Daily Devo

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He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. . . . I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Kings 19:14)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 19:13-18

Isn’t it weird how we handle ourselves at the beginning of a potential relationship? We can be so superficial on a first date, afraid that the other person is going to see our imperfections and run the other way. I know I struggled quite a bit with those sorts of insecurities with my wife in our early years until, at one point, she simply told me during one conversation, “I wish you’d just be honest with me.”

What a freeing experience that was, to stop trying to put on this perfect façade and show up fully myself, warts and all. It deepened our relationship in ways I never knew possible.

Elijah had this sort of relationship with God. In this verse, he airs all the dirty laundry of how he feels directly to God; we see the same sort of transparency in a number of the psalms. There is a boldness in being able to ask God, “Why?”

Elijah’s exchange with God illustrates the kind of relationship God seeks with us. In the midst of hard times when not much makes sense, it is okay to call upon God and to admit we are broken and need his reassurance and guidance.

When I feel myself holding back—both in my relationship with my wife and with God—I have found it very helpful to reengage with honest dialogue.

Be honest even when it is uncomfortable.

John Zaktansky is the youth group leader at Port Ann Wesleyan Church in central Pennsylvania and oversees youth ministry at an annual family camp.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. (1 Kings 19:3)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 19:2-8

Although a professing believer, Craig started veering off course by putting his trust in all the wrong places. After his second divorce, he drove his motorcycle off the road at 120 miles per hour without a helmet. He miraculously survived.

“Someone brought me my Bible, and I began reading it from my hospital bed,” he said. “I started in Matthew and got as far as chapter 7 and realized I was living a lie and made a true commitment.”

He started doing missions work in Guatemala with his church and responded to his calling to serve the less fortunate. He bought an old school bus and drove it regularly to serve the homeless in sections of Philadelphia, one of many ministries he now oversees both locally and across the world.

The same Elijah that boldly proclaimed a coming drought to the evil Ahab and so faithfully was an instrument of God’s work on Mount Carmel suddenly crumbled at the threats of Jezebel. He ran for his life. But like Craig, God was not done with him. He found Elijah in his fear, exhaustion, and brokenness, rebuilt his faith, and plugged him back into ministry for even greater works.

Craig in his hospital bed. Elijah in the wilderness. God pursued them in their brokenness and used both for greater things. He can do the same with you.

Believe God will continue to provide opportunities, even in our brokenness.

John Zaktansky is the youth group leader at Port Ann Wesleyan Church in central Pennsylvania and oversees youth ministry at an annual family camp.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

“Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:37)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 18:31-39

I am a sucker for movies in which an underdog hero suddenly realizes his potential and decides to take a stand. I love that moment when he stops running, turns, and decides to face the threat that is pursuing him. While I am not advocating for the Lord of the Rings franchise, one such moment in the trilogy’s first film shows a character, Gandalf, making such a stand.

As the monster approaches Gandalf and his team, he turns, raises a staff, slams it down, and proclaims, “You shall not pass.” It is a powerful moment.

I get the same shot of adrenaline in this passage as Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal, a false god they all idolized, and Ahab himself as he allowed God to use him to set up this altar challenge. He placed the offering and ordered people to douse the wooden altar in excessive amounts of water.

At the right moment, Elijah drew that line in the sand and prayed to a God he knew would show up with the most incredible fireworks show ever known to mankind. I can only imagine the personal high Elijah must have felt to be used in this way. God rained down in this amazing moment, basically shouting out to the people of that country that they “shall not” ignore the one true God any longer.

Trust the God whose power and purpose cannot be denied.

John Zaktansky is the youth group leader at Port Ann Wesleyan Church in central Pennsylvania and oversees youth ministry at an annual family camp.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.” (1 Kings 18:18)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 18:17-21

A local nonprofit environmental group recently confronted a major industrial plant about high numbers of certain contaminants in groundwater around the facility versus what was being taken upstream. The water sampling clearly indicated a violation of statewide clean water regulations.

However, the company’s public relations team quickly reversed the narrative, attempting to undermine the nonprofit’s intentions in sharing the data and addressing the pollution it indicated.

In today’s reading, Ahab similarly tried to deflect blame for Israel’s drought- and famine-infused issues. Instead of accepting responsibility—that his evildoings as king and his nation’s falling away from God led to these consequences—Ahab suggested that Elijah was the one behind it all.

Leaders are constantly under fire for the decisions they make, and people are notoriously quick to pass the blame on someone (anyone) else. Elijah’s response is notable. He didn’t mince words, but simply redirected the conversation back at Ahab and his family in a way that didn’t provide much wiggle room to the contrary.

Elijah’s quick-yet-clear redirect contains a certain wisdom and boldness that suggests he knew he was abiding in God’s truth. When we similarly feel stuck in the middle of an otherwise unwinnable game of passing the blame, it is essential to make sure we seek God’s truth and stand firmly on that solid ground.

Stand firmly on God’s truth, especially when others attempt to pass blame.

John Zaktansky is the youth group leader at Port Ann Wesleyan Church in central Pennsylvania and oversees youth ministry at an annual family camp.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. (Ps. 67:4)

Expanded Passage: Psalm 67

Sweaty and tired, we loaded the bus after our game. Facing yet another loss, we felt defeated as a team. The ride home was quiet except for a few barking orders from our notably exhausted coach. By nature, she was normally a fun-loving person who always found something to joke about. However, stretched thin with doubts flooding her eyes, she was less jovial on this particular drive home.

The senior players on our team seemed to take the constant losses the hardest out of any of us. They had taken us under their wings and taught us valuable skills in how to successfully win games, yet we were not performing. We were losing nearly every game we showed up to. For all of their experience and excellence, they could not win alone. The rest of us also needed to step up and implement our knowledge in order for the team to succeed. Sadness and despair hung in the air.

When discouragement arises, gladness and joy can quickly fade. This verse in Psalm 67 reads like a pep talk from a coach who is trying to encourage someone toward joy in light of any heaviness they are currently facing. Amidst the difficult, amidst the hard—may you today “be glad and sing for joy” because of who God is and how well he guides those under his care with tender justice.

Read through Psalm 67, and be coached to joy and gladness.

Sarah Cochran received an MDiv from Wesley Seminary and is an ordained Wesleyan pastor in the Florida District. She and her husband, Tom, work for an agency rescuing kids from trafficking.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

“You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, . . . you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me.” (1 Kings 14:9)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 11:26-38, 12:26-30, 14:5-10

Betrayal takes what is sacred—trust—and crushes our spirit. It leaves us wrestling with anger. It makes us question our decision to believe people from the past and hesitant to place our faith in others we encounter in the future.

God’s response to a lack of loyalty in 1 Kings is no different than our own gut reaction to betrayal. He says, “You have aroused my anger and turned your back on me” (v. 9). At some point, everyone experiences heartbreak from people that they love. Why would we be an exception if God himself has faced this challenge from fickle people? In fact, maybe we have been the source of God’s heartache at times because of our actions or attitudes.

Before we declare that no one can ever be trusted again after being hurt, we should examine how loyal God has been to his people throughout Scripture regardless of the betrayals or the anger they caused him. Trust is often earned through the avenue of loyalty. Loyalty goes both directions inside a relationship. Loyalty is not one-sided. It can and must be extended by two parties toward each other in order to be effective in building trust. As leaders, we often demand loyalty from our followers, but we should ask ourselves if we are loyal to them even when they make us angry.

Name someone who can benefit from your loyalty right now.

Sarah Cochran received an MDiv from Wesley Seminary and is an ordained Wesleyan pastor in the Florida District. She and her husband, Tom, work for an agency rescuing kids from trafficking.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

“Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel.’” (1 Kings 14:7)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 14:5-10

Staring with intrigue at my dad’s bookshelf, my eyes searched for a book to devour. As a fifteen-year-old, rather than doing my homework assignments, I occasionally snuck a book from his library to read instead. This time I chose a book about a missionary to China, Hudson Taylor. Instantly I was hooked and enthralled with curiosity. What an inspiring life he had lived. “Could I ever follow God in such an incredible way?” I pondered.

Taylor once said, “I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize that [God] is able to carry out his will for me. It does not matter where he places me, or how. That is for him to consider, not me, for in the easiest positions he will give me grace, and in the most difficult ones his grace is sufficient.”

My homework assignments eventually got completed with a lot of pressure from my parents, but what stuck even more in my heart and soul was the possibility that as one serves God, he will take you where he wants you to be, providing everything that you need along the way.

As Taylor acknowledged and as this passage about Jeroboam reveals, God appoints us to leadership positions. Yet, as Jeroboam also experienced, God may relieve us of our responsibilities if we forget him in the midst of leading and serving.

Identify the places where God has appointed you and acknowledge his grace.

Sarah Cochran received an MDiv from Wesley Seminary and is an ordained Wesleyan pastor in the Florida District. She and her husband, Tom, work for an agency rescuing kids from trafficking.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. . . . “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel.” (1 Kings 12:28)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 12:26-30

Our CEO pulled up the presentation, and we all took in a breath bracing ourselves as we read the title. Bold letters stated: “The Benefit of Many Advisors.” A man of few words, when the CEO decided to do a presentation, he usually had a compelling reason. The tension in the air spoke to a reality that none of us fully understood, but of which we were individually cognizant.

Instead of a list of new policies and procedures to help mobilize and focus our team that day, he presented a list of Scripture verses. One of which read, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Prov. 15:22). The word he chose to focus on from the passage in Proverbs was many.

Limiting oneself to one or two people in an advisory role may cap our capacity for gathering the wisdom we need to lead effectively. Or worse, if one of them gives us bad advice, we may follow their words and walk down a path of destruction instead of success. We see this play out in 1 Kings as Jeroboam listened to bad advice, leading people away from following the one true God. However, as our wise CEO pointed out, when we have many advisors offering us counsel, the plans we make possess the foundation to succeed.

Humbly seek out multiple advisors in order to make wise decisions.

Sarah Cochran received an MDiv from Wesley Seminary and is an ordained Wesleyan pastor in the Florida District. She and her husband, Tom, work for an agency rescuing kids from trafficking.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

“However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel.” (1 Kings 11:37)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 11:34-38

For twenty years I have prayed for a child to be born into our family, but it has not happened. All the while, my husband and I have served God faithfully. Not perfectly. Faithfully. We moved where God impressed upon us to move and carried out ministry in ways that God called us to.

My heart’s desire was to have children but I have had other desires too. While I was waiting for a specific birth, God started birthing all my other dreams. I cannot think of one core longing that I have had that God has not fulfilled. Have I been let down? Yes. Have all those desires been fulfilled in the way I anticipated? No. But amidst pain and disappointments, as I have pursued him, God has orchestrated a gratifying and joyful life that is no longer dependent upon my plans.

Inside the promise to fulfill heart desires in his Word, God knows that his presence is a human being’s core aspiration. Everything else a person could want or “rule over” pales in comparison. God created us to be in relationship with him and longs that we choose to do so. I have learned that when bad things happen, it is less a dashing of dreams and more an opportunity to lean into my heavenly Father’s arms. Being close to him is the greatest desire one could possess.

Determine to seek God himself more than anything else.

Sarah Cochran received an MDiv from Wesley Seminary and is an ordained Wesleyan pastor in the Florida District. She and her husband, Tom, work for an agency rescuing kids from trafficking.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

“But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he [Solomon] will have one tribe.” (1 Kings 11:32)

Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 11:29-33

The five of us, all kids of missionary or pastor parents, huddled around a single book trying to read it all at once. It would have been easier for one person to read aloud, yet impatience to get the borrowed book read before the end of our mission trip trumped such reasoning. Besides, reading it out loud seemed scandalous. We were privileged to be on this mission work trip, and were not here to read a book late into the night, even if it was a Christian book. We were also supposed to be sleeping since the lights had already been turned out. If not scandalous, then we were impertinent at the very least.

I looked around at my comrades’ faces in the shadows as the flashlight lit up the words on the page. Our commonality built an immediate bond, less of a friendship and more of an understanding of the responsibility we shared as children whose parents were in the ministry.

We had a sense that serving was a privilege. Yet, I remember the knowing glances we exchanged after discovering that this opportunity had come our way because of our parents’ roles. Their calling and sacrifices as servants of God had provided us, their kids, something spectacular that few others got to experience. Similarly, David’s legacy of being a servant of God brought a coverage for his son Solomon even after David had passed away.

Thank someone who has invested in you as a servant of God.

Sarah Cochran received an MDiv from Wesley Seminary and is an ordained Wesleyan pastor in the Florida District. She and her husband, Tom, work for an agency rescuing kids from trafficking.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.