OCTOBER 2005
October 3, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Let us prize every friendship too much to wound it by carelessness.
P. F. Bresee
A prayer to strengthen your day
Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Grant me ears to hear, eyes to see, a will to obey, a heart to love; then declare what you will, reveal what you will, command what you will, demand what you will. Amen.
Christina Rossetti
October 4, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God’s there, listening for all who pray,
for all who pray and mean it.
Psalm 145:18, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
To be a pilgrim means
to be on the move, slowly
to notice your luggage becoming lighter
to be seeking for treasures that do not rust
to be comfortable with your heart’s questions
to be moving toward the holy ground of home
with empty hands and bare feet.
Macrina Wiederkehr
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father, be the Goal of my pilgrimage, and my Rest by the way.
St. Augustine
October 5, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God’s in charge—always.
Zion’s God is God for good!
Hallelujah!
Psalm 146:10, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The Bible doesn’t answer all our questions; in fact, it may leave us with even more questions. But the Bible does put us in the proper frame of mind whereby we may learn to ask new questions and to be prepared for new and startling answers.
William Willimon
A prayer to strengthen your day
Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights You most, to value what is precious in Your sight, to hate what is offensive to You. Amen.
Thomas à Kempis
October 6, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Examine me, God, from head to foot, order your battery of tests. Make sure I’m fit inside and out.
Psalm 26:2, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
I want to go deeper before I go farther, and as I go farther, I must become more and more transformed into the likeness of God by worshiping Him more fully and more constantly.
J. B. Chapman
A prayer to strengthen your day
Dear Father, you who have given so much to me, give one thing more, a generous heart. Amen.
Bob Benson
October 7, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
In fact, we always pray that God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. Then you will live a life that honors the Lord, and you will always please him by doing good deeds. You will come to know God even better. His glorious power will make you patient and strong enough to endure anything, and you will be truly happy.
Colossians 1:9b-11, CEV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Heart purity always issues in and is maintained by a glad embracing of the Father’s will, whatever it may be.
Jack Ford
A prayer to strengthen your day
Gracious God—help me make my conduct useful to those you have called me to serve and pleasing to you. Pervade my life—even the details—with the spirit of holiness. Make me more like You. Amen.
Neil B. Wiseman
October 10, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Neither success nor failure can largely add to or distract from the glory of our reward. There is but one thing which can affect it, and that is the strength of the passion of our devotement to Christ.
P. F. Bresee
A prayer to strengthen your day
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;
grace me with your clear revelation.
I choose the true road to Somewhere,
I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
Psalm 119:29-30, TM
October 11, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Those who trust in God are like Zion Mountain:
Nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain you can always depend on.
Psalm 125:1, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Any leading or impression that may come should have a rigid comparison with the Word of God. . . . When there is the least divergence from the spirit of the Word, or conflict with any passage of the letter of the Word of God, the leading or impression is from the devil.
C. W. Ruth
A prayer to strengthen your day
Not for ease or worldly pleasure,
Nor for fame my prayer shall be;
Gladly will I toil and suffer,
Only let me walk with Thee. . . .
Fanny J. Crosby
October 12, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
Isaiah 40:28 NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The blight that wilts our faculty of wonder is the familiarity that begets contempt.
George H. Morrison
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father, let me accept the newness each moment brings with awareness and gratitude. In the name of the one who makes all things new I pray. Amen.
Bob Benson
October 13, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God, your name is eternal, God, you’ll never be out-of-date.
God stands up for his people, God holds the hands of his people.
Psalm 135:13-14, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
So think of God not as a storehouse but as the soil from which there comes forth, year by year and generation after generation, the same crop of rich blessings for the needs and hungers of every soul.
Alexander Maclaren
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord, let my life be orderly, regular, temperate; let no pride or self-seeking, no covetousness or revenge, no little ends and low imaginations pollute my spirit and unhallow my words and actions.
Jeremy Taylor
October 14, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
He does what’s best for those who fear him—hears them call out, and saves them.
Psalm 145:19, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
How great is the difference between a guide-post and a guide! And what a difference between a guide-book and a companion! Mere instructions may be very uninspiring, and bare commandments may be very cold. Our Guide is an inseparable Friend.
John Henry Jowett
A prayer to strengthen your day
Keep me from being an ineffective, ordinary Christian; challenge me to be among those who are ready to fling their lives away for Jesus Christ. Amen.
Ray C. Stedman
October 17, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father . . .
Galatians 1:3-4, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Progress does not mean that things are always getting better and better, always moving upward and higher. Progress is a matter of living life one day at a time, one step at a time. Progress is learning the art of relaxing, having fun, enjoying life, and living in the grace of God.
Kennon L. Callahan
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father, it is so easy for me to live automatically, so that nothing touches me or moves me. Give me the fullness of living in the now. Amen.
Bob Benson
October 18, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
Isaiah 59:1, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Woe to you if you do not evangelize.
C. S. Lewis, addressing theological students
A prayer to strengthen your day
Mighty God, One more kind favor I ask of you. Remember the man that is to stand in the gateway and proclaim your Holy Word. Oh, stand by him. Strengthen him where he is weak and build him up where he is torn down. Oh, let him down into the deep treasures of your word.
Anonymous
October 19, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.
Isaiah 41:13, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The one principle of hell is—“I am my own!”
George Macdonald
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give me a pure heart—that I may see Thee.
A humble heart—that I may hear Thee.
A heart of love—that I may serve Thee.
A heart of faith—that I may abide in Thee.
Dag Hammarskjold
October 20, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
It is not mine to worry about the coming day, but to fill the immediate moment with radiant duty. My Lord is the Pioneer, the great Maker of roads, and He will see to the appointments and provisions of the way.
John Henry Jowett
A prayer to strengthen your day
O Lord God, help us, guide us, sustain us in all life’s circumstances and changes. We need wisdom, strength, purity and joy to live this day in ways that will be pleasing to You. Amen
Neil B. Wiseman
October 21, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
There’s no one quite like you among the gods, O Lord,
and nothing to compare with your works.
Psalm 86:8, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God! God! God! Ever hidden, ever present, ever distant, ever near, making the knees knock in terror, filling all space yet leaving room for all his creatures; a terror, a hope—undefinable, unknowable, irresistible, immeasurable. . . . My soul, amid all unknowableness, hold fast to the faith that you can know God. You cannot know about him by intellectual art or theological craft. By love and pureness, know him.
Joseph Parker
A prayer to strengthen your day
I am bending my knee,
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me,
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,
In friendship and affection.
Celtic Rune
October 24, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
O God! Your way is holy! No god is great like God!
You’re the God who makes things happen; you showed everyone what you can do.
Psalm 77:13-14, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The fewer the words, the better the prayer.
Martin Luther
A prayer to strengthen your day
I have one deep, supreme desire. That I may be like Jesus.
To this I fervently aspire, That I may be like Jesus. . . .
Thomas Chisholm
October 25, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Isaiah 55:1, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
In the perilous calling of the spiritual life, to lose heart is to lose everything. And that is why the Lord is always saying to us, “Give me your heart,” for only in his keeping is it safe.
George H. Morrison
A prayer to strengthen your day
Creator and Sustainer of All, renew my passion for ministry. Keep me from boredom and apathy. Keep the big picture of your work in the world and my part in it. In the strong name of Jesus.
Neil B. Wiseman
October 26, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
What, then, can we say to anyone who seems to be left comfortless when others all around are gathering in plentiful comfort? We may say this: God is comforting and helping you even when you do not know it. Do not for a moment imagine that God’s help is limited by what you can feel and recognize.
Phillips Brooks
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father, my life, in so many ways and at so many places, seems shackled and bound. Help me to find freedom and liberty in you this day. Amen.
Bob Benson
October 27, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake.
Psalm 46:1-2, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
A starling never reveals the richness of its hues until we see it in the sunlight. A duty never discloses its beauties until we set it in the light of the Lord.
John Henry Jowett
A prayer to strengthen your day
Come, Jesus, come. You the only object of my love, the center and supreme happiness of my soul! Come, and impress my mind with such a lively conviction of Thy presence that all within me may yield to its influence. Amen.
Thomas à Kempis
October 28, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Galatians 5:16, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
It is not so much of our time and so much of our attention that God demands; it is not even all our time and all our attention: it is ourselves. For each of us the Baptist’s words are true: “He must increase and I decrease.” He will be infinitely merciful to our repeated failures; I know no promise that he will accept a deliberate compromise.
C. S. Lewis
A prayer to strengthen your day
Eternal God, I pray you, a clearer vision of your truth, a greater faith in your power, and a more confident assurance of your love. Amen.
John Baillie
October 31, 2005
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God’s my strong champion; I flick off my enemies like flies.
Far better to take refuge in God than trust in people;
Far better to take refuge in God than trust in celebrities.
Psalm 118:7-9, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Either He will shield you from suffering or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.
Francis DeSales
A prayer to strengthen your day
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14, KJV
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