Finney: whom to pray for

Saturday, July 19, 2014
    Feast of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, & his sister Macrina, Teachers, c.394 & c.379
Meditation:
    And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
    —Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Be filled with his Spirit, and he will give you objects enough to pray for. He will give you as much of the spirit of prayer as you have strength of body to bear.
    ... Charles G. Finney (1792-1875), Lectures on Revivals of Religion, New York: Leavitt, Lord & Co., 1835, p. 76 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 6:18; Luke 4:1; Acts 2:4,8; 4:31; 6:3-4; 7:55; 9:17; 13:52; Eph. 5:18-20; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, increase my love for the fellowship. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: hungry for Christ

Friday, July 18, 2014
Meditation:
    Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
    —John 4:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The proverb has it that Hunger is the best cook. The Law makes afflicted consciences hungry for Christ. Hungry hearts appreciate Christ. Thirsty souls are what Christ wants.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, tr. Theodore Graebner, MobileReference, 2009, p. 134 (see the book)
    See also John 4:13-14; Ps. 42:1-2; Matt. 11:28-30; John 6:27,35; 7:38; Gal. 3:21; Rev. 7:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone quench my thirst. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Murray: the humblest

Thursday, July 17, 2014
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”
    —Mark 10:43-44 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus the Holy One is the humble one: the holiest will ever be the humblest. There is none holy but God: we have as much of holiness as we have of God. And according to what we have of God will be our real humility, because humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all. The holiest will be the humblest.
    ... Andrew Murray (1828-1917), Humility: the Beauty of Holiness, New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Co., 1895, p. 78 (see the book)
    See also Mark 10:43-44; Matt. 5:3; 11:29; 18:2-4; 20:26-28; 23:12; Mark 9:35-37; Luke 9:46-48; 14:10-11; 22:26; John 13:14-16; Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 1:28-29; Eph. 4:2; 5:21; Phil. 2:3; Jas. 1:9-10; 4:6,10; 1 Pet. 5:5-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a more humble heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yelchaninov: spiritual gifts

Wednesday, July 16, 2014
    Commemoration of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 1099
Meditation:
    Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
    —1 Corinthians 14:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our help to people is often not in the system of the deliberate actions, influencing their soul, but in the invisible and unknown for us action of our spiritual gifts on them.
    ... Alexander Yelchaninov (1881-1934), Advice of Fr. Alexander Yelchaninov to Young Priests [1934], in A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, Georgii Petrovich Fedotov, ed., Nordland, 1975 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 14:1; Ps. 29:11; Pr. 2:6; Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 1:5-7; 12:4-11; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 1:29; 1 Tim. 4:14; Jas. 1:5,17; 4:5-6; 1 Pet. 4:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I earnestly desire a heart and mind like Yours. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Trueblood: change in us

Tuesday, July 15, 2014
    Commemoration of Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, c.862
    Commemoration of Bonaventure, Franciscan Friar, Bishop, Peacemaker, 1274
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
    —John 14:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Gospels are of transcendent value because of what they tell us of the eternal and unchanging nature of God. Since God is the Supreme Person, naturally His clearest revelation had to be, not in the starry heavens, wonderful and extensive as they undoubtedly are, but in a completely personal existence, with all its pains and victories. Christ is significant, then, in what He reveals. We encounter Him, as did the plain men and women of Galilee, or the Roman soldier, and suddenly it comes to us with a shock of revelation that this is what God is like. The nature of God, as depicted in Christ’s words and deeds, was not something new, but something that has always been true. If there is any change, it is in us, and not in Him.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Future of the Christian, Harper & Row, 1971, p. 80 (see the book)
    See also John 14:7-11; Matt. 27:54; John 1:18; 12:44-45; 17:6,26; Phil. 2:6; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in Christ we have Your fullness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Keble: The deaf may hear the Savior's voice

Monday, July 14, 2014
    Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “He who has ears, let him hear.”
    —Matthew 11:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
The deaf may hear the Saviour’s voice,
    The fettered tongue its chains may break;
But the deaf heart, the dumb by choice,
    The laggard soul that will not wake,
The guilt that scorns to be forgiven—
These baffle e’en the spells of heaven.
    ... John Keble (1792-1866), The Christian Year [1827], G. W. Doane, ed., Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1842, p. 186 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 11:15; Isa. 6:9-10; Jer. 6:10; Zech. 7:11-12; Matt. 11:5; Luke 7:22; Acts 28:25-27
Quiet time reflection:
    Relieve, O Lord, the burden of sloth from the people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carnell: persuading doubters, not the defiant

Sunday, July 13, 2014
Meditation:
    Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”
    He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.”
    —Matthew 12:38-41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The heart must be kept tender and pliable; otherwise agnosticism converts to skepticism. In such a case, the value of apologetics is voided, for apologetics is aimed at persuading doubters, not at refuting the defiant. He who demands a kind of proof that the nature of the case renders impossible, is determined that no possible evidence shall convince him.
    ... Edward John Carnell (1919-1967), The Case for Orthodox Theology, Philadelphia: Westminister, 1959, p. 84 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 12:38-41; Mark 8:11-12; Luke 11:16,29-30; John 2:18-19; 4:48; 6:61-63; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 1 Pet. 2:7-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, warm the hearts of _____ and _____ to Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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