Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.—I JOHN 4:16.
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.—He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?—The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
We love him, because he first loved us.
Blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
Eph. 2:4-7.John 3:16. -Rom. 8:32. -Psa. 145:9.I John 4:19.Luke 1:45.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Called to be saints.”
Romans 1:7
We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were “saints” in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are “saints” whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, “We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves.” Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are “called to be saints” by that same voice which constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian’s duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, “looking unto Jesus,” and our saintship will soon be apparent.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Numbers 34
34. Boundaries of Canaan
The Boundaries of the Land
34
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:2Command the Israelites, and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan, defined by its boundaries),3your south sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom. Your southern boundary shall begin from the end of the Dead Sea on the east;4your boundary shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its outer limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar-addar, and cross to Azmon;5the boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Wadi of Egypt, and its termination shall be at the Sea.
6 For the western boundary, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast; this shall be your western boundary.
7 This shall be your northern boundary: from the Great Sea you shall mark out your line to Mount Hor;8from Mount Hor you shall mark it out to Lebo-hamath, and the outer limit of the boundary shall be at Zedad;9then the boundary shall extend to Ziphron, and its end shall be at Hazar-enan; this shall be your northern boundary.
10 You shall mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham;11and the boundary shall continue down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the boundary shall go down, and reach the eastern slope of the sea of Chinnereth;12and the boundary shall go down to the Jordan, and its end shall be at the Dead Sea. This shall be your land with its boundaries all around.
13 Moses commanded the Israelites, saying: This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe;14for the tribe of the Reubenites by their ancestral houses and the tribe of the Gadites by their ancestral houses have taken their inheritance, and also the half-tribe of Manasseh;15the two tribes and the half-tribe have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.
Tribal Leaders
16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:17These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun.18You shall take one leader of every tribe to apportion the land for inheritance.19These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh.20Of the tribe of the Simeonites, Shemuel son of Ammihud.21Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon.22Of the tribe of the Danites a leader, Bukki son of Jogli.23Of the Josephites: of the tribe of the Manassites a leader, Hanniel son of Ephod,24and of the tribe of the Ephraimites a leader, Kemuel son of Shiphtan.25Of the tribe of the Zebulunites a leader, Eli-zaphan son of Parnach.26Of the tribe of the Issacharites a leader, Paltiel son of Azzan.27And of the tribe of the Asherites a leader, Ahihud son of Shelomi.28Of the tribe of the Naphtalites a leader, Pedahel son of Ammihud.29These were the ones whom the Lord commanded to apportion the inheritance for the Israelites in the land of Canaan.
New Testament in Four Years - 1 Corinthians 16:5-12
16. Personal Requests
Plans for Travel
5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia—for I intend to pass through Macedonia—6and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go.7I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.8But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,9for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
10 If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am;11therefore let no one despise him. Send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me; for I am expecting him with the brothers.
12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but he was not at all willing to come now. He will come when he has the opportunity.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 137
137. Psalm 137
Psalm 137
Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem
1
By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
2
On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
3
For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4
How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?
5
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
6
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
7
Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!
Down to its foundations!”
8
O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
Happy shall they be who pay you back
what you have done to us!
9
Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against the rock!