Contents

Cover

1. Believe, Then See (1 Pet. 1:8)

2. Choose Intimacy (Ps. 139:1–2)

3. Enter Light (John 1:9)

4. Cease Worry (Phil. 4:5–7)

5. Do Good (Acts 10:38)

6. Create with God (Gen. 1:1–2)

7. Revere Your Spouse (Eph. 5:21–24)

8. Set Your Creative Impulse Free (Gen. 8:8–11)

9. Don’t Attempt to Escape (Matt. 1:20–23)

10. Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22)

11. Master Contentment (Ps. 131:2)

12. Engage Your Inheritance (Rom. 8:15–17)

13. Be Godlike (Gen. 5:1–2)

14. Live from an Inner Sabbath (Gen. 2:1–3)

15. Stir Up Your Desire (Ps. 27:4)

16. Pass Your Tests (Judg. 3:1–4)

17. Live in Lent (Mark 1:12–13)

18. Run in the Path (Ps. 119:32)

19. Learn the Art of Love (1 Cor. 13:1–2)

20. Prosper into Your Future (Jer. 29:11)

21. Love Extravagantly (1 John 4:11–12)

22. Expect the New (2 Pet. 3:11–13)

23. Flow in Creativity (Gen. 4:19–21)

24. Lead People to Jesus (Isa. 11:6–9)

25. Heal the Nations (Rev. 22:1–5)

26. Take Desperate Measures (Ps. 30:2–3)

27. Just Lead (Exod. 5:22–23)

28. Radically Listen (Gen. 22:1–11)

29. Empower Your Community (Acts 2:42–47)

30. Love Selflessly (Phil. 2:5–8)

31. Trust Completely (Prov. 3:5–7)

Extras

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

1

Believe, Then See

Today, you will experience your invisible God being more real than your visible reality.

In 1 Peter 1:8, we experience the mystery of faith. God, who is unseen, has captured our hearts. Though He is invisible to our physical eyes, His love fills us, and we love Him in response. We believe in Him, even though we cannot see Him, and are filled with a joy that transcends words.

There is no logical sentence, no rational explanation, that can fully articulate the mysterious way that God interacts with a heart that has become truly His. To meet with the invisible God, to worship One we cannot see, is not an escape from reality. Rather, it is an invitation into a reality that is truer than the one we currently perceive.

The joy we all long for is found not by seeing exactly what God is doing, exactly who He is, or what lies ahead. Rather, today, the joy that settles and brings solace to the human heart is found in trusting God, who remains invisible.

Prayer:

My Lord, how kind it is of You to convince my heart of Your presence, even when my eyes play tricks on me. Today, I believe in order to see. Your unseen reality is truer than anything I will see today.

You have searched me, LORD,

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

2

Choose Intimacy

Today, you will choose the path of intimacy with the One who knows every detail of your life.

In Psalm 139:1–2, we see that the Lord searches us; He knows us. Being the only one who knows when we lie down and when we get up, He sees even into our thoughts, and He understands the motivations that move you and me.

Intimacy is not a style of music. It is not simply what happens when the lights are low or the music is soft. Intimacy is the posture of one heart toward another. Intimacy chooses the path of self-disclosure above self-protection, vulnerability above guardedness, unhindered and expressed emotion rather than silenced feeling.

God has approached you today with this kind of intimacy, once again yielding Himself to the vulnerability that comes with love. Choose intimacy as your response today.

Prayer:

Lord and lover of my soul, I will not withhold from You that which You do not withhold from me. To the degree You desire to be known by me, I want to know You and be known by You.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

3

Enter Light

Today, you will enter life again, and the Light of Christ will lead you to the doorway.

John 1:9 is a shining thread in the rich, colorful tapestry that is the gospel. In this passage, we are told that at the fullness of time, the Light that will illuminate every soul was already coming into the world.

The capacity of light to strike up against darkness and reveal its hidden features is a normal part of our daily lives. For we who live in a world of electricity, lightbulbs, and artificial daylight, some of what it means for Christ to be the Light of our world loses its meaning.

In the days of candlelight and oil lamps, the shadows ran stark and harsh when light poured into a room. The sunrise was more welcome; overcast skies more saddening. As you enter into today, light greets you, fills you, and welcomes you to live in the full, vivid presence of God.

Prayer:

Light of the world, I enter through the doorway of Your presence into the God-aware life that awaits me today. Illuminate every hidden space in my heart so I can live in Your freedom.

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

4

Cease Worry

Today, you will meet every situation with calm, prayerful trust rather than worry.

In Philippians 4:5–7, we are told that our gentleness in the world will show everyone that God is close, near, and present. We are encouraged not to let anxiety gain a foothold, but to respond in all situations with prayer and thankfulness. Peace, the passage says, follows this way of handling distress.

Responding to a difficulty with anxiety is so normal for us that we cannot imagine a life of responding in any other way. Perhaps we actually believe that worry works in some way, that a lifestyle of fearing first and having faith later is a reasonable way to live—but no, not for the people of the resurrection.

Worry does not work. It drains our energy. Faith, however, energizes our words. Thanksgiving energizes our prayers. Peace energizes our actions in the world. Live in gentle trust and let faith and peace displace your worry today.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, if I face a struggle today, make it clear to all that You are present. Train me in the second-nature acts of prayer and thanksgiving, and help me cease my first-nature propensity to simply worry. I need Your help in this and believe You will give it.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

5

Do Good

Today, you will go about doing good, like your Lord before you.

Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus went throughout the towns of His day—empowered by the Holy Spirit and moved by divine compassion—doing good.

We can complicate the mission of the Christian in the world. You and I dream great dreams and have high hopes for how God might partner with us in the healing of the world. But in this simple passage, we see Jesus doing what Mother Teresa and others called “small acts of kindness with great love.” Moved by the Spirit, we step into the darkest places.

We heal, restore, encourage, and act in new-creation ways. We evidence the age to come by applying the balm of grace in the present. Do good today, like your Lord did before you, and watch broken things around you be made whole.

Prayer:

Jesus, I so easily slide into looking good without actually being good. I want to be good, to do good. I know this is possible only as Your Spirit fills me and enables me to do small deeds with great love.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

6

Create with God

Today, you will unveil beauty in everyone you meet and reveal beauty through your creativity.

Genesis 1:1–2 transports us to the very beginning of time as we know it. God, in His celestial studio, revealed the very first action that would define who He is to us. God created. In one action, with one verb, the interlacing spheres of heaven and earth sprang into being with God’s creative Spirit brooding over, designing, and shaping it all.

God created the cosmic splendor ex nihilo, which means “from nothing.” When you and I create today, we create something from something. As subcreators who are made in God’s image, we are always unveiling, revealing, and amplifying beauty.

We participate with God in new and innovative creative acts. We use God’s elements to cause beauty to flourish in people, art, family, and more. We take what seems to be insubstantial, and we make it into something substantial. Create with Christ today and make the mundane into the truly miraculous it is.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, today, guide me to find the hidden gems in people and ideas that unveil beauty in our world.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

7

Revere Your Spouse

Today, you will treat your spouse with reverence and dignity and as the most valuable person in your life.

Ephesians 5:21–24 is a famous passage on marriage. However, it begins with an unfortunate paragraph break in many versions of the Bible. The first line of this encouragement tells a husband and wife to treat each other with reverence, submitting mutually to each other to honor Jesus.

In a world where divorce rates often skyrocket over 40 percent, there is one verb that could change everything for my marriage, your marriage, and every marriage on the planet. That verb is cherish. It literally means to treat someone with reverence, with awe, with the realization that their sacredness is worthy of the kindest words, the most lavish gifts, the tenderest touches.

It takes the Spirit of God to allow us to see our spouses as holy, magnificent creatures no matter their character weaknesses. Cherish and revere your spouse today. Make your relationship the safest place on earth for them, and over time, call forward their greatness by daily treating them with supreme dignity.

Prayer:

Lord of my marriage, take me beyond my own ability to see whom my spouse is and enable me to see them through Your eyes. Where I have sinned against them, help me to repent thoroughly and well and to truly cherish them. Where I have received pain for pain that I have given, change my heart and heal our relationship. Enable me to be my spouse’s greatest champion today.

Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.

8

Set Your Creative Impulse Free

Today, you will continue to be creative, even if your work seems barren and lifeless.

In Genesis 8:8–11, Noah lofted a dove into the air to see if, in all the devastation, land had begun to arise from the muddy waters around him. The dove came back, not with a fruit or a whole branch, but with a single leaf, signifying that life was indeed out there.

Creativity can be an unpredictable and elusive friend. All artists must learn to be creative in the most barren of times, because there are days, weeks, months, and even years when creative revelation seems scarce. We get discouraged, and we are tempted to give up.

But just as the dove brought back only one small leaf to Noah and he saw it as a sign of greater things to be discovered, look to the small signs of creative life deposited into your hand and draw hope that fresh, creative life is truly in you and out there.

Prayer:

Lord of creativity, continue to give me hope—signs of life—in my creative valleys so that I take the harder road of pressing in rather than the easier road of giving up. This small leaf is enough.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

9

Don’t Attempt to Escape

Today, you will see God’s “crazy” plan as a safer bet than your own “safe” plan.

Matthew 1:20–23 takes us deep into the dreams of Mary’s husband-to-be, Joseph. He was hesitant. He was afraid to marry the young girl who was now pregnant through what seemed to be a tall tale—an angel, a divine conception, and a destiny that would reclaim the world.

Joseph, like me and you, got scared when the unpredictable God welcomed him into an equally unpredictable future. When this happens to us, we begin to search for less risky ways to advance with God while retaining some level of control, some semblance of order. But life, as you and I know, gets very, very messy.

God seems to know what we often forget—that His ways are higher. They are different than ours, and they are often understood to be masterful only in retrospect. Do not attempt to escape God’s path right now. Listen, watch, and join in what you see Him doing next. There is no safer place for you to be.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You have my heart, and that means You may lead in any way You choose. The only path I want to escape is the one that comes from my own attempts to keep my life quiet and peaceful. Instead, I choose Your adventure today.

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit."

10

Receive the Holy Spirit

Today, you will feel the breath of the Holy Spirit moving around you, in you, and through you.

In John 20:22, the disciples were gathered in a room. They were full of fear; they were terrified that they and their families would be harmed in the aftermath of Jesus’s brutal crucifixion. Their hopes and dreams were lying shattered on the floor at their feet. In that moment, Jesus appeared to them. In a rush of joy, they came near, and He breathed on them.

His words to them then are His words to you now: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Take a deep breath, right now, and receive the Holy Spirit. The third Person of the Trinity lives in you, moves through you, and renews and empowers you. Today, live in Holy Spirit awareness. You are not alone; you are not on your own—you are filled with God’s presence.

The indwelling Christ, the hope of glory, is in you. Today, you will remember to take a deep breath. By doing so, you’ll recall that the Holy Spirit is with you.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, I receive You now. Move through me like a wild wind, blowing away fear and bringing in joy.

But I have calmed and quieted myself,

I am like a weaned child with its mother;

like a weaned child I am content.

11

Master Contentment

Today, you will be a beacon of contentment to everyone you meet.

Psalm 131:2 paints a picture for us of someone who has mastered contentment. Their feet are rooted firmly in the soil of intimacy with God; they have, over a lifetime of habits, nurtured a heart that is marked by quietude and solace. We’re given the image of a child nestled tightly and securely in the arms of a parent; a child who has been weaned, who is satisfied in the safety of his or her parent’s embrace.

Our society thrives on nurturing discontentment. We are encouraged to be discontent in relationships, discontent in our achievements, discontent with what we have and where our lives are going. It is in the face of this discontent that you will rise today as a beacon of trust, of satisfaction, of true contentment.

Those who encounter you will see it in your eyes; they will hear it as it shapes your words; they will sense it as your countenance is radiant with security in your relationship with your heavenly Parent.

Prayer:

Lord, speak to the disquiet in my heart and bring me into the solace, the contentment, that marks those who have truly learned to trust. I look into Your eyes and find hope for the present and the future.

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

12

Engage Your Inheritance

Today, you will aggressively engage with your inheritance as a child of God.

Romans 8:15–17 is a sweet reminder that the Spirit dwelling within us has sealed our everlasting reunion with the Father. Bursting from deep within, our cry rises: “Daddy, I am ready to join You in the next adventure! You have convinced me that I am Yours and You are mine. Sharing Your pain means that I will share with You in the victory of resurrection life.”

No day goes by when your Father in heaven is not looking on you in love, convincing your spirit, by His Spirit, that you are indeed completely and unreservedly His. The taste of God’s fatherly love gives me and you the boldness to move forward into an exuberant life that is propelled by resurrection.

Just as a child is pulled out of their timidity and able to risk because a loving parent is there to catch them, so, too, is a life that has taken hold of God’s love ready, willing, and able to live an open-tomb life.

Prayer:

Father God, lover of my soul and keeper of my heart, I welcome Your love, which convinces me to risk again at Your side. I engage my inheritance as a child of God and expect that, as I work with You in Your restoring mission, I will be cared for along the way.

This is the written account of Adam’s family line.

When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.

13

Be Godlike

Today, you will live from the center of your divinely bestowed humanity.

In Genesis 5:1–2, we see unveiled the very substance of what it means to be human. We are told here that God created humankind to be godlike—in very nature and ilk like God. This passage tells us that we, made male and female, are reflections of God’s glory and are blessed by God. The whole of the human race is blessed by God.

To be human is to be the most majestic and strange creature in the cosmos. No supernova, no galaxy, no micro or macro world mystery is more stunning or more magnificent than we who are animated by the breath of God.

The fullness of the gospel begins in Genesis. Created in God’s image, we are glorious beings first, and our brokenness followed. Jesus’s restoration and resurrection is leading us to recover the wholeness we knew in Eden. Experience new creation at work in you, and see the new creation that is the age to come when we are fully restored in our humanity once again.

Prayer:

Lord, You breathed into the elements of this good creation and formed me, energized me, styled me, and gave me life. In response, I will live in Your ways today and model my life after Jesus so that I may become truly human in the way of my Master.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

14

Live from an Inner Sabbath

Today, you will learn what it means to live from an inner Sabbath.

Genesis 2:1–3 imaginatively takes us into the moment when God, finished with His fine work on heaven and earth, rested. He set apart that seventh day of rest in the passage and called it special, sacred, precious—a day to both celebrate accomplishment and find renewal for the activity to come. You and I were designed to function in accord with this kind of work-rest rhythm. That rhythm runs daily, weekly, yearly—even over our lifetime.

The density of our applied labor and ceaseless business really defines the high-achieving spirit of our age, but it is by no means in alignment with this holy pattern that God instituted at the beginning of time.

Your capacity, and mine, to act in ways that last beyond the moment, even beyond our lifetimes, hinges on the inner tranquility of mind and heart that is an inner Sabbath alive in you.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You expressed that no pattern in my life would be more renewing and revitalizing than this pattern of resting in the midst of my work. Help me find my inner Sabbath again, and lead me to quiet places of rest.

One thing I ask from the LORD,

this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the LORD

and to seek him in his temple.

15

Stir Up Your Desire

Today, you will ask God for just one thing—to see Him in all His beauty.

Psalm 27:4 points to the four-part request of the Jesus-oriented heart—to see God, dwell with God, meditate on God, and sit in God’s presence all the days of our lives. This is the with-God life.

What makes a meaningful life? Every day, we answer that question with the ways we choose to spend our time, invest our energy, and apply our talents. On many days, we live according to unseen goals that we have not even had the time to examine or reexamine. Your heart and mine can go wayward during the journey of a single day.

The reason for this is that we’re not static creatures, unmoving in our passions. We shift; we change perspective; we obey silent motives that we’re so familiar with they no longer grab our attention and tell us they’re there. This one request, however—to see, dwell with, meditate on, and sit with God—trumps those hidden guides and reorients you today.

Prayer:

Lord of my desires, my one request today is to know You. Bring all my passions, my desires, to bear on my greatest hope—that I will experience Your presence in every facet of my life today.

These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

16

Pass Your Tests

Today, you will be tested, and you will pass every test that comes your way.

Judges 3:1–4 contains a curious image of God and how He works with us. In this passage, the Lord left remnants of a variety of nations in the land of Israel to test the Israelites and to train them to obey His commands in the face of physical and spiritual opposition.

While this idea seems very strange to our twenty-first–century sensibilities, the message is clear—we do not learn to exert our faith until there is opposition that demands it. In the movie The Wizard of Oz, the Cowardly Lion does not receive his heart of courage until after he is in a battle that demands the very thing he seeks.

Sometimes our cries for God to release us from challenges that face us are actually cries for Him to rescue us from tests of His design. See every challenge today as an opportunity to learn obedience, to reveal your hidden faith. Allow the tests to make it clear to all that you trust God.

Prayer:

Spirit of God, I hate tests. I do not like seeing what’s truly inside, especially when I feel I am lacking what it really takes. But there have been times when a test revealed more faith and beauty than I knew I had within me. Today, enable me to see each test as an opportunity to exercise my genuine faith.

At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

17

Live in Lent

Today, you will live in a Lenten spirituality, wrestling, along with Christ, the powers of your heart.

In Mark 1:12–13, Jesus was compelled by the Spirit out into the wild, untamed desert of Israel. Israel means “He struggles with God.” Jesus stayed in the desert for forty days and forty nights, reminiscent of the forty years His people wandered in the desert toward their new homeland. In those long days of wrestling and inner testing, the accuser whispered to Jesus and angels ministered to Him.

We are a people who are called to live in Lent. Lent means “to lengthen the days,” and our days can be very long with inner wrestling and turmoil as our wayward hearts get tested and our faith is proved genuine—even to us. Today, find God at work in your long days. Learn to repent when He whispers, to turn from an old, misdirected habit as soon as the Spirit of God reveals it to you as wanting.

Take your time and be thorough, examining your heart, your motives, the thoughts you allow to linger too long. Keep yourself on the altar before God, even when the joy of your faith seems covered and hidden. In this way, you will learn to truly live in Lent.

Prayer:

Jesus, You went before me into the wilderness, and the enemy of my soul accused You, as he accuses me every single hour. Empower me now to examine my own life, to see and turn from those areas that are ripe for cleansing and releasing to You. Be my guide as I live in a Lenten spirituality.

I run in the path of your commands,

for you have broadened my understanding.

18

Run in the Path

Today, you will stay on God’s path no matter the distractions that draw you away.

Psalm 119 is called the Alpha-Beta, because it is an elegant, finely structured, long song calling the singer into the fullness of intimate life with God. In verse 32, the writer commits himself to running hard on the path of God’s commands because his heart has been set free by them.

A bobsled run is a narrow pathway. It seems to deny athletes the freedom to move right or left, to enjoy wide-open spaces and unconstrained travel. But a bobsled is built for one purpose—speed. The narrow, icy path is designed to propel the craft forward with accuracy and increased momentum toward its singular target—the finish line.

Sometimes we need wide-open spaces, but sometimes God’s commands propel us, like a defined bobsled run, toward our goal of Christ-likeness. They propel us with momentum and elegant motion. Keep God’s Word close to your heart today. Sing it, speak it, meditate on it, and allow its loving parameters to propel you through today to your goal of becoming like Christ.

Prayer:

Father, I embrace Your gracious guidance and loving limits as a gift today. I give all my energy to obeying Your call to love, to live joyfully, to keep myself pure in heart and mind, and to serve the unlovable, because I know I am gaining speed and power as Your child on this path.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

19

Learn the Art of Love

Today, you will learn the art of love, and you’ll go beyond yesterday’s ability to love.

First Corinthians 13:1–2 is read at virtually every wedding and every service that wants God’s perspective on love to be reclaimed. The passage says that if we speak with human excellence or with divine language, if we can reveal mysteries and move mountains but do not have limitless, selfless giving and compassionate motives at our center, we are simply making noise.

We all know people whose generosity of spirit is so great it gives us pause. Mother Teresa quieted even the atheistic world not with her profound words but with her weighty life of love. When she was asked about her life’s work lifting up the dying in the gutters of Calcutta, she said “Maybe if I didn’t pick up that one person, I wouldn’t have picked up forty-two thousand.”

Today, you will learn the art of love by selflessly giving your time and energy to one person at a time. When you speak to people, they will leave with a greater sense of God’s nearness and their own stature in His sight rather than being impressed with you. Today, love deeply, generously, and without reserve.

Prayer:

Lord of love, my time is precious to me, yet You made an entire lifestyle out of the interruptions that love welcomes. Give me the grace today to see the one, to see the few, to see the many who are waiting for me to live in love.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

20

Prosper into Your Future

Today, you will prosper into the future God has designed for you.

Jeremiah 29:11 holds a promise that is one of the most comforting statements God makes in the Scriptures. “I know the plans I have for you” is a phrase that puts the fearful heart at rest. It's a promise that God will prosper us, keep us from harm, and give us a living hope that will define our future.

You and I are dreamers. From the first moment we relinquished our lives to God’s care, His dreams have been alive in us—daring us, distracting us, inviting us into His creative future for the world.

We are promised that even when our hearts fail within us in the midst of those dreams, God is greater than our unstable confidences and will do what He said He would do. You will prosper in ways that are meaningful to God. You will be scarred, but you will not be destroyed. You will see your hope face-to-face, and your future is very, very bright.

Prayer:

Father, You know the end from the beginning, and You know the plans You have for me. I do not need to know those plans. I just need to be reminded that You have them for me. In this moment, I rest in knowing that my future—and the future of those I love—is in Your care.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

21

Love Extravagantly

Today, the body of Christ will experience extravagant love flowing from me.

First John 4:11–12 calls us—unabashedly and without reserve—to love one another. In fact, it suggests that the invisible God is revealed to the world when people see us generously, deeply acting in love toward the family of God.

In his famous sermon “The Weight of Glory,” C. S. Lewis suggested that, one day, the person in the faith whom we find most difficult to love will become a creature so glorious in the presence of God that we will be strongly tempted to fall down and worship them.

In other words dignify your brothers and sisters in Christ today, despite their flaws, by extravagantly expressing unconditional favor toward them. Call Christ forward in them. Give them the gifts of your time, energy, and encouragement. If you can take that step toward them, God will show Himself to everyone who meets you.

Prayer:

Father, I have been so loved and graciously forgiven by You, how can I harbor bitterness against those You also love? Forgive me for missing the mark, and, today, empower me to love beyond my own capacity—extravagantly.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

22

Expect the New

Today, you will live in the presence of the future; you will live in expectation of the new creation.

Second Peter 3:11–13 is a thunderous declaration that God has in mind a new beginning for heaven, earth, and all that is contained within. From Genesis to Isaiah to Revelation, we hear the same resonating story—all things are being made new.

The creation-restoration project that’s going on in the heart and mind of God will impact every part of the seen and unseen world around us. A new heaven and a new earth are on the way. One bright day will yield a universe where no more young girls are sacrificed to the sex trade, no more tyrants will murder innocent people to gain power, no more friends or family will die of cancer, no more hunger will snuff out the lives of our youngest, no more consumerism will eat at us like a devouring virus. Justice will be done. The world will be put to rights.

Live your life today with a vision of the new creation ever before you, and join with God in His work.

Prayer:

Jesus, King of the new creation to come, implant in me a vision of every tear wiped away and all things made new. Empower me to serve, forgive, hope, and heal as an act of the new creation breaking into the now.

Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.

23

Flow in Creativity

Today, you will move in the creativity that flows as a river from the headwaters of the Creator.

In Genesis 4:19–21, we find a man with a fascinating name who speaks to the creative impulse within every person made in God’s image. Jubal, we are told, is the ancestor “of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.”

Jubal is the Scripture’s first musician, and he has a name that literally means “stream or river.” This is a beautiful image of the way creativity works in us. Just as a river is swollen from the high headwaters of its origin, so, too, are you and I overflowing with creativity that has come to us from the heart of God.

Right-brained and left-brained creative genius is dispersed among us. Some create with paint; others with sound, numbers, thoughts, plants, designs, spreadsheets, children, cooking, physics. Today, say yes to your creative gift and tap into God’s creative source as you serve others.

Prayer:

Spirit of God, I look for the waters of creativity pouring from You, moving through my thoughts and work and in all that I put my hand to today.

The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.

24

Lead People to Jesus

Today, you will lead people to the one Person they truly need to know.

Isaiah 11:6–9 paints a picture of what seems to be a fantasy world. It is a world where lions lie down with lambs, children are safe and sound, no one is harmed on God’s holy mountain, and the earth is covered with an awareness of God and the love, peace, and hope that surround Him.

Everybody you meet ultimately wants to be like Jesus. They do. They may not know it, but they long to know someone like Him; they long to be like Him in every respect. In love, they desire selfless giving from others and desire to be that noble in love themselves.

In peace, they desire a shalom tranquility that engulfs the heart, society, and national relations, and creates true harmony. In hope, they desire that all broken things can be made new, that the world be headed somewhere glorious at the very end. Jesus is the One they seek. Be the person whose life speaks louder than words and leads others to see what Jesus is truly like.

Prayer:

Spirit of God living in me, I again say yes to Your work of making me like Jesus. I give You my will, my reputation, and my plans today. Shape each one to make me a gateway to Christ.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

25

Heal the Nations

Today, you will participate with God in the healing and restoration of our global human family.

Revelation 22:1–5 gives us a glimpse of a future day when the new Jerusalem, the City of Peace, descends from the heaven of God to be established on the new earth forever. A crystalline river flows from a divine throne and courses through the middle of a street with no name. The Tree of Life, in this passage, yields leaves on either side of the river—leaves that are able to bring healing to entire nations.

As followers of Jesus, we have the privilege of joining with Christ in the healing of nations, ethnic groups, and people from every tribe, tongue, and story. That healing begins every day within me and you as the Spirit of God softens, shapes, and conforms our hearts to the likeness of Christ.

From this strong center, we move outward to console the disconsolate, to bring peaceful solutions, to walk with the calming, authoritative presence of Christ. His healing presence will touch everyone who touches us, be heard by everyone who hears us, be seen by everyone who sees us. Today, heal the nations with the life of Christ that is blossoming within you even now.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, King of all nations, deliver me from any unhealthy ethnic pride in a world filled with the diverse humanity You love and created—expressed in every people group on this planet. Enable me to love ethnic groups and facilitate healing, to go wherever You would send me.

LORD my God, I called to you for help,

and you healed me.

You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead;

you spared me from going down to the pit.

26

Take Desperate Measures

Today, you will call out to God first in the moment when your heart is overwhelmed.

In Psalm 30:2–3, the writer has become good at yelling, calling, beckoning loudly for God to come and help. He’s learned to call on God, because God has a track record of pulling him out of deep pits, of rescuing him from his despair.

Young children are great at yelling. They yell when they are having fun; they yell when they are in crisis; they yell when they simply want some attention and feel they’re not being heard. God does not seem to mind us yelling or acting like children at times.

Sometimes, either our passion for God or our desperation for His presence demands guttural heart cries and fierce words of request. Do it in a car; take it to a field. Make sure your voice is passionately heard by God. If you find yourself in the grave today, it is only appropriate to yell to God for another resurrection chance to come alive.

Prayer:

Father, my hope is built on nothing less than Your capacity to rescue me no matter what happens today. I will be present to You first when a crisis occurs. I will go to You the moment my heart is overwhelmed. I will tell you exactly what I need, and I thank You that You are never put off by my presentation.

Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

27

Just Lead

Today, God will lead you confidently and in the face of resistance.

Exodus 5:22–23 reveals a side of the leader Moses often forgotten by many of us. He has had enough of leading and asks God why He treats His people so poorly and why He chose Moses to lead such a useless bunch in the first place. In short, he’s ticked with God and he wants to give up on the dream.

We all lose it. We lose perspective; we lose our sense of purpose, our sense of vocation, our calling from God. In those moments, we can either give up or put our head down and just keep going. When we give up, we forfeit all that has been won to date, because we simply lose sight of the goal. When we hang in there, when we continue to run the race even when we cannot see the finish line, it seems that God backs us up.

He sends people to us. We get through those hard seasons, and we come out the other side a different kind of person, a different kind of disciple, a different kind of leader. Don’t give up in the face of a challenge today, even if your emotions tell you to. Instead, rise up, tell your emotions to take a backseat, and lead.

Prayer:

Spirit of God, I need Your strength to face the challenges I’m going through right now. Help me to simply lead, continuing to take my cues from You.

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

28

Radically Listen

Today, you will hear the voice of God, and you will obey.

In Genesis 22:1–11, we are invited to listen in on a brief chat between God and the father of the faith, Abraham. God whispered to Abraham, and Abraham said he was listening, truly listening. God whispered again, and Abraham responded by saying “I am present. I am here. I am listening again.”

Abraham’s God-given name means “father of many nations.” Little did Abraham know that his next conversation with God would mean the very sacrifice of his dreams—even dreams he believed came from God. The root word of the word obedience means “to hear, to listen.” Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son—the seed of the promise of future children as numerous as the stars.

But as the Scripture says, Abraham was listening—he was truly hearing and responding. Today, be present with God. No matter what He asks, listen—truly listen—then obey. He will take care of His promises to you.

Prayer:

Father, I lay my greatest dreams at Your feet, even the ones I believe You gave me. I do not always understand Your pathways, but I know that I can trust You to fulfill the ones that came from You.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

29

Empower Your Community

Today, you will both give strength to and draw strength from the family of God.

In Acts 2:42–47, we join a party where over three thousand men, women, and children decided they would follow Jesus. They listened to the apostles, who walked with Jesus; they reveled in the signs and wonders they experienced; they chose to eat their meals together; they entered into a shared, harmonious life.

Is the church a who or a what? According to the overwhelming evidence of the Scriptures, the church is definitely a who. It is the people of God, living at the nexus of the now and the not-yet, who embody the presence of God’s future, who are invited to work with God in the most epic of all human adventures—the quest to restore humanity to its original beauty and purpose.

Breathe deeply of the Holy Spirit right now and help your local church become lovers of one another and restorers in our day.

Prayer:

Lord Christ, head of Your church and leader of the community of the redeemed, today I commit myself to moving beyond complaints, to empower my local church to become a vibrant expression of Your heart in our world.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

30

Love Selflessly

Today, you will serve others humbly, genuinely, and as an act of your destiny.

In Philippians 2:5–8, we’re invited to have the same view of ourselves as Christ had about Himself. He wasn’t leveraging a desire to be equal with the Father; He wasn’t after His own advantage or seeking to be in charge of His own life. He saw His death as the most meaningful thing He could do with His life. He manifested His destiny by serving others as a human being who was ready to become nothing to make us something.

Truly learning to die to ourselves is as hard as learning to truly live, fully alive, in the presence of God. But there is no resurrection life without a cross behind it, backing it, and giving it character and meaning. As you approach today, begin to think like Jesus.

The way up is the way down. The way over is the way under. The right words are the loving words. Set aside your privileges, grab the cross, and give your life to elevate and encourage others today.

Prayer:

Lord of selfless love, inspire me to acts of servant-hearted greatness today. Inspire me to take the path of the servant, even when my own heart would prefer the path of the served.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

fear the LORD and shun evil.

31

Trust Completely

Today, you will trust in the Lord, and He will get you to your destination.

Proverbs 3:5–7 wakes us from our sleepy tendency to rely on ourselves to figure out the details of life. We are invited to trust in God, to lean on His perspectives, to submit ourselves to His guidance, and to expect that a straight path in our lives will lead us directly to Him.

If you’ve ever walked on a mountain pathway that curves and bends deep into a forest, you’ll know what it feels like to be disoriented. The path, even though it is not straight, will get us to our destination, but only if we stay on it, only if we follow the signs given along the way. Well, our life journeys are like that bending, winding path.

There often seems to be no visible architecture to what happened to us today at work or what didn’t happen to us when we prayed for healing. But our confidence is not in the straightness of the path—it is in the clarity of the signs that we must be prepared and aware of to follow. When we arrive, having followed those signs, that strange, winding path will have led us straight to our destination.

Prayer:

Jesus, You are my destination, and it is Your heart I will spend a lifetime discovering no matter the path I take. Help me to trust, to lean on Your perspective, as we take this winding path together. You are my true north and the sign that will lead me home.

If you enjoyed A Well-Worn Path, I would be honored if you would tell others by writing a review. Go here to write a review on Amazon.

Thank you!

—Dan Wilt

A WELL-WORN PATH

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, scanned, resold, or distributed by or through any print or electronic medium without written permission from the publisher. This ebook is licensed solely for the personal and noncommercial use of the original authorized purchaser, subject to the terms of use under which it was purchased. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

All Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

eISBN 978-1-4347-0704-8

© 2013 Dan Wilt

Previously published as the “A Well-Worn Path” audio devotional series by Wild Pear Creative/Dunn & Wilt Music.

The Team: Renada Arens, Nick Lee, Tonya Osterhouse, Karen Athen

Cover Design: Nick Lee

Cover Photo: Shutterstock

First Edition 2013

Photo by Erin Blinn at www.erinblinn.com

Dan Wilt is one of today’s most respected voices on the worshipping life. Through his books, websites, songs, and radio presence, Dan reaches thousands of ordinary worshippers every week, helping them turn their hearts toward extraordinary lives of worship. Dan runs his own media company, Wild Pear Creative; plays the hammered dulcimer; and makes ancient-future, ambient worship music with his duo, Dunn & Wilt (www.dunnandwilt.com). He is also the founder of www.worshiptraining.com, a website serving thousands of worship leaders and teams globally.

He and his wife, Anita, along with their three children, Anna, Abigail, and Benjamin, make their home in Franklin, Tennessee. You can follow Dan at his blog, www.DanWilt.com. For event bookings, contact danwiltevents@gmail.com.

Visit DCCeBooks.com for more great reads.