AUGUST 2006
August 1, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Ephesians 5:8, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
It is, however, necessary to put our whole trust in GOD, laying aside all other cares, [so that we] we may continue with Him our commerce of love, persevering in His holy presence.
Brother Lawrence
A prayer to strengthen your day
Arm us, O Lord, always with your grace, and assist us with your Holy Spirit in all kinds of temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Edmund Grindal
August 2, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Philippians 3:20-21, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
We mostly spend our lives conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do . . . forgetting that none of these verbs have any ultimate significance, except so far as they are transcended by and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be: and that Being, not wanting, having and doing, is the essence of a spiritual life.
Evelyn Underhill
A prayer to strengthen your day
Hold my hand tightly, Lord. Although afflictions may torment me, they can never defeat me.
Corrie ten Boom
August 3, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
1 Corinthians 6:14, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Rome is burning, Jesus says. Drop your fiddle, change your life, and come to me. When a tornado comes tearing down the street, it is not time to stop and smell the flowers. Let go of the good old days that never were . . . The old era is done. The decisive in break of God has happened.
Brennan Manning
A prayer to strengthen your day
Holy Spirit, truth divine,
Dawn upon this soul of mine.
Word of God and inward light,
Wake my spirit, clear my sight.
Samuel Longfellow
August 4, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 3:10-11, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative—stop hesitating—take the first step.
Oswald Chambers
A prayer to strengthen your day
Fire our souls with a holy zeal for thy cause, and let us not rest at ease in Zion whilst souls are perishing for lack of knowledge.
Maria W. Stewart
August 7, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.
1 Corinthians 15:58, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God is the most winsome of all beings and His service one of unspeakable pleasure.
A. W. Tozer
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God of all power, who has called from death the great pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, comfort and defend the flock which he has redeemed by the blood of the eternal testament; increase the number of true preachers.
J. Norden
August 8, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5:1-2, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Be prepared at all times for the gifts of God and be ready always for new ones. For God is a thousand times more ready to give than we are.
Meister Eckhart
A prayer to strengthen your day
God, of your goodness, give me yourself; for you are sufficient for me.
Julian of Norwich
August 9, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Love mixed with faith be yours from God the Father and from the Master, Jesus Christ. Pure grace and nothing but grace be with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 6:23-24, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Let the church be organized love to all.
E. Stanley Jones
A prayer to strengthen your day
Let the life that was in Christ Jesus, O God, be in us, and let it be radiated from us and through us to other people.
Theodore Parker Ferris
August 10, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
“For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervors, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills
John Brown
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God, turpentine his imagination; electrify his brain with the power of the Word. Put perpetual motion in his arms. Fill him full of the dynamite of Thy awful power; anoint him all over with the kerosene of Thy salvation, and then, O Lord, set him on fire with the spirit of the Holy Ghost.
Orrin Stone
August 11, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
2 Thessalonians 3:16, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The astonishing life will be one in which word and deed, idea and character, thought and action, belief and obedience are one.
Lloyd John Ogilvie
A prayer to strengthen your day
Great Head of the Church,
I plead for anointing for my preaching,
wisdom for my leadership,
compassion for my pastoral care,
the spirit of Jesus to saturate every phase of my ministry.
Amen.
NBW
August 14, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
I look up to the mountains;
does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
Psalm 121:1-2, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
For our lives are not real, not complete . . . until they become that which they are meant to be—tools and channels of the Will of God—and are included in the Kingdom of Spirits which live in, to and for Him alone.
Evelyn Underhill
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God, I throw open every pore of my being to You this day. Show me that in yielding to You I am not losing my life but finding it.
Selwyn Hughes
August 15, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
Ephesians 4:7, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
There are no shortcuts to holiness. Growth takes time. It also takes the discipline of prayer, of study, of heart searching, of sensitivity to the Holy Ghost's pleading, and of consistent obedience. It must always begin with a renewed thankfulness for the never-ending grace of God, and a sense of being set free repeatedly to a life of holiness.
John White
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord, grant that in the small things
I may be thankful, and in the big things
I may not lose my appreciation of
what You do. Amen.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
August 16, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
Psalm 71:14, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
To many saints, old age is the choicest season in their lives. A balmier air fans the mariner’s cheek as he nears the shore of immortality, fewer waves ruffle his sea, quiet reigns, deep, still and solemn.
C. H. Spurgeon
A prayer to strengthen your day
Dear Father, take this day’s life into Thine own keeping. Control all my thoughts and feelings. Direct all my energies. Instruct my mind. Sustain my will. Take my hands and make them skillful to serve Thee. Take my feet and make them swift to do Thy bidding. Take my eyes and keep them fixed upon Thine everlasting beauty. Take my mouth and make it eloquent in testimony to Thy love.
John Baillie
August 17, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.
Colossians 1:21-23a, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Only love empowers the leap in trust, the courage to risk everything on Jesus, the readiness to move into the darkness guided only by a pillar of fire. Trust clings to the belief that whatever happens in our lives is designed to teach us holiness.
Brennan Manning
A prayer to strengthen your day
Burn in our hearts, Flame of God. Amen.
Douglas Connelly
August 18, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
1 Corinthians 1:30-31, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Devotion is neither private nor public prayer, but a life given to God.
William Law
A prayer to strengthen your day
Let your healing light shine, O God.
Give doctors unusual skill in the healing arts.
Give researchers success in curing diseases.
Give counselors insight and healing love.
Give pastors discernment and tender compassion.
Give social workers courage and boundless hope.
Let your healing light shine, O God. Amen.
Richard J. Foster
August 21, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
Jeremiah 31:3, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Let nothing disturb thee;
Let nothing dismay thee:
All things pass;
God never changes.
St. Teresa of Avila
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God, my Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast opened the highest to the lowest, the greatest to the least. My heart dances with anticipation of what I shall be—in Thee. For an endless Life pulsates within my veins. I belong to the twice-born nobility. Amen.
E. Stanley Jones
August 22, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17b-19, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Prayer is the mortar that holds our house together.
Mother Teresa
A prayer to strengthen your day
Stir me, O Lord, to care;
for a world that is lost and dying,
for values that are rejected and scorned,
for enemies that hate and malign me.
Amen.
Richard J. Foster
August 23, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you've got, be resolute, and love without stopping.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
To be ordinary is not a choice:
It is the usual freedom
Of men without visions.
Thomas Merton
A prayer to strengthen your day
Grant me, O Lord, to know what is worth knowing,
to love what is worth loving,
to praise what delights you most,
to value what is precious in your sight,
to hate what is offensive to you.
Thomas à Kempis
August 24, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
I don't want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.
1 Corinthians 3:21-23, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The soul needs an intense, full-bodied spiritual life as much as and in the same way that the body needs food.
Thomas Moore
A prayer to strengthen your day
O Christ, King and Lord of all,
teach me to know that with you
nothing is too bad to be cured;
nothing too good to be hoped for;
nothing too hard to be attempted;
and nothing so precious that it
cannot be surrendered for your sake.
Lesslie Newbigin
August 25, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Psalm 136:23-25, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The perpetual danger which besets religion is that it may substitute gentility and aestheticism for prophetic insight and power.
Georgia Harkness
A prayer to strengthen your day
Thou art never weary, O Lord, of doing us good. Let us never be weary of doing thee service. But, as thou hast pleasure in the prosperity of thy servants, so let us take pleasure in the service of our Lord, and abound in thy work, and in thy love and praise evermore.
John Wesley
August 28, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God is higher than anything and anyone,
outshining everything you can see in the skies.
Who can compare with God,
our God, so majestically enthroned,
Surveying his magnificent heavens and earth?
Psalm 113:4-6, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
For as sure as Jesus Christ was wisdom and holiness, as sure as he came to make us like himself and to be baptized into his spirit, so sure is it that none can be said to keep to their Christian profession but they who, to the utmost of their power, live a wise and holy and heavenly life.
William Law
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father in Heaven! When the thought of Thee wakes in our hearts let it not awaken like a frightened bird that flies about in dismay, but like a child waking from its sleep with a heavenly smile.
Soren Kierkegaard
August 29, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities.
John Wesley
A prayer to strengthen your day
From the cowardice that dares not face new truth,
from the laziness that is contented with half-truth,
from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth.
Good Lord, deliver me. Amen.
Prayer from Kenya
August 30, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
Ephesians 2:19-20, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
To know that all men are brothers is not only to know that all men are alike, but to know that all men are different.
Robert Burns
A prayer to strengthen your day
We thank thee, O God, for thy church and we ask that thou wilt make us more useful servants of it; help us within the context of this fellowship to accept ourselves, to love our fellowmen, and to trust thy power and love.
Theodore Parker Ferris
August 31, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:13-14, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The wrath of God is as pure as the holiness of God. When God is angry he is perfectly angry. When he is displeased there is every reason he should be. We tend to think of anger as sin; but sometimes it is sinful not to be angry. It is unthinkable that God would not be purely and perfectly angry with sin.
Stuart Briscoe
A prayer to strengthen your day
Make me a captive, Lord,
And then I shall be free;
Force me to render up my sword,
And I shall conqueror be.
George Matheson
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