Daily Bible Notes: April, 8th
The following daily bible notes for every day of the year, are taken from six public domain sources:
- "Morning and Evening" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by John H.Jowett
- "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
- "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan
- An Evening Meditation from "Searchlights from the Word" by G. Campbell Morgan
1. "Morning and Evening" by C.H.Spurgeon
Morning
If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
Luke 23:31
Among other interpretations of this suggestive question, the following is full of teaching: "If the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus, what will be done when the sinner himself - the dry tree - shall fall into the hands of an angry God?" When God saw Jesus in the sinner’s place, He did not spare Him; and when He finds the unregenerate without Christ, He will not spare them. O sinner, Jesus was led away by His enemies: so shall you be dragged away by fiends to the place appointed for you. Jesus was deserted of God; and if He, who was only imputedly a sinner, was deserted, how much more shall you be? "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani ?" what an awful shriek! But what shall be your cry when you shall say, "O God! O God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" and the answer shall come back, "Because ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." If God spared not His own Son, how much less will He spare you! What whips of burning wire will be yours when conscience shall smite you with all its terrors. Ye richest, ye merriest, ye most self-righteous sinners - who would stand in your place when God shall say, "Awake, O sword, against the man that rejected Me; smite him, and let him feel the smart for ever"? Jesus was spit upon: sinner, what shame will be yours! We cannot sum up in one word all the mass of sorrows which met upon the head of Jesus who died for us, therefore it is impossible for us to tell you what streams, what oceans of grief must roll over your spirit if you die as you now are. You may die so, you may die now. By the agonies of Christ, by His wounds and by His blood, do not bring upon yourselves the wrath to come! Trust in the Son of God, and you shall never die.
Evening
I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.
Psalm 23:4
Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy Ghost can make the Christian! What a bright light may shine within us when it is all dark without! How firm, how happy, how calm, how peaceful we may be, when the world shakes to and fro, and the pillars of the earth are removed!
Even death itself, with all its terrible influences, has no power to suspend the music of a Christian’s heart, but rather makes that music become more sweet, more clear, more heavenly, till the last kind act which death can do is to let the earthly strain melt into the heavenly chorus, the temporal joy into the eternal bliss! Let us have confidence, then, in the blessed Spirit’s power to comfort us. Dear reader, are you looking forward to poverty?
Fear not; the divine Spirit can give you, in your want, a greater plenty than the rich have in their abundance. You know not what joys may be stored up for you in the cottage around which grace will plant the roses of content. Are you conscious of a growing failure of your bodily powers?
Do you expect to suffer long nights of languishing and days of pain? O be not sad! That bed may become a throne to you. You little know how every pang that shoots through your body may be a refining fire to consume your dross - a beam of glory to light up the secret parts of your soul. Are the eyes growing dim? Jesus will be your light. Do the ears fail you? Jesus’ name will be your soul’s best music, and His person your dear delight.
Socrates used to say, "Philosophers can be happy without music;" and Christians can be happier than philosophers when all outward causes of rejoicing are withdrawn. In Thee, my God, my heart shall triumph, come what may of ills without! By thy power, O blessed Spirit, my heart shall be exceeding glad, though all things should fail me here below.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Peter 1:1-9
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn't fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,
5 who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials,
7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ-
8 whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory,
9 receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
MY INHERITANCE IN THE RISEN LORD
In my risen Lord I am born into "a living hope," a hope not only vital, but vitalizing, sending its mystic, vivifying influences through every highway and by-way of my soul.
In my risen Lord mine is "an inheritance incorruptible." It is not exposed to the gnawing tooth of time. Moth and rust can not impair the treasure. It will not grow less as I grow old. Its glories are as invulnerable as my Lord.
In my risen Lord mine is "an inheritance ... undefiled." There is no alloy in the fine gold. The King will give me of His best. "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him." The holiest ideal proclaims my possibility, and foretells my ultimate attainment. Heaven's wine is not to be mixed with water. I am to awake "in His likeness."
And mine is "an inheritance ... that fadeth not away." It shall not be as the garlands offered by men - green to-day and to-morrow sere and yellow. "Its leaf also shall not wither." It shall always retain its freshness, and shall offer me a continually fresh delight. And these are all mine in Him!
"Thou, O Christ, art all I want."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
April 8th.
My Father, give me a sense of Thy forgiveness. May the sin of yesterday not clog my life to-day! Wash away my guilt, and
help me to hate my sin. May I walk with Thee in white!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
Acts 23:11
Are you a witness for the Lord, and are you just now in danger? Then remember that you are immortal till your work is done. If the Lord has more witness for you to bear, you will live to bear it. Who is he that can break the vessel which the Lord intends again to use?
If there is no more work for you to do for your Master, it cannot distress you that he is about to take you home, and put you where you will be beyond the reach of adversaries. Your witness-bearing for Jesus is your chief concern, and you cannot be stopped in it till it is finished: therefore be at peace. Cruel slander, wicked misrepresentation, desertion of friends, betrayal by the most trusted one, and whatever else may come, cannot hinder the Lord's purpose concerning you. The Lord stands by you in the night of your sorrow, and he says, "Thou must yet bear witness for me." Be calm, be filled with joy in the Lord.
If you do not need this promise just now, you may very soon. Treasure it up. Remember also to pray for missionaries, and all persecuted ones, that the Lord would preserve them even to the completion of their life work.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:11
As it is the Spirit of God Who knows the things of God, it must of necessity be the Spirit Who unveils and reveals those things, so much as is necessary and possible, to those outside the marvellous and mysterious circle of the Deity.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the Word.
Acts 8:4
Again we are reminded of the place and power of suffering in the propaganda of the Word. That Word is always the Word of the Cross. The paragraph preceding these words is a condensed account of real suffering. The violent passions of hostility which had done Stephen to death swept on over all the Church in a blood of bitter persecution. The followers of the Lord, His witnesses, were driven out from home and kindred. They were scattered abroad. It is easy to read the statement, but we should not forget what it meant of anguish and apparent desolation. Those who in their anger brought it about would surely feel that they were at last putting an end to all that they so bitterly hated. They were mistaken. The witnesses can be scattered, but that is only to diffuse their witness over a wider area, and to aid in the propagation of their message. Persecution has never hindered the preaching of the Word. It is only by patronage that the enemies of the Gospel can weaken the witness of those who have believed and have received the fullness of the Spirit. Persecution ever compels the witnesses to completer dependence upon their Lord, and so to fuller realization of His grace and strength. That issues in more perfect conformity to His likeness, and more intense rest in Him. Thus the witness continues in the growing beauty of lives according to the pattern, and in the glad boldness of speech that testifies to the power of His grace.
Note: To the best of our knowledge we are of the understanding that the above material, all published before 1926 and freely available elsewhere on the internet in various formats, is in the public domain.