Underhill: the worth of prayer

Friday, July 3, 2026
    Feast of Thomas the Apostle
Meditation:
    And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
    —2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The purifying worth of prayer consists in the increasing contrast which it sets up between the holy God and the creature; subordinating that creature’s fugitive activities and desires to the standard set by this solemn apprehension of Reality.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Golden Sequence, Dutton, 1933, p. 104 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 5:18-21; John 14:10-11; 17:23; Rom. 8:26; Eph. 6:18; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, conform my being to Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: being the Body

Thursday, July 2, 2026
Meditation:
    This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
    —John 15:12 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We shall benefit very much from the Sacrament if this thought has been impressed and engraved upon our minds: that none of the brethren can be injured, despised, rejected, abused, or in any way offended by us, without [our] injuring, despising, and abusing Christ by the wrongs we do; that we cannot disagree with our brethren without at the same time disagreeing with Christ; that we cannot love Christ without loving Him in the brethren; that we ought to take the same care of our brethren’s bodies as we take of our own; for they are members of our body; and that, as no part of our body is touched by any feeling of pain which is not spread among all the rest, so we ought not to allow a brother to be affected by any evil, without being touched with compassion for him.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, IV.xvii.38, p. 573 (see the book)
    See also John 15:12; 13:34-35; 1 Cor. 10:16-17; Gal. 6:2; Phil. 2:1-2; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:11,23; 4:7-8,11-12; 2 John 1:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, bind our fellowship together in love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rauschenbusch: religious talk

Wednesday, July 1, 2026
    Commemoration of John & Henry Venn, Priests, Evangelical Divines, 1813, 1873
Meditation:
    But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
    —Matthew 6:7-8 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Jesus evidently felt deeply the emptiness and futility of much of the religious talk. He was interested only in those emotions and professions which could get themselves translated into character and action. Words have always been the bane of religion as well as its vehicle. Religious emotion has enormous motive force, but it is the easiest thing in the world for it to sizzle away in high professions and wordy prayers. In that case, it is a substitute and counterfeit, and a damage to the Reign of God among men.
    ... Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), The Social Principles of Jesus, New York: Association Press, 1916, p. 67 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:7-8,1-2,16-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me away from performance to action and truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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South: grace to prosper labor

Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Meditation:
    And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
    —Genesis 3:17-19 (KJV)
Quotation:
    God generally gives spiritual Blessings and Deliverances as He does temporal; that is, by the Mediation of an active and a vigorous Industry. The Fruits of the Earth are the Gift of God, and we pray for them as such; but yet we plant, and we sow, and we plow, for all that; and the Hands which are sometimes lift up in Prayer must at other times be put to the Plow, or the Husbandman must expect no Crop. Every Thing must be effected in the Way proper to its Nature, with the concurrent Influence of the divine Grace, not to supersede the Means, but to prosper and make them effectual.
    ... Robert South (1634-1716), Twelve Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, v. VI [1692], London: J. Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, 1727, p. 361 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 3:17-19; Acts 18:3; 20:34-35; 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:7-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have blessed us with work. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Finney: revival (2)

Monday, June 29, 2026
    Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles
Meditation:
    Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
    —Psalm 85:6 (KJV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    4. When the church finds its members falling into gross and scandalous sins, then it is time for the church to awake and cry to God for a Revival of Religion. When such things are taking place as give enemies of religion an occasion for reproach, it is time for the church to ask God, “What will become of Thy great name?”
    5. When there is a spirit of controversy in the church or in the land, a revival is needful. The spirit of religion is not the spirit of controversy. There can be no prosperity in religion, where the spirit of controversy prevails.
    6. When the wicked triumph over the church, and revile them, it is time to seek for a Revival of Religion.
    7. When sinners are careless and stupid, and sinking into hell unconcerned, it is time the church should bestir themselves. It is as much the duty of the church to awake, as it is for the firemen to awake when a fire breaks out in the night in a great city. The church ought to put out the fires of hell which are laying hold of the wicked. Sleep! Should the firemen sleep, and let the whole city burn down, what would be thought of such firemen? And yet their guilt would not compare with the guilt of Christians who sleep while sinners around them are sinking stupid into the fires of hell.
    ... Charles G. Finney (1792-1875), Lectures on Revivals of Religion, New York: Leavitt, Lord & Co., 1835, p. 22-23 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 85:6; Amos 5:4; Hab. 3:2; Rom. 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, awaken us to the plight of the lost. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Finney: revival (1)

Sunday, June 28, 2026
    Feast of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher, Martyr, c.200
Meditation:
    All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
    —Psalm 22:29-31 (KJV)
Quotation:
    1. When there is a want of brotherly love and Christian confidence among professors of religion, then a revival is needed. Then there is a loud call for God to revive his work. When Christians have sunk down into a low and backslidden state, they neither have, nor ought to have, nor is there reason to have, the same love and confidence toward each other, as when they are all alive, and active, and living holy lives...
    2. When there are dissensions, and jealousies, and evil speakings among professors of religion, then there is great need of a revival. These things show that Christians have got far from God, and it is time to think earnestly of a revival. Religion cannot prosper with such things in the church, and nothing can put an end to them like a revival.
    3. When there is a worldly spirit in the church: it is manifest that the church is sunk down into a low and backslidden state, when you see Christi ans conform to the world in dress, equipage, parties, seeking worldly amusements, reading novels and other books such as the world reads. It shows that they are far from God, and that there is a great need of a Revival of Religion. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Charles G. Finney (1792-1875), Lectures on Revivals of Religion, New York: Leavitt, Lord & Co., 1835, p. 21-22 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 22:29-31; Isa. 57:15; Hos. 6:2; Zech. 8:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, do not delay Your renewal. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: life without prayer foolish

Saturday, June 27, 2026
Meditation:
    And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
    “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘
    “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
    “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
    —Luke 12:16-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing: it is an infinitely foolish thing.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Addresses, Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895, p. 138 (see the book)
    See also Luke 12:16-21; Ps. 14:1; Prov. 14:16; 1 Thess. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep my heart in prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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