Church: the House of Prayer

Saturday, January 7, 2017
Meditation:
    And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
    —Isaiah 56:6-7 (ESV)
Quotation:
    God has set in the midst of you, as the ever present witness and figure of heaven, His holy House of Prayer. There it stands, built for no earthly purpose, different in shape, and in all things belonging to it, from earthly habitations; speaking only of heaven, and heavenly uses, and heavenly gifts, and heavenly blessings; the gate of heaven when we are brought into it as little children to Christ;—the gate of heaven, if so God grant us, when we are brought to it, and pass through it the last time on our way to our grave beside it. And here we meet our God.
    ... R. W. Church (1815-1890), Village Sermons, New York: Macmillan Company, 1897, p. 110-111 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 56:6-7; Ps. 84:10; 122:1; Isa. 2:3; John 4:23
Quiet time reflection:
    Bring me, Lord, to Your house with my brother. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: proof of regeneration

Friday, January 6, 2017
    EPIPHANY
Meditation:
    But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
    —2 Peter 3:18 (ESV)
Quotation:
    He that is alive may know that he was born, though he know neither the place where nor the time when he was so; and so may he that is spiritually alive, and hath ground of evidence that he is so, that he was born again, though he know neither when, nor where, nor how. And this case is usual in persons of quiet natural tempers, who have had the advantage of education under means of light and grace. God ofttimes, in such persons, begins and carries on the work of his grace insensibly, so that they come to good growth and maturity before they know that they are alive.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition upon Psalm CXXX [1668], in Works of John Owen, v. VI, New York: R. Carter & Bros., 1851, p. 599 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 3:18; Ps. 130:4; Mal. 4:2; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 1:17; Phil. 3:8; Col. 1:10; 1 Pet. 2:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have provided for the salvation of each. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chadwick: wise and foolish sacrifices

Thursday, January 5, 2017
Meditation:
    Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
    —Mark 3:20-21 (ESV)
Quotation:
    There is a curious betrayal of the popular estimate of this world and the world to come, in the honour paid to those who cast away life in battle, or sap it slowly in the pursuit of wealth or honours, and the contempt expressed for those who compromise life on behalf of souls, for which Christ died. Whenever, by exertion in any unselfish cause, health is broken, or fortune impaired, or influential friends estranged, the follower of Christ is called an enthusiast, a fanatic, or even more plainly a man of unsettled mind. He may be comforted by remembering that Jesus was said to be beside Himself when teaching and healing left Him not leisure even to eat.
    ... G. A. Chadwick (1840-1923), The Gospel According to St. Mark, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1891, p. 91-92 (see the book)
    See also Mark 3:20-27; Isa. 53:4; Matt. 8:17; Mark 6:31; John 4:31-34; 10:19-21; 1 Cor. 1:22-28
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me to forget my reputation for Your sake. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Inge: God's grace

Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Meditation:
    As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace...
    —1 Peter 4:10 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It is becoming impossible for those who mix at all with their fellow men to believe that the grace of God is distributed denominationally.
    ... William R. Inge (1860-1954), Outspoken Essays, London: Longmans, Green, 1919, p. 32 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 4:10; Rom. 12:6-8; 15:27; 1 Cor. 4:7; 12:4-11; 2 Cor. 9:2; Eph. 4:4-6; Heb. 6:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Open my eyes, Lord, to see Your servants wherever they are. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: ministering to the poor

Tuesday, January 3, 2017
    Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970
Meditation:
    So [Jesus] replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
    —Luke 7:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I cannot imagine a much greater misfortune for a man, not to say a clergyman, than not to know, or knowing, not to minister to, any of the poor.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood, v. I [1867], London: Strahan & Co., 1873, p. 110-111 (see the book)
    See also Luke 7:22-23; Isa. 61:1-3; Zeph. 3:12; Luke 4:18-19; Gal. 2:10; Jas. 2:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant in me a greater heart for the poor. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Basil: don't neglect the community

Monday, January 2, 2017
    Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389
    Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, Staretz, 1833
Meditation:
    In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
    This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
    —Acts 6:1-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Do not, as is usually the case, thrust the care of the common weal upon your neighbor; then, as each one in his own thoughts makes light of the matter, all find to their surprise that they have drawn upon themselves through their neglect a personal misfortune.
    ... St. Basil the Great (330?-379), Saint Basil, the Letters, tr. Roy Joseph Deferrari, Martin Rawson, Patrick McGuire, London: William Heinemann, 1950, p. 169 (see the book)
    See also Acts 6:1-6; 2 Cor. 8:1-4; Gal. 2:10; Heb. 13:16; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, ensure that we remember the poor. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lamb: the many forms of grace

Sunday, January 1, 2017
    Feast of the Naming & Circumcision of Jesus
Meditation:
    And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
    —Colossians 3:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I am disposed to say grace upon twenty other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner. I want a form for setting out upon a pleasant walk, for a moonlight ramble, for a friendly meeting, or a solved problem. Why have we none for books, those spiritual repasts—a grace before Milton—a grace before Shakespeare—a devotional exercise proper to be said before reading [Spenser]?
    ... Charles Lamb (1775-1834), The Essays of Elia, E. Moxon, 1840, p. 59 (see the book)
    See also Col. 3:17; Matt. 15:36; Luke 22:19-20; Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:24; Eph. 5:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may my whole life be as a prayer to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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