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Written by Mary Amendolia Gardner, a contemporary author and ministry leader. This is an excerpt from her work “Five Ways to Start Gospel Conversations.”

Not many of us may have the gift of evangelism, but evangelism is a vital part of our own discipleship and spiritual formation. Just because we don’t have the supernatural gift of evangelism doesn’t mean we get a pass at sharing and defending our faith. And I would venture to say we will not mature in our faith until we do so. God doesn’t require results from us. Our responsibility is to plant seeds of the gospel. Perhaps the parable of the sower will be helpful here. One plants, another waters, and still another harvests. Every Christian is called to — and all of us can — sow seeds of the gospel. Our role is to be faithful witnesses and to share with others how our relationship with Jesus affects our day-to-day life. We are not alone. We are with God, and God has placed us in this world with others to whom we must listen — and to whom we have the privilege of sharing the Good News of Christ Jesus.

In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. [1 Peter 3:15-16]

Written by Mark Roberts, a contemporary author.

Gracious God, I would confess to you that I can get caught up in our culture’s obsession with appearance. I can envy those who look so good. And I can fret about ways that my appearance doesn’t measure up. I can also worry about impressing people with my accomplishments. The lure of “outward appearance” is real for me. So I ask you, Lord, for the grace to value the condition of my heart most of all. Help me to see myself as you see me. May the fruit of the Spirit abound in me. And may I have a heart that seeks you most of all.  Amen.

The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. [1 Samuel 16:7]

Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary pastor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his work “God’s Story, Your Story.”

You are in the hands of a living, loving God. Random collection of disconnected short stories? Far from it. Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God, who is working toward your supreme good. God is not slipshod or haphazard. He planned creation according to a calendar. He determined the details of salvation “before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20). The death of Jesus was not an afterthought, nor was it Plan B or an emergency operation. Jesus died “when the set time had fully come” (Galatians 4:4) according to God’s “deliberate plan and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23). God isn’t making up a plan as he goes along. Nor did he wind up the clock and walk away. “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will” (Daniel 5:21). He “executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another” (Psalm 75:7). “The Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind” (Jeremiah 30:24). Look at those verbs: God rules, sets, executes, accomplished. These terms confirm the existence of heavenly blueprints and plans. Those plans include you. “In him we were also chosen, . . . according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). This discovery changes everything!

But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten. [Jeremiah 20:11]

Written by Thea Leunk, a contemporary teacher, pastor, and coach.

Hebrews 11 provides an interesting list of faith-heavyweights in biblical history. These are people who were able to see living possibilities where others only saw dead ends, who saw victory where others saw defeat, who saw what God could do when others saw the impossible. They not only saw with eyes of faith, but they also acted on that faith. Each person mentioned here understood faith as a verb, as a spiritual muscle that allowed them to act. Faith helped them persevere even in the midst of difficult circumstances—like Joseph in Egypt. They were able to step out into the unknown with courage and to take risks—like Rahab and Gideon. It shouldn’t surprise us where this list ends: with “Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Jesus, Prince of peace. Jesus, Immanuel (“God with us”). Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords! As we look forward to a new year and the journey of life ahead of us, we can look back at people who have lived by faith, spiritual ancestors in Jesus’ extended family and many others who have been welcomed into the family of God. We can be encouraged by their stories. Even more, we can look forward to the One who looks encouragingly back at us, the One who came to die so that we could live with him forever.

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. [Hebrews 12:1-2]

Written by Tom Donnelly, a contemporary pastor.

Today is the last day of the year. Many of us are looking forward to the end of this year… Today is a day commonly reserved for resolutions for the new year. It is a time for serious reflection of where our life has been, where it is, and where we want it to be. Deep down inside we know that our lives are not all doomed to fate. We know that our attitudes and actions have an effect on what direction our life goes. Read today’s verse (below). Paul is describing the process he goes through. I believe it is a process we should go through daily, but New Year’s Eve is a great day to start. The first thing Paul admits is that he hasn’t already obtained perfection. We need to understand that God is alright with our flaws. He doesn’t condone our sinfulness. He knows what effect sin has on our lives and that is why He sent His Son into the world to redeem us. It is OK that you are not where you thought you would be. None of us is. But here is the most important part! Paul says, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind…” This is a key thought. Paul is saying that there can be no significant improvement in his life until he forgets what is behind…he must forgive and forget what lies behind before he can move forward. If there is one thing we must do today, it is to go through the process of true repentance. We need to lay our wrongs before the cross of Jesus and find that there they are forgiven and forgotten… God has forgotten our sins and it is time for us to forget them too. Paul says that now that he has forgotten what lies behind he “strains toward what is ahead.” He presses on! … As we look to the coming year, Paul tells us not to be dragged along through time but to strain toward goals and plans that we have made. Here is where successful resolutions are made. Now that we have let go of the dead weight of the past we can move forward toward the things we want for the new year…Paul places first on his list his spiritual resolutions and I think we should, too. It will be tough to get our physical resolutions going right if our spiritual ones are not in place. Let’s agree to put spiritual things first.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 3:12-14]

Written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident.  This is an excerpt from his book “Life Together.”

Often, we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words. It is certain that the spirit of self-justification can be overcome only by the Spirit of grace; nevertheless, isolated thoughts of judgment can be curbed and smothered by never allowing them the right to be uttered, except as a confession of sin. He who holds his tongue in check controls both mind and body. Thus it must be a decisive rule of every Christian fellowship that each individual is prohibited from saying much that occurs to him… Listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too.  This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there is nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words.

We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. [James 3:2]

Written by Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), a French Carmelite nun.

A holy nun of our community annoyed me in all that she did; the devil must have had something to do with it, and it was undoubtedly he who made me see in her so many disagreeable points. I did not want to yield to my natural antipathy, for I remembered that charity ought to betray itself in deeds, and not exist merely in the feelings, so I set myself to do for this sister all I should do for the one I loved most.  Every time I met her I prayed for her, and offered to God her virtues and merits. I felt that this was very pleasing to Our Lord, for there is no artist who is not gratified when his works are praised, and the Divine Artist of souls is pleased when we do not stop at the exterior, but, penetrating to the inner sanctuary He has chosen, admire its beauty.  I did not rest satisfied with praying for this Sister, who gave me such occasions for self-mastery, I tried to render her as many services as I could, and when tempted to answer her sharply, I made haste to smile and change the subject, for the Imitation says: ​“It is more profitable to leave everyone to his way of thinking than to give way to contentious discourses.” And sometimes when the temptation was very severe, I would run like a deserter from the battlefield if I could do so without letting the Sister guess my inward struggle.  One day she said to me with a beaming face: ​“My dear Soeur Thérèse, tell me what attraction you find in me, for whenever we meet, you greet me with such a sweet smile.” Ah! What attracted me was Jesus hidden in the depths of her soul — Jesus who makes sweet even that which is most bitter.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [1 Corinthians 13:4 – 7]

Written by Richard Foster, a contemporary pastor, author, and founder of Renovare.

Considering the relationship between the life of prayer and holy obedience in a war-wracked world is a massive task. In an existential sense, prayer brings us into the holy of holies in the Christian life. We move from the periphery to the center. Edward Payson said, ​“Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing necessary to a minister. Pray, then, pray, pray, pray.” Sir Thomas Buxton wrote, ​“You know the value of prayer; it is precious beyond all price. Never, never neglect it.” William Penn said of George Fox, ​“Above all he exceeded in prayer.” Archbishop Tait said, ​“I want a life of greater, deeper, truer prayer.” Martin Luther declared, ​“He who has prayed well has studied well.” Most pertinent of all are the words of William Carey, ​“Prayer — secret, fervent, believing prayer — lies at the root of all personal godliness.” Our task is to see how prayer opens us to this personal godliness and to meditate on that reality within the wider social context of war and peace…The primary purpose of prayer is to bring us into such a life of communion with the Father that we are conformed into the image of his son Jesus Christ. We are inwardly taken over, changed, transformed.

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. [Hebrews 5:7]

Written by D.T. Niles (1908-1970), an author, ecumenical leader and evangelist in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). This is adpted from his book “Upon the Earth.”

The phrase that Paul uses, to describe the Christian experience, is the phrase ​“in Christ.” Christ is not a person in the past tense only. He is present Lord, and the Lord who is to come. To be ​“in Christ,” therefore, is to live by all that He has done, to be involved in all that He is doing, and to prepare for all that He will do.. Love is the very method of inheritance. It is the way by which one enters into and abides in the world-embracing love of God…Love is the way by which one enters into and lives in the light. It is the way by which one passes from the sphere of death into the sphere of life. It is the way by which one comes to the knowledge that this transition from darkness to light, from death to life, has taken place in one’s life.

Let us give thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. [Colossians 1:12-14]

Written by Paige Vanosky from The Village Church

Father, as we reflect on a busy but joyful holiday season, we stop to give you thanks for the miracles we have just celebrated: the miracles evidencing your power and love celebrated as Hannukah and the resulting peace that set the stage for the starlit birth of Jesus, your long-promised Savior. These celebrations allow us to remember how much you love us. They remind us that despite our obstinate ways and despite not seeing you at work in the world, that you are at work, committed to your plan to eradicate evil. These celebrations of your love and care enable us to overcome the fear and discouragement we are prone to have as we look at events both far away and close to home. The Christmas season allows us to remember that you know what is going on, that you care, that you are at work, and that you do fulfill your promises. Please humble us, Father, so you can show us how to be a part of your healing plan for the world. Father God, we celebrate you and give you thanks for all you have done and all you promise to do in our world and in our lives. May we live a life that celebrates you.
In your blessed name we pray, 
Amen.  

The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” [Zephaniah 3:17]