do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7
When we are commanded to pray, we are not only reminded of our own destitution, but are also taught that the treasures of all good things are laid up with God. In prayer, we ascend to him. For this reason, the apostle requires that our requests be made known to God with thanksgiving. For we ought to feel that the gifts which we daily receive from the Lord's hand are so many proofs of his fatherly love.
--John Calvin, *Institutes of the Christian Religion*
To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart. The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary folk miss both the tears and the laughter because they have never staked all to follow the Lord.
--A.W. Tozer, *The Pursuit of God*
Ignatius of Antioch, *Letter to the Romans*, circa 107 AD. Written while being transported to Rome for his execution.
“I am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God's sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you, do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be a meal for the beasts, for it is they who can provide me with a speedy path to God.”
The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.
Am I seeking a peace defined by the absence of problems, or the presence of God?
You will earn the respect of all if you begin by earning your own.
--Musonius Rufus
St Clair, Michigan -- Mist, 50F / 42F