Pathways Press.com

Written by Ray Stedman (1917-1992), an American pastor and author.

You may get the most eloquent book in the library and read to them all the philosophical elements for life, but it will not give them life. You may shake a stick over them and demand they obey the laws, but that won’t help. They need life. This is the reason only the great Life-giver can do the work of soul winning. You don’t have to beg Him to do it. He is far more willing to do it than you are, but He does it with the ones of His choice, not your choice.

They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. [Revelation17:14]

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Written by John Henry Jewett (1864-1923), a British preacher and author.

If we wish to retain “the word of the Lord” everything depends upon where we keep it. If we just keep it in the mind, a leaky memory may waste the treasure. A Chinese convert declared that he found the best way
to remember the word was to do it! The engraved word became character, written upon the fleshy tables of the heart. He incarnated the word, and it became a vital part of his own personality. He lived it and it lived in him. The word became flesh. This is the only really vital “way of remembrance,” to convert the word into the primary stuff of the life. There is a secondary way by which we may help our apprehension of God’s word. “Ye shall teach them.” Our hold upon a truth is increased while we impart it to others. The gospel becomes more vivid as we proclaim it to our fellow men. We see it while we explain it. It grips us more firmly as we use it to grip our children. This is a great law in life. In these matters, it is literally true that memory best retains what she gives away. A truth that is never shared is never really possessed. The word that we teach becomes rooted in our own mind.

You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you
shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. [Deuteronomy 11:18]

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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.”

It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith, but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea, nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within twenty miles of land, we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead. How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments and, looking up to the sky, had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights. So faith looks up and sails on, by God’s great Sun, not seeing one shoreline or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster; but He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, but trusting.

He went out, not knowing whither he went [Hebrews 11:8]

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Written by Michelle Lazurek, a contemporary writer.

In this life, we will always encounter fear. Anxiety and fear are a natural part of life. But it’s our reaction to it is what God honors. Even when I feel anxious, I don’t have to give in to that fear. I can do what I can to face my fears and experience life despite my fears.  When I run to God rather than run to my fear, God is glorified…We must understand that we have freedom in this life…We don’t want anything to overtake us in life so much that we cannot worship God. Anything that takes over our thoughts, feelings, and actions more than it should become an idol in our lives…We don’t want to indulge in any sinful behavior that may overtake us in the end…It is easy to have idols creep into our lives. With God, we always hope to push those idols aside and allow ourselves not to be mastered by anything.

Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. [1 Corinthians 10:23]

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Written by Les Parrott, a contemporary professor and author.

I’m not a softhearted poet. I’m not a people-pleasing idealist. I live with full-throttle ambition and no shortage of self-interest. I’m impatient and sometimes insecure. I jockey for position, and I like exclusive privileges. I can be judgmental, insensitive, petty and resentful. Oh, and I can be cheap and stingy. But I want to love like Jesus. Why? Because I know it’s the best way to live. When we love like Jesus, we’re lifted outside ourselves. We shed self-interest — with our spouse, our kids, friends, everyone. His brand of love sees beyond the normal range of human vision — over walls of resentment and barriers of betrayal. When we love like Jesus, we rise above petty demands and snobbish entitlement. We loosen our tightfisted anxiety and relax in a surplus of benevolence.

Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. [Ephesians 5:2]

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This 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.

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! [Psalm 133:1]

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Written by Bryan O’Keefe, a contemporary lawyer and writer. The message was inspired by a sermon “The Gospel for the Pagan” given in 2013 by Tim Keller (1950-2023), an American pastor, speaker, and author.

Everybody is living for something. For many people that is their job or career. For other people it is achievement and success — getting the A on the test, having to be the best at whatever you do. For others, they are living for money, houses, cars, boats, and other types of materialistic goods. For others, they are living for romance or sex. For others, they are living for their spouses, their children, their pets, their parents. For others, it is political or social causes, on the left or the right. Anybody who tries to deny that they are living for something else isn’t being honest with themselves. All of these things can be good things, don’t get me wrong. But the problem is that when we live for these things, we turn good things into ultimate things. And these ultimate things become idols that end up enslaving us and driving us… Christianity is radically different. When you make Christ the center of your identity, and not these earthly idols, you find that there is a God who fully satisfies you and always forgives you. And you aren’t living life based on your own achievements but what has already been done for you through Christ and the grace that is freely available to anybody who has faith in him. This transformed my entire outlook on life and made me happier, more content, filled with more gratitude, and better able to deal with the inevitable ups and downs that face me everyday. This is the very heart of Christianity, not just following a bunch of rules in the hope of “earning” your own salvation.

And he [Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold,together. [Colossians 1:17]

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Written by Philip Graham Ryken, a contemporary pastor, author,  and president of Wheaton College. This is an excerpt from his book “I Have My Doubts: How God Can Use Your Uncertainty to Reawaken Your Faith.”

God always invites us to take our troubles straight to him. This is what godly people have done throughout history… Even when we think that God is the problem and not the solution—even when we think he is incriminated by what we are experiencing—we should talk things over with him. In every dark night of the soul, we should take our troubles to the secret place and meet with God in prayer. Where else can we open our hearts so freely? Who else could possibly address our concerns? There is never any need for us to hide our feelings. We can always take our struggles to the Lord in prayer… If we believe that God is with us and has the power to help us, then we should ask him for the help that only he can give.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, la′ma sabach-tha′ni?” that is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  [Matthew 27:46]

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Written by Randy Newman, a contemporary seminary professor and author. This is an excerpt from the panel discussion “A Christian Response to Anti-Semitism.”

God chose the nation of Israel to be the object of His plan—that they would be a light to the Gentiles. So there’s God’s choosing, not because they were worthy of it, not because they were sinless or perfect or even better. God chose them because God chose them. And then they are a light to the Gentiles of a message that none of us is worthy to be chosen or called by God. Yet that’s the connection we have to this God. It’s by grace…We’re not saying Jewish people are better than others or more important. But they do have a distinct and unique role in God’s plan. We may differ about how that plays out in the future, but I think all Christians have to look to the Scriptures and say God chose the Jewish people, He has a unique plan for them, and there will be a role they play in the future also, in God’s plan.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the
wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.      [1 Peter 2:9]

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Written by Mark Roberts, a contemporary author and speaker.

God speaks to us in different ways. Sometimes God speaks when we are alone and quiet. Sometimes God speaks through Scripture. At other times God speaks through the wisdom of our sisters and brothers in Christ. If we want to hear from God, we need to be ready both to hear and to obey. A posture of willingness readies our hearts to attend to the voice of God.

For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.  [Job 33:14]

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