Daily Devotion for 08 April 2026 (Wednesday after Easter)

Welcome to the Daily Devotions Podcast from Confident Faith.

I am Corey J. Moller, a contributor here at Confident Faith, and I will be your reader today.

This Wednesday after Easter, the 8th of April.

In the year of our Lord, 2026, in the time of Easter, there are no feasts, festivals, or

commemorations on the calendar today.

Our readings for today are Psalm 134, Psalm 135, Exodus chapter 16 verses 13 through 35.

Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 39, and paragraphs 1 through 8 of Article 7 of the

Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord.

We will close, as always, with the Lord's Prayer.

Today's first reading from the Psalter is the 134th Psalm.

Look now, bless the Lord, all you slaves of the Lord, who stand in the Lord's house,

in courts of our God's house.

In the nights lift up your hands to the holy precincts, and bless the Lord.

The Lord will bless you from Zion, he who made the sky and the earth.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore.

Amen.

Today's second reading from the Psalter is the 135th Psalm.

Praise the name of the Lord, praise O slaves of the Lord, you that stand in the Lord's

house, in courts of our God's house.

Praise the Lord, because the Lord is good.

Make music to his name, because it is beautiful.

Because the Lord chose Jacob for himself, Israel as his valued possession.

Because he knew that the Lord is great, and our Lord in comparison with all the gods.

Whatever the Lord wanted, he did, in the sky and on the earth, in the seas and in all

deeps.

Bringing up clouds from the earth's end, he made lightenings into rain.

He who brought out winds from his storehouses.

He who struck down the first board of Egypt, from human to animal.

He sent out signs and wonders in your midst of Egypt, against Pharaoh and against all

his slaves.

He who struck down many nations, and killed mighty kings, Seahawn king of the Amorites,

and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, and he gave their land as a heritage,

a heritage to his people Israel.

The Lord your name is forever.

O Lord, your renown is to generation and generation.

Because the Lord will judge his people, and over his slaves he will be consoled.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, works of human hands, a mouth they have and

will not speak, eyes they have and will not see, ears they have and will not hear, for

there is not even breath in their mouth.

Be those who make them, and all who trust in them become like them.

O house of Israel, bless the Lord, O house of Aaron, bless the Lord, O house of Levi,

bless the Lord, you that fear the Lord, bless the Lord, bless it be the Lord from Zion,

he who resides in Jerusalem.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Because it was the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore, amen.

Today's Old Testament reading comes from the book of Exodus, and we will be reading the

16th chapter, verses 13 through 35.

So evening came, and quail came up and covered the camp, then morning came, when the dew was

lifting around the camp, and look upon the surface of the wilderness was something fine

like coriander, white like frost on the ground, and when they sought, the sons of Israel

said one to another, what is this, for they did not know what it was.

Then Moses said to them, this is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

This is the word that the Lord instructed.

Each person gather from it for those appropriate, a gomer per head, according to the number

of your souls, each of you with your tentmates collect.

And the sons of Israel did so, and they collected, the one much and the other less, and they measured

by the gomer.

The one with much did not have excess, and the one with little did not have too little.

Each person collected for those appropriate at his own home.

Then Moses said to them, let no one leave any of it to the morning.

And they did not listen to Moses, but certain ones left something of it to the morning,

and it bred worms and stank.

And Moses was irritated with them, and they collected it morning by morning, each person

that which was appropriate for him, and when the son grew hot it melted.

But it happened on the sixth day, they collected double what was required, two gomers for one

person, and all the leaders of the congregation went in and reported to Moses, and Moses said

to them, this is the word that the Lord spoke.

Tomorrow is Sabbath, arrest holy to the Lord, whatever you bake, bake, and whatever you

boil, boil, and all the excess, leave it in storage until the morning.

And they left some of it until the morning, according as Moses instructed them, and it

did not stink, nor was there a worm in it.

And Moses said, eat today, for today is Sabbath to the Lord.

It will not be found on the plane.

Six days you will collect, but on the seventh day is Sabbath, there will be none in it.

And it happened on the seventh day, certain of the people went out to collect, and they

found none.

Then the Lord said to Moses, for how long are you unwilling to listen to my commandments

and my law?

See for the Lord has given you this day the Sabbaths.

Therefore he gave you on the sixth day, bred for two days, sit each person in your houses,

and know when go out from his place on the seventh day.

And the people sabotaged on the seventh day.

And the sons of Israel called its name Mon.

Now it was white like coriander seed, but its taste was like cake with honey.

Then Moses said, this is the word that the Lord instructed, fill the gomer with Mon for

deposit for your generations, in order that they might see the bread that you ate in

the wilderness, how the Lord brought you out from the land of Egypt.

Then Moses said to Aaron, take one golden jar, and place in it the gomer full of Mon.

And you will put it away before God for preservation for your generations.

As the Lord instructed Moses, Aaron also put it away before the witness for preservation.

Now the sons of Israel ate Mon for forty years, until they came into inhabited land.

They ate Mon until they came near to the region of Phoenicia.

Now the gomer was a tenth of three measures.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Today's New Testament reading comes from the book of Hebrews, and we will be reading

the 10th chapter, verses 19 through 39.

Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through

his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with

a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience,

and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for ye who promised his faithful.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love in good works, not neglecting to meet

together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the

day drawing near.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer

remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire

that will consume the adversaries.

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or

three witnesses.

And how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled

under foot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified,

and has outraged the spirit of grace.

For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again the Lord will judge

his people.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle

with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes

being partners with those so treated.

For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of

your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession, and an abiding one.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need

of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.

For yet a little while and the coming one will come and will not delay.

But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure

in him.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith,

and preserve their souls.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Today's reading from the book of Concorde comes from the solid declaration of the formula

of Concorde, and we will be reading Article 7, paragraphs 1 through 8.

Article 7, the Holy Supper.

In the opinion of some people, the comments in this article should perhaps not be included

in this document.

We intend to explain the articles that have been drawn into controversy among the theologians

of the Augsburg Confession.

When the Confession was first written and presented to the Emperor at Augsburg in 1530, the sacramentarian

soon withdrew entirely and separated.

They presented their own confession.

Still, some theologians and others who boast about the Augsburg Confession have agreed

in this article with the sacramentarians during the last few years.

They no longer speak secretly but partly publicly.

They have labored against their own conscience to force and to pervert the Augsburg Confession,

to make it entirely in harmony with the sacramentarian teaching in this article.

We neither can nor should leave out our testimony by our confession of the divine truth in this

document.

We must repeat the true sense and proper understanding of Christ's words and of the Augsburg Confession

on this article.

We recognize this to be our duty.

So far as we are able by God's help, we shall preserve this pure doctrine also for posterity.

We will faithfully warn our hearers, together with other godly Christians, against this deadly

error, which is entirely contrary to the divine word and the Augsburg Confession, and has

been frequently condemned.

Status of the controversy.

The chief controversy between our teaching and that of the sacramentarians in this article.

Some sacramentarians strive to use words that come as close as possible to the Augsburg

Confession, and the form and way of speech in our churches.

They confess that in the Holy Supper Christ's body is truly received by believers.

Still, when we insist that they state their meaning precisely, sincerely and clearly,

they all say this in unison.

Christ's true essential body and blood is absent, from the consecrated bread and wine

in the Holy Supper, as far as the highest heaven is from the earth.

For their own words state this, we say that Christ's body and blood are as far from

the signs as the earth is distant from the highest heaven.

Therefore they understand this presence of Christ's body, not as a presence here on earth,

but only with respect to faith.

In other words, our faith is reminded and excited by the visible signs, just as it is by

the word preached.

It elevates itself and descends above all heavens.

It receives and enjoys Christ's body, which is present there in heaven.

Yes, they say they receive Christ Himself, together with all His benefits, in a true and

essential way, but nevertheless only in a spiritual way.

For they hold that is the bread and wine are here on earth and not in heaven, so Christ's

body is now in heaven and not on earth.

So nothing else is received by the mouth in the Holy Supper than bread and wine.

Originally they asserted that the Lord's Supper is only an outward sign by which Christians

are known.

They held that nothing else is offered in the Supper than mere bread and wine, which

are bare signs, i.e. symbols of Christ's absent body.

When this fiction would not stand the test, they confessed that the Lord Christ is truly

present in His Supper.

They said He is present by the communication of attributes, that is, according to His

divine nature alone, but not with His body and blood.

Afterward, when they were forced by Christ's words to confess that Christ's body is present

in the Supper, they still understood and declared only a spiritual presence.

They declared it was a partaking through faith of His power, through faith, efficacy,

and benefits.

For they say Christ's spirit is everywhere and dwells here on earth.

Therefore, through the spirit our bodies are united with Christ's body, which is in heaven.

The result was that many noble people were deceived by these fine praiseworthy words.

When they asserted and boasted that they were of no other opinion, then that the Lord Christ

is present in His Supper truly, essentially, and as a living person.

They understood this according to His divine nature alone, and not of His body and blood.

They say His body and blood are now in heaven, and nowhere else.

He gives us His true body and blood with the bread and wine to eat, to partake of them

spiritually through faith, but not bodily with them out.

They understand the words of the Supper, eat, this is my body, not properly as they read

according to the letter, but as figurative expressions, so eating Christ's body means

nothing other than believing.

Body means a symbol that is a sign or figure of Christ's body.

The body is not in the Supper on earth, but only in heaven.

The word is they interpret sacramentally or in a symbolic way.

They do this so that no one may think that Christ's flesh is joined with the signs and

is now present on earth in an invisible way beyond our understanding.

In other words, Christ's body is united with the bread sacramentally or symbolically,

so believing Godly Christians do partake spiritually of Christ's body, which is above in heaven,

just as they eat the bread with the mouth.

But they are used to cursing and condemning the following as a horrible blasphemy.

Christ's body is essentially present here on earth in the Supper, although invisibly

and in a way beyond understanding.

It is received orally with the consecrated bread, even by hypocrites or those who only

appear to be Christians.

This concludes our reading from the book of Concord.

I now invite all of you to join me in reciting the Lord's Prayer, one of the most ancient

prayers of the church.

I do encourage you to say it aloud if you are somewhere would be reasonable to do so,

but praying it silently is, of course, also fine.

The Lord knows what is in your heart.

Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be

done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who

trespass against us.

It lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, amen.

Go in peace and grace to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And whatever calling has been given you, or tasks set before you, until tomorrow, God

be with you.