AnotherJohn.Com

  Listen to today’s devotional October 12, 2026 John 14:8-11 I can't shame Philip too much because I'm one of those people who have looked for my phone while holding it. And while I wish I could say that's happened only once, sometimes, I’m so busy looking for something that I miss what is already right in front of me. Philip asks Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” If you're just tuning in, that might sound like a reasonable request. Give us something unmistakable, Jesus. Something we can point to when faith gets hard. We all could use that! But Jesus answers by asking how Philip could have spent so much time with him and still not recognize him. Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father. Philip wants a clearer picture of God, but Jesus asks him to look again at the person standing before him. Look at all the ways Jesus has revealed God’s character. Still, I understand Philip. Sometimes, I tell God I need things to be clearer while overl...

  Listen to today’s devotional John 11:45-53 Sometimes, I wonder if knowing what to say about God makes it easier to avoid actually listening to God. In other words, I can find a Bible verse and know the church lingo to make something sound faithful. But sounding faithful and being faithful can be two different things. Two very different things. Just listen again to Caiaphas. After Jesus raised Lazarus, the religious leaders recognized that people were believing in him. They worry because they fear Rome’s response. In their discussion, Caiaphas offers what sounds like practical advice to them. He says that one man should die so the nation can live. That pretty much sums up our faith, but he means Jesus needs to go for good. More is happening in those words than Caiaphas understands. Jesus will die for the people. His death will gather God’s scattered children together. Caiaphas says the right thing. But imagine asking him what he actually means. I know I've prayed something like, “...

  Listen to today’s devotional A Prayer in the Wind October 1, 2026 Matthew 14:22-33 Fear is a storyteller, but it isn’t always a truthful one. Give it one bad possibility, and it will fill in the rest. Once, Jesus told his disciples to cross the lake. So, they got into a boat and went. As they were going, the wind rose against them. During their struggle, sometime before the morning, they saw someone walking toward them on the water. It was Jesus. But their fear took one look at him and called him a ghost. They eventually recognize Jesus, and Peter asks him to call him out onto the water with him. So, Jesus did. And Peter walked on water toward Jesus. We tend to remember what happened next. Peter noticed the wind and began to sink. But before he sank, remember that he walked on water first. As he started to sink, he cried, “Lord, save me!” Jesus reached out and caught him. Before that, Peter and the others had cried out because they thought Jesus was a ghost. Now Peter was afraid ...

  Listen to today’s devotional Before You Forget September 29, 2026 James 5:13-16 I can't count the times someone has said to me, “Please keep me in your prayers.” Early on, I had to learn to focus myself so I would mean it when I said, "I will." Of course, I was going to pray for them. But then we finished talking. My phone rang. I remembered something else I needed to do. By evening, I couldn't quite remember what I promised to pray about. I thought about this while looking at a church prayer list. We're pretty good at lists, for sure. We collect names, print them, email them, and add new names on Sunday morning. That can be a beautiful way to remember people. But a prayer list can also just be a list. James tells the church to “Pray for one another.” He expects us to bring our lives before God together. As much as we might want to do that, I wonder if sometimes we hesitate because we think prayer needs to sound a certain way. We have to learn the right words, h...

  Listen to today’s devotional Recess is Almost Over September 28, 2026 Matthew 11:16-19 I used to be a substitute teacher, and, from time to time, I would fill in for one of the coaches. One Friday, I saw a group of kids trying to figure out what to do on their free day. Football, soccer, basketball, tag, or dodgeball were the main choices. To me, that all sounds like a fun day in elementary school. Their problem was that they couldn't decide. They argued so long about what to play that nobody really got a chance to play anything before time ran out. Jesus describes something like that in the marketplace. One group of kids says, "Let's play wedding!" The other group doesn't want to dance. "Fine, let's play funeral." They refuse to mourn. So, nobody joins in, and the game never even begins. Of course, Jesus isn't really talking about children. John the Baptist came with a hard message and a unique way of living. People said he had a demon. Jesus ...

  Click here to listen to today’s devotional What God Sounds Like September 16, 20266 Exodus 15:22-27 The Israelites are three days into the wilderness when trouble starts. They find water, but it is too bitter to drink. So they complain. Moses cries out to God, and the Lord shows him a piece of wood to throw in the water. The water becomes drinkable, and then God says to the people, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God…” I read that this morning and thought, "That sounds easy enough if God actually speaks out loud." If a voice from heaven said, “John, here is what you need to do,” I like to think that I would listen carefully. I might even take notes. But most of us don't hear God that way. There is no thunder or burning bush. No divine voice interrupting the devotional. So, how do we listen carefully when God does not seem to be talking? Think of listening to God as less like receiving a phone call and more like learning a language. Over time,...

  Click here to listen to today’s devotional Search Your Spirit September 15, 2026 Psalm 77:4-9 The psalmist says, “I meditate and search my spirit.” But he seems to be doing this in the dark, both literally and spiritually. As he wrestles with his questions, he can't sleep because God seems so silent. So, he wonders: Has God forgotten me? Has mercy run its course? Are the promises gone? Biblical scholars note a movement from lament to remembrance in Psalm 77. The turning point happens when the psalmist looks past God’s supposed absence and begins to remember God’s actions. But before that happens, he searches his own spirit. He pays attention to what is happening within him. That is holy work. But it should not only be emergency work. Too often, we examine our souls after something breaks. We wonder why we feel this way or what has come upon us. But only after resentment, exhaustion, or anxiety has taken over the night. Self-examination, then, becomes a sort of spiritual ambulance...

  Click here to listen to today’s devotional Matthew 21:18-22 Jesus didn’t say faith could move a mountain. He said it could move this mountain. And “this mountain” may have been more than a motivational metaphor. Jesus was nearing Jerusalem, the city built on a mountain and crowned by the temple. Just before this, he had entered that temple looking for prayer and wasn’t happy with what he actually found. Then he left and approached a fig tree covered with leaves but bearing no fruit. The tree becomes a living parable of the religious landscape. It was impressive from a distance, but empty where it mattered. There were plenty of leaves, but no love. Plenty of religion. No righteousness. Then Jesus tells his disciples that prayerful faith can move “this mountain.” Scholars interpret the mountain in different ways, so we should be careful not to claim too much. But within Matthew’s story, Jesus may be pointing beyond a difficult situation to an entire religious system that had stop...