Marshall: depending on God

Saturday, September 21, 2019
    Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
    —John 15:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If your every human plan and calculation has miscarried, if, one by one, human props have been knocked out, and doors have shut in your face, take heart. God is trying to get a message through to you, and the message is: “Stop depending on inadequate human resources. Let me handle the matter.”
    ... Catherine Marshall (1914-1983), Apostolic Ministry: Sermons and Addresses, John Scott Lidgett, London: Charles H. Kelly, 1909, p. 26 (see the book)
    See also John 15:5; 2 Cor. 12:9-10; 2 Tim. 1:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I depend solely on You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Olson: deeper significance

Friday, September 20, 2019
    Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871
Meditation:
    Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
    The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”
    But the temple he had spoken of was his body
    —John 2:19-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    But the word ‘temple’ took on a deeper significance when Jesus referred to His own body as ‘this temple.’ He thus definitely declared Himself to be the personal embodiment of the living God. Later the Apostle Paul applied this term to Christians... “Ye are God’s building... Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” And again, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and that ye are not your own?” Paul taught that it is God’s people who constitute the true church of God, and wherever they have fellowship in the Gospel, God is there. Moreover, he emphasized that as members of this true church it is our privilege to be “laborers together with God.” It is our privilege to build upon the one foundation, Jesus Christ, with gold, silver, precious stones—the kind of Christian service which abides for recognition at the judgment seat of Christ. Again, it is our responsibility to be consecrated for holy living and faithful service, “for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; so we must shun evil, and, since we have been bought with a price, we must glorify God in body and spirit.
    ... Milford C. Olson
    See also John 2:19-21; 1 Cor. 3:9-17; 6:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cleanse this temple. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Olson: the temple of God

Thursday, September 19, 2019
    Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
    —John 4:23-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A temple may be defined as an edifice dedicated to the worship of a deity. Whether this deity be true or false, the temple as such becomes a meeting-place for people who desire to worship as they understand it. For the ancient Hebrews, the Temple in Jerusalem was the house of God, the place where God dwelt symbolically, and met with people who came to worship. Jesus called it “My Father’s house.” For the Christian, the word ‘church’ has become the symbol for the edifice built and dedicated for the worship of God. But unless it is so dedicated and so used, it may be considered only a mere building or club-house. However beautiful its design and architecture, a church is a true temple only as it is frequented by God’s people who come to “worship Him in spirit and in truth,” and who there hold forth “the word of life.” [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Milford C. Olson
    See also John 4:23-24; Phil. 2:14-16; 1 John 1:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people shine like stars. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: making things bad

Wednesday, September 18, 2019
    Commemoration of George MacDonald, Spiritual Writer, 1905
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
    “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.”
    —Luke 15:22-25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    But first I said, ... “Some people think it is not proper for a clergyman to dance. I mean to assert my freedom from any such law. If our Lord chose to represent, in His parable of the Prodigal Son, the joy in Heaven over a repentant sinner by the figure of ‘music and dancing’, I will hearken to Him rather than to men, be they as good as they may.”
    For I had long thought that the way to make indifferent things bad, was for good people not to do them.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood, v. I [1867], London: Strahan & Co., 1873, p. 179 (see the book)
    See also Luke 15:22-25; Ps. 30:11; 149:3; 150:4; Luke 15:6-7; Gal. 5:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You authorize rejoicing for all good things. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the season of prayer

Tuesday, September 17, 2019
    Feast of St. Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary, 1179
Meditation:
    You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
    —Psalm 18:28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Reading is good, hearing is good, conversation and meditation are good; but then, they are only good at times and occasions, in a certain degree, and must be used and governed with such caution as we eat and drink, and refresh ourselves, or they will bring forth in us the fruits of intemperance. But the Spirit of Prayer is for all times and occasions; it is a lamp that is to be always burning, a light to be ever shining: everything calls for it; everything is to be done in it, and governed by it, because it is and means and wills nothing else but the whole totality of the soul, not doing this or that, but wholly, incessantly given up to God to be where and what and how He pleases.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), letter XI in Works of Rev. William Law, v. IX, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 183 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 18:28; Isa. 42:16; Luke 18:1; Rom. 12:12; Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You speak to us in prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: the Gospel is for all

Monday, September 16, 2019
    Feast of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, 258
    Commemoration of Ninian, Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts, c. 430
    Commemoration of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, tractarian, 1882
Meditation:
    When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
    —Acts 4:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The defenders of the jargon and phrases of the Church’s traditions hold that there must of necessity be a specialized vocabulary, just as there is in any other specialized form of human activity, whether it is music, architecture, or electronic engineering. To me, at least, this is a thoroughly unsound argument, for Christ did not come into the world to bring men “specialized activity,” but life, fuller and more satisfying than it had ever been before. If the churches have made Christianity appear to be some kind of specialized spiritual performance so much the worse for them. The real purpose of Christ, the real relevance of the Gospel, is surely to enable men to live together as sons of God. Human beings, like children, love to have secrets, love to be “in the know.” But the Christian religion was never meant to be a secret recipe for living, held by a few. It is Good News for all mankind and, because it is that, the more clearly and intelligibly it can be presented, the more faithfully it is following its Master’s purpose.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Is God at Home?, London: Lutterworth Press, 1957, p. 8-9 (see the book)
    See also Acts 4:13-14; John 3:21; 10:24-25; 16:25-31; 2 Cor. 4:2; 5:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You mean for us to understand the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pusey: opening heaven

Sunday, September 15, 2019
Meditation:
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.
    —Psalm 1:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As in our daily walk we come nearer towards heaven, He will open to us more of heaven.
    ... Edward B. Pusey (1800-1882), Parochial Sermons, v. III, London: Rivingtons, 1873, p. 206 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 5:24; Deut. 5:33; Ps. 1:1,6; Rom. 8:14; 2 Cor. 5:7; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 21:23-24
Quiet time reflection:
    I see more of You now, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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