Pathways Press.com

MEDITATION:

Written by Albert Edward Day (1884-1972), a Methodist minister, lecturer, and author. This is an excerpt from his book “From Discipline and Discovery.”

Things tyrannize over us. Money, clothes, houses, furniture, food, automobiles—all the material paraphernalia of existence—captivate our interests and dominate our thoughts. “To have” concerns us a great deal more than “to be.” Few of us have attained the freedom from things.  The proof of our thing-mindedness is very easy. Try for five minutes to give God the “loving attention,” which is the essence of true prayer. You will find your mind reverting over and over to things—to what you are wearing or what you would like to wear, to what you had for breakfast or what you want for lunch, to the salary you receive or the increase you are seeking, to the house you live in or the house you are trying to find, to the condition of your car or the prospect of a new one! With amazing frequency, things in some fashion will insert themselves into your brief effort to keep you mind fixed on God.

PRAYER:

Written by Emilie Griffin, a contemporary American author who writes about religious experience and spiritual life.

Dear Christ, teach me to love your world and everyone in it. May I love with an unworldly love. Let me understand the godly use of material things, to delight rightly in your creation. May I remember those words from John’s first letter: “Those who do the will of God live forever.” Amen.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by John Wesley (1703-1791), an English clergyman, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism.

But true religion, or a heart right towards God and [humanity], implies happiness, as well as holiness. For it is not only righteousness but also “peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” What peace? The peace of God, which God only can give and the world cannot take away, the peace which “passes all understanding,” all (barely) rational conception, being a supernatural sensation, a divine taste of “the powers of the world to come,” such as the natural man [or woman] knows not, how wise in the things of this world, nor, indeed, can…know it, in his [or her] present state, “because it is spiritually discerned.” It is a peace that banishes all doubt, all painful uncertainty, the Spirit of God bearing witness with the spirit of a Christian, that he [or she] is a child of God.

PRAYER:

Written by Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), a French Carmelite nun, is known as “the Little Flower of Jesus.

May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be confident knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) an American pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor. This is an excerpt from his book “Born After Midnight.”

To God quality is vastly important and size matters little. When set in opposition to size, quality is everything and size nothing…Man’s moral fall has clouded his vision, confused his thinking and rendered him subject to delusion. One evidence of this is his all but incurable proneness to confuse values and put size before quality in his appraisal of things. The Christian faith reverses this order, but even Christians tend to judge things by the old Adamic rule. How big? how much? and, how many? are the questions oftenest asked by religious persons when trying to evaluate Christian things…The Church is dedicated to things that matter. Quality matters. Let’s not be led astray by the size of things.

PRAYER:

This prayer is from the Mozarabic Rite, a liturgical rite of the Latin Church once used generally in the Iberian Peninsula (Hispania), in what is now Spain and Portugal.  Developed during Visigoth rule of the Iberian Peninsula in the 500s AD.

Make us, O Lord, to flourish like pure lilies in the courts of Thine house, and to show forth to the faithful the fragrance of good words, and the example of a Godly life, through Thy mercy and grace. Amen.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by Faith Sommers, a contemporary author. This is an excerpt from her book “Prayers for a Simpler Life.”

How glad I am that God is good. A few years ago, I was convicted at how easily I said “God is good” when something went well. When I nearly had an accident, when my son’s wrist wasn’t broken in a fall, when my father’s heart surgery was successful, my first thought was, “God is good.”  Isn’t God good when things go wrong? Last spring, I didn’t see a red light and hit a car; another son’s wrist was broken in a freak collision at school; my uncle passed away at a young age from a lung disease. Could I still say, genuinely, that God is good?  A friend has come through severe emotional distress. She was adopted and often felt unloved and unaccepted. When she was a young girl her family was robbed, and the resulting fear dogged her life. Eventually, she because physically ill to the point of death. Still, she longed after God. In his mercy, he led her to a doctor and to a program of restoration. While she wishes healing were instant, she recognizes even in the daily struggle to trust him that God is good. She has been given tools to work through the hurts of the past. She knows God loves her personally, and she joyfully shares a testimony of his grace. Her face shines with his goodness. Life isn’t always easy. This is a fallen world, where pain and death are a part of life. I have only to glance at the headlines in the daily paper to be reminded how much I need God’s abiding presence…There are many verses that speak of the goodness of God. When I struggle to understand, if I seek his face, by prayer and reading his Word, he brings peace and courage that I desperately need. That is because they are the words of life, words of truth, words of promise from a God who is good.

PRAYER:

Written by Megan Bailey, a contemporary author and content producer.

Heavenly Father, I pray that as each of us comes to a point in our lives where we dare to ask You to reveal Your will for us, You would put us in a place of acceptance of what You reveal to us. It may not be what we want, but it will surely be what we need in order to live a life fully invested in You. Help us to realize that anything You bring into our lives and anything You reveal to us is for our good. Give us a spirit of acceptance and a heart open to Your movement in our lives. Allow us to let Your love surround us and cast out any fear or doubts. Help us to live in love with You, accept Your will for our lives, and give us the proper response to Your revelation. May we trust in the way You push us to go. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by Ken Shigematsu, a contemporary Canadian pastor and author. This is an excerpt from his book “God in my Everything.”

As friendship with Christ changes our hearts and our desires we may find that some of our material possessions not only fail to bring us true fulfillment, they actually come between us and God. We may experience a desire to de-clutter our lives so that we spend less time and energy cleaning, maintaining, protecting, and worrying about our stuff. As we offload our possessions, we may feel lighter, but we may also discover that not everyone is as enthusiastic as we are about our choice to simplify. Choosing the way of simplicity may prompt some to wonder if we’ve lost our minds. When monks enter a monastery and take a vow of poverty, giving away their worldly possessions, some people think that they have gone crazy. Others feel sorry for them. But monks don’t choose the way of simplicity because they are crazy. James Martin, a Jesuit priest, graduated from the prestigious Wharton School of Business and worked in finance for General Electric for several years. He describes entering into the Jesuit community as a novice and the experience of giving away his possessions: “My money and care went to my parents. My suits would sit in my parent’s house in case the novitiate didn’t work out (I wasn’t taking any chances.) The rest of my clothes went to Goodwill, which would distribute them to the poor. My books went to friends who dropped by one sultry afternoon to scour my bookshelves…[Writing more than 20 years later] I can still remember the initial burst of happiness I felt. How liberating it was! No more worrying about whether my suits were the proper shade of grey, my shoes the right brand, my ties the appropriate hue, no more worrying about whether I should rent an apartment or buy one. No more worrying about whether I needed a new this or new that.”  While you may not take a formal vow of poverty like James Martin, you can also feel the joy that comes from simplifying. Resist the cupid arrows of the advertising industry by muting ads on television and choosing to not buy the latest gadget just because others seem to have one. Learn to distinguish between want and genuine need and you will enjoy more of the inner freedom that springs from simplicity. Perhaps you may even feel led to take a further step by giving away something you truly value.

PRAYER:

Written by Christine Sine, a contemporary author and speaker.

Lord help me to live simply,

To give my life and all I am into your hands.

Help me to unclutter my closet,

For I have too much stuff that takes me away from your presence.

Help me to unclutter my calendar,

For I am often too busy to focus my attention on you.

Help me to unclutter my mind,

For I have too many unguided thoughts that distract me from

Your instruction

Amen.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by Laura Georgakakos, a contemporary editor and writer. This is an excerpt from her book “Grace Notes.”

While my friend Meg was on vacation years ago, I was at her apartment each day to feed her cat. On the first day, opening a kitchen drawer in search of a can opener, I found instead an index card titled “My Wish List.” It was Meg’s list of the little things she eventually wanted to get for her new apartment. A peach-scented candle for the bathroom, a two-cup measuring cup…It was easy on her birthday soon after to surprise Meg with the things she most wanted. She marveled at each gift before I told her the secret of my inspiration. The Lord knows our wish lists by heart. We secretly suspect that committing to live for Him means having to lay aside our list and take up His for us—a list with nothing fun on it but only lots of religious activity and good deeds. A list without humor or music or dessert. A list with nothing frivolous on it or peach-scented. A list that will require a grim face and loads of self-discipline and elbow grease. A list that calls for sensible shoes. We mourn in advance all the loved things we suspect we will be required to give up. If we find such delight in them they must be selfish and not good for us, not spiritual. Riding our horse. Painting. Reading, solving a puzzle, playing music, tackling a challenge at work, having a party, running a marathon, playing Monopoly with our kids, looking at art. Debating politics. Napping. Rapping. But growing into our Christ-life is gain, not loss. It is the fulfillment of our truest self, not subjugation of it. The God who promises to give you the desires of your heart is the very God who created that heart. And as He created it, He was kneading into it every desire and longing your heart would ever have. It was His way of seeing you right into His plans for you, the plan perfectly suited to your passions and personality, experiences, and talents. The Lord God made them all. And He did so for the joy of fulfilling your life, not to deny or frustrate you. His plan for you preceded you. His will for your life preceded your desires and passions and talents. He composed those as the means of drawing you into His plan. The delights of your heart were His invention. Your joy is His intention. There will be delights we lay aside along the way but they will be relinquished willingly and by choice because something else has grown up to take their place. The Lord will not have His way at the expense of His children but rather through them—through the passions and inclinations and talents that He himself planted in our hearts for this very purpose.

PRAYER:

Written by Laura Georgakakos, the author of today’s meditation.

Lord, forgive my narrow view that sometimes sees life with You as loss to me. For all you are doing in me, through me, than You. For renewing my mind, for refocusing my eyes, for refining my tastes, thank You. More and more You are mine. More and more I am Yours. Amen.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by N.T. Wright, a contemporary English theologian, New Testament scholar, author, and Anglican bishop. This is an excerpt from his book “The Case for the Psalms.”

The psalms celebrate, in almost embarrassingly vivid language, the belief that the creator of the universe has, for reasons best known to him, decided to take up residence on a small hill in the Judean uplands. The living God, the Psalms declare, has decided to make his own special home at the point where the fertile western escarpment meets the eastern wilderness. It is poised between garden and desert—almost as though God couldn’t quite make up his mind whether to settle firmly in a New Eden or to remain camped with his people in their wilderness wanderings. In David’s mind’s eye, at least, Jerusalem was designed to be seen as the place where, at last, Israel’s God would cease his wandering and dwell in one place…the psalms express, in a way that only those prepared to live at the intersection of the times will understand, the intersection of space: of God’s space with our space, of heaven with earth.

This is the point that Western modernity regards as so incomprehensible as to be laughable: the eternal creator coming to live at one point on the earth? Within classic philosophies, either the gods are far away in their own heaven and don’t get involved, as in Epicureanism, or they are omnipresent in a pantheistic world, as in Stoicism. Maybe, in ordinary ancient paganism, some gods or goddesses might decide to live or act in one place rather than another. But to suggest that the world’s sovereign creator might live in one place—well, it was not only philosophically ridiculous but also politically dangerous. That was part of the point. Once you say that the world’s creator lives in Jerusalem, you are going to go on to say—and the Psalms regularly do go on to say—that from Jerusalem he will rule all nations. Jerusalem is not the place where God’s people go to be in a safe retreat from the rest of the world. The living God establishes his throne in Zion so there his judgment will go out to all the nations. Zion is the place from which he will hear his people’s prayer and come to their rescue.

PRAYER:

Written by Debbie Przybylski, founder and director of Intercessors Arise International.

Father, I pray that You will visit us, and make Your presence known in my life and in my city. Give me faith to believe that You can change my city through prayer and through acts of love and compassion. Let Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Help me to cultivate Your presence in my life. I choose to partner with You for transformation in my city. Help me to contend for my city in prayer with others. Remove the distractions in my life that keep me from Your presence. I repent of any pride or personal idols that have taken me away from having you in first place and being completely Yours. Take away any luke-warmness in my heart and set me on fire for You. Amen.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by Steve Brown, a contemporary teacher, radio broadcaster, and founder of keylife.org.

The Christian life, following Christ’s example, is not so much a life of acting but of being. We are called to abide in Christ in exactly the same way Christ abides in the Father… We go to great lengths to get away from the principle that the Christian life means abiding in Christ in the same way Christ abides in the Father. We try harder and do more. We go to conferences. We read the Bible and pray a little more. We go to church every time the door is open. And then we think everything will be fine. It won’t because that’s not the way God ordained for us to walk with him. He sent his Son to reconcile us to himself and to give us an example of how to turn salvation into sanctification. If you want to be obedient to God, abide in Christ. Don’t go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, don’t do something religious like getting baptized in water shipped directly from the river Jordan, and don’t wear another religious trinket or read another religious book. Listen, if you want to be obedient to God, get close to Jesus. That’s it. To abide in Christ is simply to stay close to him through his Word and his presence. It means you have to give time to the effort. It means you have to exclude other things. It means you simply have to stay close to him. We want everything yesterday. We want everything instantly…and hardly anything worth anything comes instantly. It took time for you to develop your really close friendships. A good marriage doesn’t just happen after you say, “I do.” A good marriage takes years to develop. The same is true for a relationship with Christ. You can’t abide with someone without talking to him, listening to him, or being a friend to his friends. The same is true for Christ. Prayer, the Scriptures, and fellowship are essential tools for being with Christ.  Growth comes from abiding in Christ in the same way he abided in the Father. We don’t abide in him by growing. That’s why so many of us are frustrated in our walk with Christ. A Christian doesn’t do good things in order to be a Christian. A Christian does good things because he or she is a Christian. Stay close to Christ and then you’ll be surprised at the growth. His gift to you for just being with him is that he makes you more and more like him.

PRAYER:

Written by Burt Ghezzi is a contemporary author and speaker.

O Holy Spirit, I want to know you more and love you more. Draw me into your presence and reveal yourself to me.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by Dietrich Bonhofeffer (1906-1945), a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, author, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church.. This is an excerpt from his book “Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible.”

The phrase “learning to pray” sounds strange to us. If the heart does not overflow and begin to pray by itself, we say, it will never “learn” to pray. But it is a dangerous error, surely very widespread among Christians, to think that the heart can pray by itself. For then we confuse wishes, hopes, sighs, laments, rejoicings—all of which the heart can do by itself—with prayer. And we confuse, earth and heaven, man and God. Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one’s heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him, whether the heart is full or empty. No man can do that by himself. For that he needs Jesus Christ…Jesus wants to pray with us and to have us pray with him, so that we may be confident and glad that God hears us. When our will wholeheartedly enters into the prayer of Christ, then we pray correctly. Only in Jesus Christ are we able to pray and with him we also know that we shall be heard. If we want to read and pray the prayers of the Bible and especially the Psalms, therefore, we must not ask first what they have to do with us, but what they have to do with Jesus Christ. We must ask how we can understand the Psalms as God’s Word, and then we shall be able to pray them. It does not depend, therefore, on whether the Psalms express adequately that which we feel at a given moment in our heart. If we are to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to pray…The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart…This is pure grace, that God tells us how we can speak with him and have fellowship with him.

PRAYER:

This modified version of the Lord’s Prayer is written by Ray Simpson, a contemporary author. The prayer is from his book Liturgies from Lindisfarne, which are drawn from early and contemporary Celtic devotion, Anglican, Orthodox, Reformed and Roman Catholic resources.

Tender Father, always near us,

May your name be treasured and loved,

May your rulership on earth be embraced

and welcomed as it is in heaven.

Give us today all that we need for life and health.

Forgive our corrupted thoughts and actions as we

forgive others as well.

Please don’t lead us down harmful and destructive

paths,

And keep us safe from the evil one.

Because you are the one in charge. And you have all

the power.

And the glory too is all yours — forever!

And that is the way we want it to be! Amen.

Read Full Post »

MEDITATION:

Written by Lloyd Wicker, a contemporary pastor and chaplain in the US Navy.

The story of Jesus feeding a crowd of thousands of people weaves together themes from throughout his ministry. These include compassion, power over creation, the ability to sustain life, and involving others in responding to human needs. We also see God’s grace and providence intertwine as Jesus sends the disciples out “to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” It is important to realize that the people who heard the gospel and who were healed and fed were not saved and sanctified saints; they were not fully committed disciples who were ready to follow Jesus. Yet when Jesus saw their hurts and needs, he responded with love, knowing that many of them would abandon and even turn against him later. Even so, Jesus was moved with compassion, seeing their need. In the same way, he has compassion today when he sees the hurts and needs of anyone created in the image of God. We have daily opportunities to come alongside the people around us. It could mean drop­ping by the hospital or the nursing home for a visit. Perhaps it involves cooking a meal for someone. Maybe it includes simply listening to another person’s story. When we seek to provide what Jesus ­offers, we reflect a beautiful picture of God’s compassion and care for others.

PRAYER:

Written by Eugene Bersier (1831-1889), a pastor whose ancestors were Huguenot refugees in Switzerland,  led the building of the Etoile Chapel in Paris.

God of love, You see all the suffering, injustice, and misery in this world. Have pity on what You have created. In Your mercy look upon the poor, the oppressed, the destitute, and all who are heavy-laden. Fill our hearts with deep compassion for those who suffer, and hasten the coming of Your kingdom of justice and truth. Amen.

Read Full Post »