Daily Bible Notes: November, 4th
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
For my strength is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9
A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. When God’s warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, "I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory," defeat is not far distant. God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for "it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."
They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess, shall return with their gay banners trailed in the dust, and their armour stained with disgrace.
Those who serve God must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth He casteth away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before He will put His own into thee; He will first clean out thy granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His battles but the strength which He Himself imparts. Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up. "When I am weak then am I strong, Grace is my shield and Christ my song."
Evening
In Thy light shall we see light.
Psalm 36:9
No lips can tell the love of Christ to the heart till Jesus Himself shall speak within. Descriptions all fall flat and tame unless the Holy Ghost fills them with life and power; till our Immanuel reveals Himself within, the soul sees Him not. If you would see the sun, would you gather together the common means of illumination, and seek in that way to behold the orb of day? No, the wise man knoweth that the sun must reveal itself, and only by its own blaze can that mighty lamp be seen. It is so with Christ. "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona:" said He to Peter, "for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee." Purify flesh and blood by any educational process you may select, elevate mental faculties to the highest degree of intellectual power, yet none of these can reveal Christ. The Spirit of God must come with power, and overshadow the man with His wings, and then in that mystic holy of holies the Lord Jesus must display Himself to the sanctified eye, as He doth not unto the purblind sons of men. Christ must be His own mirror. The great mass of this blear-eyed world can see nothing of the ineffable glories of Immanuel. He stands before them without form or comeliness, a root out of a dry ground, rejected by the vain and despised by the proud. Only where the Spirit has touched the eye with eye-salve, quickened the heart with divine life, and educated the soul to a heavenly taste, only there is He understood. "To you that believe He is precious"; to you He is the chief corner-stone, the Rock of your salvation, your all in all; but to others He is "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence."
Happy are those to whom our Lord manifests Himself, for His promise to such is that He will make His abode with them . O Jesus, our Lord, our heart is open, come in, and go out no more for ever. Show Thyself to us now! Favour us with a glimpse of Thine all-conquering charms.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 15:26 - 16:11
26 "When the Counsellor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1 "I have said these things to you so that you wouldn't be caused to stumble.
2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.
3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
4 But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn't tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'
6 But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don't go away, the Counsellor won't come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
8 When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgement;
9 about sin, because they don't believe in me;
10 about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won't see me any more;
11 about judgement, because the prince of this world has been judged.
THE HOLY SPIRIT AS WITNESS
The Holy Spirit is to be a witness of Jesus. "He shall testify of Me." He shall be "the Friend of the Bridegroom," and He shall sing the Bridegroom's grace, and goodness, and prowess, in the eager ear of the bride. And the early love of the bride shall become deeper and richer as more and more she enters into "the unsearchable riches of Christ."
And the Holy Spirit is thus to be a strengthener of the friends of the Lord. He will be my "Comforter." By His gracious advocacy He will make my faith and hope invincible. The best service which can be rendered me is not to change my circumstances, but to make me superior to them; not to make a smooth road, but to enable me to "leap like an hart" over any road; not to remove the darkness, but to make me "sing songs in the night." And so I will not pray for less burdens, but for more strength! And this is the gracious ministry of "The Comforter."
Holy Spirit, strengthen me! Transform my frail opinions into firm convictions, and change my fleeting, dissolving views into abiding visions!
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
November 4th.
My Father, I yield this new month to Thy keeping. May I enter into the gracious meaning of trust in Thee.
May I to-day know the gift of Thy peace! May I rest in the Lord! May my soul grow calm in the contemplation of the love of Christ!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be
filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.
2 Kings 3:16, 17
Three armies were perishing of thirst, and the Lord interposed. Although he sent neither cloud nor rain, yet he supplied an abundance of water. He is not dependent upon ordinary methods, but can surprise his people with novelties of wisdom and power. Thus are we made to see more of God than ordinary processes could have revealed. Although the Lord may not appear for us in the way we expect, or desire, or suppose, yet he will in some way or other provide for us. It is a great blessing for us to be raised above looking to secondary causes, so that we may gaze into the face of the great First Cause.
Have we this day grace enough to make trenches into which the divine blessing may flow? Alas! we too often fail in the exhibition of true and practical faith. Let us this day be on the outlook for answers to prayer. As the child who went to a meeting to pray for rain took an umbrella with her; so let us truly and practically expect the Lord to bless us. Let us make the valley full of ditches and expect to sec them all filled.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
Colossians 2:6
Every one of us exerts influences which will have their effect upon other lives, and the generations yet unborn will be lifted nearer God or thrust into deeper darkness, because we have lived and moved and had our being on the earth.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
It is finished.
John 19:30
Luke tells us that, "When Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father into Thy hands I commend My spirit, and having said this He gave up the ghost" (23:46). John says that, "He said, It is finished, and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." There can be no doubt that what He said "with a loud voice" was "It is finished." It was the cry of triumph. The hour was come, and He had accomplished all that was within the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He had entered into, and passed through, the deep mystery of spiritual death. In that experience He had cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and in that mystic cry revealed all that it is possible for men to know of that experience. All was over, except the physical dissolution which was the sacramental symbol of the spiritual death. To that He passed with calm composure as He said: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." In that exultant cry of accomplishment the soul of man hears the good news, of emancipation from all the slavery of sin, and of the possibility of realizing all the purposes of God. While there is much for man to do in working out his own salvation with fear and trembling, there is nothing for him to do to make his salvation possible. Everything is done, and now it is possible for God to work in us to will and to work of His good pleasure.
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.