Law: if you can't pray about it...

Saturday, February 7, 2026
Meditation:
    The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
    —Matthew 12:35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Consider yourself as always wrong, as having gone aside, and lost your right path, when any delight, desire, or trouble, is suffered to live in you, that cannot be made a part of this prayer of the heart to God. For nothing so infallibly shows us the true state of our heart, as that which gives us either delight or trouble; for as our delight and trouble is, so is the state of our heart: if therefore you are carried away with any trouble or delight, that has not an immediate relation to your progress in the divine life, you may be assured your heart is not in its right state of prayer to God... [Continued tomorrow]
    ... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 159 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 12:35; 1 Cor. 13:1; Gal. 5:22,23; Heb. 9:11-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Cleanse my heart and life, that I might pray before You, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Robertson: hypocrisy

Friday, February 6, 2026
Meditation:
    Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
    —Matthew 23:27-28
Quotation:
    I will tell you what to hate. Hate hypocrisy—hate cant—hate intolerance, oppression, injustice—hate Pharisaism. Hate them as Christ hated them, with a deep, living, godlike hatred.
    ... Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853), Sermons, v. II, Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1861, p. 253 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 23:27-28; Ps. 51;6; Jer. 17:9-10; Matt. 6:1-7; 23:5; Luke 16:15; 20:47; Phil. 2:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me not to hate the person but only the sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Herbert: practicing what we pray

Thursday, February 5, 2026
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Japan, 1597
Meditation:
    Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
    —John 9:31 (KJV)
Quotation:
    If I be bound to pray for all that be in distress, surely I am bound, so far as it is in my power, to practise what I pray for.
    ... George Herbert (1593-1633), The Lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert and Sanderson, Izaak Walton, London: Ingram, Cooke, and Co., 1853, p. 77 (see the book)
    See also John 9:31; Ps. 39:4; Matt. 6:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, extinguish the vanity in my prayers. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Mackey: receiving the word of truth

Wednesday, February 4, 2026
    Commemoration of Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189
Meditation:
    Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
    —James 1:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The secular university is scandalized by the claims of revelation. Those who have, for whatever historical reasons, become seekers-on-principle, cannot tolerate the allegation that truth is a gift. To have to receive offends those who have determined to take.
    ... Louis Mackey (1926-2004)
    See also Jas. 1:17; Matt. 11:25; 16:15-17; Mark 5:36; Luke 2:26; 10:21; 24:45; Phil. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people receive Your gift of truth with joy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bradley: devotional poetry

Tuesday, February 3, 2026
    Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865
Meditation:
    Praise our God, O peoples,
        let the sound of his praise be heard;
    he has preserved our lives
        and kept our feet from slipping.
    —Psalm 66:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Devotional poetry... has to do with devotedness, with trust merged into faith, with love’s steadfastness. It finds men’s worthwhileness deep laid in relationship to God’s worthwhileness, and this devotion is expressed in communication. It finds this world precious insofar as it... symbolizes God’s love and therefore it runs counter to our national sin of distrust in God. (And yet, how can we trust Him without knowing and living unto Him and loving Him?)
    ... Samuel Bradley
    See also Ps. 66:8-9; Rom. 9:33; 15:13; Col. 3:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to live unto You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: life devoted to God

Monday, February 2, 2026
    THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE
Meditation:
Thou preparest a table before me
    in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
    my cup runneth over.
    —Psalm 23:5 (AV)
Quotation:
    A life devoted unto God, looking wholly unto Him in all our actions, and doing all things suitably to His glory, is so far from being dull, and uncomfortable, that it creates new comforts in everything that we do.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 183 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 23:5; 27:4; 42:1-2; 71:21; 84:4; Isa. 51:12-13; Rom. 8:37; 2 Cor. 1:3-5; 2 Cor. 2:14; 7:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have satisfied my hunger. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Champion: fundamental antagonism

Sunday, February 1, 2026
    Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525
Meditation:
    Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
    —Hebrews 12:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The church has severely under-estimated the fundamental antagonism between Christianity and contemporary neo-pagan values.
    ... Max Champion, “The Religious Crisis of Western Civilisation”
    See also Heb. 12:2-3; Acts 16:12,22-24; 1 Thess. 2:2; 2 Tim. 1:11-12; Heb. 11:36-38
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I pray that You will redeem those who currently suffer under pagan values. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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