Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.—EPH. 5:25,26.
Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.—Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.—Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.—Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.—Thy word hath quickened me.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Eph. 5:2.I Pet. 1:23. -John 17:17. -John 3:5. -Tit. 3:5. -Psa. 119:50.Psa. 19:7,8.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“The branch cannot bear fruit of itself.”
John 15:4
How did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to Jesus and cast yourselves on his great atonement, and rested on his finished righteousness. Ah! what fruit you had then! Do you remember those early days? Then indeed the vine flourished, the tender grape appeared, the pomegranates budded forth, and the beds of spices gave forth their smell. Have you declined since then? If you have, we charge you to remember that time of love, and repent, and do thy first works. Be most in those engagements which you have experimentally proved to draw you nearest to Christ, because it is from him that all your fruits proceed. Any holy exercise which will bring you to him will help you to bear fruit. The sun is, no doubt, a great worker in fruit-creating among the trees of the orchard: and Jesus is still more so among the trees of his garden of grace. When have you been the most fruitless? Has not it been when you have lived farthest from the Lord Jesus Christ, when you have slackened in prayer, when you have departed from the simplicity of your faith, when your graces have engrossed your attention instead of your Lord, when you have said, “My mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved”; and have forgotten where your strength dwells—has not it been then that your fruit has ceased? Some of us have been taught that we have nothing out of Christ, by terrible abasements of heart before the Lord; and when we have seen the utter barrenness and death of all creature power, we have cried in anguish, “From him all my fruit must be found, for no fruit can ever come from me.” We are taught, by past experience, that the more simply we depend upon the grace of God in Christ, and wait upon the Holy Spirit, the more we shall bring forth fruit unto God. Oh! to trust Jesus for fruit as well as for life.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - 2 Samuel 15
15. Absalom's Conspiracy
Absalom Usurps the Throne
15
After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run ahead of him.2Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the road into the gate; and when anyone brought a suit before the king for judgment, Absalom would call out and say, “From what city are you?” When the person said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,”3Absalom would say, “See, your claims are good and right; but there is no one deputed by the king to hear you.”4Absalom said moreover, “If only I were judge in the land! Then all who had a suit or cause might come to me, and I would give them justice.”5Whenever people came near to do obeisance to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of them, and kiss them.6Thus Absalom did to every Israelite who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.
7 At the end of four years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron and pay the vow that I have made to the Lord.8For your servant made a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram: If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will worship the Lord in Hebron.”9The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he got up, and went to Hebron.10But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then shout: Absalom has become king at Hebron!”11Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom; they were invited guests, and they went in their innocence, knowing nothing of the matter.12While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. The conspiracy grew in strength, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.
David Flees from Jerusalem
13 A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the Israelites have gone after Absalom.”14Then David said to all his officials who were with him at Jerusalem, “Get up! Let us flee, or there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Hurry, or he will soon overtake us, and bring disaster down upon us, and attack the city with the edge of the sword.”15The king’s officials said to the king, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king decides.”16So the king left, followed by all his household, except ten concubines whom he left behind to look after the house.17The king left, followed by all the people; and they stopped at the last house.18All his officials passed by him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king.
19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also coming with us? Go back, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile from your home.20You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, while I go wherever I can? Go back, and take your kinsfolk with you; and may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you.”21But Ittai answered the king, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be.”22David said to Ittai, “Go then, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on, with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.23The whole country wept aloud as all the people passed by; the king crossed the Wadi Kidron, and all the people moved on toward the wilderness.
24 Abiathar came up, and Zadok also, with all the Levites, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, until the people had all passed out of the city.25Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and the place where it stays.26But if he says, ‘I take no pleasure in you,’ here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.”27The king also said to the priest Zadok, “Look, go back to the city in peace, you and Abiathar, with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan son of Abiathar.28See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”29So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.
30 But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and walking barefoot; and all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.31David was told that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, “O Lord, I pray you, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
Hushai Becomes David’s Spy
32 When David came to the summit, where God was worshiped, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and earth on his head.33David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me.34But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant,’ then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.35The priests Zadok and Abiathar will be with you there. So whatever you hear from the king’s house, tell it to the priests Zadok and Abiathar.36Their two sons are with them there, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan; and by them you shall report to me everything you hear.”37So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.
New Testament in Four Years - Colossians 1:15-17
1. Supremacy of Christ
The Supremacy of Christ
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;16for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.17He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 104:1-18
104. Psalm 104
Psalm 104
God the Creator and Provider
1
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2
wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3
you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind,
4
you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.
5
You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
6
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7
At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys
to the place that you appointed for them.
9
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
10
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
11
giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
12
By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
13
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14
You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15
and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine,
and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17
In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.