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MEDITATION:

Written by John Carmody (1939-1995), a professor of religious studies and author. This is an excerpt from his book “How to Make It Through the Day.”

The only time that is fully real is the present. Yesterday is old news and tomorrow is full of maybes. This is obvious enough when one reflects on it, but it takes most of us many years to realize its full implications. So most of us spend a great deal of our time daydreaming about the past or worrying about the future. Not realizing the value of the real bird we have in hand, we leave the present to go rooting in past or future bushes. As a result, the personal business that should stand highest on our agenda often never gets done. What is this personal business? Finding peace of mind, and so happiness, right here and now. Learning to live that we savor each day, waste none of the precious moments God has given us.

PRAYER:

Written by Jerusalem Greer, a contemporary pastor, teacher, speaker, and author.

Oh God, help me be here. May I open my hands to what is instead of just waiting for what might be. Thank you for the signs of life around me.  Especially the messy ones. Help me know when to let go and when to hold tight. Forgive me for trying to do it all alone. May I accept help even when it is imperfect. Help me trust that I am loved. Just as I am. Thank you that you are you. And that you are good. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Chelsea Crockett, a contemporary author.

All of us go through things that “break” us. The break might be a small chip or crack, or more like something shattering into a million pieces. And then we struggle to glue the pieces back together. Some wounds are so deep only Christ can bring the healing and forgiveness we need to move on. But when we invite Him into our pain, He not only has the ability to heal us, He can also use us in extraordinary ways. When someone asks about a hard time in our lives, most of us take a second and go back to that moment. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, and other times it can be absolutely heartbreaking. A lot of us don’t want to go there, so it can be hard to let others peer into that part of our lives. What we often don’t recognize, though, is the beauty in the midst of our trials. How can there be beauty in the struggle?…No matter what has happened in our lives, we can be comforted that God is there. I imagine walking through the roughest times in my life but feeling the most amazing peace and comfort. I think that’s what God wants us to be reminded of. This world is full of hardship, but we can be comforted in knowing that He knows our hearts more than anyone, even ourselves. He hears our cries and wants us to run to Him.

PRAYER:

Written by Toddy Holeman, a contemporary seminary professor.

Gracious and Loving God, You surround us with your loyal and faithful presence every moment of every day. We are never alone, Lord, for you are with us. Yet, in our own moments of anxiety we may feel isolated from you, even abandoned by you. Help us to return our eyes to you when we are caught in waves of anxiety because when we are able to focus our attention on you, Immanuel, God with us, our fears recede, diminish, and fade away. In returning to You, we are captivated in increasing measure by your calming Presence. Holy Spirit, help us to fix our eyes upon Jesus, the one who invites us to draw near in times of trouble and find true peace.

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MEDITATION:

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

No church is any better or worse than the individual Christians who compose it….One consequence of our failure to see clearly the true nature of revival is that we wait for years for some supernatural manifestation that never comes, overlooking completely our own individual place in the desired awakening. Whatever God may do for a church must be done in the single unit, the one certain man or woman. Some things can happen only to the isolated, single person; they cannot be experienced en masse. Statistics show, for instance, that 100 babies are born in a certain city on a given day. Yet the birth of each baby is for the baby a unique experience, an isolated, personal thing. Fifty people die in a plane crash; while they die together they die separately, one at a time, each one undergoing the act of death in a loneliness of soul as utter as if he alone had died. Both birth and death are experienced by the individual in a loneness as complete as if only that one person had even known them. Three thousand persons were converted at Pentecost, but each one met his sin and his Savior alone. The spiritual birth, like the natural one, is for each one a unique, separate experience shared in by no one. And so with that uprush of resurgent life we call revival. It can come to the individual only.

PRAYER:

Written by Carmen Brown, a contemporary author.

Lord, May I always present my body to you as holy and acceptable. May I give my body spiritually to you as a living sacrifice. Use me as You will Lord. Send me where you need me to be. Whether to a neighbor’s home to show an act of kindness or on a mission across the oceans to fulfill a ministry that will ignite revival in Your people. May my mind always be ready and alert to renewing it daily.  May I learn how to discern where You need me. 

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MEDITATION:

Written by Ken Boa, a contemporary pastor, writer, and president of Reflections Ministries. This is an excerpt from his book “Conformed to His Image: Biblical, Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation.”

Why do you get up in the morning? What is your reason for being here? If you do not answer these questions about your purpose, the world will define your purpose by default. Arriving at a biblical understanding of purpose is fundamental to the way you live…Determining your purpose cannot stem from merely doing—your interior life fuels your purpose. You have a clear calling in Christ, but you must have intimacy with Christ in order to know your purpose and act on it. Excellence starts with the spiritual first, animating moral excellence, enhancing relational excellence, and leading to functional excellence. We are often more concerned with the exterior than the interior—in the life of the church, for example, we look at attendance, buildings, and finances instead of focusing on discipleship. But the quality of our interior life cannot be quantified. Our calling stems from that interior life. It can be easy to focus on surviving, just getting by—but we are here to thrive. God calls us to a purposeful life that bears fruit for Him. We set our standards too low if our only goal is simply to make it. Remembering death can help us develop a clearer sense of calling. We have all been given a death sentence. Unless the Lord returns first, every one of us will die. As a result, if our hope is in this world, we have a misplaced hope. We are called to anticipate the eternal—the true land of the living. Our calling transcends this world. What is this calling? First, we are called to a Person, Jesus Christ. Second, He calls us to express this relationship with Him in every aspect of our lives, recognizing that the final outcome of our lives is in His hands. We are agents of the kingdom to come, manifesting the life of that kingdom. With that sense of destiny, we walk in faith, hope, and love.

PRAYER:

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

Father, Give me a heart like that of Mary’s, willing to agree with Your Word, Your promises, and Your intent for my life. With Mary there was no negotiating, no hemming or hawing, no 24 hours to think about it, no keeping her options open. You simply spoke, and she unhesitatingly responded with a Yes. You have an intent for me. That purpose will have its challenges, its high points and low points, its joys and sorrows, but Your plan is far and above the best plan for my short life. May my soul be transformed into one that instantly obeys you, comes when You call, follows your lead, and believes Your Word even when I can’t fully comprehend it, for Your Word is Truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by George Young, a contemporary missionary and pastor.

Today we might paraphrase Proverbs 15:1  to say that “a gentle answer defuses wrath.” An argument can easily escalate to the point where a single harsh word can cause an explosion of anger. If that happens, the blast can deal out sorrow and endless regret. But a gentle word, with a feather­-light touch, can remove the fuse, or whatever might trigger such an explosion. And those who were arguing can step back, take a breath, and avoid incalculable damage to their relationship. In a passage dealing with trouble between believers, Paul advises, “Let your gentleness be evident to all” (Philippians 4:5). He lists gentleness among the qualities with which we should clothe ourselves: “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, ­humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). And the apostle Peter says that a gentle spirit “is of great worth in God’s sight” 1 Peter 3:4. Many people today scorn the quality of gentleness because our times have been infected with a belligerent spirit, preferring confrontation, the harsh demand, the merciless fight. As you go about your day, do you prefer harshness and belligerence? Or is gentleness evident in your words and actions? Do others see that quality of Christ imitated in you?

PRAYER:

Written by George Young, author of today’s meditation.

Lord, our spirits are weary from the warfare of this world. We long for your gentleness. Transform our rough and harsh hearts, and give us a gentle and quiet spirit. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Scott Hoezee, a contemporary pastor, seminary instructor, radio broadcaster, and author.

Paul was a contented Christian. Yes, he could put up with all kinds of things (good and bad), in Christ’s strength. Still, everyone needs a little help from friends now and then. And there is nothing wrong with admitting that. The Philippians had helped Paul by supplying him with some money, and perhaps some food and clothing, on more than one occasion. That did not go unnoticed, and Paul did not pretend that he didn’t need the help, or that he would have been just fine without it. Paul admitted that it was kind and helpful of the Philippians to send their gifts to him. He even said that the Philip­pians did a better job than some other congregations he had worked with. Here it seems that Paul was engaging in a bit of back-handed shaming toward those other churches, and this may be surprising to us. But from earlier in this letter, we know where Paul was coming from. It’s not that he was begging for money or trying to manipulate anyone. For Paul, generosity was clearly a part of the whole Jesus package. Living generous lives shows that we “get it” when it comes to the gospel. In response to God’s amazing grace, we give too! And Paul dearly wanted everyone to under­stand this—because getting Jesus right is the most important thing in the whole universe!

PRAYER:

Written by Scott Hoezee, the author of today’s meditation.

Lord Jesus, you gave yourself for us, emptying yourself of everything but your great love. Help us to catch this vision and to lead generous lives of self-giving always. In your name, Amen.

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MEDITATION:

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

Many people have the misconception that being “called” by God is something only missionaries, pastors, nuns, and other church leaders experience. But the Bible says everyone is called to serve God by serving others…We are not saved by serving, but we are saved for serving. The Apostle Paul gives three insights related to this: First, the basis for serving others is salvation…You cannot serve God until you’ve been set free by Jesus. It’s the prerequisite for serving. Until you experience the transforming power of God’s grace in your life, you’re too enslaved by your own hurts, habits, and hang-ups to think much about others. Without the freedom of forgiveness, you’ll end up serving for the wrong reasons: trying to earn the approval of others, trying to run away from your pain, trying to remedy your guilt, trying to impress God. Service motivated by these illegitimate reasons is bound to leave you burned out and bitter in the end. Second, the barrier to serving others is selfishness… The number one reason we don’t have the time or energy to serve others is that we’re preoccupied with our own agendas, dreams, and pleasures. Only a small minority of people use their lives to serve others…Third, the motive for serving is love. Paul says, “Serve one another in love.” This is an important key to building community…God is far more interested in why you serve others than in how well you serve them. He’s always looking at your heart, serving willingly and eagerly out of love for Jesus and gratitude for all he’s done for you. You are most like Jesus when you’re serving others.

PRAYER:

Written by Geevtha Mary Samuel, a contemporary author.

We pray and pledge that we will walk with love. May we be of service to as many as we can in our lives as You called us to be, as is the Father’s will. Lord Jesus, may Your life of love and service be our guide to love and serve the underprivileged, the abandoned and the needy amongst us. Help us, Lord, to love beyond measure, without expectations and limitations, those who need our love. Those in prison, rehabilitation centers, and the home-shelters. The old folks who are disowned and lonely and look forward to seeing someone visiting them and extending love and words of comfort. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Henri M. Nouwen (1932-1996), a Dutch priest, professor, writer, and theologian. This is an excerpt from his book “Lifesigns.”

The joy that Jesus offers his disciples is his own joy, which flows from his intimate communion with the One who sent him. It is a joy that does not separate happy days from sad days, successful moments from moments of failure, experiences of honor from experiences of dishonor, passion from resurrection. This joy is a divine gift that does not leave us during times of illness, poverty, oppression, or persecution. It is present even when the world laughs or tortures, robs or maims, fights or kills. It is truly ecstatic, always moving us away from the house of fear into the house of love, and always proclaiming that death no longer has the final say, though its noise remains loud and its devastation visible. The joy of Jesus lifts up life to be celebrated.

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.

Break open our lives and pour your light into the night of our sorrow, that we may live in the joy of your resurrection, now and forevermore. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by David Powlison (1949-2019), an author, speaker, and Biblical counselor.  This is an excerpt from his book “Good and Angry.”

Perhaps you find it curiously liberating to say you’ll never get over a particular hurt.  How freeing to admit the truth. A human being is not meant to deal with a terrible wrong by having it simply washed away. So, you don’t have to chase an impossibility. You don’t have to try to numb yourself with various substances and activities. You don’t have to feel like a failure because you are not happy and smiley all the time. If you aren’t expecting to find some magic that will leave you unmarked, then you can get down to working through your painful experience.  Perhaps, though, it’s not a relief to hear that some experiences will never go away. Instead, you feel even more hopeless. But there is hope. Yes, the experience will always be there, but you do not need to be forever defined by what happened. The reasons for realistic hope run deeper than any hurt. You won’t forget, but you do not need to endlessly revisit what happened. You do not need to be imprisoned in your reactions. It’s never easy to transmute a very deep furnace of pain into something fruitful. It is refreshing to admit, “That pain will mark me. I will never ‘get over it.’” You would be untrue to your humanity if you simply got over it. Instead, a new sense of life purpose will in some way be shaped by what happened. A significant experience will mark you for life; it should mark you. But the pain and hatred and despair do not need to remain a running sore infected by rage, mistrust, and callousness. There is a way to go through it and come out in a good place.

PRAYER:

Written by Debbie McDaniel. a contemporary Christian writer.

Dear God, We confess our need for you today. We need your healing and your grace. We need hope restored. We need to be reminded that you work on behalf of those you love, constantly, powerfully, completely. Forgive us for trying to fix our situations all on our own. Forgive us for running all different directions and spinning our wheels to find help, when true help and healing must be found first in You. Forgive us for forgetting how much we need you, above everyone and everything else. We come to you and bring you the places we are hurting. You see where no one else is able to fully see or understand. You know the pain we’ve carried. The burdens. The cares. You know where we need to be set free. We ask for your healing and grace to cover every broken place. Every wound. Every heartache. Thank you that you are able to do far more than we could ever imagine. Thank you for your Mighty Power that acts on behalf of your children. We reach out to you, and know that you are restoring and redeeming every place of difficulty, every battle, for your greater glory. Thank you that you will never waste our pain and suffering. We release to you this day every need and problem we’ve carried or tried hard to control. We believe in your goodness to see us through. We love you. We need you today.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Joel Vande Werken, a contemporary pastor.

Are you too busy? It is hard to imagine many people answering “no” to that question today. Our lives are filled with things to do, places to go, people to meet. The distraction of all these things can overwhelm us. We were created with a clear purpose in life: to care for the world and for one another. But then sin came in and distorted our sense of purpose. Life comes at us quickly, and we often respond by just trying to keep up. Whether it’s the “rat race” at work, extracurricular activities with our kids, or other commitments, there are always more distractions and demands on our time. The harassment of all this is not new to our generation, though. Jesus walked among people who were overburdened with the stresses of life; they needed comfort, help, and rest. And “he had compassion on them, because they were . . . like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus pays attention to people’s needs. And like a good shepherd, he tends, provides, guides, heals, and shares his love with all. He also points his followers to God’s work in restoring purpose to tired lives. He urges us to pray for all whom God wants to raise up as workers to share his good news of salvation and new life. Are you refocused and engaged in this empowering ­adventure?

PRAYER:

A prayer from the Roman Breviary, a liturgical book published in 1482 and became known as the Liturgy of the Hours.

O Lord,

be our Sanctifier and the Shepherd.

Strengthen and help us,

that in our daily life walk with you,

we serve you in all quietness of spirit;

through Jesus Christ our Master. Amen.O Lord,

be our Sanctifier and the Shepherd.

Strengthen and help us,

that in our daily life walk with you,

we serve you in all quietness of spirit; through Jesus Christ our Master. Amen.

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