Thomas a Kempis: a good conscience

Saturday, September 17, 2022
    Feast of St. Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary, 1179
Meditation:
    To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
    —Titus 1:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    No man safely rejoiceth but he who hath the testimony of a good conscience within himself. The boldness of the Saints was always full of the fear of God. Nor were they the less earnest and humble in themselves, because they shone forth with great virtues and grace. But the boldness of wicked men springeth from pride and presumption, and at the last turneth to their own confusion.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.xx.3, p. 60 (see the book)
    See also Tit. 1:15; Acts 24:14-16; Rom. 14:23; 2 Cor. 5:11; 1 Tim. 1:5,18-19; 3:9; Heb. 13:18; 1 Pet. 3:15-16,21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, wash my conscience with Your forgiveness, so that I might not sin again. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pusey: ingratitude

Friday, September 16, 2022
    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:
    So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
    —Colossians 2:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We do not, of course, any of us, nearly thank God enough. I fear that what will surprise us most, when we see our Lord, will be the extent of our own ingratitude.
    ... Edward B. Pusey (1800-1882), Spiritual Letters of Edward Bouverie Pusey, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1898, p. 299 (see the book)
    See also Col. 2:6-7; Matt. 14:19; 26:26-27; Rom. 14:6; Eph. 5:4; Col. 3:15; 4:2; 1 Thess. 5:18; 1 Tim. 2:1-2; Heb. 13:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me thankfulness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hudson Taylor: rejoice

Thursday, September 15, 2022
Meditation:
    Resist [the devil], standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
    —1 Peter 5:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [God] is helping me to rejoice in our adverse circumstances, in our poverty, in the retirement of our Mission. All our difficulties are only platforms for the manifestation of His grace, power, and love.
    ... J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, Moody Publishers, 2009, p. 183 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 5:9-10; Matt. 5:4; John 16:33; Acts 14:21-22; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Pet. 1:6; 4:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You turn all Your people’s failures into glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: community in Christ alone

Wednesday, September 14, 2022
    Feast of the Holy Cross
Meditation:
    If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
    —Philippians 2:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christian community is not an ideal that we must realize, but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our community is in Jesus Christ alone, the more calmly shall we think of our community and pray and hope for it.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 38 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 2:1-2; Jer. 45:5; Acts 2:42; Heb. 3:1; 1 John 1:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You enfold us in Your body. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John Chrysostom: seeing without light

Tuesday, September 13, 2022
    Feast of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, Teacher, 407
Meditation:
    The fool says in his heart,
        “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
        there is no one who does good.
    —Psalm 53:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He is “a natural man,” who attributes every thing to reasonings of the mind and considers not that he needs help from above; which is a mark of sheer folly. For God bestowed it that it might learn and receive help from Him, not that it should consider itself sufficient unto itself. For eyes are beautiful and useful, but should they choose to see without light, their beauty profits them nothing; nor yet their natural force, but even doth harm. So if you mark it, any soul also, if it choose to see without the Spirit, becomes even an impediment unto itself.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407), Homily VII, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, v. XII, ed. Philip Schaff, New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889, p. 38 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 14:1; 53:1; Matt. 13:13-15; 1 Cor. 1:21-23; 2:6-7,12-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I see by the light of Your Spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Forsyth: the purpose of speech

Monday, September 12, 2022
Meditation:
    Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
    —Colossians 4:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer is the highest use to which speech can be put.
    ... P. T. Forsyth (1848-1921), The Soul of Prayer [1916], Regent College Publishing, 2002, p. 18 (see the book)
    See also Col. 4:2; Matt. 21:22; Luke 11:1-4; 18:1; 1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 3:12; 6:18-20; Phil. 4:6; 1 Thess. 5:17-18; 1 Tim. 2:8; Heb. 4:16; 1 John 4:19; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, enable me to pray as You would have me do. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Torrey: beyond the need to pray?

Sunday, September 11, 2022
Meditation:
    I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
    —Romans 15:30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We hear much in our day of the “rest of faith”, but there is such a thing as the fight of faith in prayer as well as in effort. Those who would have us think that they have attained to some sublime height of faith and trust because they never know any agony of conflict or of prayer, have surely gotten beyond their Lord, and beyond the mightiest victors for God, both in effort and prayer, that the ages of Christian history have known.
    ... R. A. Torrey (1856-1928), How to Pray, Fleming H. Revell, 1900, p. 36 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 15:30; Dan. 9:3; Hos. 6:6; Hab. 1:2; Mark 11:24; Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-6; 22:41-45; Rom. 8:26; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; Eph. 6:18; Heb. 5:7-10; Jas. 5:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me faith to pray in earnest and belief. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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