Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.—EXO. 2:9.
Go ye . . . into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you.—Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.—The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.—God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, . . . in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, . . . Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Matt. 20:4. -Mark 9:41. -Prov. 11:25. -Heb. 6:10.I Cor. 3:8.Matt. 25:37,38,40,34.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”
Amos 9:9
Every sifting comes by divine command and permission. Satan must ask leave before he can lay a finger upon Job. Nay, more, in some sense our siftings are directly the work of heaven, for the text says, “I will sift the house of Israel.” Satan, like a drudge, may hold the sieve, hoping to destroy the corn; but the overruling hand of the Master is accomplishing the purity of the grain by the very process which the enemy intended to be destructive. Precious, but much sifted corn of the Lord’s floor, be comforted by the blessed fact that the Lord directeth both flail and sieve to his own glory, and to thine eternal profit.
The Lord Jesus will surely use the fan which is in his hand, and will divide the precious from the vile. All are not Israel that are of Israel; the heap on the barn floor is not clean provender, and hence the winnowing process must be performed. In the sieve true weight alone has power. Husks and chaff being devoid of substance must fly before the wind, and only solid corn will remain.
Observe the complete safety of the Lord’s wheat; even the least grain has a promise of preservation. God himself sifts, and therefore it is stern and terrible work; he sifts them in all places, “among all nations”; he sifts them in the most effectual manner, “like as corn is sifted in a sieve”; and yet for all this, not the smallest, lightest, or most shrivelled grain, is permitted to fall to the ground. Every individual believer is precious in the sight of the Lord, a shepherd would not lose one sheep, nor a jeweller one diamond, nor a mother one child, nor a man one limb of his body, nor will the Lord lose one of his redeemed people. However little we may be, if we are the Lord's, we may rejoice that we are preserved in Christ Jesus.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Numbers 19
19. Water of Cleansing
Ceremony of the Red Heifer
19
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:2This is a statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid.3You shall give it to the priest Eleazar, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.4The priest Eleazar shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times towards the front of the tent of meeting.5Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned.6The priest shall take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson material, and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is burning.7Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterwards he may come into the camp; but the priest shall remain unclean until evening.8The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water; he shall remain unclean until evening.9Then someone who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites for the water for cleansing. It is a purification offering.10The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.
This shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites and for the alien residing among them.11Those who touch the dead body of any human being shall be unclean seven days.12They shall purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean; but if they do not purify themselves on the third day and on the seventh day, they will not become clean.13All who touch a corpse, the body of a human being who has died, and do not purify themselves, defile the tabernacle of the Lord; such persons shall be cut off from Israel. Since water for cleansing was not dashed on them, they remain unclean; their uncleanness is still on them.
14 This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.15And every open vessel with no cover fastened on it is unclean.16Whoever in the open field touches one who has been killed by a sword, or who has died naturally, or a human bone, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.17For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt purification offering, and running water shall be added in a vessel;18then a clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on whoever touched the bone, the slain, the corpse, or the grave.19The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean ones on the third day and on the seventh day, thus purifying them on the seventh day. Then they shall wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water, and at evening they shall be clean.20Any who are unclean but do not purify themselves, those persons shall be cut off from the assembly, for they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Since the water for cleansing has not been dashed on them, they are unclean.
21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. The one who sprinkles the water for cleansing shall wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for cleansing shall be unclean until evening.22Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.
New Testament in Four Years - 1 Corinthians 14:6-12
14. Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues
6 Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you in some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?7It is the same way with lifeless instruments that produce sound, such as the flute or the harp. If they do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is being played?8And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?9So with yourselves; if in a tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.10There are doubtless many different kinds of sounds in the world, and nothing is without sound.11If then I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.12So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 122
122. Psalm 122
Psalm 122
Song of Praise and Prayer for Jerusalem
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2
Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3
Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together.
4
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5
For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7
Peace be within your walls,
and security within your towers.”
8
For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.