Daily Bible Notes: December, 11th
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
Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:24
Heaven is a place where we shall never sin; where we shall cease our constant watch against an indefatigable enemy, because there will be no tempter to ensnare our feet. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. Heaven is the "undefiled inheritance"; it is the land of perfect holiness, and therefore of complete security. But do not the saints even on earth sometimes taste the joys of blissful security? The doctrine of God’s word is, that all who are in union with the Lamb are safe; that all the righteous shall hold on their way; that those who have committed their souls to the keeping of Christ shall find Him a faithful and immutable preserver. Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on earth; not that high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jesus that none who believe in Him shall ever perish, but shall be with Him where He is. Believer, let us often reflect with joy on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and honour the faithfulness of our God by a holy confidence in Him.
May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus!
May He assure you that your name is graven on His hand; and whisper in your ear the promise, "Fear not, I am with thee." Look upon Him, the great Surety of the covenant, as faithful and true, and, therefore, bound and engaged to present you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before the throne of God; and in such a sweet contemplation you will drink the juice of the spiced wine of the Lord’s pomegranate, and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You will have an antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that "faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."
Evening
Ye serve the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:24
To what choice order of officials was this word spoken? To kings who proudly boast a right divine? Ah, no! too often do they serve themselves or Satan, and forget the God whose sufferance permits them to wear their mimic majesty for their little hour. Speaks then the apostle to those so-called "right reverend fathers in God," the bishops, or "the venerable the archdeacons"? No, indeed, Paul knew nothing of these mere inventions of man. Not even to pastors and teachers, or to the wealthy and esteemed among believers, was this word spoken, but to servants, ay, and to slaves.
Among the toiling multitudes, the journeymen, the day labourers, the domestic servants, the drudges of the kitchen, the apostle found, as we find still, some of the Lord’s chosen, and to them he says, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ." This saying ennobles the weary routine of earthly employments, and sheds a halo around the most humble occupations. To wash feet may be servile, but to wash His feet is royal work. To unloose the shoe-latchet is poor employ, but to unloose the great Master’s shoe is a princely privilege. The shop, the barn, the scullery, and the smithy become temples when men and women do all to the glory of God! Then "divine service" is not a thing of a few hours and a few places, but all life becomes holiness unto the Lord, and every place and thing, as consecrated as the tabernacle and its golden candlestick. "Teach me, my God and King, in all things Thee to see; And what I do in anything to do it as to Thee.
All may of Thee partake, nothing can be so mean, Which with this tincture, for Thy sake, will not grow bright and clean.
A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine; Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, makes that and the action fine.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Hebrews 1
1 God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
2 has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
3 His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 having become as much better than the angels as the more excellent name he has inherited is better than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did he say at any time, "You are my Son. Today I have become your father?" and again, "I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?"
6 When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, "Let all the angels of God worship him."
7 Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire."
8 But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of your Kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows."
10 And, "You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of your hands.
11 They will perish, but you continue. They all will grow old like a garment does.
12 You will roll them up like a mantle, and they will be changed; but you are the same. Your years won't fail."
13 But which of the angels has he told at any time, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet?"
14 Aren't they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
THE SPEECH OF THE INCARNATION
"He hath spoken to us in His Son."
And that blessed Son spake my language. He came into my troubled conditions and expressed Himself out of my humble lot. My surroundings afforded Him a language in which He made known His good news. The carpenter's shop, the shepherd on the hill, the ladened vine, a wayside well, common bread, a friend's sickness, the desolation of a garden, the darkness of "the last things" - these all offered Him a mode of speech in which He unveiled to me the heart of God.
He came as the Son to make me a son. For I had made myself a slave, and called my bondage freedom. I wore my badge of servitude with unholy pride. But when He came and spake to me, my lost inheritance dawned upon my wondering eyes, and I knew myself to be enslaved. But His was the glorious mission not only to awake but to emancipate, not only to unveil lost splendour but to recover it. He came to set us free, "and if the Son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed."
"This my son was lost and is found." Has that great word been spoken concerning me in the Father's home of light? "Lord, I would serve, and be a son. Dismiss me not, I pray."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
December 11th.
My Saviour, teach me the meaning of Thy redemptive work. Help me to have no mean thoughts about it. Help me to think about
it wisely and reverently, that I may increasingly know its power! May I grow in knowledge that I may grow in love!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Psalms 37:3
Trust and do are words which go well together, in the order in which the Holy Spirit has placed them. We should have faith, and that faith should work. Trust in God sets us upon holy doing: we trust God for good, and then we do good. We do not sit still because we trust, but we arouse ourselves, and expect the Lord to work through us and by us. It is not ours to worry and do evil, but to trust and do good. We neither trust without doing, nor do without trusting.
Adversaries would root us out, if they could; but by trusting and doing we dwell in the land. We will not go into Egypt, but we will remain in Immanuel's land - the providence of God, the Canaan of covenant love. We are not so easily to be got rid of as the Lord's enemies suppose. They cannot thrust us out, nor stamp us out: where God has given us a name and a place, there we abide.
But what about the supply of our necessities? The Lord has put a "verily" into this promise. As sure as God is true, his people shall be fed. It is theirs to trust and to do, and it is the Lord's to do according to their trust. If not fed by ravens, or fed by an Obadiah, or fed by a widow, yet they shall be fed somehow. Away, ye fears!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches ... shall surely come to want.
Proverbs 22:16
A Christian cannot consent to enrich himself by taking advantage of the downfall or misfortune of another man. That man who strikes a bargain to his own profit which takes advantage of some pressing need on the part of another is none of Christ's.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
A silence in heaven about the space of half-an-hour.
Revelation 8:1
And now the seventh seal is about to be opened. When it is opened, a sequence of seven trumpets will initiate the movements leading up to the manifestation of the King. At last it is opened, and there is "a silence in heaven about the space of half-an-hour." Before looking at the events on earth, we are thus taken again to the heaven, where is the Throne, and where is the One, and where is the Lamb, and where are the angels, all of them, and where is the great multitude. There, in contemplation of the events to transpire on earth, all is silence. There is no voice from the Throne, no song of angel or of saint. Everything is hushed. Eternity breathes the sense of time, for the silence in its duration is measured by the hours of men. It lasted half-an-hour. Surely no statement could possibly be more arresting as a revelation of the dread and august solemnity of the things to follow. After the silence the angels were given the trumpets. And then followed another pause, in which incense was added to the prayers of all the saints. All the intercessions of the saints have been preserved. They are about to receive their final answer in the coming of the Kingdom. Then those prayers, mingled with fire, are cast upon the earth. So the Kingdom is coming by the fire which destroys the base and purifies the noble. At last the movement begins, and four angels sound their trumpets.
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.