Pathways Press.com

Written by Richard Rohr, a contemporary Franciscan friar, ecumenical teacher, and writer.  This is an excerpt from his book “Everything Belongs.”

All spiritual disciplines are to help you trust this personal experience of yourself, which is, not surprisingly, also an experience of God. People are usually amazed that the two experiences coincide: when we know God, we seem to know and accept our own humanity; when we meet ourselves at profound levels of recognition, we also meet God. We don’t have any real access to who we are except through God, and we don’t have any real access to God except through forgiving and rejoicing in our own humanity.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.  [Revelation 3:20]

Read Full Post »

Written by Jeannette Bakke, a contemporary professor and spiritual director. This is an excerpt from her book “Holy Invitations.”

When we are hungry to experience God’s loving presence near us and believe we are searching for God, it is important to ask ourselves whether we are truly seeking God or pursuing spiritual experience. We do get lonesome for God and can feel isolated and confused. But sometimes our search is not as much for God as it is for spiritual adventure. Perhaps we are bored. We might like to see ourselves as important spiritual persons and think a particular king of spiritual experience is one of the criteria necessary for others to view us in this way. Perhaps we would like God to heal someone through our prayer or bring about instantaneous, major life changes in us or in someone else with whom we have been praying more as a kind of witness to our supposed godliness than as an overflowing of God’s compassion.

O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! [Psalm 71:12]

Read Full Post »

Written by Philip Reinders, a contemporary writer.  Today’s prayer is based on the Heidelberg Catechism question 116 (Why is prayer so important?)

God who speaks and listens, if I waited to feel in the mood, I fear you wouldn’t hear too much from me. I need prayer to keep me freshly aware that I depend on you for everything and that everything I have is a gift from you. And so here I am, with open hands and grateful heart. Amen.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. [Psalm 139:14]

Read Full Post »

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 first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with everything in us—heart, soul, mind, and strength. As we focus on our relationship with Him, we are able to accept the changing circumstances of life with confidence and trust. He frees us to love others, and we find true community and contentment in knowing that our lives are in His hands.

I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who
are helpless take heart. Psalm  34:1-2

Read Full Post »

Written by Whitney Hopler, a contemporary author.

Despite our differences, we share a common purpose: to seek God, reach out to him, and discover that God is right here with us. God’s proximity to us is a source of great comfort. He is not a distant deity, but a caring Father who empowers us to live, move, and be who we are. Our identity and existence are rooted in God. No matter where we are in the world, we have access to God’s love and guidance.  As God’s children, we are called to embrace our identity and live in a way that reflects God’s love and unity. We can honor this truth by recognizing the value in every person, regardless of their background. We can also celebrate the diversity of God’s creation while seeking to build bridges of understanding and compassion. By doing so, we fulfill our role as members of God’s global family, letting God’s love flow through us to a world that desperately needs it. 

From one person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where every nation would be. God has done all this, so that we will look for him and reach out and find him. He isn’t far from any of us, and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are. “We are his children,” just as some of your poets have said.  [Acts 17:26-28]

Read Full Post »

Written by L. B. Cowman (1870-1960), an American writer and missionary.

There are times when things look very dark to me–so dark that I have to wait even for hope. It is bad enough to wait in hope. A long-deferred fulfillment carries its own pain, but to wait for hope, to see no glimmer of a prospect and yet refuse to despair; to have nothing but night before the casement and yet to keep the casement open for possible stars; to have a vacant place in my heart and yet to allow that place to be filled by no inferior presence–that is the grandest patience in the universe. It is Job in the tempest; it is Abraham on the road to Moriah; it is Moses in the desert of Midian; it is the Son of man in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is no patience so hard as that which endures, “as seeing him who is invisible”; it is the waiting for hope.

For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness [Galatians 5:5]

Read Full Post »

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

An idol is something that we look to for things that only God can give. Idolatry functions widely inside religious communities when doctrinal truth is elevated to the position of a false god. This occurs when people rely on the rightness of their doctrine for their standing with God rather than on God himself and his grace. It is a subtly but deadly mistake. The sign that you have slipped into this form of self-justification is that you become what the book of Proverbs calls a “scoffer.”

A proud and haughty man – “Scoffer” is his name; He acts with arrogant pride. [Proverbs 21:24]

Read Full Post »

Written by Ricardo Chinchilla, a contemporary priest.

Jesus invited the disciples to come and rest a while after their joyful return from the two-by-two mission of crucial conversion. The Twelve met so many people; they did it with the art learned from Jesus: the blessing of providing close support while healing the struggles of life…We live today in a culture where income must grow, and productivity must always increase. This has convinced us that commitments give value to life. Jesus teaches us that life is valuable regardless of our obligations … Instead of prioritizing his agenda, Jesus turned himself to the people. Why? Two words: he feels compassion. Compassion is a beautiful, infinite charge that indicates a bite, a cramp, or a spasm within. Jesus’ first reaction: he feels pain for the world’s pain. Jesus turned to teach many things. He lit the way with a handful of light thrown into one’s heart. This was a profound teaching to the Twelve: learn to look with heart and tenderness. Then, words will be born; when you learn compassion, the world is grafted into your soul, and we become one river.

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. [1 Peter 3:8] 

Read Full Post »

Written by C. H. Mackintosh (1820-1896), an Irish businessman active in the Irish Revival.

“There is a path which no fool knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: the lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.” What an unspeakable mervy for one who really desires to walk with God, to know that there is a way for him to walk in! God has prepared a pathway for his redeemed in which they may walk with all possible certainty, calmness, and fixedness. It is the privilege of every child of God, and every servant of Christ, to be as sure that he is in God’s way as that his soul should be saved. This may seem a strong statement; but the question is, Is it true? If it be true, it cannot be too strong. No doubt it may, in the judgment of some, savor a little of self confidence and dogmatism to assert, in such a day as that in which we live, in the midst of such a scene as that through which we’re passing, that we are sure of being in God’s path…the selfsame voice that tells us of God’s salvation for our souls, tells us also of God’s pathway for our feet.

We took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company. [Psalm 55:14]

Read Full Post »

Written by John Baillie (1886-1960), a Scottish theologian and minister.

O You who alone know what lies before me this day, grant that in every hour of it I may stay close to You. Let me be in the world, yet not of it. Let me use this world without abusing it. If I buy, let me be as though I possessed not. If I have nothing, let me be as though possessing all things. Let me today embark on no undertaking that is not in line with Your will for my life, nor shrink from any sacrifice which Your will may demand. Suggest, direct, control every movement of my mind; for my Lord Christ’s sake. Amen.

Abide in me as I abide in you. [John 15:4]

Read Full Post »