Daily Bible Notes: September, 27th
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
Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord!
Deuteronomy 33:29
He who affirms that Christianity makes men miserable, is himself an utter stranger to it. It were strange indeed, if it made us wretched, for see to what a position it exalts us ! It makes us sons of God. Suppose you that God will give all the happiness to His enemies, and reserve all the mourning for His own family? Shall His foes have mirth and joy, and shall His home-born children inherit sorrow and wretchedness? Shall the sinner, who has no part in Christ, call himself rich in happiness, and shall we go mourning as if we were penniless beggars? No, we will rejoice in the Lord always, and glory in our inheritance, for we "have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." The rod of chastisement must rest upon us in our measure, but it worketh for us the comfortable fruits of righteousness; and therefore by the aid of the divine Comforter, we, the "people saved of the Lord," will joy in the God of our salvation. We are married unto Christ; and shall our great Bridegroom permit His spouse to linger in constant grief? Our hearts are knit unto Him: we are His members, and though for awhile we may suffer as our Head once suffered, yet we are even now blessed with heavenly blessings in Him. We have the earnest of our inheritance in the comforts of the Spirit, which are neither few nor small.
Heritors of joy for ever, we have foretastes of our portion. There are streaks of the light of joy to herald our eternal sunrising. Our riches are beyond the sea; our city with firm foundations lies on the other side the river; gleams of glory from the spirit-world cheer our hearts, and urge us onward. Truly is it said of us, "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord?"
Evening
My Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for Him.
Song of Solomon 5:4
Knocking was not enough, for my heart was too full of sleep, too cold and ungrateful to arise and open the door, but the touch of His effectual grace has made my soul bestir itself. Oh, the longsuffering of my Beloved, to tarry when He found Himself shut out, and me asleep upon the bed of sloth! Oh, the greatness of His patience, to knock and knock again, and to add His voice to His knockings, beseeching me to open to Him! How could I have refused Him! Base heart, blush and be confounded! But what greatest kindness of all is this, that He becomes His own porter and unbars the door Himself. Thrice blessed is the hand which condescends to lift the latch and turn the key. Now I see that nothing but my Lord’s own power can save such a naughty mass of wickedness as I am; ordinances fail, even the gospel has no effect upon me, till His hand is stretched out. Now, also, I perceive that His hand is good where all else is unsuccessful, He can open when nothing else will. Blessed be His name, I feel His gracious presence even now. Well may my bowels move for Him, when I think of all that He has suffered for me, and of my ungenerous return. I have allowed my affections to wander. I have set up rivals. I have grieved Him. Sweetest and dearest of all beloveds, I have treated Thee as an unfaithful wife treats her husband. Oh, my cruel sins, my cruel self. What can I do? Tears are a poor show of my repentance, my whole heart boils with indignation at myself.
Wretch that I am, to treat my Lord, my All in All, my exceeding great joy, as though He were a stranger. Jesus, thou forgivest freely, but this is not enough, prevent my unfaithfulness in the future. Kiss away these tears, and then purge my heart and bind it with sevenfold cords to Thyself, never to wander more.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 6:52-63
52 The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
53 Jesus therefore said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have life in yourselves.
54 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me.
58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven-not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever."
59 He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
60 Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?"
61 But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?
62 Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
63 It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
TAKE AND EAT
There is, first of all, appropriation. I must "stretch out" "lame hands of faith"; and "take" before I "eat." In the lives of many Christians there is too much asking and too little taking. If it were only rightly regarded, prayer is companionship as well as petition, and companionship is literally significant of the sharing of bread. In every season of communion a part must be assigned to the taking of the things for which we have prayed. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."
And there is assimilation. We must "eat" as well as "take." It is in the exercises of obedience that we digest and incorporate the bread of life. Without our obedience the living Lord never becomes "part of ourselves." We never "become one in the bundle of life" with the Lord our God. And truth which is not assimilated becomes a drug. Instead of being a "savour of life unto life," it becomes a "savour of death unto death."
And there is vitalization. The assimilated bread of life makes everything alive. Every faculty in my being feels the touch of divine inspiration. It is native bread for native power, and everything is renewed.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
September 27th.
My risen Lord, help me to live in the heavenly places with Thee. May I bring the heavenly into the earthly!
May all my duties be pervaded with the heavenly spirit! May my life be hid in Thine!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
For thou wilt light my candle.
Psalms 18:28
It may be that my soul sits in darkness; and if this be of a spiritual kind, no human power can bring me light. Blessed be God! he can enlighten my darkness, and at once light my candle. Even though I may be surrounded by a "darkness which might be felt," yet he can break the gloom, and immediately make it bright around me.
The mercy is, that if he lights the candle none can blow it out, neither will it go out for lack of substance, nor burn out of itself through the lapse of hours. The lights which the Lord kindled in the beginning are shining still. The Lord's lamps may need trimming, but he does not put them out.
Let me, then, like the nightingale, sing in the dark. Expectation shall furnish me with music, and hope shall pitch the tune. Soon I shall rejoice in a candle of God's lighting. I am dull and dreary just now. Perhaps it is the weather, or bodily weakness, or the surprise of a sudden trouble; but whatever has made the darkness, it is God alone who will bring the light. My eyes are unto him alone. I shall soon have the candle of the Lord shining about me; and, further on in his own good time, I shall be where they need no candle, neither light of the sun. Hallelujah!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
He that is not against us is for us.
Luke 9:5
In proportion as you may hold the Truth, you will become loving toward those who differ from you ... We may rest assured that, in the day when we have full knowledge granted unto us, we shall discover that the men of whom we were most afraid, have held truth which we, perchance, have never known.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Fulfil thy ministry.
2 Timothy 4:5
That was the very last word of Paul in the nature of a charge to Timothy concerning his responsibilities as a minister of Christ. He emphasized it by some great words concerning his own ministry. Afterwards, he gave him certain charges of a personal nature, but on that high note he ended so far as Timothy's responsibilities to his Lord concerning the Truth and the Church were concerned. It was a call to make full proof of his service; that is, so to discharge it that there could be no question as to its authenticity. It is a great word, and all, those called to serve Christ, in whatever capacity, do well to take heed of it. How often our service is unequal! Sometimes it begins well, and then it wilts, it slackens, it evaporates. Sometimes it is characterized by irregularities occasioned by yielding to the insidious forces that are ever the enemies of constant and consistent endeavour. Paul dared to refer to his own example. He was nearing the end, but looking back he could say, "I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith." What a glorious ending to a life of service. Well may we earnestly desire so to finish. But the finishing depends upon the way of the going. In words immediately preceding this final injunction, the Apostle had revealed the secrets of obedience: "Be thou sober in all things; suffer hardship; do the work of an evangelist." These words need no interpretation, but they demand careful thought. The last charge: "Do the work of an evangelist," may not be for us all; but the former two: "Be sober in all things," and "Suffer hardship," are for everyone.
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.