Bunyan: abundant grace

Saturday, August 31, 2013
    Feast of Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 651
    Commemoration of Cuthburga, Founding Abbess of Wimborne, c.725
    Commemoration of John Bunyan, Spiritual Writer, 1688
Meditation:
    [The Father] chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
    —James 1:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    But upon a day the good providence of God did cast me to Bedford to work on my calling: and in one of the streets of that town, I came where there were three or four poor women sitting at a door in the sun, and talking about the things of God; and being now willing to hear them discourse, I drew near to hear what they said, for I was now a brisk talker also myself in the matters of religion. But now I may say I heard, but I understood not; for they were far above, out of my reach; for their talk was about a new birth, the work of God on their hearts... And methought they spake as if joy did make them speak; they spake with such pleasantness of Scripture language, and with such appearance of grace in all they said, that they were to me as if they had found a new world.
    ... John Bunyan (1628-1688), Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners [1666] The Whole Works of John Bunyan, v. I, London: Blackie, 1862, p. 10 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:18; Jer. 33:10,11; Matt. 11:15; John 1:12-13; 3:3-7; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 5:18-20; Tit. 3:4-7; 1 Tim. 1:15-16; 1 Pet. 1:3,23-25; 1 John 2:29
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people praise You that You gave us new birth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Torrey: organization

Friday, August 30, 2013
Meditation:
[The LORD:] “The wild animals honor me,
    the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
    and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
    the people I formed for myself
    that they may proclaim my praise.
“Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob,
    you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.”
    —Isaiah 43:20-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We live in a day characterized by the multiplication of man’s machinery and the diminution of God’s power. The great cry of our day is work, work, work, new organizations, new methods, new machinery; the great need of our day is prayer. It was a master stroke of the devil when he got the church so generally to lay aside this mighty weapon of prayer. The devil is perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations, and deftly contrive machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ if it will only give up praying.
    ... R. A. Torrey (1856-1928), How to Pray, Fleming H. Revell, 1900, p. 128 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 43:20-22; Job 21:14-15; Ps. 14:4; Isa. 64:7; Jer. 10:21; Dan. 9:13; Luke 18:6-8; 1 Thess. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lead us, Lord, to pray continually. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Basil: why the wicked prosper

Thursday, August 29, 2013
Meditation:
You are always righteous, O LORD,
    when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why do all the faithless live at ease?
    —Jeremiah 12:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If you ask why the life of the wicked is prolonged and the days of the just shortened; why the wicked is prosperous and the just afflicted; why the child is cut off before its time; whence wars, shipwrecks, earthquakes, droughts, and floods; why those things have been created which are deadly to human life; why one is a slave and another free, one rich and another poor, and what requital is to be made by the Judge for all these,—when these things come into your thought, remember that the judgments of God are a great deep. But to him that believeth is the promise given by God, “I will give thee hidden treasures of secret places.”
    ... St. Basil the Great (330?-379), Homily on Ps. XXXII.5, quoted in Saint Basil the Great, Richard T. Smith, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1879, p. 111-112 (see the book)
    See also Jer. 12:1; Job 21:7; Ps. 37:1-2; 73:3; 92:6-7; Isa. 45:3; Mal. 3:15; Matt. 6:19-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, through Your faithfulness, we are rich indeed. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: iniquity

Wednesday, August 28, 2013
    Feast of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Teacher, 430
Meditation:
    “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
    —John 4:34 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I inquired what iniquity was, and found it to be no substance, but the perversion of the will, turned aside from Thee, O God, the Supreme, towards these lower things.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions [397], Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886, VII.xvi, p. 162 (see the book)
    See also John 4:34; Ps. 32:2; 36:1-3; 125:4-5; 141:4; Matt. 6:10; Mark 3:35; John 6:38-40; Rom. 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep my eyes on Your will alone in my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Shakespeare: mercy

Tuesday, August 27, 2013
    Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387
Meditation:
    Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
    —James 2:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,—
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
    ... William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Merchant of Venice, in The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare, London: Jones, 1823, Act IV, scene 1, p. 200 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 2:12-13; Jer. 9:23-24; Amos 5:24; Matt. 5:7; Eph. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cannot stand without Your mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Willard: at the center

Monday, August 26, 2013
Meditation:
Pride goes before destruction,
    a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed
    than to share plunder with the proud.
    —Proverbs 16:18-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    ... the fundamental pride of putting oneself at the center of the universe is the hinge upon which the entire world of the ruined self turns.
    ... Dallas Willard (1935-2013), The Renovation of the Heart, Colorado Springs, Colo.: Navpress, 2002, p. 57 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 16:18-19; Ps. 18:27; Pr. 11:2; Matt. 20:25-27; Mark 7:20-23; 10:42-44; Luke 1:51-52; 11:43; Rom. 12:3,16; 2 Cor. 10:12; Eph. 4:17-19; 2 Tim. 3:2-5; Rev. 3:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, break my pride and cast my sin out. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: no suffering, no love

Sunday, August 25, 2013
Meditation:
    And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
    —Revelation 5:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We should all like life to be free from suffering, and our love to be free from pain. But there is no true love without suffering. So the highest love of all, the love of Christ for men, showed unforgettably how deeply he must suffer in order to bring men to himself.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), For This Day, Denis Duncan, ed., Word Books, 1978, p. 54 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 5:9; John 12:32-33; Rom. 5:8; 8:32; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 2:9; 5:7-10; 13:12; 1 Pet. 2:20-21; 4:1; 1 John 2:2; 4:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me patience in all suffering. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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