Daily Bible Notes: October, 21st
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
The love of Christ constraineth us.
2 Corinthians 5:14
How much owest thou unto my Lord? Has He ever done anything for thee? Has He forgiven thy sins? Has He covered thee with a robe of righteousness? Has He set thy feet upon a rock? Has He established thy goings? Has He prepared heaven for thee? Has He prepared thee for heaven? Has He written thy name in His book of life? Has He given thee countless blessings? Has He laid up for thee a store of mercies, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard? Then do something for Jesus worthy of His love. Give not a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your Master comes, if you have to confess that you did nothing for Him, but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing forth to His poor or to His work. Out on such love as that! What do men think of a love which never shows itself in action? Why, they say, "Open rebuke is better than secret love." Who will accept a love so weak that it does not actuate you to a single deed of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism, or zeal! Think how He has loved you, and given Himself for you!
Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin. "For Christ’s sake" be this the tongue of fire that shall sit upon you: "for Christ’s sake" be this the divine rapture, the heavenly afflatus to bear you aloft from earth, the divine spirit that shall make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord’s service. Love should give wings to the feet of service, and strength to the arms of labour.
Fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, resolute to honour Him with a determination that is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with an ardour never to be wearied, let us manifest the constraints of love to Jesus. May the divine loadstone draw us heavenward towards itself.
Evening
Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Luke 24:38
"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?" The Lord cares for all things, and the meanest creatures share in His universal providence, but His particular providence is over His saints. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him." "Precious shall their blood be in His sight." "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose." Let the fact that, while He is the Saviour of all men, He is specially the Saviour of them that believe, cheer and comfort you. You are His peculiar care; His regal treasure which He guards as the apple of His eye; His vineyard over which He watches day and night. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered."
Let the thought of His special love to you be a spiritual pain-killer, a dear quietus to your woe: "I will never leave thee , nor forsake thee ." God says that as much to you as to any saint of old. "Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." We lose much consolation by the habit of reading His promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word with a personal, appropriating faith. Think that you hear Jesus say, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." Think you see Him walking on the waters of thy trouble, for He is there, and He is saying, "Fear not, it is I; be not afraid."
Oh, those sweet words of Christ! May the Holy Ghost make you feel them as spoken to you ; forget others for awhile - accept the voice of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, "Jesus whispers consolation; I cannot refuse it; I will sit under His shadow with great delight."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Isaiah 57:13-21
13 When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver you; but the wind will take them. a breath will carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain."
14 He will say, "Build up, build up, prepare the way! Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people."
15 For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.
17 I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness and struck him. I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.
19 I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near," says the LORD; "and I will heal them."
20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can't rest and its waters cast up mire and mud.
21 "There is no peace", says my God, "for the wicked."
THE CONTRITE HEART
Let us look at this description of the dwelling-place of the Eternal God. "I dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit."
And who are the contrite? In the original word there is the significance of pieces of rock or lumps of soil having been crumbled into the finest powder. Have I not sometimes heard the phrase - "He's just a lump of pride"? Well, that pride has to be broken down into the finest powder, until not a bit of stubborn self-conceit remains. And then the contrite become the humble! Our gracious Lord has sometimes to use heavy hammers in the destruction of this hard and stony pride: the shock of calamity, the battering of disappointment and defeat! Our pride must be ground to powder. Then He will come in and dwell with us!
And what then? He will "revive the spirit of the humble, and revive the heart of the contrite ones." Our broken pride shall be as broken soil in which our Lord will grow the flowers and fruits of the Spirit. The death of pride shall be followed by a revival of all things sweet and beautiful. When pride is laid low, it is a "day of resurrection." The wilderness shall "blossom as the rose."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
October 21st.
My Father, teach me ever deeper meanings in the purpose of life. Save me from abusing my days. Give me a sense of the
unspeakable value of time. May I so live as to place a jewel in every moment! May the entire day shine like fine gold!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.
Isaiah 60:22
Works for the Lord often begin on a small scale, and they are none the worse for this. Feebleness educates faith, brings God near, and wins glory for his name. Prize promises of increase. Mustard seed is the smallest among seeds, and yet it becomes a tree-like plant, with branches which lodge the birds of heaven. We may begin with one, and that "a little one," and yet it will "become a thousand." The Lord is great at the multiplication table. How often did he say to his lone servant, "I will multiply thee"! Trust in the Lord, ye ones and twos; for he will be in the midst of you if you are gathered in his name.
"A small one." What can be more despicable in the eyes of those who count heads and weigh forces! Yet this is the nucleus of a great nation. Only one star shines out at first in the evening, but soon the sky is crowded with countless lights.
Nor need we think the prospect of increase to be remote, for the promise is, "I Jehovah will hasten it in his time." There will be no premature haste, like that which we see at excited meetings; it will be all in due time; but yet there will be no delay. When the Lord hastens, his speed is glorious.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
This is the school time and we are all at school still. But presently there is Commencement, passing out into the eternal. Get that vision and obey it, and these nearer things toward which you look today, life, life strenuous, life successful, these nearer things will not perish, they will not be spoiled, but they will be made to contribute to the great finality, and so find their own fulfilling.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
If ye believed Moses, ye would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.
John 5:46
This most explicit statement of our Lord has a double value for us. It first sets the seal of His authority upon the Pentateuch. It also gives us the key to the interpretation thereof. When He referred to "Moses" there can be no question that He did so knowing exactly how the reference would be understood of the Jews to whom He was speaking. The name "Moses" was thus constantly employed to describe the first five books of the Canon. Here our Lord not only referred to them thus technically, but He did so in such a way as to show that He thought of them as actually written by Moses. To say He was accommodating His language to ignorance would be to charge Him with perpetuating ignorance. Of these writings He said that they were concerned with Him. That is the key to their interpretation. In their history we are to discover the first movements towards His advent. In their teachings we are to discover the first unveilings of His ethical standards. In their revelations of God we are to discover the elements which were to have final interpretation in Him. Thus the writings of Moses were prophetic. In them nothing was completed. They pointed on to other things, which came to pass when He came. Thus in this word we find at once the authority and limitation of Moses.
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.