Saturday, August 29, 2009

Tozer: everything in God

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Meditation:
    For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
    —1 Corinthians 15:27,28 (NIV)

Quotation:
    God wants us to know that when we have Him we have everything.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my thirst is for You.

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Friday, August 28, 2009

Augustine: Thou art God

Friday, August 28, 2009
    Feast of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Teacher, 430

Meditation:
Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion;
    to you our vows will be fulfilled.
    —Psalm 65:1 (NIV)

Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Thou lovest, without passion; art jealous, without anxiety; repentest, yet grievest not; art angry, yet serene; changest Thy works, Thy purpose unchanged; receivest again what Thou findest, yet didst never lose; never in need, yet rejoicing in gains; never covetous, yet exacting usury. Thou receivest over and above, that Thou mayest owe; and who hath aught that is not Thine? Thou payest debts, owing nothing; remittest debts, losing nothing. And what have I now said, my God, my life, my holy joy? or what saith any man when he speaks of Thee? Yet woe to him that speaketh not, since mute are even the most eloquent.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions [397], Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886, I.iv, p. 4 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we dare to pronounce Your Name.

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Augustine: Who is God?

Thursday, August 27, 2009
    Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387

Meditation:
For who is God besides the LORD?
    And who is the Rock except our God?
    —Psalm 18:31 (NIV)

Quotation:
    What art Thou then, my God? What, but the Lord God? For who is Lord but the Lord? or who is God save our God? Most highest, most good, most potent, most omnipotent; most merciful, yet most just; most hidden, yet most present; most beautiful, yet most strong; stable, yet incomprehensible; unchangeable, yet all changing; never new, never old; all-renewing, and bringing age upon the Proud, and they know it not; ever working, ever at rest; still gathering, yet nothing lacking; supporting, filling, and over-spreading; creating, nourishing, and maturing; seeking, yet having all things. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions [397], Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886, II.iv, p. 3-4 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone are God.

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Lang: what is in ruins?

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Meditation:
    “But what about you?” [Jesus] asked. “Who do you say I am?”
    Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
    Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
    —Matthew 16:15-18 (NIV)

Quotation:
    What is in ruins? The invisible church, composed of all Spirit-baptized persons, is indefectible, it cannot be ruined; against it “the gates of Hades shall not prevail.” The local assembly may indeed by sadly ruined; but it can be restored, as, by the grace of God, has been seen times without number—at Corinth, for example. The only other institution in question is that agglomeration of sects that is called “Christendom.” But that is unrecognized by the New Testament—it is not of God at all: and that it is “in ruins” is no matter for our regret.
    ... G. H. Lang (1874-1958)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, against Your church, no resistance is possible.

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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Clough: steadfast

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Meditation:
The LORD upholds all those who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down.
    —Psalm 145:14 (NIV)

Quotation:
It fortifies my soul to know
That though I perish, Truth is so;
That, howsoe’er I stray and range,
Whate’er I do, Thou dost not change.
I steadier step when I recall
That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall.
    ... Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), Arthur Hugh Clough: Selected Poems, New York: Routledge, 2003, p. 57 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am lost without You.

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Monday, August 24, 2009

Phillips: the Gospel is for all

Monday, August 24, 2009
    Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle

Meditation:
    When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
    —Acts 4:13,14 (NIV)

Quotation:
    The defenders of the jargon and phrases of the Church’s traditions hold that there must of necessity be a specialized vocabulary, just as there is in any other specialized form of human activity, whether it is music, architecture, or electronic engineering. To me, at least, this is a thoroughly unsound argument, for Christ did not come into the world to bring men “specialized activity,” but life, fuller and more satisfying than it had been ever b! efore. If the churches have made Christianity appear to be some kind of specialized spiritual performance so much the worse for them. The real purpose of Christ, the real relevance of the Gospel, is surely to enable men to live together as sons of God. Human beings, like children, love to have secrets, love to be “in the know.” But the Christian religion was never meant to be a secret recipe for living, held by a few. It is Good News for all mankind and, because it is that, the more clearly and intelligibly it can be presented, the more faithfully it is following its Master’s purpose.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Is God at Home?, London: Lutterworth Press, 1957, p. 8-9 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You mean for us to understand the Gospel.

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Soper: the greatest fallacy

Sunday, August 23, 2009
    Commemoration of Rose of Lima, Contemplative, 1617

Meditation:
    When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
    —Acts 17:32 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Fallacies about Christianity must always be faced as deterrents to right living, and not merely as mistakes in the mind, for it is the effect they have on our actions which matters most. So soon as we abstract them from our lives and think of them only as faults in our mental machinery, we tend to embrace the greatest fallacy of all—which is to think of Christianity as a way of looking at life instead of a way of changing it.
    ... Donald O. Soper (1903-1998), Popular Fallacies about the Christian Faith, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, never allow me to forget how You have changed my life.

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