Gordon: prayer concerns three

Saturday, October 14, 2023
Meditation:
    Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
    —Ephesians 6:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer concerns three, not two but three. God to whom we pray, the man on the contested earth who prays, and the evil one against whom we pray. And the purpose of the prayer is not to persuade or influence God, but to join forces with Him against the enemy. Not towards God, but with God against Satan—that is the main thing to keep in mind in prayer.
    ... Samuel Dickey Gordon (1859-1936), Quiet Talks on Prayer, Fleming H. Revell Co., 1904, p. 120 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 6:11-12; Ps. 68:1; Matt. 17:20-21; 2 Cor. 2:10-11; Eph. 4:26-27; 1 Thess. 5:17; Jas. 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, aid me in vanquishing the enemy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: surrender

Friday, October 13, 2023
    Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066
Meditation:
    Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
    —Colossians 1:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement. He is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor—that is the only way out of our ‘hole.’ This process of surrender—this movement full speed astern—is what Christians call repentance.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 44 (see the book)
    See also Col. 1:21-22; Matt. 4:17; John 15:23-24; Acts 17:30; Rom. 2:6; 5:8-10; 8:7; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; 7:8-11; Jas. 4:4; Rev. 2:5; 3:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, banish whatever rebellion remains in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bernard: self-will the heavier burden

Thursday, October 12, 2023
    Commemoration of Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, Bishop of York, Missionary, 709
    Commemoration of Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer, 1845
Meditation:
The fear of the LORD is pure,
    enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
    and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the comb.
    —Psalm 19:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The eternal law of righteousness ordains that he who will not submit to God’s sweet rule shall suffer the bitter tyranny of self: but he who wears the easy yoke and light burden of love will escape the intolerable weight of his own self-will.
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), On Loving God, CCEL, ch. 13 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 19:9-10; 119:103-104; Pr. 3:11-17; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 11:28-30; 23:4; Acts 15:10; Rom. 2:8; 6:2-4,11; Gal. 2:19-20; 5:1; 1 John 5:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to surrender my concerns for self. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kurosaki: committed to Jesus alone

Wednesday, October 11, 2023
    Commemoration of Ethelburga, Abbess of Barking, 675
Meditation:
    And [the Son] is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
    —Colossians 1:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Even the Bible itself is interpreted and understood in various ways and often becomes the cause of sectarianism. In the same way, dogmas and creeds cannot bring Christian unity, because human minds are not so uniformly created that they can unite in a single dogma or creed. Even our understanding of Christ Himself cannot be the basis of unity, because He is too big to be understood fully by any one person or group. Our limited understandings do not always coincide. One emphasizes this point about Christ, another that, and this again becomes the cause of division.
    Only as we take our fellowship with Christ as the center of Christian faith, will all Christians realize their oneness... Is not our fellowship, however varied, with the same Lord? Is not the same Savior our one Head?
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 5 (see the book)
    See also Col. 1:18; John 6:63; 17:22-23; 20:28; Rom. 10:9; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; 12:13; Eph. 4:4-6; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 3:15; 1 John 4:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the true center. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kurosaki: committed, but to what?

Tuesday, October 10, 2023
    Feast of Paulinus, Bishop of York, Missionary, 644
Meditation:
    Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
    —2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The primary cause of these [denominational] divisions is the institutionalism and organizationalism of the churches and missions, which instead of helping the life of the believers in them, smothers or drives it out. This gradually produces mere dead institutions instead of the living Ekklesia.
    Christians who really have life in Christ cannot exist within such a corpse and usually will finally come out of it. But, sad to say, in most cases those who leave dead institutions simply set out to build another “better” institution or embrace other rituals and ceremonies, thus repeating the same error. Instead of turning to Christ Himself as their center, they again seek to find fellowship and spiritual security on the very same basis that failed. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 5 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 3:5-6; John 1:4; 4:21-24; 6:36; 17:22-23; Rom. 7:6; Gal. 3:10-12,21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people turn from death to life in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Moule: convicted, but not committed

Monday, October 9, 2023
    Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258
    Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253
Meditation:
    The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
    —1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Rational conviction, even when it can be had, is very different from commitment... Commitment to Christ is a matter for the entire person, not for his mind alone; and intellectual conviction (if, indeed, it can be had at all without the whole person being involved) is not the whole business. But the whole business, precisely because it concerns the whole person, can never be achieved in defiance of the intellect. Reason, though not the whole, is part of personal response.
    ... C. F. D. Moule (1908-2007), The Phenomenon of the New Testament, v. I, London: SCM, 1967, p. 5-6 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:14; John 3:3-6; Acts 8:13,18-21; 17:18-21,32; Rom. 8:5-8; 11:33-36; 1 Cor. 1:25; Col. 2:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead my reason to acknowledge You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chadwick: amazed, but not convicted

Sunday, October 8, 2023
Meditation:
    And they took offense at him.
    But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”
    And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
    —Matthew 13:57-58 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is the custom of unbelievers to speak as if the air of Palestine were then surcharged with belief in the supernatural, miracles were everywhere. Thus they would explain away the significance of the popular belief that our Lord wrought signs and wonders. But in so doing they set themselves a worse problem than they evade. If miracles were so very common, it would be as easy to believe that Jesus wrought them as that He worked at His father’s bench, but also it would be as inconclusive. And how then are we to explain the astonishment which all the evangelists so constantly record? On any conceivable theory, these writers shared the beliefs of that age. And so did the readers who accepted their assurance that all were amazed, and that His report “went out straightway everywhere into all the region of Galilee.” These are emphatic words, and both the author and his readers must have considered a miracle to be more surprising than mo dern critics believe they did.
    Yet we do not read that any one was converted by this miracle. All were amazed, but wonder is not self-surrender. They were content to let their excitement die out—as every violent emotion must—without any change of life, any permanent devotion to the new Teacher and His doctrine.
    ... G. A. Chadwick (1840-1923), The Gospel According to St. Mark, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1891, p. 33 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:57-58; 9:32-33; 15:31; Mark 1:23-28; 6:2-6; Luke 4:33-36; John 4:48; 6:36; 12:37; 1 Cor. 1:22-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people know Your voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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