Fenelon: on prayer

Saturday, June 4, 2016
Meditation:
    If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
    —James 1:5-8 (ESV)
Quotation:
    As St. Cyprian well said, we may judge how ready He is to give us those good things which He Himself solicits us to ask of Him. Let us pray then with faith, and not lose the fruits of our prayers by a wavering uncertainty which, as St. James testifies, hinders the success of them. The same apostle advises us to pray when we are in trouble because thereby we should find consolation; yet we are so wretched that this heavenly employment is often a burden instead of a comfort to us. The lukewarmness of our prayers is the source of all our other infidelities.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Pious Reflections for Every Day in the Month, London: H. D. Symonds, 1800, p. 27-28 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:5-8; Ps. 46:1; Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:22-24; Heb. 11:6; Rev. 3:14-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Grant, Lord, that Your Spirit shall inhabit my prayers. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Short: conviction vs. persuasion

Friday, June 3, 2016
    Feast of Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, Teacher, 1910
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Uganda, 1886 & 1978
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
    —John 10:37-38 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Jesus calls us not only to repentance, to the “letting go” of the false gods we come to him with; but he goes one more difficult step further: he also calls us to believe in him alone as the decisive, absolutely unique, once-and-for-all, full revelation of God to man. This is extremely difficult for us, because Jesus was careful to give men no external guarantee that he was, in fact, God in the flesh. Otherwise, he realized, we would not be worshipping him, but would only be worshipping or trusting in the guarantee, whatever it might be.
    ... Robert L. Short (1932-2009), The Parables of Peanuts [1968], New York: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 166 (see the book)
    See also John 10:37-38; 14:9-11,20; 17:21-23; Acts 2:36-38; Phil. 2:5-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Though I have not seen You, Lord, I believe. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bruce: second things put first

Thursday, June 2, 2016
Meditation:
    Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
    —1 Corinthians 1:13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    In church government... our primary concern is to reflect the nature of God. Christ became man in order that He might redeem men from their fallen state, from their selfishness and self-isolating divisions from God and from each other; so that, gathered together in one in Him, man may offer to God that likeness to Himself in love for which he was created. Church government is primarily concerned with this: with worship, with the drawing of the whole life of the whole world into this reflection of the nature of God. It is secondly—and only secondly—concerned with the quarrels and peccadilloes of those who are not, as a matter of fact, imitating God’s nature very faithfully.
    ... Michael Bruce, “The Layman and Church Government”, in Layman’s Church, ed. John A. T. Robinson, London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, p. 64-65 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:13; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 1:10; 15:49; 2 Cor. 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church is to be in the image of Christ. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: our glorious neighbors

Wednesday, June 1, 2016
    Feast of Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165
    Commemoration of Angela de Merici, Founder of the Institute of St. Ursula, 1540
Meditation:
    For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
    —2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden, of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship—or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another! , all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Weight of Glory, and other addresses, Macmillan Co., 1949, p. 14-15 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:17-18; Rom. 2:7; 8:18; 2 Cor. 3:18; Isa. 64:4; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, purge all contempt for others from my mind and heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brunner: knowledge and responsibility

Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Meditation:
    ... you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.
    —Romans 2:21-23 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Since becoming a disciple of Christ, Paul knows that all mere orthodoxy, all mere knowledge concerning God’s will, is not only nothing but less than nothing. The more knowledge, the more obligation. The maintaining of revealed doctrine becomes blasphemy if it is not borne out by the corresponding testimony of the life. He who is always appealing to the Word of God without his life and conduct corresponding to this knowledge of God, dishonours God’s name, making Him an object of mockery and hatred. It is just those who know so well how to talk about God who make His name hateful among men, because their lives darken the picture of God and turn it into a caricature. The Lord is judged by the life of His servants; this is the truer, the more zealously they appeal to Him.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Letter to the Romans, Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1959, p. 22-23 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 2:21-24; Ps. 50:16; 74:22; Matt. 23:3; Luke 11:46; Tit. 2:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am ashamed that I fall so far below what You have taught me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the dwelling of God's Spirit

Monday, May 30, 2016
    Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906
    Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431
    Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933
Meditation:
    Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
    —Romans 12:21 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If it be the earnest desire, and longing of your heart, to be merciful as he is merciful; to be full of his unwearied patience, to dwell in his unalterable meekness; if you long to be like him in universal, impartial love; if you desire to communicate every good, to every creature that you are able; if you love and practice everything that is good, righteous, and lovely, for its own sake, because it is good, righteous, and lovely; and resist no evil, but with goodness; then you have the utmost certainty, that the Spirit of God liveth, dwelleth, and governeth in you.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 169-170 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:7; Luke 6:36; Rom. 12:21; Eph. 4:1-3; 1 Tim. 6:11,12; Jas. 1:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your goodness is better and stronger than any evil. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wetzel: Jesus will prevail

Sunday, May 29, 2016
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
    —Luke 6:37-38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus will prevail. His Church will prevail. Everything else is just passing away. Our current leadership [of the Episcopal Church USA] will die one day, as will you and I. It is not for us to condemn others, but to witness to them of Him who is in our lives. Even now, the enemy is at work, but Jesus will prevail. I know a God whose mercy knows no limits and whose power has no restraints.
    ... Todd H. Wetzel (b. 1946), Steadfast Faith, Dallas, Texas: Latimer Press, 1997, p. 170 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:37-38; Matt. 28:19; Luke 24:46-47; John 15:27; Acts 1:8; 2:32
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in Your mercy, protect those who are under affliction for Your sake. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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