December 10, 2025 Devo

Read this verse again. Can you hear it? It’s the voice of your son. It’s the sob of your granddaughter. It’s the cry of the heart of someone dear to you. Someone who grew up in the church. Someone who has heard the sermons, read the Bible, and said the prayers. But then, somewhere along the way, they wandered off. They went off to college and got too smart for church. They got with the wrong crowd and became too cool for God. They got married, got a great job, and just got too busy for things of faith. And your heart breaks every time you think about it.
You’re worried about their soul. You’re worried about their marriage. You’re worried about their kids. You can’t believe that someone who was raised the way they were could stray so far away. But they’re not really that far away. They’re only a memory away. They’re only a moment of brokenness away. They’re only a prayer away. And somewhere, deep in their heart, their souls are quietly whispering this prayer. “I have wandered away like a lost sheep; come and find me, for I have not forgotten your commands.”
The reason this is so important for you to know is that we tend to get hopeless by looking at their behavior. We see what they do. We hear what they say. They blow off our invitations to church and seem to grow tired of our nudges toward God. It feels as if their hearts have a three-inch-thick skin around them. Maybe it does. But here’s what this verse reminded me of today: God’s Word is already in there! His Word was planted BEFORE they walked away. His truth was buried in the recesses of their minds before those minds became focused on other things. God’s Word is like a spy on the inside of their souls. They can run from the things around them, but they cannot run from what has been instilled within them. They may deny Him, but they can NEVER forget Him!
So pray with POWER today. Pray with HOPE. Pray with the assurance that when you “train up a child in the way they should go, when they are older, they will not depart from it.” While you pray that the Spirit of God will break through, also pray that the Word of God within them will break out! In the meantime, treat them with love. Accept them as they are. Stop the nagging and pushing and pulling to get them to do what they’re not yet ready to do. Instead, ask God to let the Word that is already in them start speaking to their hearts. Your loved one is not far from God. They are closer than you know. They are closer than THEY know. They are only a memory away. They’re only a moment of brokenness away. They are only a prayer away. That’s God’s Word for you today.