What About Jesus? Devotions

WELS
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  • CHRISTIANITY
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Discover God’s great truths for your life and your future!

  1. Be the Light for Others! – February 12, 2026

    14H AGO

    Be the Light for Others! – February 12, 2026

    https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260212dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion [Jesus said] “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 Be the Light for Others! Where I live, winter can be a dark time of year. In fact, during several months of the year, the sun goes down well before 5 P.M. During that time of the year, when I come home after an evening class or meeting, it is already quite dark. So dark, in fact, that it can be difficult for me to find the doorknob in the garage door. And if I do find it, the darkness makes it almost impossible for me to line up the key with the lock to enter the house. It is certainly a lot easier if someone else in my family remembers to leave the outside light on. With the light on, it is so much easier to see and to enter. Life can be like that. It can be very difficult—even impossible—to find our way to God. Each day, we encounter so many different thoughts and ideas and religions. We stumble over the idea that there are many paths to God. We get lost in the darkness of the encouragement to do whatever makes us happy. We can’t find the door because we are often convinced that we are good enough for heaven all on our own, if we just try hard enough. Jesus shines in the darkness and shows us the way home to heaven. His life, death, and resurrection cut through all the darkness and clearly show us the only way to heaven. Through faith in him, we see clearly and can enter through the door to leave the darkness behind. With the love of Jesus shining in our hearts, we can now be the light for others. Let it shine! Live your faith. Let your words and actions shine the light on Jesus in this dark world so that others, too, can find the way home to heaven. Prayer: Dear Jesus, shine in me that I may show others the way to you. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

    3 min
  2. Prepare for Battle – February 11, 2026

    1D AGO

    Prepare for Battle – February 11, 2026

    https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260211dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 Prepare for Battle Is today shaping up to look a lot like yesterday? And the day before it? Life sure can settle into a routine, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Routines and habits can be blessings in our lives. But the same familiar rhythms of our daily lives can also lull us into a false sense of security in our spiritual lives. Because we end up doing the same thing most days, we can easily forget that the stakes are very high. The Bible says that every day is a spiritual battle. Each day, there is a battle in a long spiritual war that we’ll be waging until we leave this earth. This battle is an internal one. The attacks come from our own sinful desires that fight against how God wants us to live our lives. Are you fighting that battle? Or have you quit putting up a fight, maybe without even realizing it? The culture around us wears us down and we may not even know we are often losing the battle, whether it is through the language we choose to use, the things we daydream about, or the actions that have become habits for us. These daily battles are serious: our souls are the target. The devil is trying to destroy our souls, and he uses our own desires to do it! Because we so often fail to put up a fight, we most definitely should lose the battle and have our souls condemned forever. Thankfully, we have one in our corner who fights for us. His name is Jesus, and he was born into this world for the specific purpose of going to battle on our behalf. To do so, he lived a perfect life in our place, daily defeating every temptation he faced. Then he gave his life in our place, to die the death that we deserved, even though he was completely innocent of all sin. Finally, he rose from the dead to guarantee our victory. In Jesus, the war has been won! Prayer: Dear Jesus, help me to be ready for battle each day with the knowledge that in you I have victory. Help me to fight the good fight of faith. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

    3 min
  3. Who Are You? – February 10, 2026

    2D AGO

    Who Are You? – February 10, 2026

    https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260210dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 Who Are You? Have you found yourself yet? Many of us are on a quest to find ourselves, or at least were at one time in our lives. We live in a world so full of people, groups, and ideas that we wonder where we fit. And so, we spend much of our lives searching for an identity—looking for a way to define ourselves. There is no shortage of possible answers to the question. Perhaps we define ourselves through our athletic or musical abilities. As our skill and prowess grow, so does our self-esteem. Or maybe we define ourselves by our level of popularity. As our reputation with others increases, so does our own feeling of self-worth. We may define ourselves through our careers. As we climb the ladder of success, we also climb the ladder of value in our own eyes. Have you discovered the problem with all these methods of finding or defining ourselves? Eventually, (hopefully before it is too late), we discover the emptiness of all these things. We will inevitably find others who are more athletically or musically gifted than we are. There will no doubt be something we do or say that will harm our reputation with others. And we will likely have one business failure or another. When all these things happen, our sense of value, identity, and self-worth will be shattered. Then what? Thankfully, God has provided the answer to the question, “Who are you?” Through the work of Jesus as our Savior, God has made us his chosen people. He says that we are his “special possession.” This happened because Jesus came to live and die in our place to take our sins away and to make us right with God. Through faith in Jesus, we now have a new identity. We are God’s people. And that is an identity that can never be taken away from us. Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, thank you for making me yours through faith in Jesus. Help me to always and only find my identity as your child. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

    3 min
  4. Don’t Worry About the Fine Print – February 9, 2026

    3D AGO

    Don’t Worry About the Fine Print – February 9, 2026

    https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260209dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion The people all responded together, “We will do everything the LORD has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD. Exodus 19:8 Don’t Worry About the Fine Print “Sign here, here, and here, and write your initials here, and here, and here.” If you have ever signed a contract, you have heard those words. Whether putting a downpayment on a house, buying a car, or adopting a life insurance policy, you are asked to sign your name and agree to all the fine print. So much fine print! With such documents there are pages and pages of legal expectations and ramifications. It is all overwhelming at the moment and the best we can do in a few minutes is to briefly skim the headings to get a vague idea of what it is we are agreeing to. Names are signed in the hope that this will not come back to bite us. Agreeing to keep God’s law is similar. On the surface, God’s law might look simple. I mean, there are only ten commandments, right? But the more we dig into the fine print; we realize that there is much more than meets the eye. Even a quick perusal of God’s law to us in the Bible shows that we are held accountable for even our thoughts, in addition to our words and actions. Things like doubt and worry leave us just as culpable as theft or murder. It soon becomes evident that there is no way we can perfectly hold up our end of the bargain. Thankfully, we have someone who did it for us. Jesus knew all the demands of God’s law, and he signed his name on the dotted line of our contract. And then he was born into this world to take our place and to do the work of holding up our end of the bargain. He even did it perfectly! He never once sinned. He also gave his life in our place to pay the price that was demanded of us for the times we had broken the contract. Because of Jesus’ work in our place, God held up his end of the deal and has forgiven our sins and given us the free gift of heaven! Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank you for signing your name and holding up my end of the deal. Thank you for saving me. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

    3 min
  5. Shining Faith – February 8, 2026

    4D AGO

    Shining Faith – February 8, 2026

    https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260208dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion [Jesus said] “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 Shining Faith One way you can share the precious love of God with others is to simply live your faith. Love others as God loves you. Let your Christian joy be evident to all. You may be trying to reach a lost spouse, a straying college student, or a rebellious teenager. You may be trying to raise young children, reach a spiritually indifferent neighbor, coworker, or bowling buddy. Jesus says that the sincere and authentic way that you live your faith will influence others. Oh yes, we know that some will reject Jesus. But others will be led to find out what makes us tick. Then we can tell them what we have been showing them with our lives—the love of Jesus. The real story of our Savior is such a powerful message that it leads people to put their faith in the heavenly Father and glorify him. There certainly are many reasons to live our faith. We love because Christ first loved us. Sadly, we have given Christ many reasons to forsake us, but he has remained faithful to his promises and to us. In obedience and love to his Father and in love for us, he willingly walked to the cross and gave his holy blood as a complete sacrifice for our sins. The Father has declared us perfect in his sight through Jesus. By living our faith, we show thankfulness to our loving God. We have another reason to live our faith. Jesus died not only for us but for all people. When we live our faith, others will be attracted to learn about God and his love. Therefore, our Christian lives give thanks to God and are directed toward the salvation of all people. What glorious purpose for our lives! So let your faith shine brightly. Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to let my light shine wherever I am and whatever I do. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

    3 min
  6. Praying with Purpose – February 7, 2026

    5D AGO

    Praying with Purpose – February 7, 2026

    https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260207dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 1 Kings 18:36-37 Praying with Purpose If you are like me, there is a good chance that at some time in your life, you prayed for millions of dollars. Especially when I was a child, I had a long list of things that I would do with those million dollars. Of course, I would give some of it to church, but the main point of asking was to get something for myself. Maybe things change when you grow up a little. Perhaps you no longer say as many self-centered prayers. Yet, because we are sinful human beings, our prayers can still be tainted with improper motivation: selfishness, greed, and pride. When Elijah prayed, he prayed with a purpose that displayed Godly motivation. When he confronted the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, he wasn’t there to bring glory to himself. He didn’t pray ‘Lord, if this doesn’t work, I’m really going to look stupid!’ Elijah had but one reason for asking God to consume the altar he had built with fire: “…so these people will know that you, “LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” When we pray for ministries, job opportunities, and any blessing from God, we may be tempted to pray with all kinds of selfish motives. But remember that what matters in this world is not so much WHAT we accomplish, but FOR WHOM we accomplish it. Like Elijah, we too can pray with this one purpose in mind: that people may know that the Lord is God. Then, however God chooses to answer our prayers, we will continue to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. Prayer: Heavenly Father, move my heart to utter prayers that are pleasing in your sight. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

    3 min
  7. Peacemaking – February 6, 2026

    6D AGO

    Peacemaking – February 6, 2026

    https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260206dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9 Peacemaking What is a peacemaker? A peacemaker is someone who steps into tension with a goal, not to win, not to escape, but to bring peace. That sounds noble. It also sounds exhausting. Especially when we remember that people are complicated and disagreements are real, and peace isn’t always welcome. So, Jesus’ words come to us both as a comfort and a challenge: “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Before we think about what it means for us to make peace, we need to start with the One who made peace with us. The Bible says that by nature we weren’t neutral toward God. We were actually opposed to him. Our sin created a war we couldn’t end. Yet God didn’t stand at a distance, demanding that we make the first move. Instead, he sent his Son to reconcile us to himself. Jesus made peace not by ignoring sin but by carrying it. Not by pretending the conflict didn’t matter but by absorbing its full cost in his own body on the cross. His resurrection declared victory. Peace is now yours, fully and forever. That peace with God becomes the foundation for peace with others. Peacemaking doesn’t mean surrendering truth. It doesn’t mean allowing harm to continue or pretending wrong is right. It means approaching every person in conflict as someone who has been forgiven much and loved deeply. It means speaking truth without hostility, offering grace without conditions, and seeking understanding instead of retaliation. Peacemaking is often quiet and unseen, but Jesus sees it. And here is his promise: “They will be called children of God.” Not because peacemaking earns your place in God’s family, but because it reflects the character of the Father who brought you into it. Every act of peacemaking whispers that you are blessed to belong to the God who made peace with you through Christ. Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for making peace between God and me. Give me a heart that is gentle, truthful, and willing to seek peace. Help me reflect your love in every conflict I face. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

    4 min
  8. Mercy – February 5, 2026

    FEB 5

    Mercy – February 5, 2026

    https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260205dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7 Mercy If mercy were easy, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to preach about it. Mercy means showing compassion when it isn’t earned and giving kindness when it isn’t deserved. Mercy steps toward people who disappoint us, inconvenience us, or wound us, which are not usually moments when we feel particularly “blessed.” That is why Jesus’ words might surprise us: “Blessed are the merciful.” The world often views mercy as a sign of weakness. Jesus calls it evidence of a heart transformed by grace. To understand mercy, we start not with what we give, but with what we’ve been given. Think about the mercy Christ has shown you. He saw you long before you cleaned up your behavior or learned Christian vocabulary. He saw you tangled in sin, burdened by guilt, and unable to fix yourself. And instead of turning away, he drew near. Mercy carried him through dusty villages to the forgotten and the broken. Mercy led him to wash the feet of his disciples who would soon abandon him. Mercy moved him to pray for his executioners even as they drove nails through his hands. Mercy kept him on the cross, where he took the punishment you and I had earned so that we could receive the forgiveness we could never deserve. That is the mercy that saved you. And that mercy now shapes your life. When Jesus calls you blessed for showing mercy, he isn’t saying you earn God’s favor by being kind enough or forgiving enough. He is saying that those who know his mercy begin to reflect it. Mercy is not a task to perform but a fruit that grows in a heart touched by grace. The same mercy that met you at the cross meets you again every morning, covering your failures, lifting your spirit, and renewing your ability to show mercy to others. You give mercy because you live from mercy. And that makes you blessed indeed. Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for the mercy you show me every day. Let your compassion soften my heart, guide my words, and shape my actions, so that others may see your love through me. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

    3 min
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Discover God’s great truths for your life and your future!

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  • Creator
    WELS
  • Years Active
    2011 - 2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2019 Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. All Rights Reserved. www.wels.net
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    What About Jesus? Devotions