Bloesch: prayer in the name of Christ

Saturday, April 20, 2013
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
    —John 15:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To pray in the name of Christ means to pray in the awareness that our prayers have no worthiness or efficacy apart from his atoning sacrifice and redemptive mediation. It means to appeal to the blood of Christ as the source of power for the life of prayer. It means to acknowledge our complete helplessness apart from his mediation and intercession. To pray in his name means that we recognize that our prayers cannot penetrate the tribunal of God unless they are presented to the Father by the Son, our one Savior and Redeemer.
    ... Donald G. Bloesch (1928-2010), The Struggle of Prayer, Harper & Row, 1980, p. 36-37 (see the book)
    See also John 15:7; 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-26; Rom. 8:26
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone have the power to answer my prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Talmage: taking His hand

Friday, April 19, 2013
    Commemoration of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1012
Meditation:
    [Peter:] “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
    —Acts 2:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If your path had been smooth, you would have depended upon your own surefootedness; but God roughened that path, so you have to take hold of His hand. If the weather had been mild, you would have loitered along the watercourses, but at the first howl of the storm you quickened your pace heavenward and wrapped around you the warm robe of a Saviour’s righteousness.
    ... Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832-1902), The Pathway of Life, Historical Publishing Company for the Christian Herald, 1894, p. 100 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:21; Lam. 3:32-33; Amos 4:6-11; Matt. 14:25-33; Rom. 5:3-4; 8:28; 2 Cor. 4:17; 12:7-9; Jas. 1:12; Rev. 3:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, extend Your protection around me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rashdall: do we believe?

Thursday, April 18, 2013
Meditation:
Let those who love the LORD hate evil,
    for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
    and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
    —Psalm 97:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The great question for us now is, Do we believe in that love of God which Christ taught by His words, and of which His followers saw in His voluntary death a crowning manifestation? And remember that even belief in the love of God will do us no good unless it awakes answering love in ourselves—unless it adds to our hatred of the sin which separates us from God and increases our love of other men.
    ... James Hastings Rashdall (1858-1924), Principles and Precepts, Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1927, p. 126 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 97:10; Amos 5:15; John 15:13; Rom. 5:6-8,20-21; 7:13; 12:9; Heb. 1:8-9; Jas. 1:13-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I hate my sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brainerd: life worth living

Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Meditation:
Why do I put myself in jeopardy
    and take my life in my hands?
Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
    I will surely defend my ways to his face.
    —Job 13:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As long as I see any thing to be done for God, life is worth having: but O how vain and unworthy it is, to live for any lower end!
    ... David Brainerd (1718-1747), Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd, New Haven: S. Converse, 1822, p. 424 (see the book)
    See also Job 13:14-15; Ps. 39:4-7; 94:11; 119:81; Isa. 47:8-9; Luke 8:14; 12:16-21; Rom. 15:13; Heb. 11:24-26
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me the work You would have me do. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Norbie: the world at enmity with God

Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Meditation:
    The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.
    —1 Corinthians 16:19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For many years the Christians met in homes and never possessed any special buildings for their gatherings. As religio illicita, no thought could be had of a permanent structure for gatherings. This would only facilitate matters for the Roman government in its merciless persecutions. The early Church was very conscious of its pilgrim character in a world which was at enmity with God.
    ... Donald L. Norbie, New Testament Church Organization, Interest, Chicago: 1955, p. 21 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 16:19; Ps. 137:4; Luke 9:54-58; John 15:18-20; Acts 16:14,15; Rom. 5:10; 8:7; 16:5; Col. 4:15; Philem. 1:2; Heb. 11:16; 1 John 3:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You show me the pilgrim’s way. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: not knowing how it works

Monday, April 15, 2013
Meditation:
    For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
    —1 Corinthians 15:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We believe that the death of Christ is just that point in history at which something absolutely unimaginable from outside shows through into our own world. And if we cannot picture even the atoms of which our own world is built, of course we are not going to be able to picture this. Indeed, if we found that we could fully understand it, that very fact would show it was not what it professes to be—the inconceivable, the uncreated, the thing from beyond nature, striking down into nature like lightning. You may ask what good it will be to us if we do not understand it. But that is easily answered. A man can eat his dinner without understanding exactly how food nourishes him. A man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works: indeed, he certainly would not know how it works until he has accepted it.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 55 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 15:3-5; Isa. 53:5; Mark 9:23-24; John 6:32-35,48-58; Rom. 5:8-9; Eph. 3:8-10,16-19; Phil. 4:7; Col. 1:25-27; 2:2-3; 3:3; 1 Pet. 3:18-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, somehow I am healed by Your stripes. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Foster: our poverty

Sunday, April 14, 2013
Meditation:
In your anger do not sin;
    when you are on your beds,
    search your hearts and be silent.
    —Psalm 4:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Unfortunately, contemporary men and women simply do not value self-knowledge in the same way that all preceding generations have. For us technocratic knowledge reigns supreme. Even when we pursue self-knowledge, we all too often reduce it to a hedonistic search for personal peace and prosperity. How poor we are! Even the pagan philosophers were wiser than this generation. They knew that an unexamined life was not worth living.
    ... Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, HarperCollins, 1992, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 4:4; 26:2; 139:1,23-24; Lam. 3:40; Hag. 1:7; Rom. 8:26-27; 12:1; 1 Cor. 2:10; 11:27-31; 2 Cor. 13:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I seek You to show me my faults. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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