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MEDITATION:

Written by Trevor Hudson, a contemporary South African pastor, author, and speaker.

The picture of the prodigal son’s father shows his heart being filled with compassion. When something is full, there is no room for anything else. So, whatever else there is in God’s heart will flow compassionately towards us, whether it be God’s anger for our inhumanity to one another … I think God responds to that with anger because of God’s compassion. I’m not going soft here in the sense of, you know, a kind of “anything kind of goes.” Because God’s heart is filled with compassion, that has profound consequences for God’s response to injustice and to our own deceptive ways of living that hurt others. But we must never think, well, God is compassionate towards us until we go too far and then his compassion turns into something else. Even his justice is an expression of his compassion and his love. He doesn’t bid us to come and die so that we can then become lovable. He bids us to come and die because he loves us and wants to free us from that which enslaves us. It’s always that. The direction is always from love…Think of Paul’s saying that God has flooded our hearts through the Holy Spirit with God’s love. So, I’m living much more fully than ever before, and I want to invite the reader to do this, to remember that God’s compassion is already in us. Our hearts have been flooded by God’s compassion. And so, there is already, in my life, a reservoir of compassion. So, there’s not a case of: I have to make myself compassionate. But could I come at this a little bit differently? I don’t have to manufacture compassion. I don’t have to try to be compassionate. But maybe I can notice what blocks it, and then just let it flow, naturally. I don’t have to change gears, and now switch on God’s compassion in this encounter, but what does it mean to let the reservoir of compassion flow?

PRAYER:

Written by Scott Cairns, a contemporary American poet, professor, librettist, and spiritual essayist.

Beloved Lover of humankind, soften our hearts so that we too may have compassion for those who suffer, so that we too may give gladly of our time and treasure to those in need. May nothing we do be done in strikfe, but in confidence and in  peace. May nothing we do be done in foolish pride, but in lowliness of mind let us esteem others as greater than ourselves. May we esteem the needs of others as greater than our own. May we look with kindness and compassion upon their burdens. May our hearts become as tender wombs prepared to receive your grace, that in due time may we bring forth the joyful fruit of your Spirit. May this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus. That being God he made himself impoverished, and took upon himself the form of a servant, humbled himself, and was obedient unto death — yet a death that has brought all to life. May we suspect our own power to say yes to whatever our God asks of us. We ask this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Oscar Romero (1917-1980) was the 4th archbishop of San Salvador. He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture.

It helps, now and then, to step back, and take the long view. The Kingdom of Heaven is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about. We will plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but everything is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are the workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future of our own. May that future be filled with grace, peace, and hope.

PRAYER:

Written by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians (1:9-12).

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

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MEDITATION:

Written by John North, a contemporary evangelist and team leader at Ambassadors for Christ International-Australia.

God has a purpose for you. He’s at work in this world and he wants to work through you. We like to talk about how God blesses us, answers our prayers, enables us, and loves us. As long as “us” is the keyword, we love that. But at the heart of all life in this universe is the God who created it. Life, even your life, is not about you. It’s about God. When you encounter someone, don’t think of how they make you feel or what they can do for you. Rather, ask yourself and God why God put you in that conversation and what his purpose might be through you in that person’s life. Sometimes we think that the only way God wants to speak through us is when we share the gospel. But both before and after a person turns to Christ, there are other ways God wants to use us in their lives. Make yourself available to God and see what he does with you!

PRAYER:

Written by Betty Scott Stam (1906-1934), an American Christian missionary to China, who was executed with her husband during the Chinese Civil War.

Lord, I give up my own plans and purposes, all my own desires, hopes and ambitions, and I accept Your will for my life. I give up myself, my life, my all, utterly to You, to be Yours forever. I hand over to Your keeping all of my friendships; all the people whom I love are to take second place in my heart. Fill me now and seal me with Your Spirit. Work out Your whole will in my life at any cost, for to me to live is Christ. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Emily Rose Massey, a contemporary author.

Any situation that stirs up strong emotional responses- especially that of hurt, offense, and disappointment- needs the direction and wisdom of scripture to bring clarity to those intense and very valid emotions. We must not allow our flesh to rule in the situation. When we are being led by the Spirit, it means that we are putting to death the ways of the flesh because the sins and desires of the flesh are against the Spirit.  This is not a passive or mysterious “leading” or “subjective feeling” but rather an active, ever-present fight in the life of the believer to learn what it means to walk in love, be gracious and merciful, and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. Thankfully, we as disciples of Christ are not left to human subjectivity and confusion in this leading; We have God’s word as a lamp to our feet in a world of darkness and sin…When I am tempted to expose someone’s wrong-doing or sin towards me or others, the Bible urges me to love them by covering them with grace and mercy instead. For me, one way that I applied this is that I deleted screenshots that I was saving on my phone of the hurtful and error-filled things that had been said online. I was attempting to build a case against this person- to truly “put them in their place.” But ultimately, I needed to pray for this individual and watch my words about them to others. Instead of “stalking” their ministry page online, I chose to unfollow and mute their posts (even if for a season) because it was causing bitterness and a cynical attitude to rise up in my heart about them. In those moments when I am hurt, upset, or offended, I must extend grace, which doesn’t mean that we don’t lovingly rebuke, correct, or warn when necessary because that is also extending love toward others. But after that difficult confrontation has taken place, we must release that situation to the Lord, and He will be the One to vindicate us if we truly have been wronged or sinned against. We need to rest in His sovereignty and trust that He will work in that person’s heart as well as ours as He teaches us to truly love others like He does. Above all, we must remember that every person is made in the image of God, and they deserve love and respect no matter their actions or words towards us. May the love and mercy that has been given to us from the Lord flow to the most difficult of people in our life. 

PRAYER:

Written by Augustine of Hippo (354-430), an early Christian theologian and philosopher. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius (modern day Annaba, Algeria) and is viewed as one of the most important church fathers in Western Christianity.

Lord, I commit my failures  as well as my successes into your hands, and I bring for your healing the people and the situations, the wrongs and the hurts of the past. Give me courage, strength and generosity to let go and move on, leaving the past behind me, and living the present to the full. Lead me always to be positive as I ‘entrust the past to your mercy, the present to your love, and the future to your providence’. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Gregory of Nyssa (331-396), one of three Greek Cappadocian fathers who has been called “one of the most powerful and original thinkers ever known in the history of the church.

Since the goal of the virtuous way of life is the very thing we have been seeking, it is time for you, noble friend, to be known by God and to become his friend. This is true perfection: not to avoid a wicked life because like slaves we servilely fear punishment, nor to do good because we hope for rewards, as if cashing in on the virtuous life by some business-like arrangement. On the contrary, disregarding all those things for which we hope and which have been reserved by promise, we regard falling from God’s friendship as the only thing dreadful and we consider becoming God’s friend the only thing worthy of honor and desire. This, as I have said, is the perfection of life. As your understanding is lifted up to what is magnificent and divine, whatever you may find (and I know full well that you will find many things) will most certainly be for the common benefit in Christ Jesus…  Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

PRAYER:

Written by Richard of Chichester (1197-1253), an English priest who was later elected as the Bishop of Chichester, but Henry III would not recognize him.

O most merciful Redeemer, friend, and brother,

May we know Thee more clearly,

Love Thee more dearly,

And follow Thee more nearly,

Day by day. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Gregory of Nyssa (331-396), one of three Greek Cappadocian fathers who has been called “one of the most powerful and original thinkers ever known in the history of the church.

The perfection of everything which can be measured by the senses is marked off by certain definite boundaries. Quantity, for example, admits both continuity and limitation. The person who looks at the number ten knows that its perfection consists in the fact that it has both a beginning and an end.  But in the case of virtue, we have learned from the Apostle that it’s one limit of perfection is the fact that it has no limit. For that divine Apostle, great and lofty in understanding, ever running the course of virtue, never ceased straining toward those things that are still to come. Coming to a stop in the race was not safe for him. Why? Because no Good has a limit in its own nature but is limited by the presence of its opposite, as life is limited by death and light by darkness. And every good thing generally ends with all those things which are perceived to be contrary to the good. Just as the end of life is the beginning of death, so also stopping in the race of virtue marks the beginning of the race of evil. Thus, our statement that grasping perfection with reference to virtue is impossible was not false, for it has been pointed out that what has been marked off by boundaries is not virtue. I said that it is also impossible for those who pursue the life of virtue to attain perfection. The meaning of this statement will be explained. The Divine One is himself the Good (in the primary and proper sense of the word), whose very nature is goodness. This he is and he is so named and is known by this nature. Since then, it has not been demonstrated that there is any limit to virtue except evil, and since the Divine does not admit of an opposite, we hold the divine nature to be unlimited and infinite. Certainly, whoever pursues true virtue participates in nothing other than God, because he is himself absolute virtue. Since then, those who know what is good by nature desire participation in it, and since this good has no limit, the participant’s desire itself necessarily has no stopping place but stretches out with the limitless. It is therefore undoubtedly impossible to attain perfection, since, as I have said, perfection is not marked off by limits: The one limit of virtue is the absence of a limit. How then would one arrive at the sought-for boundary when he can find no boundary? Although on the whole, my argument has shown that what is sought for is unattainable, one should not disregard the commandment of the Lord which says, Therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly father is perfect. For in the case of those things which are good by nature, even if men of understanding were not able to attain everything, by attaining even a part they could yet gain a great deal.

PRAYER:

Written by Padre Pio Padre Pio (1887-1968), an Italian friar, priest, and mystic.

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You. Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness. Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will. Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You. Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company. Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You. Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I wish it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love. Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes, death, judgement, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile! Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You. Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of bread, so that the Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart. Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love. Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it, but, the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You! Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for. Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more. With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Angus Buchan, a contemporary author and evangelist  from South Africa.  This is an excerpt from his book “In Quietness and Trust.”

Mahatma Gandhi was the first prime minister of India. He had a quarter of the world’s population eating out of the palm of his hand. He said that he would have no problem following after Jesus Christ; but he felt he could not reconcile himself to Jesus’ followers. This is a sad indictment against us as ambassadors of Jesus. Gandhi came out from England to South Africa as the Queen’s Council. One day he was traveling in first class on a train. When he asked for bedding, he was thrown off the train in Pietemaritzburg, because of the color of his skin. That night he sat on the platform and he made a decision that he would stand up for righteousness and truth. If we are ambassadors then our lives have to be in line with what we say. We are not Christ’s lawyers, we are His witnesses. We don’t have to argue with people about Jesus, we don’t have to try and persuade people to become Christians. The greatest asset we have—the greatest credential that the church of Jesus Christ has—is love. As Christians, we are to love people into the Kingdom of God. You need to know in whom to believe and what to believe.

PRAYER:

Written by Angus Buchan, author of today’s meditation.

Father God, today I come before You acknowledging that there are times that I allow prejudice to overrule my desire to share Your love with others. Forgive me, I pray. Wash me clean and give me a heart filled with love. My witness is worth nothing if it is not infused with love for others. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Lisa Ham, a contemporary author.  This is an excerpt from her book “Devotions from the Mountains.”

The mountains offer us a chance to see the world afresh. Whether we hike or drive, take a chairlift or snowmobile, we get away, breathe fresh air, and see the view. From high on a mountain, the world looks very different. We can see so much more.  Roads dwindle into the distance, and cities look like toy models, if we can glimpse them at all. Faraway hills and peaks may take some work to identify as you see them from a new angle. The landscape stretches out before us, and we gain perspective. Breathing room. Our minds clear a bit. We get some distance, literally and figuratively, from all the things that stress us out. We are calmed. We breathe easier. Our nerves are soothed.

As stunning as that change of viewpoint is, it’s nothing at all compared to the difference between God’s thoughts and our thoughts. He sees everything, knows everything, understands everything. His thoughts and ways are unimaginably higher than ours. And He is love. Because we are secure in His love, we sometimes lose sight of how holy and awe-inspiring God is. Not that we can really comprehend how holy and awe-inspiring He is! But as much as our finite little minds can grasp…we forget even that limited understanding of God’s majesty. Just as we often feel both humbled and exhilarated by the mountains, it is fitting to be humbled and exhilarated in God’s presence. We cannot comprehend His mind or His thoughts, and yet He kindly invites us to draw near. As it says in Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

PRAYER:

Written by Lisa Ham, author of today’s meditation.

Dear Father, You are my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Lord. I yield to You and I worship You. Thank You for Your kindness. Please shepherd me through this day. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), an abbot and co-founder of the Knights Templars and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order.

The Word of God is indeed a living and effective arrow, sharper than any two-edged sword to pierce the hearts of men. There is another, chosen dart: the love of Christ. This love of His is tender, wise, and strong. Tender in that He took on Him our flesh; careful and wise in that He guarded against sin; and strong in that He suffered death. It is a thing beyond all measure sweet to look upon man’s maker as a Man … a loving Friend, a prudent Counsellor, a mighty helper He! I trust myself entirely to Him who willed to save me, knew the way to do it, and had the power to carry out the work. He has sought me out and called me by His grace.

PRAYER:

Written by Bernard of Clairvaux, the author of today’s meditation.

High and Holy God, give me this day a word of truth to silence the lies that would devour my soul and kind encouragements to strengthen me when I fall. Gracious One, I come quietly to your door needing to receive from your hands the nourishment that gives life. Amen and Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Gary Chapman, a contemporary author.

Growing up, Mary Beth knew her parents loved her, but they were restrained in showing their love. She fondly remembers her childhood bedtime routine, because then she heard their love most clearly. Every night as her mother tucked her in bed she told Mary Beth, “Always remember: Mommy loves you. Daddy loves you. And Jesus loves you most of all.” Now Mary Beth is grown and her mother’s spirited personality has faded under the ravages of Alzheimer’s. As Mary Beth and her father care for her mom, Mary Beth holds her mother’s hands and echoes the words her mom said to her years ag “Always remember: I love you. Dad loves you. And Jesus loves you most of all.” Mary Beth doesn’t know how much her mother understands. She does know that these simple words speak to her own heart because they remind her that God’s love in us is powerful no matter how we feel. Our love is incomplete, but we keep loving people, knowing that Jesus is at work through us to show others the love of our heavenly Father. It is God who loves us more than we can imagine. It is God who gives us the desire to love others extravagantly. And it is God who reminds us that Christ’s unfailing love in us is what matters—most of all. 

PRAYER:

Written by Dennis Yount (1941-1984), a Marine, bartender, and actor.

In the Name of Love, we have come.

In the Name of Love, we are here.

And, in the Name of Love we will go.

Knowing in our Hearts and in our Souls

that what we have experienced is truly Divine.

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