Spiritual autobiographies remind us how the Spirit sustains faith through the long road. Drawing on Schweitzer, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Douglas F. Fletcher names ten weapons against evil and reflects on perseverance as a gift God himself secures.
Herbert's most famous poem stages a soul drawing back from divine love and the patient persistence with which Love draws it forward anyway. McDonald reads the poem alongside Herbert's pastoral writings, finding the same Reformed conviction running through both: only refusal can shut us out.
What does a church confess when it is tempted to hide from the struggle ahead? Mateen Elass offers a prayer given at a Presbyterian Coalition gathering in Chicago, asking God to forgive the church’s fear and to spare it from pride in victory.
How might a household keep Advent with John Calvin as a guide? Edwin Hurley gathers daily Scripture readings, selections from the Institutes and Calvin’s Christmas sermons, and Calvin’s own prayers into a devotional for the weeks before Christmas.
What do you do when the boat is filling with water and Jesus seems to be asleep? James Berkley reads the stilling of the storm and David before Goliath as a word to Presbyterians who fear their denomination is sinking.
How does a believer give thanks in the middle of a long and terminal illness? Deborah and Lyle Thorpe’s prayer of thanksgiving and praise, drawn from Scripture, rests in God’s sovereign care and fixes its eyes on the unseen things that last forever.