Daily Bible Notes: June, 22nd
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 shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory.
Zechariah 6:13
Christ Himself is the builder of His spiritual temple, and He has built it on the mountains of His unchangeable affection, His omnipotent grace, and His infallible truthfulness. But as it was in Solomon’s temple, so in this; the materials need making ready. There are the "Cedars of Lebanon," but they are not framed for the building; they are not cut down, and shaped, and made into those planks of cedar, whose odoriferous beauty shall make glad the courts of the Lord’s house in Paradise. There are also the rough stones still in the quarry, they must be hewn thence, and squared. All this is Christ’s own work. Each individual believer is being prepared, and polished, and made ready for his place in the temple; but Christ’s own hand performs the preparation-work. Afflictions cannot sanctify, excepting as they are used by Him to this end. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashioneth our hearts aright.
As in the building of Solomon’s temple, "there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house," because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy - so is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made meet here - all that Christ will do beforehand; and when He has done it, we shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death, and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord. "Beneath His eye and care, The edifice shall rise, Majestic, strong, and fair, And shine above the skies."
Evening
That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Hebrews 12:27
We have many things in our possession at the present moment which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man to set much store by them, for there is nothing stable beneath these rolling skies; change is written upon all things. Yet, we have certain "things which cannot be shaken," and I invite you this evening to think of them, that if the things which can be shaken should all be taken away, you may derive real comfort from the things that cannot be shaken, which will remain. Whatever your losses have been, or may be, you enjoy present salvation. You are standing at the foot of His cross, trusting alone in the merit of Jesus’ precious blood, and no rise or fall of the markets can interfere with your salvation in Him; no breaking of banks, no failures and bankruptcies can touch that. Then you are a child of God this evening. God is your Father. No change of circumstances can ever rob you of that. Although by losses brought to poverty, and stripped bare, you can say, "He is my Father still. In my Father’s house are many mansions; therefore will I not be troubled." You have another permanent blessing, namely, the love of Jesus Christ . He who is God and Man loves you with all the strength of His affectionate nature - nothing can affect that. The fig tree may not blossom, and the flocks may cease from the field, it matters not to the man who can sing, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His." Our best portion and richest heritage we cannot lose. Whatever troubles come, let us play the man; let us show that we are not such little children as to be cast down by what may happen in this poor fleeting state of time. Our country is Immanuel’s land, our hope is above the sky, and therefore, calm as the summer’s ocean; we will see the wreck of everything earthborn, and yet rejoice in the God of our salvation.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Mark 9:33-41
33 He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing amongst yourselves on the way?"
34 But they were silent, for they had disputed with one another on the way about who was the greatest.
35 He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, "If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all."
36 He took a little child, and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,
37 "Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn't receive me, but him who sent me."
38 John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone who doesn't follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn't follow us."
39 But Jesus said, "Don't forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.
40 For whoever is not against us is on our side.
41 For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ's, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.
CHILDLIKENESS
It is the child-spirit that finds life's golden gates, and that finds them all ajar. The proudly aggressive spirit, contending for place and power, may force many a door, but they are not doors which open into enduring wealth and peace. Real inheritances become ours only through humility.
The proud are, therefore, self-deceived. They think they have succeeded when they have signally failed. They have the shadow, but they have missed the substance. They may have the applause of the world, but the angels sigh over their defeat. They pride themselves on having "got on"; the angels weep because they have "gone down."
When we grow away from childlikeness we are "in a decline." "God resisteth the proud; He giveth grace to the humble." The lowly make great discoveries; to them the earth is full of God's glory.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
June 22nd.
My Father, may my influence to-day be sweet and wholesome! May I inspire some desponding heart, even when I do
not know it, by the quiet confidence of my faith! May some fearful heart take courage because I am not afraid! May I cheer by my cheerfulness!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
Proverbs 10:27
There is no doubt about it. The fear of the Lord leads to virtuous habits, and these prevent that waste of life which comes of sin and vice. The holy rest which springs out of faith in the Lord Jesus also greatly helps a man when he is ill. Every physician rejoices to have a patient whose mind is fully at ease. Worry kills, but confidence in God is like healing medicine.
We have therefore all the arrangements for long life, and if it be really for our good, we shall see a good old age, and come to our graves as shocks of corn in their season. Let us not be overcome with sudden expectation of death the moment we have a finger-ache, but let us rather expect that we may have to work on through a considerable length of days.
And what if we should soon be called to the higher sphere? Certainly there would be nothing to deplore in such a summons, but everything to rejoice in. Living or dying we are the Lord's. If we live, Jesus will be with us; if we die, we shall be with Jesus.
The truest lengthening of life is to live while we live, wasting no time, but using every hour for the highest ends. So be it this day.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
This man's religion is vain.
James 1:26
That man cannot do anything for God in public places if his own home is devastated and broken up by the principle of rebellion against God. And if the influence a man is exerting on his family is an influence that scatters, that man is not with Christ.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
My soul followeth hard after Thee; Thy right hand upholdeth me.
Psalms 63:8
Once more we have a song of the wilderness. The title declares that, and we feel the atmosphere of loneliness and of abounding peril as we read. In these words we have a very striking description of the experience of the man of faith in such an hour. There is first the volitional activity, and then the deep sense of security. The activity of the will is expressed in the words: "My soul followeth hard after Thee." The word "hard" here means close. The thought might be expressed thus: "My soul cleaveth close to Thee." There is the sense of strain, of difficulty; but it is a declaration of resolute action. It is not easy to realize the nearness or presence of God, but there must be no giving up, no relaxing. This is the hour in which to bring all the powers of the being to bear on the one activity of keeping close to God. Then immediately we have a revelation of the sense of the soul in such resolute action. It is that God is near; His right hand is upholding. Indeed, it is by the upholding of that right hand that the soul is enabled to cleave close to God. This is a very valuable word, as it helps us to realize the inter-action between the soul's courage and confidence. If the determined maintenance of the attitude of relationship should be relaxed, the sense of that right hand would be weakened. It is equally true that if that right hand did not uphold, there could be no strength for cleaving. The one thing which is certain is that the right hand of God will never fail us. Let us see to it that our cleaving never weakens.
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.