Deepen Your Faith: Weekly Devotionals

Day 1 (Monday) – “The 97% We Forget”

You promised yourself you’d never forget. The unexpected check arrived in the mail just when the bill was due. The doctor called with good news after weeks of worry. Your teenager finally opened up after months of silence. In that moment, God felt so close, so real, so faithful.

Fast forward six months. A new crisis hits, and suddenly you’re anxious, uncertain, wondering if God will really come through this time. What happened to that unshakeable confidence?

Scripture: Joshua 4:1-7 Additional reading: Psalm 103:2 – “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

After God miraculously dried up the Jordan River, He commanded the Israelites to stop everything and build a stone memorial. This seems odd. They had urgent work ahead—conquering the Promised Land required immediate action. Why pause to stack rocks?

Research tells us we forget 97% of what happens to us in a year. We retain only 3%. God knew this about His people then, and He knows it about us now. Our faith isn’t fueled by wishful thinking about the future. It’s strengthened by remembering God’s faithfulness in the past. The problem is we’re forgetful creatures. We need reminders.

God commanded those stones because He knew the Israelites would face new battles, new fears, new reasons to doubt. When those moments came, they could return to the memorial and remember: “God did it before. He’ll do it again.”

Your faith needs monuments too.

Reflect: What’s one specific way God showed up for you in the past year? How can you create a “stone of remembrance” for it—a journal entry, a note in your phone, a physical reminder—so you won’t forget when the next challenge comes?

Day 2 (Tuesday) – “If You Are Called To Salvation. . .”

When God told Joshua to gather twelve stones from the Jordan River, Joshua had a wife and kids. He could’ve handed them each three stones and been done in ten minutes. Easy, efficient, family affair.

But God had different instructions. Find one person from each of the twelve tribes. With a million people scattered around camp, that meant hunting down specific individuals, explaining the task, coordinating the effort. This would take hours, maybe days.

Scripture: Joshua 4:2-5 Additional reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12 – “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”

Why did God make it so complicated? Because He wanted everyone involved. The stone-carrying wasn’t just about building a memorial. It was about creating shared ownership of the story. When those twelve men hauled rocks from the riverbed, they became part of the miracle. They could tell their grandchildren, “I was there. I carried that stone. Let me tell you what God did.”

God has a plan for each of us, a plan to bring him glory in our life and ministry. If you are called to salvtion, you have also been called to service.

Reflect: Are you a spectator or a participant in God’s work? What’s one way you could “carry a stone” this week—serving, giving, or sharing your faith with someone close to you?

Day 3 (Wednesday) – “Where Your Treasure Is”

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: if you’re not investing in something, you’ll eventually resent it. The gym membership you never use becomes a source of guilt. The committee you joined but don’t attend makes you avoid certain people. The relationship you neglect grows cold.

The same principle applies to your church. If you’re only showing up to spectate—never serving, never giving, never truly investing yourself—bitterness creeps in. You’ll start noticing every flaw. The music will annoy you. The sermon won’t land right. Small issues will feel massive.

Scripture: Matthew 6:21 Additional reading: Luke 12:34 – “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” We usually read this as a warning about greed. But it’s actually revealing something deeper about how our hearts work. Our affections follow our investments. When you pour your time, talent, and treasure into something, your heart attaches to it.

The reverse is equally true. When you withhold investment, your heart detaches. You become a critic instead of a contributor. And here’s the sneaky part: you’ll eventually use your own bitterness to justify your lack of investment. “I don’t give because they don’t do things right.” But the truth is backward—you don’t think they do things right because you don’t give.

God doesn’t need your money or your service. He’s inviting you to invest so your heart will be fully engaged in what He’s doing. He wants you all in, not for His sake, but for yours.

Reflect: Be honest with yourself. Where are you holding back—your time, your resources, your talents? What would it look like to invest more fully this week, even in a small way?

Day 4 (Thursday) – “Building for the Next Generation”

The stones weren’t just about the past. God made that clear to Joshua. Yes, stack them as a reminder of what happened today. But here’s the real reason: “When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them.”

God was thinking ahead. He was preparing for a generation that hadn’t witnessed the miracle firsthand.

Scripture: Joshua 4:6-7 Additional reading: Deuteronomy 6:6-7 – “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children.”

Every generation must have its own encounter with God. Your parents’ faith stories are powerful, but they can’t sustain you forever. Your grandmother’s prayers carried you far, but eventually you need your own relationship with Him. The next generation can’t survive on borrowed faith.

This is why we build memorials. Not to live in the past, but to give the future something to stand on. When your kids face their own Jordan Rivers, they need to know: “God did this for us. He can do it for you too.”

I think about the seven baptisms we celebrated this year. Several were children led to Christ by their own parents. No church program made that happen. No elaborate event. Just parents sharing their Scripture and their own faith stories, pointing their kids to Jesus.

That’s what God wants. Not perfect programs, but authentic faith passed from one generation to the next. Your story of God’s faithfulness becomes their foundation. Your stones of remembrance become their starting point.

The question isn’t just “What has God done for me?” It’s “What am I building that the next generation can stand on?”

Reflect: What’s one story of God’s faithfulness you need to share with a younger person in your life? How can you help them build their own encounter with God?

Day 5 (Friday) – “So the World Will Know”

The stones weren’t just for the Israelites who crossed the river. God made that clear. Yes, the memorial would remind them of His faithfulness. Yes, it would give them something to show their children when they asked questions. But there was a bigger purpose.

“So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty.”

Scripture: Joshua 4:23-24 Additional reading: Psalm 67:1-2 – “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.”

God’s plan has always included the nations. His work in Israel wasn’t just about blessing one group of people. It was about displaying His character to the world. When the Canaanites heard about the Jordan River drying up, they would learn something about Israel’s God. When travelers passed that stone memorial, they would ask questions. The stones preached a sermon to everyone who saw them.

Your life is a memorial too. When God works in your marriage, in your finances, in your character, it’s not just for your benefit. When He answers prayer, provides in crisis, or transforms your heart, He’s creating a testimony. People are watching. They’re asking questions. “What’s different about them? How did they get through that? Where does their hope come from?”

The goal isn’t to make your church impressive by human standards. It’s to make God’s power undeniable. Even if you’re few in number, even if your resources seem small, when God moves, people notice. They see something that can’t be explained by human effort alone.

That’s the purpose of everything—every service you give, every act of love, every stone you carry. So the world will know that the hand of the Lord is mighty.

Reflect: Who in your life is watching your faith journey? What “stone of remembrance” in your story could become a testimony to God’s faithfulness for them?