The cause for hell

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Meditation:
    You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
    —Acts 7:51 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Nothing burneth in hell but self-will. Therefore it hath been said, “Put off thine own will, and there will be no more hell.”
    ... Theologia Germanica [1518], Anonymous, ascribed to Johannes de Francfordia, (1380?-1440) & tr. Susanna Winkworth (1820-1884), published anonymously by Martin Luther, ch. XXXIV (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Extinguish, Lord, self-will in me.

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Kierkegaard: praying in Jesus' name

Friday, August 21, 2009

Meditation:
    And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
    —Colossians 3:17 (NIV)

Quotation:
    I cannot pray in the name of Jesus to have my own will; the name of Jesus is not a signature of no importance, but the decisive factor. The fact that the name of Jesus comes at the beginning does not make it a prayer in the name of Jesus; but this means to pray in such a manner that I dare name Jesus in it, that is to say, dare to think of Him, think His holy will together with whatever I am praying for.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Journals, ed. Alexander Dru, Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 336-337 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to know Your mind better.

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Bernard: O Jesus, King most wonderful!

Thursday, August 20, 2009
    Feast of Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Teacher, 1153
    Commemoration of William & Catherine Booth, Founders of the Salvation Army, 1912 & 1890

Meditation:
    In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
    —John 1:4 (NIV)

Quotation:
O Jesus, King most wonderful!
    O Conqueror renowned!
O Source of peace ineffable,
    In whom all joys are found:

When once you visit darkened hearts
    Then truth begins to shine,
Then earthly vanity departs,
    Then kindles love divine.

O Jesus, light of all below,
    The fount of life and fire,
Surpassing all the joys we know,
    All that we can desire:

May ev’ry heart confess your name,
    Forever you adore,
And, seeking you, itself inflame
    To seek you more and more!

Oh, may our tongues forever bless,
    May we love you alone
And ever in our lives express
    The image of your own!
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) & Edward Caswall (1814-1878), Lyra Catholica, New York: E. Dunigan and Brother, 1851, p. 103-104 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, remake us to be like Yourself.

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Grosse: Christ makes all the difference

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Meditation:
Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?”
    Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.
    —Psalm 4:6 (NIV)

Quotation:
    When Christ reveals Himself there is satisfaction in the slenderest portion, and without Christ there is emptiness in the greatest fulness.
    ... Alexander Grosse (1595/6-1654), quoted in The Treasury of David, v. I, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1883, p. 44 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You illuminate our world.

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Ryle: leading to a fall

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Meditation:
O LORD, be gracious to us;
    we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
    our salvation in time of distress.
    —Isaiah 33:2 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Bibles read without prayer; sermons heard without prayer; marriages contracted without prayer; journeys undertaken without prayer; residences chosen without prayer; friendships formed without prayer; the daily act of prayer itself hurried over, or gone through without heart: these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows them to have a tremendous fall.
    ... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), A Call to Prayer, published in the 1850's as a pamphlet, p. 2 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your strength upholds me through prayer.

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Lewis: working up faith?

Monday, August 17, 2009

Meditation:
    For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
    —Ephesians 2:8,9 (NIV)

Quotation:
    We must not encourage in ourselves or others any tendency to work up a subjective state which, if we succeeded, we should describe as “faith,” with the idea that this will somehow ensure the granting of our prayer. We have probably all done this as children. But the state of mind which desperate desire working on a strong imagination can manufacture is not faith in the Christian sense. It is a feat of psychological gymnastics.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1964, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 60 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the only source for true faith.

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Allen: how can they not believe it

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Meditation:
    The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
    Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
    "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
    —Acts 8:29-31 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Of course all advance depends upon money, when we depend upon paid workers for any advance. Teach men as one of their first lessons in the gospel that pastoral work and evangelistic work ought to be paid, and will they not believe it? They would all believe it if the Holy Ghost did not dispute our teaching. It is a powerful proof of the presence and grace of the Holy Ghost that they do not all believe it and act accordingly.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), The Case for Voluntary Clergy, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1930, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 182 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit causes the spreading of the gospel.

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