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Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary pastor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his work “Outlive Your Life.”

Let’s pray, first. Traveling to help the hungry? Be sure to bathe your mission in prayer. Working to disentangle the knots of injustice? Pray. Weary of a world of racism and division? So is God. And he would love to talk to you about it.

Let’s pray, most. Did God call us to preach without ceasing? Or teach without ceasing? Or have committee meetings without ceasing? Or sing without ceasing? No, but he did call us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Did Jesus declare: My house shall be called a house of study? Fellowship? Music? A house of exposition? A house of activities? No, but he did say, “My house will be called a house of prayer” (Mark 11:17).

No other spiritual activity is guaranteed such results. “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action” (Matthew 18:19). He is moved by the humble, prayerful heart. He is moved by prayer.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [1 John 5:14]

Written by Brennan Manning (1934-2013), an American author, laicized priest, and public speaker.  This is an excerpt from his book “The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus.”

Holiness is not a personal achievement. It’s an emptiness you discover in yourself. Instead of resenting it, you accept it and it becomes the free space where the Lord can create anew. To cry out, ‘You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord,’ that is what it means to be pure of heart. And it doesn’t come by your Herculean efforts and threadbare resolutions. … Simply hoard nothing of yourself; sweep the house clean. Sweep out even the attic, even the nagging, painful consciousness of your past. Accept being shipwrecked. Renounce everything that is heavy, even the weight of your sins. See only the compassion, the infinite patience, and the tender love of Christ. Jesus is Lord. That suffices. Your guilt and reproach disappear into the nothingness of non-attention. You are no longer aware of yourself, like the sparrow aloft and free in the azure sky. Even the desire for holiness is transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 4:7] 

Written by Francis de Sales (1567-1622) who served as a Bishop of Geneva. He was known for his deep faith and gentle approach to the religious divisions resulting from the Reformation. He wrote on the topic of spiritual direction and formation.

O love eternal, my soul needs and chooses you eternally! Ah, come Holy Spirit, and inflame our hearts with your love! To love – or to die! To die – and to love! To die to all other love in order to live in Jesus’ love, so that we may not die eternally. But that we may live in your eternal love, O Saviour of our souls, we eternally sing, “Live, Jesus! Jesus, I love! Live, Jesus, whom I love! Jesus, I love, Jesus who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness”    [Psalm 29:2, NIV]

Written by Brennan Manning (1934-2013), an American author, laicized priest, and public speaker.  This is an excerpt from his book “The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus.”

One day Saint Francis and Brother Leo were walking down the road. Noticing Leo was depressed, Francis turned and asked, “Leo, do you know what it means to be pure of heart?” “Of course. It means to have no sins, faults, or weaknesses to reproach myself for.” “Ah,” said Francis, “now I understand why you’re sad. We will always have something to reproach ourselves for.” “Right,” said Leo. “That’s why I despair of ever arriving at purity of heart.” “Leo, listen carefully to me. Don’t be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. Turn and look at Jesus. Admire Him. Rejoice that He is what He is—your Brother, your Friend, your Lord and Savior. That, little brother, is what it means to be pure of heart. And once you’ve turned to Jesus, don’t turn back and look at yourself. Don’t wonder where you stand with Him.” “The sadness of not being perfect, the discovery that you really are sinful, is a feeling much too human, even borders on idolatry. Focus your vision outside yourself, on the beauty, graciousness, and compassion of Jesus Christ. The pure of heart praise Him from sunrise to sundown.”

Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. [2 Timothy 2:22]

Written by Izwe Nkosi, a contemporary South African author, who is passionate about worship and prayer.

Jesus, soften my stony heart. Show me what breaks your heart today. Help me weep with those who weep that I may also rejoice with those who rejoice.

For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. [Matthew 13:15]

Today’s reflection is from the Dwell scripture listening app.

The Son and the Father and the Spirit have an eternal kingdom of perfect harmony, beauty, justice, and abundance. Love is law there. Not a law followed grudgingly, but joyfully, because it is sheer delight to share in the communion it makes possible. This realm where God’s way is done is the “kingdom of God.” It is from everlasting to everlasting.  What changed with the birth of Jesus was God’s gift of a way in. To those who receive Christ as king, he gives the power to become powerless — to give up supreme rulership of our own little kingdoms and become like children. Children of the King, happy to follow in the Father’s footsteps and ready to trust him with our lives. But the more established our own kingdoms are, the harder they are to relinquish. Henri Nouwen asks, “Do I want to break away from my deep-rooted rebellion against God and surrender myself so absolutely to God’s love that a new person can emerge?” Not everyone does…Each of us must grapple with the government Jesus ushered in. Most of us want God to set things right in the world so that we can flourish. But there can’t be any setting things right unless we let him set us right. Let him root out false sources of comfort, self-esteem, and deliverance. Give him authority to rule over our decisions, to revise our likes and dislikes, to form within us a loving disposition toward all people. Give him free reign to remake us completely so that we can have what Richard Foster calls a “new order of life.” The journey from the kingdom of self-rule to the kingdom of God might sound too far and too difficult. But if we are willing to receive him, Jesus will meet us and lead us all the way. 

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground. So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  [Genesis 1:26-27]ernment and peace there shall be no end…”   (Isaiah 9:6a, 7a)

Written by Grace Pouch, a contemporary content manager and writer.

The Son and the Father and the Spirit have an eternal kingdom of perfect harmony, beauty, justice, and abundance. Love is law there. Not a law followed grudgingly, but joyfully, because it is sheer delight to share in the communion it makes possible. This realm where God’s way is done is the “kingdom of God.” It is from everlasting to everlasting.  What changed with the birth of Jesus was God’s gift of a way in. To those who receive Christ as king, he gives the power to become powerless — to give up supreme rulership of our own little kingdoms and become like children. Children of the King, happy to follow in the Father’s footsteps and ready to trust him with our lives. But the more established our own kingdoms are, the harder they are to relinquish. …Each of us must grapple with the government Jesus ushered in. Most of us want God to set things right in the world so that we can flourish. But there can’t be any setting things right unless we let him set us right. Let him root out false sources of comfort, self-esteem, and deliverance. Give him authority to rule over our decisions, to revise our likes and dislikes, to form within us a loving disposition toward all people. Give him free reign to remake us completely so that we can have what Richard Foster calls a “new order of life.” The journey from the kingdom of self-rule to the kingdom of God might sound too far and too difficult. But if we are willing to receive him, Jesus will meet us and lead us all the way. 

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder…Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end…” (Isaiah 9:6a, 7a)

Written by William Lohe (1808-1872), a Lutheran pastor, writer, and founder of the Deaconess Movement.

Glory to God in the highest,

and peace to his people on earth.

From the rising of the sun to its setting,

the name of the Lord is to be praised!

Almighty and gracious God, merciful Father,

let the light of your face shine on us, your humble servants.

Increase in us true knowledge of your grace and mercy

which you have freely given us in Jesus Christ, your dear Son.

Move us to praise and confess you as our Lord and our God

for the salvation of people everywhere,

together with your Son and the Holy Spirit,

and glorify and praise you with all our hearts,

with all the company of heaven, in word and deed;

through your dear Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. [Psalm 69:30]

Written by Andrew Wilson, a contemporary author. This is an excerpt from his book “Remaking the World.”

The fundamental equality of human beings, and their endowment with inalienable rights by their Creator, are essentially theological beliefs. They are neither innately obvious axioms nor universally accepted empirical truths nor rational deductions from things that are. There is no logical syllogism that begins with undeniable premises and concludes with “all people are equal” or “humans have God-given rights.” … We are inclined to see equality and human rights as universal norms, obvious to everyone who can think for themselves. But in reality, they are culturally conditioned beliefs that depend on fundamentally Christian assumptions about the world. Friedrich Nietzsche made this point with angry brilliance: the obsession with alleviating the suffering of the weak and marginalized, within an ethical framework that valorizes humility, fairness, charity, equality, and freedom (as opposed to nobility, pride, courage, and power), is the result of the “slave morality” introduced by Christianity, with its crucified Savior and its claims about weak things being chosen to shame the strong. Coming from a very different angle, Yuval Noah Harari shows how human rights, likewise, have no foundation if they are not rooted in Christian anthropology. “There are no such things as rights in biology,” he explains. Expressed in biological terms, the Declaration of Independence would read very differently: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men evolved differently, that they are born with certain mutable characteristics, and that among these are life and the pursuit of pleasure.” … Equality and human rights are “sacred” truths, not “self-evident” ones. They are irreducibly theological, grounded in specifically Judeo-Christian beliefs about God and his creation of humans in his image, and there is no particular reason why societies with different theological foundations should not reach very different conclusions. Many have.

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.[Galatians 3:26-28]

Today’s prayer is from the Book of Common Prayer.

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [Colossians 2:1-3]