Quotations for May, 2024
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Feast of Philip & James, Apostles
Whoever hath an interest in any one promise hath an interest in them all, and in the fountain-love from whence they flow. He to whom any drop of their sweetness floweth may follow it up into the spring. Were we wise, each taste of mercy would lead us to the ocean of love. Have we any hold on a promise?—we may get upon it, and it will bring us to the main, Christ Himself and the Spirit, and so into the bosom of the Father. It is our folly to abide upon a little, which is given us merely to make us press for more.
... John Owen (1616-1683), The Doctrine of the Saints’ Perseverance Explained and Confirmed [1654], in Works of John Owen, v. XI, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1853, ch. V, p. 223 
(see the book; see also Gen. 32:26-30; Zech. 14:8; Ps. 46:4; Isa. 35:6; Matt. 5:6; John 4:10,13-14; 7:38-39; 14:16-17,26; Gal. 4:6; Rev. 7:17; 22:1-2; more at Christ, Father, Holy Spirit, Love, Mercy, Promise, Wisdom)
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
A Christian should hold his tools in general with a loose hand, but in particular with a firm hand. No man knows when he may be deprived of his health, his money, his position, his friends; he must not set his heart on any one of them as a final good, as an essential blessing. But upon the tools he has, he must set his heart with great appreciation and concentration, that he may learn how to use each one so as to get the best results inside and out. Love not tools less but craftsmanship more. Work while you have your tools; the hour cometh when you may not have them.
... Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901), Thoughts for Every-day Living, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1901, p. 31
(see the book; see also John 9:4; Ex. 31:2-11; Matt. 9:37-38; Rom. 12:11; 13:11-12; 1 Cor. 7:29-31; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 3:7-13; 1 Pet. 4:7; 1 John 2:17; more at Friend, Goodness, Health, Heart, Knowledge, Love, Man, Money, Work)
Friday, May 3, 2024
We have no reason or right to choose another way than the way God chose in Jesus Christ. The cross is both the symbol of our salvation and the pattern of our lives.
... Jim Wallis (b. 1948), The Call to Conversion, Harper & Row, 1981, p. 87
(see the book; see also Matt. 26:38-39,42; Luke 22:42; John 12:27; 14:5-6; Acts 2:36-39; 17:30-31; Rom. 5:15-18; Phil. 2:5-11; more at Choices, Christ, Cross, God, Jesus, Life, Salvation, Way)
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation
It is not God’s way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth.
... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Sermons Preached on Various Occasions, London, Longmans, Green, 1898, sermon X, p. 178
(see the book; see also Cant. 2:10-12; Ps. 30:5; 126:5-6; John 15:21; 16:20,33; Acts 14:21-22; Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Pet. 1:6; 5:10; more at Blessing, God, Sacrifice, Suffer, Trial, Trouble, Truth, Weakness)
Sunday, May 5, 2024
If God reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth by my ministry: for I am verily persuaded, the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of His holy Word.
... John Robinson (1576?-1625), to the “Mayflower” emigrants, in The History of the Puritans, or Protestant Noncomformists, Daniel Neal, Harper, 1844, vol. 1, p. 269
(see the book; see also 2 Pet. 3:15-16; John 15:26; 16:13-14; Rom. 8:24-25; 1 Cor. 13:12; 2 Cor. 4:18; 5:7; Gal. 2:20; Heb. 10:38; 11:1; 1 Pet. 1:8; more at Bible, God, Minister, Revelation, Truth)
Monday, May 6, 2024
Dear Lord, if at this evening hour I think only of myself and my own condition and my own day’s record of service, then I can find no peace before I go to sleep, but only bitterness of spirit and miserable despair. Therefore, O Father, let me think rather of Thee and rejoice that Thy love is great enough to blot out all my sins. And, O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, let me think of Thee, and lean upon Thy heavenly righteousness, taking no pleasure in what I am before Thee but only in what Thou art for me and in my stead. And, O Holy Spirit, do Thou think within me, and so move within my mind and will that as the days go by I may be more and more conformed to the righteousness of Jesus Christ my Lord; to Whom be glory forever. Amen.
... John Baillie (1886-1960) & Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), A Diary of Private Prayer, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939, p. 111
(see the book; see also Matt. 16:15-16; 1 Cor. 2:9-11; 2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 4:6-8; Eph. 3:16-19; 1 Thess. 5:21; Tit. 3:4-7; more at Bitterness, Day, Despair, Evening, God, Jesus, Lamb, Love, Peace, Prayers, Righteousness, Sin, Sleep)
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
In laying off your burdens, therefore, the first one you must get rid of is yourself. You must hand yourself and all your inward experience, your temptations, your temperament, your frames and feelings, all over into the care and keeping of your God, and leave them there. He made you and therefore He understands you and knows how to manage you, and you must trust Him to do it.
... Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911), Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, London: F. E. Longley, 1876, p. 32
(see the book; see also Ps. 68:19; Joel 2:21; Matt. 6:25,27,31-34; 16:24; Luke 9:23; 12:25-26,29; Rom. 12:10; 2 Tim. 2:21; 1 Pet. 2:24; more at Burden, Experience, God, Temptation, Trust)
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Feast of Juliana of Norwich, Mystic, Teacher, c.1417
Commemoration of Dallas Willard, Teacher, Spiritual Writer, 2013
The initial move toward Christlikeness cannot be toward self-esteem, because of the confusion about what self-esteem means, and because, realistically, I’m not okay and you’re not okay. We’re all in serious trouble.
... Dallas Willard (1935-2013), The Renovation of the Heart, Colorado Springs, Colo.: Navpress, 2002, p. 49
(see the book; see also Eph. 4:17-18; John 3:18-19; Rom. 3:10-12; Gal. 3:10; Eph. 2:1-5; 1 John 3:14; more at Christlikeness, Confusion, Self, Sin)
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Ascension
Christ, our High-priest, is ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father, where, without ceasing, he makes intercession for us, where St. Paul, with very excellent, glorious words, pictures Christ to us; as in his death, he is a sacrifice offered up for sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a king; in making mediation and intercession, a high-priest.
... Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table-Talk [1566], CXC
(see the book; see also Rom. 8:34; Ps. 110:1; Matt. 26:64; Mark 16:19; Luke 22:69; Rom. 8:26; Heb. 1:3; 8:1-2; 12:2; more at Ascension, Christ, Father, Heaven, Intercession, King, Resurrection, Sacrifice)
Friday, May 10, 2024
The saints of God are called hidden ones. Why so? not only because they are hid in God’s decree, and hid in Christ’s wounds, but oftentimes God hides them in a time of danger and calamity: they are hidden ones. He reserved to himself seven thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal. The prophet knew not where there was one, but God knew there were seven thousand.
... Thomas Watson (c.1620-1686), preached Aug. 19, 1662, in Farewell Sermons of Some of the Most Eminent of the Nonconformist Ministers, London: Gale and Fenner, 1816, p. 211
(see the book; see also Col. 3:3; 1 Kings 19:14,18; Ps. 83:3; Isa. 3:10-11; John 14:27; 2 Cor. 3:3-4; Phil. 4:7; 1 Pet. 3:4; Heb. 4:16; more at Christ, Danger, God, Knowledge, Prophet, Saint)
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Though you may think yourselves ever so dull, and incapable of sublime attainments, yet by prayer the possession and enjoyment of God is easily obtained; for He is more desirous to give Himself to us than we can be to receive Him.
... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Mme. Guyon (1648-1717), William Backhouse (1779/80-1844) & James Jansen (1784-1821), A Guide to True Peace [1813], Pendle Hill by Harper & Brothers, 1946, p. 15
(see the book; see also Acts 10:9-10; Matt. 18:12-14; Luke 1:46-48; Acts 13:32; Rom. 12:12; 14:17-18; 15:13; Jude 1:24-25; more at Dullness, Giving, God, Grace, Possession, Prayer)
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Commemoration of Aiden Wilson Tozer, Spiritual Writer, 1963
God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a distance by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in His spoken words, constantly speaking His words and causing the power of them to persist across the years.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 71
(see the book; see also 2 Tim. 3:14-17; Ps. 19:7; 71:17; 119:105; Matt. 26:54-56; Luke 24:27,45; Acts 10:43; Rom. 15:4; 16:25-27; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:20-21; more at Bible, Book, God, Life, Power)
Monday, May 13, 2024
Grant this, O my God, for thy Son’s sake, Jesus Christ, or if it be thy pleasure to cut me off before night, and that this flower of my youth shall fade in all the beauty of it, yet make me, O my gracious Shepherd, for one of thy Lambs, to whom thou wilt say, Come you blessed, and clothe me in a white robe of righteousness that I may be one of those singers who shall cry to thee Allelluia.
... Thomas Dekker (ca. 1572-1632), from Foure Birdes of Noah’s Arke, “The Dove”, The Non-dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker, v. V, private circulation only, 1886, p. 18
(see the book; see also John 10:1-16; Job 29:14; Isa. 40:7; 61:10; Matt. 18:12-14; Luke 15:4-7; Rev. 6:11; 19:1-2; more at Beauty, Blessing, God, Hope, Jesus, Prayers, Youth)
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Feast of Matthias the Apostle
Prayer is not so much the means whereby God’s will is bent to man’s desires, as it is that whereby man’s will is bent to God’s desires... The real end of prayer is not so much to get this or that single desire granted, as to put human life into full and joyful conformity with the will of God.
... Charles H. Brent (1862-1929), With God in the World [1899], London: Longmans Green, 1914, p. 29-30
(see the book; see also Luke 22:42-43; Job 1:20-21; Rom. 12:1-2; Matt. 26:39,42; Mark 14:36; Acts 14:23; more at Man, Obedience, Prayer, Will of God)
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Commemoration of Charles Williams, Spiritual Writer, 1945
Our Lord Himself deliberately staked His whole claim to the credit of men upon His resurrection. When asked for a sign, He pointed to this sign as His single and sufficient credential.
... Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921), The Saviour of the World [1914], Cherry Hill, N.J.: Mack Publishing, 1972, p. 196
(see the book; see also Matt. 16:4; Jonah 1:17; Matt. 12:39-40; 16:21; Luke 11:29-30; John 2:19; Acts 1:3; 2:24; 10:39-41; Rom. 1:2-4; 8:11; 10:9; 1 Cor. 1:24; 15:4-8,14; more at Jesus, Miracle, Resurrection)
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877
Above all, feed the flame with intimate fellowship with Christ. No man was ever cold in heart who lived with Jesus on such terms as John and Mary did of old, for he makes men’s hearts burn. I never met with a half-hearted preacher who was much in communion with the Lord Jesus.
... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), Lectures to My Students, New York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1890, p. 425
(see the book; see also Luke 24:32; Deut. 4:24; Jer. 23:29; Matt. 3:11; 28:19-20; Luke 3:16; John 6:63; Acts 2:3; Heb. 4:12; 12:29; 13:8; more at Christ, Communion, Fellowship, Flame, Heart, Man)
Friday, May 17, 2024
The true meaning of faith can be learned only on pilgrimage, and to the end of time the people of God will be the pilgrim people. But this is not an unaccompanied journey. The experience of the believing company is always that of the two disciples who walked to Emmaus on the evening of the first Easter Day: “Jesus himself drew near and went with them.”
... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), Jesus Through Many Eyes, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976, p. 195
(see the book; see also Luke 24:15-16; Ps. 39:12; 119:19; Matt. 8:20; Luke 9:58; John 15:19; 17:14-16; Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11-12; more at Belief, Disciple, Easter, Faith, God, Jesus, Meaning, People, Pilgrim)
Saturday, May 18, 2024
We have come to think that the difficulty about Christianity is believing in God in the teeth of the scientific evidence, but this misses the point. The real problem is giving allegiance to Jesus as Lord in the teeth of the claims of earthly rulers, systems and philosophies. Kyrios Iesous, Jesus is Lord, was the earliest confession of Christian faith, the thing you had to say before you got baptized. Confessing that Jesus was Lord—meaning among other things, that Caesar wasn’t—was basic, bottom-line Christianity right from the start.
... N. T. Wright (b. 1948), For All the Saints?: Remembering The Christian Departed, Church Publishing, Inc., 2004, p. 67
(see the book; see also Mark 12:17; Luke 20:24-25; Ps. 62:10; Matt. 6:24-25; 13:22; 16:16-17; Mark 4:18-19; Luke 8:14; 12:15; 21:34; John 13:13; Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; 12:3; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; 1 John 2:15-16; Jude 1:11; more at Baptism, Belief, Confession, Faith, God, Jesus, Philosophy)
Sunday, May 19, 2024
Pentecost
Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
The Spirit is Love expressed towards man as redeeming love, and the Spirit is truth, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Redemption is inconceivable without truth and holiness. But the mere fact that the Holy Spirit’s first recorded action in the gospels is an expression of redeeming love should cause us to suspect a teaching which represents His work as primarily, if not solely, the sanctification of our own souls to the practical exclusion of His activity in us towards others. It is important to teach of Him as the Spirit of holiness; it is also important to teach of Him as the Spirit which in us labours for the salvation of men everywhere.
... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Pentecost and the World, London: Oxford University Press, 1917, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 27-28
(see the book; see also Acts 2:17-18,36,38; Mic. 3:8; Luke 4:1-14; 24:49; John 14:16-17,26; 15:26; Acts 1:8; 2:1-6,33; 9:31; Rom. 5:5; Tit. 3:4-7; Heb. 2:4; more at Holiness, Holy Spirit, Labor, Love, Mission, Pentecost, Redemption, Salvation, Sanctification, Teach)
Monday, May 20, 2024
I don’t see how any Christian can read the New Testament and still go on insisting that his relationship to other Christians makes no demands on him, or that his Lord has no call on a life which He has bought and paid for. Does anyone really think they are at liberty to “go second-class” if they wish? Do they truly expect to be “carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease”? Do they possibly intend to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and offer, for His approval, deeds done by hands other than theirs? If so, they need to read the New Testament again, for the Holy Spirit has not yet taught them anything out of it: they have not yet found their place in the Body of Christ.
... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985), “Amateur Ministry”
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Matt. 20:25-29; John 13:34-35; Rom. 12:2,10; 15:27; 1 Cor. 3:17; 6:19-20; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:2,11-13; Col. 1:24; Jas. 2:8; 1 Pet. 1:22; 2:5-9; Rev. 5:10; more at Bible, Body of Christ, Christ, Deed, Holy Spirit, Judgment, Liberty, Life)
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330
Fire is the chosen symbol of Heaven for moral passion. It is emotion aflame. God is love; God is fire. The two are one. The Holy Spirit baptises in fire. Spirit-filled souls are ablaze for God. They love with a love that glows. They believe with a faith that kindles. They serve with a devotion that consumes. They hate sin with a fierceness that burns. They rejoice with a joy that radiates. Love is perfected in the Fire of God.
... Samuel Chadwick (1860-1932), The Way to Pentecost, Hodder and Stoughton, 1932, p. 43
(see the book; see also Heb. 12:29; Ex. 3:2; 13:21-22; 24:17; Ps. 97:3; Isa. 6:4-7; 66:16; Dan. 7:9-10; Joel 2:28-29; Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 2:3-4; 11:15-16; Rom. 5:5; 1 Cor. 3:12-15; 1 Thess. 5:19; 2 Thess. 1:6-7; Heb. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:7; 1 John 4:8,18; Jude 1:22-23; more at Baptism, Faith, Fire, God, Holy Spirit, Joy, Love, Pentecost, Perfection, Sin)
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
I want to emphasize for the sake of clarity, and for Jesus’ sake, that there is no one set way of leading a man, woman or child to Christ. Our part is merely to “lift Him up” and let Him do His own work.
... Eugenia Price (1916-1996), Discoveries: Made from Living My New Life, Zondervan, 1979, p. 118
(see the book; see also John 6:44; Ps. 19:7; Matt. 28:19-20; John 15:26; Acts 2:47; 11:20-21; 13:48; 20:27; 21:19; Rom. 15:18-19; 1 Cor. 12:11; Col. 1:25-28; 2 Tim. 2:24-26; more at Christ, Conversion, Evangelization, Jesus, Leader, Work)
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Commemoration of Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century
When you are ill say: “Blessed are those who have found the purpose set by God in these things which He inflicts for our profit.” God brings illness for the health of the soul.
... St. Isaac of Syria (d. c. 700), fifth discourse, On Ascetical Life, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1989, p. 88
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 4:17; Ps. 119:67,71; Matt. 5:4; John 9:2-3; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:18; Jas. 5:15; 1 Pet. 1:6; 5:10; more at Blessing, God, Health, Purpose)
Friday, May 24, 2024
Feast of John and Charles Wesley, Priests, Poets, Teachers, 1791 & 1788
We are not at liberty to use what he has lodged in our hands as we please, but as he pleases, who alone is the possessor of heaven and earth, and the Lord of every creature. We have no right to dispose of any thing we have but according to his will, seeing we are not proprietors of any of these things.
... John Wesley (1703-1791), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, v. I, New York: J. Emory and B. Waugh, 1831, p. 449
(see the book; see also Luke 14:12-14; Deut. 15:7-14; Ps. 37:21; 112:5; Pr. 19:17; Matt. 5:42; 22:16-21; 25:35-40; Luke 6:30; 8:1-3; Rom. 13:7; 2 Cor. 9:6-7; 1 Tim. 6:17-19; 1 Pet. 4:10; more at Earth, God, Heaven, Stewardship, Will of God)
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Feast of the Venerable Bede, Priest, Monk of Jarrow, Historian, 735
Commemoration of Aldhelm, Abbot of Mamsbury, Bishop of Sherborne, 709
When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really... Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 93
(see the book; see also Phil. 3:18-19; Gen. 3:22; Matt. 15:18-20; Mark 7:21-23; Rom. 14:23; 1 Thess. 5:22; Tit. 1:15-16; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; more at Evil, Goodness, Knowledge, Man, Thought)
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Trinity Sunday
Feast of Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, 605
Commemoration of Arthur John Gossip, Spiritual Writer, 1954
Even those of us who are inside it will agree that, in the main, the Church, and all for which it stands, occupy a palpably smaller place in the life of the average member than it did in former days. We explain it on the ground that life has become fuller, and that, of necessity, our attention nowadays has to percolate over a wide area instead of rushing foam-flecked down a narrower channel—which is to say, in other words, that Christ is getting lost to us in the crush and throng of things, does not loom up as arresting, as unique, as all-important, as He did to our forefathers. Yet that, when you come to think of it, is no bad definition of unspirituality.
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 61-62
(see the book; see also Luke 8:14; Matt. 6:24-25; 13:22; Mark 4:18-19; 8:27-29; Luke 16:13; 18:24-25; 21:34; Rom. 7:18; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; 1 John 2:15-17; Jas. 3:13-15; Jude 1:12; more at Christ, Church, Historical, Life, Meditation, Thought)
Monday, May 27, 2024
Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564
When they inquire into predestination, they are penetrating the sacred precincts of divine wisdom. If anyone with carefree assurance breaks into this place, he will not succeed in satisfying his curiosity and he will enter a labyrinth from which he can find no exit. For it is not right for man unrestrainedly to search out things that the Lord has willed to be hidden in Himself; nor is it right for him to investigate from eternity that sublime wisdom, which God would have us revere but not understand, in order that through this also He should fill us with wonder. He has set forth by His Word the secrets of His will that He has decided to reveal to us. These He decided to reveal in so far as He foresaw that they would concern and benefit us.
... 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, III.xxi.1, p. 142
(see the book; see also Rom. 11:2-6; Ex. 33:19; Matt. 6:8; 22:14; Acts 2:23; Rom. 8:29-30; 9:15-18; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:4-5; 1 Pet. 2:9-10; more at Eternity, God, Man, Predestination, Revelation, Will of God, Wisdom)
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Commemoration of Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1089
There have always been two kinds of Christianity—man’s and Christ’s. Does anyone today remember how the emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion? It is said that he had a vision—saw a cross in the sky with the inscription, “In this sign shalt thou conquer.” He accepted the new faith promptly, because he thought it would defeat his enemies for him. That is man’s Christianity, a means to earthly triumph. And in our present crisis [1955] we are appealing to it to defeat the Russians for us. We hear of the life-and-death struggle between Christianity and Communism, the necessity of saving the world once for all, the religious duty of “keeping God alive as a social force”—as if our Lord could not survive a Soviet victory!It is a poor sort of faith that imagines Christ defeated by anything men can do.
... Joy Davidman (1915-1960), Smoke on the Mountain, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1955, reprint, Westminster John Knox Press, 1985, p. 135
(see the book; see also Acts 10:34-35; Gen. 18;14; Ps. 2:6-9; 110:1-3; Isa. 9:6-7; Jer. 32:17; Dan. 7:14; Matt. 11:27; 28:18; Luke 1:32-33; John 13:3; 1 Cor. 15:27; Eph. 1:20-22; Phil. 2:9-11; more at Christ, Defeat, Enemy, Historical, Salvation, World)
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
A frequent intercession with God, earnestly beseeching Him to forgive the sins of all mankind, to bless them with His providence, enlighten them with His Spirit, and bring them to everlasting happiness, is the divinest exercise that the heart of man can be engaged in.Be daily therefore on your knees, in a solemn, deliberate performance of this devotion, praying for others in such forms, with such length, importunity, and earnestness, as you use for yourself; and you will find all little, ill-natured passions die away, your heart grow great and generous, delighting in the common happiness of others, as you used only to delight in your own...It was this holy intercession that raised Christians to such a state of mutual love, as far exceeded all that had been praised and admired in human friendship. And when the same spirit of intercession is again in the world, when Christianity has the same power over the hearts of people, that it then had, this holy friendship will be again in fashion, and Christians will be again the wonder of the world, for that exceeding love which they bear to one another.
... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 413
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 1:10-11; John 13:34-35; Gal. 6:2; Eph. 6:18; 1 Tim. 3:1-2; Philem. 1:4-6; Jas. 5:14-15; 1 John 5:16; more at Devotion, Enlighten, Everlasting, Forgiveness, Happiness, Holiness, Intercession, Love, Prayer, Providence, Sin)
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906
Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431
Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933
The truth of Christ’s supremacy over all the powers in the universe is one which modern man sorely needs to learn. He is oppressed by a sense of impotence in the grasp of merciless forces which he can neither overcome nor escape. These forces may be Frankenstein monsters of man’s own creation, or they may be horrors outside his conscious control; either way, he is intimidated by the vastness of those fateful currents which threaten to sweep him on to destruction, whether he will or no. And to modern man in his frustration and despair, the full-orbed gospel of Christ, as Paul presents it to the Colossians, is the one message of hope. Christ crucified and risen is Lord of all; all the forces in the universe, well-disposed and ill-disposed, are subject to Him. To be united to Christ by faith is to throw off the thraldom of hostile powers, to enjoy perfect freedom, to gain the mastery over the dominion of evil, because Christ’s victory is ours.
... F. F. Bruce (1910-1990), The Apostolic Defense of the Gospel, London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1959, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, p. 78-79
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 15:57; Ps. 2:8; Isa. 9:6-7; Matt. 28:18; 1 Cor. 15:25-27; Eph. 1:18-23; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:5-6,16-18,27; 2:9-10; 3:1-3; 1 Pet. 3:21-22; Rev. 5:12-13; more at Christ, Crucifixion, Despair, Evil, Freedom, Gospel, Hope, Universe, Victory)
Friday, May 31, 2024
God has called us to shine, just as much as Daniel was sent into Babylon to shine. Let no man or woman say that they cannot shine because they have not so much influence as some others may have. What God wants you to do is to use the influence you have. Daniel probably did not have much influence down in Babylon at first, but God soon gave him more because he was faithful and used what he had.
... Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899), “To the work! To the work!”: Exhortations to Christians, Chicago: F. H. Revell, 1884, p. 139
(see the book; see also Phil. 2:14-16; Pr. 4:18; Isa. 58:8; 60:1-3; Matt. 5:14-16; Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16; 11:33; Rom. 13:12; Eph. 5:8-10; 1 Pet. 2:9; more at Call, Faith, God, Influence, Light, Obedience)
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