Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

I'm Mike Whitmer, and I entitled our reading, The Power of Scripture.

Stephen was an up-and-coming comedian, and a prodigal. Raised in a Christian family, he struggled with doubt after his dad and two brothers died in a plane crash.

By his early 20s, he'd lost his faith.

But he found it one night on the frigid streets of Chicago.

A stranger gave him a pocket New Testament,

and Stephen cracked open the pages.

An index said,

those struggling with anxiety should read

Matthew 6, 27 through 34,

from Jesus' sermon on the Mount.

Stephen turned there,

and the words kindled a fire in his heart.

He recalls, I was absolutely, immediately lightened.

I stood on the street corner in the cold and read the sermon,

and my life has never been the same.

Such is the power of Scripture.

The Bible is unlike any other book, for it's alive. We don't just read the Bible. The Bible reads us, sharper than any

double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart,

the writer of Hebrews declares. Scripture presents the most powerful force on the planet,

a force that transforms and leads us toward spiritual maturity. Let's open it and read it out loud,

asking God to ignite our hearts.

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