Daily Bible Notes: March, 15th
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
Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:1
Christ has grace without measure in Himself, but He hath not retained it for Himself. As the reservoir empties itself into the pipes, so hath Christ emptied out His grace for His people. "Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." He seems only to have in order to dispense to us. He stands like the fountain, always flowing, but only running in order to supply the empty pitchers and the thirsty lips which draw nigh unto it. Like a tree, He bears sweet fruit, not to hang on boughs, but to be gathered by those who need. Grace, whether its work be to pardon, to cleanse, to preserve, to strengthen, to enlighten, to quicken, or to restore, is ever to be had from Him freely and without price; nor is there one form of the work of grace which He has not bestowed upon His people. As the blood of the body, though flowing from the heart, belongs equally to every member, so the influences of grace are the inheritance of every saint united to the Lamb; and herein there is a sweet communion between Christ and His Church, inasmuch as they both receive the same grace. Christ is the head upon which the oil is first poured; but the same oil runs to the very skirts of the garments, so that the meanest saint has an unction of the same costly moisture as that which fell upon the head. This is true communion when the sap of grace flows from the stem to the branch, and when it is perceived that the stem itself is sustained by the very nourishment which feeds the branch. As we day by day receive grace from Jesus, and more constantly recognize it as coming from Him, we shall behold Him in communion with us, and enjoy the felicity of communion with Him. Let us make daily use of our riches, and ever repair to Him as to our own Lord in covenant, taking from Him the supply of all we need with as much boldness as men take money from their own purse.
Evening
He did it with all his heart and prospered.
2 Chronicles 31:21
This is no unusual occurrence; it is the general rule of the moral universe that those men prosper who do their work with all their hearts, while those are almost certain to fail who go to their labour leaving half their hearts behind them. God does not give harvests to idle men except harvests of thistles, nor is He pleased to send wealth to those who will not dig in the field to find its hid treasure. It is universally confessed that if a man would prosper, he must be diligent in business. It is the same in religion as it is in other things. If you would prosper in your work for Jesus, let it be heart work, and let it be done with all your heart. Put as much force, energy, heartiness, and earnestness into religion as ever you do into business, for it deserves far more. The Holy Spirit helps our infirmities, but He does not encourage our idleness; He loves active believers. Who are the most useful men in the Christian church? The men who do what they undertake for God with all their hearts . Who are the most successful Sabbath-school teachers? The most talented? No; the most zealous; the men whose hearts are on fire, those are the men who see their Lord riding forth prosperously in the majesty of His salvation. Whole-heartedness shows itself in perseverance ; there may be failure at first, but the earnest worker will say, "It is the Lord’s work, and it must be done; my Lord has bidden me do it, and in His strength I will accomplish it." Christian, art thou thus "with all thine heart" serving thy Master? Remember the earnestness of Jesus! Think what heart-work was His! He could say, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up ." When He sweat great drops of blood, it was no light burden He had to carry upon those blessed shoulders; and when He poured out His heart, it was no weak effort He was making for the salvation of His people. Was Jesus in earnest, and are we lukewarm?
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 11:32-45
32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died."
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They told him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Jesus wept.
36 The Jews therefore said, "See how much affection he had for him!"
37 Some of them said, "Couldn't this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?"
38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see God's glory?"
41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, "Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me."
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Free him, and let him go."
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.
JESUS AT A GRAVE
Here is Jesus weeping. "Jesus wept." Why did He weep? Perhaps He wept out of sheer sympathy with the tears of others. And perhaps, too, He wept because some of our tears were needless. If we were better men we should know more of the love and purpose of our Lord, and perhaps many of our tears would be dried. Still, here is the sweet and heartening evangel. He sympathizes with my grief! Never a bitter tear is shed without my Lord sharing the tang and the pang.
Here is Jesus praying! "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me." Then it is not so much a prayer as a thanksgiving. He gives thanks for what He is "about to receive." Is this my way? Perhaps I do it before I take a meal. Do I do it before I begin to live the day? In the morning do I thank my God for what I am about to receive? Can I confidently give thanks before I receive the gifts of God, before the dish-covers are removed? Can I trust Him?
And here is Jesus commanding, clothed in sovereign power: "Lazarus, come forth!" That is the same voice which "in the beginning created the heavens and the earth."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
March 15th.
Great God, may I not belittle Thee by little thoughts about Thee! Help me to have large conceptions of Thy love and
holiness, that I may be allured into a large and sanctified life.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries,
yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Ezekiel 11:16
Banished from the public means of grace, we are not removed from the grace of the means. The Lord who places his people where they feel as exiles will himself be with them, and be to them all that they could have had at home, in the place of their solemn assemblies. Take this to yourselves, O ye who are called to wander!
God is to his people a place of refuge. They find sanctuary with him from every adversary. He is their place of worship too. He is with them as with Jacob when he slept in the open field, and rising, said, "Surely God was in this place." To them also he will be a sanctuary of quiet, like the Holy of Holies, which was the noiseless abode of the Eternal. They shall be quiet from fear of evil.
God himself, in Christ Jesus, is the sanctuary of mercy. The ark of the covenant is the Lord Jesus, and Aaron's rod, the pot of manna, the tables of the law, all are in Christ our sanctuary. In God we find the shrine of holiness and of communion. What more do we need? O Lord, fulfil this promise, and be ever to us as a little sanctuary!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
God said, Let there be light.
Genesis 1:3
God works in all things; all obey His first propulsion from the night; Wake thou and watch! the world is grey With morning light. J. G. Whittier.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
They told Him all things, whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they had taught.
Mark 6:30
That is an account of how the first Apostolic mission ended. After a period of preparation by being with Him, they had been sent out by two and two to do His work, and thus enlarge the area of His activity. They had been successful in all the work to which He had appointed them. As a result of their mission, "His name had become known" more widely. Then they returned to him and they came back to report. The picture suggested is a very beautiful one. The Lord Who had sent them, and Who had never been separated from them during their absence, is seen listening to them as they told Him the things He knew perfectly. The sequel shows that He understood that such work is costly. They were tired, and He called them to rest awhile. Are we not a little in danger of missing the real value of this story? We are more apt to report what we have done, for Him to each other, and to the world, than to Him. Such reporting is not necessarily wrong. But for our own souls' good, and for our more perfect equipment for further service, it is better to report to Him. Yet this is a largely neglected activity. It is not prayer. It is not praise. It is telling Him what we have done and taught. Regularly to do this would be to make us more than ever careful in all our doing, and all our teaching.
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.