NLT).

On a tour of Israel several years ago, I was exploring the old city of Jerusalem with my sons, Christopher and Jonathan. At one point in our ramblings, we stopped at an antiquities store, and I noticed a number of little bottles in various sizes and shapes. I asked the shopkeeper, “Sir, what are these bottles for?”

“Oh,” he said, “those are Roman tear bottles.”

“What were they used for?” I asked.

“Well,” he replied, “the Romans believed that when a loved one dies, you need to keep your tears in a bottle. So, they would store their tears in these little containers.”

I have a tear bottle now. But it isn’t on earth; it’s in Heaven. And I’m not the one who has to collect my tears because God said He would do that.

Why does God keep our tears in a bottle? Because He sees and cares about every one of them. He takes note of our every tear. He hears our every sigh.

Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (NLT). We can look forward to that day, knowing that grief will have no place in our eternal life with God.

In the meantime, we can take our feelings of sorrow and loss to the One who designed us, who understands us, and who knows how to comfort and heal us. Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds” (NLT).

But it doesn’t stop there. The apostle Paul wrote, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT).

No one is better equipped to help someone through their grief journey than someone who has traveled the road themselves.

Reflection question: What has been your experience with grief? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

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“Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” (John 11:21 NLT)

One of the most pervasive headwinds that believers face in daily life is doubt. Our faith seems strong until certain situations or circumstances arise that make us question or rethink certain aspects of it. If Scripture shows us anything, it’s that such doubts are not unusual among God’s people.

As we saw in a devotion last week, Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus, was not one to hold her tongue. People always knew where they stood with her. According to John 11:21, after Lazarus died, “Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died’” (NLT). To put it another way: “Where were You anyway, Jesus?”

Maybe you’ve said something similar during or after some crisis in your life. “Lord, where were You when my parents divorced? Lord, where were You when we got that diagnosis of cancer? Lord, where were You when our marriage fell apart? Lord, where were You when I lost my job? Lord, where were You when my child got into trouble? Lord, where were You when my loved one died?”

Please notice that Jesus didn’t reprove Martha for what she said. It isn’t wrong to tell the Lord exactly how you feel. I think we sometimes get the idea that it’s irreverent or sinful to express our real fears or the doubts of our heart, even to God. But when we read the book of Psalms, we learn that there were many times when David and the other psalmists really “let their hair down” with God. They cried out to Him and emptied the contents of their hearts in His presence.

I’ve done it many times. In my pain, I’ll cry out to God. Sometimes the reality that my son is gone hits my heart like a sledgehammer, and I say, “Oh, God. I can’t believe this! I can’t handle this pain!” But then I’ll preach to myself and say, “Now, Greg, listen to me. Your son is alive—more alive than he ever was before. He’s in the presence of the Lord, and you are going to see him again.” And I’ll remind myself of the promises of God.

My prayers, however, are wide open and honest. I pour out my heart before God, describing my pain to Him. I put my doubts into words. I talk to Him about the things I don’t understand—the circumstances that don’t make sense, the situations, losses, and diagnoses that don’t seem fair. But I also remind myself of God’s truth. And that’s what prayer is.

God wants us to cry out to Him. He invites us to pour out our hearts before Him. David writes, “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:8 NIV). That’s an invitation you want to accept.

Reflection question: What do you do when you struggle with doubt? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie.

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