FEBRUARY 2006
February 1, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
2 Corinthians 3:4-5, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound Him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves.
C. T. Studd
A prayer to strengthen your day
Keep us, O God, from pettiness; let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with faultfinding and leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretenses and meet each other, face to face, without self-pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous.
Let us take time for all things; make us to grow calm, serene, gentle.
Teach us to put in action our better impulses-straightforward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize it is the little things of life that create difficulties; that in the big things of life we are as one.
Oh, Lord, let us not forget to be kind. Amen.
Mary Stewart
February 2, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
2 Corinthians 5:19b-20, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Many do not recognize the fact as they ought, that Satan has got men [and women] fast asleep in sin and that it is his great device to keep them so. He does not care what we do if he can do that. We may sing songs about the sweet by and by, preach sermons and say prayers until doomsday, and he will never concern himself about us, if we don't wake anybody up. But if we awake the sleeping sinner he will gnash on us with his teeth. This is our work—to wake people up.
Catherine Booth
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord, make me be willing to be made willing to do your will.
Corrie ten Boom
February 3, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1 Timothy 6:6-8, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie
A prayer to strengthen your day
Now Lord, we know that we didn’t come here to stay always. I want to go to that land where Job said the wicked shall cease from troubling and the weary shall be at rest. Every day will be Sunday; no more good-byes, just howdy, howdy. I want to be in that number.
Wyatt Tee Walker
February 6, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but my chief duty is to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.
Helen Keller
A prayer to strengthen your day
The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labor for.
Thomas Moore
February 7, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 Corinthians 5:1, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
C. S. Lewis
A prayer to strengthen your day
From delusion lead me to Truth.
From darkness lead me to Light.
From death lead me to Immortality.
Unknown
February 8, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
A vital part of all devotion is the remembrance of all the goodness of God. Such a remembrance keeps my soul in the realm of grace. I am so inclined to proclaim my personal rights rather than glorify the favour of God, so inclined to exhibit my own prowess rather than God’s most gracious bounty. And whenever I lose the sense of grace I become a usurper and take the throne.
John Henry Jowett
A prayer to strengthen your day
Almighty God, Spirit of truth and purity, make my ministry pure and true this day and forever.
adapted from John Baillie
February 9, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.
1 Timothy 2:3-6, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
But what is “reasonable service”? It means spiritual ministry, a way of life according to Christ. And this will be so if every day you bring [to] him yourself as a sacrifice and become the priest of your own body and of the virtue of your soul, offering soberness, relief for the poor, and goodness and moral strength. For in doing this you offer “a reasonable service” (or worship).
John Chrysostom
A prayer to strengthen your day
Grant me, O Lord, an understanding heart, that I may see into the hearts of thy people, and know their strengths and weaknesses, their hopes and their despairs, their efforts and their failures, their need of love and their need to love.
George Appleton
February 10, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”
1 Timothy 5:17-18, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
If you have guided your class in their studies but cannot find anything instructive to teach them, or if you are a minister and the words fall frozen when you hoped they would fire volleys from your lips, there may be some solution for your weariness. If it is pure weakness—whether from the body or from the mind that you are weary, disorganized, depressed, and bowed down—do not think of self-reproach, but hear the text say, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”
C. H. Spurgeon
A prayer to strengthen your day
Heavenly Lord, Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in You, the divine treasury in whom all fullness dwells. To You I repair for grace upon grace, until every void made by sin be replenished and I am filled with all Your fullness.
Puritan prayer
February 13, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:11ff, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
A humble knowledge of ourselves is a surer way to God than is the search for depth of learning.
Thomas à Kempis
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord God—Keeper of my Soul
This day I ask You to keep me from
pride—all I have is a gift from you.
legalism—I have received grace beyond measure
judgment—I never have all the facts.
self-pity—I have received incredible abundance from Your generosity.
Increase my sense of Your nearness so
my witness is winning
my preaching inspiring
my pastoral care Christlike
And make my joy in service authentic and contagious. Amen.
Neil B. Wiseman
February 14, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Hallelujah! You who serve God, praise God!
Just to speak his name is praise!
Just to remember God is a blessing—
now and tomorrow and always.
From east to west, from dawn to dusk,
keep lifting all your praises to God!
Psalm 113:1-3, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Whence comes this idea that if what we are doing is fun, it can't be God's will? The God who made giraffes, a baby's fingernails, a puppy's tail, a crooknecked squash, the bobwhite's call, and a young girl's giggle, has a sense of humor. Make no mistake about that.
Catherine Marshall
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord, take my lips and speak through them; take my mind and think through it; take my heart and set it on fire.
W. H. H. Aitken
February 15, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God is King, robed and ruling,
God is robed and surging with strength.
And yes, the world is firm, immovable,
Your throne ever firm—you’re Eternal!
Psalm 93:1-2, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God's patience is infinite. Men, like small kettles, boil quickly with wrath at the least wrong. Not so God. If God were as wrathful, the world would have been a heap of ruins long ago.
Sadhu Sundar Singh
A prayer to strengthen your day
Through my touch with thy people grant comfort and hope and the assurance that now life begins at any age and on any day, redeeming the past, sanctifying the present and brightening the future with the assurance of thy unfailing love and grace brought to us in Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord.
George Appleton
February 16, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Stronger than wild sea storms,
Mightier than sea-storm breakers,
Mighty God rules from High Heaven.
What you say goes—it always has.
“Beauty” and “Holy” mark your palace rule,
God, to the very end of time.
Psalm 93:4-5, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
What we are so often confronted with today is a "processed" Jesus. Every element that we feel is not consonant with our "image" of him is removed, and the result is more insipid and unsatisfying than the worst of processed food.
J. B. Phillips
A prayer to strengthen your day
Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Psalm 51:10-11, KJV
February 17, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
2 Timothy 4:1-2, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Let me, therefore, learn this lesson, that if my Lord should give me prominence in His church it is not to feed my lust of dominion, but in order to strengthen and extend the influence of the church’s life.
John Henry Jowett
A prayer to strengthen your day
Take away, O Lord, from our hearts all suspiciousness, indignation, anger, and contention, and whatever is calculated to wound charity, and to lessen brotherly love.
Thomas à Kempis
February 20, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
1 Timothy 4:13-14, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The Bible parable says that while men slept, the enemy sowed tares among the wheat. A boy who rises at 4:30 to deliver papers is considered a go-getter, but to urge our young people to rise at 5:30 to pray is considered fanaticism. We must once again wear the harness of discipline. There is no other way.
Leonard Ravenhill
A prayer to strengthen your day
Great God, in public and private, in sanctuary and home, may my life be steeped in prayer, filled with the spirit of grace and supplication, each prayer perfumed with the incense of atoning blood. Help me, defend me, until from praying ground I pass to the realm of unceasing praise. Urged by my need, invited by Your promises, called by Your Spirit, I enter Your presence, worshipping You with godly fear, awed by Your majesty, greatness, glory, but encouraged by Your love.
Puritan prayer
February 21, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
2 Timothy 1:13-14a, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The gospel, with its cleansing Blood, clarifies human vision and harmonizes man with himself. He learns to think the great thoughts of God and not to stagger at His promises.
P. F. Bresee
A prayer to strengthen your day
My Savior, teach me Thy way of doing all things. When I speak, may it be with grace. May my courtesies be sanctified. May the reproofs I give be prompted by love. May I have the mind of Christ.
J. H. Jowett
February 22, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
To say, “Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,” is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.
Oswald Chambers
A prayer to strengthen your day
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12, NIV
February 23, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
1 Timothy 2:8, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Prayer is more than our own sublime desire; it is an exposure to God that probes our soul to the very quick. Think of it, audience with God. Risky business, frightening thought, that a man should come before the presence of the Judge of all the earth and there express his thoughts and desires.
Samuel Young
A prayer to strengthen your day
Holy Father—keep the ears of my spirit in tune with Your gentle voice this day.
Let me hear your guidance above the attractions and the responsibilities of the world. Amen.
Neil B. Wiseman
February 24, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:15b-16, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
We wake, if ever at all, to mystery.
Annie Dillard
A prayer to strengthen your day
Kindle my homesickness for You and lead me Home.
Anonymous
February 27, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
2 Corinthians 1:5, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
There’s this business about suffering producing character. The immediate question is: sounds nice, but what if it doesn’t? What if suffering turns us bitter and angry instead? Many Christians have despaired because of that sentence because their suffering hasn’t led to hope . . . hope is a gift of God (Romans 5:1-5).
John O. Gooch
A prayer to strengthen your day
Thank You, Lord, that although the battle can be severe, with You we stand on victory ground.
Corrie ten Boom
February 28, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.
2 Timothy 1:8-9b, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The real purpose of Lent is a new beginning. We are not meant to have “our sins ever before us.” No, on Ash Wednesday we ask God not only to forgive our sins, but to give us a clean heart and a right spirit so we can live in “the joy of God’s salvation.”
David Buttrick
A prayer to strengthen your day
Hear us, we pray, as we call upon you for help, for strength, for peace; for grace, for reassurance, for companionship; for love, for pardon, for health, for salvation and for joy.
Peter Marshall
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