Saturday, January 13, 2018

Watts: Why should the children of a king

Saturday, January 13, 2018
    Feast of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, Teacher, 367
    Commemoration of Kentigern (Mungo), Missionary Bishop in Strathclyde & Cumbria, 603
Meditation:
    ... because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
    —Romans 8:14-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
The Witnessing and Sealing Spirit

Why should the children of a king
    Go mourning all their days?
Great Comforter, descend and bring
    Some tokens of thy grace.

Dost thou not dwell in all the saints,
    And seal the heirs of heav’n?
When wilt thou banish my complaints,
    And show my sins forgiven?

Assure my conscience of her part
    In the Redeemer’s blood;
And bear thy witness with my heart,
    That I am born of God.

Thou are the earnest of his love,
    The pledge of joys to come;
And thy soft wings, celestial Dove,
    Will safe convey me home.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Hymns and Spiritual Songs [1707], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, Book I, Hymn 144, p. 366 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:14-16; Song of Solomon 8:6; Acts 2:38; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, by Your Spirit we have assurance.

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Friday, January 12, 2018

Stott: the Spirit in discipleship

Friday, January 12, 2018
    Feast of Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167
    Commemoration of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, Scholar, 689
Meditation:
    For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
    —Romans 8:3 (KJV)
Quotation:
    [Of Romans 8:3]
    The essential contrast which Paul paints is between the weakness of the law and the power of the Spirit. For over against indwelling sin, which is the reason the law is unable to help us in our moral struggle (Rom. 7:17, 20), Paul now sets the indwelling Spirit, who is both our liberator now from ‘the law of sin and death’ (Rom. 8:2) and the guarantee of resurrection and eternal glory in the end (Rom. 8:11, 17, 23). Thus the Christian life is essentially life in the Spirit, that is to say, a life which is animated, sustained, directed and enriched by the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit true Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, indeed impossible.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), Romans: God’s Good News for the World, Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1994, p. 216 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:3; Luke 4:14; Acts 1:8; 10:37-38; Rom. 7:17,20; 8:2,11,17,23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit alone directs me to the good that You have planned.
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Thursday, January 11, 2018

Luther: the flesh in Romans

Thursday, January 11, 2018
    Commemoration of Mary Slessor, Missionary in West Africa, 1915
Meditation:
     For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
    —Romans 8:5 (KJV)
Quotation:
    [Of Romans 8:4-13]
    You must not understand flesh here as denoting only unchastity or spirit as denoting only the inner heart. Here St. Paul calls flesh (as does Christ in John 3) everything born of flesh, i.e. the whole human being with body and soul, reason and senses, since everything in him tends toward the flesh. That is why you should know enough to call that person “fleshly” who, without grace, fabricates, teaches and chatters about high spiritual matters. You can learn the same thing from Galatians, chapter 5, where St. Paul calls heresy and hatred works of the flesh. And in Romans, chapter 8, he says that, through the flesh, the law is weakened. He says this, not of unchastity, but of all sins, most of all of unbelief, which is the most spiritual of vices.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), “Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans”, par. 17 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:4-13; John 3:6; 2 Cor. 10:3-5; Gal. 5:19-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart that follows the way of the Spirit.
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Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Griffith Thomas: different, yet the same

Wednesday, January 10, 2018
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. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
    —Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Of Romans 8:2-3]
    It is essential to preserve with care both sides of this truth. Christ and the Spirit are different yet the same, the same yet different. Perhaps the best expression we can give is that while their Personalities are never identical, their presence always is.
    ... W. H. Griffith Thomas (1861-1924), The Holy Spirit of God, London: Longman’s, Green, 1913, p. 144 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:1-4; Luke 4:1; Rom. 5:5; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 4:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are present to me always!
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Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Laubach: Romans 8

Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Meditation:
    Epistle of Paul to the Romans, chapter 8
Quotation:
    There is now no sentence of death for those who are in Christ Jesus. The Spirit has its own law, and this law gives me life in Christ Jesus. It sets me free from sin and death. What the law of Moses could not do because our flesh was too weak, God has done. He sent His son in flesh like our sinning flesh. Christ died as a sin-offering for us. In this way, God passed a death sentence upon sin in the flesh. Now we are able to live as the just law requires if we obey the Spirit and do not obey the call of the flesh.
    Those who live for the Spirit keep their minds on the things of the Spirit. Those who live for the flesh keep their minds on the things of the flesh. To keep the mind on the flesh means death. But to keep the mind on the Spirit means life and peace. The mind that is set on the flesh is the enemy of God. It does not and cannot obey the law of God. Those who live for the flesh cannot please God.
    But you do not live for the flesh. You live for the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really lives in you. Any man who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. If Christ lives in you, your bodies are dead because of sin, but your spirits are alive and you love what is right. The Spirit of God Who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. And God is going to put life into your bodies just as He raised Christ Jesus from the dead. It is His Spirit which lives in you which will be your life.
    So then, brothers, we do not owe a duty to the flesh. We are not to obey the call of the flesh. If you live for the flesh you will die. But if you are led by the Spirit, and put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. You did not receive the spirit of a slave, to make you fear. But we have received the spirit of a Son of God. That is why we cry, “Father, dear Father.” The Spirit of God is bearing witness with our spirits that we are children of God. If we are God’s children we are also to be God’s heirs. We are fellow-heirs with Christ. If we share His sufferings, we shall also share His glory. I do not consider the sufferings of this present time worth comparing to the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
    Even the created world is waiting with eager desire for the sons of God to appear. Every created thing has been put under the power of death and decay. Nothing wants to die or decay, but God has willed it so. Yet He gave us hope that the created world itself will be set free from decay and death. Then everything in the world will obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole created world has been groaning in the pains of childbirth until now. Not only the world around us, but we ourselves have been groaning within. We are waiting for God to deliver our bodies from the power of death. We are waiting for Him to adopt us as His sons. This is the hope that saves us. If it had already happened we would not need to hope for it. Who hopes for a thing after he has it? But if we still hope for what we do not yet see, we must be patient while we wait for it.
    The Holy Spirit is a glorious first fruit of what God plans to give us. The Holy Spirit helps us, because we are weak. We do not know how we ought to pray. But the Holy Spirit Himself keeps praying for us with sighs too deep for words. God Who can see into men’s hearts, knows what the Spirit desires. And the Spirit keeps praying for God’s people in the way God wishes. We know that God works with those who love Him to bring good out of everything.
    Those who love Him have been called according to His purpose. He knew them before they were born and He had chosen them to become like His son. Jesus was the first born and those whom God has chosen are His brothers. Those whom God chose He called. He cleared all charges against those whom He called. He gave His own glory to those whose charges He cleared.
    What then can we say if this is true? God is for us, so who can be against us. God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all. And God will gladly give us all things along with Christ. Who then shall bring any charges against those whom God has chosen? It was God Who cleared their charges, so who dares to condemn them? Christ Jesus died; He was raised from the dead; He is at the right hand of God. And it is He who pleads for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or pain or ill treatment or hunger or need of clothes or danger or death? As it is written:

    “For Thy sake we face death the whole day;
    we are regarded as sheep to be killed.”

Yet in all these things that happen we shall have victory and more than victory by the help of Him Who loved us. I am sure that nothing shall be able to separate us from Christ, in life or in death. Neither angels nor even the princes of the dark spirit world can separate us from Christ. Nothing now and nothing that shall ever come can separate us. No power, no height, no depth, nor anything God has created will be able to separate us from His love which He gave us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
    ... Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970), The Inspired Letters in Clearest English, New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1954, p. 25-27 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8
Quiet time reflection:
    Thank you, Lord, for Your gift of the Holy Spirit.

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Monday, January 08, 2018

Elliot: the law of God

Monday, January 8, 2018
    22nd anniversary of CQOD
    Commemoration of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming, martyrs, Ecuador, 1956
Meditation:
    The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
    —Psalm 19:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul” (Ps. 19:7). Most laws condemn the soul and pronounce sentence. The result of the law of my God is perfect. It condemns but forgives... It restores—more than abundantly—what it takes away.
    ... Jim Elliot (1927-1956), The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. Elisabeth Elliot, Revell, 1990, p. 125 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 19:7; Deut. 32:4; Ps. 23:3; 18:30; 19:9; 111:7; Jas. 1:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your law has made me know my sin.
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Sunday, January 07, 2018

MacDonald: the worship of fear

Sunday, January 7, 2018
Meditation:
    Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
    —Hebrews 12:28-29 (KJV)
Quotation:
    They were in a better condition, acknowledging only a terror above them, flaming on that unknown mountain height, than stooping to worship the idol below them. Fear is nobler than sensuality. Fear is better than no God, better than a god made with hands. In that fear lay deep hidden the sense of the infinite. The worship of fear is true, although very low; and though not acceptable to God in itself, for only the worship of spirit and of truth is acceptable to him, yet even in His sight it is precious. For he regards men not as they are merely, but as they shall be; not as they shall be merely, but as they are now growing, or capable of growing, towards that image after which He made them that they might grow to it. Therefore a thousand stages, each in itself all but valueless, are of inestimable worth as the necessary and connected gradations of an infinite progress. A condition which of declension would indicate a devil, may of growth indic ate a saint.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Consuming Fire”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 36-37 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 12:28-29; Ex. 20:18; Luke 1:50; Rom. 8:15; Phil. 2:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I shall grow from fear to love.
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