de Sales: dryness

Saturday, March 15, 2014
Meditation:
    Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
    —Philippians 3:13b-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Amid all our dryness let us never grow discouraged, but go steadily on, patiently waiting the return of better things; let us never be misled to give up any devout practices because of it, but rather, if possible, let us increase our good works, and if we cannot offer liquid preserves to our Bridegroom, let us at least offer Him dried fruit—it is all one to Him, so long as the heart we offer be fully resolved to love Him.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, p. 338 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 3:13-14; Ps. 31:22; 77:7-9; Isa. 35:3-4; Matt. 10:22; Luke 18:1-8; Rom. 2:7; 8:24-25; 1 Cor. 9:24-25; 1 Thess. 5:14; Heb. 10:36; 12:1-3,11-13; Jas. 1:2-3; 5:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Are there areas where I have not persevered? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Buechner: the bridge

Friday, March 14, 2014
Meditation:
You know my folly, O God;
    my guilt is not hidden from you.
    —Psalm 69:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To confess your sins to God is not to tell him anything he doesn’t already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.
    ... Frederick Buechner (b. 1926), Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, Harper & Row, 1973, revised, HarperCollins, 1993, p. 15 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 69:5; 2 Sam. 24:10; Ps. 32:5; 41:4; 51:2-5; Isa. 59:12-13; Jer. 14:7; Matt. 6:8; Luke 15:17-21; Jas. 5:16; 1 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Is there some sin I hide from confession? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Trueblood: to the perplexed

Thursday, March 13, 2014
Meditation:
    Then [Jesus] said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
    —Matthew 9:37-38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Company of Jesus is not people streaming to a shrine; and it is not people making up an audience for a speaker; it is laborers engaged in the harvesting task of reaching their perplexed and seeking brethren with something so vital that, if it is received, it will change their lives.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Company of the Committed, Harper, 1961, p. 45 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 9:37-38; Ps. 68:11; Matt. 28:19; Luke 10:1-2; 24:46-47; John 4:35-36; Acts 8:4; 1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1-2; 2 Thess. 3:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, am I recognizing those in need whom You are sending to me? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cowper: O for a closer walk with God

Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Meditation:
    Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
    —Luke 24:32 (KJV)
Quotation:
O for a closer walk with God,
    A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
    That leads me to the Lamb!

Return, O holy Dove, return,
    Sweet messenger of rest:
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,
    And drove Thee from my breast.

The dearest idol I have known,
    Whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
    And worship only Thee.

So shall my walk be close with God,
    Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
    That leads me to the Lamb.
    ... William Cowper (1731-1800), included in The Works of William Cowper: his life, letters, and poems, New York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1851, p. 670 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:32; Gen. 5:24; Deut. 28:9; John 1:29,32; 2 Cor. 5:7; Col. 2:6-7; Rev. 5:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Is my walk close to the Lord?

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Shepherd: witness to facts

Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Meditation:
    And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
    —1 Corinthians 15:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Gospel is not presented to mankind as an argument about religious principles. Nor is it offered as a philosophy of life. Christianity is a witness to certain facts—to events that have happened, to hopes that have been fulfilled, to realities that have been experienced, to a Person who has lived and died and been raised from the dead to reign for ever.
    ... Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. (1913-1990), Far and Near
    See also 1 Cor. 15:14-17; Luke 19:10; Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 1:19-24; Col. 2:8; 1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 1:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Do I think about philosophy and ideas instead of enjoying the presence of Jesus in my heart? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Nouwen: dying to our own

Monday, March 10, 2014
Meditation:
    [Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
    —1 Peter 2:24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [In prayer] we want to move closer to God, the source and goal of our existence, but at the same time we realize that the closer we come to God the stronger will be his demand to let go of the many ‘safe’ structures we have built around ourselves. Prayer is such a radical act because it requires us to criticize our whole way of being in the world, to lay down our old selves and accept our new self, which is Christ... Prayer therefore is the act of dying to all that we consider to be our own and of being born to a new existence which is not of this world.
    ... Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996), originally in “Letting go of all things” in Sojourners8, May 1979, p. 5-6, The Only Necessary Thing, p. 39
    See also 1 Pet. 2:24; Ps. 69:16-18; Matt. 19:21-22,27-29; Mark 10:21-22; Luke 18:22-23; Acts 20:24; Rom. 6:2,11; Gal. 6:14; Phil. 3:7-8; Col. 3:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    What am I holding on to that I should release? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hallesby: the true battleground

Sunday, March 9, 2014
Meditation:
The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
    the LORD accepts my prayer.
    —Psalm 6:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The secret prayer chamber is a bloody battleground. Here violent and decisive battles are fought out. Here the fate of souls for time and eternity is determined, in quietude and solitude.
    To pray is to open one’s heart to Jesus.
    ... O. Hallesby (1879-1961), Prayer, London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1943, reprint, Augsburg Fortress Books, 1975, 1994, p. 98
    See also Ps. 6:9; Luke 18:1-8; Acts 1:14; Rom. 8:26-27; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Is my heart truly open to God through Christ? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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