Daily Bible Notes: January, 27th
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
And of his fulness have all we received.
John 1:16
These words tell us that there is a fulness in Christ. There is a fulness of essential Deity, for "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead."
There is a fulness of perfect manhood, for in Him, bodily, that Godhead was revealed. There is a fulness of atoning efficacy in His blood, for "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." There is a fulness of justifying righteousness in His life, for "there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." There is a fulness of divine prevalence in His plea, for "He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him; seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." There is a fulness of victory in His death, for through death He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil. There is a fulness of efficacy in His resurrection from the dead, for by it "we are begotten again unto a lively hope." There is a fuIness of triumph in His ascension, for "when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received gifts for men." There is a fulness of blessings of every sort and shape; a fulness of grace to pardon, of grace to regenerate, of grace to sanctify, of grace to preserve, and of grace to perfect. There is a fulness at all times; a fulness of comfort in affliction; a fulness of guidance in prosperity. A fulness of every divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of love; a fulness which it were impossible to survey, much less to explore. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." Oh, what a fulness must this be of which all receive! Fulness, indeed, must there be when the stream is always flowing, and yet the well springs up as free, as rich, as full as ever. Come, believer, and get all thy need supplied; ask largely, and thou shalt receive largely, for this "fulness" is inexhaustible, and is treasured up where all the needy may reach it, even in Jesus, Immanuel - God with us.
Evening
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:19
There was an exercise, on the part of this blessed woman, of three powers of her being: her memory - she kept all these things; her affections - she kept them in her heart; her intellect - she pondered them; so that memory, affection, and understanding, were all exercised about the things which she had heard. Beloved, remember what you have heard of your Lord Jesus, and what He has done for you; make your heart the golden pot of manna to preserve the memorial of the heavenly bread whereon you have fed in days gone by. Let your memory treasure up everything about Christ which you have either felt, or known, or believed, and then let your fond affections hold Him fast for evermore. Love the person of your Lord!
Bring forth the alabaster box of your heart, even though it be broken, and let all the precious ointment of your affection come streaming on His pierced feet. Let your intellect be exercised concerning the Lord Jesus.
Meditate upon what you read: stop not at the surface; dive into the depths. Be not as the swallow which toucheth the brook with her wing, but as the fish which penetrates the lowest wave. Abide with your Lord: let Him not be to you as a wayfaring man, that tarrieth for a night, but constrain Him, saying, "Abide with us, for the day is far spent." Hold Him, and do not let Him go. The word "ponder, ‘ means to weigh. Make ready the balances of judgment. Oh, but where are the scales that can weigh the Lord Christ? "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing:" - who shall take Him up? "He weigheth the mountains in scales" - in what scales shall we weigh Him ? Be it so, if your understanding cannot comprehend, let your affections apprehend; and if your spirit cannot compass the Lord Jesus in the grasp of understanding, let it embrace Him in the arms of affection.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 51:1-12
1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me.
4 Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
5 Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.
6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
11 Don't throw me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
THE CONFESSION OF SIN
"I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me."
Sin that is unconfessed shuts out the energies of grace. Confession makes the soul receptive of the bountiful waters of life. We open the door to God as soon as we name our sin. Guilt that is penitently confessed is already in the "consuming fire" of God's love. When I "acknowledge my sin" I begin to enter into the knowledge of "pardon, joy, and peace." But if I hide my sin I also hide myself from "the unsearchable riches of Christ." "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
I must then make confession of sin in my daily exercises in the presence of the Lord. I am taking the way to recovered victory when I tell the Lord the story of my defeat. Satan strengthens his awful chains when he can induce me to keep silence concerning my sin. All his plans are thrown into confusion as soon as I "pour out my soul before the Lord." When I fall let me not add to my guilt the further sin of secrecy. Unconfessed sin breeds in its lurking-place and multiplies its hateful offspring. The soul that makes confession is washed through and through, and the seeds of iniquity are driven out of my soul.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
January 27th.
O God, lift me into the light to-day! May I not walk in darkness! May my mind and heart be illumined by Thy most cheery
grace! May thought and speech and deed be lit up that men may see that I am a child of light! Deliver me from the bondage of the night!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for all your evils that ye have commited.
Ezra 20:43
When we are accepted of the Lord, and are standing in the place of favour, and peace, and safety, then we are led to repent of all our failures and miscarriages towards our gracious God. So precious is repentance, that we may call it a diamond of the first water, and this is sweetly promised to the people of God as one most sanctifying result of salvation. He who accepts repentance, also gives repentance; and he gives it not out of "the bitter box," but from among those " wafers made with honey" on which he feeds his people. A sense of blood-bought pardon and of undeserved mercy, is the best means of dissolving a heart of stone. Are we feeling hard? Let us think of covenant love, and then we shall leave sin, lament sin, and loathe sin; yea, we shall loathe ourselves for sinning against such infinite love. Let us come to God with this promise of penitence, and ask him to help us to remember, and repent, and regret, and return. Oh, that we could enjoy the meltings of holy sorrow! What a relief would a flood of tears be! Lord, smite the rock, or speak to the rock, and cause the waters to flow!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart hath been secretly enticed ... This also were an iniquity ... for I should have denied the God that is above.
Job 32:26-28
The flowers, the hills, the sunshine, the birds, are full of beauty, but no man ever reaches God through nature.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Make it as sure as ye can.
Matthew 27:65
It is almost impossible to read these words of Pilate to the priests and Pharisees without detecting the tones of restless impatience, and of a sarcasm which was born of some great uncertainty in his own heart. He had passed through strange experiences in dealing with Jesus. Under stress of political expediency he had violated his own conscience, and had given Him over to death. But was He dead? Or if He was, what strange things might not be about to happen? Yes, said he, take the guard, make the sepulchre as sure as ye can! Perhaps Pilate really hoped that, if there were anything in the weirdly haunting fears that assaulted him, the guard might prevent their fulfilment; so strangely do men attempt to deal with spiritual forces by material means. In many different ways that is what evil is always saying. The one fact which it is necessary for evil to prevent or deny is that of the actual Resurrection. All the claims of Christianity depend upon that. If Jesus of Nazareth lived and died, and His dust remained in the Syrian tomb, then everything breaks down. Then His teaching was untrue. His avowed intention was frustrated. He was at the best, a deluded man, and we are deceived if we trust Him as Saviour and follow Him as Lord. But mark the limitation of the words, "as sure as ye can"; and whit the issue. Man's efforts to prove Him not risen are as futile as those he employed to prevent Him rising. He left the tomb triumphantly, and He emerges in new power and glory from every attempt to declare Him dead.
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.