Jump to content

TFTD - September 2016


Resource Manager
 Share

Recommended Posts

01 September 2016

 

"No man can see Christ breaking bread and pouring wine and not see the emptying of self. When he leaves by the night gate to cross Kedron and to tread the olive press of Gethsemane, he is both rent and unified by the greatest crisis since Eden. An angel watches and disciples sleep. This is the critical lesson of obedience. In three great prayers he makes “my will” into “thine”.

 

When on the following day he goes out to die, his victory is complete. He is king over sin. The impulses born into humanity by Adam’s self-will are stilled for ever in the Son of God. His resignation is perfect even to the last moment when life itself would ebb away, not held back by self-preservation, but as it were lifted by his last weak strength and placed in God’s care: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

 

In that righteousness the Father was glorified. On the third day the gates of death were thrown open and there emerged Christ raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Death hath no more dominion over him, for he liveth unto God."

 

- Harry Tennant

The Death of Self-Will (1963)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

02 September 2016

 

"Paul said he had done three things—fought a good fight, kept the faith, and finished his course, and he looked forward to the reward, to be shared with “all those who love his (the Lord’s) appearing”. How real is our love for his appearing? Because upon that will depend acceptance or rejection. Recognition of the signs is very important, but more important still is that our love for the Master’s coming is real and genuine, and not a hollow profession because we know it is the right thing to profess. But, ready or no, that coming is certain and sure, probably in the near future, so "Wake, brethren, wake."

 

- James Carter

Wake, Brethren, Wake (1967)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

03 September 2016

 

"Let us nurture a living faith on the Word, after the pattern of him who proclaimed the reality and supremacy and holiness of God; proclaimed it in his Temptation and on the Cross, for he died to declare God’s righteousness. This reality we remember as we take the emblems of his death which are also the tokens of his victory."

 

- L.G. Sargent

Strength Against Temptation (1973)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

04 September 2016

 

"At times, we all need to be reminded of our responsibilities in the Truth. It is a sad fact that we do not always respond as we ought to the demands which the service of our God lays upon us. Our efforts are so small, our will-power is so weak, and our failings are so many, that we stand in real need of the strength and the guidance that the Word of God, the surest antidote for our shortcomings, provides so richly and consistently for those who will "apply their hearts unto wisdom."

 

- R. Carr

Let Us Rise up and Build (1973)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

05 September 2016

 

"Prayer becomes effective only when it is essayed in the profound conviction that the initiative rests with God. If God were silent, man must perforce be silent also; and an attempt to pray would be no more than a vague probe into the unknown, a frightened cry in the dark echoing back from the vastness of space. It is only when we are utterly convinced that God has thus revealed Himself to us and invited us to commune with Him that we can set out, infinitely wondering, upon the road of prayer."

 

- Melva Purkis and Cyril Tennant

Prayer: Studies in Principle and Practice

Link to comment
Share on other sites

06 September 2016

 

"Jesus of Nazareth invested the tiny band that he called apart to testify to him and all he stood for with a staggering responsibility. Into all the world they were to go. Not with the hope of converting the world, but with the aim of creating and forming a redemptive society that would be as the savour of salt in a world of corruption. In parable, metaphor and allegory, the Gospels illuminate the Master’s teaching as embodying the one element of performance and true selfhood in a world of doubt, changeableness and transience. To build on it was to build on a rock; by it one entered the light and joy of the bridal festivities while outside was the darkness; to bear witness to it was to be bearing lamps which shone with divine illumination; it was enduring bread and living water. In the wild darkness of the stormy night human guidance was in vain, and all their rowing brought no aid to a boat sinking with water. They were unable to discern any ethical landmarks; in all their doubts and fears they were in jeopardy. It was the voice of the Lord which stilled their storm."

 

- Alan Eyre 

The Protesters
Link to comment
Share on other sites

07 September 2016

 

"The service of Christ is not only knowing Jesus’ words: it is both knowing them and applying them to every circumstance of life. James said: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Knowing the Word, and submitting to its discipline: that is our Christian life!"

 

- Roy Waddoup

The Beginning of Wisdom (1982)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

08 September 2016

 

"The truth must always be presented unequivocally with an openness and frankness that displays the honesty and sincerity behind it. Any watering down of the standards, whether intentionally or not, will only serve to convince that the glories of the age to come are less than we are promised. The incomparable blessings that await the faithful may only be put across by a true emphasis on the need to put every effort into aiming for them even though the receiving of them is dependent entirely on the grace of God."

 

- John S. Roberts

To Honour God (1979)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

09 September 2016

 

"When a man was properly exercised by the law he came to know sin for what it is; he came to recognise himself as a sinner, and he came to understand that the wages of sin is death. He was left with no grounds for boasting and with but one option: to acknowledge his desperate need and seek for his salvation from the only possible source—from God, by His grace, through the redeemer of His providing. And to this redeemer the law and the prophets also bore witness."

 

- James Harper

Meditations on the Ministry of Our Lord (1977)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 September 2016

 

"The Apostle Paul, who has been regarded as the most definite exponent of justification by faith, is also the most emphatic in his teaching that as a man soweth so shall he also reap. “He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” It was the Apostle Paul who wrote that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. He stated that he kept his body under and brought it into subjection lest, after having preached to others, he himself should be a castaway. He it was who taught that “patient continuance in well doing” was the essential prelude to the life that God offers."

 

- Islip Collyer

The Guiding Light

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 September 2016

 

"Conviction is a mysterious thing. It seems as though it can be communicated only to a certain kind of spirit. Jesus said a strange thing in John 18:37: “Every one who is of the truth heareth my voice”; as though there is a certain condition of mind and disposition of soul which is a prerequisite for conviction. The man who first heard the King’s words was bitter, hopeless and proud. We may pity Pilate for his weakness, but Christ would not argue with him. There is a mood which muzzles sincere enquiry and there is a mood which liberates it. “The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way” (Psalm 25:9). To seek the truth in order to obey it is the best mood of all."

 

- Dennis Gillett

The Genius of Discipleship

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 September 2016

 

"Men and women are set before us in the Bible as having been examples of faith and godly living to their own generation, sources of humane and practical helpfulness to those who knew them and amongst whom they lived. And they have their counterparts today and in our midst. This is not only a matter of fact: it is also an essential element in the working out of God’s purpose with men. For it is largely through men that the light and love of God are mediated to their fellow men: it is through the lives of men who have dedicated themselves to serving and following him that Jesus works in turn upon their fellows in word and in practice. “You became followers of us, and of the Lord”, writes Paul to the Thessalonians, “so that you were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia” (1 Thessalonian 1:6-7). And in his first letter John firmly establishes the principle that it is in part through the man who himself loves God that the love of God is ministered to others about him: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him” (1 John 5:1; cf. also 1 John 3:16-18)."

 

- Neville Smart

Looking Unto Jesus (1981)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 September 2016

 

"The living Christ took up his cross daily until he planted it at the place of a skull. His infinite compassion with every kind of suffering, his willingness to support every broken reed and to rekindle every smoking flax, his boundless understanding and his calling without respect of persons, his loving forgiveness, his wondrous words of grace, all crowned by unsullied holiness and absolute righteousness, made possible a victory by death, in which death died."

 

- Harry Tennant

The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1967)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 September 2016

 

"How should we pray? This is infinitely of more consequence than any considerations of locality. Clearly the posture is immaterial. Paul knelt; some men of God, moved to fear and awe by the holiness of the Almighty, lay prostrate; normally Jesus stood and, to use John’s special phrase “lifted up his eyes to heaven”, except significantly in Gethsemane where he “fell on his face” (Matthew 26:39). More important is our spiritual posture. “There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up”—and they are no nearer God’s throne whatever position they adopt. It is easier to recall the lesson of the Pharisee and the publican than it is to exemplify the humility and self-honesty it inculcates. Which spirit do our prayers breathe: “We thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast seen fit to reveal thy truth to us”? Or that of Jacob: “I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant”?"

 

- A Eyre

The First Duty (1957)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 September 2016

 

"Let us make no mistake. God is perfect in all His ways, and without fault or blemish. Jesus does not expect us to achieve that. What he does expect of us is that we shall realise a perfection related to our capacity. God has made us with a potential, has given us the ability to appreciate spiritual values, the capacity to develop a likeness to His Son and He expects us to make progress. This is what the apostle means when he writes: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). The pattern is given to us in Christ, as Paul says elsewhere, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13)."

 

- Philip Hinde

Holiness (1985)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 September 2016

 

"... We would not necessarily choose those who are our companions in Christ as our personal friends. But whatever human barriers of social and educational background exist, we must overcome them. Whatever personal irritation we may suffer from the ways of our brethren and sisters, we must seek to let the love of Christ soothe the annoyance. For what irritations do we create for others? What cause for irritation must we daily provide for our heavenly Father! Learning to live with our brethren and sisters requires prayerful attention to the word and example of the Lord, and a willingness to try to make patient faith active in daily living."

 

- Michael Owen

Our Attitude to Others (1988)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 September 2016

 

"Apollos, a native of one of the great seats of learning of the Middle East, came to the fulness of understanding, taught by two Jewish tentmakers, one a woman, in the port of Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila were not scholars but, husband and wife together practising their craft of tent-making, they understood the Gospel message so well that they could teach and enlighten a man like Apollos."

 

Thought for the Day

Swanwick (October 1983)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 September 2016

 

"... in the words of the writer to the Hebrews, "Come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy ..." (Hebrews 4:16) James reminds us of our responsibilities: “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shown no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment” (James 2:13).

 

Our greatest English poet has this to say regarding mercy and justice: 

 

"[Mercy] It is an attribute to God himself; 

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s, 

When mercy seasons justice."

 

Let us make it one of our strong resolves that "we judge not in condemnation lest we too be judged and condemned accordingly." Rather shall we remember our Lord and Master’s plain assurance: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." (Matthew 5:7)"

 

- Raymond Fowler

Judge Not, That Ye be not Judged (1961)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 September 2016

 

"The way ahead leads to Zion. Starting just outside Eden, it is routed towards the coming paradise of God. Known as “the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24), it is “the way of righteousness and understanding” (Proverbs 8:20; 9:6), or “the way of holiness” (Isaiah 35:8). Now it lies ahead for us to walk along."

 

- Tecwyn Morgan

The Way Ahead (1981)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 September 2016

 

"Nothing so certainly pricks the bubble of human vain glory as looking at the love which lowered itself for ourselves. When we truly behold such love, we cannot possibly go on being touchy, petty, fussy, bossy. We cannot flatter ourselves or nag at others, and all the strife of argument and excuse dies on our lips. We can only thank God that our blind eyes see at last, and so we pour contempt on all our pride."

 

- Claud Lamb

As Seeing Him Who Is Invisible (1975)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 September 2016

 

"To think of God as inhabiting eternity and yet not being far from each one of us and to think of Christ as set down at God’s right hand and yet near to us in our every need, makes a demand on our finite human conceptions which is ultimately beyond them. Our presence is limited in time and space; we cannot be in more than one place at the same time. We therefore think in terms of being either in one place or another and we measure the distance between. Similarly we mark off the passage of time and for us the present is sharply differentiated from the past and the future. Omnipresence and omniscience are divine attributes which do not form part of our human experience. When we are thinking of them, therefore, we need to do so with humility, recognizing that we are considering divine things which are beyond our finite comprehension and taking care lest we fall into the error of making God too small. It is so very easy for us to think and speak of God in terms of our limited experience and so reveal our own little-mindedness. Even the well-worn phrase that God has a plan with the earth smacks of this, as though the Almighty were an architect or a politician. Indeed He is sometimes spoken of as the Great Architect (Hebrews 11:10) of the universe, but like most such figures it is a crude and inaccurate description, not likely to help us to raise our thoughts about God above the shackles of our earthbound environment. An architect who plans and supervises a building remains outside and apart from it: it may indeed bear the stamp of his mind and character, but when it is finished, the architect passes on to design another building. But God never passes on or leaves His creation because He is not only above and beyond it but at the same time within and among it or, in the language of theology, not only transcendent but immanent. However difficult the task may be, this is a truth of which we must never lose sight, for as soon as we do we begin to reduce the glory of God and the wonder of the divine condescension."

 

- E.J. Newman

The Life We Share (1962)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 September 2016

 

"Where one’s inner life in Christ is concerned, there can be no short cut to glory, no royal road to success. Instead there must be the patient, persistent application of a ruthless, devastating, revealing honesty with oneself. And Jesus encourages us with an assurance couched in what would be a platitude if it were not so profoundly true: "If your whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle does give you light." (Luke 11:36)."

 

- Harry Whittaker

Dark Light (1950)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 September 2016

 

"We were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls (1 Peter 2:25). He who was himself thrust out, who was “cut off out of the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8), who suffered without the camp for us, has brought us in, that we might enter his sheepfold and be saved."

 

- John Morris

Christ and the Outcasts (1981)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 September 2016

 

"God’s heaven is revealed as a place of free emotion. At the creation, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy”, and if we are to confess that these are mere symbols of the true, then the true is greater than these, and not less. It is a place of mental alertness and enquiry, for the angels desire to look into things which shall be later revealed. Its inhabitants know the meaning of sorrow and suffering, for how else could an angel from heaven have comforted and strengthened our Saviour in the Garden?"
 
- A.D. Norris
My Son, Be Wise, and Make My Heart Glad (1947)
 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...