Denney: accepting just consequences

Saturday, June 10, 2023
Meditation:
    And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
    —Genesis 3:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Each of us individually has risen into moral life from a mode of being which was purely natural; in other words, ... each of us also has fallen—fallen, presumably in ways determined by his natural constitution, yet certainly, as conscience assures us, in ways for which we are morally answerable, and to which, in the moral constitution of the world, consequences attach which we must recognise as our due. They are not only results of our action, but results which that action has merited; and there is no moral hope for us unless we accept them as such.
    ... James Denney (1856-1917), The Atonement and the Modern Mind, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1903, p. 55 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 3:22-23; Matt. 27:3-5; Tit. 1:15; Heb. 9:14; 10:26-27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach Your people how to awaken the world’s consciences. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Taylor: in the Presence

Friday, June 9, 2023
    Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, Missionary, 597
    Commemoration of Ephrem of Syria, Deacon, Hymnographer, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your hearts to him,
    for God is our refuge.
    —Psalm 62:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He walks as in the presence of God that converses with Him in frequent prayer and frequent communion; that runs to Him in all his necessities, that asks counsel of Him in all his doubtings; that opens all his wants to Him; that weeps before Him for his sins; that asks remedy and support for his weakness; that fears Him as a judge, reverences Him as a lord, obeys Him as a father, and loves Him as a patron.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, I.iii, p. 27 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 62:8; Neh. 1:4-6; Ps. 42:3-4; Matt. 6:6; Luke 11:5-8; 18:13; 22:44; John 15:15; Acts 20:27; Rom. 8:26; Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17; Heb. 4:16; 5:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are close to me every hour. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allen: Gospel to the poor

Thursday, June 8, 2023
    Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711
    Commemoration of Roland Allen, Mission Strategist, 1947
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.
    —Acts 4:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In the world to which the Apostles preached their new message, religion had not been the solace of the weary, the medicine of the sick, the strength of the sin-laden, the enlightenment of the ignorant: it was the privilege of the healthy and the instructed. The sick and the ignorant were excluded. They were under the bondage of evil demons. “This people which knoweth not the law are accursed,” was the common doctrine of Jews and Greeks. The philosophers addressed themselves only to the well-to-do, the intellectual, and the pure. To the mysteries were invited only those who had clean hands and sound understanding. It was a constant marvel to the heathen that the Christians called the sick and the sinful.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours?, London: World Dominion Press, 1927, reprinted, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also Acts 4:13; Ps. 112:9; Matt. 5:5; 9:12-13; 11:5; Mark 6:56; John 7:49; 1 Cor. 1:25-27; 2 Cor. 8:9; Jas. 2:5; 3:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have helped those who could not help themselves. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Sanders: change of circumstances?

Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Meditation:
    ... godliness with contentment is great gain.
    —1 Timothy 6:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    No other circumstances than those in which we find ourselves at this moment could achieve His highest purpose for our lives. Our need is not so much a change of circumstances as a change of attitude toward them.
    ... J. Oswald Sanders (1902-1992), The Pursuit of the Holy, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1972, p. 36 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 6:6; Ps. 23:4; Matt. 10:17-20; Luke 12:29-32; 18:29-30; 21:12-15; John 4:48-53; 20:29; Rom. 15:18-19; Heb. 13:5-6; Jas. 1:2-3; Rev. 2:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, whatever the circumstance, I look to You to guide me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Torrey: we don't feel like praying

Tuesday, June 6, 2023
    Commemoration of Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945
Meditation:
In my anguish I cried to the LORD,
    and he answered by setting me free.
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
    What can man do to me?
    —Psalm 118:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Oftentimes when we come to God in prayer, we do not feel like praying. What shall one do in such a case? cease praying until he does feel like it? Not at all. When we feel least like praying is the time when we most need to pray. We should wait quietly before God and tell Him how cold and prayerless our hearts are, and look up to Him and trust Him and expect Him to send the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts and draw them out in prayer. It will not be long before the glow of the Spirit’s presence will fill our hearts, and we will begin to pray with freedom, directness, earnestness and power. Many of the most blessed seasons of prayer I have ever known have begun with a feeling of utter deadness and prayerlessness; but in my helplessness and coldness I have cast myself upon God, and looked to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach me to pray, and He has done it.
    ... R. A. Torrey (1856-1928), How to Pray, Fleming H. Revell, 1900, p. 59-60 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 118:5-6; 42:1-2; Matt. 26:36-39; Mark 14:34-36; John 16:23-24; Rom. 8:15,26; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 6:18; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit to teach me prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brunner: pass it on

Monday, June 5, 2023
    Feast of Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, Archbishop of Mainz, Apostle of Germany, Martyr, 754
Meditation:
    But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
    —2 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every one who receives this Word, and by it salvation, receives along with it the duty of passing this Word on... Where there is no mission, there is no Church, and where there is neither Church nor mission, there is no faith.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Word and the World, London: Student Christian Movement Press, 1931, p. 108 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 2:14; Ps. 22:30-31; 98:3; 102:18; Matt. 24:14; 28:19; Mark 16:15; John 20:29; Rom. 10:18; 15:18-19; 16:25-26; 2 Cor. 2:15-17; Col. 1:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, increase our faith, that we may greatly desire to tell of Your mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: no escape

Sunday, June 4, 2023
    Trinity Sunday
Meditation:
    When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”
    —Mark 5:6-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    You cannot escape Christ, do what You will. You reject His divinity, but, so doing, you have not evaded Him. If He is just a man like us, then obviously you must be a man like Him!
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 271 (see the book)
    See also Mark 5:6-8; Isa. 53:7; Matt. 16:13-16; 22:42-45; 27:12-14; Mark 15:3-5; 1 Pet. 2:23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your power is over all. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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