ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE A Teenager With a Candle Josh Taylor Published on September 16, 2026 Acts 4:8 (CSB)“Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders:'” Weeks earlier, in the courtyard of the high priest’s house, a servant girl looked at Peter and said he had been with Jesus. He cursed and swore he did not know the man (Matthew 26:69-70). He could not face a teenager with a candle. Now read verse 8. Same city. Same...
4 days ago • 2 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE Bind the Messenger, Not the Word Josh Taylor Published on September 15, 2026 Acts 4:4 (CSB)“But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” We assume the gospel needs good conditions. Get the culture friendly, get the laws favorable, get people to think well of Christians, and then the message will spread. Acts does not teach that. Sometimes it teaches the opposite. Count the two crowds. At...
5 days ago • 2 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE The Room Goes Cold Josh Taylor Published on September 14, 2026 Acts 4:2 (CSB)“because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” Peter and John healed a man at the temple at three in the afternoon (Acts 3:1). The doors did not fly open until it was nearly evening. That is roughly three hours of preaching before anyone stopped him. And notice what stopped him. Not the miracle. Read...
6 days ago • 2 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE Make Your Face Shine on Your Servant Josh Taylor Published on September 13, 2026 At Mt. Carmel we open worship by praying a psalm back to God, and what follows is that prayer as it was prayed aloud. Each prayer is written from the psalm alongside Spurgeon’s Treasury of David and Augustine’s Expositions of the Psalms. This one is from Psalm 119:129-136, the stanza that asks for steady steps and a face turned toward us. Most holy and gracious God,...
7 days ago • 1 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE Cast Your Crown Josh Taylor Published on September 11, 2026 Revelation 4:11 (CSB)“Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.” When a lesser king entered the emperor’s presence, he took off his crown. The gesture said one thing: I am not the one in charge here. That is exactly what the elders do before the throne (Revelation 4:10). Their...
9 days ago • 2 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE Eyes That Have Seen Everything Josh Taylor Published on September 10, 2026 Revelation 4:8 (CSB)“Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.” The room is not quiet. Flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder come off the throne (Revelation 4:5). That is Sinai weather,...
10 days ago • 2 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE Zoom Out Josh Taylor Published on September 9, 2026 Revelation 4:4 (CSB)“Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white clothes, with golden crowns on their heads.” When Micaiah saw the Lord enthroned, he noticed heaven’s armies standing to the left and the right (1 Kings 22:19). When Isaiah saw Him, he noticed the train of His robe filling the temple (Isaiah 6:1). John looks at the same...
11 days ago • 2 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE You Cannot Stare at the Sun Josh Taylor Published on September 8, 2026 Revelation 4:3 (CSB)“The one seated there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne.” John never draws a face. He had the chance. He was standing in the throne room of God, and what he hands us is stone and color and light. There is a reason for that. You cannot stare straight at the sun. What makes...
12 days ago • 2 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE Heaven Answers Who Josh Taylor Published on September 7, 2026 Revelation 4:2 (CSB)“Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there was a throne in heaven and someone was seated on it.” Most of us come to Revelation wanting to know what happens next. That is a fair thing to want, and the book does not shame the question. It redirects your eyes. The voice at the open door is the trumpet voice John heard in chapter one, the voice of the risen Christ who...
13 days ago • 1 min read
ABOUT AMAZON BLOG DEVOTIONS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE Hold Us to the Very End Josh Taylor Published on September 6, 2026 At Mt. Carmel we open worship by praying a psalm back to God, and what follows is that prayer as it was prayed aloud. Each prayer is written from the psalm alongside Spurgeon’s Treasury of David and Augustine’s Expositions of the Psalms. This one is from Psalm 121, a song of ascents about the LORD who never sleeps. God of Jacob, You never sleep. Steady us this morning under Your...
14 days ago • 2 min read
