Grow • Pray • Study
daily Devotional Guide
Our Grow • Pray • Study (GPS) Guide offers daily readings and thoughts that follow along the Scriptural themes of our Sunday Worship services.
G•P•S - Grow, Pray, Study Guide, 2/16/26 – 2/21/26
Faith UMC
MONDAY 2/16/26: Act 2:42-47, The Community’s Origin
We see the formation of the first churches immediately after Pentecost. It’s initiated by a connection with the Holy Spirit and lived out through inclusion and the care of each other’s needs. How can we live more into this identity? How do we see the Spirit, inclusion, and the meeting of needs active in our church?
TUESDAY 2/17/26: Luke 6:17-26, Luke’s Beatitudes
Luke’s account of Jesus’ teachings takes a different flavor from the more familiar Beatitudes in Matthew. Luke’s Beatitudes put more accent on the physical and social needs of people. Luke also includes the “woes” to the physically and socially comfortable, which is probably the reason we prefer Matthew’s account. Is there anything inherently evil about having plenty to eat? That’s not likely. Instead, like Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 11, the issue is more likely about feasting without concern for those who are hungry.
WEDNESDAY 2/18/26: Psalm 51, Create in me a clean heart
Today is Ash Wednesday, and the first day in Lent. It is a day of humility and a day of repentance. Today we remember that we are frail and stand in the need of God. Our Psalm today is David’s confession after taking Bathsheba and killing her husband, Uriah. According to the Law, there would be no forgiveness for this. However, God relents. God does not turn down a broken and contrite heart.
THURSDAY 2/19/26, Judges 2:11-23, Cycles of sin, slavery, and salvation
After Joshua died, and after the Israelites took most of the promised land, they fell into a cycle of sin, slavery, and salvation. The Israelites would take interests in other nations’ gods. They began to serve other nations, who then would enslave the Israelites. God would hear their cries and give them a hero (or judge) to rescue them, but after the hero died, the people would return to sin and slavery. We see this cycle unfold about 15 times in the book of Judges. What do you make of this cycle? How does sin lead to slavery? How many times do you think God will save people who sin?
FRIDAY 2/20/26: Ephesians 5:21-6:9, Practical applications
Living out the Christian life has practical applications for home life. Unsurprisingly, Paul instructs women to submit to their husbands, children to their parents, and slaves to their masters. But Paul also calls for husbands to live sacrificially for wives, parents to be kind to children, and masters to treat slaves well. Such instruction may seem obvious to us, or even regressive, but in Paul’s context, this would be a culture-shattering challenge.
SATURDAY 2/21/26: Mark 1:9-13, No to Satan’s Shortcuts
Our theme for Lent this year is “Let your No be No.” Mark’s telling of Jesus’s temptation in the desert is, well, brief, to say the least. Mark allows that time of testing to be private for Jesus (the other Gospels fill it out). What fills your imagination of that time for Jesus? What did Jesus need to say no to? What do you need to say no to? Join us in worship as we begin Lent together. You matter to God.
Faith UMC
MONDAY 2/16/26: Act 2:42-47, The Community’s Origin
We see the formation of the first churches immediately after Pentecost. It’s initiated by a connection with the Holy Spirit and lived out through inclusion and the care of each other’s needs. How can we live more into this identity? How do we see the Spirit, inclusion, and the meeting of needs active in our church?
TUESDAY 2/17/26: Luke 6:17-26, Luke’s Beatitudes
Luke’s account of Jesus’ teachings takes a different flavor from the more familiar Beatitudes in Matthew. Luke’s Beatitudes put more accent on the physical and social needs of people. Luke also includes the “woes” to the physically and socially comfortable, which is probably the reason we prefer Matthew’s account. Is there anything inherently evil about having plenty to eat? That’s not likely. Instead, like Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 11, the issue is more likely about feasting without concern for those who are hungry.
WEDNESDAY 2/18/26: Psalm 51, Create in me a clean heart
Today is Ash Wednesday, and the first day in Lent. It is a day of humility and a day of repentance. Today we remember that we are frail and stand in the need of God. Our Psalm today is David’s confession after taking Bathsheba and killing her husband, Uriah. According to the Law, there would be no forgiveness for this. However, God relents. God does not turn down a broken and contrite heart.
THURSDAY 2/19/26, Judges 2:11-23, Cycles of sin, slavery, and salvation
After Joshua died, and after the Israelites took most of the promised land, they fell into a cycle of sin, slavery, and salvation. The Israelites would take interests in other nations’ gods. They began to serve other nations, who then would enslave the Israelites. God would hear their cries and give them a hero (or judge) to rescue them, but after the hero died, the people would return to sin and slavery. We see this cycle unfold about 15 times in the book of Judges. What do you make of this cycle? How does sin lead to slavery? How many times do you think God will save people who sin?
FRIDAY 2/20/26: Ephesians 5:21-6:9, Practical applications
Living out the Christian life has practical applications for home life. Unsurprisingly, Paul instructs women to submit to their husbands, children to their parents, and slaves to their masters. But Paul also calls for husbands to live sacrificially for wives, parents to be kind to children, and masters to treat slaves well. Such instruction may seem obvious to us, or even regressive, but in Paul’s context, this would be a culture-shattering challenge.
SATURDAY 2/21/26: Mark 1:9-13, No to Satan’s Shortcuts
Our theme for Lent this year is “Let your No be No.” Mark’s telling of Jesus’s temptation in the desert is, well, brief, to say the least. Mark allows that time of testing to be private for Jesus (the other Gospels fill it out). What fills your imagination of that time for Jesus? What did Jesus need to say no to? What do you need to say no to? Join us in worship as we begin Lent together. You matter to God.