Pathways Press.com

Written by Terri Savelle Foy, a contemporary writer.

Years ago, when I was faced with the most difficult time in my life, the last thing I wanted to do was express gratitude. For what? I thought. I have nothing to be thankful for! Nothing. My life is falling apart. My marriage is falling apart. I have no peace. I’m miserable! Those were my dominant thoughts.  I desperately needed a turnaround. One day, I heard a minister say, “Stop looking at everything you’ve lost in your life and start looking at everything you have left. And start thanking God for it.”  It was late one evening when I walked into my kitchen and with tears pouring down my cheeks, I forced myself to lift my hands and say, “Thank You, Father, for…” I had to pause and think. What do I have to be thankful for? Surely there was one thing. And then it dawned on me. “Thank You, Father, for my precious little redheaded girl sleeping upstairs. I prayed for a baby after losing one, and then you gave me the very desire of my heart, Lord.” I walked around the kitchen, and another thought came to me. “Thank You, Father, for my best friend. She knows everything I’m going through and she still loves me, encourages me, and believes in me.” And I persisted, “Thank You, Lord, for my job. I am so grateful I didn’t lose my job with all this turmoil going on in my life.” The laps around the kitchen continued. “Thank You, Jesus, for this house I live in. I’m so grateful I get to live here.”   Each time I voiced my gratitude, the sadness felt like it physically lifted off me. The misery would fade. And joy would be released in my heart. It was a tangible feeling of breathing lighter and experiencing greater peace.

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.    [Philippians 4:6]

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Written by Lauren Miller, a contemporary author and speaker.

Worry is a story we tell ourselves about something that has not yet happened in the future. It is the archway through which discouragement walks through and sets up camp between our two ears… Worry opens the door to discouragement and has its roots in the original sin: our desire to take control as we believe that God does not have our best interests in mind. .. Worry is a strange unhealthy counterfeit method used by Satan to make us think: If I worry about this then I’m giving it my attention which may lead to a solution that helps me feel like I’m in control of a circumstance that I feel out of control about. Counterfeit is taking something authentic (like God’s ability to take care of His children) and making it in-authentic (using our own abilities to take care of ourselves) with the intention to deceive. One is faith driven and the other is fear driven. When we worry, we compromise our ability to lead like Jesus. Jesus led free from worry, which resulted in words and teachings that transformed lives. Worry is directly linked to attachment and doubt. As we form attachments to things, relationships and circumstances, we render ourselves vulnerable to worrying about losing those things… When we are attached to things, including our desire to figure things out, understand why things happen as they do along with worrying about the future, we are striving for control that belongs to God alone. Worry hijacks our faith and confidence that God has got our back. We let worry consume us and we don’t have to. Jesus offers another way. Let go of your need to know in order to feel safe. God is in control; He has your back and promises to never leave you . Jesus’ BIG solution to worry: trust that God is in control that He is trustworthy, just and good.

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? [ Luke 12:25-31]

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Written by Rich Villodas, a contemporary author.  This is an excerpt from his book “The Narrow Path.”

There are legitimate reasons to be angry. But in the Kingdom of God, there’s no legitimate reason to let that anger destroy and consume you. I’ve found that the practice of lament – voicing my pain, grief, and distress to God—helps me defuse my anger. Anger closes us in; lament opens us up. Rather than ignoring an offense, lament creates space in our hearts for God’s Spirit to redirect our hearts and get to the root of the anger. It may surprise you that the root of rage is often grief. That is why slowing down to lament must be part of our regular worship gatherings and interactions with trusted friends. Paired with lament, our anger can be a catalyst for opening us up to God’s life, love, and power. Unless we face our anger honestly (and in the presence of God), we violate the law of love—the law that matters most to Jesus.

“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” [Ephesians 4:26-27]

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Written by Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), a bishop, writer, and doctor.

O Lord, we bring before you the distress and dangers of peoples and nations, the pleas of the imprisoned and the captive, the sorrows of the grief-stricken, the needs of the refugee, the impotence of the weak, the weariness of the despondent, and the diminshments of the aging. O Lord, stay close to all of them. Amen.

Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. [Proverbs 31:9]

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Written by the Lead Like Jesus team, an organization founded by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges that promotes a transformational leadership model based on following Jesus.

The condition of our hearts is often revealed in unexpected moments. Delays happen, things don’t go our way, change is sprung upon us. What comes out of us at times like these—groans, complaints, and resentment? Or do we take a deep breath and adopt a Christ-like attitude by trusting that God is in control and is at work in all things. Choose to look at life through Jesus’ eyes and receive what He has for you, especially when things don’t appear to be going your way.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything [James 1:2-4]

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Written by Richard Foster, a contemporary author and speaker. This is an excerpt from his work “Letter to My Younger Self.”

You are trying too hard to be heroic in the spiritual life. Friendship with Jesus does not come by gritting your teeth but by falling in love. So, I would urge you to relax a bit, learn to be playful, and by all means, laugh a lot. And, on occasion, follow the wisdom of Psalm 150 and break out the lute and the harp, the tambourine and the pipe, the clanging cymbals and the loud clashing cymbals, and throw a party in the presence of the Lord.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. [Psalm 150:6]

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Written by Timothy Keller (1950-2023), an American pastor, speaker, and author.

Discipleship is not just a matter of bending your will to Jesus’ will; it’s melting your heart into a whole new shape. A disciple is not someone who simply sets a new priority; a disciple finds a new identity… He’s talking—pretty radically—about the psychological, inner life. “Your old way of having an identity, of gaining a sense of self, has got to end. In a sense you have to die to it. And Jesus can give you a whole new identity. You’ll get a whole new true self.”… Others have also noted our obsession with finding and fulfilling your deepest desires as the main thing you’re supposed to do in life. It almost seems that Jesus has us in mind when he says, “You’re never going to find out who you really are by trying to find out who you really are. You’re going to have to lose yourself in serving me.” Some things happen only as a byproduct, and identity is one of them… But you can’t change your identity by just deciding. It’s not an act of the will. A person can’t just say, “You know, I’m having a problem in my life because I built my identity on my parents’ expectations. I think I’ll build my identity on my career and accomplishments.” You can’t do that! That’s not transformation; that’s acting. Your heart is not a computer in which you can just install a program. There’s only one way that the root of your personality can be changed, and that is by an experience of love. Only when your heart experiences love from a new source beyond anything it’s ever known before will your heart start to move toward that source, and begin to be deeply changed.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? [Luke 9:24-25]

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Written by A.B. Simpson (1843-1919) a Canadian preacher, theologian, and author.  This is an excerpt from his book “Days of Heaven Upon Earth.”

Some of us are shivering and wondering why the Holy Spirit does not fill us. We have plenty coming in, but we do not give it out. Give out the blessing that you have, start larger plans for service and blessing, and you will soon find that the Holy Ghost is before you, and He will present you with blessings for service, and give you all that He can trust you to give away to others. There is a beautiful fact in nature which has its spiritual parallels. There is no music so heavenly as an Aeolian harp, and the Aeolian harp is nothing but a set of musical chords arranged in harmony, and then left to be touched by the unseen fingers of the wandering winds. And as the breath of heaven floats over the chords, it is said that notes almost Divine float out upon the air, as if a choir of angels were wandering around and touching the strings. And so it is possible to keep our hearts so open to the touch of the Holy Spirit that He can play upon them at will, as we quietly wait in the pathway of His service.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his inner being shall flow rivers of living water [John 7:38]

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Written by Mark D. Roberts, a contemporary writer.

When I was a teenager, I wanted to figure out God. I thought that if I worked hard enough and was completely logical, then everything about God would ultimately make sense to me. In retrospect, I think my desire to know God was laudable, but my expectations were naïve. I didn’t take into consideration my own limitations as a human being and God’s unlimited nature. Nor did I account for how sin gets in the way of our knowing God. Over time, I have come to realize that, although there are many things we can know about God because they have been revealed to us, our understanding has limits…God’s ways are often mysterious. Sometimes they are gloriously mysterious. Sometimes they are frustratingly mysterious. For example, when God allows the innocent to suffer, when God fails to act in ways that would seem to highlight God’s own glory, and when God appears to say “no” to our fervent prayers, we struggle to accept God’s inscrutability. It’s not just that we can’t understand God’s ways. Part of us doesn’t like them!  Yet, the greatest mystery of God’s nature leads us not to exasperation but to exaltation. I’m talking about the wonder of God’s grace, God’s limitless mercy, and unfathomable love. The more we reflect upon the mind-blowing goodness of God, the more we’ll echo the words of Paul in Romans 11:33: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” For Paul, as for us, the mystery of God’s grace leads to astonished praise.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. [Isaiah 55:8]

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Written by Kyle Norman, a contemporary rector, writer, and speaker. 

Are you struggling to feel forgiven?  Look to Jesus. It can be hard sometimes to turn off the voice inside us that says we haven’t earned our forgiveness. After all, we live in a world that tries to rank and file everything and everyone.  We live in a world of merit and earning, one that says, “What goes around comes around,” and “You get what you deserve.” But Jesus reminds us that God’s love isn’t based on worldly principles. Jesus offers us a vision of hope and grace. You need not question your forgiveness. Like a Sentinel looking toward the horizon in the eager anticipation that the dawn will come just as it always does, you can live your lives in the assurance of God’s forgiveness, love, and redemption. Because all those things are held in the crucified hands of Jesus. 

If you O Lord kept a record of our sins, O Lord who could stand. But with you there is forgiveness, so you are to be feared.” [Psalm 130:3-4]

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