Lutheran Hour Ministries - Canada

Choose Your Master

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

TEXT: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. … For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:12-18, 20-23)

Think of a slave market. Who is walking around and making choices? The masters, that’s who. The slaves have to stay in one place and put up with whatever the masters decide to do. They have no options.

But Paul gives us a different picture—a market where it’s the slaves who are choosing their masters! And their lives will be completely different, depending on which master they choose.

The first master is one that we all know very well, from our own lived experience. It’s sin—the force inside us that drives us to do what is bad and wrong and unhealthy, even when we know better. And of course, if we decide to serve that master, it’s going to end up in death. How could it not?

But the other master is one that we can only serve because Jesus Christ has set us free to do so. That master is righteousness—or maybe we could call it God Himself. Jesus set us free from the power of sin through His own suffering, death, and resurrection. And now we belong to Him, to love Him and do what is good in God’s eyes—not out of fear or obligation, but out of free love and thankfulness. How could we not want to serve the One who saved us at the cost of His own life?

WE PRAY: Dear Jesus, Your service is real freedom. Keep me Yours forever. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

Reflection Questions:

If you can remember a time before you belonged to Jesus, what would you say He has set you free from?

If you cannot remember that time, look at the non-Christians around you. How does your life differ from theirs because of Jesus?

Why would Jesus buy you to be His own at the cost of His own life? What does that price tell you about how He feels about you?

Suffering

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

TEXT: [The prophet Jeremiah said:] O Lord, You have deceived me, and I was deceived; You are stronger than I, and You have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, “I will not mention Him, or speak any more in His Name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” say all my close friends, watching for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him.” But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You have I committed my cause. Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers. (Jeremiah 20:7-13)

These are the words of Jeremiah the prophet, after God sent him to give bad news to the people of Judah. They had rebelled against God, even sacrificing their own children to idols! And so God sent Jeremiah to tell them disaster was coming.

But of course, nobody likes bad news. And so one of the leaders beat up Jeremiah and put him in the stocks overnight as punishment. Just imagine how Jeremiah felt—he said everything God told him to say, and now he was paying for it with pain and public shame. No wonder he is upset with God!

And Jeremiah is very upset—so angry and heartsick that he imagines what it would be like to just stop being a prophet altogether—to quit God’s service and never say a word again to try to help anybody.

But it won’t work. God’s word burns inside him, and Jeremiah can’t stop himself from warning the people. And even when he’s upset with God, he can’t stop trusting Him or hoping in Him either. He knows that God is with him even in the darkest times, and he trusts God to rescue him.

That gives me hope too. Because there are times in our lives when we suffer for doing the right thing, for simply doing what God wants us to do—and we too are tempted to give up. But God will not give up on us. God came Himself into our broken, ruined world to rescue us at the cost of His own suffering and death. He knows what it’s like. He went through it.

And then He rose from the dead to give us everlasting life, peace, and joy. Evil won’t win in the end. Jesus will. And we will celebrate with Him as His people.

WE PRAY: Dear Lord, when I suffer, be with me and help me to hope in You! Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

Reflection Questions:

Have you ever been so upset with God you just wanted to quit following Him?

If so, what brought you back?

Jesus understands suffering by His own experience. How can you lean on Him when you are in trouble?

At the LCC Together One Convention this past weekend, LLL Canada's Managing Director Lisa Jackson shared our vision for Passing the Faith Forward through intergenerational mentorship, service, and connection rooted in the Gospel. 🌱📖
LLL Canada exists to see a Canada filled with Christians who are fully equipped to share the hope they have in Jesus, and that work happens through three simple callings: to Proclaim the Gospel through media and resources, to Equip Christians for outreach in everyday life, and to Connect generations through mentorship and service.
What a joy to share this mission with the church we love! 🙏 Watch for updates over the next week of our time and service this past week.

📸 Photo credit Dr. Tom Winger

His Name

Monday, June 15, 2026

TEXT: Because he holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows My Name. When he calls to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation. (Psalm 91:14-16)

“He knows My Name.” With those words the psalmist is not rejoicing in the fact that God knows his name, although that is of course true. This is a statement from the Lord Himself, expressing His delight in those who trust in Him and know His sacred Name. Yet for many people today the Name of God remains unknown. Some people imagine “God” as a nameless power or cosmic force. Others prefer to keep God at a distance. They would rather not know His Name, calling on Him only when they want something from Him. All who worship these nameless gods have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25a).

Called by the Holy Spirit and enlightened by the Gospel, we know God’s Name because He has revealed it to us. Once known as God Almighty, He spoke to Moses from a burning bush and revealed His holy Name: “I AM WHO I AM.” Under the authority of that sacred Name, Moses led the Israelites out of slavery to freedom, telling them, “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14b). I AM is the God who saves and sets people free. He is the God in whom we trust and He is not a nameless, self-help kind of God. He is not an un-named power or force. He is our Heavenly Father and the Father of our Savior Jesus Christ.

We know and love the Name of Jesus, the Name above all names, a Name that means “God saves.” Salvation is not simply a matter of knowing His Name. We know and believe that Jesus died for us and rose in victory over death. We trust Him to deliver us from sin, death, and Satan because Jesus is God in human flesh. He is I AM, the God who saves and sets people free (see John 8:58). As these psalm verses remind us, the Lord in whom we trust and whose Name we know will deliver and protect us. He will answer us when we call to Him and rescue us from evil. He will honor us and satisfy us with life and salvation. There are people all around us who do not yet know the Name of God. They may refuse to acknowledge His existence or worship a false god. We know God’s Name, and we can introduce Him to those who do not yet know Him. We want them to join us in holding fast to Jesus, who is I AM, the God who saves and sets people free.

WE PRAY: Lord Jesus, help me to share Your holy Name and saving work with others who do not yet know You. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler.

Reflection Questions:

Are humans by nature attracted to idols and false gods? Why is this, do you think?

What significance is there for us in God saying, “I AM WHO I AM”? What does it say about Him?

What does it say about our need that the Name of Jesus means “God saves”?

“Hark, the Voice of Jesus Crying”

Sunday, June 14, 2026

“Let none hear you idly saying, ‘There is nothing I can do,’ While the multitudes are dying And the Master calls for you. Take the task He gives you gladly, Let His work your pleasure be; Answer quickly when He calleth, ‘Here am I, send me, send me!’”

The Lord of the harvest gazes at fields that are ready and waiting. The people He came to save need to hear the good news of the kingdom of God, “but the laborers are few” (Luke 10:2b). The Savior calls, “Who will go and work today?” Reluctant to witness, we may answer, “There is nothing I can do.” With that response we find ourselves in equally hesitant company. Many saints answered the Lord’s call with a response that was, at least initially, like our own: “There is nothing I can do.”

Called to lead God’s people out of slavery, Moses, being slow of speech, simply replied, “Please send someone else” (Exodus 4:13b). Consecrated before birth to be a prophet, Jeremiah protested the prophetic call because of his youth and inexperience. Jonah, sent to proclaim a message of repentance in enemy territory, did not bother with excuses. He just sailed off in the other direction. The prophet Isaiah, aware of his own sin, cried out, “Woe is me!” (Isaiah 6:5b). Some New Testament believers were also reluctant harvest laborers. James and John wanted glory without suffering. On the night his Lord was arrested, Peter swore that he never knew Jesus. A believer named Ananias was reluctant to lay hands of blessing on a Pharisee named Saul, a known enemy of Jesus’ followers.

A shining exception among those reluctant servants was a young woman, Mary of Nazareth. Called to be the mother of the Messiah, Mary answered in humble trust: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word” (Luke 1:38b). Mary’s Son, the Son of God, humbled Himself to be born among us. Obedient to His Heavenly Father, Jesus gave Himself willingly into death for our salvation. God forgives our sins for Jesus’ sake, just as He forgave each of His reluctant but repentant saints and sent them out into the harvest fields. Still today the Lord of the harvest calls witnesses to labor in the ripening fields, bringing the Good News of salvation to the world. We may worry about our worthiness for the work before us, but the Lord prepares His workers for service. He forgives our sins and promises His abiding presence in our lives. Fueled by forgiveness and filled with the Spirit, we answer in the words of Isaiah, eager to join in the harvest work: “Here am I, send me, send me!”

WE PRAY: Forgive my sins, Lord, and send me as a witness to work in Your harvest fields. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler. It is based on the hymn, “Hark, the Voice of Jesus Crying,” which is number 826 in the Lutheran Service Book.

Reflection Questions:

Have you ever sensed a call from God to do something? What has come of that?

How did the (eventual) obedience of the biblical characters mentioned above make a difference in their life and times? Is there a lesson from their lives for our lives today?

What strength can we take from knowing Jesus is with us as we seek to follow God’s call?

There You Will Find Refuge

Saturday, June 13, 2026

TEXT: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16)

Not long ago, I got a glimpse of the living hope we have in knowing Christ as our Savior after reading about the aftermath of a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park. One park ranger who was assessing the damage found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, the ranger knocked over the bird with a stick.

When he gently tapped it, three tiny chicks scurried out from under their dead mother’s ashen wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and gathered them under her wings, sensing the approaching danger. She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. Then the blaze arrived, and the heat scorched her small body. Through this, the mother remained steadfast; she had been willing to die so those under the cover of her wings would live.

When I read about this little bird that saved her babies, I thought of Psalm 91:4a. Here the Bible reminds us: “He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge.” The wings of God were the gift of His Son, the power of His cross, and the glory of His resurrection.

All of us are caught up in the conflagration of sin, death, and the power of the devil. Our death is assured if we are left to our own power to try to escape these destructive forces. It is for this reason that God so loved each of us that He sent His own Son to gather us under His protective wings. On Calvary the blazing fire of evil and all our sins struck our Savior. He died with us gathered under His wings so that we, too, might live. The apostle Paul says it this way: “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The dead body of Christ was not a pillar of ash that was knocked over and forgotten, as it was with the mother bird’s body. Rather, on the third day, He arose from the dead giving us a true and living hope now and throughout eternity.

The apostle John is reminding us that there is no greater definition of love than one who is willing to lay down his or her life for someone else. How thankful we can be for those who have sacrificed their lives—in any way—so that someone else might live. These acts of love continue to remind us that the greatest act of love is found in Jesus who willingly gave His life for ours.

Thanks be to God who gives us victory in our Lord Jesus Christ.

WE PRAY: Dear Lord Jesus, overwhelm us with Your love so that we can love others the way You love us. Amen.

Based on “Overwhelming Love Breeds a Living Hope for Life,” a message from Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour

Reflection Questions:

Have you ever seen animals protect their young or help other animals?

What does “He made Him to be sin who knew no sin” mean to you?

Is there anyone you know you would lay your life down for?

Journey Through Anxiety

Friday, June 12, 2026

This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.

TEXT: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

How do you react to a warning light on your car? Do you immediately start picturing yourself stranded on the interstate in a thunderstorm? Do your palms start to sweat because you feel like you’re driving a 2,000-pound ticking-time-bomb? Or, do you assume that it’s probably not a big deal? It most likely a false indication, anyway, so there’s nothing to worry about. It’s part of the providence of God that if you have multiple people sharing a car, usually you balance each other out on this question. One of you wants the warning light fixed yesterday. The other would be content to stick a yellow smiley face over it. And together, you eventually get it to a mechanic who can tell you what you actually need.

Today we hear one of the many places in which the Bible tells us not to worry. “Don’t be anxious” (Matthew 6:25, 6:31, 10:19; Luke 12:11; Isaiah 35:4). But what is it, to be anxious? Anxiety is fear projected into the future. Fear is an unsettling response to some current threat (real or perceived). But anxiety is fear of an anticipated threat. The bad thing hasn’t happened, but it could happen, in the future. Anxiety is like a warning light. Your engine isn’t currently seizing, but it could happen. The light tells you that it’s possible that something bad will happen in the future, so you should find out what you can do about it now. Or, it’s also possible that the light is a false indication, and what the system needs is to be reset, and the codes cleared out. But, probably don’t cover it with a sticker, okay?

In a fallen world, in a world full of real threats, anxiety is a fact of life. The same Paul, who told us, “don’t’ be anxious,” admits that he himself feels anxiety “for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28b. See Philippians 2:28). Even Jesus, according to His fully human nature, had to journey through extreme mental and spiritual anguish when He anticipated the threat of the cross (see Mark 14:33-36; John 12:27). So, if the Son of God and His holy apostle were both intimate with anxiety, you don’t need to beat yourself up over that fact that you’ve got worries. When the Bible calls to you, “cast all your anxieties” on God “because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7), it assumes that you are generally going to have something to cast.

In the right context, anxiety can be good, when it functions as a warning. It is a creaturely response that helps keep you safe—to warn you to “look before you leap” (or check your tires before you drive). But anxiety won’t be doing its God-given job until it leads you to take all this to God in prayer, as Paul tells us and Jesus shows us. Anxiety is part of this mortal life. But God doesn’t want us to stay there. He wants to journey with us through it. When Jesus says, “don’t be anxious,” it’s an invitation to go forward with the all-powerful Creator God we get to call “Father,” who cares even for little birds (see Luke 12:6, 24). It’s an invitation to go forward with the One who endured and deflected our greatest threat—eternal separation from God—to bring us safely home. You don’t have to worry because you’re pretty special to God—more valuable than birds and cars—worth dying for. And even better than your car mechanic—your Father knows just what you need (see Luke 12:30).

WE PRAY: Dear Father, once again, I cast all my anxieties on You. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.

Reflection Questions:

What potential future threats are the sources of your anxiety?

Have you ever been “stalled out,” stranded, or immobilized by anxiety?

Which promises from God help you keep going forward?

Prayer Request

Thursday, June 11, 2026

TEXT: Matthew 9:35 - 10:5a - And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” And He called to Him His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. These twelve Jesus sent out …

If you’re like me, you ask people to pray for you all the time. If someone’s sick, if they’re dying, if you’re in danger of losing a job or your house, if you’re just feeling poorly—you ask people to pray. And that’s sensible, isn’t it?

But in today’s story, we get the only prayer request Jesus ever made of His disciples, as far as I can remember. He looked at the crowds of human beings He was preaching the Gospel to, and He had compassion on them. And He said to His disciples—to us!—“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

This is still true, isn’t it? Most of us can simply look out a window and see some of the people Jesus came to save. Even if we are out in the desert, a glance at our cellphones shows us a world dying without Christ—a world of people who are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” And the longer we have been with Jesus, the closer we come to His heart—the more our hearts will break for these people. For we were once among them—without life and without hope in the world.

But Jesus reached out to us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, He brought us to Himself in faith. His suffering and death set us free from our sin, guilt, and shame; and now that He has risen from the dead, He gives us His own real, eternal life that has started already in our hearts, and that will go on forever. We know what it means to be at peace with God—more than that, to be His beloved children, people whom God delights in. That is what Jesus wants for every human being.

And so now He sends us out, both to pray and to speak the Good News to the people around us, so they can trust in Jesus, too.

WE PRAY: Dear Lord, I’m nervous, but I love You. Use me to bring others to faith in You—and please remember my weakness, and show me what You can do through me in spite of it. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

Reflection Questions:

Why is this the one thing Jesus ever asked of His disciples, do you think?

Why does He send them out to tell the Good News right after asking them to pray?

If He could use Judas (and He did), can He use you? How do you know?