http://godswordforyoutoday.com/

God's Word For You Today, Shartel Church of God, Moore, OK (2026)

06/25/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 25, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!” – Isaiah 65:24 (NLT)

“Before You Can Ask, He’s Answering!”

One of my favorite stories I love to tell is one time several years ago when Wanda and I went to a restaurant with several people from our church. It’s one of those places where you order your entrée, and then you get to choose your sides from a display case that has about 20 different options. Wanda looked at the board, which listed all the main dishes, and chose the chicken fried chicken. The cashier punched that in and said, “You get two sides with that.” Wanda began walking along the display case, carefully looking at all of her options. My wife has a very narrow range of foods she actually likes, so I said to the young cashier, “She has to look at everything, but she’ll take the mashed potatoes & gravy and the mac & cheese.” After carefully looking at all 20 items in the case, Wanda looked at the cashier and said, “I’ll take the mashed potatoes & gravy and the mac & cheese.” The young cashier started laughing, looked at me and said, “That was unbelievable! You must be psychic!” I laughed and said, “No, that’s just 30 years of being married!”

All you long-term married people out there will understand this. There is an intimacy of knowledge that you develop about someone from being with them for so long. I can pretty much tell you with uncanny accuracy what movies she’ll like, what she thinks about most topics, and what kind of things make her feel irritated or annoyed. I can also tell you what things touch her heart, make her happy, and make her cry. Often, I can finish her sentences after just a couple of words. That is, if I’m actually listening to her!

God is like that with us. God knows us better than anyone. In fact, He knows us better than we even know ourselves. He knows what’s on our hearts and in our minds. He knows what we fear or what we’re really dreaming of. He not only knows us so well, He also loves us more than we can ever imagine. That’s why He tells us in Isaiah that even before we ask, He is already answering. That’s an attentive, caring God.

So go ahead. Tell God what you’re worried about today. Not for His sake, but for yours. It’ll do you good to voice it to Him. But be sure of this. He already knows. Tell Him what you need and in what ways you desire His help today. But let this amaze you. The words won’t even be out of your mouth before God will already be on His way to meet you at your point of need. You see, God CAN read your mind. He can also read your heart. So before you can even ask, He’s answering. That’s how much God knows and loves YOU! That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/24/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 24, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“The LORD says, ‘I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.” – Isaiah 65:1 (NLT)

“When You’re Ready, God’s Ready”

One of the things I love about scripture is how the grace of God comes pouring through from cover to cover. We see it here in our verse for today. God shows not only His willingness to welcome us into a relationship with Him, but also His eagerness to do so. Look at what He says. “I was ready to respond.” In other words, God is ready for US long before we are ready for Him!

Think about that for a second. The One who is above all and Lord over all, wanted us even before we wanted Him. That’s like having the guy or gal that we always wanted to date, but never thought we’d ever have a chance with, saying, “I’ve been waiting on pins and needles for you to ask me out!” We would never imagine that they even knew who we were. But they DID. And they WANTED us!

God goes even further to let us know that He seeks after us. He says, “Here I am, here I am!” This reminds us that all of those little nudges along the way were from God trying to get our attention. This tells us that all of the people that God brought along our path to tell us about Him, to point us toward Him, and to model who He is, were not by accident. In fact, I envision in heaven God revealing to us all those times He intervened, protected, and tried to shake us out of our slumber. In a thousand different ways, God was saying, “Here I am, here I am!”

The last part of this verse is actually the one that is the most revealing about God’s great grace. The NIV and NLT translate it from the Greek LXX as “to a nation that did not call on my name.” But the Hebrew is actually “to a nation that was not called by my name.” In other words, God was saying that He was demonstrating His passionate, pursuing love to people who had no clue who He even was. The Gentiles. God was the most concerned about those who were the least concerned about Him.

Take this with you today. God is ready for you—are you ready for Him? God is trying desperately to get your attention—are you looking for Him? And even if you haven’t given God a second thought in your life, you have ALWAYS been on His mind. God’s arms are open to you, my friend. Are your arms open to Him? When you’re ready, God’s ready! That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/23/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 23, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“In all their suffering, he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy, he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.” – Isaiah 63:9 (NLT)

“God Suffers With Us”

God suffers. That seems like a strange concept, doesn’t it? Since God is All-Powerful, you’d think that He couldn’t suffer. But He does. He suffers for us. He suffers WITH us. It isn’t out of His weakness that He suffers. It’s out of His love.

Jesus demonstrated this. Do you remember when His friend Lazarus died? When they brought Jesus near to the tomb, the Bible says, “Jesus wept.” Why was Jesus weeping? He wasn’t weeping for Lazarus. He knew where Lazarus was and how much better he had it. He wasn’t weeping for Himself. He knew He was going to bring Lazarus back from the dead. Jesus was weeping for Mary and Martha. He loved them. He had stayed in their home. They were dear friends. And they were hurting. So their suffering became HIS suffering.

Or how about when Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the last time? Remember how He wept over the city? He said He wished He could gather them all under his wings like a mother hen gathers her chicks. What were those tears all about? Jesus knew He was about to go to the cross. He knew that many of His own people weren’t going to believe in Him. They were so lost. They struggled so much. They carried so many burdens and had so many problems, and they wouldn’t turn to Him for help. So they would die in their sin and their loneliness. He hurt for them. He was broken for them. They were suffering and their suffering became HIS suffering.

This is what Isaiah is talking about today in our passage. When God looked down upon His People, He hurt for them. They continued to make poor choices that led them down difficult paths that resulted in painful outcomes. Yes, it was their own fault. Yes, they were suffering the consequences of their own choices. But God loved them just the same. And their suffering was HIS suffering.

God suffers with us, too. When we grieve, He grieves with us. When we go through difficult places, He feels our struggle. Even when we’re dealing with the consequences of our own poor choices, God hurts with us. Our suffering is HIS suffering. So, whatever you’re dealing with today, you are not alone. God is with you. Your troubles are His troubles, your pain is His pain, and your suffering is His suffering. That’s how much your Heavenly Father cares about YOU. That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/22/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 22, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the LORD.” – Isaiah 62:6 (NLT)

“The Watchmen”

Some years ago, one of our dear saints and I were talking after a service. She commented about how much she enjoyed the service and how good God had been to her. Then she looked me in the eye and said, “I pray for you every night, pastor.” She said those words with a love and dedication that left me speechless for a moment. I’d had many people tell me through the years that they’ll pray for me. But she said it with such sincerity that I knew it wasn’t just words. This woman believed prayer mattered. She believed in spiritual warfare and was committed to doing her part. She didn’t pray general prayers of “God bless everyone.” She named names. She prayed for specific outcomes. She was persistent, passionate, and constant in her prayers. This woman was a Watchman.

I don’t think she is alone in this role. My guess is that there are many of us who are still alive or in the faith only because we had Watchmen in our lives who kept on praying and believing even though many others had given up. They called out to God on our behalf for deliverance, protection, encouragement, and strength. For most of them, two things are what kept them faithfully at their post. First, is that they had such a depth of love or concern for us that taking hold of the throne of God and not letting go was not a chore. It was a sacred privilege. The second is that they believed that prayers make a difference. They believed that God heard them when they prayed. They believed that God was moved to action when they prayed. They believed that though they couldn’t always see the results of their prayers, somehow, someway, God was honoring those prayers. James 5 says that “the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective.” Our Watchmen believe that.

So whose walls has God posted YOU on? Whose life is being touched by God as an answer to YOUR constant, passionate prayers? Who is counting on YOU to stand on the wall, stand in the gap, and stand against the forces of evil that wage war in spiritual places? We don’t know exactly how prayer works. But we DO know that God promises that our prayers are not in vain. If God is placing Watchmen on the walls of lives to share with Him in guarding over His People, who are YOU a Watchman for? Who will YOU one day be able to look in the eye and say, “I pray every day for you”? I promise you, those words will mean the world to them, just like they did for me. That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/21/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 21, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“Never again will you be called ‘The Forsaken City’ or ‘The Desolate Land.’ Your new name will be ‘The City of God’s Delight’ and ‘The Bride of God,’ for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his bride.” – Isaiah 62:4 (NLT)

“From Trash to Treasure”

On September 26, 1989, a little boy named “Freddie” was born in Quincy, Florida. No one is sure exactly where the birth took place, because Freddie was found as a newborn lying beside a dumpster where he had been abandoned by his birth mother. He was adopted by a wonderful couple named Nathan and Betty Figgers. This couple surrounded him with love and anchored him in faith. They also told him how much he was loved and how much they believed in him.

Their love was important because kids weren’t kind to Freddie. They often called him “Dumpster Boy” and reminded him that he was just someone that somebody else threw away. But Freddie blossomed. He was really smart. He actually fixed a broken computer that his father bought from Goodwill with parts from a clock radio when he was only 9 years old. When his father started developing dementia and wandering away, Freddie developed a device that he installed in his father’s tennis shoe, where he could track him and call him. He later sold the rights to that device for $2.2 million. Freddie Figures became an amazing man and a wildly successful businessman. You can check out his story and what he’s up to now at freddiefiggers.com. His own mother may have abandoned him, but God wasn’t done with him. He still isn’t!

Forgotten, forsaken, abandoned, rejected, unwanted, unloved. Have you ever experienced any of those? It’s amazing to me how “disposable” people and relationships can be to some. People who should always be there for you often aren’t. People sometimes tell you that you can always count on them, but you discover you can’t. Freddie’s story represents a lot of us today. But so does the love and redemption that rescued him!

God is not someone who just says he loves you. He TRULY loves you. He loves you with a love that is steadfast and true. You may feel like someone’s “trash” that they simply tossed aside, but you are God’s “treasure.” Isaiah reminds us that God doesn’t quit on us or toss us aside, even when the discarded places we find ourselves in are a result of choices we have made. His love for Israel was relentless. As is His love for you. If you’re feeling abandoned or alone or worthless today, turn your face toward Him. Let Him lavish His love upon you. You are “the city of God’s delight” because He delights in YOU. No matter what you’ve been through, God isn’t done writing your story. Just ask Freddie Figgers. That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/20/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 20, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“The LORD will hold you in his hand for all to see—a splendid crown in the hand of God.” – Isaiah 62:3 (NLT)

“Significant and Priceless”

In October 1988, John Barrier walked into his bank in Spokane, Washington, to cash a check. He parked in the bank’s parking lot while he tended to some business that day in the downtown area, and the bank was his last stop. After the teller cashed the check, John handed her his parking ticket and asked her to validate it. The teller looked him up and down. John was dressed as he was on most days, in his shabby clothes, stained and dirty from the construction work he did. He also drove an old pickup that matched his clothes. The teller pushed his parking ticket back to him and told him that ticket validation was only for customers who carried out transactions. John told her he had just cashed a check. She said that didn’t count. John asked to see the manager. The teller rolled her eyes as if to say, “That won’t help.” John said, “Fine. I’ll make a transaction then. I’d like to withdraw all my money from this bank.” John Barrier, who made his money buying and refurbishing buildings, was a millionaire. It was a lesson the teller never forgot.

I’ll bet some of us have had that experience. People who looked at us and put a low price tag on our worth. People who treated us as though we were less than them—not worth their time, their energy, or worth being treated with human courtesy. Sadly, some of us may have even grown up in homes where we were made to feel that way. Like we were a mistake. Like we were in the way. Like we had no place, no purpose, or no value.

Thankfully, God sees us much differently. Look at how we are described in our passage in Isaiah today. We are “a splendid crown in the hand of God.” There are several wonderful meanings in this description. Let me just give you two.

One is that we have SIGNIFICANCE. A crown represents royalty. God declares us to be His Children—and He is a KING! That means that He has given us honor and station. He has given our lives a divine meaning and purpose. As members of the Royal Family, we are to carry out the plans and commands of our Father/King.

The second is that we are PRICELESS. A crown was not made of ordinary metal. It was made of gold and studded with precious gems. Isaiah tells us that God holds us up in His Hand so that the whole world can behold the priceless nature of who God has made us to be. We are the “pearl of great price.” We are the “treasure” that He was willing to sell everything to possess. We have a value that no scales on earth can calculate.

Camp on that today. Carry yourself with that thought today. Not with an air of pride or vanity, but with a confidence in who you really are. You are Significant. You are Priceless. No matter how the tellers in this world may treat you, you are “a splendid crown in the hand of God.” That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/19/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 19, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. And you will be given a new name by the LORD’s own mouth.” – Isaiah 62:2 (NLT)

“What’s YOUR New Name?”

Several years ago, I was the speaker at a leadership conference. The worship leader was leading the group in a song just before the prayer that preceded my message. It was a song I had never heard before. But it was also a song that hit me harder than any song ever had. It’s the song called “I Will Change Your Name.” Here are the lyrics:

I will change your name
You shall no longer be called
Wounded, outcast
Lonely or afraid
I will change your name
Your new name shall be
Confidence, joyfulness
Overcoming one
Faithfulness, friend of God
One who seeks My face

We sang this chorus through twice, but I was such a mess by the end of the first time that I simply cried all the way through the second. The song captured so accurately the pain of the way I used to be and the transformation of who God has now made me to be, that it was overwhelming. It still is.

As you read the lyrics through, are there adjectives that you can relate to? Maybe even some that you’re feeling today? This song comes from our passage today in Isaiah. People who had fallen and failed, been exiled and enslaved, who felt abandoned and alone, were now being restored. No longer would they be defined by what they did or who they were. God was going to give them a New Name. A name of Honor. A name of Restoration. A name of Victory.

Today, you can lay your old name right there at God’s feet. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter what others have thought of you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through. You can lay down all your pain, all your rejection, all your fear, all your loneliness, and all your failures. God has a New Name for you. Confidence. Joyfulness. Overcoming One. Faithfulness. Friend of God. One Who Seeks His Face. So what’s YOUR New Name? That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/18/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 18, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.” – Isaiah 62:1 (NLT)

“Don’t Stop Praying”

There was a guy named Luke Wintrip who really wanted to marry his girlfriend, Sarah. So he finally got up the courage to pop the question. She said, “No.” He was stunned and heartbroken. She told him that she had only known him for six months, and though she thought she loved him, she didn’t want to commit to something that she would later regret. That sounded semi-reasonable to Luke, so they kept dating. Sometime later, he asked her again. And again, she said, “No.” But Luke was determined.

Luke began to plan exotic trips and took Sarah to amazing places. From renting out a castle in Prague to taking her horseback riding on a beach in Jamaica, he tried to show her the full extent of his love. Over the course of SEVEN years, he proposed to her 43 times. Finally, on the 43rd time, she said, “Yes.” She told people, "He should probably get a Guinness World Record. "I am grateful he persisted for so long."

I thought of that story when I read our passage today. Do we pray with the same passion and love that Luke had? Do we care about reaching our loved ones for God so deeply that we refuse to quit praying, even when they reject our invitations to church over and over again? Do we believe so passionately and deeply that God hears, God cares, and God answers that we cry out relentlessly for healing, deliverance, and breakthroughs that we believe are so desperately needed? In Luke 18:1, it says, “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” God is moved by passionate prayers. God is moved when our hearts latch on and won’t let go. God is moved when His People care enough to seek Him day after day after day because they believe that God alone has the answer they seek. God is moved by prayers of persistence.

Isaiah had a vision of a new Jerusalem. He had a vision of a people who were righteous, holy, and faithful. Isaiah believed with all of His heart that God was the only one who could transform Israel into the country that it longed to be. And Isaiah loved his people with the same tenacious love that Luke loved Sarah with. Isaiah declared that he would never stop praying until he saw it come to pass. May God help us love like Luke and pray like Isaiah! That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/17/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 17, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“The Sovereign LORD will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, with plants springing up everywhere.” – Isaiah 61:11 (NLT)

“God’s Garden Is Growing!”

A couple of weeks ago, my wife showed me a clip from the Today Show. It was a really interesting look at a phenomenon happening in our country today. Young adults are returning to church. Especially young MEN! It’s no secret that over the last couple of decades, the church has been in decline. Most denominations have experienced a loss of attendance, particularly in younger age groups. But now, there seems to be a migration back toward faith. Young people are longing for something to satisfy their thirst for the spiritual in their lives. They are also longing for COMMUNITY. Christ and His Church are a great remedy for both of those.

Amazingly, though, the greatest growth in the Christian faith isn’t in the United States at all. Some of the most rapid growth is happening in places like China, India, Indonesia, and Africa. What’s startling about this is that Christianity isn’t even allowed to be publicly expressed in some of these places! Sure, in some places you’ll see large gatherings of believers, larger than we’ve even imagined in America. But in most of these places, the Christians are gathering in homes, basements, huts, and hideouts. People are desperate for the gospel of Christ and are even willing to risk their lives to experience and spread His Word. Much like in Acts 8, when the church comes under persecution, it doesn’t get squashed. It gets SCATTERED!

This is what God foretold in Isaiah hundreds of years before Christ was even born. His salvation wouldn’t be limited to just one city, one country, or one nation. God desires that the WORLD come to Him. And that’s what we see. “Plants springing up everywhere.” Jesus talked about this, too, as He presented Himself as the Good Shepherd. He wanted His disciples to know that the gospel wasn’t just for the Jews. In John 10 He says, “I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.”

Let these words spur you to pray today. Pray for these countries and these leaders who are being persecuted, threatened, and killed. Pray that God would protect them, strengthen them, and cause His Word to spread. Pray also for our young adults whom God is calling back to Himself. The church of the future will be upon their shoulders. Let’s support them. Let’s make room for them. Let’s pour into them, mentor them, and release them to lead. God wants His Garden to GROW. Let’s make sure we do our part to make that happen. That’s God’s Word for you today.

06/16/2026

God’s Word for You Today
June 16, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets

“I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels.” – Isaiah 61:10 (NLT)

“The Wardrobe of God”

The Bible has a lot of images and metaphors that it uses to describe our lives, both before and after God transforms us. One of those is the use of garments and clothing. Notice how Isaiah describes it today. “Clothing of salvation.” “Draped in a robe of righteousness.” Like a “bridegroom dressed for his wedding” or a “bride with her jewels.” All of those create images for us. They all give the impression that our lives ought to have a “holy attraction” to them. We ought to radiate with the changes God has made in our lives. But is that truly the “clothing” we’re wearing?

Remember when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11? It was one of the greatest of Jesus’ miracles. Lazarus’ sisters led Jesus to the tomb, and Jesus had them roll away the stone that covered the entrance. They hesitated, because after being 4 days dead, they knew Lazarus would stink! But they did it. Then Jesus says, “Lazarus, come out!” To everyone’s amazement, he did! There he was, wrapped in strips of cloth from head to foot. Jesus then speaks these words, “Unwrap him, and let him go!”

Stop there for a moment. Can you imagine, as they take the cloth off of his head, Lazarus saying, “You know, Jesus, I just got these grave cloths broken in. They're nice and snug in all the right places. How about if I just keep on wearing them?” I know. That sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Why in the world would someone raised from the dead, want to keep wearing soiled, smelly, grave cloths when they could be wearing fresh, new, beautiful clothes of the living? Why indeed? But that’s what we do sometimes, isn’t it? God offers the opportunity to put on the garments of His Spirit, made in the likeness of His Son, and yet we sometimes still cling to those garments of the grave that we ought to be throwing away.

Can I offer you some of this “new clothing” today? Listen to the words of Paul in Colossians 3. “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body, you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” – Colossians 3:12-15 (NLT) Why not try on a few garments from the wardrobe of God and give a fresh look to YOUR life today. In case you haven’t noticed, those grave clothes really do stink! That’s God’s Word for you today.

God's Word For You Today

06/25/2026

06/24/2026

06/23/2026

06/22/2026

06/21/2026

06/20/2026

06/19/2026

06/18/2026

06/17/2026

06/16/2026

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Place Of Worship

Shortcuts

Share

Category