Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
I delight in the law of God after the inward man.—ROM. 7:22.
O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.—Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.—I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.—I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.—My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.—Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
Psa. 119:97. -Jer. 15:16. -Song 2:3. -Job 23:12.Psa. 40:8. -John 4:34.Psa. 19:8,10. -Jas. 1:22,23.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Grow up into him in all things.”
Ephesians 4:15
Many Christians remain stunted and dwarfed in spiritual things, so as to present the same appearance year after year. No up-springing of advanced and refined feeling is manifest in them. They exist but do not “grow up into him in all things.” But should we rest content with being in the “green blade,” when we might advance to “the ear,” and eventually ripen into the “full corn in the ear?” Should we be satisfied to believe in Christ, and to say, “I am safe,” without wishing to know in our own experience more of the fulness which is to be found in him. It should not be so; we should, as good traders in heaven’s market, covet to be enriched in the knowledge of Jesus. It is all very well to keep other men’s vineyards, but we must not neglect our own spiritual growth and ripening. Why should it always be winter time in our hearts? We must have our seed time, it is true, but O for a spring time—yea, a summer season, which shall give promise of an early harvest. If we would ripen in grace, we must live near to Jesus—in his presence—ripened by the sunshine of his smiles. We must hold sweet communion with him. We must leave the distant view of his face and come near, as John did, and pillow our head on his breast; then shall we find ourselves advancing in holiness, in love, in faith, in hope—yea, in every precious gift. As the sun rises first on mountain-tops and gilds them with his light, and presents one of the most charming sights to the eye of the traveller; so is it one of the most delightful contemplations in the world to mark the glow of the Spirit’s light on the head of some saint, who has risen up in spiritual stature, like Saul, above his fellows, till, like a mighty Alp, snow-capped, he reflects first among the chosen, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and bears the sheen of his effulgence high aloft for all to see, and seeing it, to glorify his Father which is in heaven.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Jeremiah 27
27. Judah to Serve Nebuchadnezzar
The Sign of the Yoke
27
In the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah son of Josiah of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord.2Thus the Lord said to me: Make yourself a yoke of straps and bars, and put them on your neck.3Send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to King Zedekiah of Judah.4Give them this charge for their masters: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters:5It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the people and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever I please.6Now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him even the wild animals of the field to serve him.7All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.
8 But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this king, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, then I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, says the Lord, until I have completed its destruction by his hand.9You, therefore, must not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.”10For they are prophesying a lie to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land; I will drive you out, and you will perish.11But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, says the Lord, to till it and live there.
12 I spoke to King Zedekiah of Judah in the same way: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.13Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?14Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you not to serve the king of Babylon, for they are prophesying a lie to you.15I have not sent them, says the Lord, but they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.
16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, “The vessels of the Lord’s house will soon be brought back from Babylon,” for they are prophesying a lie to you.17Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation?18If indeed they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, that the vessels left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.19For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,20which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take away when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—21thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:22They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall stay, until the day when I give attention to them, says the Lord. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.
New Testament in Four Years - Matthew 6:16-18
6. Sermon on the Mount
Concerning Fasting
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 80
80. Psalm 80
Psalm 80
Prayer for Israel’s Restoration
To the leader: on Lilies, a Covenant. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
1
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2
before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
and come to save us!
3
Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4
O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6
You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
our enemies laugh among themselves.
7
Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
11
it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.
12
Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13
The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14
Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15
the stock that your right hand planted.
16
They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17
But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18
Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.
19
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.