Scripture and Prayer Focus for October 4, 2026

 October 4 -- John 10: 22-30 "At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.' Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.'"

Prayer focus for today:  **Please forgive the lapse of two days in sharing Scripture and prayers. We appreciate all of those who were praying for us as we returned to our home in Zambia. We have arrived and are working to get our home back in order, rest, and recover from a bit of jet lag. :-) **

Most of the time a familiar voice brings us comfort. We recognize the voices of our family members and trusted friends, even from an early age. Those we are frequently with are known to us. Jesus said that His sheep (followers) hear His voice, He knows them, and they follow Him.  Pray for a renewed commitment to spend time with Jesus through reading/studying the Bible and praying. Draw near to Jesus so you can both know each other well. Pray to hear (know) the voice of Jesus above all the other voices in your life so you can faithfully follow Him alone. 

Scripture and Prayer Focus for October 1, 2026

 October 1 -- John 10: 16-21 "And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.' There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, 'He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?' Others said, 'These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?'"

Prayer focus for today:  There is so much division in the Church today -- pastors involved in great moral failures from adultery to embezzlement to murder, certainly don't help draw people to Christ. Pray today that you would be bold in your faith and lay down your apprehensions to KNOW what you believe and WHY. Pray for courage to discuss with Christian critics the Jesus is the only way. What have you got to lose? 

Scripture and Prayer Focus for September 30, 2026

 September 30 -- John 10: 7-15 "So Jesus again said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep."

Prayer focus for today: Today, we're going a bit personal on the prayer focus. Jesus ends today's Scripture passage with some of the most beautiful words in the entire Bible - "I lay down my life for the sheep." While most of us like to think of ourselves more highly than sheep, that's exactly what we are in light of Christ's words. He is the one who guides, protects, and provides for each of us who can truly do nothing on our own. He is the one who does everything just so we can become all we were created to be. 

Today, let's pray that each of us would be the humble, obedient sheep that we were created to be. Pray that you and those you know would faithfully follow Jesus, that each of us would be all we were created to be. Pray for humble hearts to lay down all you THINK you are and all you THINK you know, and just humbly follow Jesus. And on a personal note, please pray for our family, as we once again return to our calling in Zambia where Christ has gone before us and prepared the field. Pray for strength and wisdom in the days and months ahead, that we would continue being obedient sheep in his pasture, following His perfect will and leading others to Him. 

Scripture and Prayer Focus for September 29, 2026

 September 29 -- John 10: 1-6 "'Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheeepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.' This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them."

Prayer focus for today: We all hear so many 'voices' each day, it's often difficult to discern what is important from what just demands more of our attention. From our alarms to wake us each morning to the final click of our remote or phones at night, most of us are bombarded every day with voices calling us to pay attention to them. Whether it's advertisements wanting us to choose a certain product, the 'things not done' calling our names as we walk through our house, or even all the people at work, home, and moving in between who are trying to get our attention, there's a LOT coming at us calling our name each day. 

In today's Scripture, Jesus is teaching another simple lesson -- know WHOSE you are and just listen to that voice. The Good Shepherd (Jesus) will always guide us and keep us on the right path when we spend time with Him each day so we clearly know His voice from all others. When we know WHO to follow, we won't get lost. 

Pray today for wisdom to know His voice and follow Him. Pray for those who have never spent time with Jesus to begin to hear Him, trust Him, and follow Him -- no other path leads to eternal life!

Scripture and Prayer Focus for September 28, 2026

 September 28 -- John 9: 35-41 "Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?' He answered, 'And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?' Jesus said to him, 'You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.' He said, 'Lord, I believe.' and he worshiped him. Jesus said, 'For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind.' Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, 'Are we also blind?' Jesus said to them, 'If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see.' your guilt remains." 

Prayer focus for today: Often our humanness gets in the way of following Jesus. We waste so much time trying to rationalize or make sense of things that we don't understand, that we fail to fully believe in Jesus. The man who had been born blind, but now could see, simply needed that little nudge by Jesus' own words to say, "Lord, I believe." Pray today for faith to truly believe. Lay down all the things that hinder you from fully following Jesus and His Word. Pray for wisdom to discern fact from fiction and to keep your daily focus on Christ alone. When He guides your every decision, you can't go wrong!

Scripture and Prayer Focus for September 27, 2026

 September 27 -- John 9: 26-34 "They said to him, 'What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?' He answered them, 'I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?' And they reviled him, saying, 'You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.' The man answered, 'Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.' They answered him, 'You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?' And they cast him out."

Prayer focus for today: When our 'eyes' are opened to the truth about something, it changes our perspective. This can be something we learn that opens our 'mind's eyes', something we observe with our physical eyes that helps us view things differently, or something we experience through a growing faith in Jesus Christ that opens our 'spiritual eyes'. After Jesus healed the man who had been born blind, his physical eyes had been opened, but so had his spiritual eyes. Not only could he now see all the things around him that he had never seen before, but he saw Jesus. He knew what Jesus had done and He believed that He was of God. He 'saw' that this man, Jesus, was able to do things no man had ever done before, and he believed. Faith healed him. 

How about you, today? What do you believe as truth? What have you 'seen' or experienced that has grown your faith?  Pray today for strength to trust in Christ alone for all the healing you need. Many of us have issues that keep us living in the dark where we cannot see; let Jesus 'slap a little mud on that blindness' in your life as you learn to see through the new lens of God's Word and truth in Jesus. Pray also for those trapped in blindness - that they may see, believe, and experience the beautiful life He created them to live!

Scripture and Prayer Focus for September 26, 2026

 September 26, 2026 -- John 9: 18-25 "The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, 'Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?' His parents answered, 'We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.' (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, 'He is of age; ask him.' So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, 'Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.' He answered, 'Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.'" 

Prayer focus for today: Irony is a funny thing. As we continue seeing the story of the man born blind unfold, we see Jesus heal him through his obedience to just do whatever Jesus asked him to do. The irony comes in when we continue to see the Jews confronting this man, all the while missing the fact that they themselves were blind -- blind to the truth of God's word. They didn't believe Jesus was the promised Messiah. They didn't believe He could possibly be doing this out of the goodness of God, but thought He was of the Devil. 

Pray today that where you have spiritual blindness, you would be given sight by Christ alone. Pray for those who need to know Jesus and be set free of whatever is blinding them to His truth to SEE! Pray that where you and I might have judgment against things God has done that we simply don't understand or have trouble believing (as long as it isn't out of line with Scripture) that we would believe our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.