Daily Bible Notes: April, 17th
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
We are come to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Hebrews 12:24
Reader, have you come to the blood of sprinkling? The question is not whether you have come to a knowledge of doctrine, or an observance of ceremonies, or to a certain form of experience, but have you come to the blood of Jesus ? The blood of Jesus is the life of all vital godliness. If you have truly come to Jesus, we know how you came - the Holy Spirit sweetly brought you there. You came to the blood of sprinkling with no merits of your own. Guilty, lost, and helpless, you came to take that blood, and that blood alone, as your everlasting hope. You came to the cross of Christ, with a trembling and an aching heart; and oh! what a precious sound it was to you to hear the voice of the blood of Jesus! The dropping of His blood is as the music of heaven to the penitent sons of earth. We are full of sin, but the Saviour bids us lift our eyes to Him, and as we gaze upon His streaming wounds, each drop of blood, as it falls, cries, "It is finished; I have made an end of sin; I have brought in everlasting righteousness." Oh! sweet language of the precious blood of Jesus! If you have come to that blood once, you will come to it constantly.
Your life will be "Looking unto Jesus." Your whole conduct will be epitomized in this -"To whom coming." Not to whom I have come, but to whom I am always coming . If thou hast ever come to the blood of sprinkling, thou wilt feel thy need of coming to it every day. He who does not desire to wash in it every day , has never washed in it at all. The believer ever feels it to be his joy and privilege that there is still a fountain opened. Past experiences are doubtful food for Christians; a present coming to Christ alone can give us joy and comfort. This morning let us sprinkle our door-post fresh with blood, and then feast upon the Lamb, assured that the destroying angel must pass us by.
Evening
We would see Jesus.
John 12:21
Evermore the worldling’s cry is, Who will show us any good?" He seeks satisfaction in earthly comforts, enjoyments, and riches. But the quickened sinner knows of only one good. "O that I knew where I might find HIM!"
When he is truly awakened to feel his guilt, if you could pour the gold of India at his feet, he would say, "Take it away: I want to find HIM." It is a blessed thing for a man, when he has brought his desires into a focus, so that they all centre in one object. When he has fifty different desires, his heart resembles a mere of stagnant water, spread out into a marsh, breeding miasma and pestilence; but when all his desires are brought into one channel, his heart becomes like a river of pure water, running swiftly to fertilize the fields. Happy is he who hath one desire, if that one desire be set on Christ, though it may not yet have been realized. If Jesus be a soul’s desire, it is a blessed sign of divine work within. Such a man will never be content with mere ordinances. He will say, "I want Christ; I must have Him - mere ordinances are of no use to me; I want Himself ; do not offer me these; you offer me the empty pitcher, while I am dying of thirst; give me water, or I die. Jesus is my soul’s desire. I would see Jesus!"
Is this thy condition, my reader, at this moment? Hast thou but one desire, and is that after Christ? Then thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven.
Hast thou but one wish in thy heart, and that one wish that thou mayst be washed from all thy sins in Jesus’ blood? Canst thou really say, "I would give all I have to be a Christian; I would give up everything I have and hope for, if I might but feel that I have an interest in Christ"? Then, despite all thy fears, be of good cheer, the Lord loveth thee, and thou shalt come out into daylight soon, and rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ makes men free.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Chronicles 16:7-36
7 Then on that day David first ordained to give thanks to the LORD, by the hand of Asaph and his brothers.
8 Oh give thanks to the LORD. Call on his name. Make what he has done known amongst the peoples.
9 Sing to him. Sing praises to him. Tell of all his marvellous works.
10 Glory in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
11 Seek the LORD and his strength. Seek his face forever more.
12 Remember his marvellous works that he has done, his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth,
13 you offspring of Israel his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
14 He is the LORD our God. His judgements are in all the earth.
15 Remember his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,
16 the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac.
17 He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
18 saying, "I will give you the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance,"
19 when you were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners were in it.
20 They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.
21 He allowed no man to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,
22 "Don't touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!"
23 Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Display his salvation from day to day.
24 Declare his glory amongst the nations, and his marvellous works amongst all the peoples.
25 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
27 Honour and majesty are before him. Strength and gladness are in his place.
28 Ascribe to the LORD, you relatives of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
29 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come before him. Worship the LORD in holy array.
30 Tremble before him, all the earth. The world also is established that it can't be moved.
31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice! Let them say amongst the nations, "The LORD reigns!"
32 Let the sea roar, and its fullness! Let the field exult, and all that is in it!
33 Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
34 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
35 Say, "Save us, God of our salvation! Gather us together and deliver us from the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise."
36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. All the people said, "Amen," and praised the LORD.
GREAT PRAISE
"Great is the Lord!" So many people have such a little God! There is nothing about Him august and sublime. And so He is not greatly praised. The worship is thin, the thanksgivings are scanty, the supplications are indifferent.
All great saints have a great God. He fills their universe. Therefore do they move about in a fruitful awe, and everywhere there is only a thin veil between them and His appearing. Everywhere they discern His holy presence, as the face of a bride is dimly seen beneath her bridal veil. And so even the common scrub of the wilderness is aflame with sacred fire: the humble "primrose on the rock" becomes "the court of Deity": and the "strength of the hills is His also"!
Yes, a great God inspires great praise, and in great praise small cares and small meannesses are utterly consumed away. When praise is mean, anxieties multiply. Therefore let me contemplate the greatness of God in nature and in providence, in His power, and His holiness, and His love. Let me "stand in awe" before His glory: and in the fruitful reverence the soul will be moved in acceptable praise.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
April 17th.
God of prayer, I would remember the infirm in Thy presence. Bless all our hospitals, where the lame and
pain-ridden are brought under loving and beneficent care. May their ailments bind us all into a deeper and more fruitful fellowship!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Proverbs 16:7
I must see that my ways please the Lord. Even then I shall have enemies; and, perhaps, all the more certainly because I endeavour to do that which is right. But what a promise this is! The Lord will make the wrath of man to praise him, and abate it so that it shall not distress me.
He can constrain an enemy to desist from harming me, even though he has a mind to do so. This he did with Laban, who pursued Jacob, but did not dare to touch him. Or he can subdue the wrath of the enemy, and make him friendly, as he did with Esau, who met Jacob in a brotherly manner, though Jacob had dreaded that he would smite him and his family with the sword. The Lord can also convert a furious adversary into a brother in Christ, and a fellow-worker, as he did with Saul of Tarsus. Oh, that he would do this in every case where a persecuting spirit appears!
Happy is the man whose enemies are made to be to him what the lions were to Daniel in the den, quiet and companionable! When I meet death, who is called the last enemy, I pray that I may be at peace. Only let my great care be to please the Lord in all things. Oh, for faith and holiness; for these are a pleasure unto the Most High!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Draw nigh to God and he will draw night to you.
James 4:8
Without priest, prophet, or preacher, man can go right into the presence of God and worship Him.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Now He commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent.
Acts 17:30
The call to repentance is the persistent call of Christianity, but it is always based upon the facts of Christianity. The now of these words leads on to the inasmuch immediately following them. God has placed the world under the government of the Man Whom He hath ordained, and the proof of it is given to the world in the fact of His Resurrection. In the light of these facts men are called to repentance - that is, to change of mind. The call to repentance is a call to reconsideration, to new thinking, to the testing of all things by these facts. The times in which men were ignorant of the truths made known by this act of resurrection, God overlooked. But now He commands them to conform their conceptions to the light which is shining. In the Divinely ordained Man, raised from the dead, men have a new revelation of God, of man, of the world, of the life that lies beyond the earthly. Life can only be truly lived here, as the truth is known about these very things. To be ignorant of God, of the real nature of man, of the deep secrets of the world, of the facts of the life beyond, is to be unable to live according to the truths of things as they are. While such ignorance is unavoidable, God does not hold man guilty; He overlooks the failure. But when the light is given, His command that men should repent is reasonable and beneficent. To walk according to ignorance when the light is shining, is to sin.
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.