Week of August 23rd, 2026
Encouragement from God's Word
Hearing God’s Word isn’t an option for a Christian. We need to be strengthened in our faith so that the devil cannot destroy our faith. In a sermon about Peter’s denial of Jesus on Maundy Thursday, Martin Luther spoke of the importance of hearing God’s Word.
This Word of Christ was the staff on which Peter leaned. It kept his sin from crushing him to earth. Otherwise sin would have done to him just what it did to Judas. But he saved himself with the Word. Learn this Word diligently. Hear God’s Word often; do not go to bed, do not get up, without having spoken a beautiful passage — two, three, or four of them — to your heart. (What Luther Says, p. 1485.)
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
