Listen to Today's Devotion

Jesus is a doorman. He opens and shuts doors all the time, and no one can close what he has opened, and no one can open what he has closed. But better than being a doorman, Jesus is the door! In John 10:9 (NCV), he said, “I am the door, and the person who enters through me will be saved…” He controls all gateways and passages from one place to another.

Jesus doesn’t leave us standing in the hallway or outside in the cold. He has something for us—new opportunities, new destinations, new chances to show our faith in him. Right now Jesus is sorting through that vast key ring, looking for the right door for you. He may have to lock and unlock a few other doors first, but one is sure to open soon. Trust him.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

In the days leading up to the war with Germany, the British government commissioned a series of encouraging posters. The first poster was distributed in September of 1939: Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution will bring us victory.

Soon a second poster was produced: Freedom is in peril. Defend it with all your might.

A third poster was never released to the public, but was held in reserve for an extreme crisis, such as an invasion by Germany. It was never seen until nearly sixty years later. It read: Keep calm and carry on.

God’s sovereignty doesn’t negate our responsibility. It empowers it. Trust God to do what you can’t. Obey God, and do what you can. Just…keep calm and carry on.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

If your peace is contingent upon circumstances, you open the door to anxiety and fear. Peace 101 says that God is greater than your challenges, and you can choose to catch calm rather than worry. Your peace does not depend upon people, which is good because they are fickle. Your peace does not depend upon the government, which is good because rulers come and go. Your peace does not even depend upon a peaceful home, which is good because kids misbehave. Peace—long-lasting peace—depends only upon God.

With Jesus Christ living within you by the power of his Holy Spirit, you can take control of your thoughts before they take control of you. Remember, “the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4 NLT). Relax. Anxiety is needless when God is near.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

Time for rest must be taken on a daily and a weekly basis. God told Moses, “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work…” (Exodus 23:12 NIV). This was not a suggestion; this was a command. Rest! The Israelite who violated this law paid for the sin with his or her life. Today the death penalty is still in effect, but the death is a gradual one that comes from overwork, stress, and anxiety. Never has rest been more important. We move at too fast a pace.

To relax is to disengage and let go. An hour or day long Sabbath is not the time to catch up with your work. It is a time to entrust your work to God. After all, he worked for six days and then rested, and the world didn’t fall apart. It won’t for you either.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath. This is the reassuring lesson from the miracle of the bread and fish. Jesus told his disciples to do the impossible: feed five thousand men, plus women and children. The disciples responded, “Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food” (Matthew 14:15 NKJV).

Now you’re not facing five thousand hungry bellies, but you are facing a deadline, a loved one in need of a cure, a spouse entwined in temptation. And typically, you’d get anxious. But this time, instead of starting with what you have, start with Jesus. Start with his wealth, his resources, his strength. And before you open the ledger, open your heart. Before you lash out in fear, look up in faith. Turn to your heavenly father for help.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

With change comes fear, insecurity, sorrow, and stress. Change finds you. It found the apostle Peter. He and his pals were sailing on calm waters when all of a sudden a storm hit. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he decided to step out in faith on the water. It is possible to walk right over the storms of change – Peter proved it!

Unfortunately, one other thing changed Peter’s mind. “… when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Matthew 14:30 NIV). When Peter saw Christ, he was strong. When he saw the storm, he was not. One thing to remember: as Peter sank, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” He knew where to find help, and Jesus reached out his hand to catch Peter. Jesus is always there to pull us to safety.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

If only we could order life the way we order gourmet coffee. “Give me a tall, extra-hot cup of adventure, cut the dangers, with two shots of good health.” Truth is, life often hands us a concoction entirely different from the one we requested. None of us pass through this life surprise free. So, embrace it. Accept it.

Change is not only a part of life; change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments. God transitioned Joseph from a baby brother to an Egyptian prince. Over time, we discover that the thing we thought we wanted is far less satisfying than what God has prepared for us.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

The widest river in the world is a body of water called If Only. Are you standing on its shore? Does it seem the good life is always one if only away?

According to the apostle Paul, the good life begins, not when circumstances change, but when our attitude toward them does. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV). Paul embedded two essential words that deserve special attention: with thanksgiving. Sprinkled among the phrases Help me…, Please give me…, If only… should be two wonderful words: Thank you.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

Confession is not complaining. If I merely recite my problems, I’m not confessing. Confession is not blaming. Pointing fingers at others without pointing any at myself does nothing to remove the conflict within me. Confession is coming clean with God.

King David did. As if the affair with Bathsheba wasn’t enough. As if the murder of her husband wasn’t enough. Somehow David denied his wrongdoing for at least nine months until the child was born. It took a prophet to bring the truth to the surface, but when he did, David did not like what he saw. And he waved the white flag. David said, “I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone” (Psalm 32:5 NLT).

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Listen to Today's Devotion

When Joseph faced his brothers twenty years after they had betrayed him, he made an incredible proclamation. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result” (Genesis 50:20 NASB). The Hebrew word translated here as bring about is a construction term. God is the Master Builder. He redeemed the story of Joseph. But we wonder if he will redeem our story as well?

Yes! Deliverance won’t be painless. It may not be quick. But God will use your mess for good. You are a version of Joseph in your generation. You carry something of God within you, something noble, something holy, something the world needs. That is what God is building in you. But it will take time. That’s just how these construction projects develop.

Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.