A Spring Inside You
Thursday, July 23, 2026 | Streams in the Desert, Week 3 Devotional Thought “But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” John 4:14, NLT Jesus is sitting at a well in Samaria in the middle of the day. He’s tired and thirsty himself. The disciples are off buying lunch. A woman comes by — alone, in the hottest part of the day, which means she’s avoiding the other women who go to the well in the cool morning hours. She has a reputation.…
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Love Already Poured In
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 | Streams in the Desert, Week 3 Devotional Thought “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:5, NLT Paul has just done something almost outrageous in the verses before this. He says, we can rejoice when we run into problems and trials. Most of us, if we’re honest, can barely tolerate problems and trials, let alone rejoice in them. So he explains the math. Suffering, he says, produces endurance. Endurance produces…
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A River in the City
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 | Streams in the Desert, Week 3 Devotional Thought “A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.” Psalm 46:4–5, NLT Psalm 46 is the psalm Martin Luther loved enough to base A Mighty Fortress is Our God on. And the line that should catch you is right in the middle. The whole psalm is about chaos. The earth gives way. Mountains fall into the sea. Waters roar and…
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The River Runs Into the Dead Sea
Monday, July 20, 2026 | Streams in the Desert, Week 3 Devotional Thought “This river will flow east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of the Dead Sea will become fresh. Wherever this water flows, everything will live.” Ezekiel 47:8–9, NLT This is one of the strangest, most beautiful visions in the whole Old Testament, and you have to slow down to feel what it’s doing. Ezekiel is shown a brand-new temple in a vision, and water is trickling out from underneath it — just a small stream coming out from the south side…
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When the River Breaks Through
Sunday, July 19, 2026 | Streams in the Desert, Week 3 Where Are We Headed This Week? Week one we came to the water. Week two we sat down beside it. This week, the water starts to move. There’s a moment in dry seasons that anybody who’s been through one will recognize. You’ve admitted the thirst. You’ve stopped trying to fix yourself. You’ve slowed down. And then, sometimes slowly and sometimes all at once, something starts running again. A psalm you’ve read a hundred times suddenly speaks. A song breaks something open in worship. A conversation with one safe friend…
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Be Still by the Stream — The Thread
Friday, July 17, 2026 | Streams in the Desert, Week 2 This Week in Review Monday, God tucked Elijah away in the Cherith Wadi — out of public sight, fed by ravens, drinking from a brook that would eventually dry up — and reminded us that the hidden seasons are where deep formation happens. Tuesday, Psalm 23 caught us doing the shepherd’s job for him and gently took the verbs back: he makes us lie down, he leads us to still waters, he renews our strength. Wednesday, Paul reset our whole picture of Christian formation. The Spirit grows fruit, not…
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