Be Careful!

 

Be Careful!

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

After years of struggle and crying out in prayer, Frank quit drinking. He attributes his continued sobriety to God’s work in his life. But he also made some important changes. He no longer kept alcohol in the house, watched for warning signs in his thinking and moods, and was wary of certain situations. He leaned on God and knew not to leave an opening for temptation or sin.

“Be alert and of sober mind,” the apostle Peter warned. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Peter knew we needed to be watchful because the devil’s attacks are often unexpected—when it seems like our life couldn’t be better, or we think we’d never be tempted in a certain area.

James too warned his readers to submit to God and “resist the devil.” When we do, our enemy “will flee” (James 4:7). The best way to resist him is to stay close to God through prayer and time in Scripture. When we do, God comes near to us (v. 8) through His Spirit (Romans 5:5). James also offered this encouragement: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).

We all face challenging moments in life when we’re tempted and struggle. We can rest knowing that God wants us to succeed and overcome. He is with us in our troubles.

By Alyson Kieda

REFLECT & PRAY

When do you seem to be more susceptible to temptation? How has God helped you in those times?

Dear God, please help me draw near to You instead of pulling away. I need Your daily guidance to keep me on the right path.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

In addition to the admonitions of Peter (1 Peter 5:8) and James (James 4:7) regarding spiritual vigilance in resisting temptation, Paul also had something to say about it. After noting how the Israelites had succumbed to temptation in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-11), he warned the Corinthians: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful . . . . When you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (vv. 12-13). The apostle lists two examples of how the “way out” can sometimes involve fleeing. He says we’re to “flee from idolatry” (v. 14) and “sexual immorality” (6:18). The Holy Spirit helps us to succeed in overcoming temptation.

Arthur Jackson

Source: Our Daily Bread daily email - February 13, 2026

Rehoming Fee

After careful thought and consideration for circumstances, I've decided it's for the best I re-home myself. Looking for a forever home, preferably with an in-ground pool. There will be a rehoming fee, just to make sure I'm going to a good home. Serious inquiries only. Picture of banana car so I don't get lost.

Source: Facebook (original owner unknown)

Kid Rock

 

Don’t come to life too late.

 

Don’t come to life too late.

Don’t forget all that you loved about the mortal mundane of this magical moment we call life.

Don’t spend so much time in dusting the corners of a decaying day that you forget to dance a little even if it’s just inside your own beating heart.

Don’t fret the bills and the bails of laundry languishing in piles of forgotten forlorn things.

Don’t forget how much you liked to sing,

To kiss the foreheads of children and old alike.

Don’t forget the touch of a trembling hand trying to reach the tender parts of your longing .

Don’t wake up only when the clock has no more minutes to give

Don’t wait until the mirror is fogged with years you never truly saw

Don’t chase the ghost of a perfect life while the real one waits, barefoot and patient,

tugging at your sleeve with the soft insistence of the present moment.

Let your breath be more than borrowed air

Let your laughter shake loose the cobwebs of routine

Let your hands hold something more than worry

the weight of a friend’s grief, the small miracle of a dandelion wish,

the heartbeat of another, pressed palm to chest.

Do not count your joys in what was lost or never found

Do not love so carefully that it never spills over the edges

Do not forget that even silence hums with its own kind of song.

And when the end comes

let it find you full,

not of regret,

but of the wild, reckless beauty

of a life

lived.

Source: Larson Langston on Facebook

Art by Lisa Asaito

When Love Shows Up

When Love Shows Up

Give generously to [the needy] . . . and do so without a grudging heart. Deuteronomy 15:10

“Why are you crying?” The question was asked by a volunteer for a Christian relief ministry helping those whose homes had been destroyed by Hurricane Helene. The woman (who had burst into tears in the previous moment) replied, “I’m not crying because I lost everything. I’m crying because love just showed up.”

God’s heart shows itself in His desire that we help those in need. When Moses gave the people of Israel God’s instructions before they entered the land He’d promised them, he told them, “Do not be hardhearted or tightfisted” toward the poor. “Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8). Their hearts toward the poor were to reflect God’s own: “Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart” (15:10).

Whether in disastrous situations or everyday life, when we give to those in need out of the blessings God has kindly given us, we make evident the love of His Son, who came “to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). In fact, God promises He “will bless” those who share His unselfishness with others (Deuteronomy 15:10), both in this life and the next (see Luke 14:14). We can’t see God yet, but others may catch a glimpse of Him when we emulate His compassion for them. May His love show up as kindness through us today.

By 

James Banks
Our Daily Bread
Sunday, February 8, 2026
Daily email.

Please, choose each other...

 

The paramedics were strapping me onto the stretcher, the red lights flashing against the neighbor’s garage, and do you know what the loudest sound in the night was?

It wasn't the siren. It wasn't my jagged breathing.

It was you two. Standing in the driveway, arguing over who was supposed to check on me, whose turn it was to drive, who was "too busy" with work.

I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat, not from the pain in my chest, but from the pain in my heart. I wanted to scream, but I only had the strength to whisper one truth to myself:

“The day I’m no longer here… you will only have each other.”

Listen to me. Please.

I know life in America is hard right now. I know you’re tired. I see the stress in your eyes from your mortgages, the exhaustion from your corporate jobs, the noise of politics that tries to split you apart, and the endless scroll of screens that keeps you distracted.

But I see you fighting over small things as if love is something you can afford to lose. I see you keeping score—who called last, who spent more on Christmas, who Mom loved "best."

But that day is coming. Faster than you think.

The day will arrive when I won’t be the referee. There will be no more Sunday dinners where I force you to sit at the same table. No more Thanksgiving turkeys where I make you put your phones away. No more group texts where I’m the only reason you respond.

And when that quiet Tuesday comes, and the funeral flowers wilt, the only thing left standing will be what you built between yourselves.

It will be love… or it will be a terrifying silence.

Being a brother or a sister isn’t just about having the same DNA or showing up in the same old photo albums.

It’s remembering the time you camped in the backyard when you were ten.

It’s knowing exactly what a glance means across a crowded room without saying a word.

It’s being the only other person in the world who remembers the sound of your father’s laugh or the smell of my Sunday pancakes.

Being siblings means being a sanctuary, not a courtroom. It means being home, not a battleground.

So, while I still have breath in my lungs to ask this of you: Drop the pride.

Whatever old wound you are nursing? Let it go. Whatever political argument you think you need to win? It doesn’t matter. Whatever money you think is owed? It’s just paper.

Call your brother. Visit your sister. Not because you have to, but because the world is a cold place, and you are the only people who share the same history. Forgive each other, even if the apology isn't perfect. Even if they don't deserve it yet.

Don't let a misunderstood text message or a rough holiday turn into ten years of silence. I have seen too many families in this country crumble because pride weighed more than blood.

Because when I’m gone, I don’t want you to grieve me in isolation.

I don't want you standing on opposite sides of my grave. I want you to hold each other up when your knees buckle. I want you to look at each other and say, "We’re okay. We have each other."

That is my peace. That is my calm.

The house, the car, the savings—that is not your inheritance.

Your inheritance is each other.

Please, choose each other... before you no longer have the choice.

Source: The Story Maximalist on Facebook

Ralph Stanley - The Uncloudy Day