What is a man for? In this episode, Blake opens Genesis 2:15 — the man placed in the garden "to work it and keep it" — to unpack a masculine strength that isn't about dominating, but blessing: a man made to move into the hard, chaotic places of life and bring order, beauty, and life out of them, the way God Himself moves into the formless dark of Genesis 1.

Blake gets practical — stepping into a tension-filled conversation instead of avoiding it, and bringing order (truth over fear's fiction), beauty (honoring the good in someone), and life (quick to listen, slow to speak). And he guards it from macho self-reliance: a godly man is neither the one who withdraws nor the one who forces, and the strength to step in isn't manufactured — it's Christ's power made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.

Have you ever noticed that the harder you fight not to think about something, the more it takes over? Temptation works the same way. In this episode, Blake opens Colossians 3:1-2 with a better way to fight it — not more willpower, but turning your eyes, the instant the pull hits, to Christ.

Using the picture of target fixation — you steer toward whatever you stare at — Blake unpacks how fixating on a sin only tightens its grip, while setting the mind on things above loosens it. He gets honest about his own long season of hurt and the temptation to pass the pain along, and points to where the strength to turn away actually comes from: not our willpower, but the Spirit who lives in us (Galatians 5:16). And for when we slip, there's grace — the price is already paid.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. 

Proverbs 20:7 draws a straight line between a parent's integrity and a child's blessing — and it starts with a sobering truth: our kids are watching everything. In this episode, Blake looks at how faith is really handed down, not through lectures but through a life children can see up close.

He gets honest about his own home — including going to each of his children to ask their forgiveness when he got it wrong in front of them — and holds Proverbs 20:7 as the principle it is, not a formula. Your integrity is the most powerful influence you can offer, but children are their own souls before God; you plant and water, and He gives the growth. A word of challenge for parents, and grace for those whose child is wandering.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.

Most of us don't enjoy confrontation — for many, it's a real fear. Blake opens up about a friendship that quietly strained until his friend did the hard, humble thing and reached out first. In this episode, he turns to Matthew 5:23-24, where Jesus puts reconciliation ahead of worship and tells us plainly: go, and be reconciled.

The one who moves first isn't necessarily the one who was wronged — it's the one willing to obey. Blake unpacks why taking the first step is about trust and obedience rather than winning, how going first puts the reaching love of Christ on display (especially to those who don't yet know Him), and where wisdom draws the line for relationships that aren't safe to re-enter.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.

On December 11, 2012, Blake wrote down a line from his friend and mentor Scott Engelman: “Jesus went to people searching for God; He didn't focus on people content with life.” In this episode, he opens 1 Chronicles 16:11 to ask a question comfort makes easy to dodge — if Jesus walked through your ordinary week, would He find you searching for Him, or content without Him?

There's a contentment that's a gift, and a quiet self-sufficiency that no longer feels its need for God. Blake traces how ease can dull our hunger — and why the Psalms, and even a group of joyful kids in Nicaragua who had almost nothing but Jesus, point us back to Him. The seeking goes both ways: He comes looking first, and He gives Himself in a special way to those who reach back.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.

When we pray for the people we love, we usually pray about their circumstances. Paul prayed for something deeper. In this episode, Blake opens Colossians 1:10 — Paul's prayer that the church would walk worthy of the Lord, bear fruit in every good work, and grow in the knowledge of God.

These three aren't a checklist to grind through; they're the strands of one life rooted in Christ. Blake unpacks each — a walk that resembles Jesus, fruit that grows from staying on the vine rather than trying harder, and a knowledge of God that's less about information and more about intimacy — and shows how each one feeds the others.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up.

Do you feel a lack of peace? Jesus promised His followers a peace the world can't give — but it doesn't always fill the room. In this episode, Blake opens Philippians 4:6-8 to show how we learn to receive the peace God has already offered.

Paul's counsel comes in two moves: don't be anxious — pray, bringing everything to God with thanksgiving, and His peace will stand guard over your heart and mind; then fill that mind with what's true, noble, just, pure, and lovely (verse 8). It's not positive thinking or self-help — it's handing our worry to God and giving our minds something better to hold, while He does the guarding He promised.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.

Have you ever lost to someone who cheated to win — who used dishonest means while you played fair and honored the Lord? Blake has, and he calls it a doubly bitter pill. In this episode, he opens Proverbs 21:5-6 to ask how a follower of Jesus is meant to cope when integrity feels like a losing strategy.

Dishonest gain, Scripture says, is “a vanishing mist and a deadly trap” — it never satisfies, and it leads somewhere far more costly than it looks. But Blake resists the pull to take comfort in the wrongdoer's downfall. Anchored in Romans 12:19, this devotional points to two responses: hand justice to a God who judges rightly and guard your own heart from bitterness, then pray for the person — because their real danger isn't escaping consequences; it's a life headed away from Jesus.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.

Since 1998, Blake has started his quiet time with a Proverb — and he's still finding something fresh. This time it was Proverbs 16:17: “The highway of the upright turns aside from evil.” His first reaction was “been there, done that” — until a quiet whisper asked, “Are you sure?”

In this short episode, Blake looks past the “big” sins we're proud to avoid and at the little ones we stop noticing — the grudge, the sharp word, the flash of ingratitude — and the pride (Proverbs 16:18) that quietly waves them through. Through the life of King Saul, he traces how a string of small, self-justified compromises can snowball into catastrophe. The call isn't grim self-scrutiny; it's staying close enough to the Lord to let His Spirit surface the small sins and turn from them in real time.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.

Years ago, in the middle of a long, grinding trial, Blake got two waves of bad news in a single day. That night, God gave him something he's never forgotten — light in the dark, without changing a single circumstance. In this episode, he tells the story of how it came: an ordinary evening, an unexpected nudge, and a line from Henry Blackaby that stopped him cold.

Anchored in Matthew 6:10 and Blackaby's Experiencing God, this devotional gets at the order most of us skip: before you can discern God's will in a hard season, you first have to settle your unconditional “yes” — committing to obey before you even know what He'll ask. The light God gives usually isn't an answer, an escape, or a change in circumstances. It's Himself — enough to steady you, and enough to show you the next step to walk.

Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.