Daily Bible Notes: November, 5th
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
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.
Isaiah 54:17
This day is notable in English history for two great deliverances wrought by God for us. On this day the plot of the Papists to destroy our Houses of Parliament was discovered, 1605. "While for our princes they prepare In caverns deep a burning snare, He shot from heaven a piercing ray, And the dark treachery brought to day."
And secondly - to-day is the anniversary of the landing of King William III, at Torbay, by which the hope of Popish ascendancy was quashed, and religious liberty was secured, 1688.
This day ought to be celebrated, not by the saturnalia of striplings, but by the songs of saints. Our Puritan forefathers most devoutly made it a special time of thanksgiving. There is extant a record of the annual sermons preached by Matthew Henry on this day. Our Protestant feeling, and our love of liberty, should make us regard its anniversary with holy gratitude.
Let our hearts and lips exclaim, "We have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us the wondrous things which Thou didst in their day, and in the old time before them." Thou hast made this nation the home of the gospel; and when the foe has risen against her, Thou hast shielded her.
Help us to offer repeated songs for repeated deliverances. Grant us more and more a hatred of Antichrist, and hasten on the day of her entire extinction. Till then and ever, we believe the promise, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." Should it not be laid upon the heart of every lover of the gospel of Jesus on this day to plead for the overturning of false doctrines and the extension of divine truth? Would it not be well to search our own hearts, and turn out any of the Popish lumber of self-righteousness which may lie concealed therein?
Evening
Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.
Psalm 100:4
Our Lord would have all His people rich in high and happy thoughts concerning His blessed person. Jesus is not content that His brethren should think meanly of Him; it is His pleasure that His espoused ones should be delighted with His beauty. We are not to regard Him as a bare necessary, like to bread and water, but as a luxurious delicacy, as a rare and ravishing delight. To this end He has revealed Himself as the "pearl of great price" in its peerless beauty, as the "bundle of myrrh" in its refreshing fragrance, as the "rose of Sharon" in its lasting perfume, as the "lily" in its spotless purity.
As a help to high thoughts of Christ, remember the estimation that Christ is had in beyond the skies, where things are measured by the right standard. Think how God esteems the Only Begotten, His unspeakable gift to us. Consider what the angels think of Him, as they count it their highest honour to veil their faces at His feet. Consider what the blood-washed think of Him, as day without night they sing His well deserved praises. High thoughts of Christ will enable us to act consistently with our relations towards Him. The more loftily we see Christ enthroned, and the more lowly we are when bowing before the foot of the throne, the more truly shall we be prepared to act our part towards Him. Our Lord Jesus desires us to think well of Him, that we may submit cheerfully to His authority. High thoughts of Him increase our love. Love and esteem go together. Therefore, believer, think much of your Master’s excellencies.
Study Him in His primeval glory, before He took upon Himself your nature! Think of the mighty love which drew Him from His throne to die upon the cross! Admire Him as He conquers all the powers of hell! See Him risen, crowned, glorified! Bow before Him as the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God, for only thus will your love to Him be what it should.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Romans 12:1-9
1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
2 Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
3 For I say through the grace that was given me, to every man who is amongst you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.
4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don't have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another,
6 having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let's prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;
7 or service, let's give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting; he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
THE TEMPLE OF THE BODY
The Lord wants my body. He needs its members as ministers of righteousness. He would work in the world through my brain, and eyes, and ears, and lips, and hands, and feet.
And the Lord wants my body as "a living sacrifice." He asks for it when it is thoroughly alive! We so often deny the Lord our bodies until they are infirm and sickly, and sometimes we do not offer them to Him until they are quite "worn out." It is infinitely better to offer them even then than never to offer them at all. But it is best of all to offer our bodies to our Lord when they are strong, and vigorous, and serviceable, and when they can be used in the strenuous places of the field.
And so let me appoint a daily consecration service, and let me every morning present my body "a living sacrifice" unto God. Let me regard it as a most holy possession, and let me keep it clean. Let me recoil from all abuse of it - from all gluttony, and intemperance, and "riotous living." Let me look upon my body as a church, and let the service of consecration continue all day long. "Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit?"
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
November 5th.
My Saviour, I would praise Thee for the knowledge I have of life and immortality. I thank Thee for the lifting of the veil.
May I now walk as a child of the eternal! May I live as becometh a child of the Infinite! Make me worthy to be Thy son.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
Isaiah 57:16
Our heavenly Father seeks our instruction, not our destruction. His contention with us has a kind intention towards us. He will not be always in arms against us. We think the Lord is long in his chastisements, but that is because we are short in our patience. His compassion endureth for ever, but not his contention. The night may drag its weary length along, but it must in the end give place to cheerful day. As contention is only for a season, so the wrath which leads to it is only for a small moment. The Lord loves his chosen too well to be always angry with them.
If he were to deal with us always as he does sometimes we should faint outright, and go down hopelessly to the gates of death. Courage, dear heart! the Lord will soon end his chiding. Bear up, for the Lord will bear you up, and bear you through. He who made you knows how frail you are, and how little you can bear. He will handle tenderly that which he has fashioned so delicately. Therefore, be not afraid because of the painful present, for it hastens to a happy future. He that smote you will heal you; his little wrath shall be followed by great mercies.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
He looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Hebrews 11:10
See how Abraham, the father of the faithful, lived. "A tent and an altar, a tent and an altar." He pitched his tent and erected his altar. His altar was the mark of the fact that he lived in relationship to the Divine. The tent marked the fact that he was only a sojourner, a stranger, and a pilgrim upon the road.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Peace be unto you ... peace be unto you.
John 20:19 and 21
Twice our Lord uttered the words of greeting to His disciples on the evening of that first resurrection day. The words were not new. They were almost common-place, constituting as they did, the ordinary form with which men greeted each other. Yet how new and wonderful they were as He spoke them! They had behind them the authority of His death and resurrection. He had faced and defeated all the forces which destroy the peace of man. As He said, "Peace be unto you," He was doing infinitely more than expressing a wish. He was making a declaration. He was bestowing a benediction. He was imparting a blessing. The repetition was significant. The first was a greeting addressed to men who were filled with fear on account of the hostility in the midst of which they were living, the self-same hostility which had encompassed His death. He said: "Peace be unto you." The things you fear are powerless to harm you. Death is not the end; beyond it, behold Me alive! Be at peace, for whether in life or death you are safe. The second prefaced a commission. They were to be sent out, as He had been sent out, to accomplish a Divine purpose. Let them be at peace, knowing by the fact of His resurrection they would be victorious, even though they went His way of suffering and death. It is a striking commentary on these words of Jesus, that Christian souls have never had more perfect experience of peace than when they have been called upon to suffer for His Name.
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.