5 Day Devotional

Relationships can become our greatest joy or deepest pain, and the sermon reminds us that what we build with matters. Over the next five days, you’ll examine the foundation beneath your life and relationships, choosing practices that form a faith that lasts when pressure comes.

Day 1

1 Corinthians 3:10-14

God cares not only that we build, but how we build. Paul’s picture is sobering: the foundation is already set—Jesus Christ—and then our daily choices become the materials we stack on top. In relationships, words, habits, attitudes, and priorities aren’t neutral; they are building materials that will eventually be tested.

The sermon’s warning is that “straw” can look productive for a while: performance, image management, and quick fixes may appear to hold things together. But when stress, disappointment, or conflict exposes what’s underneath, flimsy materials don’t just wobble—they burn. Today is about honesty: what have you been building with, and what might God be inviting you to rebuild with greater care?

Grace is not permission to build carelessly; grace is power to build wisely. Ask Jesus to show you where your foundation is solid and where you’ve relied on substitutes—people’s approval, control, comfort, or convenience. Then begin with one faithful step that aligns your life with the only foundation that lasts.

• Where do you see “straw” materials in your relationships (performance, people-pleasing, avoidance, control)?
• What relationship tends to reveal what you’re really building with, and why?
• What does “build with care” look like in one specific conversation or decision you need to make this week?
• When pressure hits, what do you typically run to for stability instead of Jesus?
• Choose one small act today that uses “stone” materials (truth, humility, prayer, honesty) and do it intentionally.

Day 2

Psalm 11:3

Foundations are often invisible, but they determine what can stand. Psalm 11:3 confronts us with a hard reality: when foundations are damaged, everything above them becomes vulnerable. If your relationship with God is neglected, every other relationship will eventually feel the strain—because you’ll look to people to provide what only God can give.

The sermon said the quality of life’s relationships hinges on the quality of our relationship with God. When God is your steady center, you’re less driven by fear, less controlled by approval, and more able to love with clarity and courage. But when the foundation cracks, reactions take over: anxiety, defensiveness, blame, and withdrawal become “normal.”

Today is about repair, not shame. God does not highlight broken foundations to condemn you, but to restore you. Let Him strengthen what is weak by returning to simple faithfulness—prayer, Scripture, repentance, and trust—so that what you build relationally can rest on something unshakeable.

• What signs suggest your foundation has been weakened (stress patterns, reactivity, cynicism, secrecy, drifting)?
• How have you been asking people to carry weight that belongs to God (security, identity, comfort, control)?
• What daily practice would most strengthen your foundation right now (prayer, Scripture, Sabbath, confession, community)?
• What is one truth about God you need to rehearse today to steady your heart?
• Set a 10-minute appointment with God today; what will you do in that time, and when will it happen?

Day 3

Matthew 7:24-27

Jesus makes the difference between wisdom and foolishness surprisingly practical: hearing His words versus hearing and doing. Both builders face the same storm; the issue isn’t whether hardship comes, but whether obedience has been forming stability long before it arrives. In relationships, storms reveal what we’ve practiced—humility or pride, truth or avoidance, forgiveness or bitterness.

The sermon emphasized that belief is your blueprint. What you truly believe about God shapes what you do when emotions rise. If feelings become your guide, you will build shallow and performance-based love; if convenience rules, you won’t endure the slow work of growth; if comfort is king, you’ll avoid costly obedience. But when Jesus is trusted and followed, your home—your inner life and your relational world—can stand.

Today, move from observation to obedience. Identify one teaching of Jesus you’ve admired but not practiced, and take a concrete step. Obedience may feel costly in the moment, but it becomes the reinforcement that keeps your life from collapsing when the winds blow.

• What “storm” are you currently facing (conflict, disappointment, stress, temptation), and what is it revealing about your foundation?
• Where have you been a hearer but not a doer of Jesus’ words in your relationships?
• Which is most tempting for you: feelings over faith, convenience over commitment, or comfort over cost? Why?
• What specific act of obedience can you practice today that would strengthen your relational life (apology, truth-telling, forgiveness, boundary, serving)?
• How will you remind yourself this week that storms are inevitable, but collapse is not?

Day 4

Romans 12:1-2

A firm foundation isn’t only about avoiding collapse; it’s about being transformed from the inside out. Romans 12 calls us to surrender our whole selves to God and to let Him renew our minds. This directly confronts “surrender over self”: real change in relationships begins when we stop protecting our ego and start offering our lives to God.

The patterns of this world train us to build with straw—image, impulse, and self-preservation. Mind renewal replaces those scripts with truth: you are loved without performing, secure without controlling, and free to obey without fear. As your thinking changes, your responses change; as your responses change, your relationships begin to heal.

Today, practice surrender in a specific area where self has been loud. Surrender is not passivity; it’s active trust that God’s will is good even when it costs comfort. As you lay down the need to win, be right, or be seen, you make room for God to build something lasting.

• What area of your life most needs surrender right now (time, money, habits, sexuality, control, anger, approval)?
• What worldly “script” have you been living from in relationships (tit-for-tat, avoidance, dominance, perfectionism)?
• What truth from God’s Word can replace that script and renew your mind?
• What would a living sacrifice look like in one relationship today (listening, serving, admitting fault, honoring, patience)?
• Write one sentence prayer of surrender you can repeat when your self-protection rises.

Day 5

James 1:2-4

Pressure is not just something to survive; in God’s hands, it becomes something that forms you. James teaches that trials can produce perseverance, and perseverance can make you mature and complete. This is “perseverance over pressure”: instead of collapsing, you let hardship deepen your roots into Christ.

The sermon reminded us that everyone is paying a price somewhere—the price to build with stone or the price when straw burns down. Perseverance is the long obedience that keeps choosing faithfulness when it would be easier to quit, retaliate, or numb out. In relationships, perseverance looks like staying honest, staying kind, staying accountable, and staying near Jesus even when outcomes aren’t immediate.

Today, decide what kind of person you will become under pressure. Ask God for the endurance to keep building with stone—surrender, obedience, and steady faith—so your life can stand firm in every season. Your perseverance is not wasted; God uses it to form a foundation that can carry love with strength.

• What pressure are you most tempted to escape right now, and how have you tried to escape it?
• How might God be using this season to develop perseverance and maturity in you?
• What does building with “stone” look like in this trial (prayer, accountability, truth, repentance, consistent obedience)?
• Who is one trusted person you can invite into your process this week for support and growth?
• What is one persevering step you will take in the next 24 hours, even if your feelings don’t change?

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