JUNE 2006
June 1, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.
Justice will dwell in the desert
and righteousness live in the fertile field.
The fruit of righteousness will be peace;
the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.
Isaiah 32:15-17, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The Holy Spirit is the creative spirit without whom all is sterility and barrenness.
Frederick Coates
A prayer to strengthen your day
Let the Spirit of Him whose life was the light of men rule within my heart till eventide. Amen.
John Baillie
June 2, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Joel 2:28-29, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
One of the images that Acts leaves us with is that of all these people from all sorts of places, hearing and understanding the message in their own language. This is a reversal of the Tower of Babel. In today's world, people of different languages communicate with each other all the time. But how much of it is meaningless babble disguised as words, images, and newsbites? Does anyone have anything worth telling anymore? Perhaps, only the message God wants us to know—God wants us to know Jesus. But most folks prefer to babble on.
Robert Longman, Jr.
A prayer to strengthen your day
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art;
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
George Croly
June 5, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
1 John 5:19-20, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavors to mend it.
William Penn
A prayer to strengthen your day
God, keep me from losing my sense of wonder.
William Barclay
June 6, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The future is in His care. I know that while I trust Him, He will never never fail me. . . . I am satisfied now with Jesus.
Hannah Whitall Smith
A prayer to strengthen your day
My Father in heaven, may all my conduct be hallowed by Thy Spirit. Save me from everything that is vain and mean. May even the trifles in my life be pervaded by the spirit of holiness.
J. H. Jowett
June 7, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
2 John 1:6, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
There is always a note of extravagance about love, extravagance in the giving of its time, the spending of its money, the use of its strength. Love never asks, “How little may I?” but always, “How much can I?”
George Duncan
A prayer to strengthen your day
As the days and years add up in me, O Lord, help me to grow in gratitude. As I grow older, give me a good memory for your acts of guidance and deliverance and a ready tongue for witness and praise. Amen.
Eugene Peterson
June 8, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Come, let’s shout praises to God,
raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!
Let’s march into his presence singing praises,
lifting the rafters with our hymns!
And why? Because God is the best,
High King over all the gods.
Psalm 95:1-3, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
All our efficiency without His sufficiency is only a deficiency.
Vance Havner
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire.
Amy Carmichael
June 9, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God’s love closes the abyss between His holiness and our unholiness and draws us to His loving heart.
Frank Moore
A prayer to strengthen your day
Dear Jesus, gift us to stop grandstanding and trying to get attention, to do the truth quietly without display, to let the dishonesties in our lives fade away, to accept our limitations, to cling to the gospel of grace, and to delight in your love. Amen.
Brennan Manning
June 12, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary;
The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.
Praise be to God!
Psalm 68:35, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God is for you. Turn to the sidelines, that’s God cheering your run. Look past the finish line, that’s God applauding your steps. Listen for him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He’ll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He’s picking you up. God is for you.
Max Lucado
A prayer to strengthen your day
All shall be Amen and Alleluia.
We shall rest and we shall see,
We shall see and we shall know.
We shall know and we shall love.
We shall love and we shall praise.
Behold our end which is no end.
Saint Augustine
June 13, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Know this with all your heart, with everything in you, that not one detail has failed of all the good things God, your God, promised you. It has all happened. Nothing’s left undone—not so much as a word.
Joshua 23:14b, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
What Peter gives up are boats, nets, and fish. What he gains is Jesus. And that proved to be the best business decision of his life.
Ken Gire
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God, our Father . . . we know that today will bring us the opportunity to come closer to each other and nearer to thee; grant that we may so take that opportunity that when the evening comes we may be bound more firmly to one another, and in love to thee: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
William Barclay
June 14, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,
you who have done great things.
Who, O God, is like you?
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.
Psalm 71:19-20, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
I am not a follower of Jesus Christ if I live with Him only in Bethlehem and Nazareth, and not in Gethsemane and on Calvary, too.
Brennan Manning
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord, we are common earthenware jars, filled with the treasure of the riches of God. The jar is not important—the treasure is everything. Amen
Corrie ten Boom
June 15, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God, mark us with grace
and blessing! Smile!
The whole country will see how you work,
all the godless nations see how you save.
Psalm 67:1-2, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Surrender to Jesus is the first step of an endless adventure with Him.
Bertha Munro
A prayer to strengthen your day
In every time of effort,
give us power to do what by ourselves we could not do,
and perseverance to bring the task to its appointed end;
In every time of sorrow,
give us grace to remember
that we have hopes as well as memories,
so that we may think more of the glory of life eternal,
than of the brief darkness of death.
William Barclay
June 16, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Oh, look! God’s right here helping!
God’s on my side,
Evil is looping back on my enemies.
Don’t let up! Finish them off!
Psalm 54:4-5, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The Bible gives us impelling examples of what happens when we cooperate with God and frightening examples of what happens when we don’t.
Lloyd John Ogilvie
A prayer to strengthen your day
May we have:
The mercy of God to forgive us.
The strength of God to make us resolute to do His will.
The grace of God to be kind, tender, and affectionate one to another.
And the patience of God to believe in the ultimate triumph of thy Kingdom.
This we ask in His name in whom all peace resides. Amen.
Peter Marshall
June 19, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 1:3-4, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming, understand the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant, overcome the unexpected, and outlast the unbearable.
Billy Graham
A prayer to strengthen your day
O Lord
Open our eyes to your Presence
Open our minds to your grace
Open our lips to your praises
Open our hearts to your love
Open our lives to your healing
And be found among us.
David Adam
June 20, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:19-20, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Jesus does not speak about a change of activities, a change in contacts, or even a change of pace. He speaks about a change of heart.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
A prayer to strengthen your day
O most high, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me
a right faith,
a certain hope
and a perfect love, understanding and knowledge,
O Lord,
that I may carry out your holy and true command. Amen.
Francis of Assisi
June 21, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
A commitment to Christ and obedience to his commands stretch us beyond ourselves, and that hurts. But this is a very different pain from that inflicted by torture or punishment. Growth pain is the kind we don’t regret; it leads to health and not disease or neurosis.
Eugene H. Peterson
A prayer to strengthen your day
My God I give myself to you
in joy and in sorrow
in sickness and in health
in success and in failure
in life and in death
in time and for eternity.
Christopher Herbert
June 22, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Luke 18:27, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
It is one of the encouraging things in life that, again and again, that which looks impossible can be done, when it has got to be done.
William Barclay
A prayer to strengthen your day
Let thy heavenly food transfuse new life and new vigour into my soul.
Thomas Ken
June 23, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
You’re all I want in heaven!
You’re all I want on earth!
When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,
God is rock-firm and faithful.
Psalm 73:25-26, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
I find that if I seek God first, it saves so much time, worry, and uncertainty.
Fiona Castle
A prayer to strengthen your day
O Father, help me understand what it means to pray in Jesus’ Name. Save me from using His Name as a kind of magical formula, but help me soak my spirit in Christ’s character so that my prayer and my will coincide with His. Truly I ask—in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Selwyn Hughes
June 26, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
So don’t be intimidated by them. God, your God, is among you—God majestic, God awesome.
Deuteronomy 7:21, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God does not give up on men and women so easily or so quickly as we give up on ourselves and each other.
Wayne E. Oates
A prayer to strengthen your day
O Lord, we most humbly beseech thee to give us grace
not only to be hearers of the Word,
but also doers of the same;
not only to love,
but also to live thy gospel;
not only to profess,
but also to practice thy blessed commandments,
unto the honor of thy holy name.
Thomas Becon
June 27, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds.
Praise be to his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
Psalm 72:18-19, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
A change in my moods is but a prayer away.
Lloyd John Ogilvie
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give us by your grace
Hearts so pure that they love only the highest;
Minds so clean that they seek only the truth.
William Barclay
June 28, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But I’m in the very presence of God—
oh, how refreshing it is!
I’ve made Lord God my home.
God, I’m telling the world what you do!
Psalm 73:28, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Forgiven people know best how to live.
Ron E. Blankenship
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father, forgive me if I have neglected the listening side of prayer. Too often I say, “Lord, Your servant speaks,” when I ought to be saying, “Speak Lord, Your servant hears.” Amen.
Selwyn Hughes
June 29, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure. God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors.
Deuteronomy 7:6b-8, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
All my life I labored for success, wealth, acceptance, and power. The more I obtained, the less I discovered I had. Surrendering everything in absolute brokenness, however, was the beginning of finding the identity and purpose for which I had battled so hard.
Charles Colson
A prayer to strengthen your day
Holy God, teach me this day how to worship. May my soul be upon its knees. Amen.
J. H. Jowett
June 30, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Hold tight to God, your God, just as you’ve done up to now. God has driven out superpower nations before you. And up to now, no one has been able to stand up to you. Think of it—one of you, single-handedly, putting a thousand on the run! Because God is God, your God. Because he fights for you, just as he promised you.
Joshua 23:8-10, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
We need to do much less studying of Scripture and more praying before Scripture. Rather than analyzing the Word, we need to let it speak to us.
Eugene H. Peterson
A prayer to strengthen your day
God in Heaven, let me really feel my nothingness . . . in order to feel more powerfully the greatness of Thy goodness.
Søren Kierkegaard
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