Meditation
The great secret of church government and organization has almost been overlooked. It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in each believer, and member of the church. The fruits of this Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, fidelity, and temperance; against such there is no law. Such a church as is composed of such members, is easily governed by the law of Christ.
Barton W. Stone, Christian Messenger (1844), 119

Scripture
I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:14-16

Prayer
Holy God, pour your Holy Sprit into my heart today, so he will bear fruit in my life. Through the Spirit may I instruct and be instructed by my brothers and sisters.

Meditation
The Messiah is a gift, sacrifice is a gift, justification is a gift, the Holy Sprit is a gift, eternal life is a gift, and even the means of our personal sanctification is a gift from God. Truly, we are saved by grace. We are only asked to accept a sacrifice which God has provided for our sins, and then the pardon of them, and to open the doors of our hearts, that the Spirit of God may come in and make its abode in us. God has provided all these blessings for us, and only requires us to accept of them freely, without any price or idea of merit on our part. But he asks us to receive them cordially, and to give up our hearts to him.
Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, 34

Scripture
Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Acts 15:10-11

Prayer
God of love, you have saved me by your grace. Open my heart to receive your grace this day.

Meditation
There is, therefore, an amazing concatenation of miracles drawn out in the gospel to keep before the public the person of whom it was said, “Behold my Son;” miracle after miracle follows each other in rapid succession, surprisingly diversified in manner, kind, and form, till the mighty chain terminates in that amazing wonder of his resurrection from the dead—a miracle, which, for its transcendent peculiarities, the apostle (Eph. 1:19) singles out as affording the most illustrious display of the mighty power of God.
Walter Scott, The Gospel Restored, 180

Scripture
A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 4:37-41

Prayer
Jesus, my teacher, grant this day that I might trust in your power over all the forces that threaten me. Keep me form fear. Increase my faith.

Meditation
Could we ascend to the summit of glory and the universe, whether the stupendous and unparalleled miracles of his glorification and the Apocalyptic worship would impel us to go—could we, like the blessed Lord, enshrined in glory which no one can see, look down from the eternal throne, and behold the principalities, dominations, and powers of the universe, and the universe itself laid at our feet, we might, if our souls did not expire under the greatness of the scene, acquire, perhaps, some adequate idea of the boundless, ineffable, and otherwise incomprehensible and eternal greatness, grandeur, and glory to which our Lord was elevated when his Almighty Father set him at his own right hand in the heavens.
Walter Scott, The Messiahship, 218

Scripture
Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
Romans 14:10-12

Prayer
Lord Jesus, may I bow the knee to you today, as all eventually will bow. Let my tongue give you all praise this day!

Meditation
We need practical, heart searching truth, more than the speculative and philosophic doctrines of the age in which we live. We need a greater reformation of the heart, than of the head, in order to grow up into Christ Jesus, and be as he was, and still is—in order that we may be profitable to the unbelieving world, and at last obtain the eternal inheritance of the saints in light.
Barton W. Stone, Christian Messenger (1843), 180

Scripture
For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers.
Acts 13:47-48

Prayer
Lord, reform my heart so I may praise your name and bring your light to all around me.

Meditation
We have given no time to meditation or to self-examination. We have been too slothful, mentally, to make an effort to fix in our minds, clearly, the essential truths on which prayer is based: God is. He is a Person. He is here. He has promised to hear me when I call on him. He cannot lie. He loves to give good gifts to his needy children. He has heard and answered prayer. He has answered my prayers. He has invited me to ask him for what I need.
J.H. Garrison, Alone With God, 57

Scripture
Those twelve stones, which they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal, saying to the Israelites, “When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ 23For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”
Joshua 4:20-24

Prayer
Lord God, as you delivered Israel over the Jordan, so may I rely on you through prayer to deliver me this day from every evil.

Meditation
Then they received the Holy Spirit of promise, whereby they were sealed unto for the day of redemption. They were prepared as blank paper, not to be inscribed with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. So evident is the inscription, that it is known and read of all. This is designed of God for the good of all. For the manifestation of the Spirit is given to or for all that all may be profited. This inscription written by the Spirit of God on the fleshly table of the heart is that strong bias in the Christian to holiness.
Barton W. Stone, Christian Messenger (1843), 366

Scripture
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Acts 13:1-3

Prayer
Lord Jesus, open the ears of my heart so I may hear your Spirit today. Holy Spirit, lead me into holiness.

Meditation
Brothers and sisters, let us cultivate in our hearts more and more the spirit of prayer; let us pray without ceasing; let us in everything give thanks; let us often retire with our blessed Redeemer, to spend a few moments, at least, if not whole nights, in prayer to our Heavenly Father. In this way we shall be happier in life, more triumphant in death, and better prepared to join the general assembly and church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven, and who cease not day or night to worship God.
Robert Milligan, A Brief Treatise on Prayer, 54

Scripture
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33-36

Prayer
O God who is beyond my wisdom, knowledge, and imagination, I give you praise this day. May all the glory be yours!

Psalm 26:11-12

Meditation
Any belief, then, that does not terminate in our personal confidence in Jesus as the Christ, and to induce trustful submission to him, is not faith unfeigned; but a dead faith, and cannot save the soul.
Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, 53

Scripture
Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 2:3-5

Prayer
Lord Jesus, increase my faith! May I trust in you, your goodness and power, so my sins will be forgiven.

Meditation
Hearing the gospel will not save; obeying the gospel will not save, only as the means of leading us to the Savior, who alone does save us from our sins by his Spirit. He sheds abroad his love into our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us—that perfect love of God, which casteth out tormenting fear. It is the Spirit of love, of power, and of a sound mind.
Barton W. Stone, Christian Messenger (1844), 261

Scripture
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:14-17

Prayer
Father, I thank you that through your Spirit I am your beloved child. Cast fear out of my life today