Pathways Press.com

Written by Chelsea Logan, a contemporary writer and church planter.

The story of creation gives us a powerful reminder that it’s through the waters of chaos and nothingness that God brings forth creation and new life. In those spaces and places that feel the most void, the least purposeful, and often the most painful, God is already at work creating and redeeming. As one theologian put it, “The anxieties that torment me as I face the insecurity of my existence and the dark curtain of the future become the raw material from which I let God build my trust and my faith.” The chaos we experience, in Christ, becomes fertile ground for creation. And while this is by no means easy, trusting in the Lord means knowing and expecting God to take the soups of nothingness in our lives and transform them into works of divine creation.

When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. [Genesis 1:1-2]

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Written by Brian Morykon, a contemporary writer.

Jesus preached and demonstrated the Kingdom of Heaven, the realm where justice and wholeness are the norm. So, it makes sense that following Jesus means doing outward things that help bring God’s Kingdom to our corner of Earth. What that looks like day to day will be different for each of us according to our life season and unique calling. But it’ll look like something. And if we’re doing the outward stuff, we better also be doing the inward stuff and together stuff—solitude and sabbath and worship, the practices Jesus modeled and taught. Inner work, like outward work, is much easier to talk about than to do. And it’s easy to confuse the talking for the doing …  The full and good life Christ offers us is a balance of outward, inward, and together. So let’s be intentional about actually doing all the stuff. Together. With God. 

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. [2 Corinthians 3:2]

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Written by Robert Collyer [1823-1912], an American pastor.

If Job could have known as he sat there in the ashes, bruising his heart on this problem of Providence—that in the trouble that had come upon him he was doing what one man may do to work out the problem for the world, he might again have taken courage. No man lives to himself. Job’s life is but your life and mine written in larger text….So, then, though we may not know what trials wait on any of us, we can believe that, as the days in which Job wrestled with his dark maladies are the only days that make him worth remembrance, and but for which his name had never been written in the book of life, so the days through which we struggle, finding no way, but never losing the light, will be the most significant we are called to live.

So I endure all things for the sake of those chosen by God, that they too may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus and its eternal glory. [2 Timothy 2:10]

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Written by Dallas Willard (1935-2013), an American philosopher, speaker  and writer on spiritual formation. This is an excerpt from his book “The Scandal of the Kingdom.”

Children excel at persistence and humility. When children fall down, they get up and try again. They learn to talk by steadily babbling. As little children grow, they possess an unlimited ability to humbly persist in learning things and never quitting…The humility of little children shows in how they don’t have to think about “saving face.” “Saving face” is a façade-saving device. Grownups are not saving face, but saving the façade they have created to manage how they appear to those around them. A little child doesn’t yet have a façade to save. This kind of honesty—tearing away all the pretenses and just being who we are—is what enables us to have a tender heart that is honest and vulnerable…If we are to be humble like a child and be great in the kingdom of the heavens, we must turn from the normal human attitude that says we are competent and quite capable of managing our lives on our own…When we understand our place in the rule of God, we naturally humble ourselves under his mighty hand and depend on him to care for us.          

And [Jesus] said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 18:3-4]

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Written by Charles Gallaudet Trumbull (1872-1941), an American evangelical writer and journalist.  This is an excerpt from the book “Messages for the Morning Watch.”

In the original creation of light, God the creator divided light from darkness…Now, when God commits specific light-giving duties to certain of His creations, He makes it a definite part of their duty to divide the light from the darkness. So it is in the spiritual world. God has once for all divided light from darkness: they can have nothing to do with each other. God also entrusts His children, as co-workers with Himself, the responsibility and privilege of dividing light from darkness. We must lead others from darkness to Christ, and insist, for ourselves, a rigidly and relentlessly sharp line of cleavage between those things that belong to the light and to the darkness. May the God and Father of all light, and the True Light which lighteth every man, keep our vision clear and our will true.

God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. [Genesis 1:16-18]

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This meditation is from the Pray.com app.

God doesn’t just command us not to fear—He gives us Himself. The God of the universe promises to hold your hand and walk with you through whatever comes. His presence is constant, His help unfailing. He doesn’t stand at a distance—He stays close, steadying your heart and guiding your steps. When fear rises, you don’t have to face it alone. The One who holds your hand also holds all power. You are not abandoned. You are not forgotten. God is your help, and He will never let go.

For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you. [Isaiah 41:13]

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Written by Tim Bias, a contemporary pastor.

O God, help me love the people you send my way every day. Fill me with a love so deep that I am not only moved but I make a conscious decision to work for the good of others. By your grace, help me respond to your love with love for the people around me. I place myself at your disposal, in the name of Jesus. Amen,

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. [1 John 4:8]

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Written by Matthew Dickerson, a contemporary American professor and writer.

Compassion—when empathy moves us to action—is close to the heart of God, the example of Jesus, and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. Compassion requires both emotional vulnerability and often personal self-sacrifice. It can be uncomfortable…Sympathy  is an understanding of the difficulties experienced by somebody who walks in different shoes than our own: the struggles that person is going through or the sorrows they have experienced. Sympathy is, in a way, a first step toward caring. Empathycan be understood as an even further step. Empathy is when we not only try to understand what somebody else is experiencing, but we actually work to feel what they are feeling. Whereas sympathy might be a mere intellectual exercise, empathy is personal and risky, involving a vulnerability to let ourselves invest emotionally in what somebody else is going through. Empathy is a step of love. It is also an imitation of what Jesus did through the incarnation: choosing to enter into our world in human form, in all its vulnerability and risk, fully experiencing all the temptations and sufferings of our human condition … Jesus’ compassion was certainly costly. But it is what we are called to do…Take some time to put yourself in the shoes of somebody whose life is different than yours, and who may be experiencing hardship. It could be a refugee fleeing violence, or somebody who is homeless, or somebody who works with or for you experiencing personal challenges. Let empathy move your actions to those of compassion.

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. [Colossians 3:12]

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Written by Aaron D’Anthony Brown, a contemporary writer.

If there’s one undeniable truth about the human condition, that truth would be that each of us always wants something. That something could be significant or insignificant, like a new book, fresh clothes, a relationship, more money, or a better job. There’s no way to produce an exhaustive list because of our unique desires, and our hearts never stop longing for more…All this wanting is normal, but normal isn’t always moral or productive. In this case, normal means not being very content in life. Chances are, this describes you or many of the people you know. However, this need not always be true. How do we become more content, and what exactly is it?… Contentment denotes a mindset of peace that is not contingent upon circumstances…To be content does not mean that you don’t want anything at all. Instead, contentment is finding peace with what you have. That can be true of us even while still desiring something else, something more…We can find peace wherever and with whatever we have in life.

I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. [Philippians 4:11-13]

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Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary pastor and author. This is an excerpt from his book “God Is With You Every Day.”

Have you heard voices of failure? When you lost your job, flunked the exam, dropped out of school. When your marriage went south. When your business went broke. When you failed. The voices began to howl. And you joined them! Failure finds us all. Failure is so universal we have to wonder why more self-help gurus don’t address it. Bookstores overflow with volumes on how to succeed. But you’ll look a long time before you find a section called “How to Succeed at Failing.” Maybe no one knows what to say. But God does. His book is written for failures. It is full of folks who were foul-ups and flops. David was a moral failure, yet God used him. Elijah was an emotional train wreck after Mount Carmel, but God blessed him. Jonah was in the belly of a fish when he prayed his most honest prayer, and God heard it. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet. Yet God used them. A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. [Psalm 40:1–3]

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