Daily Bible Notes: July, 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
After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1 Peter 5:10
You have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established . How can it be? A glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops, how can it abide? The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no "baseless fabric of a vision," but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you. But notice how this blessing of being "stablished in the faith" is gained. The apostle’s words point us to suffering as the means employed - "After that ye have suffered awhile ." It is of no use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of the many storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way. So the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.
Evening
Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
Joel 1:3
In this simple way, by God’s grace, a living testimony for truth is always to be kept alive in the land - the beloved of the Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next descendants. This is our first duty, we are to begin at the family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord’s arrangements. To teach our children is a personal duty; we cannot delegate it to Sunday School Teachers, or other friendly aids, these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental teaching is a natural duty - who so fit to look to the child’s well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish. Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand plots Popery is covertly advancing in our land, and one of the most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost neglected, namely, the instruction of children in the faith. Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be an accepted work, for God has saved the children through the parents’ prayers and admonitions. May every house into which this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive His smile.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 3:23-36
23 John also was baptising in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptised;
24 for John was not yet thrown into prison.
25 Therefore a dispute arose on the part of John's disciples with some Jews about purification.
26 They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he baptises, and everyone is coming to him."
27 John answered, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.
28 You yourselves testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before him.'
29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
32 What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.
33 He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.
34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
36 One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won't see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
THE FRIEND OF THE BRIDEGROOM
"He that hath the bride is the bridegroom."
We ministers sometimes speak of "my church." I occasionally read of Mr. So-and-So's church! I know that the phrase is colloquially used, but nevertheless, it is unfortunate. Words that are perversely used tend to pervert the spirit. And this phrase tends to displace the Bridegroom. It helps to make us obtrusive, unduly aggressive, when we ought to be reverently hiding our faces with our wings. The Bride is His!
"But the friend of the bridegroom." That is my place, and that is my dignity. And what a title it is, making me a member of the finest and most select aristocracy in heaven or on earth! The "friend of the bridegroom" used to carry messages to the bride, to share in the wooing, and to help to bring the wedding about. And that, too, is my gracious office, to be a match-maker for my Lord, to testify concerning Him, to speak His praises, until the soul "fall in love" with Him.
"He must increase, but I must decrease." Yes, when the sun is rising the moon becomes dim! When the glory of the Bridegroom breaks upon the bride He becomes "all in all," "the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
July 11th.
Almighty God, wilt Thou shield me this day from all spiritual danger? May none of my circumstances do me harm! May everything
bring me good! May even my apparent enemies endue me with spiritual treasure!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
John 11:26
Yes, Lord, we believe it; we shall never die. Our soul may be separated from our body, and this is death of a kind; but our soul shall never be separated from God, which is the true death - the death which was threatened to sin - the death penalty which is the worst that can happen. We believe this most assuredly, for who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? We are members of the body of Christ; will Christ lose parts of his body? We are married to Jesus; will he be bereaved and widowed? It is not possible. There is a life within us which is not capable of being divided from God: yea, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us, and how then can we die? Jesus, himself, is our life, and therefore there is no dying for us, for he cannot die again. In him we died unto sin once, and the capital sentence cannot a second time be executed. Now we live, and live for ever. The reward of righteousness is life everlasting, and we have nothing less than the righteousness of God, and therefore can claim the very highest reward.
Living and believing, we believe that we shall live and enjoy. Wherefore we press forward with full assurance that our life is secure in our living Head.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Matthew 6:24 – Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Christ revealed the antithesis between the two great forces which govern human lives, God and mammon. God governs man through the spiritual side of man's nature, and man can only be governed in the highest aspect of his life when he is so governed. Mammon, which stands for all the worldly power and worldly greatness, ... as a governing force issues in the degradation of man.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
These things were our examples.
1 Corinthians 10:6
Here is our warrant for reading our Old Testament history in order to the strengthening of our life of faith. Paul covers the whole ground first, and then gives some illustrations. All God's ancient people were delivered, all shared the sustenance He provided; but "most of them ... were overthrown in the wilderness," and so failed to reach God's intended goal, the Land of Promise. The illustrations follow. They lusted after evil things; they became idolaters; they committed fornication; they tempted the Lord; they murmured; and by these things they failed. Every reference is to some incident the history of which is found in the Old Testament. This gives us a key to the true method of studying those stories. The times have changed. All the material and even mental surroundings are entirely different. But the spiritual things abide unchanged. Moreover, all these stories are concerned with people who lived in the comparative twilight of the revelation by law. We live in the full light of the revelation by Grace. Nevertheless, the principles of relationship are the same. Thus we may read with profit these stories of the men of the past, and of God's dealings with them, always remembering with holy fear that we have at our disposal in Christ greater spiritual resources than they had. Such remembrance will not make us careless, but more full of care, lest we fail as they failed. "If they escaped not, when they refused Him that warned them on earth, much more shall not we escape, who turn away from Him that warneth from heaven" (Heb. 12:25).
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.