CQOD: 12/08/07 -- Barclay: true worship

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 8, 2007Meditation:
    Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
    -- John 4:23,24 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    True and genuine worship is when man, through his spirit attains to friendship and intimacy with God. True and genuine worship is not to come to a certain place; it is not to go through a certain ritual or liturgy; it is not even to bring certain gifts. True worship is when the spirit, the immortal and invisible part of man, speaks to and meets with God, who is immortal and invisible.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Gospel of John [1975] vol. 1, p. 154

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have granted me true friendship with You.

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/07/07 -- Ambrose: very God and very man

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 7, 2007

Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397

Meditation:
    When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
    When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied.
    Jesus wept.
    Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
    -- John 11:32-36 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    They do greatly err who acknowledge that the flesh of man was taken on Himself by Christ, but deny that the affections of man were taken; and they contravene the purpose of the Lord Jesus Himself, since thus they take away from man what constitutes man, for man cannot be man without human affections.
    ... St. Ambrose of Milan (339-397)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord Jesus, You are my example in all things.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/06/07 -- Law: the nature of spiritual delights

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 6, 2007

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326

Meditation:
    [We] know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
    -- Galatians 2:16 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    If I now want to add something of my own (i.e., inner assurances) to this faith, if this great and glorious faith is defective and saves me not till I can add my own sense and my own feeling to it at such a time or place, is not this saying in the plainest manner that faith alone cannot justify me? ... All I would say of these inward delights and enjoyments is this: they are not holiness, they are not piety, they are not perfection, but they are God’s gracious allurements and calls to seek after holiness and spiritual perfection.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Regeneration [1739]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, save me from my self-justification.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/05/07 -- Cassels: rational skepticism

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 5, 2007Meditation:
    Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?' But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.
    -- Job 21:14-16 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    In deciding which passages he will accept, [the “rational skeptic”] proceeds on the a priori assumption that miracles can’t happen. So he automatically writes off any Biblical account of a wondrous happening which suggests that there is an order of reality transcending the observable regularities of nature and occasionally breaking in upon them. Nor is rational skepticism content with jettisoning the Bible’s miracle stories. It also dismisses other passages on the grounds that they reflect the ignorance and prejudice of a particular age, or the propaganda interests of the Church at a particular stage of its development. Its basic rule of Biblical interpretation is: “When in doubt, throw it out.” And the highest scores in the game of radical reductionism are awarded to pedagogues who find the most novel and far-fetched reasons for doubting that any part of the Bible really means what it says.
    ... Louis Cassels (1922-1974), Your Bible [1967]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, forgive me for ever having doubted Your word.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/04/07 -- Calvin: straying from Christ

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 4, 2007

Commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community, 1637

Meditation:
    Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
    -- 2 Peter 1:10,11 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Some men, not content with [Christ] alone, are borne hither and thither from one hope to another; even if they concern themselves chiefly with him, they nevertheless stray from the right way in turning some part of their thinking in another direction. Yet such distrust cannot creep in where men have once for all truly known the abundance of his blessings.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion [1559]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me to be satisfied with You alone.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/03/07 -- M'Cheyne: God's tools

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 3, 2007

Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552

Meditation:
    If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
    -- Psalm 139:11,12 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Every wise workman takes his tools away from the work from time to time that they may be ground and sharpened; so does the only-wise Jehovah take his ministers oftentimes away into darkness and loneliness and trouble, that he may sharpen and prepare them for harder work in his service.
    ... Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, if it be Your will, send me.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/02/07 -- Augustine: all or nothing at all

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 2, 2007Meditation:
    Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
    -- Psalm 119:105 (KJV)

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Quotation:
    In an authority so high [as Scripture], admit but one officious lie, and there will not remain a single passage of those apparently difficult to practice or to believe, which on the same most pernicious rule may not be explained as a lie uttered by the author willfully to serve a purpose.
    ... St. Augustine (354-430)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit speaks to me in Scripture.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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