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Written by Carolyn Arends, a contemporary speaker, author, and songwriter. This is an excerpt from her book “Theology in Aisle Seven.”

We are in the thrashing time, a season characterized by our pervasive capacity to do violence to each other and ourselves. The temptation is to despair. We have to remember, though, that it won’t last forever. Jesus has already crushed the serpent’s head. Recently I heard a message from theologian Gary Deddo … [who] challenges the tendency many of us have to be dualists — imagining God and Satan as equal foes deadlocked in mortal combat. To be certain, Deddo acknowledges, there is an immeasurable amount of evil in our world. But compared with God’s love and power, all the evil in the universe doesn’t cover the head of a pin. Love wins. Satan doesn’t stand a chance. Thus, though we wrestle with the brokenness that plagues the world, and ourselves, we do so not with grim resignation but with hopeful defiance. We face both our addictions and afflictions not with a faint, white-knuckled hope that someday we will be healed, but rather with an assurance that we are living slowly but surely into the healing already obtained on the Cross. There is still a waiting. In some cases, the healing may not come in fullness until we are face-to-face with our Victor — but come it will. Guaranteed.

Prayer:

Written by David Platt, a contemporary pastor and author.

Oh, God. Lord Jesus, we trust in you. We trust that you are working all things. Even the things we don’t understand going on in the world around, even the things we don’t understand in our lives. God we praise you for the confidence that when we lift up our eyes from what we see right around us and we look ahead, we know the day is coming when the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever.

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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.

Jesus never seemed to be at a loss for words. Whether being asked an honest question, being challenged, or responding to a need, He spoke words of grace and truth. Every response flowed from an awareness of what God was doing and how He could best represent the Father in the moment. What about you? What opportunities will you have to represent the Father today? How can you prepare to represent Him well with your words?

Prayer:

This prayer is written by the authors of today’s meditation.

 Father, let me dwell in You and in Your Word so that I hear and speak the words You give. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Written by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), a British writer and theologian.  This is an excerpt from his book “Reflections on the Psalms.”

I have often, on my knees, been shocked to find what sort of thoughts I have for a moment, been addressing to God; what infantile placations I was really offering, what claims I have really made, even what absurd adjustments or compromises I was, half-consciously, proposing. There is a Pagan, savage heart in me somewhere. For unfortunately the folly and idiot- cunning of Paganism seem to have far more power of surviving than its innocent or even beautiful elements. It is easy, once you have power, to silence the pipes, still the dances, disfigure the statues, and forget the stories; but not easy to kill the savage, the greedy, frightened creature now cringing, now blustering, in one’s soul— the creature to whom God may well say, “thou thoughtest I am even such a one as thyself” (Psalm 50.21).

Prayer:

This prayer is from Psalm 19:13-14. It is David’s prayer in response to God’s self-revelation.

Keep back your servant also from willful sins.

Let them not have dominion over me.

Then I will be upright.

I will be blameless and innocent

of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and

the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.

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Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary pastor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his work “Glory Days.”

Have you heard voices of failure? When you lost your job, flunked the exam, dropped out of school. When your marriage went south. When your business went broke. When you failed. The voices began to howl. And you joined them! Failure finds us all. Failure is so universal we have to wonder why more self-help gurus don’t address it. Bookstores overflow with volumes on how to succeed. But you’ll look a long time before you find a section called “How to Succeed at Failing.” Maybe no one knows what to say. But God does. His book is written for failures. It is full of folks who were foul-ups and flops. David was a moral failure, yet God used him. Elijah was an emotional train wreck after Mount Carmel, but God blessed him. Jonah was in the belly of a fish when he prayed his most honest prayer, and God heard it. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet. Yet God used them. A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures.

Prayer:

Written by Rick Warren, a contemporary pastor, author, and speaker.

Lord, help me let go of my fear of failure. I know Satan wants to use my fears to hold me back from living boldly for You. Forgive me for not living in faith, and help me from this moment on to live with bold confidence in You. Lord, help me not compare myself to others around me. I pray instead that I can keep my eye on You and live a life that proclaims Your excellence. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

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Written by Chris Webb, a contemporary Benedictine Anglican priest, author, speaker, and teacher. This is an excerpt from his work “To Bear the Character of God.”

The opening chapter of the Bible tells us that we are made ​“in the image of God” (Gen 1:27). Scholars and theologians have reflected for over two millennia about exactly what that might mean, but the apostle John, in his first letter, gives us an important insight into at least one significant implication. ​“God is love,” he writes, ​“and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 Jn 4:16). To bear the character of God is to have love hardwired into our essential nature. The more we are conformed to the character of God, the more perfectly loving we will become. We are created to love.

Prayer:

Written by Eugene Peterson (1932-2018), an American Presbyterian minister, scholar, theologian, author and poet.  He is well know for his Bible translation “The Message.”

May this day bring rest to my heart and my home.  May God’s image in me be restored and my imagination in God be re-storied.  May the gravity of material things be lightened and the relativity of time slow down. May I know grace to embrace my own finite smallness in the arms of God’s infintite greatness. May God’s Word feed me and His Spirit lead me into the week and into the life to come. Amen.

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Written by Keith Riley, a contemporary pastor and author. This is an excerpt from his work “The Sacred Ordinary of Each Day.”

God, the great Creator and Sustainer of life is ever-present in your day. The demonstration of that reality is one of the great gifts that Jesus gives disciples (his first disciples, and all of his disciples since)… I can easily forget this remarkable reality in my life.  I oversleep and run late for my first meeting of the day. Now in a frantic mode, I blow past the beauty of flowers, the smell of a coffee shop, or the joy of a conversation. I’m too busy worrying about how to ​“catch up” on my schedule.  Besides being busy, the presence of certain technologies in my daily routine can be a constant distraction from the present moment and the Presence in front of me. My phone connects me to friends all over the world, but it can also disconnect me from the sacred human right in front of me.  Somewhere in the midst of my busy, distracted days is a loving God — constantly pursuing me with overtures of tenderness and soul-nurturing experiences. Did I even notice? Noticing God takes intentionality and openness on our part. It is easy to miss the good gifts that God holds out each and every day.

Prayer:

Written by Laura Talton, a contemporary writer.

 Father, thank you that you never leave us, even when life seems so ordinary and common. Thank you that you are still working in and through our lives of instant oatmeal and rent bills. Help us to see your grace in every aspect of our lives. We are so thankful for the opportunity to praise you in this very present minute. Amen.

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Written by Jenise Jones Vacarro, a consultant on business development and writer. This is an excerpt from her work “Trading Fear For Love.”

I am reminded of a quote from Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia where the lion, Aslan, says, “I am not safe, but I am good.” So it is with Christ as we follow His calling on our lives, particularly as lived out among those who reject Him. Our stand for Christ in the marketplace is definitely not “professionally safe.” He calls on His people to bear fruit, to be salt and light, to love unconditionally, to turn the other cheek…wow. Not a human recipe for success in the shark tank of business. But, we follow a good God who will, in the end, see us through potential rejection as we dispense with our fear of man and instead grow in the healthy fear of an infinitely good God. As we focus on Jesus and turn away from our fears, He changes our hearts, helping us to feel what His heart feels: compassion for the lost, and a great desire to see that every lost soul finds the Good Shepherd. So, I think of another lion in literature: the lion in The Wizard of Oz. He wanted courage. In the end, it was love in his heart that gave him what he needed. Love in our heart for Jesus and for others will be the thing that gives us the courage we lack.

Prayer:

Written by Rebecca Barlow Jordan, a contemporary author.

Feed me today with your daily bread. As the Bread of Life, your food, like manna, will sustain me throughout any trials and hungers. Help me to set my thoughts on things above and to speak only what will help and encourage others. Keep me from putting my foot in my mouth, and help me guard the affections of my heart today, Lord. Make whatever work I do be marked with excellence rather than perfectionism, as I seek not to make a name, but to make a difference. Help me to treat each person I encounter as you would, with respect and love, forgiving others and asking for forgiveness myself when needed. Amen.

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Written by Elizabeth Cheney (1957-1940), an American pioneer and writer. This is her poem “The Robin and the Sparrow.”

Said the Robin to the Sparrow:
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so?”

Said the Sparrow to the Robin:
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”

Prayer:

Written by Reuben Job, Norman Shawchuck, and John Mogabgab. This is a prayer based on Psalm 55 from their book “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk With God.”

Sometimes life seems unbearable. Our hearts and minds are weighed heavily upon, and we struggle to let go of all that burdens us for fear of losing the illusion of control we have over our lives. We call upon your name today, O God, that you may free us from worry and all that troubles our minds, bodies, and spirits. We put our trust in you, O God, this day and always. Amen.

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Written by Brian Morykon, a contemporary writer and director of communication for Renovare (an organization for spiritual formation).

As a recovering perfectionist, I crave order. When there’s disorder inside or around me, I become irritable and controlling and try to force order upon myself and others. That’s when the Spirit nudges me to the woods and stream behind my office. There, roots of trees jut out intertwined above the stream, the underground unveiled mid-air.  There, I come into what Wendell Barry calls the “peace of wild things.” There, I see that God isn’t afraid or in a hurry, that the Kingdom of God is wildly in order, and that I don’t have to carry everything I’ve been carrying—at least not alone. There, I can pray for the wide world and my little world and enter back into both with a little more hope.

Prayer:

Today’s prayer is from the PC-USA Book of Common Worship.

O Thou who has ordered this wondrous world, and who knowest all things in earth and heaven: So fill our hearts with trust in thee that by night and day, at all times and in all seasons, we may without fear commit all that we have and hope to be to thy never-failing love, for this life and the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Written by Timothy Keller (1950-2023), an American Calvinist pastor, preacher, theologian, and Christian apologist.

In 1971 I heard a talk—two illustrations—that changed my life. The woman, named Barbara Boyd, said, “If somebody says to me, ‘Come on in, Barbara, but stay out, Boyd,’ it’s a bit of a problem because I can’t separate them. It’s not like the top half of me is Barbara, and the bottom half of me is Boyd. So if you won’t have Boyd, you can’t get Barbara. If you’re going to keep the Boyd out, I can’t come in at all!” She continued: “To say, ‘Jesus, come into my life, forgive my sins, answer my prayers; do this for me, do that for me—but don’t be the absolute master of my life; Jesus, Savior, come in; but Lord, stay out,’ how can he come in at all? Because he’s all Savior, and he’s all Lord. He’s Lord because he’s Savior. He’s Savior because he’s Lord.”

Prayer:

Written by Stormie Omartian, a contemporary author and speaker.

God, I acknowledge You as Lord over every area of my life this day. Help me walk in Your perfect will in all that I do and everything that I say. Amen.

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