A Simple PathVolume 5 · Weeks 33–40

Yes, Father, this is my prayer. My trust in You allows me to accept and cherish the knowledge that You will keep showing me the way I walk with Jesus each day.

First, Father, thank You for adopting me as Your son. Second, help me see when I need discipline, so I can confess my sin to You and let You do whatever is necessary to correct me, so I can follow You as You lead the lost.

This is part of the prayer Jesus offered for our unity together with Him in our hearts. Caring for people isn't just for the lost or for Christians who need help — it's also for the co-laborers we work alongside in the church and the community.

Afterward, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness — that's the key here. Without accepting discipline and change first, we can't turn our focus to others' needs.

Jesus always taught and ministered to His people with great compassion and messages that gave them peace, yet He also rebuked deficient leadership. Those whom you disciple need to see His peace in their heart.

This is the prime inner need of everyone God sends you to witness to who hasn't yet been saved.

Thank You, Father — I found this to be exactly the verse I wanted to open quiet time with at Club 180, and now Psalm 95:6-7 are the verses to use at Praise and Pray night as we head to Kentucky.

We follow and obey Christ because we love Him and want to please Him. In response to our obedience, He provides everything we need — including the power of the Holy Spirit — so that we can be successful.

In the last verse, God spoke through Moses; in this one, God Himself speaks through His Son. This time Jesus places the emphasis on love — our love, and the Father's love.

Now we're getting into the tough areas. You may have a friend whose bitterness toward another person is hampering their acceptance of Jesus Christ. Refocus them on this problem first.

So many Christians have let themselves be enslaved by a desire to be part of this corrupt world. If you care for them, you'll seek God's help to rescue them and point them to Jesus.

Moses was speaking to Joshua as God prepared him to lead the Hebrews into the promised land. We're volunteers in the LORD's service too, though we're not asked to lead an army — instead, we're asked to step into the lives of people who are separated from God, some of them Christians who haven't yet learned to trust and submit to His will and help them be reconciled to Jesus.

As you get to know the people God has sent you, Jesus will show you their inner needs and then enable you to point them to Him for healing. For the blind man, it was his eyesight; for the people you encounter, it will be opening their eyes so they can see Jesus.

Father, Your righteousness and kindness in every work You do is what I return to again — that You are near to all who call, and that You satisfy every living thing from Your open hand.

As we have accepted You as Lord and Savior, it's comforting to know that Jesus is praying for our discipleship.

I'm using this verse twice; it's so powerful and such a reassuring truth that as we follow You, Father, and surrender and submit to Your role, You are near.

This is part of the Lord's Prayer, and it asks us to look at ourselves — how we respond to our social environment and how people have treated us.

Just before this, Paul writes that Jesus will bring justice on those who seek to harm us if they don't repent. Even so, we're called to pray for their deliverance from sin, not for their punishment.

Jesus asks Peter this question three times, and each time His instruction is the same: if you love Me, go and minister to My people.

Just as this desire lives in me because it comes from You, I'm to find others who share that same desire and minister to them.

Father, as I look to You daily, I see a loving, caring God who, though You are the Creator, still loves us when we rebel against You. I think of Your reaction to Adam and Eve hiding in the garden after they sinned — You didn't come to them in anger as we might expect, but with a heart of love and compassion, even knowing the sacrifice of Your own Son that would one day be required.

This is my personal challenge: to be so Christ-focused that I let Him speak through me to those who are perishing, and that You, Lord, draw them to Yourself.

This was part of the beloved apostle John's prayer for those he was writing to. It has become a prayer of love that You sent to me personally, my Father.

Father, I praise You for opening a door for Your gospel wherever You send me.

This is the day that the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Every person we're sent to has this same origin — made in His image — and that shapes how we're to see and serve them.

As those born again from above, we can each understand how reverence, awe, gladness, and obedience toward our heavenly Father bring us joy and blessedness. But those He sends us to aren't there yet; if they're lost, they walk in the darkness of unfulfillment, never accepting God's love until He draws them and sends us to share Jesus with them.

Father, I found this verse online, set across a photo of a sunrise over a mountain. Its symbolism is twofold: the verse describes how a Christian looks at sunrise, and it also describes what we'll see today on the mountain at Kingdom Come Park in Cumberland, KY — though much later than sunrise. I bless You, Lord, for being faithful to each of us on this mission trip, and to me especially, as the Holy Spirit has strengthened my body so I could participate and lead such a large group in Your honor.

I praise You, LORD God Almighty, for the myriad ways You care for me — a sinner saved by Your will and Your Son Jesus Christ.

At first, I tell myself this verse doesn't apply to me, since I'm not among those who suffer greatly for You, Lord. But then I see those around me suffering for You, and I realize I must help them in their battle against evil forces.

Jesus was speaking to Peter in John 21:15-17 about how much he loved Him, asking three times, “Do you love Me?” and closing each time with, “Feed My Sheep.” Here now God has asked me the same question.

I'm looking at this verse from two angles. First, the absence of indigestion that has plagued me for the past year, constant this last month—I know it was You, LORD, who heard my cry and cared for me so compassionately; I praise You. Second, the triumphant heart You've given me from the mission trip to Club 180; You heard my pleading for guidance on that trip. My body ached, and my steps weren't always steady, but You personally helped me and sent others to fill the gaps in such a large undertaking. I praise You.

The key words here are “with all my heart” and “according to Your Word.” Notice how the question is answered — the course of action is defined. To keep your heart pure, you must seek Him with a humble heart, through the Scriptures.

In Jerusalem, Paul would be arrested and sent to Rome. Last weekend, I felt bound by the Spirit to Cumberland, KY, for three days of ministry—not a sad occasion like Paul's, but jubilant and full of God's grace toward each of us and the people of Club 180.

Hearing the gospel is not enough on its own — it must be received in faith to do its work in us.

This teaches us that all people are created in the image of God and are to be loved.

My students — fifty-two of them — just came back from three days in the KY mission field, and I'm almost amazed at their ability to follow Christ; they served Him by loving His children. To the outside world, people who knew them would react the same way people reacted to Jesus. They're just ordinary kids with an extraordinary Father in heaven, leading them into service.

Be careful, or cautious, when you devise to daily open the word of God and listen to the voice of our Lord and Savior — His word doesn't only teach us wonderful things; it also exposes and brings light to any sin, weakness, or rampant disobedience, directly and in harsh terms. Respond with repentance, and He restores you. It's like taking bitter medicine or exercising when you're out of shape: the result is peace and better health, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Now we move to the blueprint for success — for obedience and comfort.

We're commanded to follow God's model, as demonstrated by Jesus Christ, so we don't stray from the truth. That's what happens when we do stray: our actions, and the thoughts behind them, stop being consistent with God's word.

To be “perfect” and not “conformed” to the world, we must let the Holy Spirit transform our minds. That comes through His work, not our willpower.

This verse says more than it first appears to. I once read a devotional by O.S. Hillman that drew out the difference between working for ourselves to gain life's necessities and working according to God's direction so we can receive what we cannot earn on our own. When we let God lead, He provides even the basics and equips us to serve Him in ministry.

This verse shows how bad choices produce bad consequences. Many people set out to build their lives on what they believe is the best blueprint — but if it's built on human knowledge instead of God's wisdom, it's built without His help.

This week's verses all point to the same situation: the lost person God has sent to you must accept that being made perfect, being transformed, and finding rest and peace all come down to the decision demanded in Acts 4:12.

This was used a few weeks back too, but it's no surprise — our Father brings us back to the same verses many times, and each time He shows a new shade of meaning or gives us the chance to praise Him even more. This verse comes as I feel a deep peace and thankfulness, basking in the joy that only You can grant after leading others into opportunities to praise God.

I just experienced this with fifty-two middle and high schoolers and fourteen adults at Club 180 in Cumberland, Kentucky. We committed the work God had developed within us to Him, and He shaped it according to His will, so that His will would be done. That's how we determine and carry out His plan.

Wisdom and understanding are given to us as we first humble ourselves and kneel at the feet of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Being aware of the situations around you means paying attention to your society — the one you're already part of and the one God sends you into. Don't embrace the evil elements that look so desirable, the way Adam and Eve did in the garden. Don't let the world's desires overcome and divert you from Christ's work; God will send you into difficult, self-centered places so that you can point people to Jesus.

It seems like such a terrible thing to hide from God because of our disobedience, but we all do it — as lost people, and sometimes still as disobedient Christians. Let God find you and deal with your own disobedience first and then go with Him as He shows you others who are hiding, so you can point them to Jesus.

There are prerequisites that must be met before we can, or will, love others enough to help them be reconciled with God — we've touched on some of them this week.

Jesus knows the inner needs of everyone and reveals His presence to those who seek Him.