Pathways Press.com

Written by Nina Pope, from the Village Church

One of the best features of growing older is having the possibility of perspective regarding life experiences which just simply does not always occur to the young at heart.  It brings joy to know there is something good about maturity. I can now see that God’s presence has been with me for a long time, probably more times than I actually recognized.  As I look back, I know God’s presence was guiding me toward him as I got myself up and dressed Sunday mornings for church during my grade school years while the rest of my family did other things.  I went to choir practice, took part in various pageants, and participated in many other church activities.  Eventually, Hughes and I were married by a young Jewish Unitarian minister (how’s that for Ecumenical !). The most important part of those past years came when a friend sensed a spiritual hunger within me and kick-started me toward a more serious faith journey as she witnessed to me in a Ralphs parking lot in VanNuys, California.  That was in the past.  God must really have a sense of humor. It was a tapestry of events following that brought me to a lasting faith journey.  I began to experience what I now call ‘God moments’ which alerted me to awakening instruction God gives me to pay attention to something special I might act on or notice for future reference.  Sometimes it has drawn me into unique intervention of some sort or indicates something I am to know or hear.  Every now and again, I realize I have missed a cue for which I feel great remorse.  In this present stage of life, I have clearly been directed to just the right church, to many wonderful people who mentor and teach me, and it makes me cognizant of the rich layers of blessing that have characterized my marriage, my family, and beyond.  I am drenched in blessing, and I see God’s gracious hand in both the ordinary and the extraordinary, and I am grateful God bothers with me at all.  This is my present. In spite of many current, unsettling uncertainties in the details of my life, I look forward to discovering blessings yet unknowable and unimaginable in the future.  Because I have received so many past blessings, I am confident that whatever God has planned for me will be abundant and exceedingly gracious.

Older people are wise, and long life brings understanding. [Job 12:12]

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Written by: Jill Briscoe, a contemporary editor and publisher.

Believers need to learn how to love as God loves. They need to move from just being loved to giving love or from “need love” to “gift love.” The key lies in the measure of spiritual maturity. The measure of our spiritual maturity lies in our ability to feed on the Word of God and grow up! If you are a new believer, the Gospels are a good place to start training in spiritual maturity. There you can get to know Jesus. Read eyewitness accounts of His life. You can watch Him heal a leper, listen to His sermons and parables, follow Him to Jerusalem, stand at His cross, visit His tomb, and meet Him in the garden like Mary Magdelene did. You can learn how to love Him. Of course, as you learn the behavior God expects of His followers from the Bible, you need to obey. Whenever you come to a command, underline it. Then go out into your day and try to do what it says. … I encourage you to read the Bible, see the many ways God demonstrates His love for you, and then share that love with others.   

I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. [John 13:34]

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Written by Victoria Riollano, a contemporary ministry leader and author.

Hospitality is one way to show God’s love that may often go unnoticed. Yet, hospitality is purposeful. Inviting a person into your home and treating them with genuine care is one of the most selfless things we can do. Whether we’re hosting a ladies’ Bible study, a playdate, or allowing a missionary or church member to stay in our home, hospitality gives us the opportunity to make others feel welcome and cared for. Hospitality helps the other person to feel loved and gives you a chance to spread the Gospel during your intentional time with the other person.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. [Hebrews 13:12]

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Written by Connie Fink, a contemporary author and lay ministry leader.

Did you feel unloved today, even if just for a minute? Remember, the One who said He IS love lives within you. He’s there all the time. That means you are loved always. Can you imagine continual unconditional perfect love? You have it! Then, in that moment when you’re standing in front of the person who is very hard to love, you can say, “Ok, Lord, please take it from here and love her because I can’t right now.”  Just think…Jesus came to live within you the moment you accepted His death on the Cross. He moved in, bringing all that He is with Him.  He is Love. Peace. Joy. Patience. Humility. Kindness. Gentleness. Faithfulness. Wisdom. Truth. Mercy. Power. (To name a few.)  All this is always with you. Always close. Always perfect. Always sufficient. Always accessible. What a gift! What a treasure! 

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” [Galaltians 2:20]

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Written by Bruce Prewer  (1931-2018), an Australian minister and author. This is from the book “Australian Prayers.”

We thank you, O God,
For those people who are channels of your love in our lives:
For those who gave us birth,
And, in the weakness of our infancy,
Sheltered, nurtured, and treasured us.

For those who taught us to walk,
To talk and to explore tastes, smells, sounds,
And affirmed our strengths,
And the friends young and old
Who share our tears and laughter. 

We thank you, Lord,
For the people of strong faith
Who stretch out minds and enlarge our capacity
To explore and understand your ways.

For those at every stage of our journey
Who teach us trust by trusting us,
Who enable us to love others
Through the experience of being loved.
 

We thank you for those very sincere people
Who have demonstrated the joys and disciplines
Of the kingdom of God,
And especially people who taught us to love you,
Rather than to be afraid of you.
 
God of love, God of Jesus,
For these healing experiences of growth and loving,
And for the knowledge that the best is yet to come,
We praise your holy name:
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. [1 Chronicles 29:13]

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Written by Shelly Esser, a contemporary writer and editor.

Recently, I’ve been struggling with loving people ─ people who have become enemies, or at least feel like enemies. I’ve been constantly asking God to show me how to love them, especially as they are hurting someone I love. There has been unlimited injustice, unfairness, and an absolute disregard for how hurtful actions are wounding. It’s so easy to love those who love us back, who are kind or nice to us, but what about those who harm us, who make our lives difficult, who show no love or compassion to us. As I’ve wrestled with that question, I realize that at my worst, in my sin, that is me too! And yet, when I was lost in my sin, Christ demonstrated the greatest love possible and died for me. The impact of that reality as we move into this holy time of year focusing on Christ’s death and resurrection is sobering. I was an enemy of God and yet He does something so amazing that it’s hard to fully grasp. Think about what God’s love did while we didn’t give Him a second thought, while our hearts were as far away from Him as they could be, while we were living for ourselves in sin, while we were still sinners…While we were in our separated state, He demonstrates His love for us on a cross. In other words, He shows us just how great His love is…God shows. Not in a quiet, out-of-sight kind of way, but in an unmistakable way that no one has or ever will show like this again. And He shows it to sinners─while we were still sinners. Do you realize how great God’s love is for you?

God shows [demonstrates] his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [Romans 5:8]

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Written by Bill Bright (1921-2003), co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. This is an excerpt from his book “Transferable Concept: How You Can Love By Faith.”

The parable of the prodigal son, as recorded in Luke 15, illustrates God’s unconditional love for His children. A man’s younger son asked his father for his share of the estate, packed his belongings, and took a trip to a distant land where he wasted all of his money on parties and prostitutes. About the time that his money was gone, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He finally came to his senses and realized that his father’s hired men at least had food to eat. He decided, “I will go to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man.” While he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming and was filled with loving pity. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. I think that the reason he saw his son coming while he was still a long distance away was that he was praying for his son’s return and spent much time each day watching that lonely road on which his son would return. Even as the son was making his confession, the father interrupted to instruct the servants to kill the fatted calf and prepare for a celebration — his lost son had repented; he had changed his mind and had returned to become part of the family again. God demonstrated His love for us before we were Christians, but this story makes it obvious that God continues to love his child who has strayed far from Him. He eagerly awaits his return to the Christian family and fellowship. Even when you are disobedient, he continues to love you, waiting for you to respond to His love and forgiveness.

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. [ Luke 15:24]

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Written by Cortney Whiting, a contemporary lay leader and writer.

Father God, in the middle of the chaos we call life, may we be still enough to recognize the love you have for your creation. May we trust in Your unfailing and unconditional love.  As You have loved us, may we love one another. Forgive us for the times when we have forgotten the cost of Your love, the life of Your Son, Jesus. I pray that we will live confidently today, knowing that we are Your children who You have chosen with a plan and purpose in mind.  Help us live for You.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. [Ephesians 1:4-5]

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Written by Dawn Kaiser, a contemporary writer, trainer, and coach.

A few years back I was sitting in a coffee shop with a friend  and we were talking about our ability to receive love. I confessed to her that for many years it was hard for me to receive love from others and especially from God. I mean how could God love me when I kept making mistakes or breaking my promises to really change for the better this time? But that’s the great thing, God’s love is not conditional, rather it’s unconditional. It’s not based on our successes or our failures or if I have earned it, rather His love is always there for us, we just have to receive it. Do you ever find it hard to let God love you? … The nature of God’s love is generative and relational. God’s love towards us creates new love for us to give back. We have the opportunity to multiply love when we receive it, but when we refuse to receive love, we diminish its possibilities… So how do we receive God’s love? There is an exercise I practice and recommend to others. The truth of God’s love for you is woven throughout His Word and so I encourage you to go on a love scavenger hunt and find the verses of God’s love that speak directly to you. Once you find 5-10 of these verses, read through each statement as you picture God speaking these words over you. In each statement, place your name in the verse. Repeat this exercise daily for several weeks and soon you will find that these seeds of love begin to take root in your heart.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” [Isaiah 54:10]

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Written by John Warden, a contemporary pastor and writer.

How should my life (words, actions and decisions) reflect my relationship and pursuit of Christ? If a person is walking with God on the inside, then their life (words, decisions, and actions done out of obedience to God) should reflect a distinct character on the outside. The perfect expression of God’s love for others is found in the person of Jesus.  Jesus is our benchmark! Jesus does not require anything from us that He did not already live out in His own person and life.  The command to love one another and to love our neighbor as ourselves were given and modeled by Jesus and commanded of His followers… We learn from the biographies of Jesus (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that all people were accepted and loved, especially those at the bottom of the social pyramid—poor people, women, outcasts, lepers, children, prostitutes, and tax collectors.  Jesus is the perfect model of loving your neighbor as yourself. Why should Christians have an active heart for serving the poor?  Because of Jesus, the perfect standard by which we live  The overflow of Jesus’s love for the Father was a life in constant service to others.  Our overflow and love for the Father (our seeking to conform to the character of Christ) should also result in a life of service and love to others… A life living in Christ  is a life that loves and serves others.  A service to the poor that listens, loves, encourages, respects and helps those in your midst—especially those from the bottom of the social class.  This is the heart of Jesus and should be our heart as well as we seek to live in fellowship with Him.

Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. [1 John 2:6]

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