Brooks: the silences of God

Saturday, November 1, 2014
    Feast of All Saints
Meditation:
    This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
    —1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I never think of [the silences of God] without thinking how great is the delight which comes when any man discovers that God really has been answering him all the time when he thought that his prayers were all unheard. That must be one of the most exquisite joys of heaven.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Light of the World, and Other Sermons, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1904, p. 132 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 5:14-15; Ps. 4:1; 10:1; 22:1; 35:22; 46:1,10; 83:1; 88:14; Hab. 1:2; Luke 15:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are never far from me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: unconditional grace

Friday, October 31, 2014
Meditation:
    I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
    —Romans 1:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that this grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day. So far from dispensing him from discipleship, this grace only made him a more earnest disciple.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 49 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 1:16-17; Hab. 2:4; John 3:36; 14:1; Rom. 3:3; 6:1-2; Gal. 3:11; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 3:8-9; Heb. 11:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace has drawn me to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: grace overlooking sins

Thursday, October 30, 2014
    Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546
Meditation:
    Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
    —Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Because of the incomplete gifts and because of the Spirit, there is nothing damnable in those who are in Christ. Because our flesh has not been killed, we are still sinners, but because we believe in Christ and have the beginnings of the Spirit, God so shows us his favor and mercy, that he neither notices nor judges such sins. Rather he deals with us according to our belief in Christ until sin is killed.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), “Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans”, par. 12 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:1-2; Ps. 32:1-2; Isa. 54:17; Jer. 31:34; John 3:18-19; Rom. 5:1-2; 7:20; 1 Cor. 15:22; 2 Cor. 5:17; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 John 2:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am without excuse, but You are my advocate. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Schaff: united in Christ

Wednesday, October 29, 2014
    Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885
Meditation:
    For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
    —Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If Christians are ever to be united, they must be united in Christ, their living head and the source of their spiritual life.
    ... Philip Schaff (1819-1893), The Life of Philip Schaff: in part autobiographical, David Schley Schaff, New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1897, p. 473 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:15; John 17:22-23; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:9-10,22-23; 4:15; Col. 1:18-20,24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we seek You alone as our source of unity. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gasque: the historical setting

Tuesday, October 28, 2014
    Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles
Meditation:
    I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
    —Revelation 1:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A basic principle in the interpretation of the Bible is that one must first ask what a given Scripture was intended to mean to the people for whom it was originally written; only then is the interpreter free to ask what meaning it has for Christians today.
    Failure to ask this primary question and to investigate the historical setting of Scripture have prevented many Christians from coming to a correct understanding of some parts of the Bible. Nowhere is this more true than in respect to the last book in the Bible. Here, there has been a singular lack of appreciation for the historical background of the book; the book has been interpreted as if it were primarily written for the day in which the expositor lives (which is usually thought to be the end time), rather than in terms of what it meant to the first-century Christians of the Roman province of Asia for whom it was originally written. This has resulted in all sorts o! f grotesque and fantastic conclusions of which the author of the Revelation and its early recipients never would have dreamed.
    ... W. Ward Gasque, Sir William M. Ramsay: Archaeologist and New Testament Scholar, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966, p. 48 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 1:9; Rom. 2:7; 5:3-4; 2 Thess. 1:4-5; Heb. 10:34-36; Rev. 3:10; 4:2; 13:10; 14:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to understand those to whom You have spoken. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: God speaking within

Monday, October 27, 2014
Meditation:
    For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
    —Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Let us recognize, then, the fact that God is incessantly speaking in us. He speaks in the impenitent also, but, stunned by the noise of the world and their passions, they cannot hear Him; the interior voice is to them a fable. He speaks in awakened sinners; they are sensible of remorse of conscience, which is the voice of God reproaching them inwardly for their sins. When they are deeply moved, they have no difficulty in understanding about this interior voice, for it is it that pierces them so sharply. It is in them that two-edged sword of which Paul speaks as piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Spiritual Progress: or, Instructions in the Divine Life of the Soul, New York: M. W. Dodd, 1853, p. 91-92 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:12; 1 Kings 19:11-12; Ps. 119:130; Eccl. 12:11; Isa. 55:10-11; Jer. 17:10; Matt. 13:18-23; Rom. 1:16; 2 Cor. 10:4-5; Eph. 6:17; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:23; Rev. 1:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word is a reproach to my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Maclaren: the riches of God

Sunday, October 26, 2014
    Feast of Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, Scholar, 899
    Commemoration of Cedd, Founding Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of the East Saxons, 664
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
    —Matthew 7:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank, and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor? Whose fault is it that Christian people generally have such scanty portions of the free riches of God?
    ... Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910), The Gospel of St. Matthew, v. 1, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1892, p. 112 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:1-12; Ps. 84:11; 85:12; Matt. 6:19-21; 13:44-46; Luke 11:13; 12:33-34; 2 Cor. 9:8-11; Eph. 3:8-9; Col. 2:2-3; Tit. 3:4-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your gifts are beyond price. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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