Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
We know that we have passed from death unto life.—I JOHN 3:14.
He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.—He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
He which stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.—Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.—We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin.—Quickened . . . together with Christ.—Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom his dear Son.
John 5:24. -I John 5:12.II Cor. 1:21,22. -I John 3:19,21. -I John 5:19.Eph. 2:1. -Eph. 2:5. -Col. 1:13.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”
Genesis 39:12
In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper’s prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.
This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent’s wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me today than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Deuteronomy 18
18. Offerings for Priests
Privileges of Priests and Levites
18
The levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no allotment or inheritance within Israel. They may eat the sacrifices that are the Lord’s portion2but they shall have no inheritance among the other members of the community; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.
3 This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two jowls, and the stomach.4The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.5For the Lord your God has chosen Levi out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.
6 If a Levite leaves any of your towns, from wherever he has been residing in Israel, and comes to the place that the Lord will choose (and he may come whenever he wishes),7then he may minister in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow-Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord.8They shall have equal portions to eat, even though they have income from the sale of family possessions.
Child-Sacrifice, Divination, and Magic Prohibited
9 When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations.10No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer,11or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead.12For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you.13You must remain completely loyal to the Lord your God.14Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so.
A New Prophet Like Moses
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.16This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.”17Then the Lord replied to me: “They are right in what they have said.18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.19Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.20But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.”21You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?”22If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 7
7. Psalm 7
Psalm 7
Plea for Help against Persecutors
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.
1
O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
2
or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.
3
O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4
if I have repaid my ally with harm
or plundered my foe without cause,
5
then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
trample my life to the ground,
and lay my soul in the dust.Selah
6
Rise up, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.
7
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,
and over it take your seat on high.
8
The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous,
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God.
10
God is my shield,
who saves the upright in heart.
11
God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.
12
If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and strung his bow;
13
he has prepared his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
14
See how they conceive evil,
and are pregnant with mischief,
and bring forth lies.
15
They make a pit, digging it out,
and fall into the hole that they have made.
16
Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
and on their own heads their violence descends.
17
I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.