Be encouraged by God’s 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 Cor. 15:58 TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Always remember the essence of Christian holiness is simplicity and purity: one design, one desire: entire devotion to God.

—John Wesley

Pray together with us:

God, humble my pride, extinguish the last stirrings of my ego, obliterate whatever remains of worldly ambition and carnality, and in these last days of a mortal existence, help me to serve only Thy purposes, to speak and write only Thy words, to think only Thy thoughts, to have no other prayer than: “Thy will be done.” In other words, to be a true Convert.

—Malcolm Muggeridge

Good morning ministry partner …

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

Watch this: God's eye is on those who respect him,

the ones who are looking for his love.

He's ready to come to their rescue in bad times;

in lean times he keeps body and soul together (Ps. 33:18-19 TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

When we come to the Scripture we come to be changed, not to amass information. We must understand, however, that a vast difference exists between the study of Scripture and the devotional reading of Scripture. In the study of Scripture, a high priority is placed upon interpretation: what it means. In the devotional reading of Scripture, a high priority is placed upon application: what it means for me.

—Richard J. Foster

Pray together with us:

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

Good morning ministry partner …

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! (2 Cor. 1:9 TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Christian ministry is more than doing good. Ministry is an act of service performed either consciously or unconsciously in the name of Christ. Ministry is Jesus Christ expressing his life through us. It is born, therefore, not in activity, but in solitude, where through the Spirit we experience the power of life from within.

—James C. Fenhagen

Pray together with us:

Give to us more faith. We have so little . . . we say.

Yet we have faith in each other-in checks and banks, in trains and airplanes, in cooks, and in strangers who drive us in cabs.

Forgive us for our stupidity, that we have faith in people whom we do not know, and are so reluctant to have faith in you who knows us altogether.

—Peter Marshall

Good morning ministry partner …

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

For God’s Word is solid to the core;

everything he makes is sound inside and out.

He loves it when everything fits,

when his world is in plumb-line true.

Earth is drenched

in God’s affectionate satisfaction (Ps. 33:4-5 TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Holiness is a state of soul in which powers of the body and mind are consciously given up to God.

—Phoebe Palmer

Pray together with us:

Now I love thee alone.

Thee alone do I follow.

Thee alone do I seek.

Thee alone am I ready to serve.

For thou alone hast just dominion.

Under thy sway I long to be.

—Saint Augustine

Good morning ministry partner …

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness

in the exuberant earth.

Stay with God!

Take heart. Don’t quit.

I’ll say it again:

Stay with God (Psalm 27:13-14 TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

I found the doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about his plans.

—George MacDonald

Pray together with us:

Help me, O God, now more than ever.

I am in pain, and my friends make it worse by calling it Your will.

Help me stand strong—an example of grace.

Help me draw closer to You—an example of dependence.

Help me say, like Jesus, "Into Your hands I commit my spirit."

Help me live long enough to see purpose in my misery.

And shut my mouth so I don't tell my friends what I think of their silly ideas about You.

—NBW

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help (Hebrews 4:15, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

There are a lot of things that happen only once. Remembering that helps us live through them.

—Jill Briscoe

Pray together with us:

Christ, shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

—Celtic Prayer (St. Patrick’s Breastplate) misery.

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

God doesn't miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you've shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them (Hebrews 6:10-12, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

We spend most of our lives conjugating three verbs: to want, to have, and to do. But none of these verbs has any ultimate significance until it is transcended by and included in the fundamental verb—to be.

—Evelyn Underhill

Pray together with us:

O God, when my faith gets over-laden with dust, blow it clean with the wind of your Spirit. When my habits of obedience get stiff and rusty, anoint them with the oil of your Sprit. Restore the enthusiasms of my first love for you and the alacrity of my first obedience to you, in Jesus' name. Amen.

—Eugene Peterson

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

God’s a safe-house for the battered,

a sanctuary during bad times.

The moment you arrive, you relax;

you’re never sorry you knocked (Psalm 9: 9-10, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

We have places in this army for those only who make the most of their opportunities. Gentlemen of leisure, please move on.

—P. F. Bresee

Pray together with us:

Lord, the motor under me is running hot.

Lord, there are twenty-eight people

and lots of luggage in the truck.

Underneath are my bad tires.

The brakes are unreliable.

Unfortunately I have no money,

and parts are difficult to get.

Lord, I did not overload the truck.

Lord, “Jesus is mine”

is written on the vehicle,

for without him I would not drive a single mile.

The people in the back are relying on me.

They trust me because they see the words:

“Jesus is mine.”

Lord, I trust you! . . .

—Ghana

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us (Romans 8:38-39, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

The church has nothing to do but save souls; therefore spend and be spent in this work. It is not your business to speak so many times, but to save souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.

—John Wesley

Pray together with us:

O God, . . .

I am remembering now

Things I haven’t done at all;

Things I have left half-done and unfinished;

Things I didn’t do very well, not nearly as well as I could have done them;

Things I did with a grudge;

Things I put off, and things I refused to do.

Forgive me for all bad workmanship, and help me to do better tomorrow;

through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

—William Barclay

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” (Romans 8:14-15, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

No one who knows what the New Testament is about will worry over the charge that Christianity is otherworldly. Of course it is—and that is precisely where its power lies. Christianity, which is faith in Christ, trusts in His promise and obedience to His commandments, rests squarely upon the Person of Christ. What He is, what He did, and what He is doing—these provide a full guarantee that the Christian’s hopes are valid.

—A. W. Tozer

Pray together with us:

Ideal Servant, teach us

--how much even a cup of cold water enriches the receiver,

---how service gives joy to the giver,

how caring and giving influence our children and grandchildren.

Help us make a difference by

--giving without watching ourselves,

---protecting those without protection,

----laying consoling hands on the hurting,

-----caring for the annoying, the obnoxious, the forsaken.

Make our love obvious and extravagant-like Yours.

—NBW

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.

In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (Romans 5:3-5, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

The church is constantly being tempted to accept this world as her home, but toward the world to come we are all headed. How utterly wonderful that we Christians have one of our kind to go ahead and prepare a place for us!

—A. W. Tozer

Pray together with us:

The water that I live in is full of piranha and it doesn’t do

--to have a bleeding heart in this locality.

Please God, get me out of this water

--or give me a shell or teeth . . .

Just don't leave me here with nothing

--but the conviction that piranha

--are all God's children too.

—Evangeline Paterson

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that (Ephesians 5:2, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

You are not 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 Scherer

Pray together with us:

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.

—Saint Anselm

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith (Galatians 6: 9-10, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Whoever ceases to be a man of the Spirit automatically furthers a false theology.

—Helmut Thieliche

Pray together with us:

Today I feel frazzled by technology, God.

-What promised to simplify my life has complicated it.

-I have ten phone messages to return and thirty-seven e-mails to answer.

-My cell phone rang at the concert last night, and three telemarketers interrupted my dinner tonight.

Is there some way to make sacred use of the technology that surrounds me? Please show me how to

. . . answer my phone with grace,

. . . pray for those who answer as I return calls,

. . . communicate affirmation in every e-mail message,

. . . reject telemarketers with gentleness,

. . . record messages of encouragement on my voice mail,

. . . and fax words of kindness to someone who needs You.

Help me to use technology to communicate acceptance, warmth, and hope.

—NBW

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done (2 Corinthians 9:8, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

—Thomas á Kempis

Pray together with us:

Give me the desire to seek you always,

-so that I may meet you, know you and love you,

-and become with you the friend you desire,

-welcoming your life in my life,

-so that my flowers and my fruit

-may be yours and mine,

-at the same time.

Help me go forward,

-without wanting to know

-what I’m going to find

-at every bend on the road,

not with my head in the clouds

-but with my feet on the ground

-and my hand in yours.

—Michel Quoist

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us (Ephesians 3:20, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger (people). Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Every day you will wonder at yourself and at the richness of life that has come to you by the grace of God.

—Phillips Brooks

Pray together with us:

Let me know that you are always present,

in every atom of my life.

Let me keep surrendering my self

until I am utterly transparent.

Let my words be rooted in honesty

and my thoughts be lost in your light,

Unnameable God, my essence,

my origin, my life-blood, my home. (Psalm 19)

—Michel Quoist

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go (Hebrews 6:17-18, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you begin behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.

—C. S. Lewis

Pray together with us:

Pardon, good Lord, all my former sins, and make me every day more zealous and diligent to improve every opportunity of building up my soul in thy faith, love, and obedience. Make thyself always present to my mind, and let thy love fill and rule my soul in all those places, companies, and employments to which thou callest me this day. In all my passage through this world suffer not my heart to be set upon it, but always fix my single eye and my undivided affections on the prize of my high calling.

—John Wesley

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! (1 Corinthians 13: 12, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Seeking first the Kingdom of God isn’t the pious exercise of a man who is usually religious and a little peculiar: it’s the road anybody can take into the only ultimate fulfillment life has to offer.

—Paul Scherer

Pray together with us:

Lay me on an anvil, O God.

Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.

Let me pry loose old walls;

Let me lift and loosen old foundations.

Lay me on an anvil, O God.

Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike.

Drive me into the girders that hold a skyscraper together.

Take red-hot rivets and fasten me into the central girders.

Let me be the great nail holding a skyscraper through blue nights into white stars.

—Carl Sandburg

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic,

His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic.

Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost;

Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.

How exquisite your love, O God!

How eager we are to run under your wings (Psalm 36:5-7, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Christians are not so much quitters as starters. They do not endear themselves to God because of all they lay aside at conversion. Rather, it is what they take up that catches heaven’s esteem.

—Calvin Miller

Pray together with us:

O God, thanks for the way You show up so often.

I met you in the

dilapidated church sign “Come—we will do you good,”

lofty mountains with their incredible colors,

young dad with beautiful twins in a stroller who jogged past me on my walk,

radiant sunrise that announced this extraordinary day,

aged granny who stopped to talk lovingly to a drug-crazed teenager,

apparent irrationality of finding meaning by giving myself away,

earthy characters, lofty teachings, and compelling challenges in the Bible,

nights of sleep that affirm the renewing rhythm You built into my life.

Keep showing up. I know I’ll be rejuvenated and blessed by our time together.

—NBW

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

Jesus’ priesthood is permanent. He’s there from now to eternity to save everyone who comes to God through him, always on the job to speak up for them. So now we have a high priest who perfectly fits our needs: completely holy, uncompromised by sin, with authority extending as high as God’s presence in heaven itself (Hebrews 7:24-26, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Everyone is in the process of spiritual formation! We are being shaped into either the wholeness of the image of Christ or a horribly destructive caricature of that image—destructive not only to ourselves but also to others, for we inflict our brokenness upon them.

—Robert Mulholland

Pray together with us:

Dear Master, in whose life I see

All that I would, but fail to be,

Let Thy clear light forever shine,

To shame and guide this life of mine.

Though what I dream and what I do

In my weak days are always two

Help me, oppressed by things undone,

O Thou, whose deeds and dreams were one.

—John Hunter

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

Every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God,

there’s no one like you.

You put the down-and-out on their feet

and protect the unprotected from bullies!” (Psalm 35:10, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

Sometimes you’d think I have more children than anyone in Mississippi, but I love them and want to help them, for they are the leaders of tomorrow. I see some little kids just six years old and they already look defeated. I just want them to feel proud to be human beings, whether they’re black as this skillet or white as that stove. So you see, it’s important for me to stay here, because I’m not actually living for myself.

—Fannie Lou Hamer

Pray together with us:

Lord, I am yours; I do yield myself up entirely to you, and I believe that you accept me. I leave myself with you. Work in me all the good pleasure of your will, and I will only lie still in your hands and trust you.

—Hannah Whitall Smith

Good morning ministry partner…

Be encouraged by God’s Word:

So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God . . . . So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out (Hebrews 10:19-22, TM).

Wisdom from fellow pilgrims:

The difference between what God wants for us and what we ultimately become rests in how we break the thrall of those appetites that chain us to selfish lifestyles and selfish life goals. The steps to freedom are simple but always demanding. First, our focus needs to be on hungering after what God wants rather than merely trying to quit what he doesn’t want. Second, we must agree to live close to the Great Enabler. Finally, we must live in abundant inwardness until we can see the kind of world God wants to exist and endeavor to become the kind of Christian God wants us to be.

—Calvin Miller

Pray together with us:

Use me then, my Savior, for whatever purpose, and in whatever way, Thou mayest require. Here is my poor heart, and empty vessel; fill it with Thy grace. Here is my sinful and troubled soul; quicken it and refresh it with Thy love. Take my heart for Thine abode, my mouth to spread abroad the glory of Thy Name; my love and all my powers, for the advancement of Thy believing people; and never suffer the steadfastness and confidence of my faith to abate.

—D. L. Moody

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