Max Lucado Daily Devotional

Max Lucado

UpWords Daily Devotionals by Max Lucado

  • Your Place in God’s Story

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    Do you remember a time when as a child you got lost?  You felt the paralyzing fear of looking around and failing to see the north star of your parents’ strong presence. You were lost. These moments of lostness can leave a pit in your stomach and bring fear to your soul.

    What is even worse is coming to a point in life when we realize that we’ve lost our way as a human being. We’re not sure why we are on this planet. We have no sense of our purpose.

    It is in these moments we look to God, the Master Storyteller, and discover that the best way to understand our story is to listen to His. As we understand God’s story and where we fit within it, the haze begins to clear and our story begins to make sense. There’s more to your story my friend.

    Read more More to Your Story
    More to Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    27 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • Bodies Like Christ

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    As you discover your place in God’s plan, you make this wonderful discovery: you will graduate from this life into heaven. Jesus’ plan is to “gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10 NKJV).

    “All things” includes your body. God will reunite your body with your soul and create something unlike anything you have seen. An eternal body. You will finally be healthy. You never have been. Even on the days you felt fine, you weren’t. You were a sitting duck for disease. And what about your worst days? Don’t you hate disease. I’m sick of it. So is Christ.

    When Christ appears, Scripture tells us, “we shall be like him (1 John 3:2). You’ll have a spiritual body, with all members cooperating toward one end. So we’re not giving up. How could we? As God’s story becomes our story, the best is yet to be.

    Read more More to Your Story
    More to Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    26 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • We Can Be Certain

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    There are so many things we don’t know. We don’t know if the economy will dip or if our team will win. We don’t know what our spouse is thinking or how our kids will turn out. And Scripture reminds us we don’t even know “what we ought to pray for” (Romans 8:26).

    But according to Paul’s words in Romans 8:28, we can be absolutely certain about four things: We know God works. He is ceaseless and tireless. God works for our ultimate good. God works for the good of those who love him. And God works in all things. Not a few things, in all things!

    Puppet in the hands of fortune or fate? Not you. You are in the hands of a living, loving God. Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God who’s working for your supreme good.

    Read more God's Story, Your Story
    God's Story, Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    23 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • The Same Power

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    You don’t have to hurry or scurry. The Spirit-led life does not panic; it trusts.

    In Ephesians 1:19-20 (NCV) the apostle Paul reminds us that, “God’s power is very great for us who believe. That power is the same as the great strength God used to raise Christ from the dead and put him at his right side in the heavenly world.” The same hand that pushed the rock from the tomb can shove away your doubt. The same power that stirred the still heart of Christ can stir your flagging faith. The same strength that put Satan on his heels can, and will, defeat Satan in your life.

    Just keep the power supply open. Who knows, you may soon hear people asking, “What’s gotten into you?” You see, as God’s story becomes our story, his power becomes our power.

    Read more God's Story, Your Story
    God's Story, Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    22 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • Listen for His Voice

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    Wait on the Spirit. If Peter and the apostles needed his help, don’t we? They walked with Jesus for three years, heard his preaching, and saw his miracles. They saw the body of Christ buried in the grave and raised from the dead.  They witnessed his upper room appearance and heard his instruction. Had they not received the best possible training? Weren’t they ready? Yet Jesus told them to wait on the Spirit. “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5).

    Learn to wait, to be silent, to listen for his voice. Cherish stillness; sensitize yourself to his touch. And just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all. All God’s gifts right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene.

    Read more God's Story, Your Story
    God's Story, Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    21 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • Wait for God

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    To walk in the Spirit, respond to the promptings God gives you. Don’t sense any nudging? Just be patient and wait. Jesus told the disciples, “wait for the gift my Father promised—the Holy Spirit“ (Acts 1:4-5). Abraham waited for the promised son. Moses waited forty years in the wilderness. Jesus waited thirty years before he began his ministry.

    God instills seasons of silence in his plan. Winter is needed for the soil to bear fruit. Time is needed for the development of a crop. And disciples wait for the move of God. Wait for him to move, nudge, and direct you. This beautiful promise in Isaiah 30:21 where God says, “This is the way; walk in it.” It’s nice to be led by a master. Won’t you let your Master lead you?

    Read more God's Story, Your Story
    God's Story, Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    20 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • Spiritual Dashboard

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    Is there anything in your life that needs to be removed? Any impediment to the impression of God’s Spirit? We can grieve the Spirit with our angry words and resist the Spirit in our disobedience. We can test or conspire against the Spirit in our plottings. We can even quench the Spirit by having no regard for God’s teachings.

    But here’s something that helps us stay in step with the Spirit. It’s in Galatians 5:22: “We know that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These are indicators on our spiritual dashboards. So whenever we sense them, we know we are walking in the Spirit. Whenever we lack them, we know we are out of step with the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit.

    Read more God's Story, Your Story
    God's Story, Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    19 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • To Save and Sustain

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    I believe we make the mistake the Welsh woman made. She lived many years ago in a remote valley and felt it worth the cost to have electricity installed in her home. Several weeks after the installation, the power company noticed she’d barely used any electricity. A meter reader went to see her. “Is there a problem?” he asked. “Oh no, we’re quite satisfied. Every night we turn on the electric lights to see how to light our lamps.”

    We’re prone to do likewise. Depend on God’s Spirit to save us but not sustain us. We turn to him to get us started and then continue in our own strength. It is possible to have the Spirit, but not let the Spirit have us. Scripture urges us “keep in step with the Spirit.” Plug in to his power, and leave the switch turned on.

    Read more God's Story, Your Story
    God's Story, Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    16 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • God’s Power in Us

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    We look at other believers and ask, “Why is her life so fruitful and mine so barren? Why is his life so powerful and mine so weak? Aren’t we saved by the same Christ?”

    The answer may be found in the first chapter of the book of Acts where Jesus told Peter and the other followers, “Wait here to receive the promise from the Father. John baptized people with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5 NCV).

    During Jesus’ earthly ministry Jesus lived near the disciples. The Holy Spirit, however, would live in the disciples. Jesus taught; the Spirit teaches through us. Jesus comforted; the Spirit comforts through us. The Holy Spirit is a year-round resident in the hearts of God’s children. As God’s story becomes our story, his power becomes our power.

    Read more God's Story, Your Story
    God's Story, Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    15 January 2026, 6:15 am
  • Not the Final Chapter

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    Death is not the final chapter in your story. John 11:25-26 assure us that in death we will step into the arms of the One who declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (NIV).

    Winston Churchill believed this. The prime minister planned his own funeral. Two buglers were positioned in the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. At the conclusion of the service, the first played Taps, the signal of a day completed; the second played Reveille, the song of a day begun. Death is no pit but a passageway, a corner turn. Isaiah wrote, “Your dead will live…All you dead and buried, wake up! Sing!…The earth is bursting with life, giving birth to the dead” (Isaiah 26:19 MSG).

    So play on, bugler, play on!  

    Read more God's Story, Your Story
    God's Story, Your Story

    For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

    14 January 2026, 6:15 am
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