The Bible says, ‘I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.’ You say, ‘What does this Scripture mean?’ That even though you’re looking for answers in the wrong places, asking the wrong questions, and heading in the wrong direction, Jesus will intercept you, redirect you, and meet your deepest needs. When the woman at the well met Jesus, she was looking for the answer in relationships. She had been through five failed marriages and was living with man number six (see John 4:18). When Zacchaeus met Jesus, he was looking for the answer in material things. ‘Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was’ (Luke 19:2-3 NKJV). When Paul met Jesus, he was looking for the answer in religion. Here is his CV: ‘Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless’ (Philippians 3:5-6 NKJV). Multiple relationships didn’t satisfy the woman at the well, riches didn’t satisfy Zacchaeus, and religion didn’t satisfy Paul. And these things won’t satisfy you either. What will? A relationship with Jesus! Today He is saying to you: ‘The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life’ (John 10:10 NLT). Today, Jesus is the answer.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The Bible says: ‘One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him…When a certain immoral woman…heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee…saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”’ (vv. 36-39 NLT). Then Jesus answered his thoughts. What did Jesus tell this Pharisee? The same thing that He is saying to you today: It’s your past that qualifies you to worship God. ‘I tell you, her sins – and they are many – have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love’ (v. 47 NLT). The depths of sin from which she had been lifted caused her to rise to heights in worship that this Pharisee couldn’t understand. If there is a worship leader in Scripture, it’s David. Looking back, he writes: ‘I waited patiently for the Lord; and He…heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth – praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord’ (Psalm 40:1-3 NKJV). So, the word for today is – your past qualifies you as a worshipper!

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The Bible says that Jesus ‘left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria’ (vv. 3-4 NKJV). In case you may not be aware of it, Samaria was not on the way to Galilee. Actually, it was miles out of the way. Yet, the Bible says Jesus ‘needed to go’. Think about it: it was a long journey, and He was on foot. It was hot. As a Jew, He wouldn’t be welcomed there because of a long-standing animosity between Jews and Samaritans. As for the woman at the well that He went to meet, women in that culture were forbidden to talk to men outside of their own family. Furthermore, this woman was the talk of the town because she had been through five divorces. So, why did Jesus feel like He ‘needed to go’? Because He saw this woman as a diamond in the rough. While those around her talked about her past and her problems, Jesus saw her potential for His kingdom. ‘Many of the Samaritans…believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified’ (v. 39 NKJV). To reach Galilee on God’s schedule, Jesus had to throw man’s schedule out the window. But the schedule didn’t control Him. What did? The will of God and the unmet needs of hurting people. And He was willing to go out of His way, turn tradition on its head, and break new ground in order to do it. How about you? Can God interrupt your plans? If He can, then He can use you. Pray, ‘Lord, show me what I must do today in order to please you.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Charles Weigle was an itinerant evangelist who enjoyed travelling and preaching, despite the rigours of the road. His wife, however, grew disillusioned with her frequently absent husband. One day Charles returned home to find this note: ‘Charlie, I’ve been a fool. I’ve done without a lot of things…from here on out, I’m getting all I can out of what the world owes me. I know you will continue to be a fool for Jesus, but for me, it’s goodbye!’ He was stunned, and depression swept over him like a tidal wave. One day, sitting on the porch of his cottage, he contemplated suicide. A voice within him whispered, ‘Your ministry is finished. No one cares.’ But another voice pierced through the gloom: ‘Charlie, I haven’t forgotten you; I care for you.’ Instantly Charles was on his knees, rededicating his life to Christ. Later he wrote the words of one of the most beloved of all gospel songs: ‘I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus, since I found in Him a friend so strong and true; I would tell you how He changed my life completely, He did something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus, there’s no other friend so kind as He; no one else could take the sin and darkness from me, o how much He cared for me.’ Have the responsibilities you carry brought you to a breaking point? Is the heartache more than you can bear? The word for today is – ‘Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Love is not an emotion, because you cannot command someone to feel a certain way. Loving someone is a choice that manifests itself in your attitudes and actions towards that person. Jesus said, ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’ (vv. 34-35 NKJV). Jesus called this ‘a new commandment’. What’s new about it? These words: ‘as I have loved you’. Since Christ lives in you, you can love others with His love. Jesus always put His disciples first – washing their feet, saving them from storms, patiently teaching them. He didn’t look out for number one; He looked out for the twelve. You say, ‘But how can I love someone I don’t even like?’ Jesus answers, ‘As I have loved you.’ C.S. Lewis tells of how he came to view others’ faults differently: ‘There is someone I love, even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is me…If I can love myself without approving of all I do, I can also love others without approving of all they do.’ And what Jesus commands you to do, He empowers you to do: ‘The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us’ (Romans 5:5 NKJV).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Euclid was a great mathematician who lived about three hundred years after Christ. He is best known for his thirteen-volume series of books called Elements. Two of his axioms of geometry have been revised to produce the modern saying: ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.’ Another way of saying this would be ‘something happens in a group that doesn’t happen alone’. That ‘something’ is called ‘synergy’. It comes from the Greek word sunergia, meaning cooperation and working together. The New Testament church practised it: ‘All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer’ (v. 42 NLT). Jesus described spiritual synergy in these words: ‘I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:19-20 NKJV). The Holy Spirit hasn’t revealed everything to anyone. We learn and grow as we come together. Spiritual maturity happens in two ways: 1) By being willing to share what God has taught you. 2) By being willing to learn what God has taught others. Note what the Bible says about the Christians in Berea: ‘They received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed’ (Acts 17:11-12 NKJV). Are you fellowshipping with other believers? If not, you are limiting your own spiritual growth and being robbed of blessing.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

When you’re self-absorbed and focused on your own interests, it’s easy to overlook people in need and show no concern. But when you commit your life to Christ and decide to follow in His footsteps, that changes. ‘But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest”’ (vv. 36-38 NKJV). The heart of Jesus was moved by people who were ‘weary’. The stresses of life had worn them down and the burdens they carried were heavy. He was also moved by people who seemed ‘scattered’. People with no direction, no focus, no purpose for living. How many of these people were there? ‘Multitudes.’ What was Christ’s response? Because the need was so great, He told His disciples to pray that God would ‘send out labourers into His harvest’. Note the word ‘harvest’. You only get so much time to gather in a harvest, otherwise you lose it. Don’t miss the point Jesus is making, or the urgency in it. You are being called to show compassion towards those around you who are weary and scattered, and to take every opportunity to bring them to Jesus. A man who couldn’t walk sat begging at the temple gates. Day after day the crowd walked by, but not Peter and John (see Acts 3:1-10). When you’re suddenly moved by a need you have walked past many times before, God is telling you to get involved and do something about it.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The story has been told of a mother who said to her son, ‘It’s time to get up and go to school.’ He replied, ‘I’m not going to school today!’ His mother said, ‘Why not?’ He replied, ‘Because the children hate me, and the teachers criticise me. Why should I have to go to school and put up with that?’ His mother replied, ‘Because you’re the headteacher!’ Seriously, the Christian life is a school. Paul describes each grade as going ‘from faith to faith’. In the school of faith, the Holy Spirit is the teacher, and the Bible is the textbook. If you study well and apply yourself, you can move up through the grades. If not, you stay in the same grade you’re in until you have learned the lessons and can pass the tests. You’re like the lady who quipped, ‘My favourite grade was the fifth grade. Three of the happiest years of my life were spent in that grade!’ Unless you want that to be your fate, read these words and take them to heart: ‘Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’ (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV). If you want to know God, you will meet Him in the pages of His Word. And you will also need to stay filled with the Holy Spirit: ‘But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory [grade to grade], just as by the Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The Bible says, ‘The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.’ This Scripture is not a licence to be arrogant and insensitive to the feelings of others, or to have an overinflated opinion of yourself. It means that when you understand God’s Word, God’s ways, and God’s will, you will be confident in who you are and in what God has called you to do. Question: when was the last time you attempted to do something for the first time? You say, ‘I am afraid of failing.’ Everybody falls; the winners are those who keep getting back up again. Evidently some people in the New Testament church thought Timothy was too young to be in leadership, so Paul encourages him to be bold in his calling: ‘I thank God…when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord…but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God’ (2 Timothy 1:3, 5-8 NKJV). God has not promised that you won’t experience hardship in doing what He has called you to do, but He has promised that you will succeed. So, the word for today is – be biblical; be bold!

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

A fascinating study was done on divergent thinking – which is thinking outside the box. The results? Ninety-eight per cent of children between three and five years old scored in the genius category for divergent thinking. Between eight and ten, that number dropped to 32 per cent. By the time they became teenagers, it dropped down to 10 per cent. And of those over twenty-five, only 2 per cent scored in the genius category for divergent thinking. That means the older you get, the greater your tendency will become to resist change. It also means you may fail to discover your God-given assignment in life and develop the skills necessary to fulfil it. The Bible says, ‘Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function…God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well’ (Romans 12:4, 6 NLT). God’s plan for your life involves finding out what makes you different and discovering those things you do well. Too many individuals in too many churches look and act too much alike. Pastors can create this. Peer pressure can create this. If anywhere should celebrate diversity, it’s the church. There never has been, and there never will be, a person like you. And that isn’t a tribute to you; it’s a tribute to the God who created and redeemed you to fulfil His purposes. And that calls for discovering who you are, and who you’re not. Think about it: wouldn’t you rather be disliked for who you are than liked for who you’re not? So, discover what makes you special.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.