APRIL 2006
April 3, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
sing songs all through the night!
My life is God’s prayer.
Psalm 42:6-8, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Take off your shoes of distraction
Take off your shoes of ignorance and blindness
Take off your shoes of hurry and worry
Take off anything that prevents you
from being a child of wonder.
Take off your shoes;
The ground you stand on is holy.
The ground you are is holy.
Macrina Wiederkehr
A prayer to strengthen your day
Make plain to me that no circumstance nor time of life can occur but I may find something either spoken by our Lord Himself or by His Spirit in the prophets or apostles that will direct my conduct, if I am but faithful to Thee and my own soul. Amen.
Susanna Wesley
April 4, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
for the LORD will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being snared.
Proverbs 3:25-26, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
True Faith requires that we believe everything that God has said about Himself, but also that we believe everything He has said about us!
A. W. Tozer
A prayer to strengthen your day
My God, I am not my own but yours,
take me for your own
and help me in all things to do your holy will.
Christopher Herbert
April 5, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
I asked my old uncle if he was afraid to die. His reply with a still, husky voice was, “If I were freezing would I be afraid of a warm breeze?”
Joseph T. Bayly
A prayer to strengthen your day
I pursue you, Jesus, so that I may be caught by you.
I press in so that I may know your heart.
I stay close so that I may be like you.
Loving Lord, grant me:
purity of heart, humility of soul, Integrity of life, charity for all. Amen.
Richard Foster
April 6, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
He always does what he says—
he defends the wronged,
he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
he gives sight to the blind,
he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people
Psalm 146:6b-8, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God’s awards are for the Saints of the Second Mile who go above and beyond the call of duty. It is not whipping ourselves up to increased quantity production . . . It is the spontaneous and overflowing ministry that does far more for Jesus than it has to just because we love Him so.
Vance Havner
A prayer to strengthen your day
O my God, let me walk in the way of love which knoweth not how to seek self in anything whatsoever.
Dame Gertrude More
April 7, 2006
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
The man of faith hears something to which other men are deaf: the voice of God. The voice is heard in a wide range of sound from the “still small voice” that calms the heart to this thunderous boom that inspires awe and wonder.
Eugene Peterson
A prayer to strengthen your day
Let me keep the edges of my mind keen;
Let me keep my thinking straight and true;
Let me keep my passions in control;
Let me keep my will active;
Let me keep my body fit and healthy;
Let me remember Him whose meat it was to do the will of Him that sent Him.
John Baillie
April 10, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
John 13:1, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
If Jesus Christ came again, there are many who would not bother to crucify him; he would not seem sufficiently important for that.
William Barclay
A prayer to strengthen your day
My risen Lord, may your word be very powerfully preached in this place this Sunday. May the attention of my hearers be arrested by your spirit. May it come like a new message and may it refresh your people like a spring rain.
J. H. Jowett
April 11, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
John 13:3-9, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Despair is always presumptuous. How do we know what lies in the Great Not Yet or how some present “evil” may work itself out as a blessing in disguise?
John R. Claypool
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father, thank you for your promises which light our way and make plain our part in your plan.
Corrie ten Boom
April 12, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, “You’ve no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It’s the last one I’ll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God.”
Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, “Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I’ll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives.”
Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory.”
He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.
Luke 22:14-20, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God doesn’t give us answers. He gives us himself.
Frederick Beuchner
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give me strength to be the first to tender the healing word and the renewal of friendship, that the bonds of amity and the flow of charity may be strengthened for the good of your church and for the furthering of your eternal, loving purpose.
Cecil Hunt
April 13, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:31-35, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Faith is trusting God in the dark. His promises were made for dark hours.
Douglas Connelly
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God, who has bound us together in this bundle of life, give us grace to understand how our lives depend upon the courage, the industry, the honesty, and the integrity of our fellow human beings; that we may be mindful of their needs, grateful for their faithfulness, and faithful in our responsibilities to them: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Reinhold Niebuhr
April 14, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
John 19:14b-18, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
What wondrous love is this, Oh my soul, oh my Soul
What wondrous love is this, oh my soul
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
American Folk Hymn
A prayer to strengthen your day
You opened wide your arms for us upon the cross, becoming scandal for our sake, that you might sanctify even the grave to be a bed of hope to your people.
Janet Morley
April 17, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God’s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn’t move.
The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.
“Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ That’s the message.”
Matthew 28:1-7, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Up from the grave he arose, With a mighty triumph o’er his foes.
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose!
Robert Lowry
A prayer to strengthen your day
I thank you, O God for delivering me from a way of life bound by impossibilities into one that burgeons with opportunities. I will no longer live timidly and cautiously, inhibited by the enemy, but confidently and valiantly, believing in a victorious Jesus Christ. Amen.
Eugene Peterson
April 18, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
John 20:19-20, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The whole purpose of God in redemption is to make us holy and to restore us to the image of God. To accomplish this, He disengages us from earthly ambitions and draws us away from the cheap and unworthy prizes that worldly men set their hearts upon.
A. W. Tozer
A prayer to strengthen your day
For your inescapable presence, O God, we give you thanks, for without your probing finger we would grow so dull and dead to what is right and wrong that our lives would be completely lost.
Theodore Parker Ferris
April 19, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:26-29, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Praising God is not the naive optimism of the sheltered but the hearty realism of the delivered.
Eugene Peterson
A prayer to strengthen your day
Teach me, Lord, to sing of your mercies. Turn my soul into a garden, where the flowers dance in the gentle breeze, praising you with their beauty.
Teresa of Ávila
April 20, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Luke 24:30-35, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Here is the goal of all Christian endeavor, of all Christian experience. The first thing, the all-important thing, is to know Christ.
George Duncan
A prayer to strengthen your day
May the love of the Lord Jesus draw us to himself; may the power of the Lord Jesus fill our souls, and may the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with us and abide with us always.
William Temple
April 21, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
John 21:15-18a, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Move out of Nothing into Everything! It is all in Christ and it is all for you. And you are then not a depository but a dispenser. “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
Vance Havner
A prayer to strengthen your day
Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labour and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do your will, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
St. Ignatius
April 24, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
James 1:25, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
There is no limit to the good things we can do when love is the motivation. There is no limit to what God can do when He alone is Lord of our lives.
Lloyd John Ogilvie
A prayer to strengthen your day
Make me a temple of light. May all my motives shine with Thy glory.
J. H. Jowett
April 25, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
. . . let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.
Romans 12:6, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Outside of Jesus I am nowhere and nothing.
Hannah Whitall Smith
A prayer to strengthen your day
We want, O God, above everything else, to grow up into him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Theodore Parker Ferris
April 26, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
Therefore, men revere him,
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”
Job 37: 23-24, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Obedience is faith incarnate.
C. H. Spurgeon
A prayer to strengthen your day
Open in us your love, strengthen in us your hope, work in us your miracles, revive in us your resurrection, abide in us yourself.
David Adam
April 27, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!
Galatians 6:15, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Our problem is not to get God to answer our prayers, but to recognize the answers already given.
Lloyd John Ogilvie
A prayer to strengthen your day
Make our ignorance wise with your wisdom;
Make our weakness strong with your strength,
so that our brief life may be clothed with your eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
William Barclay
April 28, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.
1 Peter 5:7, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where should I be now?
C. S. Lewis
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe.
Christopher Herbert
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