Studd: Enlist!

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
    —Luke 6:43-45 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism... To your knees, man! and to your Bible! Decide at once! Don’t hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly excuses. Enlist!
    ... C. T. Studd (1860-1931) (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I place my life at Your feet, to direct into the conflict.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: the priorities

Friday, October 30, 2009
    Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546
Meditation:
But I cry to you for help, O LORD;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
    —Psalms 88:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), attributed (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thank you for the privilege of prayer.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: praying with people

Thursday, October 29, 2009
    Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885
Meditation:
    Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.
    —Psalm 55:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend [Christopher] Smart showed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all, than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question... I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I’d as lief pray with Kit Smart as any.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., v. I [1791], James Boswell, New York: Derby & Jackson, 1858, p. 317-318 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant Your peace to those who seek You in prayer.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: ask to receive

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
    Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles
Meditation:
    This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
    —1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Hunger may drive the runaway child home, and he may or may not be fed at home; but he needs his mother more than his dinner. Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other need; prayer is the beginning of that communion, and some need is the motive of that prayer... So begins a communion, a talking with God, a coming-to-one with Him, which is the sole end of prayer, yea, of existence itself in its infinite phases. We must ask that we may receive; but that we should receive what we ask in respect of our lower needs, is not God’s end in making us pray, for He could give us everything without that: to bring His child to His knee, God withholds that man may ask.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Word of Jesus on Prayer”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 72-73 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You show me that all good things come from You.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: why we need to pray

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] Do not be like [the pagans], for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
    —Matthew 6:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We know that the wind blows; why should we not know that God answers prayer?
    I reply, What if God does not care to have you know it at second hand? What if there would be no good in that? There is some testimony on record, and perhaps there might be much were it not that, having to do with things so immediately personal, and generally so delicate, answers to prayer would naturally not often be talked about; but no testimony concerning the thing can well be conclusive; for, like a reported miracle, there is always some way to daff it; and besides, the conviction to be got that way is of little value: it avails nothing to know the thing by the best of evidence... “But if God is so good as you represent Him, and if He knows all that we need, and better far than we do ourselves, why should it be necessary to ask Him for anything?”
    I answer, What if He knows prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God’s idea of prayer be the supplying of our great, our endless need—the need of Himself? [Continued tomorrow]
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Word of Jesus on Prayer”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 66-67,72 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Above all, Lord, I need You in my prayer.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: power in prayer

Monday, October 26, 2009
    Feast of Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, Scholar, 899
    Commemoration of Cedd, Founding Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of the East Saxons, 664
Meditation:
    But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
    —Jude 20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    All outward power that we exercise in the things about us is but a shadow in comparison of that inward power that resides in our will, imagination, and desires; these communicate with eternity and kindle a life which always reaches either Heaven or hell... Here lies the ground of the great efficacy of prayer, which when it is the prayer of the heart, the prayer of faith, has a kindling and creating power, and forms and transforms the soul into everything that its desires reach after: it has the key to the Kingdom of Heaven and unlocks all its treasures; it opens, extends, and moves that in us which has its being and motion in and with the divine nature. and so it brings us into real union and communion with God.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), An Appeal to All that Doubt [1740], in Works of Rev. William Law, v. VI, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 134-135 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Your Spirit, Lord, permits me true prayer.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: prelude to obedience

Sunday, October 25, 2009
    Commemoration of Crispin & Crispinian, Martyrs at Rome, c.285
Meditation:
    ... Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
    —1 Samuel 15:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late—and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), Of God and Men, Harrisburg, Penn.: Christian Publications, Inc., 1960, p. 55-57 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Goad me, Lord, into true obedience.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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