The Word for Today in Asia and the Pacific

‘For I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me.’ John 5:30 NIV

Obedience is the third thing that defines Jesus’ relationship with His Father. Jesus said, ‘By Myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear… for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me.’ (John 5:30 NIV) Note the words ‘as I hear’. When you know you have heard from God, you have confidence to handle whatever life throws at you, and to take on any assignment He gives you.

Christ’s first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana. In it you will find a statement that’s crucial to experiencing God’s miraculous power in your life: ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’ (John 2:5 NKJV) That means you must be willing to obey God when what He tells you to do doesn’t seem rational, and when it’s not popular, and when it’s inconvenient, and when it’s costly, and when it requires you to walk an unfamiliar pathway. And you will only reach this level of obedience when you’re committed to a life of intimacy with God and dependency on God. And here is something you need to know: intimacy, dependency, and obedience are not cultivated by you trying to love God more, but on having a revelation of God’s amazing, undeserved, unfailing love for you: ‘God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.’ (1 John 4:9–10 NLT) So, pray for a revelation of God’s great love for you.

SoulFood: Heb 1–4, Luke 9:57–62, Ps 149, Pro 4:25–27

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright © 2026

‘The Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees his Father doing.’ John 5:19 NIV

Dependency is the second thing that defines Jesus’ relationship with His Father. Corrie ten Boom used to say, ‘I am just the glove, Jesus is the hand that fills it and works through it.’ That’s a picture of Christ’s relationship with His heavenly Father, and it’s a blueprint for the kind of relationship you can have with God. In the Bible you will notice two all-important things about Jesus:

(1) He never seemed to suffer from the fear of failing, like we so often do. Why? Because He prayed regularly and got direction from His Father. Knowing He was acting on the Father’s word and operating in the Father’s will, He never doubted. Until you have heard from God, you are a question mark. But once you have heard from God, you are an exclamation mark.

(2) Jesus knew He couldn’t accomplish anything of significance without His Father’s direction and power, so He never attempted to. We, on the other hand, say we trust God but act like everything depends on us. And the result? We fall flat on our faces and keep wondering why. Every action of God in your life is intended to increase, not decrease, your dependence on Him. Someone wisely said, ‘You’ll never know that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you’ve got.’ To bring you to the place of total dependence on Himself, God will allow your ego to be crushed and your self-sufficiency to be stripped away. At that point you make a life-changing discovery: when you have nothing left but God—God is enough!

SoulFood: 2 Thes 1–3, Luke 9:46–56, Ps 145:14–21, Pro 4:23–24

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright © 2026

‘For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does.’ John 5:20 NIV

These three things define the relationship Jesus had with His Father, and they are a blueprint for the kind of relationship you need to build with God: intimacy, dependency, obedience.

First: let’s look at intimacy. Jesus said, ‘For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does.’ (John 5:20 NIV) You only reveal yourself, including your innermost thoughts and secrets, to someone with whom you are intimate. And when you become intimate with God, He will share with you things that others are not told. David’s greatest passion was to know God intimately. In Psalm 25:4 NIV he writes: ‘Show me Your ways, Lord, teach me Your paths.’ Then he follows up by saying, ‘The Lord confides in those who fear [honour] Him.’ (Psalm 25:14 NIV) Having an intimate relationship with God involves three things:

(a) Desire. The truth is that you are as close to God right now as you desire to be; otherwise, you would rearrange your priorities to make it happen.

(b) Discipline. This calls for spending time alone with God in prayer and Bible reading each day. When you pray, you’re talking to God. When you read the Bible, God is talking to you.

(,) Delight. ‘Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.’ (Psalm 37:4 NKJV) Something wonderful happens when you ‘delight yourself in the Lord’. His desires become ‘the desires of your heart’, so He can trust you with them. Do you want a more intimate relationship with the Lord? If you are willing to pursue it, you can have it.

SoulFood: 1 Thes 1–5, Luke 9:37–45, Ps 145:1–13, Pro 4:20–22

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright © 2026

‘Gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel.’ 1 Kings 18:19 NKJV

The greatest chapter in the story of Elijah’s life took place on Mount Carmel. That’s when he called down fire from heaven, defeated the prophets of Baal, and turned the hearts of the Israelites back to God. The word ‘Carmel’ means fruitful ground. But before Elijah could get to Mount Carmel, he had to go through two places:

First: God led him to the brook called Cherith. The word ‘Cherith’ means cut as in make covenant with. Here Elijah discovered that God is a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God who can sustain you through the hardest of times. Here during a drought and famine ravens brought food to him each day while he drank from the refreshing waters of the brook. But the Bible says, ‘And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.’ (1 Kings 17:7 NKJV) Now, when God allows your brook to dry up, it’s in order to drive you back to your true source—Himself—so you can get further instructions.

Second: God led him to a widow in Zarephath. The word ‘Zarephath’ means to refine as in a melting pot. Gold is not pure in its original form. It must be refined, and this is accomplished by heating it to the boiling point. The heat separates the raw substance from its impurities, which rise to the surface to be skimmed off. And God will do the same for you by using the heat of trials to separate the gold from the dross in your life. He knows the experiences you need to reach Mount Carmel, the place of fruitfulness, so trust Him. He knows what He is doing.

SoulFood: Jonah 1–4, Luke 9:28–36, Ps 141, Pro 4:18–19

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright © 2026

‘But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink.’ Matthew 14:30 NLT

When Peter stepped out of the boat at the command of Jesus, he was doing something he had never done before; something miraculous—walking on water. As long as he remained in faith, he was successful, but when fear gripped his heart, he began to sink. The Bible says, ‘But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt Me?”’ (Matthew 14:30–31 NLT) Peter’s mistake was that he became preoccupied with the storm. When he focused on the circumstances around him rather than on the Saviour close to him, he lost his faith and began to doubt.

Abraham faced a different but equally difficult set of circumstances: fathering a son when he was almost one hundred years old. But the Bible says, ‘Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.’ (Romans 4:20 NLT) Abraham was aware of his situation but, unlike Peter, he was not preoccupied with it. It was his determined and focused faith that propelled him forward to success. And you can learn from Peter’s mistake and Abraham’s example. You can be aware of your circumstances, but not preoccupied with them. You can purposely keep your mind on Jesus, trusting in faith that He will provide the miracle you need.

So, the word for today is—keep your eyes on Jesus, stay focused on what He has promised you in His Word, keep walking by faith, and you will get to where you need to be.

SoulFood: Num 34–36, Luke 9:18–27, Ps 138, Pro 4:14–17

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright © 2026