Daily Bible Notes: July, 7th
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
Brethren, pray for us.
1 Thessalonians 5:25
This one morning in the year we reserved to refresh the reader’s memory upon the subject of prayer for ministers, and we do most earnestly implore every Christian household to grant the fervent request of the text first uttered by an apostle and now repeated by us. Brethren, our work is solemnly momentous, involving weal or woe to thousands; we treat with souls for God on eternal business, and our word is either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility rests upon us, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we be found clear of the blood of all men. As officers in Christ’s army, we are the especial mark of the enmity of men and devils; they watch for our halting, and labour to take us by the heels. Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are exempt, above all it too often draws us away from our personal enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration of it. We meet with many knotty cases, and our wits are at a non plus; we observe very sad backslidings, and our hearts are wounded; we see millions perishing, and our spirits sink. We wish to profit you by our preaching; we desire to be blest to your children; we long to be useful both to saints and sinners; therefore, dear friends, intercede for us with our God.
Miserable men are we if we miss the aid of your prayers, but happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings, and yet how many times has He given those blessings through His ministers; ask then, again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels into which the Lord may put the treasure of the gospel.
We, the whole company of missionaries, ministers, city missionaries, and students, do in the name of Jesus beseech you "BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US."
Evening
When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live.
Ezekiel 16:6
Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate (of mercy. Note that this fiat of God is majestic . In our text, we perceive a sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but wrath; but the eternal Lord passes by in His glory; l He looks. He pauses, and He pronounces the solitary but royal word, "Live." There speaks a God. Who but He could venture thus to deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again, this fiat is manifold .
When He saith "Live," it includes many things. Here is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be condemned, but the mighty One saith, "Live," and he rises pardoned and absolved. It is spiritual life. We knew not Jesus - our eyes could not see Christ, our ears could not hear His voice - Jehovah said "Live," and we were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Moreover, it includes glory-life, which is the perfection of spiritual life. "I said unto thee, Live:" and that word rolls on through all the years of time till death comes, and in the midst of the shadows of death, the Lord’s voice is still heard, "Live!" In the morning of the resurrection it is that self-same voice which is echoed by the arch-angel, "Live," and as Holy Spirits rise to heaven to be blest for ever in the glory of their God, it is in the power of this same word, "Live." Note again, that it is an irresistible mandate. Saul of Tarsus is on the road to Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God.
A voice is heard from heaven and a light is seen above the brightness of the sun, and Saul is crying out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" This mandate is a mandate of free grace . When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will do it to magnify His free, unpurchased, unsought grace. Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden you live, see to it that you live in earnest.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Isaiah 40:1-10
1 "Comfort, comfort my people," says your God.
2 "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins."
3 The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.
5 The LORD's glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it."
6 The voice of one saying, "Cry!" One said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because the LORD's breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever."
9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don't be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
IN THE GOLDEN AGE
And so these things are to happen when the Lord has come to His own, and His decrees are honoured in our midst.
Certain inequalities are to be ended. Valleys are to be exalted, and mountains are to be made low. There is to be a levelling! Men are to be equal in freedom and opportunity.
Certain crookednesses are to be ended. They are to be "made straight." Society has become warped with the heat of lust, and the fierce fever of competition, and the hot, devouring fires of greed. When the Lord is enthroned the fires will be put out, the heat will pass, and the twisted fellowships will be rectified.
Certain roughnesses are to be ended. Class works against class with jagged edge, like the teeth of a saw. They tear and rend one another, and the family of God is always bleeding. These "rough places" are to be "made plain." We are to "work in to one another," smoothly, congenially, in a frictionless peace.
And this Lord is coming, coming every day, and "His arm shall rule for Him." "Say unto the cities of Judah - Behold your God!"
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
July 7th.
Lord of all grace, I lift my soul unto Thee. Wilt Thou water it and revive it? May I not grow faint in Thy service!
May I keep in such communion with the springs that I may be continually refreshed!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will
have mercy upon his afflicted.
Isaiah 49:13
So sweet are the comforts of the Lord, that not only the saints themselves may sing of them, but even the heavens and the earth may take up the song. It takes something to make a mountain sing; and yet the prophet summons quite a choir of them. Lebanon, and Sirion, and the high hills of Bashan and Moab, he would set them all singing because of Jehovah's grace to his own Zion. May we not also make mountains of difficulty, and trial, and mystery, and labour become occasions for praise unto our God? "Break forth into singing, O mountains!"
This word of promise, that our God will have mercy upon his afflicted, has a whole peal of bells connected with it. Hear their music - "Sing!" "Be joyful!" "Break forth into singing." The Lord would have his people happy because of his unfailing love. He would not have us sad and doubtful; he claims from us the worship of believing hearts. He cannot fail us: why should we sigh or sulk as if he would do so? Oh for a well-tuned harp! Oh for voices like those of the cherubim before the throne!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
1 John 3:24, R.V.
As when our blessed Lord was transfigured upon the mountain it was not the transfiguring of a glory that fell upon Him, but that of a glory that was already resident within Him, outshining through the veil of His flesh, so, when the Spirit seals, He does so by the gift of life, which is able to transform character.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Is it so, that there cannot be found among you one wise man?
1 Corinthians 6:5
There was in this question a note of definite, if gentle, sarcasm. Some members of the church in Corinth were engaged in litigation, and taking their cases before the courts of the city. This, according to the mind of the Apostle, was wrong. All such disputes among the saints should be settled before a court of saints. Where it was not so, there was cause for shame. "Is it so," said the Apostle, "that there cannot be found among you one wise man?" Much is involved in this question, and the view of the Church which it postulates. It is questionable whether the Church has ever risen to the height of his conception in actual practice. The Church is here viewed as being a society, a house-hold, self-contained; having the power and right to deal with all matters arising within itself; having no need to seek guidance or direction from those beyond its own borders; and consequently lowering the standard of her life, and weakening the power of her testimony, when she allows any interference with the affairs of her own members from those outside her fellowship. In cases in which the principles and practices of righteousness have to be maintained as between members of the Church, and those who are outside its borders, it is right and necessary to appeal to civil courts, as Paul himself did more than, once. But the relationship between Christians in Christ is so close, so wide, that there can be no dispute or difficulty that cannot be adjusted by the Church itself in His wisdom and in His grace.
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.