Daily Devotional
By Pastor Jerry Teboe
A Closer Walk with Christ in 2026
Ephesians 4:30-32
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
In these verses, we see a list of sinful attitudes that as Christians we should not allow in our lives. These attitudes are sins that will grieve the Holy Spirit. Paul says we should, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. The first of these listed is bitterness, and we should avoid this and the others for the following reasons.
First, it grieves the Holy Spirit. He lives within the Christian, and when the heart is filled with bitterness and anger, the Spirit grieves. The Holy Spirit is happiest in an atmosphere of love, joy, and peace, for these are the “fruit of the Spirit” that He produces in our lives as we obey Him. The Holy Spirit cannot leave us because He has sealed us until that day when Christ returns to take us home. We do not lose our salvation because of our sinful attitudes, but we certainly lose the joy of our salvation and the fullness of the Spirit’s blessing.
Second, our sin grieves God the Son, who died for us. Christ forgave us our sins and purchased our redemption. On the cross He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
Third, it grieves God the Father who forgave us when we trusted Christ. Here Paul put his finger on the basic cause of a bitter attitude: it’s that we cannot forgive people. An unforgiving spirit is the devil’s playground, and before long it becomes the Christian’s battleground. In His gracious kindness, God has forgiven us, and we should also forgive others. We do not forgive for our sake (though we do get a blessing from it), or even for their sake, but for Jesus’ sake. Learning how to forgive and forget is one of the secrets of a happy Christian life.
Our prayer should be …Lord, help me to learn to forgive and to forget in the manner that you have set that example for me. This is the way to have a faithful, fruitful life that is pleasing to the Father!
Bible Reading for the Year
August10th, Psalms 99-102; Romans 13
Prayer Needs
Please pray for Faye Smith, Jack Gargis’ sister. She is still in the hospital in Greenville undergoing tests. The doctors found that she has a UTI, and they are treating her with antibiotics.
Continue to pray for Jennifer Teboe Buchamer. Please keep praying for complete healing. She is still having side effects from the cancer. She had a Keytruda treatment on last Thursday. Pray for the treatment to be effective against the cancer. Her white blood cells are elevated. Pray for the infection to stay at bay.
Please continue to pray for Shirley Deans. She is at home and getting stronger. She saw her cancer doctor on last Friday, and the doctor was pleased because everything looked good. Her lungs sounded clear. She has another appointment on August 14th with he same doctor concerning her chemo treatments.
Please continue to pray for Vickie Dalton. Pray for God’s healing. She was in the hospital to have a drainage tube put into her lung. She was able to go home but needs your prayers.
Thank you for praying for Dr. Joe Jordan. He was able to go home from the hospital on Friday. Please continue to pray for him to get stronger.
Linda Franks’ surgery has been rescheduled for August 31st.
Continue to pray for Edward Lee. He is back home and is doing better. He is taking antibiotics for pneumonia.
Please continue to pray for Carolyn Tyson’s sister, Shirley Deal. She has been moved into the River Trace rehab center in Washington. She is showing some improvement.
Please continue to pray for Peggy Warren. She is facing some difficult challenges.
Please continue to pray for Robbie Harvey who has MAC lung disease. He seems some better, and the pain has decreased some.
Please continue to pray for Marvin Silverthorne for his eyesight to improve.
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Pray for our Missionaries!
Sue Singleton and the mission in Cambodia
Dr. Joe Jordan and the CBM (Cross and Bible Ministries)
Travis and Caroline Fennessy – IBM missionaries to Southeast Asia