OCTOBER 2006
October 2, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
Ephesians 3:14-17a, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Every hour gives the loyal disciples surprises of grace.
John Henry Jowett
A prayer to strengthen your day
I pray today with my head, Lord, lifting it heavenward in adoration.
I pray today with my eyes, Lord, looking for the things that are not seen.
I pray today with my hands, Lord, raising them in jubilant praise.
I pray today with my knees, Lord, bowing in submission and contrition.
I pray today with my feet, Lord, working with all my might.
May you be pleased with my prayer. Amen.
Richard J. Foster
October 3, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
1 Corinthians 1:7, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Let’s try to see the beauty and goodness in front of us before we go elsewhere to look for it.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord, grant that I may live in response to Your will and enabling, rather than by my circumstances and weaknesses. Amen.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
October 4, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:4-6, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
A conversion is the starting point of every spiritual journey.
Gustavo Gutierrez
A prayer to strengthen your day
Help me to fix my eyes on you. Not on my rank in the kingdom, as did the disciples. Not on the finer points of theology, as did the scribes. Not on the sins of others, as did the Pharisees. Not on a place of worship, as did the woman at the well. Not on the budget, as did Judas. But on you.
Ken Gire
October 5, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Philippians 4:4-5, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Men are free to decide their own moral choices, but they are also under the necessity to account to God for those choices.
A. W. Tozer
A prayer to strengthen your day
Forgive me, Lord, for my tendency to let human voices crowd out the still, small voice of the Spirit of God.
Oswald Chambers
October 6, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1 Corinthians 1:8-9, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Faith will not stop temptation, but it will stop you from yielding. Faith will not hold back trouble, but it will get you through it.
Douglas Connelly
A prayer to strengthen your day
I owe you more than my whole self,
but I have no more to give.
Anselm
October 9, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Oh listen, please listen;
I’ve never been this low.
Rescue me from those who are hunting me down;
I’m no match for them.
Get me out of this dungeon
so I can thank you in public.
Your people will form a circle around me
and you’ll bring me showers of blessing!
Psalm 142:6-7, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God’s sovereignty does not always answer the questions we face as we traverse through life. But more important than giving us the why, it anchors our faith in the Who and teaches us that chance is not in God’s vocabulary.
Curtis W. Anderson
A prayer to strengthen your day
Help us each day, God, to remember the words of Christ, “Lo, I am with you alway.” Strengthen us with renewed commitments to thee. Amen.
Halford E. Luccock
October 10, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Daniel 7:13-14, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a man’s heart.
J. I. Packer
A prayer to strengthen your day
O God, give me inner courage and clear thinking, that I may not run after illusions. I want something with a lift in it that will not drop out from under me. I want Thee. Amen.
E. Stanley Jones
October 11, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.
Isaiah 43:4, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God says that as we start to realize that our fathers cannot fully father us, we discover what he has been waiting all our lives to reveal: He will take us up. It is in those moments when life hands us a tiny shred of “orphanness”—of being on our own—hat God the Father is especially present, longing for us to take our hands out of any human hands and grasp his.
Paula Rinehart
A prayer to strengthen your day
Let every fleeting loveliness I see speak to me of a loveliness that does not fade. Let the beauty of earth be to me a sacrament of the beauty of holiness made manifest in Jesus Christ my Lord.
John Baillie
October 12, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
There is nothing that can keep us humble like this sense of God’s mercy. It is the great antidote to pride, for pride and a deep awareness of God’s mercy simply cannot coexist.
Mike Treneer
A prayer to strengthen your day
All praise and glory be yours, O God,
for the richness of your grace,
for the splendor of your gifts,
for the wonder of your love.
Desmond Tutu
October 13, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
Philippians 1:29-30, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
We humans, when we think we are important, are consciously or subconsciously looking to be served. But the fact that the Lord Jesus would become a servant is very, very moving.
Luis Palau
A prayer to strengthen your day
You alone, O Lord, are my hope. You alone are my safety. You alone are my strength. May I—even with my fears and anxieties, my insecurities and uncertainties—swing like a needle to the pole star of the Spirit. Amen.
Richard J. Foster
October 16, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
The spacious, free life is from God,
it’s also protected and safe.
God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil—
when we run to him, he saves us.
Psalm 37:39-40, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God wants to redeem people so that His image, as reflected in Jesus Christ, is restored in them (Romans 8:28-30; 2 Corinthians 3:18). As a result, the entire universe will be set ablaze with His glory and holiness.
Gerald L. Sitter
A prayer to strengthen your day
We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, that thou hast revived us through thy heavenly gift—Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Martin Luther
October 17, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the master you are serving is Christ.
Colossians 3:23-24, NLT
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Your neighbor is to be construed as meaning anybody who needs you.
Frederick Buechner
A prayer to strengthen your day
Give us, O Lord, a mind after your own heart, that we may delight to do your will.
John Tillotson
October 18, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
You know me inside and out, you hold me together,
you never fail to stand me tall in your presence
so I can look you in the eye.
Psalm 41:12, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God’s glory is his multifaceted perfection put on display.
William Farley
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord . . . Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy glory in my valley.
Arthur Bennett
October 19, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Whatever happens, dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you joy. I never get tired of telling you this. I am doing this for your own good.
Philippians 3:1, NLT
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
The reviving grace is given to us “freely,” and all that we have to present is our thirst.
John Henry Jowett
A prayer to strengthen your day
Dear Lord—I want to see your face in people I meet today
may I see grace in aging saints,
may I see possibilities in earnest seekers,
may I see their need for love in cranky whiners,
and may I see commitment and faith in resolute servants.
Amen.
Neil B. Wiseman
October 20, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
Colossians 1:15-16, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
If I find my faith becoming dim and my experience vague and indefinite, I am generally brought back into clearness and definiteness by making a confession of my faith to someone; or, if no one is at hand, by making it aloud to my Heavenly Father.
Hannah Whitall Smith
A prayer to strengthen your day
Lord Jesus, we are on the lookout for You today. We know that You will come in ways we least expect You, in answers we never hoped we could find, in love we do not deserve. Lord, keep us surprisable by Your innovating power. Amen.
Lloyd John Ogilvie
October 23, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:6-7, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God likes to do a new thing for us. Many a church thinks it needs a new pastor when it needs the same pastor renewed. Many a restless saint needs not a new pasture where the grass always looks greener but a new thing done in his heart while he lives in the same pasture.
Vance Havner
A prayer to strengthen your day
O Strengthener, strengthen me. Take out of my vocabulary all weak, negative words, out of my thought all excuses and alibis, out of my inmost spirit all that saps my strength. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
E. Stanley Jones
October 24, 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
Each Christian is expected to work like it may be the last day on earth, but also to live as if he would be on earth for 100 years to come. Paul yearned for the Thessalonians—and for us—not to be “weary in well doing” (3:13).
Mendell Taylor
A prayer to strengthen your day
Holy Lord, give me a sense of your nearness in every relationship of this day.
Adapted from J. H. Jowett
October 25, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Philippians 3:12, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
God has a threefold concern with our lives. He is concerned with what we believe; He is concerned with how we behave; and He is concerned with what we become.
George Duncan
A prayer to strengthen your day
Teach us, O God, how to withdraw from the pressures of life, not in self-interest or self-indulgence, but to find the quietness and the strength that we need in order that we may handle life and handle it well. Help us to remember Jesus, and how in his withdrawing and returning, he fulfilled one of your laws and made his life great and rich.
Theodore Parker Ferris
October 26, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Colossians 1:17-18, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
It is precisely in times of spiritual dryness that we must hold on to our spiritual discipline so that we can grow into new intimacy with God.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
A prayer to strengthen your day
Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of Thee, let my first impulse be to worship Thee, let my first speech be Thy name, let my first action be to kneel before Thee in prayer.
John Baillie
October 27, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
To be haunted by God is to have an effective barricade against all the onslaughts of the enemy.
Oswald Chambers
A prayer to strengthen your day
Into thy hands we commend our bodies and souls, and all that is ours, let thy holy angel have charge concerning us that the wicked one have no power over us. Amen.
Martin Luther
October 30, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
Say this: “God, you’re my refuge.
I trust in you and I’m safe!”
That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
under them you’re perfectly safe;
his arms fend off all harm.
Psalm 91:2-4, TM
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience.
Mother Teresa
A prayer to strengthen your day
Sustainer of All, thanks for the
surprises of grace,
the wonders of worship,
and the demands of discipleship. Amen.
Neil B. Wiseman
October 31, 2006
Good morning, ministry partner . . .
Be encouraged from the Word
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
Philippians 1:20, NIV
Wisdom from fellow pilgrims
Sooner or later there arises in every human heart the desire for holiness, spirituality, God, call it what you will.
Anthony de Mello
A prayer to strengthen your day
Father, the devil sounds so truthful when he tells us how bad we are! On days when his voice is strong, whisper in my ear, “You are forgiven.”
Corrie ten Boom
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