Pathways Press.com

MEDITATION:

Written by Eugene Peterson (1932-2018), an American Presbyterian minister, scholar, theologian, author, and poet. This is an excerpt from this book “Earth and Altar.”

Atheism, the attempt to be master of our fate and as many fates around us as we can decently manage, is not the bold swashbuckling affair of legend but a grim, tight-lipped business. These atheists are cramped, full of pretense, diminished beings. They depend on consumer goods or status positions or peer opinions – always something impersonal or abstract—to validate their sense of worth. With no inner life they require external paraphernalia, personalized things or depersonalized persons, to get a sense of self. Narcissism is the most recent term for this secret atheism of the heart. It typifies the character structure of a society that has lost interest in God.

PRAYER:

Written by Francis Xavier (1506-1552), a Spanish Catholic missionary and saint who was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus.

Eternal God, Creator of all things, remember that You alone have created the souls of unbelievers, which You have made according to Your Image and Likeness. Remember, O Lord, Your Son Jesus Christ, Who so generously shed His Blood and suffered for them. Do not permit that Your Son, Our Lord, remain unknown by unbelievers, but, with the help of Your saints and the Church, the Bride of Your Son, remember Your mercy, forget their idolatry and infidelity, and make them know Him, Who You have sent, Jesus Christ, Who is our salvation, our life, and our resurrection, through Whom we have been saved and redeemed, and to Whom is due glory forever. Amen. 

MEDITATION:

Written by James Merritt, a contemporary pastor and author.ctor of Impact Prayer Ministry.

In the church where I pastor, as in every mainstream church, we talk often about serving others. Often we make a list of serving roles on Sundays, from being an usher and collecting the offering, to being a greeter, helping on the parking team, or leading a preschool classroom. Each of these roles is important and helps our church function and be an engaging and welcoming place to come to know God and grow in His Word. But don’t let that hour on Sunday be the totality of your service. As a Christ-follower, Jesus instructs us specifically in the area of serving others. What it looks like, He says in Mark 10, is that each of us in daily life put our own interests behind the interests and needs of others. So far behind, in fact, that our desire should be that we are consistently meeting the needs of everyone else.

Jesus reminds us that He did not come to be served, but to serve. This is an astounding statement. The Son of God—if anyone should expect to be served it is Jesus. Yet His life on earth was filled with examples of serving others. And His specific instructions to us follow along with His example. To follow Jesus is to live a life where we are always looking for ways to meet the needs of others, through our talents, gifts, and abilities. It is a lifestyle of putting others first, thinking not about ourselves and our own desires, but also about what others lack that we can provide. Certainly opening doors and handing out bulletins on Sundays is a way we can serve. But don’t let your Sunday service keep you from a lifestyle of service. What are you doing Monday through Saturday to impact your community, your school, your family, or your business through your service? Is your life, as Jesus commands, one in which you are not first, but last, following the example of Jesus and using what you know and what you have to lift up and help everyone around you?

PRAYER:

Written by Kevin Halloran, a contemporary pastor and author.

Lord, Your Son left the pleasures of heaven for a life of service on earth—and He gave his life for undeserving and ungrateful people. Help me have His attitude, remembering that You oppose the proud and give grace to the humble. You must become greater; I must become less—only then does the glorious reality shine forth that Christ is highly exalted above every name in heaven and on earth. May my entire being bow before You in loving allegiance, confessing You as Lord over all of my life and all of creation, to the praise of Your glory. Amen. 

MEDITATION:

Written by Tom Lemler, a contemporary author and the  director of Impact Prayer Ministry.

Are there things that you want, or want more of, just because you see someone else have them? What are some of those things? How effective is visual advertising in getting you to think you need something? With the costs of 30-second advertisements during events like the Super Bowl in the millions of dollars, how effective do you think companies believe visual advertising is? How would a lifestyle of contentment help you to live obediently to God’s command to not covet?

Doing the right thing has always been a core part of who I am. Not that I have always chosen the right thing, but the desire to do so seems to have been imbedded in me by my parents and by God Himself. Our society makes living with an attitude of contentment a very difficult thing to do. Knowing that God commands me to be content, to not covet what others have, helps me have a desire to be satisfied with what He gives me.

Each of us have different things that bring us satisfaction and make contentment more likely in our lives. For some it is financial or material reward. For others it is being recognized or honored for what we do. Still others have great contentment when they see the lives of people changed as a result of the effort they have given. Whatever is our “reward” of choice, we will all have times when that reward doesn’t come and we must choose to be content in the circumstances we face. Pray that your life would be a reflection of both the godliness and contentment displayed in the life of Jesus.

PRAYER:

Written by Scotty Smith , a contemporary pastor and author.

Father, growth in contentment is growth in grace, so supersize the chambers of my heart to receive more of your grace. Rescue me from my pathetically small notions of your love and goodness. Free me from the stranglehold of my unbelief; revealed in the fear I have in even praying for contentment. Liberate me for being, not just satisfied in Christ, but overwhelmed, smitten and in awe of every good thing you have given us in Jesus. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ powerful and beautiful name. 

MEDITATION:

Written by Andrew Murray (1828-1917), a South African writer, teacher, and pastor who considered missions to be “the chief end of the church.”  This is an excerpt from his book “Abide in Christ.”

Of God I am in Christ: created anew, made a branch of the Vine, and made for bearing fruit. Oh, that believers would stop looking at their old nature so much, and complaining of their weakness, as if God called them for what they were unsuited! How much better for them to believingly and joyfully accept the wonderous revelation of how God, in uniting them to Christ, has made himself responsible for their spiritual growth and fruitfulness! Then all hesitancy and laziness would disappear, and under the influence of this mighty motive – faith in the faithfulness of Him of whom they are in Christ—their whole nature would arise to accept and fulfill their glorious destiny!

Take time to meditate and to worship, until the light that comes from the throne of God has shone into you, and you have seen your union to Christ as the work of His mighty Father. Take time, day after day, in your whole Christian walk, with all its claims, duties, needs, and desires, and let God be everything. See Jesus, as He speaks to you, “Abide in Me,” pointing upward and saying “My Father is the vinedresser. Of Him you are in Me, through Him you abide in Me, and to Him and to His glory shall be the fruit you bear.” And let your answer be Amen, Lord! So be it. From eternity Christ and I were ordained for each other; inseparably we belong to each other. It is God’s will for me to abide in Christ. It is of God I am in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:

Written by John Eldredge , a contemporary American author, counselor and lecturer on Christianity.

Dear God, holy and victorious Trinity, You alone are worthy of all my worship, my heart’s devotion, all my praise and all my trust and all the glory of my life. I love You. I worship You. I trust You and I give myself over to You in my heart’s search for life. You alone are Life, and You have become my life. I renounce all other gods, I renounce all idols, and I give You, God, the place in my heart and in my life that You truly deserve. This is all about You, God, and not about me. You are the Hero of this story, and I belong to You. Forgive me, God, for my every sin. Search me and know me and reveal to me where You are working, what You are asking, and that You would grant to me the grace of Your healing and deliverance and a deep and true repentance.

MEDITATION:

Written by Richard M. Gula, a contemporary priest, lecturer, and educator. This is an excerpt from his book “To Walk Together.”

Hospitality does not seek power over others. Cruelty does. Cruelty deliberately causes harm, especially by crushing a person’s self-respect. By manipulating a disparity of power, cruelty sets up a relationship wherein the stronger becomes the victimizer of the weaker. As long as the difference in power is maintained, cruelty will be maintained. To the extent that the difference in power is eliminated, to the extent cruelty will be eliminated. Philip Hallie’s studies of cruelty led him to discover that the opposite of cruelty is not liberation from the disparity of power. Rather, he found that the opposite of cruelty is hospitality, a sharing of power.

PRAYER:

Today’s prayer is a reflection from  the Celtic Rune of Hospitality. A rune is a written character that was used in northern European cultures before the use of Latin and Latin letters took over. This Celtic Rune predates our alphabet, but doesn’t predate the Christian witness.

We saw a stranger yesterday.
We put food in the eating place,
Drink in the drinking place,
Music in the listening place.
And with the sacred name of the triune God
He blessed us and our house,
Our cattle and our dear ones.
As the lark says in her song:
Often, often, often, goes the Christ
In the stranger’s guise.

MEDITATION:

Written by Vicki Kemper, a contemporary pastor.

Here are some things I learned from almost four years of walking with the faithful, strong, courageous, and utterly vulnerable Guatemalan immigrant who took sanctuary in our church: Powerlessness is exhausting. It affects every single thing. Powerlessness will chew you up, spit you out, and then come back for what little is left of you. Powerlessness will leave you gasping for breath and grasping at straws. Some days will feel like a roller coaster ride, others like a train wreck. Fear and desperation will never be far away. The temptation to despair will be constant. Anger and bitterness will nag you to feed them. Powerlessness can be existential or circumstantial, trivial or life-threatening, imagined or all-too-real. You may feel powerless over the design flaws of your kitchen, powerless to change your partner’s annoying habits, powerless to end systemic racism, powerless to get out of debt, powerless to fix the climate crisis, powerless against gun violence, powerless against the ravages of Covid-19, other diseases, or the bittersweet march of age. You may feel powerless in the face of your job’s nonstop demands or the constant clamoring of your kids. So here are some other things I learned, most of them from Lucio Perez, the seemingly powerless immigrant who lived in our church, and his family: God’s faithful love lasts all day long, every day. Prayer is the key that unlocks the door. There is power in community and strength in solidarity. Blessed are the powerless, because they know their need. Blessed are the powerless, because God dwells with them.

PRAYER:

From the Roman Breviary, the liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church. Published in 1482, it became known as the Liturgy of the Hours.

Almighty and merciful God,

you give your faithful people

the grace that makes every path of this life

the straight and narrow way which leads to life eternal.

Grant that we,

who know that we have no strength to help ourselves,

put all our trust in your almighty power,

and by the assistance of your heavenly grace,

always prevail in all things,

against whatever arises to fight against us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

MEDITATION:

Written by Hugh Prather (1938-2010), an American writer, lay minister, and counselor. This is an excerpt from his book “The Quiet Answer.”

I release you from my hurt feelings. I free you from my reading of your motives. I withdraw my “justified” outrage and leave you clean and happy in my mind. In place of censure, I offer you all of God’s deep contentment and peace. I will perceive you singing, with a soft smile of freedom and a glow of rich satisfaction. I bless you. You are a shining member of the Family of God, and I will wait patiently for this truthful vision to come honestly to my mind.

PRAYER:

Written by Jessica Van Roekel, a contemporary author and speaker.

Holy God, we come to you unknowing how you will work things out, but we stand firm in our faith that you love, that you are our refuge, that through you we are strong. And as we stand, we release our praise for your goodness and kindness. That you are great and mighty and oh so gracious. Oh Lord, you are with us, right here, right now. You are in our past, and already in our tomorrows, and we are grateful. God, we release our angst over our lives and our kids’ lives and the circumstances that we have no control over, but seem to be controlling us. We surrender them to you and we trust you. We know that as we trust, we cannot be shaken, we cannot fail, because you are our rock and refuge. You help, you provide, and you guide. Lord, as we release we ask that you would move on our behalf and that you would enable us to trust you even when we cannot see you. Holy One, you are mighty and good and filled with inexpressible love for us and we receive you. We believe you and we receive your love. Let us go into our todays with confidence and face our tomorrows with trust because you are with us. I love you, Lord and praise you with all that I am. I look to you. You are my everything, In Jesus’ name, Amen.

MEDITATION:

Today’s meditation is from the “Our Daily Bread Mountain Life” devotional.

The privilege of worship includes beholding the beauty of God. Have you ever wondered why there is so much beauty in the world in the first place? There is simply no way that this beauty we enjoy came about by accident. It is also not an accident that we all enjoy beauty so much. We are all drawn to beauty for a reason – God designed us to be drawn to beauty! This is why, when we see something or someone we deem beautiful, it is very hard not to stop and look. One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the ability He gives us to take in the beauty of the world.

During this pandemic, my wife and I have been watching a series on Netflix called, “Our Planet”. This series reveals some very profound nature and animal scenes that have brought great joy to our hearts. Though the narrative does not give God glory for His creation (huge mistake – see Psalm 19:1), we are happy to do so as we watch it! Our love for God has grown in the ongoing realization that He has made all things for us to enjoy. Now, what many of us fail to realize is that behind the beauty of the world is our beautiful God. He designed creation to be an expression of His artistic character. The beauty of God resides in His splendor, majesty, brightness, holiness, glory, goodness, loving kindness and greatness. These descriptive words help us realize that when the eyes of our hearts begin to look at God our souls will delight in Who He Is, even as we are ever amazed that He welcomes us to come to Him. So as we worship God what we need to be looking for, with the help of His Spirit, is His beauty. When we even begin to catch a glimpse of it, our hearts will leap for joy, and our desire to spend more time with Him will certainly grow!

PRAYER:

Written by Dan George (1899-1981), chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. He was also an actor, musician, poet, and author.

We bless you, Lord,

For the beauty of the trees,

the softness of the air,

the fragrance of the grass.

We bless you Lord,

For the soaring of the skies,

the rhythms of the earth,

the stillness of the night.

We bless you, Lord,

For the twinkling of the stars,

the freshness of the morning,

the dewdrops on the flower.

We bless you, Lord,

For the taste of good food,

the trail of the sun,

and the life that never goes away.

MEDITATION:

Written by Dallas Willard  (1935-2013), an American philosopher and writer on Christian spiritual formation.  This is an excerpt from his work “The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives.”

Practice in not speaking can at least give us enough control over what we sat that our tongues do not “go off” automatically. This discipline provides us with a certain inner distance that gives us time to consider our words fully and the presence of mind to control what we say and when we say it.

Such practice also helps us to listen and to observe, to pay attention to people. How rarely are we ever truly listened to, and how deep is our need to be heard. I wonder how much wrath in human life is a result of not being heard. James says, “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (1:19). Yet when the tongue is moving rapidly, it seems wrath will usually be found following it. God gave us two ears and one mouth, it’s been said, so that we might listen twice as much as we talk, but even that proportion is far too high on the side of talking.

PRAYER:

Written by Melissa Spoelstra, a contemporary Christian author.

Dear Lord, I want to learn to listen more than I speak. Show me how to interact with others in a way that helps them dig deep to find wisdom. Reveal to me when I am talking too much and need to ask questions instead. I’m grateful that I can bring all my questions to You, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

MEDITATION:

Written by James Banks, a contemporary Christian pastor and author about prayer.

Sometimes I feel as if I’m invisible. But I so want God to use me. Ann was tidying up the exercise room at the hotel I was visiting when we struck up a conversation. As we talked, I discovered she had an amazing story. “I used to be a crack addict and prostitute living on the streets,” she said. “But I knew God wanted me to put down my pipe and walk with Him. One day years ago I knelt at Jesus’ feet and He set me free.”  I thanked Ann for sharing what God had done for her and assured her she wasn’t invisible—He had used her in our conversation in a beautiful way to remind me of His power to transform lives.

God loves to use people others might overlook. The apostle Andrew isn’t as well known as his brother Peter, but the Bible recounts that “the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon (Peter) and tell him, “We have found the Messiah’…And he brought him to Jesus.”  Peter met Jesus through Andrew. When Andrew, one of John the Baptists’s disciples, learned about Jesus from John, he followed Jesus and believed—and immediately told his brother. Andrew’s quiet faithfulness had an impact that would shake the world. God values faithful service over fame. He can use us powerfully wherever we are—even when no one is looking.

PRAYER:

Written by Maano Pohamba, a contemporary author.

Oh Lord, give me a mind and a heart like the Father’s heart. Let me be able to know what God thinks and feels towards His people so that I may be able to represent Him correctly. Give me a heart that wants to serve others. Let me be sensitive to the needs of those around me, that I may offer help where I can.

Use me for your glory, Lord. Use me to build up your Church. Let the world see You in me, my God. Your word tells me that I am a member of the body of Christ.