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MEDITATION:

Written by Jerry Bridges (1929-2016, an evangelical Christian author, speaker and staff member of The Navigators. This is an excerpt from his book “The Fruitful Life.”

Writing in 1839, George Bethune said, “Perhaps no grace is less prayed for, or less cultivated than gentleness. Indeed it is considered rather as belonging to natural disposition or external manners, than as a Christian virtue; and seldom do we reflect that not to be gentle is sin.” The Christian attitude toward gentleness does not seem to have changed in the more than 160 years since Bethune penned those words. I once asked a co-worker in our own ministry if he was aware of anyone who was praying for or seeking to cultivate gentleness. He thought for a moment and then said no. This is not to say that the grace of gentleness is entirely absent from the Christian community, but perhaps we don’t value it as highly as God values it.

Gentleness is somewhat difficult to define because it is often confused with meekness, which is another Christian virtue that we should pursue.  Billy Graham defines gentleness as “mildness in dealing with others…It displays a sensitive regard for others and is careful never to be unfeeling for the rights of others.” Gentleness is an active trait, describing the manner in which we should treat others. Meekness is a passive trait, describing the proper Christian response when others mistreat us. Both gentleness and meekness are born of power, not weakness. There is a pseudo-gentleness that is timidity, and there is a pseudo-meekness that is cowardly. But a Christian is to be gentle and meek because those are godlike virtues.

PRAYER:

Written by John Baillie (1886-1960), a Scottish theologian and a Church of Scotland minister.

This day O Lord —

Give me courtesy;

Give me both gentleness of demeanor and decisiveness of character;

Give me patience;

Give me love;

Give me self-control and faithfulness in my relationships;

Give me sincerity in my speech;

Give me diligence in the work you have given me to do.

O Lord, who when the time was right raised up our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to enlighten our hearts with the knowledge of your love, grant me the grace to be worthy of his name. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), a Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, author, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. This is an excerpt from the devotional, “40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”

Those who follow Jesus’ commandment entirely, who let Jesus’ yoke rest on them without resistance, will find the burden they must bear to be light. In the gentle pressure of this yoke they will receive the strength to walk the right path without becoming weary.…Where will the call to discipleship lead those who follow it? What decisions and painful separations will it entail? We must take this question to him who alone knows the answer. Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows where the path will lead. But we know that it will be a path full of mercy beyond measure. Discipleship is joy.

To be a disciple is not just to believe in Jesus, it is to follow Jesus. Is your burden of discipleship “light”?

PRAYER:

Written by Basil the Great (330-379) of Caesarea, an influential theologian and pastor. He was one of the Cappadocian Fathers.

We bless You, O most high God and Lord of mercy, Who art ever doing numberless great and inscrutable things with us, glorious and wonderful; Who grants us sleep for rest from our infirmities, and repose from the burdens of our much toiling flesh. We thank You that You have not destroyed us with our sins, but has loved us as ever, and though we are sunk in despair, You have raised us up to glorify Your power.

Therefore we implore Your incomparable goodness, enlighten the eyes of our understanding and raise up our mind from the heavy sleep of indolence; open our mouth and fill it with Your praise, that we may be able undistracted to sing and confess You, Who art God glorified in all and by all, the eternal Father, with Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Pete Greig, a contemporary church planter, author and co-founder of the 24-7 Prayer Movement. This is an excerpt from his book “How to Pray.”

Corrie ten Boom’s family helped Dutch Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during the Second World War. They were eventually caught, and Corrie was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp with her sister Betsie, who later died there. Corrie endured unimaginable horrors, yet her life was marked by an unshakable trust in her heavenly Father and was punctuated by prayer. She seems to have lived in an almost continual conversation with God, asking and trusting in her heavenly Father for everything. “If a care is too small to be turned into a prayer,” she said, it is too small to be made into a burden.”

Several years after the war, Corrie ten Boom was speaking about her experiences in Munich, when one of her former S.S. guards approached her at the end of the church service. As Corrie ten Boom tells the story in her book The Hiding Place:  “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,” he said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often…the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself. 

PRAYER:

Written by Cheryce Rampersad, a contemporary Christian author and blogger.

Father, bless me with the wonderful power of forgiveness, give me the grace to unconditionally forgive those who have done me wrong. Fill my heart with love toward my fellowman. Let kindness be my first nature. Let peace consume my thoughts and tranquility overtake my soul.  Free me of all anger, bitterness, hate, and unforgiveness.

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MEDITATION:

Adapted from a devotion written by Mark D. Roberts, a contemporary Christian speaker,  author, and principle writer of the “Life for Leaders” daily devotion from De Pree Center at Fuller Seminary.

When we moved into our home in Pasadena, we knew we had several citrus trees in the backyard. But we didn’t know exactly what kind of citrus trees they were. Finally, when the time was right, our trees bore their distinctive kind of fruit, and then we knew exactly what sorts of trees we had. (In case you’re curious, we have several lemon trees, one orange tree, and one tangerine tree, as well as a peach tree that showed up unannounced in our front yard.)

If you want to know what kind of tree you have, you need to pay attention to its fruit. The same is true if you want to know what kind of life you’re living. Are you living a good life? Then you’ll see it in your fruit. The opposite is true as well. Bad living is correlated with bad fruit. Fruit, in this case, is a way of talking about our behavior, about what we’re producing by being alive. So, this leads to an obvious question. What is your fruit? If you were to add up all that you’re doing in life – what you do for work, how you act in relationships, where you put your money, how you spend your time, and so on – what kind of fruit is growing on your tree?  If your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers were to be given a dose of truth serum such that they had to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, how would they answer this question: What is the fruit of your life? What is your life producing? What difference are you making in this world? I believe that, for most of us, the fruit of our lives is a mixed bag. Some of our fruit is good; some is bad. We need to be honest about this. God will use our honesty to help us shift the balance in the favor of good fruit. Soon we’ll learn how this happens, according to Jesus.

PRAYER:

This prayer is based on Galatians 5:22 and is from the Daily Prayer Guide website. 

Father God, you are the giver of all good things. I pray to ask you to give me the fruits of the Spirit. Help me to love, be full of joy, peace, and patience. Help me be kind, good, faithful, and gentle when dealing with others. And finally, give me the self-control to bear the fruit so others can see. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Henri Jozef Nouwen (1932-1996), a Dutch priest, professor, writer, and theologian. This is an excerpt from his book “Making All Things New.”

The spiritual life can be lived in as many ways as there are people. What is new is that we have moved from the many things to the kingdom of God. What is new is that we are set free from the compulsions of our world and have set our hearts on the only necessary thing. What is new is that we no longer experience the many things, people, and events as endless causes for worry, but begin to experience them as the rich variety of ways in which God makes his presence known for us. Indeed, having a spiritual life requires a change of heart, a conversion. Such a conversion may be marked by a sudden inner change, or it can take place through a long, quiet process of transformation. But it always involves an inner experience of oneness.

PRAYER:

This prayer is from The Liturgy of St. James, a form of liturgy used by some Eastern Christians of the Byzantine and West Syriac Rite. It is considered to be the oldest surviving liturgy developed for general use in the church from around the fourth century. 

O gracious King of ages, Master of all creation,

receive your Church that approaches you through Christ.

Give each of us what is good, bring us all to completeness

and make us ready by your sanctifying grace.

Unite us together in your Holy Church, which you purchased with the precious blood of your only Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; with him, and with your all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, you are blessed and glorified forever.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), English Christian writer and pacifist.  This is from her book “The Spiritual Life.”

For a spiritual life is simply a life in which all that we do comes from the center, where we are anchored in God: a life soaked through and through by a sense of his reality and claim, and self-given to the great movement of his will.  Most of our conflicts and difficulties come from trying to deal with the spiritual and practical aspects of our life separately instead of realizing them as parts of one whole. If our practical life is centered on our own interests, cluttered up by possessions, distracted by ambitions, passions, wants and worries, beset by a sense of our own rights and importance, or anxieties for our own future, or longings for our own success, we need not expect that our spiritual life will be a contrast to all this. The soul’s house is not built on such a convenient plan; there are few soundproof partitions in it.

PRAYER:

Written by Thomas A Kempis (1380-1471), the author of “The Imitation of Christ”, one of the most popular and best known Christian books on devotion. 

God, our Father, we are exceedingly frail and indisposed to every virtuous and gallant undertaking. Strengthen our weakness, we beseech you, that we may do valiantly in this spiritual war; help us against our own negligence and cowardice, and defend us from the treachery of our unfaithful hearts. For Jesus Christ’s sake, Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), an American Quaker author, theologian, and former chaplain to both Harvard and Stanford universities.  This is an excerpt from his book “The New Man for Our Time.”

Because we cannot reasonably expect to erect a constantly expanding structure of social activism upon a constantly diminishing foundation of faith, attention to the cultivation of the inner life is our first order of business, even in a period of rapid social change. The Church, if it is to affect the world, must become a center from which new spiritual power emanates. While the Church must be secular in the sense that it operates in the world, if it is only secular it will not have the desired effect upon the secular order which it is called upon to penetrate. With no diminution of concern for people, we can and must give new attention to the production of a trustworthy religious experience.

PRAYER:

Written by Claude de la Colombiere (1641-1682), a French Jesuit priest, missionary, and ascetical writer.

Lord, I am in this world to show Your mercy to others.

Other people will glorify You

by making visible the power of Your grace

by their fidelity and constancy to You.

For my part I will glorify You

by making known how good You are to sinners,

that Your mercy is boundless

and that no sinner no matter how great his offences

should have reason to despair of pardon.

If I have grievously offended You, My Redeemer,

let me not offend You even more

by thinking that You are not kind enough to pardon Me. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Albert Edward Day (1884-1973), Methodist pastor and leader of the Disciplined Order of Christ movement. This is an excerpt from his book “The Captivating Presence.”

I came to a new understanding why Jesus passed up the religious establishment of his day, the economically secure, the socially prestigious, and sought out the poor, the outcast, the sinner, the broken, the sick, the lonely. He felt, as we so often do not feel, their sorrow. He was acquainted, as we too seldom are, with their grief. On Calvary he died of a broken heart. But that heart was broken long before Black Friday, by the desolation of the common people. “In all their afflictions he was afflicted.” Most of the time we are not. We seem to have quite a different conception of life. We avoid as much as possible the unpleasant. We shun the suffering of others. We shrink from any burdens except those which life itself inescapably thrusts upon us. We seek arduously the wealth and power that will enable us to secure ourselves against the possibility of being involved with another’s affliction. Lazarus sometimes makes his way to our doorstep. We toss him a coin and go on our way. We give our charities but we do not give ourselves. We build our charitable institutions but we do not build ourselves into other’s lives.

PRAYER:

Written by Thomas More (1478-1535), an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a councilor to Henry VIII.

Almighty God, take from me all vainglorious minds, all appetites of my own praise, all envy, covetise, gluttony, sloth, and lechery, all wrathful affections, all appetite of revenging, all desire or delight of other folks’ harm, all pleasure in provoking any person to wrath and anger, all delight of exprobation or insultation against any persons in their affliction and calamity. And give me, good Lord, a humble, lowly, quiet, peaceable, patient, charitable, kind, tender, and pitiful mind, with all my works, and all my words, and all my thoughts, to have a taste of Your Holy, Blessed Spirit. Give me, good Lord, a full faith, a firm hope, and a fervent charity, a love to the good Lord incomparable above the love to myself; and that I love nothing to Your displeasure, but everything in an order to You. Take from me, good Lord, this lukewarm fashion, or rather keycold manner of meditation, and this dullness in praying unto You. And give me warmth, delight and quickness in thinking upon You. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary pastor and author. This is an excerpt from his book “Trade Your Cares for Calm.”

If only we could order life the way we order gourmet coffee. Wouldn’t you love to mix and match the ingredients of your future? “Give me a tall, extra-hot cup of adventure, cut the dangers, with two shots of good health.” “A decaf brew of longevity, please, with a sprinkle of fertility. Go heavy on the agility and cut the disability.” “I’ll have the pleasure mocha with extra stirrings of indulgence. Make sure it’s consequence free.” “I’ll go with a grande happy-latte, with a dollop of love, sprinkled with Caribbean retirement.” Take me to that coffee shop. Too bad it doesn’t exist. Truth is, life often hands us a concoction entirely different from the one we requested. Ever feel as though the barista-from-above called your name and handed you a cup of unwanted stress? Life comes caffeinated with surprises. Modifications. Transitions. Alterations. You move down the ladder, out of the house, over for the new guy, up through the system. All this moving. Some changes welcome, others not. We might request a decaffeinated life, but we don’t get it. None of us pass through this life surprise free. If you don’t want change, go to a soda machine; that’s the only place you won’t find any.

So make friends with whatever’s next. Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life; change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, He alters our assignments. God transitioned Joseph from a baby brother to an Egyptian prince. He changed David from a shepherd to a king. Peter wanted to fish the Sea of Galilee. God called him to lead the first church. God makes reassignments. Over time, we discover that the thing we thought we wanted is far less satisfying than what God has prepared for us.

PRAYER:

Attributed to Reinhold  Niebuhr (1892-1971), a Reformed minister, theologian, ethicist, and professor at Union Theological Seminary. The prayer is used by recovery groups.

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as he did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to his will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life And supremely happy with him forever in the next.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), a cavalry officer in the French Army, an explorer and geographer, and later a Catholic priest hermit who lived in Algeria. This is an excerpt from his book “Meditations of a Hermit.”

Don’t economize in almsgiving—cut off nothing in charities, rather increase them if anything. “Give and it shall be given to you.” “In the measure that you do to others so shall it be done to you. What you give to the poor you give to me.” The best way of always having enough is to share generously with the poor, seeing in them the representatives of Jesus himself. And then be full of confidence. “He who gives life will also give the nourishment. He who gave the body will give the clothing. Seek the Kingdom of God and his Justice (that is to say, perfection) and the rest shall be given unto you.” This is said for all Christians and not only for monks. Be full of confidence. Keep yourself from all anxiety.

PRAYER:

Written by Peter Ainslie (1867-1934), a minister and strong advocate of Christian unity, world peace, racial inclusiveness, social justice, Jewish-Christian dialogue, and liberal Christianity.

Blessed Father, you are above all in gifts, and out of your giving you have taught me the way to a fuller identification of myself with you. Not only your gift of Jesus and your gift of the Spirit, but every day your gifts are given to me like manna in the wilderness. All I have belongs to you, and of my money I am only a trustee. Command its use as shall please you, and give me the experience of the giver’s joy. Let me see clearly the sin of covetousness and deepen my hatred of its practice. In the name of your unspeakable Gift be praise and dominion forever. Amen.

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