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Daily Light's Morning Reading
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.—PSA. 119:71.
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.—We suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Ask, and it shall be given you.”
Matthew 7:7
We know of a place in England still existing, where a dole of bread is served to every passerby who chooses to ask for it. Whoever the traveller may be, he has but to knock at the door of St. Cross Hospital, and there is the dole of bread for him. Jesus Christ so loveth sinners that he has built a St. Cross Hospital, so that whenever a sinner is hungry, he has but to knock and have his wants supplied. Nay, he has done better; he has attached to this Hospital of the Cross a bath; and whenever a soul is black and filthy, it has but to go there and be washed. The fountain is always full, always efficacious. No sinner ever went into it and found that it could not wash away his stains. Sins which were scarlet and crimson have all disappeared, and the sinner has been whiter than snow. As if this were not enough, there is attached to this Hospital of the Cross a wardrobe, and a sinner making application simply as a sinner, may be clothed from head to foot; and if he wishes to be a soldier, he may not merely have a garment for ordinary wear, but armour which shall cover him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. If he asks for a sword, he shall have that given to him, and a shield too. Nothing that is good for him shall be denied him. He shall have spending-money so long as he lives, and he shall have an eternal heritage of glorious treasure when he enters into the joy of his Lord.
If all these things are to be had by merely knocking at mercy’s door, O my soul, knock hard this morning, and ask large things of thy generous Lord. Leave not the throne of grace till all thy wants have been spread before the Lord, and until by faith thou hast a comfortable prospect that they shall be all supplied. No bashfulness need retard when Jesus invites. No unbelief should hinder when Jesus promises. No cold-heartedness should restrain when such blessings are to be obtained.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - 1 Kings 13
13. Man of God from Judah
A Man of God from Judah
13
While Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer incense, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel2and proclaimed against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’ ”3He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘The altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’ ”4When the king heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But the hand that he stretched out against him withered so that he could not draw it back to himself.5The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.6The king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the Lord; and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as it was before.7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and dine, and I will give you a gift.”8But the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your kingdom, I will not go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place.9For thus I was commanded by the word of the Lord: You shall not eat food, or drink water, or return by the way that you came.”10So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.
11 Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel. One of his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words also that he had spoken to the king, they told to their father.12Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.13Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey for him, and he mounted it.14He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.”15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”16But he said, “I cannot return with you, or go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place;17for it was said to me by the word of the Lord: You shall not eat food or drink water there, or return by the way that you came.”18Then the other said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat food and drink water.” But he was deceiving him.19Then the man of God went back with him, and ate food and drank water in his house.
20 As they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back;21and he proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord: Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you,22but have come back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, ‘Eat no food, and drink no water,’ your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb.”23After the man of God had eaten food and had drunk, they saddled for him a donkey belonging to the prophet who had brought him back.24Then as he went away, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.25People passed by and saw the body thrown in the road, with the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the town where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.”27Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled one,28and he went and found the body thrown in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey.29The prophet took up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city, to mourn and to bury him.30He laid the body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”31After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.32For the saying that he proclaimed by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”
33 Even after this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who wanted to be priests he consecrated for the high places.34This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.
New Testament in Four Years - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-6
2. Paul's Ministry in Thessalonica
Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica
2
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain,2but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition.3For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery,4but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.5As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed;6nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others,
Psalm a Day - Psalm 118:1-14
118. Psalm 118
Psalm 118
A Song of Victory
1
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
2
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
3
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
4
Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
5
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
6
With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
What can mortals do to me?
7
The Lord is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in mortals.
9
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.
10
All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
11
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
12
They surrounded me like bees;
they blazed like a fire of thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
13
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
14
The Lord is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.