Fuller: God's work, God's way

Saturday, June 25, 2016
Meditation:
    Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
    —2 Corinthians 4:1-2 (ESV)
Quotation:
    God’s own work must be done by God’s own ways. Otherwise, we can take no comfort in obtaining the end, if we cannot justify the means used thereunto.
    ... Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), The Cause and Cure of a Wounded Conscience [1655], “Historical Applications”, VIII (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:1-2; Matt. 10:37-38; 16:24; 2 Cor. 5:11; Eph. 4:14; 1 Thess. 2:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I will follow Your ways to arrive at Your kingdom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newman: pray for a perfect heart

Friday, June 24, 2016
    Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist
Meditation:
I will sing of mercy and judgment:
    unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.
I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way.
    O when wilt thou come unto me?
I will walk within my house
    with a perfect heart.
    —Psalm 101:1-2 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Pray Him to give you what Scripture calls “an honest and good heart,” or “a perfect heart;” and, without waiting, begin at once to obey Him with the best heart you have. Any obedience is better than none. ... You have to seek His face; obedience is the only way of seeking Him. All your duties are obediences. ... To do what He bids is to obey Him, and to obey Him is to approach Him. Every act of obedience is an approach—an approach to Him who is not far off, though He seems so, but close behind this visible screen of things which hides Him from us.
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Parochial Sermons, v. IV, J. G. & F. Rivington, 1839, p. 379 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 101:1-2; 24:3-4; 51:10; Eze. 36:26-27; Luke 6:45; 8:15; 11:28; John 14:15,23; 15:10; Eph. 2:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Incline my heart to obey Your commands, I pray. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: continuous prayer

Thursday, June 23, 2016
    Feast of Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678
Meditation:
    Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
    —Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God desires and is pleased to communicate with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the souls of the redeemed men and women is the throbbing heart of the New Testament.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), Whatever Happened to Worship?, Christian Publications, 1985, p. 25 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:16; Isa. 55:6; Matt. 7:7-11; 2 Cor. 12:8-10; Phil. 4:6-7; 1 Thess. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my life depends on you from moment to moment. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Francois de Sales: confession

Wednesday, June 22, 2016
    Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209
Meditation:
    Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
    —James 5:16 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It is an abuse to confess any kind of sin, mortal or venial, without a will to be delivered from it, since confession was instituted for no other end.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, II.xix, p. 112 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 5:16; Ps. 41:4; Matt. 18:15; Acts 19:18; 1 John 1:8-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my confessions are so often false. Grant me new strength to amend my faults. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: sin as universal enmity

Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Meditation:
    But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
    —Romans 5:8-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    We may all be inclined to think of man’s countless foolish and selfish intentions, his twisted and mischievous words and deeds. From all these, sin can be known, as a tree can be known from its fruits. Yet these outward signs are not sin itself, the wages of which are death. Sin is not confined to the evil things we do. It is the evil within us, the evil which we are. Shall we call it our pride or our laziness, or shall we call it the deceit of our life? Let us call it for once the great defiance which turns us again and again into the enemies of God and of our fellowmen, even of our own selves.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Deliverance to the Captives, Harper, 1961, p. 146 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 5:8-11; Isa. 53:6; Rom. 8:6-7; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Col. 1:19-23; 1 Pet. 3:18-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, stay with me, for I stray when you leave me to myself. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Williams: the struggle with evil

Monday, June 20, 2016
Meditation:
    For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
    —Romans 12:3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    We cannot understand the depth of the Christian doctrine of sin if we give to it only a moral connotation. To break the basic laws of justice and decency is sin indeed. Man’s freedom to honor principles is the moral dimension in his nature, and sin often appears as lawlessness. But sin has its roots in something which is more than the will to break the law. The core of sin is our making ourselves the center of life, rather than accepting the holy God as the center. Lack of trust, self-love, pride, these are three ways in which Christians have expressed the real meaning of sin. But what sin does is to make the struggle with evil meaningless. When we refuse to hold our freedom in trust and reverence for God’s will, there is nothing which can make the risk of life worth the pain of it.
    ... Daniel Day Williams (1910-1973), Interpreting Theology, 1918-1952, Daniel Day Williams, London: SCM Press, 1953, ed. 3, under alternative title, New York: Harper, 1959, p. 23 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 12:3; 7:7; Eph. 4:7; Jas. 5:15; 1 John 3:4,8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Show me my pride, Lord, and reduce it to Your humility. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Singh: ask for God

Sunday, June 19, 2016
    Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
    —Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For the first two or three years after my conversion, I used to ask for specific things. Now I ask for God. Supposing there is a tree full of fruits, you will have to go and buy or beg the fruits from the owner of the tree. Every day you would have to go for one or two fruits. But if you can make the tree your own property, then all the fruits will be your own. In the same way, if God is your own, then all things in Heaven and on earth will be your own, because He is your Father and is everything to you; otherwise you will have to go and ask like a beggar for certain things. When they are used up, you will have to ask again. So ask not for gifts, but for the Giver of Gifts: not for life but for the Giver of Life—then life and the things needed for life will be added unto you.
    ... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), quoted in The Message of Sadhu Sundar Singh, B. H. Streeter & A. J. Appasamy, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1922, p. 74 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31; John 6:27-29; Gal. 5:6; Phil. 2:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send me Yourself, that I may be full. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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