Tozer: securing moral action

Saturday, January 27, 2024
Meditation:
    You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
    —James 2:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    No man is better for knowing that God in the beginning created the heaven and the earth. The devil knows that, and so did Ahab and Judas Iscariot. No man is better for knowing that God so loved the world of men that He gave His only begotten Son to die for their redemption. In hell there are millions who know that. Theological truth is useless until it is obeyed. The purpose behind all doctrine is to secure moral action.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), Of God and Men, Harrisburg, Penn.: Christian Publications, Inc., 1960, p. 27 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 2:19-20; 1 Kings 20:13; Ps. 103:17-18; Matt. 7:24-27; 11:15; 27:3-6; Luke 14:27; John 3:16; 13:17; 14:15; 15:14; Jas. 1:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to act on Your truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: half of Christ

Friday, January 26, 2024
    Feast of Timothy and Titus, Companions of Paul
    Commemoration of Dorothy Kerin, Founder of the Burrswood Healing Community, 1963
Meditation:
    Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
    —Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    How many of us would have Christ divided into two halves, that we might take the half of Him only, and take his office, Jesus and salvation! But “Lord” is a cumbersome word, and to obey, and work out our own salvation, and to perfect holiness, is the cumbersome and stormy north side of Christ, and that which we shun and avoid.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Mr. Rutherford’s Letters, Edinburgh: E. and J. Robertsons, 1761, letter, Sept. 7, 1637, p. 155 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 2:12-13; Matt. 7:24-27; 12:49-50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21; 11:28; John 14:15; 15:14; Acts 2:36; 1 Cor. 1:13; Eph. 4:4-6; Heb. 5:8-9; Jas. 1:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen me to follow your commandments. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ryrie: faith and works

Thursday, January 25, 2024
    Feast of the Conversion of Paul
Meditation:
    What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
    But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
    Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
    —James 2:14-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What is said in the passage [James 2:14 ff.] is like a two coupon train or bus ticket. One coupon says, “Not good if detached” and the other says, “Not good for passage.” Works are not good for passage; but faith detached from works is not saving faith.
    ... Charles C. Ryrie (1925-2016), Ryrie Study Bible, Moody Publishers, 1986, note on James 2:24 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 2:14-18; Matt. 7:16-17; Rom. 14:23; 1 Cor. 13:2; Gal. 5:6; 1 Thess. 1:3; Jas. 2:26; 3:13; 2 Pet. 1:5-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, forbid my heart to grow cold. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Sales: wait patiently

Wednesday, January 24, 2024
    Feast of François de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, Teacher, 1622
Meditation:
    For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.
    —2 Corinthians 4:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If any trouble comes upon you, use the remedies with which God supplies you. Not to do this is to tempt Him; but having done so, wait whatever result He wills with perfect resignation. If He pleases to let the evil be remedied, thank Him humbly; but if it be His will that the evil grow greater than the remedies, patiently bless His Holy Name.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, III.iii, p. 138 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:8-11; Job 1:21; Ps. 25:16-19; 66:11-12; 119:75; Lam. 3:32; Amos 3:6; John 9:1-3; Rom. 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; 1 Thess. 3:2-3; Jas. 1:2-3; 5:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me patience in infirmity. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: the largest prayers

Tuesday, January 23, 2024
    Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893
Meditation:
    [The Disciples:] “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
    —Acts 4:29-30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Pray the largest prayers. You cannot think a prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish that you had made it larger.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The More Abundant Life: Lenten Readings, Dutton, 1906, p. 103 (see the book)
    See also Acts 4:29-30; Ex. 33:18; Ps. 27:1-3; 56:4; John 17:20-21; Rom. 8:15-17; Eph. 2:18; 3:12; 2 Thess. 3:1; Heb. 4:16; 10:23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, enlarge my confidence in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Mott: power for evangelization

Monday, January 22, 2024
Meditation:
    Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.
    —2 Thessalonians 3:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is possible [through prayer] for the most obscure person in a church, with a heart right toward God, to exercise as much power for the evangelization of the world, as it is for those who stand in the most prominent positions.
    ... John R. Mott (1865-1955), The Pastor and Modern Missions, New York: Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1904, p. 203 (see the book)
    See also 2 Thess. 3:1; Matt. 9:37-38; Luke 10:2; Eph. 6:19-20; Phil. 1:18-19; Col. 4:2-4; Heb. 13:18-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make straight and smooth the road of those who bear good new to the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Trueblood: meaninglessness

Sunday, January 21, 2024
    Feast of Agnes, Child Martyr at Rome, 304
Meditation:
    The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
    —2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Men and women can bear hardship, poverty, physical hunger and pain, but there is one thing which they cannot bear very long, and that is meaninglessness. If they are not provided with meaning in one connection, they will seek it in another. The parable of the impossibility of the permanently empty house is more applicable to our society today than it has ever been in our lives.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Future of the Christian, Harper & Row, 1971, p. 13-14 (see the book)
    See also 2 Thess. 2:9-12; Ps. 81:11-12; Matt. 12:43-45; 24:10-13; 1 Tim. 4:1; 6:9-10; 2 Pet. 2:3; 1 John 2:18-19; Jude 1:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have filled the hearts of Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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