Personal Devotions
Notes from Mark's personal Bible reading and meditation
With a goal to apply one truth from each day's reading to my life that day
Aug 9, 2026, 7:09 AM
Passage Read: Matthew 15-16
Meditation Verses: 16:11-12
Thought
The influence of ungodly religious leaders is great, and we all need to be careful of their false teachings. Jesus likens their teachings to leaven, which imperceptibly spreads all through a loaf of bread and changes the texture and quality of the bread. It becomes big and fluffy, because it's full of many small air pockets.
Aug 8, 2026, 7:27 AM
Passage Read: Matthew 13-14
Meditation Verses: 13:11-12
Thought
To understand the Word of God requires God's grace and mercy, which He clearly does not grant to everyone. It is a gift from God to be able to hear and understand His Word. Yet there is an expectation that all who have ears should hear what the Lord is saying. It should be every person's priority to understand the words of the Lord.
Aug 7, 2026, 7:06 AM
Passage Read: Matthew 11-12
Meditation Verse: 12:45
Thought
Jesus characterizes the generation in which He preached as unbelieving, though there were crowds that followed Him! As many as believed in Him, there were far more who heard but didn't believe, even among those who followed Him around for a time. But this conclusion is more frightening than the rest:
Aug 6, 2026, 6:58 AM
Passage Read: Matthew 9-10
Meditation Verses: 9:1-2
Thought
Seeing the determination of these men for their friend, Jesus was moved to proclaim the forgiveness of the man's sins. The man and his friends did not ask for forgiveness. The man did not express repentance. But this is the man who was let down through the roof by his friends, that's how determined they were to get him in front of Jesus for healing!
Aug 5, 2026, 7:04 AM
Passage Read: Matthew 7-8
Meditation Verses: 7:20-23
Thought
It is not miraculous powers that define a good tree or a Spirit-led leader, but it is how they treat the Word of God. It is calling Jesus Lord and acting like it. Jesus called these miracle workers men who practice lawlessness. They call Jesus Lord but do not do what He commands.
Aug 4, 2026, 9:49 AM
Passage Read: Matthew 5-6
Meditation Verses: 6:5-7
Thought
Prayer is for talking with God, not for showing off, whether by standing in public or by our many words for everyone to see our piety. God hears and knows our requests even before we speak them, and He can hear us even when no one else is around.
Aug 3, 2026, 6:29 AM
Passage Read: Matthew 3-4
Meditation Verses: 3:8-12
Thought
John called people to repent in preparation for the coming kingdom of God. He emphasized that repentance meant a change in life, producing the fruit of repentance. The religious leaders came for baptism, and he just about refused them. It wasn't enough for them to be religious, to look and act spiritual, or to depend on their relationship to Abraham; they needed real change of life.
Aug 2, 2026, 7:08 AM
Passage Read: Matthew 1-2
Meditation Verses: 2:1-3
Thought
The magi came innocently to Jerusalem, but their arrival triggered the death of countless children. They came seeking the one born king of the Jews, and probably assumed everyone knew! The child was, after all, their long-awaited Messiah. And they were probably shocked to find that no one had any idea He had been born.
Aug 1, 2026, 8:52 AM
Passage Read: Malachi 1-4
Meditation Verses: 3:1-3
Thought
The Lord holds many things against His priests; they are failing in their duties, lowering their expectations on the people and their sacrifices, and they themselves are not holding the Lord in high regard. So the Lord is against His priests and His people. He is bringing trouble and distress on them to bring them to their senses and repentance.