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Written by Stacy Edwards, a contemporary writer. This is an excerpt from her book “Devotions for the Fall.”

Our lives go through seasons, just like the calendar. There are periods when we feel weary from the weight of our sins. The guilt and shame we carry are as oppressive as the heat of a Southern July day. There seems to be no end in sight, and we find ourselves just trying to survive. That is not the life our heavenly Father desires for His children. Thankfully, just as we turn a calendar page, we can turn from the heaviness of our former ways. Just like that first fall breeze, repentance will bring a refreshing new season into our lives. When we turn from our sins and turn toward Jesus, forgiveness blows over us like a crisp autumn wind, and new energy is instilled in us. The sky is a little brighter, the colors are a little bolder, and our steps are a little lighter as the burden is lifted. Walking in freedom with Jesus is as stimulating as that first fall breeze. Everything that once weighed us down just falls away, and a fresh beginning is ours for the taking. Everything is brimming with possibility, and the opportunities are endless. Let’s repent, be refreshed, and embrace a new season with Christ.

Prayer:

Written by Scotty Smith, a contemporary American pastor.

As the rain hides the stars,

as the autumn mist

hides the hills,

as the clouds veil

the blue of the sky, so

the dark happenings of my lot

hide the shining of thy face from me.

Yet, if I may hold thy hand in the darkness,

it is enough, since I know,

that though I may stumble in my going,

Thou dost not fall. Amen.

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Written by J.I. Packer (1926-2020), a Canadian evangelical theologian, cleric, and writer. This is an excerpt from his book “God’s Words.”

[The essence of sin is] playing God; and, as a means to this, refusing to allow the Creator to be God as far as you are concerned. Living, not for him, but for yourself; loving and serving and pleasing yourself without reference to the Creator; trying to be as far as possible independent of Him, taking yourself out of His hands, holding Him at arm’s length, keeping the reins of life in your own hands; acting as if you and your pleasure, were the end to which all things else, God included, must be made to function as a means—that is the attitude in which sin essentially consists. Sin is exalting oneself against the Creator, withholding the homage due to Him, and putting yourself in His place as the ultimate standard of reference in all life’s decisions. Augustine analyzed sin as pride (superbia), the mad passion to be superior even to God, and as a state of being bent away from God into a state of self-absorption (homo incurvatus in se).

Prayer:

Written by Ken Boa, a contemporary teacher, writer,  speaker and President of Reflections Ministries.

 Father, I desire to be a person after Your own heart. I want to be pleasing and obedient to You, and when I sin against You, I want to acknowledge it quickly with no excuses and waste no time returning back to Your embrace. I know that I will never attain perfection in this life, but I desire to progress in godly character and conduct. You look at the heart and not at the externals that impress people. Therefore I ask that I would guard my heart and walk in integrity before You. By Your grace, I would desire what You desire, love what You love and hate what You hate. May I honor my commitments and relationships. Let me allow You to define my understanding of myself and not the world with its pride and deception. Amen.

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Written by Jenise Jones Vacarro, a consultant on business development and writer. This is an excerpt from her work “Trading Fear For Love.”

I often need to step back and be reminded of what is more weighty: getting a deal and being right, or yielding to a colleague because the relationship I may have with that person is of greater import than getting credit for a deal. One outcome of such an action is that I have had a manager tell me that I am not “tough enough.” How do I express my decision without sounding sanctimonious? Oh, to be eloquent and have a response that not only gives understanding for my position but also serves to glorify God to my management and colleagues. I must admit to some need for growth in this area as well. But, I recall the words of Proverbs 16:7, reminding us that “when a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live in peace with him.” I am in most times at peace with my colleagues—no small feat when one considers the serious grudges being held by so many within the sales ranks of my industry. One of my prayers is that the light of God’s love would be on my countenance and be evident in my actions. Were it not for this prayer, I am certain that my selfish, prideful side would win.

Prayer:

Written by John Baker (1948-2021), pastor and founder of the Celebrate Recovery ministry.

 Dear God, thank You for Your love, for the grace You freely offer. Help me model Your ways when I make my amends to those I’ve hurt and offer my forgiveness to those who’ve injured me. Help me set aside my selfishness and speak the truth in love. Help me focus on my own responsibility in the issue, so my actions won’t be conditional. I know I can forgive others because You first forgave me. Thank You for loving me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

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Written by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), a British writer, literary scholar, and lay theologian.  This is an excerpt from his book “Mere Christianity.”

God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata—of creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free .. . . If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will—that is, for making a live world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings—then we may take it it is worth paying.

Prayer:

Written by Emily Van Dixhoorn, a contemporary theologian and author.

 Please teach me to use well the freedom you have graciously given to me by faith in Christ Jesus and most of all to honor your Son Jesus Christ and you in him. For one day I know we will see clearly that every choice made in obedience to Christ was right and will be magnificently rewarded. Amid my decisions, both good and bad, please help me to always rejoice in the grace of Christ and the irresistible work of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Written by Norman Jetmundsen, a contemporary attorney and writer. This is an excerpt from his work “The Subtle Power of Evil and God’s Antidote.”

What is your paradigm of the world? Whatever it is, your worldview provides the lens through which you see this world. It determines how you evaluate and give meaning to people and events. In this post-modern world, we are bombarded with a myriad of paradigms. Which one is true? Or, as many will say, there is no one true paradigm; instead, we should simply find a paradigm that fits and, if necessary (or, in some cases, if just convenient), change that paradigm to suit our changing needs or the latest fad. The biblical paradigm is not in vogue these days, but the ultimate question is not what is popular, but what, if anything, is true. Ironically, to say that there is no ultimate truth, or that all truths about and roads to God are equally valid, is to still make an ultimate truth claim. So why examine the Christian faith as a possibility? C. S. Lewis, in his inimitable way, put the matter quite succinctly in God in the Dock: “Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

Prayer:

Today’s prayer is from the Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant-Episcopal Church in the USA, 1979.

 Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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Written by Richard F. Lovelace (1930-2020), a professor of church history and author. This is an excerpt from his book “Dynamics of Spiritual Life.”.

Augustine divided the trunk of the flesh into two main branches, pride (self-aggrandizement) and sensuality (self-indulgence), which in their interaction together might be held to generate most other forms of sin. Luther, however, perceived that the main root of the flesh behind pride and sensuality was unbelief; and his analysis takes in some forms of the flesh which are apparently “selfless” and altruistic. In any case, the characteristic bent of the flesh is toward independence from God, his truth, and his will, as if man himself were God.

Prayer:

Written by Richard Foster, a contemporary author and leader in the spiritual formation movement.

 O Lord, root out the arrogance and pride that seeks to establish residence in me. Instead, instill deep within a tender heart and a humble mind. Amen.

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Written by Paul David Tripp, a contemporary pastor, author, and speaker.

Our hearts struggle to keep things in their right place, so we don’t always think, desire, live, relate, plan, and decide with a proper sense of balance. Certain visions, desires, and created things take on greater weight in our hearts than they were meant to take and throw our lives out of balance. What is important to God isn’t always important to us. What God knows is needful for us isn’t always needful to us. What God says we should treasure, at street level we don’t always treasure. Things gobble up more space in our hearts than they should, and things that should have prominence in our hearts often don’t. The brokenness, drama, pain, and sadness in our lives are the result not just of the imbalance around us but also of the imbalance that still exists inside us. Thankfully, by the power of divine, transforming grace we are being progressively brought into greater balance, and we live with the surety that someday balance will be fully restored, inside and around us, and things will be where they were meant to be, doing what they were intended to do. Every leadership community should be periodically discussing these things. The Bible has another way of talking to us about imbalance. It is a term that, on the surface, seems like a religious descriptor but is actually vocabulary that God has given us for understanding the most fundamental functional struggles of every human being: idolatry. Idolatry is not just when a religious god replaces the one true God, and it is not just when your heart is ruled by an evil thing. In its most fundamental everyday form, idolatry is when good things are out of balance in our hearts. Idolatry is when things take on a greater weight in our hearts than God does. 

Prayer:

Written by Kirstyn Mayden, a contemporary Christian author.

Dear God, When our minds are distracted and overwhelmed by our personal and societal circumstances, renew and restore our minds daily. During times when we cannot think clearly, strengthen and direct our minds to your Word for hope and encouragement. Help us to keep our minds focused on You. Restore mental clarity and balance when anxiety rises. Restore positive thoughts and affirmations in our minds so that we can be beacons of hope and love. Give us the courage and discipline to continually seek your Word to renew our minds. Amen.

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Written by Kevin DeYoung, a contemporary pastor, professor, and author. This is an excerpt from his work “The Sermon on the Mount is Not an Impossible Standard to Make Us Feel Bad.”

The Sermon on the Mount is not an impossible standard, because pleasing Jesus is not impossible. With most sermons, the messenger should decrease so that message can increase. But when you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, the point of the preaching is going to be the preacher himself. The Sermon on the Mount compels us to ask: Who is this that thinks we will be persecuted for his sake, that religious tradition bows before him, that building a life on his words makes one wise, that the final judgment will be given with reference to him and given by him? Of course, the first and lasting impression of the sermon was Jesus’s authority. No one had preached like Jesus before because there never was a God-man like Jesus before. Walking in the way of the Sermon on the Mount means walking close to Jesus. The relentless subplot to this entire sermon comes in the form of this question: Are you with me? Are you really with me? Are you with me no matter what? Submitting to this sermon means finally and fully submitting to Jesus. The law in the Sermon on the Mount reflects the heart of the lawgiver. The commands of Jesus are not meant to crush us any more than Jesus means to crush us. Jesus came to save us, to enlist us, and to be with us until the end of the age… To all who know the Son, to those who look for rest in the Son, to those who are eager to walk with the Son and learn from the Son, the yoke he gives you is easy, and the burden he asks you to carry is light.

Prayer:

Written by Jamie Maxim, a contemporary pastor.

I pray, God, that You would move on our hearts in such a way that we would respond to Jesus in the same way that Levi responded to Jesus—that we follow You with all that we are. God, we give You praise. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Written by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), a Welsh minister and medical doctor.  This is an excerpt from his book “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount.

Is it not true to say of many of us that in actual practice our view of the doctrine of grace is such that we scarcely ever take the plain teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ seriously? We have so emphasized the teaching that all is of grace and that we ought not to try to imitate His example in order to make ourselves Christians, that we are virtually in the position of ignoring His teaching altogether and of saying that it has nothing to do with us because we are under grace. Now I wonder how seriously we take the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Prayer:

Written by Benedict of Nuria (480-547), the father of Western monasticism and founder of the Rule of St. Benedict, a monastic community. He is the patron saint of Europe.

Gracious and Holy Father, Please give me: intellect to understand you, reason to discern you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, a spirit to know you, a heart to meditate upon you, ears to hear you, eyes to to see you, a tongue to proclaim you, a way of life pleasing to you, patience to wait for you and perseverance to look for you. Grant me a perfect end, your holy presence, a blessed resurrection and life everlasting. Amen.

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Written by Christopher A. Hall, a contemporary author, editor, and educator. This is an excerpt from his book “A Different Way.”

Jesus offers us the ability to live a different way. This is not different just to stand out, but different in a way that fills us with longing, a sense of goodness and joy with a deep resonance within us that this is how things were meant to be. Following this way should be the foundation for what it means to be a Christian…Considering a different way with Jesus may involve significant changes in how we act or understand God, ourselves, or the world. Recentering may make us uncomfortable as the terrain of our world shifts. Yet taking a new journey, walking a new path, can also be exhilarating…The vast panoply of human tragedy sometimes overwhelms us; we struggle to reconcile our pain and sadness with the possibility of God’s goodness, power, and love. Yet isn’t pondering Jesus’s life and teaching worth the effort? So much hangs in the balance.

Prayer:

Written by Tiffany Curtis, a contemporary writer.

Lord Jesus, help us to have faith like the crowd that followed you. No matter what we have going on, give us the courage to drop what we think is important, and instead give our whole selves to you. Help us to identify what is holding us back from fully committing our lives to you today. You call us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Allow us to trust you fully with all four of those and to follow you, even if the destination is unknown. We know that wherever you lead us, you will provide. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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