Daily Bible Notes: July, 26th
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
Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge, etc.
2 Peter 1:5,
If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit’s influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, "Give diligence ." Take care that thy faith is of the right kind - that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to thy courage . Plead with God that He would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest, with a consciousness of right, go on boldly. Study well the Scriptures, and get knowledge ; for a knowledge of doctrine will tend very much to confirm faith. Try to understand God’s Word; let it dwell in thy heart richly.
When thou hast done this, "Add to thy knowledge temperance ." Take heed to thy body: be temperate without. Take heed to thy soul: be temperate within. Get temperance of lip, life, heart, and thought. Add to this, by God’s Holy Spirit, patience ; ask Him to give thee that patience which endureth affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come forth as gold.
Array yourself with patience, that you may not murmur nor be depressed in your afflictions. When that grace is won look to godliness . Godliness is something more than religion. Make God’s glory your object in life; live in His sight; dwell close to Him; seek for fellowship with Him; and thou hast "godliness"; and to that add brotherly love . Have a love to all the saints: and add to that a charity , which openeth its arms to all men, and loves their souls. When you are adorned with these jewels, and just in proportion as you practise these heavenly virtues, will you come to know by clearest evidence "your calling and election." "Give diligence," if you would get assurance, for lukewarmness and doubting very naturally go hand in hand.
Evening
That He may set him with princes.
Psalm 113:8
Our spiritual privileges are of the highest order. "Among princes" is the place of select society . "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." Speak of select society, there is none like this! "We are a chosen generation, a peculiar people, a royal priesthood." "We are come unto the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven." The saints have courtly audience : princes have admittance to royalty when common people must stand afar off. The child of God has free access to the inner courts of heaven. "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." "Let us come boldly," says the apostle, "to the throne of the heavenly grace." Among princes there is abundant wealth , but what is the abundance of princes compared with the riches of believers? for "all things are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s." "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
Princes have peculiar power . A prince of heaven’s empire has great influence: he wields a sceptre in his own domain; he sits upon Jesus’ throne, for "He hath made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign for ever and ever." We reign over the united kingdom of time and eternity. Princes, again, have special honour . We may look down upon all earth-born dignity from the eminence upon which grace has placed us. For what is human grandeur to this, "He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"? We share the honour of Christ, and compared with this, earthly splendours are not worth a thought. Communion with Jesus is a richer gem than ever glittered in imperial diadem. Union with the Lord is a coronet of beauty outshining all the blaze of imperial pomp.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 3:1-21
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 The same came to him by night, and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him."
3 Jesus answered him, "Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can't see God's Kingdom."
4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
5 Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into God's Kingdom.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'
8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
9 Nicodemus answered him, "How can these things be?"
10 Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and don't understand these things?
11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don't receive our witness.
12 If I told you earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13 No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn't believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
19 This is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God."
THE WELLS OF SALVATION
The springs of our redemption are found in infinite love. "God is love!" Redemption was not inspired by anger, but by grace. We do not contemplate an angry God, demanding a victim, but a compassionate Father making a sacrifice. At one extreme of our golden text is eternal "love," and at the other extreme is "eternal life." What if the two are one? Etymologically, "love" and "life" are akin. What if they are only two names for the same thing?
To "believe" in the love is to receive the life. For when I believe in a person's love I open my doors to the lover. And to believe in the love of God is to let the heavenly Lover in. And with love comes a wonderful tropical air - light, and warmth, and air; and "all things become new!" It is the letting in of the spring, and things which have been in wintry bondage awake, and arise from their graves.
And so I "enter into the kingdom of God." I become a native of a new and marvellous country. I begin to be acclimatized in the realm of the blest. And I "see the kingdom of God." Spiritual perceptions become mine, and I gaze upon the mystic glories of the home of God.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
July 26th.
Lord of glory, wilt Thou raise me into greater spiritual refinement? I would discern the eternal more clearly. May I see
the heavenly when it is in close contact with the earthly life! May I always see the things that are above!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali; for I will take away the names of
Baalim out of her month, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
Hosea 2:16,17
That day has come. We view our God no more as Baal, our tyrant lord and mighty master, for we are not under law, but under grace. We now think of Jehovah, our God, as our Ishi, our beloved husband, our lord in love, our next-of-kin in bonds of sacred relationship. We do not reverence him less, but we love him more. We do not serve him less obediently, but we serve him for a higher and more endearing reason. We no longer tremble under his lash, but rejoice in his love. The slave is changed into a child, and the task into a pleasure.
Is it so with thee, dear reader? Has grace cast out slavish fear and implanted filial love? How happy are we in such an experience! Now we call the Sabbath a delight, and worship is never a weariness. Prayer is now a privilege, and praise is a holiday. To obey is heaven; to give to the cause of God is a banquet. Thus have all things become new. Our mouth is filled with singing, and our heart with music. Blessed be our heavenly Ishi for ever and for ever.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth.
I Peter 1:22, R.V.
Truth is a sanctifying force, and a man holds the truth only when he is held by the truth. When truth possesses a man, all its glory and beauty are manifested through his life and character.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
2 Corinthians 9:15
Thus Paul ended all he had been writing about giving. It was an exclamation, revealing the inspiration of all he had been saying, and of all these people had been doing, and were now being urged to continue to do. They had given, they were urged to continue to give, in order to meet the need of their fellow-believers who were suffering. Why should they do so? What motive would be sufficiently strong to inspire them to do so? The answer is found in this exclamation. They were children of God, and they were such because He had given His only-begotten Son. It was indeed "His unspeakable gift." It is safe to say that about nothing in human history has so much been spoken as about this gift of God. One moment's thought of all the literature of the Christian Church will prove that this is so. Yet it remains an unspeakable gift; a gift about which, however much may be said, the final thing can never be said. The things spoken concerning it are only of value as they ultimately lead the soul to the speechlessness of adoring awe and wonder, in which it comes nearer to apprehension of the ultimate meaning and value of the gift than in any other way. This gift then is the inspiration and type of true Christian giving. Whenever we are called upon to give, let us first think of the unspeakable gift of God. Then love will be the inspiration of our giving, sacrifice will be its measure, and real blessing to others its result.
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.