May 1, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Wait passionately for God,
don’t leave the path.
He’ll give you your place in the sun
while you watch the wicked lose it.
Psalm 37:34, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The Christian is bound to be an optimist, because he has behind him the grace of God.
William Barclay
A prayer to strengthen your day
You take the pen, and the lines dance.
You take the flute, and the notes shimmer.
You take the brush, and the colors sing.
So all things have meaning and beauty in that space beyond time where you are.
How, then, can I hold back anything from you?
Dag Hammarskjöld
May 2, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God’s your Guardian,
right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
sheltering you from moonstroke.
Psalm 121:5-6, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Prayer has primarily to do with God, not us.
Eugene H. Peterson
A prayer to strengthen your day
O Lord, it frightens me that I could crowd you out of my life. Plant in me a longing for stillness. Create in me a hunger for open, empty space.
Richard Foster
May 3, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Turn your back on evil,
work for the good and don’t quit.
God loves this kind of thing,
never turns away from his friends.
Psalm 37:27-28, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
All men who live with any degree of serenity live by some assurance of grace.
Reinhold Niebuhr
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give me the spirit, I pray Thee, to keep myself in continual training for the punctual fulfillment of Thy most holy will.
John Baillie
May 4, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
I said to the person who stood at the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
Minnie Haskins
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give me faith and patience. Help me to wait for Thine enabling grace without discouragement, remembering the words of our Saviour, that persons ought always to pray and not to faint. Amen.
Susanna Wesley
May 5, 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.
Psalm 146:6b-8, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Prayer is as natural as breathing, as necessary as oxygen.
Edith Schaeffer
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give us
enough lightning and storms
to shake up our soil
enough wind to keep us spirited
enough death to bring us life
and enough goodness
to help us remember who we are.
Macrina Wiederkehr
May 8, 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. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Do what you can and then pray that God will give you the power to do what you cannot.
St. Augustine
A prayer to strengthen your day
O most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to dread nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on you who cares for us; preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal.
William Bright
May 9, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
God, come close. Come quickly!
Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing!
Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising;
my raised hands are my evening prayers.
Psalm 141:1-2, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Today we need a fresh spirit of anticipation that springs out of the promises of God. We must declare war on the mood of non-expectation, and come together with childlike faith.
A. W. Tozer
A prayer to strengthen your day
O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire you with our whole heart; that so desiring we may seek and find you; and so finding you may love you; and loving you, may hate those sins from which you have redeemed us.
St. Anselm
May 10, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!”
Angels listen as I sing my thanks.
I kneel in worship facing your holy temple
and say it again: “Thank you!”
Psalm 138:1-2a, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of the imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose—and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy of that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.
Archbishop William Temple
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give me the listening ear. I seek this day the ear that will not shrink from the word that corrects and admonishes—the word that holds up before me the image of myself that causes me to pause and reconsider—the word that challenges me to deeper consecration and higher resolve.
Howard Thurman
May 11, 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
It is significant to note that though Jesus never taught his disciples how to preach, he did teach them how to pray.
Ray Stedman
A prayer to strengthen your day
May we be mature in our faith, childlike but never childish, humble but never cringing, understanding but never conceited. So help us, O God.
Peter Marshall
May 12, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:7, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”: aim at earth and you will get neither.
C. S. Lewis
A prayer to strengthen your day
O love ever burning and never extinguished charity
My God set me on fire.
St. Augustine
May 15, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Thank you for your love,
thank you for your faithfulness;
Most holy is your name,
most holy is your Word.
The moment I called out, you stepped in;
you made my life large with strength.
Psalm 138:2b-3, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God taught me that he is as real when I do not sense him as when I do.
Anne Townsend
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord, today brings
Perplexities to ponder
Power to strengthen
Pointers to guide
Pardon to accept
Praises to sing
and a Presence to proclaim.
Open my eyes
my heart
my mind
my will
my soul
To the blowing of your Spirit.
David Adam
May 16, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Oh, blessed be God!
He didn’t go off and leave us.
He didn’t abandon us defenseless,
helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.
God’s strong name is our help,
the same God who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 124:6, 8, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
All depressing circumstances lose their power for evil when our faith takes firm hold upon the promises of God.
C. H. Spurgeon
A prayer to strengthen your day
We thank you for the Good News that you will always be with us, and will always overcome: that love will conquer hatred; that tolerance will conquer antagonism; that cooperation will conquer conflict; that your Holy Spirit can empower our spirits; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Desmond Tutu
May 17, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
My mouth’s full of great praise for God,
I’m singing his hallelujahs surrounded by crowds,
For he’s always at hand to take the side of the needy,
to rescue a life from the unjust judge.
Psalm 109:30-31, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of Himself.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father of life, give me life more abundantly. Save me from the impotence that comes from partial living. May all that is within me be alive and praise Thy most holy name.
J. H. Jowett
May 18, 2006
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
You aren’t likely to be sent out under the will of God to do startling, impossible things. You are likely to be sent out to do the quiet, unspectacular things that matter, precisely where you are and with what you have.
Paul E. Scherer
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God, may we simplify our lives that we be not so concerned with unimportant things that we miss the real thing.
Theodore Parker Ferris
May 19, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
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
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God, stay with me; let no word cross my lips that is not your word, no thoughts enter my mind that are not your thoughts, no deed ever be done or entertained by me that is not your deed.
Malcolm Muggeridge
May 22, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Hallelujah! Thank God! And why?
Because he’s good, because his love lasts.
Psalm 106:1, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Just say to Him continually, “I trust you, I trust you.” And you will find that your faith will grow wonderfully.
Hannah Whitall Smith
A prayer to strengthen your day
Teach me, O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.
Let me use disappointment as material for patience:
Let me use success as material for thankfulness:
Let me use suspense as material for perseverance:
Let me use danger as material for courage:
Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering:
Let me use praise as material for humility:
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance:
Let me use pains as material for endurance.
John Baillie
May 23, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Let the fast-talking tricksters be exposed as frauds;
they tried to sell me a bill of goods,
but I kept my mind fixed on your counsel.
Let those who fear you turn to me
for evidence of your wise guidance.
And let me live whole and holy, soul and body,
so I can always walk with my head held high.
Psalm 19:78-80, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
When Jesus is asked who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, he reaches into the crowd and pulls out a child with a cheek full of bubble gum and eyes full of whatever a child’s eyes are full of and says unless you can become like that, don’t bother to ask.
Frederick Buechner
A prayer to strengthen your day
Almighty God, teach us that no man can harm us without harming himself a thousand times more in thy sight. Grant then that we may be moved more to mercy than to anger, more to pity than to resentment. Amen.
Martin Luther
May 24, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:12, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
In Genesis 2:9, “Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant in the sight and good for food.” God is interested in beauty as well as nutrition.
Joseph T. Bayly
A prayer to strengthen your day
In every time of decision,
give us light to see what we ought to do,
and give us resolution, courage and strength to do it;
In every time of temptation,
give us strength to resist all evil,
and to do the right;
William Barclay
May 25, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
1 John 2:20, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Work as if you were to live a hundred years, pray as if you were to die tomorrow.
Benjamin Franklin
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Christopher Herbert
May 26, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:1-2, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Many a Christian, many a church, has everything in the showcase and nothing on the shelves. The customers come in, but everything is in the window. We have nothing in stock, no spiritual reserves, no Divine supplies, no bread from heaven.
Vance Havner
A prayer to strengthen your day
By your grace, God, I will meet challenges, disappointments, joys and sorrows with a mind packed with lively memories of your power and love. Amen.
Eugene Peterson
PENTECOST WEEK
May 29, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.”
Ezekiel 37:12-14, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
One of the greatest needs of our day, if not the greatest need, is a rediscovery of the Holy Spirit.
E. Stanley Jones
A prayer to strengthen your day
By the promise of the Father, Comes the Spirit from on high,
Into hearts redeemed from evil, By His pow’r to sanctify.
Holy Spirit, faithful Teacher, In my trusting heart abide;
By Thy sacred, holy presence Be my Comforter and Guide.
Clara Brooks
May 30, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 2:1-4, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
A holy person is a person who sees the world through the eyes of Jesus.
James Fenhagen
A prayer to strengthen your day
Reveal in us your glory, stir in us your power, renew in us your kingdom, develop in us your faith, show in us your way.
David Adam
May 31, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
1 Cor 12:4-6, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
[The church's] holiness has very little to do with asceticism, otherworldliness, or superhuman perfection. Rather, holiness refers to the persistent discomfort of the church with the unchallenged existence of oppression and exploitation in the world. Holiness also points to the commitment of the church to resist the defilement that toleration and complicity in human oppression bring.
James Evans
A prayer to strengthen your day
God, I pray, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for you. Consume my life, my God, for it is yours. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.
Jim Elliot
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