Daily Bible Notes: February, 21st
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
He hath said.
Hebrews 13:5
If we can only grasp these words by faith, we have an all-conquering weapon in our hand. What doubt will not be slain by this two-edged sword? What fear is there which shall not fall smitten with a deadly wound before this arrow from the bow of God’s covenant? Will not the distresses of life and the pangs of death; will not the corruptions within, and the snares without; will not the trials from above, and the temptations from beneath, all seem but light afflictions, when we can hide ourselves beneath the bulwark of "He hath said"? Yes; whether for delight in our quietude, or for strength in our conflict, "He hath said" must be our daily resort. And this may teach us the extreme value of searching the Scriptures. There may be a promise in the Word which would exactly fit your case, but you may not know of it, and therefore you miss its comfort. You are like prisoners in a dungeon, and there may be one key in the bunch which would unlock the door, and you might be free; but if you will not look for it, you may remain a prisoner still, though liberty is so near at hand. There may be a potent medicine in the great pharmacopoeia of Scripture, and you may yet continue sick unless you will examine and search the Scriptures to discover what "He hath said." Should you not, besides reading the Bible, store your memories richly with the promises of God? You can recollect the sayings of great men; you treasure up the verses of renowned poets; ought you not to be profound in your knowledge of the words of God, so that you may be able to quote them readily when you would solve a difficulty, or overthrow a doubt? Since "He hath said" is the source of all wisdom, and the fountain of all comfort, let it dwell in you richly, as "A well of water, springing up unto everlasting life." So shall you grow healthy, strong, and happy in the divine life.
Evening
Understandest thou what thou readest?
Acts 8:30
We should be abler teachers of others, and less liable to be carried about by every wind of doctrine, if we sought to have a more intelligent understanding of the Word of God. As the Holy Ghost, the Author of the Scriptures is He who alone can enlighten us rightly to understand them, we should constantly ask His teaching, and His guidance into all truth. When the prophet Daniel would interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, what did he do? He set himself to earnest prayer that God would open up the vision.
The apostle John, in his vision at Patmos, saw a book sealed with seven seals which none was found worthy to open, or so much as to look upon.
The book was afterwards opened by the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who had prevailed to open it; but it is written first -"I wept much." The tears of John, which were his liquid prayers, were, so far as he was concerned, the sacred keys by which the folded book was opened. Therefore, if, for your own and others’ profiting, you desire to be "filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding," remember that prayer is your best means of study: like Daniel, you shall understand the dream, and the interpretation thereof, when you have sought unto God; and like John you shall see the seven seals of precious truth unloosed, after you have wept much. Stones are not broken, except by an earnest use of the hammer; and the stone-breaker must go down on his knees. Use the hammer of diligence, and let the knee of prayer be exercised, and there is not a stony doctrine in revelation which is useful for you to understand, which will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayer. Thoughts and reasonings are like the steel wedges which give a hold upon truth; but prayer is the lever, the prise which forces open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the treasure hidden within.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Romans 5:12-21
12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; so death passed to all men, because all sinned.
13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren't like Adam's disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
15 But the free gift isn't like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
16 The gift is not as through one who sinned; for the judgement came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.
17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.
18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.
19 For as through the one man's disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.
20 The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
GRACE REIGNS!
When old Mr. Honest came to the river, and he entered the cold waters of death, the last words he was heard to utter by those who stood on the shore were these: - "Grace reigns!" All through his pilgrimage old Mr. Honest had been in Emmanuel's land where grace reigned night and day. It was through grace that he had found the way of life. It was through grace that he had been delivered from the beasts and pitfalls of the road. It was grace that had given him lilies of peace, and springs of refreshment, and the fine air that inspired him in difficult tasks. And in death he still found "grace abounding," and the Lord of the changing road was also Lord of the dark waters through which he passed into the radiant glories of the cloudless day.
In every yard of a faithful pilgrimage we shall find the decrees of sovereign love. We are never in alien country. "Grace reigns" in every hill and valley, through every green pasture and over every rugged road, in every moment of "the day of life," and in the last sharp passage through the transient night of death.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
February 21st.
Gracious Lord, may my heart be fixed on Thee! Save me from wandering affections, and from all distractions which would
impair the beauty and integrity of my discipleship.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.
Psalms 115:13
This is a word of cheer to those who are of humble station and mean estate. Our God has a very gracious consideration for those of small property, small talent, small influence, small weight. God careth for the small things in creation, and even regards sparrows in their lighting upon the ground. Nothing is small to God, for he makes use of insignificant agents for the accomplishment of his purposes. Let the least among men seek of God a blessing upon his littleness, and he shall find his contracted sphere to be a happy one.
Among those who fear the Lord there are little and great. Some are babes, and others are giants. But these are all blessed. Little faith is blessed faith. Trembling hope is blessed hope. Every grace of the Holy Spirit, even though it be only in the bud, bears a blessing within it. Moreover, the Lord Jesus bought both the small and the great with the same precious blood, and he has engaged to preserve the lambs as well as the full-grown sheep. No mother overlooks her child because it is little; nay, the smaller it is, the more tenderly does she nurse it. If there be any preference with the Lord, he does not arrange them as "great and small," but as "small and great."
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I charge thee, therefore, before God ... preach the word.
2 Timothy 4:1,2
If you are preaching an evangel with no vision of the Lord Christ, it is emasculated. If you are preaching an evangel without the value of His death, it is anaemic. If you are preaching an evangel with no virtue in it, it is sentimental. If you are preaching an evangel with no victory, it is hopeless.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.
Psalms 24:1
That is the fundamental note in the music of this song. Everything which follows must be interpreted by its message. If this Psalm was written - as it most probably was - for the occasion when the ark of God was taken into the city of the great king, and placed in the tent which David had prepared for it, the singer saw in that ceremony the symbol of greater things. These first words affirm the sovereignty of Jehovah over the whole earth. Everything is His by creative right. Then, some moral deflection, some necessity for the exercise of executive power, is recognized by the questions as to who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah. The answer to the question constituted a revelation of the fact that the government of the earth must be established on a moral foundation. The One Who is described, is set forth wholly in the matter of character. Let this be carefully considered. The passage of the description from the use of the singular pronoun to that of the plural, merely sets forth the fact that the generation to be associated with the One must conform to that character. The song immediately returns to the contemplation of the One, Who is now designated the King of Glory. His glory is that of those moral excellencies already described. In these He is "strong and mighty in battle." By this strength He passes to the place of power: in this might He overthrows all His foes: and gains, or regains, His true and rightful place of rule over the earth, and the fullness thereof. The holiness of the King is at once the secret of His strength in government, and the principle of His might in redemption.
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.