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10/15/2026 0 Comments

The Rudder We Cannot Ignore

“Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.”
James 3:4–5, ESV

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10/9/2026 0 Comments

The Ability to Relate

Photo taken by Sarah Tegtmeier

One of the most difficult things we face as adults is the challenge of relating to someone who has endured an unspeakable tragedy. I immediately think of my sister and brother-in-law and their family who lost their son Daniel. I think of West Point classmates who lost children to suicide, a helicopter crash, combat, disease, and car accidents. All of them were left in shock, disbelief, and pain that, years later, still hits in waves. What can we say? What can we do to console family, friends, coworkers, neighbors when the heart hurts so bad that . . .

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9/30/2026 0 Comments

The Folly of Following the Heart

Meditation
Ecclesiastes 2:3--I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

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9/25/2026 1 Comment

The Anchor We Cannot See

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9/18/2026 0 Comments

Why Measurements Matter

Who knew the upkeep of a pool was such a pain? I’m fighting a losing battle against algae. I’ve poured chlorine, added stabilizer, dumped in more than the recommended amount of shock, and yet the pool is still green. When I called Dave, who has rescued our messed-up pool more than once, he asked if I had measured the cyanuric acid (I had not). He talked about the phosphates. My mind got about as cloudy as the water—chemistry was never my strength. Fortunately, he will come over on the weekend. He will bring his chemical testing equipment and order a board to replace the one fried by lightning, and life will go back to normal—hopefully.

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9/2/2026 1 Comment

Pleasing Ways--Peaceful Outcomes

Meditation

Proverbs 16:7--When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Pleasing God is a ticket to success and favor. But how do we please Him?  In studying Scripture, there are at least twelve principles or ways that bring His favor.
1. Obey Him and keep His commands; act justly, love faithfulness, walk humbly; blameless—Numbers 14:8,9; 1 Kings 3:9,10; Proverbs 11:10; Isaiah 56:4; Micah 6:8
2. Seek His guidance (prayer) and help—1 Ki. 22:5; Psalm 40:13
3. Faithfully and wholeheartedly serve Him—2 Ki. 20:3; 1 Chronicles 17:27, 28:4; Ephesians 6:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:4
4. Do what is wise and right and share; kindness and truth—1 Ch. 29:17; Pro. 3:3, 8:35; Malachi 2:17; Hebrews 13:15
5. Praise and worship Him—Psa. 69:30,31; Daniel 4:2,3
6. Repent of sin—Jeremiah 34:15
7. Put God before self—Haggai 1:8,9, Romans 15:1,3
8. Follow His will—John 8:29; 1 Corinthians 7:32
9. Put our faith in Him—1 Co. 1:21; Heb. 11:5,6
10. Children who obey and care for their parents—Colossians 3:20; 1 Timothy 5:4
11. Abstain from sexual immorality—1 Th. 4:2-7
12. Pray, intercede, and give thanksgiving for everyone—1 Ti. 2:1-3

How do we displease Him? Here are three direct reasons.
1. Lame sacrifices—Malachi 1:8
2. Sin—Rom. 8:8; 1 Co. 10:5
3. Wrong priorities—Galatians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:4

Pleasing God does not mean we will not suffer—suffering is universal. But when our lifestyle and plans are committed to pleasing Him, His favor is never far away. Pleasing God brings peace and understanding, the ability to weather adversity, to be longsuffering with short-tempered people, and to experience the satisfaction of knowing that no matter what life throws at us, we are still on course. Something to think about . . . in reveration.

Inspiration
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.—C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory

©2026 Daniel York.  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  To receive these devotionals, go to www.firstcause.org and click the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed, subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.

Ecclesiastes 12:10—"The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.”  (Holman CSB)

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8/28/2026 0 Comments

Compounding Wisdom

Stacy and I recently heard a long biblical teaching on Israel that we wanted to send to a few leaders we know who would find it contrary to their views. Then we stopped. Experience told us the harder task would not be sending out this amazing podcast. It would be finding open ears. Some of us, including people we respect, are no longer easy to instruct once a position has hardened.

The pastor we heard had preached one view on Israel for thirty-three years. Then the Holy Spirit arrested his thinking. He spent the next seven years in Scripture and was astounded by what he found. That is compounding wisdom: not collecting more opinions, but letting new light enlarge old understanding.

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8/22/2026 0 Comments

The Power of Motivation

This week I was with Andrey Ivanov and his team to speak on leadership to 22 teens participating in The Spartan Challenge, a nonprofit youth leadership and character development program based in the Pacific Northwest. Andrey immigrated from Kiev, Ukraine, to the U.S. in 1990 as one of 13 children. He founded this course because of his huge heart to help transform the youth in our nation to become nation-changing leaders.

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8/12/2026 3 Comments

We Need Trainers!

Each week, we have trainers who guide pastors, leaders, and anyone interested in becoming leaders through The Strong Leaders’ Workbook series, which consists of six modules totaling 94 lessons, with each lesson taking about 90 minutes to teach a group. Currently, rural and impoverished pastors are taught by our Zambian trainer in Zambia, a group of Ugandans attends ZOOM sessions each Tuesday, and leaders from Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Venezuela attend ZOOM sessions on Wednesdays. Our leaders do not receive any money for teaching, and the commitment to be available for a two-year period is impressive. Yet, sacrificially and unselfishly, they do so, and they love it. Why? Because the lessons are making a major difference in the lives of people who love God and want to become wiser followers of Jesus so they can, in turn, help others. And all of us who teach the lessons are blessed and encouraged in our own spiritual walks.

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8/4/2026 2 Comments

Preeminent

This might be the most important devotion I will ever write. I am not hyping this up; the implications of the topic are simply enormous. It is one thing to believe that Jesus is my Savior; it is another thing entirely to recognize Him as my Lord. I cannot have one without the other, or I turn the Messiah into a formula to be turned to in my time of need or convenience, and I miss the reality that He is to reign supreme over every aspect of my life.

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7/29/2026 0 Comments

They Were Offended by Him

“We knew this man when He was a kid. We watched Him grow up. No big deal. What makes Him think He can teach us now? Heck, He’s a carpenter, not a school-trained rabbi. It’s insulting. Does He think He’s better than us? And how the heck is He making people better? I’m telling you, I don’t like Him telling us what we can or can’t do, should or shouldn't do. I’m not buying His act, and I’m certainly not going to follow after Him like these lunatics who sit at His feet all day. It’s offensive.”

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7/22/2026 1 Comment

Senselessness

Have you ever been paired with a partner in sports who refuses to correct mistakes that cause the team to lose or to lose points? Take pickleball, for example. When corrected or coached to not stand on the service line when serving, to move forward to the kitchen whenever possible, or not to hit balls that are clearly going out of bounds, this player just continues to repeat the same errors. There is zero effort to make any game adjustments.

I’m reminded of two Army officers I served with who would berate others and repeatedly cause problems with their acid tongue despite numerous counseling sessions and a verbal and written order to stop. Neither of these men was interested in compliance and stubbornly persisted in mistreating others. One I had to fire, the other I had to place under the careful supervision of a strong leader.

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7/14/2026 0 Comments

Bryce Canyon

Stacy and I drove across the United States from Georgia to Oregon. One of our stops was Bryce Canyon National Park. To say it was stunning would be an understatement. When Stacy first laid eyes on “The Cathedral,” a prominent collection of hoodoos, she wept. Hoodoos are tall, closely clustered rock spires that resemble the towers or spires of a grand cathedral.[1] I have to say it is one of the most striking images I have ever witnessed.

Bryce Canyon is in southwestern Utah on the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The park covers about 35,835 acres and is part of Utah’s “Mighty 5” national parks (along with Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef). We also visited Zion and Capitol Reef.

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7/7/2026 0 Comments

In the Valley of the Shadow

“The author is a pastor serving in Northern Nigeria. For security reasons, his real name is withheld.”

Meditation
Revelation 2:10—Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.” (NIV)

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6/22/2026 0 Comments

When Following Jesus Can Cost You Everything

Blog by Jerry Anze

Meditation
2 Timothy 3:12--In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

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6/15/2026 1 Comment

God Sees, Hears, and Knows

My name is Joseph Adrian Shikokoti, the founding pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Eldoret, Kenya. I have served the church for more than 32 years now. I'm married to Rose Adrian, and together we have raised many children both biologically and spiritually. We started a home in 2007, but we don’t actually call it a home because we want every kid to have a sense of belonging. We already had biological kids, and God used Rose to ask me if we could help one boy (Hudson) who didn't have a father and needed a place to live and food to eat. As a pastor, I felt compelled to offer some kind of help to this boy who has a paralyzed right hand and leg. I accepted, knowing that I would not be able to meet all this boy's needs because, for so long, we had food but no fire to cook with, and we could send our bigger boys to pick polythene papers and broken plastics to start a fire and use as firewood to cook. Now God led Rose to take care of this young man.

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6/9/2026 3 Comments

Faith in the Dust: A Devotional for Those who Feel Forgotten

I asked Pastor Daniel Mugeni, one of our First Cause international leaders, to share with you what it is like to minister in a poor rural community in Uganda. Daniel pastors Grace Harvest House of Worship in Iganga, Uganda, a town 33km from the source of the Nile in Jinja. This is critical because it is so easy to be complacent and selfish in a prosperous nation and forget what it means to suffer and struggle not just in faith but in surviving.

Meditation
2 Corinthians 1:6,7--If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort.

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6/2/2026 0 Comments

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The modern field of artificial intelligence was born in the summer of 1956 at the Dartmouth Conference, where John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon gathered a small group of visionaries to investigate whether machines could be made to “use language, form abstractions and concepts, solve kinds of problems now reserved for humans, and improve themselves.”[1] This gathering marked the official launch of AI as an academic discipline.

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5/26/2026 2 Comments

Lettuce Bless You

We are in a drought in SE Georgia. Nevertheless, the spinach and lettuce I planted have flourished thanks to some very rich, amended soil. Since you can only eat so much lettuce, and it is not great for freezing, Stacy texted several of our neighbors to see if they would like some. Everyone responded, “Yes.” So, I bagged up lettuce and made deliveries. Though we did not ask for anything, in return we were given two dozen eggs, a whole carton of blueberries, and peaches. Neighbors shared from their bounty, and I was struck by how we were blessed beyond what we had given. “Lettuce bless you,” was met with “We berry much appreciate you.” (C’mon, everyone needs a dad joke now and then).

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5/21/2026 0 Comments

Contending

Have you ever thought much about what things you are willing to contend for? For example, some people are quick to stand up for their constitutional rights or freedoms that are threatened. Others are willing to fight for their reputation. Still others will resist being treated unfairly. Some will put most of their energy into winning—whether it’s physical competition, board games, or various contests. There are those who love to stick up for the underdog or those who are unfairly oppressed. And some are protective of family members, close friends, or coworkers. I suggest that every human on the planet contends for something.

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