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MEDITATION:

Written by Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), an English poet and cultural critic. This is an excerpt from his work “The Buried Life.”

But often, in the world’s most crowded streets
But often, in the din of strife
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life:
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart which beats
So wild, so deep in us—to know
Whence our lives come and where they go.

PRAYER:

Written by the Rev. Michaela Youngson, a Methodist minister from London. She is a poet, author, and broadcaster.

Merciful Father, you have not stood aloof from our joys and sorrows, but, in your Son Jesus Christ, you have entered into our happiness and our sadness. Teach us that it is by involving ourselves in all that enriches human life that true meaning is to be found, and that it is by keeping ourselves from all that debases human life that true joy is to be experienced. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), one of the greatest preachers and churchmen in American history. He is credited with bringing about the first Great Awakening of American history.

There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men’s hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist Him, nor can any deliver out of His hands. He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but He can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God…Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God’s enemies combine and associated themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by; thus easy is it for God, when He pleases, to cast His enemies down to hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before Him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?

PRAYER:

This is a prayer transcribed from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 I have reached the inner vision

and through Thy spirit in me

I have heard Thy wondrous secret.

Through Thy mystic insight

Thou hast caused a spring of knowledge

to well up within me,

a fountain of power,

pouring forth living waters,

a flood of love

and of all-embracing wisdom

like the splendor of eternal Light.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Dallas Willard (1935-2013), an American philosopher, theologian, and author .  This is an excerpt from his book “The Spirit of the Disciplines.”

The persons and ministries of John the Baptist and of Jesus himself, both rich in the practice of activities designed to strengthen the spirit, were held constantly before [early Christians]. So, wherever early Christians looked they saw examples of the practice of solitude, fasting, prayer, private study, communal study, worship, and sacrificial service and giving—to mention only some of the more obvious disciplines for spiritual life. These early Christians really did arrange their lives very differently from their non-Christian neighbors, as well as from the vast majority of those of us called Christians today. We are speaking of their overall style of life, not just what they did under pressure, which frequently was also astonishingly different…We can become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of the Father.  What activities did Jesus practice? Such things as solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, intense study and meditation upon God’s Word and God’s ways, and service to others. Some of these will certainly be even more necessary to us than they were to him, because of our greater or different needs. But in a balanced life of activities, we will be constantly enlivened by “The Kingdom Not of this World.” … Faith today is treated as something that only should make us different, not that actually does or can make us different. In reality, we vainly struggle against the evils of this world, waiting to die and go to heaven. Somehow we’ve gotten the idea that the essence of faith is entirely a mental and inward thing…We have simply let our thinking fall into the grip of a false opposition of grace to “works” that was caused by a mistaken association of works with “merit.” … Today, we think of Christ’s power entering our lives in various ways—through the sense of forgiveness and love for God or through the awareness of truth, through special experiences of the infusion of the Spirit, through the presence of Christ in the inner life or through the power of ritual and liturgy or the preaching of the Word, through the communion of saints or through a heightened consciousness of the depths and mysteries of life. All of these are doubtlessly real and of some good effect. However, neither individually nor collectively do any of these ways reliably produce large numbers of people who really are like Christ and his closest followers throughout history…when we call men and women to life in Christ Jesus we are offering them the opportunity of a vivid companionship with him, in “transforming friendship.” We meet and dwell with Jesus and his Father in the disciplines for the spiritual life.

PRAYER:

Written by David Mathis, a contemporary author and editor.

Lord, thank you for your abundant, abounding grace. Thank you that we don’t have to earn a drop of the mighty river of grace that flows freely for us today. Thank you for the unexpected, unmerited favor you’ve showered on my life. Help me put myself in the path of your love and grace. Help me not neglect the disciplines I need to meet with you regularly and to drink from the water of life. Thank you for your rich love. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Martha Graybeal Rowlett, a contemporary pastor, and author. This is an excerpt from her book “Praying Together.”

Shared prayer adds power to the work of intercession. Christians dare to believe that God needs and wants our prayers, our compassionate intercession for one another and for the world. Through our prayers for one another, circumstances are changed, and the work of the kingdom is done. An individual may feel overwhelmed by the needs of the world, or even the needs of a single congregation, but there is strength in numbers. Individuals gain courage for the task of intercession when the community prays together, aware of Christ’s presence among those gathered in his name. And the person for whom prayers are offered feels the added force of multiple prayers.

PRAYER:

Written by Mother Marie de Laroche (1812-1857) a French noblewoman who became the co-foundress of the Sisters of Divine Providence. La Roche University is named in honor of her.

We pray in the strength of Your sovereign name. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by L.B. Cowman (1870-1960), an American author. This is an excerpt from her work “The Silver Lining.”

The Lord imparts unto us that primary strength of character which makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” And the strength is continuous; reserves of power come to us which we cannot exhaust. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be”—strength of will, strength of affection, strength of judgment, strength of ideals and achievement. “The Lord is my strength” to go on. He gives us power to tread the dead level, to walk the long lane that seems never to have a turning, to go through those long reaches of life which afford no pleasant surprise, and which depress the spirits in the sameness of a terrible drudgery. “The Lord is my strength” to go up. He is to me the power by which I can climb the Hill Difficulty and not be afraid. “The Lord is my strength” to go down. It is when we leave the bracing heights, where the wind and the sun have been about us, and when we begin to come down the hill into closer and more sultry spheres, that the heart is apt to grow faint. I heard a man say the other day concerning his growing physical frailty, “It is the coming down that tires me!” “The Lord is my strength” to sit still. And how difficult is the attainment! Do we not often say to one another, in seasons when we are compelled to be quiet, “If only I could do something!” When the child is ill, and the mother stands by in comparative impotence, how severe is the test! But to do nothing, just to sit still and wait, requires tremendous strength. “The Lord is my strength!” “Our sufficiency is of God.”

PRAYER:

Written by John Calvin (1509-1564), a French theologian, pastor, reformer of the Protestant Reformation, and principal figure in developing the theology known as Calvinism.

Almighty God and Father, grant unto us, because we have to go through much strife on this earth, the strength of thy Holy Spirit, in order that we may courageously go through the fire, and through the water, and that we may put ourselves so under thy rule that we may go to meet death in full confidence of your assistance and without fear.   Grant us also that we may bear all hatred and enmity of mankind until we have gained the last victory, and that we may at last come to that blessed rest which thy only begotten Son has acquired for us through his blood.  Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Os Hillman, a contemporary speaker, author, and consultant on faith at work.

A story is told of a western missionary group that was sitting with a foreign visitor planning strategy for an upcoming evangelistic trip to his country. One man led in prayer, asking for God’s help in planning their activities. The visitor was surprised how the meeting quickly moved to the planning phase after only a few minutes of focused prayer. He turned to the leader and said, “You have taught us the scriptures well in our country. However, I’ve noticed when it comes to prayer you spend so little time in prayer listening and much time in planning.” The western believers were convicted by his words.

Martha was Mary’s older sister. Older sisters always think they know best. They tend to mother the younger siblings. So, when Jesus came over to spend an evening at their home Martha wanted to prepare a special meal. She noticed Mary was spending all her time in the living room listening to Jesus. Martha finally felt compelled to appeal to Jesus about the situation. “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her'” (Luke 10:40-42).  Jesus reveals a danger in this story that each of us must be aware of. When our concern for serving Jesus exceeds our need to be with Jesus, we are in danger of focusing on the lesser thing. The hardest thing to do for most workplace believers is to sit and listen. It is easier to do. Today, begin to spend more time listening before you begin doing.

PRAYER:

Written by Henry Baron, a contemporary professor and founder of the Festival of Faith and Writing group. This prayer is from his book “Talking With God.”

I must follow you, Lord, on this journey. I must go where you went with eyes and ears wide open if I’m to change.… keep me listening, Lord of all let me not get lost or hide among the heedless sons and daughters of my own Jerusalem. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Danny E. Morris, a contemporary retired pastor and author, and Charles M. Olsen, a contemporary author.  This is an excerpt from their book “Discerning God’s Will Together.”

The purpose and goal of spiritual discernment is knowing and doing God’s will. We can easily become enamored with discernment definitions, strategies for holding meetings, the emotional rush of doing something new, or even the self-adulation for attempting to do something spiritual. The newness of our endeavor may compromise our vision if we fail to see the urgency of knowing and doing God’s will. We must keep our eyes and hearts on our purpose and goal.

PRAYER:

Written by Renee Swope is a contemporary Christian author and speaker. This prayer is from The Manger of My Heart from Proverbs 31 Ministries.

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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Written by Gary Abud, Jr., a contemporary educator and teacher.  This is excerpted from his article “God Pursued Me and Transformed Every Part of My Life.”

MEDITATION:

I grew up going to church on Sundays and going through all the motions of the church tradition in which I was raised. Yet, even still, it was not a personal faith for me, and it never really changed my life. I was a cultural Christian at best, punching the clock, as it were, on Sundays, but living as if God didn’t exist Monday through Saturday. It just seemed to me like everything on Sundays was done to please God so He would accept us, and that was all that mattered—what I did, not what He had done. That made me feel like I had control over how God responded to me, because the emphasis was always placed on what we did on Sundays, while the rest of the week didn’t seem to matter.  I grew tired of just going through the motions and found the whole thing disingenuous…So, I kicked God out of the car of my life in pursuit of my new god—career—and put myself in the driver’s seat of my life. Little did I know that ambition was actually the driving force, and I was but a passenger. For quite some time that approach panned out well; it brought me great worldly success. Yet with every achievement, I continued to feel emptier inside. I sacrificed everything, including my family, on the altar of career and built my identity on my success. And it worked—until it didn’t anymore… At that time, I encountered faithful Christians from around the U.S. in an exclusive leadership development program in which I was participating…I was drawn to the teaching of Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath. I found a Jesus who was unlike any I had ever encountered before. This Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their empty religious traditions and offered a rest in Himself from our striving. This introduced me to a Christianity that was not about what you did to get God’s love, but how God’s love could get your heart—and that would transform your actions.  This concept ran so counter to my lifelong experience with faith that it profoundly affected me. I was missing the Gospel before then; I couldn’t fully grasp why the Good News was good news for me…I came to realize that there was not only a different God out there than the one I had constructed for myself, but that there was also plenty of good evidence to consider the claims of Christianity as sound… I learned that what we know about God must come from what we know about Jesus, because He is God in the flesh. And that comes from knowing what God has revealed to us in His Word, which teaches us about God so that we might know Him rightly. It was a working-from-the-finish-line-backward approach, I might say, to a right theology…It not only ignited, but fanned into flame a newfound desire for God that led me to see, love, and worship Jesus as king—to worship the God of scripture, not the god of my own making.

PRAYER:

Written by Paige Deane, a contemporary author.

Lord, you are my God. You take priority over everything in my life. I am your disciple and I will put you first. Lord, help me to leave everything behind for your sake. Help me to hold fast to your truth, your commands, and your desires for my life. You are the most important thing. There is not even a second. You are the only priority in my life. Help me to view everything else only through you as my one priority. Help me to stay grounded in what I know to be true and reject anything that is a lie. Amen.

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Written by John Henry Jowett (1863-1923), a British preacher and author.

MEDITATION:

In one of my garden books, there is a chapter with a very interesting heading, “Flowers that Grow in the Gloom.” It deals with those patches in a garden that never catch the sunlight. And my guide tells me the sort of flowers that are not afraid of these dingy corners–may rather like them and flourish in them. And there are similar things in the world of the spirit. They come out when material circumstances become stern and severe. They grow in the gloom. How can we otherwise explain some of the experiences of the Apostle Paul? Here he is in captivity at Rome. The supreme mission of his life appears to be broken. But it is just in this besetting dinginess that flowers begin to show their faces in bright and fascinating glory. He may have seen them before, growing in the open road, but never as they now appeared in incomparable strength and beauty. Words of promise opened out their treasures as he had never seen them before. Among those treasures were such wonderful things as the grace of Christ, the love of Christ, the joy and peace of Christ; and it seemed as though they needed an “encircling gloom” to draw out their secret and their inner glory. At any rate, the realm of gloom became the home of revelation, and Paul began to realize as never before the range and wealth of his spiritual inheritance. Who has not known men and women who, when they arrive at seasons of gloom and solitude, put on strength and hopefulness like a robe? You may imprison such folk where you please, but you shut up their treasure with them. You cannot shut it out. You may make their material lot a desert, but “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.”

PRAYER:

Written by Nathaniel Simons, a contemporary author.

Thank you for the faults and areas for growth that allow us to depend ever so increasingly on You. You’ve aligned our path, destined us toward a special purpose, and called us to seek Your face on the journey toward fulfilling that purpose. Thank You for the mentors who light the way when our paths seem most dark. Thank You for buffering our weakness and inadequacies with men and women who have been there and have the wisdom to motivate us out of there.  As we progress in our purpose, we pray that you allow us to tune our ears toward wisdom and also lead others out of darkness and into light. Amen.

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Written by Sarah E. Martin, a contemporary writer.

MEDITATION:

I was again hearing the words spoken to me my whole life. From flannel graphs in Sunday school to today’s sermon preached from Genesis 3. I had heard this story before. I was a guest in my friend’s church which met in an old chapel with all the traditional trimmings—pews, hymnals, and the smell of old wood. The pastor preached on the Fall, the fateful turn of humanity’s tale when man’s faith in God shattered, and so did everything else. Sin entered the world, and what was formerly home and belonging became unreachable and lost. God’s voice was no longer the only one we listened to. As the pastor told this story, he delivered a powerful presentation of the gospel. He made connections within Scripture that drew out a certain angle of the light of the good news that my heart just happened to need to hear that week. You would think that after all these years, I would cease to be amazed by the Bible’s message and all the ways we can see it from Genesis to Revelation. You’d think that eventually, I would graduate and perfectly embody all of its truth in each corner of my life and wouldn’t need it poured into my ears over and over again. But, reader, I do. And so do you.  Though the stories never change, the essential message that we are broken, and Christ is the answer remains the same, and God continually delivers it anew to us as we walk along the way. He’s made us to need his Word like we need food, to come to life as his Spirit helps us hear what we couldn’t before. Every verse of the Bible tells us that to be alive, to be sustained, to remain vital, with fresh life pouring and flowing through us, we need words. Though I had heard it countless times, I have a tendency, symptomatic of being human, to let even the most sacred truths sit filed away, archived like a thing I’ve collected rather than the living, breathing thing it is, “dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow” (Hebrews 4:12). If this happens to the gospel in your life, you will quickly begin to work and strive for what Jesus has already done for you, placing a yoke that isn’t his, and therefore isn’t freedom, back on your sore shoulders. But hearing the pastor deliver God’s Word afresh both humbled me and lifted me in the way that only Jesus can do. The truth is that mankind failed, and we continue to fail. But God sent his son, Jesus, to become like us and to do the unthinkable by taking on our curse so we might be free … This is the good news we need to hear and receive every day—that we’re sinners, and Christ is our savior. Whether it’s from a pastor, a minister, a family member, or a friend, hearing the gospel spoken out loud, taking shape in another person’s words is life-giving to our faith. When was the last time someone spoke these words out loud to you? When was the last time you spoke them out loud to someone else? Or even to yourself? It is easy to forget the power of words. In the daily onslaught of messaging and information, words can gradually become common, misused, and drained of their worth. But Christians can’t forget our need for the words that come from the mouth of God. In the beginning, God spoke, and a cosmos of life and light and earth and stars erupted out of nothing, spread across all existing space, and continues to expand to this day. The words of God began life in the most literal as well as spiritual sense. It shouldn’t surprise us then that it is the Word of God that sustains the life in us. When we believe in Christ, God puts a new spirit in us that is living, active, and sustained by God himself. His words and our abiding in them is what feeds that life.

PRAYER:

This prayer is from the First Presbyterian Church, Grand Junction, Colorado.

Living God, through Jesus Christ

you emptied the power of death

and gave us the gift of life in fullness.

Now dry our tears and send us out

to tell the good news of the gospel: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Amen.

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