This 5-day devotional draws directly from Craig Groeschel's sermon “Showcase — 3 Ways to Prepare for Jesus’ Return” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
Ready for What's Coming
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever looked at the news and thought, Something feels different. Something feels urgent? You're not wrong to feel that way — and you're not alone.
Today's Scripture "For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction." — 1 Thessalonians 1:4–5
Reflection Two thousand years ago, a small group of brand-new believers in a city called Thessalonica was asking the same questions you might be asking today. The world felt unstable. The future felt uncertain. And they wondered what it all meant.
The apostle Paul wrote them a letter — not to frighten them, but to steady them. And the very first thing he did was remind them of two things: God loves you, and God has given you his power.
That's the foundation of everything. Not just that you're saved, but that you're equipped. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. That's not a bumper sticker. That's a reality that changes how you face every uncertain day.
We are living in what the Bible calls the last days — a season that began when Jesus ascended to heaven and will end when he returns. That's not meant to scare you. It's meant to wake you up to what matters most and give you a reason to live with purpose, clarity, and hope.
Today's Step Sit with this truth for a moment: God loves you and God has empowered you. Which one do you find harder to believe right now?
A Closing Thought You were made for this moment. And you don't face it alone.
The Idols We Don't Even Notice
Tuesday — When It's Hard
Most of us would never bow down to a statue. But if we're honest, there are things we chase — quietly, constantly — that have quietly taken God's place.
Today's Scripture "They tell us how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." — 1 Thessalonians 1:9
Reflection An idol isn't always a carved figure on a shelf. It's anything you ask to do what only God can do. It's the promotion you're convinced will finally make you feel valuable. The relationship you've decided you can't be happy without. The image you're exhausted from maintaining — because deep down, what people think of you might matter more than what God thinks.
That's the quiet, uncomfortable truth about idolatry. It rarely announces itself. It just slowly becomes the thing you arrange your life around.
And the hard part? Most of these things aren't bad in themselves. Success, love, security, belonging — these are real human needs. But when we hand them the job of saving us, they can't deliver. They promise freedom and give us chains. They promise satisfaction and leave us empty.
The Thessalonians who turned to Jesus had to give up real things — status, belonging, the comfort of going along with the culture. It cost them something. Turning usually does. That's why it's hard. It's not just a mental shift. It's a real reorientation of what you're trusting to hold your life together.
But here's the grace in all of this: you're not being asked to turn away from something and land in nothing. You're turning toward the living God.
Today's Step Ask yourself honestly: What am I trusting right now to give me worth, security, or happiness that only God can actually provide?
A Closing Thought Naming the idol is the first step toward freedom. God already knows — and he's not waiting to condemn you. He's waiting to meet you.
Three Words to Live By
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
What does it actually look like to live as if Jesus could return at any moment? It's simpler than you might think — and more doable than you might fear.
Today's Scripture "They tell us how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead — Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath." — 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10
Reflection The early believers in Thessalonica were given a practical framework for living in uncertain times. Three words: turn, serve, wait.
Turn means making a real choice — away from whatever has taken God's place and back toward him. This isn't a one-time dramatic moment. It's a daily reorientation. Every morning you can ask: What am I putting ahead of God today? And then turn.
Serve means showing up — not just on Sundays, but in the ordinary moments of your week. The Greek word behind "serve" in this passage means complete loyalty, putting another's will ahead of your own. Practically, this looks like: God, what do you want from this day — not what do I want?
Wait doesn't mean sitting still. The original word carries the idea of active, expectant abiding — like someone who knows a guest is coming and is busy making everything ready. You wait by forgiving the person you've been avoiding. You wait by having that honest conversation with a friend who doesn't know Jesus. You wait by loosening your grip on the things of this world.
These aren't burdens. They're the shape of a life that's fully alive.
Today's Step Pick one word — turn, serve, or wait — and ask God what one concrete step it looks like for you today.
A Closing Thought You don't have to overhaul your whole life today. One small step in the right direction is still a step in the right direction.
When Urgency Changes Everything
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
Imagine someone who spent years going through the motions of faith — showing up, checking the boxes — but never really living like any of it was urgent.
Today's Scripture "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." — Matthew 6:14–15
Reflection Picture someone — maybe you know a person like this — who had a name on their heart. Someone who had hurt them years ago. A falling-out that never got resolved. They'd told themselves they were over it, but the truth was they'd just buried it.
Then something shifted. Maybe it was a conversation, a quiet moment, a sudden awareness that life is shorter than it feels. And they started asking themselves a question: If time were truly short, what would I do differently?
The name came back. And this time, instead of pushing it down, they reached out. Not because the other person deserved it. Not because the wound wasn't real. But because they had been forgiven of so much — and they didn't want to carry the weight anymore.
That's what urgency does. It clarifies. It strips away the excuses and gets you down to what actually matters. Forgiveness. Honesty. The conversations you've been putting off. The people in your life who don't yet know the hope you carry.
Living like Jesus could return doesn't make you anxious. It makes you present. It makes you brave. It makes you more like the person you've always wanted to be.
Today's Step Is there a name that comes to mind when you ask, Is there someone I need to forgive? You don't have to fix everything today — but you can take one honest step.
A Closing Thought Forgiveness isn't forgetting. It's choosing to stop letting the past have the final word.
Carrying the Urgency With You
Friday — Carrying It Forward
The week is winding down, the weekend is ahead, and it's easy to shift back into autopilot. But this week, you've been sitting with something worth holding onto.
Today's Scripture "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast." — Ephesians 2:8–9
Reflection Here's the thing about living in the last days: it's not meant to produce anxiety. It's meant to produce clarity.
This week we've seen that we're called to turn — away from the things that have quietly taken God's place and back toward him. We're called to serve — with complete loyalty, not as a performance but as a daily surrender. And we're called to wait — actively, expectantly, with our whole lives leaning toward the kingdom.
But underneath all of that is this one bedrock truth: you are not saved by getting it all right. You are saved by grace — God's unearned, unstoppable gift through faith in Jesus. That's not a license to coast. It's actually the most freeing thing you'll ever hear, because it means you can stop white-knuckling your way to worthiness and start living from a place of being already loved, already chosen, already held.
So carry that into your weekend. Into the conversation you've been avoiding. Into the moments with people who need to see what hope looks like in real life. Into whatever comes next.
You don't have to have it all figured out. You just have to keep turning, keep serving, keep waiting — one day at a time.
Today's Step Take a few quiet minutes this weekend and ask yourself: Am I trusting in God's grace alone to carry me — or am I still trying to earn it? Let his answer settle over you like rest.
A Closing Thought The King is coming. And because of grace, you can face that not with dread — but with hope.