Frank Laubach
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Dr. Frank C. Laubach (September 2, 1884—June 11, 1970) was a Christian Evangelical missionary and mystic known as "The Apostle to the Illiterates." In 1935, while working at a remote location in the Philippines, he developed the "Each One Teach One" literacy program, which has been used to teach about 60 million people to read in their own language[1]. He was deeply concerned about poverty, injustice and illiteracy, and considered them a barrier to peace in the world. In 1955, he founded Laubach Literacy, which merged with Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc. in 2002 to form ProLiteracy Worldwide. During the latter years of his life, he traveled all over the world speaking on topics of literacy and world peace. He was author of a number of devotional writings and works on literacy.
One of his most widely influential devotional works was a pamphlet entitled "The Game with Minutes." In it, Laubach urged Christians to attempt keeping God in mind for at least one second of every minute of the day. In this way Christians can attempt the attitude of constant prayer spoken of in the book of Colossians. The pamphlet extolled the virtues of a life lived with unceasing focus on God. Laubach's insight came from his experiments in prayer detailed in a collection of his letters published under the title, "Letters by a Modern Mystic." Laubach tried to call the attention of Christians to this fact. Any one of us can spend his day in Christ's presence, he observed. And yet we do not. He urged us to think to Christ instead of thinking to ourselves. And he suggested turning to Christ constantly for advice on what to do next |
Quotes
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If you are weary of some sleepy form of devotion, probably God is as weary of it as you are.
-Frank Laubach "All during the day, in the chinks of time between the things we find ourselves obliged to do, there are the moments when our minds ask: 'What next?' In these chinks of time, ask Him: 'Lord, think Thy thoughts in my mind. What is on Thy mind for me to do now?' When we ask Christ, 'What next?' we tune in and give Him a chance to pour His ideas through our enkindled imagination. If we persist, it becomes a habit." -Frank Laubach The trouble with nearly everybody who prays is that he says “Amen” and runs away before God has a chance to reply. Listening to God is far more important than giving Him your ideas. -Frank Laubach The simple program of Christ for winning the whole world is to make each person he touches magnetic enough with love to draw others -Frank Laubach “It is as much our duty to live in the beauty of the presence of God on some mount of transfiguration until we become white with Christ as it is for us to go down where the needy people grope and grovel, and groan and lift them to new life.” -Frank Laubach “So we must guard against expecting an easy victory. Prayer is powerful, but it is not the power of a sledge hammer that crushes with one blow. It is the power of the sun rays and rain drops which bless, because there are so many of them.” -Frank Laubach -Prayer’ pg. 25 “The way to peace is an untrodden path, but it is not unknown. It is the way Jesus gave us. ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ not in word but in deed. Let all men spend their lives, as Jesus did, helping others. Let strong men sacrifice their personal advantages so that all may have equal opportunities. Jesus’ way would be peace itself if we followed it. But men don’t want to change radically as that! They are still trying to make selfish greed work.” -Frank Laubach ‘Prayer p. 20 We shall not become like Christ until we give him more time -Frank Laubach Source: “Letters by a Modern Mystic: God, I want to give You every minute of this year. I shall try to keep You in mind every moment of my waking hours....I shall try to let You be the speaker and direct every word. I shall try to let You direct my acts. I shall try to learn Your language. -Frank Laubach Source: “Man of Prayer: Selected Writings of a World Missionary” “Our mind is a flowing something. It oscillates. Concentration is merely the continuous return to the same problem from a million angles.... So my problem is this: Can I bring the Lord back in my mind-flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind?” -Frank Laubach “Oh, this thing of keeping in constant touch with God, of making him the object of my thought and the companion of my conversations, is the most amazing thing I ever ran across.” -Frank Laubach The sense of being led by an unseen hand which takes mine, while another hand reaches ahead and prepares the way, grows upon me daily. -Frank Laubach Source: “Letters by a Modern Mystic: Just the privilege of fellowship with God is infinitely more than any thing that God could give. When he gives himself he is giving more than anything else in the universe. -Frank Laubach We must pray for more prayer, for it is the world's mightiest healing force. -Frank Laubach The Lord will not wish to count my trophies, but my scars. -Frank Laubach “I am choosing to look at people through God, using God as my glasses, colored with his love for them.” -Frank Laubach |
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