MacDonald: the Spirit teaches

Saturday, December 19, 2009
Meditation:
    At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
    —John 8:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is more hid in Christ than we shall ever learn, here or there either; but they that begin first to inquire will soonest be gladdened with revelation; and with them He will be best pleased, for the slowness of His disciples troubled Him of old. To say that we must wait for the other world, to know the mind of Him who came to this world to give Himself to us, seems to me the foolishness of a worldly and lazy spirit. The Son of God is the Teacher of men, giving to them of His Spirit—that Spirit which manifests the deep things of God, being to a man the mind of Christ. The great heresy of the Church of the present day is unbelief in this Spirit.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Higher Faith”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 54 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You daily instruct me by Your Spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: learning the Scriptures from God

Friday, December 18, 2009
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.”
    —John 6:45 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We cannot attain to the understanding of Scripture either by study or by the intellect. Your first duty is to begin by prayer. Entreat the Lord to grant you, of His great mercy, the true understanding of His Word. There is no other interpreter of the Word of God than the Author of this Word, as He Himself has said, “They shall be all taught of God.” (John 6:45) Hope for nothing from your own labors, from your own understanding: trust solely in God, and in the influence of His Spirit. Believe this on the word of a man who has experience.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), in a letter (see What Luther Says: An Anthology, #233), quoted in History of the Great Reformation of the Sixteenth Century in Germany, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigné, London: Walther, 1838, p. 320 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit is leading me into Your truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Studdert Kennedy: comfort

Thursday, December 17, 2009
    Commemoration of Eglantine Jebb, Social Reformer, Founder of ‘Save the Children’, 1928
Meditation:
    [Paul and Barnabas] preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.
    —Acts 14:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We have taught our people to use prayer too much as a means of comfort. Not in the original and heroic sense of uplifting, inspiring, strengthening, but in the more modern and baser sense of soothing sorrow, dulling pain, and drying tears. The comfort of the cushion, not the comfort of the Cross.
    ... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Hardest Part, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1919, p. 111 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have called me to action. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: repentance

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Meditation:
    So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
    —Romans 2:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Repentance is but a kind of table-talk, till we see so much of the deformity of our inward nature, as to be in some degree frightened and terrified at the sight of it...
    A plausible form of an outward life, that has only learned rules and modes of religion by use and custom, often keeps the soul for some time at ease, though all its inward root and ground of sin has never been shaken or molested, though it has never tasted of the bitter waters of repentance, and has only known the want of a Saviour by hearsay.
    But things cannot pass thus: sooner or later, repentance must have a broken and a contrite heart; we must with our blessed Lord go over the brook Cedron, and with Him sweat great drops of sorrow, before He can say for us, as He said for Himself: “It is finished.”
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Regeneration [1739], in Works of Rev. William Law, v. V, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 152-153 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, break down all my resistance to Your call to repentance. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Theologia Germanica: preparation

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Meditation:
    [Faithful people] were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
    —Hebrews 11:13-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Now men say, “I am in no wise prepared for this work, and therefore it cannot be wrought in me,” and thus they find an excuse, so that they neither are ready nor in the way to be so. And truly there is no one to blame for this but themselves. For if a man were looking and striving after nothing but to find a preparation in all things, and diligently gave his whole mind to see how he might become prepared; verily God would well prepare him, for God giveth as much care and earnestness and love to the preparing of a man, as to the pouring in of His Spirit when the man is prepared.
    ... Theologia Germanica [1518], Anonymous, ascribed to Johannes de Francfordia, (1380?-1440) & Susanna Winkworth, tr., published anonymously by Martin Luther, ch. XXII (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your will, Your service, and Your word prepare me for Your call. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John of the Cross: but not of the world

Monday, December 14, 2009
    Feast of John of the Cross, Mystic, Poet, Teacher, 1591
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
    —Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing.
    ... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), from “Spiritual Maxims” inThe Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Cosimo, Inc., 2007, p. 603 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    The treasure of Your presence appears to me in the faces of Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: for the new year

Sunday, December 13, 2009
    Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
    Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784
Meditation:
    Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
    —Revelation 2:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Almighty and most merciful Father, I again appear in Thy presence the wretched misspender of another year which Thy mercy has allowed me. O Lord, let me not sink into total depravity, look down upon me, and rescue me at last from the captivity of sin. Impart to me good resolutions, and give me strength and perseverance to perform them. Take not from me Thy Holy Spirit, but grant that I may redeem the time lost, and that by temperance and diligence, by sincere repentance and faithful obedience, I may finally attain everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Verner, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, Jan. 1, 1766, p. 53-54 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have declared our release from sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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