Pathways Press.com

Written by Yinka Dawson, a contemporary writer.

Father, you hear and answer. You are not deaf to my cries. Today, I ask for a renewed confidence to believe that you are working in power, strong in love, and near to me. Don’t let my heart be dulled by the places where other voices and other powers threaten to distract me. Deepen my trust in your steadfast love and eager attentiveness today.  Holy Spirit I long to see your power break into my life and my world. I pray for a wide-awake faith, an intimate sense of your life, a clarity to see where you are already working. Amen,

Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress, and the Lord hears my voice. [Psalm 55:17]

Written by Bill Gaultiere, a contemporary psychologist and spiritual mentor and founder of the Soul Shepherding ministry.

All of us long to experience peace that surpasses understanding. But let’s be honest — sometimes being confident and secure in Jesus through every situation feels impossible… How do you react when… Nothing goes according to plan? There’s too much on your plate? Others misunderstand you? Your children make troubling choices? People you love are indifferent to your encouragement and support? Situations like this often tempt us to make things happen or control what others think about us.But stressful circumstances are also an invitation to abandon outcomes to God — a discipline of submission to the sovereign Lord that brings tremendous peace and power. In his book Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard teaches about abandoning outcomes to God as a foundational lesson for our formation in Christ and soul care. He writes: “The secret to peace, as great apprentices of Jesus have long known, is being abandoned to God” … Abandoning outcomes isn’t becoming passive or neglectful. It’s choosing to do your best but not trust your best — instead, you’re trusting God. It’s an attitude that says, I can’t control this result or how people react to me. So I choose to release it to God and trust him. It might be surprising to learn that we’re greatly empowered by God when we stop trying to make things happen. We experience fresh grace — discovering that our Heavenly Father is moving generously and powerfully, and we can join his action. Dallas paints a vivid picture of the action included in abandoning outcomes to God: “We are no longer spectators, but are caught up in a vivid and eternal drama in which we play an essential part. We embrace our imposed circumstances, no matter how tragic they seem, and act for the good in a power beyond ourselves.”

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. [Proverbs 3:5-6]

Written by George Barna, a contemporary professor, author and founder of the market research firm The Barna Group. This is an excerpt from his book “Maximum Faith: Live Like Jesus.”

Spiritual transformation affords us the chance to relate to God in the most robust manner possible. Fully engaging in the transformational process redefines our self-image and life goals by establishing a renewed meaning and purpose to our existence, as well as modifying how we achieve fulfillment. It is, in current terms, an extreme spiritual makeover. God wants you to be transformed… True spiritual transformation is impossible unless you become fully dependent upon God. Fully dependent. No human being is capable of producing spiritual transformation in their own life. God must pilot and control the process. Your job is to want this so badly that you become determined to cooperate fully with Him.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [Ezekiel 36:26]

Written by the Lead Like Jesus team, an organization founded by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges that promotes a transformational leadership model based on following Jesus.

Where does God have you today? Who will you see? Who will you talk to? What places will you go? What will you be doing? Wherever you are, be aware of the Lord’s purpose in bringing you into each situation. Like Jesus, invite the Father’s presence into every task and conversation. Be present with those whom God brings your way, recognize that they are created in His image, and meet them at their point of need.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. [Romans 13:8]

This is an excerpt from “The Bible in a Year: A 52-Week Journey Through God’s Word,” written by the Spiral Bible team.

Peace is more than the absence of conflict; it is the positive presence of God’s wholeness in our lives. It guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, enabling us to live with confidence amid life’s uncertainties…This peace is the presence of Christ’s own tranquility in our hearts, available even in turbulent circumstances…This supernatural peace comes through the practice of prayer and thanksgiving, guarding our hearts and minds like a protective fortress against worry and fear…Like a compass finding true north, when our thoughts stay centered on God’s character and promises, peace naturally follows…Allow God’s peace to govern our responses to life’s challenges, recognizing it as both a gift to receive and a state to maintain through staying connected to the Prince of Peace.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  [John 14:27]

Written by Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), an Indian Christian missionary and sadhu. This is an excerpt from his book “At the Master’s Feet.”

God is love, and in every living creature He has set this faculty of love, but especially in man. It is therefore nothing but right that the Lover who has given us life and reason and love should receive His due tribute of love. His desire is to all He has created, and if this love be not rightly used, and if we do not with all our heart and soul and mind and strength love Him who has endowed us with love, then that love falls from its high estate and becomes selfishness. Thus arises disaster for for ourselves and for other creatures of God. Every selfish man, strangely enough, becomes a self-slayer.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [Galatians 2:20]

Written by Laura Murray, a contemporary author. This is an excerpt from her work “Holding Hope.”

Hope often involves waiting. Waiting for a different future, positive diagnosis, or change in a situation. As we wait we cannot always articulate our thoughts and feelings as the gravity of the waiting weighs on us. And it can get lonely. No one else may be able to understand or relate at the depth of our being. And God has not left us alone in our waiting, and attempts at hoping. He gave us the Holy Spirit and reminders that we are not alone.

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. [Romans 8:26-27]

Written by Nikolai Velmirovi (1881-1956), a bishop in the Serbian Orthodox church. He was arrested for speaking against the Nazi’s in WWII, taken to a concentration camp, and nearly died.  While being tortured, he prayed, “Bless my Enemies Oh Lord.”

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them. Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have. Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having hidden myself beneath your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul. Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them. They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world. They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself. Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them. Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out. Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of your garment. Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them So that my fleeing to You may have no return; So that all my hope in people may be scattered like cobwebs; So that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul; So that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins: arrogance and anger; So that I might amass all my treasure in heaven. Amen.

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you [Matthew 5:44]

Today’s devotional, written by the Pray.com team, is based on Proverbs 3.

God desires our hearts first, and we show devotion through giving. Offering Him the first of our increase—our time, resources, and talents—acknowledges He is our Provider. When we trust God with our best, He promises to provide abundantly. This is not about transactional blessing, but relational trust. Giving isn’t just an act of charity—it’s worship. When we put God first, everything else aligns under His care. Don’t hold back from God. Honor Him from the start, and you’ll see His faithfulness overflow in your life in ways you never imagined.

Honor the Lord with your wealth,  with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. [Proverbs 3:9-10]

Written by R. C. Sproul (1939-2017), an American theologian and Presbyterian pastor.

The persecution that forced the Christian community to flee from Jerusalem was one of the main causes of the rapid expansion of the Christian faith in the early part of the church’s life. Because those who were scattered, everywhere they went, they went proclaiming the gospel of Christ. Now remember, this was the rank and file. It wasn’t the Apostles. It was the laity of the church that was carrying the message abroad of the ministry of Jesus. The task of the minister, of the pastor, is to teach, to preach, to equip the laity for ministry. The ministry of Christ is given to the whole church. Every one of you who is in Christ is to be a participant, not a spectator, in the outreach ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s not just the paid professionals who have been entrusted with the gospel, but it’s the whole church who has been given that task. That’s how the church was built. And that’s how the church always will be built when the people of God are mobilized to go into the marketplace, into their offices, among their friends, into their communities, as Christians proclaiming the Word of God. There’s no place in the kingdom of God for secret service Christians, or for what I call “Clairol Christians,” where only their hairdresser knows for sure. People say, “Well, I like to keep my faith as a private and personal matter.” That’s impossible. If it’s true faith, it must be personal. But the faith of a Christian, beloved, can never be private. But we have been called to bear witness to Christ.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. [Romans 1:16]