Daily Bible Notes: February, 6th
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
Praying always.
Ephesians 6:18
What multitudes of prayers we have put up from the first moment when we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer for ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy upon us, and blot out our sin. He heard us.
But when He had blotted out our sins like a cloud, then we had more prayers for ourselves. We have had to pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and restraining grace; we have been led to crave for a fresh assurance of faith, for the comfortable application of the promise, for deliverance in the hour of temptation, for help in the time of duty, and for succour in the day of trial. We have been compelled to go to God for our souls, as constant beggars asking for everything. Bear witness, children of God, you have never been able to get anything for your souls elsewhere.
All the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and all the water of which it has drank has flowed from the living rock - Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul has never grown rich in itself; it has always been a pensioner upon the daily bounty of God; and hence your prayers have ascended to heaven for a range of spiritual mercies all but infinite. Your wants were innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely great, and your prayers have been as varied as the mercies have been countless. Then have you not cause to say, "I love the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplication"? For as your prayers have been many, so also have been God’s answers to them. He has heard you in the day of trouble, has strengthened you, and helped you, even when you dishonoured Him by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat. Remember this, and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus graciously heard your poor weak prayers. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."
Evening
Pray one for another.
James 5:16
As an encouragement cheerfully to offer intercessory prayer, remember that such prayer is the sweetest God ever hears , for the prayer of Christ is of this character. In all the incense which our Great High Priest now puts into the golden censer, there is not a single grain for Himself. His intercession must be the most acceptable of all supplications - and the more like our prayer is to Christ’s, the sweeter it will be; thus while petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit, more love, more faith, more brotherly kindness, will be, through the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest oblation that we can offer to God, the very fat of our sacrifice. Remember, again, that intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent . What wonders it has wrought! The Word of God teems with its marvellous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in thy hand, use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren. When thou hast the King’s ear, speak to Him for the suffering members of His body. When thou art favoured to draw very near to His throne, and the King saith to thee, "Ask, and I will give thee what thou wilt," let thy petitions be, not for thyself alone, but for the many who need His aid. If thou hast grace at all, and art not an intercessor, that grace must be small as a grain of mustard seed. Thou hast just enough grace to float thy soul clear from the quicksand, but thou hast no deep floods of grace, or else thou wouldst carry in thy joyous bark a weighty cargo of the wants of others, and thou wouldst bring back from thy Lord, for them, rich blessings which but for thee they might not have obtained: - "Oh, let my hands forget their skill, My tongue be silent, cold, and still, This bounding heart forget to beat, If I forget the mercy-seat!"
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 91:1-12
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made LORD your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11 For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won't dash your foot against a stone.
THE HOME-BIRD
I read a sentence the other day in which a very powerful modern writer describes a certain woman as "having God on her visiting list." We may recoil from the phrase, but it very vitally describes a very awful commonplace. Countless thousands have God on their visiting lists. They pay Him courtesy-calls, and between the calls He is forgotten. Perhaps the call is paid once a week in the social function of worship. Perhaps it is paid more rarely, like calls between comparative strangers. How great the contrast between a caller and one who dwells in the secret place! It is the difference between a flirt and a "home-bird," between one who flits about on a score of fancies, and one who settles down in the solid satisfaction of a supreme affection.
"Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Such is the reward of the "home-bird," the settled friend of the Lord. The shadow of the Lord shall rest upon him continually. I sometimes read of our monarchs being "shadowed" by protective police. In an infinitely more real and intimate sense the soul that dwells in "the secret place" is shadowed by the sleepless grace and love of God.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
February 6th.
Great God, create in me the spirit of gentleness. Help me to touch the wounds of the world with the delicate sympathy of a nurse.
Save me from all unwise severity, and all harshness of judgment.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, blessed shalt thou be in the city.
Deuteronomy 28:2, 3
The city is full of care, and he who has to go there from day to day finds it to be a place of great wear and tear. It is full of noise, and stir, and bustle, and sore travail: many are its temptations, losses, and worries. But to go there with the divine blessing takes off the edge of its difficulty; to remain there with that blessing is to find pleasure in its duties, and strength equal to its demands.
A blessing in the city may not make us great, but it will keep us good; it may not make us rich, but it will preserve us honest. Whether we are porters, or clerks, or managers, or merchants, or magistrates, the city will afford us opportunities for usefulness. It is good fishing where there are shoals of fish, and it is hopeful to work for our Lord amid the thronging crowds. We might prefer the quiet of a country life; but if called to town, we may certainly prefer it because there is room for our energies.
To-day let us expect good things because of this promise, and let our care be to have an open ear to the voice of the Lord, and a ready hand to execute his bidding. Obedience brings the blessing. "In keeping his commandments there is great reward."
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I am the light of the world.
John 8:12
Every gleam of light that is falling upon the darkness of men is part of the essential Light.
"They are but broken lights of Thee,
And Thou, O Lord, art more than they."
All dreams of a golden age have their inspiration in the gospel of the kingdom.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Let the nations know themselves to be but men.
Psalms 9:20
This whole Psalm is a mingling of praise and prayer. The singer celebrates the righteousness of God's government of the nations, and prays for its continuance. This closing petition is a great one. The word for men emphasizes the fact of the inherent weakness and frailty of human nature. The previous Psalm was occupied with the dignity and greatness of man, but that dignity was seen to consist in his capacity for relationship with God. Apart from the realization of that relationship, man is weak and frail indeed. Power belongeth unto God. The nations are always in danger of imagining that it is resident in themselves. To do that is to forget God, and as the singer has declared: "The wicked shall be turned back unto Sheol, even all the nations that forget God." All human history, the most modern as well as the most ancient, witnesses to the truth of this declaration. What prayer, then, can we pray which is of more vital importance than that the nations may know themselves to be but men? Such knowledge must drive them to dependence upon God, and such dependence is the secret of national strength, and of national prosperity and permanence. When men discover that they are but men, it is always the result of the revelation of God, and that always means the discovery of God's thought of man, of His purpose for him, and of His care for him. In right relationship with these facts, nations march invincibly to the realization of all their highest possibilities. These are the lessons which God, in His government of the world, is ever seeking to teach man. In proportion as they are learned, humanity's problems will be solved, its wounds healed, and its prosperity secured.
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.