October • 62 entries
Morning • 10/1
Song of Solomon 7:13
The spouse desires to give to Jesus all that she produces. Our heart has all manner of pleasant fruits, both old and new, and they are laid up for our Beloved. At this rich autumnal season of fruit, let us survey our stores. We have new fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy…
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Evening • 10/1
Psalm 84:11
Jehovah is bounteous in His nature; to give is His delight. His gifts are precious beyond measure and are as freely given as the light of the sun. He gives grace to His elect because He wills it, to His redeemed because of His covenant, to the called because of His promise, to be…
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Morning • 10/2
Colossians 1:5
Our hope in Christ for the future is the mainspring and the mainstay of our joy here. It will animate our hearts to think often of heaven, for all that we can desire is promised there. Here we are weary and worn out by toil, but there is the land of rest where the sweat of labour…
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Evening • 10/2
Daniel 10:11
Child of God, do you hesitate to appropriate this title? Ah! Has your unbelief made you forget that you are greatly beloved too? Must you not have been greatly beloved, to have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1…
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Morning • 10/3
Hebrews 1:14
Angels are the unseen attendants of the saints of God; they bear us up in their hands, lest we dash our foot against a stone. Loyalty to their Lord leads them to take a deep interest in the children of His love; they rejoice over the return of the prodigal to his father’s house b…
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Evening • 10/3
Hebrews 2:18
It is a familiar thought, and yet it tastes like nectar to the weary heart—Jesus was tempted as I am. You have heard that truth many times: have you grasped it? He was tempted to the very same sins into which we fall. Do not dissociate Jesus from our common manhood. It is a dark…
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Morning • 10/4
Zechariah 14:7
Often we look forward with apprehension to the time of old age , forgetful that in the evening it will be light. To many saints, old age is the finest season in their lives. A milder air fans the mariner’s cheek as he nears the shore of immortality; fewer waves ruffle his sea; qu…
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Evening • 10/4
1 John 2:1
“If any man sin, we have an advocate.” Yes, though we sin, we have him still. John does not say, “If any man sin he has forfeited his advocate,” but “we have an advocate,” sinners though we are. All the sin that a believer ever committed, or can be allowed to commit, cannot destr…
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Morning • 10/5
1 Kings 19:8
All the strength supplied to us by our gracious God is meant for service, not for self-indulgence or boasting. When the prophet Elijah found the cake baked on the coals, and the jar of water placed at his head, as he lay under the juniper tree, he was no gentleman to be gratified…
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Evening • 10/5
Mark 16:16
Mr. MacDonald asked the inhabitants of the island of St. Kilda how a man must be saved. An old man replied, “We shall be saved if we repent, and forsake our sins, and turn to God.” “Yes,” said a middle-aged woman, “and with a true heart too.” “Yes,” rejoined a third, “and with pr…
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Morning • 10/6
John 4:14
He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now and to content him forevermore. The believer is not the person whose days are weary from lack of comfort, and whose nights are long from an absence of heart-cheering thought, for he finds in religion such a…
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Evening • 10/6
Numbers 12:1
Strange choice of Moses, but how much more strange the choice of him who is a prophet like Moses, and greater than he! Our Lord, who is fair as the lily, has entered into marriage union with one who confesses herself to be black, because the sun has looked upon her. It is the won…
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Morning • 10/7
Numbers 11:11
Our heavenly Father sends us frequent troubles to try our faith . If our faith is worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: the paste gem dreads to be touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is a poor faith which can onl…
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Evening • 10/7
Isaiah 36:5
Reader, this is an important question. Listen to the Christian's answer, and see if it is yours. "On whom do you trust?" "I trust," says the Christian, "in a triune God. I trust the Father , believing that He has chosen me from before the foundations of the world; I trust Him to…
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Morning • 10/8
Luke 5:4
We learn from this narrative the necessity of human agency . The catch of fish was miraculous, yet neither the fisherman nor his boat, nor his fishing tackle were ignored; but all were used to take the fish. So in the saving of souls, God works by means; and while the present eco…
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Evening • 10/8
Jude 1:20
Mark the grand characteristic of true prayer— In the Holy Ghost . The seed of acceptable devotion must come from heaven’s storehouse. Only the prayer which comes from God can go to God. We must shoot the Lord’s arrows back to him. That desire which he writes upon our heart will m…
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Morning • 10/9
Jude 1:24
In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous . It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if grace is absent), and down we go. What a slippery path is that which some of us have to tread! Ho…
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Evening • 10/9
Matthew 15:23
Genuine seekers who until now have not obtained the blessing may take comfort from the story before us. The Savior did not at once bestow the blessing, even though the woman had great faith in Him. He intended to give it, but He waited a while. He answered her not a word. Were no…
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Morning • 10/10
Jude 1:24
Ponder in your mind that wondrous word, “ faultless !” We are far from it now; but as our Lord never stops short of perfection in His work of love, we will reach it one day. The Saviour who will keep His people to the end, will also present them at last to Himself, as a glorious…
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Evening • 10/10
Jeremiah 15:21
Note the glorious personality of the promise. I will, I will. The Lord Jehovah himself interposes to deliver and redeem his people. He pledges himself personally to rescue them. His own arm shall do it, that he may have the glory. Here is not a word said of any effort of our own…
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Morning • 10/11
Lamentations 3:41
The act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness , which is a very beneficial lesson for such proud beings as we are. If God gave us favors without constraining us to pray for them, we would never know how poor we are; but a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of neces…
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Evening • 10/11
Romans 8:30
In 2 Timothy 1:9 are these words: Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling. Now, here is a touchstone by which we can test our calling. It is a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace. This calling forbids all trust in our o…
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Morning • 10/12
Psalm 119:15
There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on his Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the thi…
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Evening • 10/12
John 14:26
This age is especially the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in which Jesus cheers us, not by His personal presence, as He will do in the future, but by the indwelling and constant abiding of the Holy Spirit, who is always the Comforter of the church. It is His office to console t…
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Morning • 10/13
2 Corinthians 7:10
Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit of God . Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in nature’s garden. Pearls grow naturally in oysters, but penitence never shows itself in sinners except divine grace works it in them. If you have one particle of rea…
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Evening • 10/13
Song of Solomon 8:6
Whose love can this be which is as mighty as the conqueror of monarchs, the destroyer of the human race? Would it not sound like satire if it were applied to my poor, weak, and scarcely living love to Jesus my Lord? I do love Him, and perhaps by His grace, I could even die for Hi…
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Morning • 10/14
Philippians 3:8
Spiritual knowledge of Christ will be a personal knowledge. I cannot know Jesus through another person’s acquaintance with him. No, I must know him myself ; I must know him on my own account. It will be an intelligent knowledge—I must know him , not as the visionary dreams of him…
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Evening • 10/14
Romans 12:2
If a Christian can possibly be saved while he conforms to this world, it must, in any case, be so as by fire . Such a bare salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, do you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a despairing deathbed, and enter heaven as a…
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Morning • 10/15
Malachi 3:2
His first coming was without external pomp or show of power, and yet in truth there were few who could endure its testing might. Herod and all Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be waiting for Him showed the fallacy…
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Evening • 10/15
Exodus 34:20
Every firstborn creature must be the Lord's, but since the ass was unclean, it could not be presented in sacrifice. What then? Should it be allowed to go free from the universal law? By no means. God admits of no exceptions. The ass is his due, but he will not accept it; he will…
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Morning • 10/16
John 21:12
In these words the believer is invited to a holy nearness to Jesus. "Come and dine," implies the same table, the same food; yes, and sometimes it means to sit side by side, and lean our head upon the Saviour's bosom. It is being brought into the banqueting house, where the banner…
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Evening • 10/16
Psalm 36:9
There are times in our spiritual experience when human counsel or sympathy, or religious ordinances, fail to comfort or help us. Why does our gracious God permit this? Perhaps it is because we have been living too much without him, and he therefore takes away everything upon whic…
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Morning • 10/17
1 Samuel 27:1
The thought of David’s heart at this time was a false thought, because he certainly had no ground for thinking that God’s anointing him by Samuel was intended to be left as an empty, meaningless act. On no one occasion had the Lord deserted His servant; he had been placed in peri…
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Evening • 10/17
Isaiah 40:11
Our good Shepherd has in his flock a variety of experiences; some are strong in the Lord, and others are weak in faith, but he is impartial in his care for all his sheep, and the weakest lamb is as dear to him as the most advanced of the flock. Lambs are inclined to lag behind, p…
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Morning • 10/18
Psalm 65:11
Many are the paths of the Lord which drop fatness , but a special one is the path of prayer . No believer who is much in the closet will have need to cry, My leanness, my leanness; woe unto me. Starving souls live at a distance from the mercy seat and become like the parched fiel…
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Evening • 10/18
1 Samuel 15:22
Saul had been commanded to utterly slay all the Amalekites and their cattle. Instead of doing so, he preserved the king and allowed his people to take the best of the oxen and of the sheep. When called to account for this, he declared that he did it with the intention of offering…
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Morning • 10/19
1 Corinthians 3:1
Are you mourning, believer, because you are so weak in the divine life: because your faith is so little, your love so feeble? Cheer up, for you have cause for gratitude. Remember that in some things you are equal to the greatest and most full-grown Christian . You are as much bou…
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Evening • 10/19
Job 35:10
Anyone can sing in the day. When the cup is full, one draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, anyone can praise the God who gives a plentiful harvest or sends home a loaded ship. It is easy enough for an Aeolian harp to whisper music when the winds b…
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Morning • 10/20
Ephesians 4:15
Many Christians remain stunted and dwarfed in spiritual things, so that they 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 be…
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Evening • 10/20
Isaiah 43:6
Although this message was sent to the south and referred to the seed of Israel, it may profitably be a summons to ourselves. We are naturally reluctant towards all good things, and it is a lesson of grace to learn to go forward in the ways of God. Reader, are you unconverted, but…
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Morning • 10/21
2 Corinthians 5:14
How much do you owe my Lord? Has He ever done anything for you? Has He forgiven your sins? Has He covered you with a robe of righteousness? Has He set your feet upon a rock? Has He established your paths? Has He prepared heaven for you? Has He prepared you for heaven? Has He writ…
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Evening • 10/21
Luke 24:38
“Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” The Lord cares for all things, and the humblest creatures share in his universal providence, but his particular providence is over his saints. “The angel of th…
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Morning • 10/22
Hosea 14:4
This sentence is a body of divinity in miniature. He who understands its meaning is a theologian, and he who can dive into its fullness is a true master in Israel. It is a condensation of the glorious message of salvation which was delivered to us in Christ Jesus our Redeemer. Th…
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Evening • 10/22
John 16:15
There are times when all the promises and doctrines of the Bible are of no avail, unless a gracious hand applies them to us. We are thirsty, but too faint to crawl to the water-brook. When a soldier is wounded in battle, it is of little use for him to know that there are those at…
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Morning • 10/23
John 6:67
Many have forsaken Christ and no longer walked with him; but what reason do you have to make a change ? Has there been any reason for it in the past ? Has not Jesus proved himself all-sufficient? He appeals to you this morning: Have I been a wilderness to you? When your soul has…
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Evening • 10/23
Luke 22:46
When is the Christian most liable to sleep? Is it not when his temporal circumstances are prosperous ? Have you not found it so? When you had daily troubles to take to the throne of grace, were you not more wakeful than you are now? Easy roads make sleepy travelers. Another dange…
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Morning • 10/24
Psalm 104:16
Without sap, the tree cannot flourish or even exist. Vitality is essential to a Christian. There must be life —a vital principle infused into us by God the Holy Spirit, or we cannot be trees of the Lord. The mere name of being a Christian is only a dead thing; we must be filled w…
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Evening • 10/24
John 13:5
The Lord Jesus loves his people so much, that every day he is still doing for them much that is analogous to washing their soiled feet. Their poorest actions he accepts; their deepest sorrow he feels; their slenderest wish he hears, and their every transgression he forgives. He i…
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Morning • 10/25
2 John 2
Once the truth of God obtains an entrance into the human heart and subdues the whole person to itself, no power, human or infernal, can dislodge it. We entertain it not as a guest but as the master of the house—this is a Christian necessity ; he is no Christian who does not belie…
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Evening • 10/25
Ruth 2:3
Her fortune was . Yes, it seemed nothing but an accident, but how divinely was it overruled! Ruth had gone out with her mother’s blessing, under the care of her mother’s God, to humble but honorable toil, and the providence of God was guiding her every step. Little did she know t…
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Morning • 10/26
Haggai 1:9
Stingy souls limit their contributions to the ministry and missionary operations, and call such saving good financial management; they little realize that they are thus impoverishing themselves. Their excuse is that they must care for their own families, and they forget that negl…
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Evening • 10/26
Ecclesiastes 1:7
Everything earthly is on the move; time knows nothing of rest. The solid earth is a rolling ball, and the great sun itself a star obediently fulfilling its course around some greater luminary. Tides move the sea, winds stir the airy ocean, friction wears the rock: change and deat…
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Morning • 10/27
2 Timothy 2:11
Paul has four of these “ faithful sayings .” The first occurs in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” The next is in 1 Timothy 4:6, “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the p…
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Evening • 10/27
Isaiah 64:6
The believer is a new creature. He belongs to a holy generation and a peculiar people—the Spirit of God is in him, and in all respects he is far removed from the natural man. Nevertheless, the Christian is still a sinner. He is so from the imperfection of his nature and will cont…
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Morning • 10/28
John 15:19
Here is distinguishing grace and discriminating regard; for some are made the special objects of divine affection. Do not be afraid to dwell upon this high doctrine of election. When your mind is most heavy and depressed, you will find it to be a bottle of richest cordial. Those…
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Evening • 10/28
Song of Solomon 5:11
Comparisons all fail to portray the Lord Jesus, but the spouse uses the best within her reach. By the head of Jesus we may understand his deity, for the head of Christ is God (1 Corinthians 11:3), and then the ingot of purest gold is the best conceivable metaphor, but all too poo…
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Morning • 10/29
Matthew 6:9
This prayer begins where all true prayer must commence, with the spirit of adoption , Our Father. There is no acceptable prayer until we can say, I will arise, and go to my Father. This child-like spirit soon perceives the grandeur of the Father in heaven, and ascends to devout a…
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Evening • 10/29
Luke 24:16
The disciples ought to have known Jesus; they had heard his voice so often and gazed upon that marred face so frequently that it is a wonder they did not discover him. Yet, is it not so with you also? You have not seen Jesus lately. You have been to his table, and you have not me…
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Morning • 10/30
Psalm 9:1
Praise should always follow answered prayer; as the mist of earth’s gratitude rises when the sun of heaven’s love warms the ground. Has the Lord been gracious to you, and inclined his ear to the voice of your supplication? Then praise him as long as you live. Let the ripe fruit d…
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Evening • 10/30
Song of Solomon 8:13
My sweet Lord Jesus remembers well the garden of Gethsemane, and although he has left that garden, he now dwells in the garden of his church: there he opens his heart to those who keep his blessed company. That voice of love with which he speaks to his beloved is more musical tha…
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Morning • 10/31
Psalm 51:10
A backslider, if there is a spark of life left in him, will groan for restoration. In this renewal, the same exercise of grace is required as at our conversion. We needed repentance then; we certainly need it now. We needed faith that we might come to Christ at first; only the sa…
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Evening • 10/31
Hosea 13:5
Yes, Lord, you indeed knew me in my fallen state , and you even then chose me for yourself. When I was repulsive and self-loathing, you received me as your child, and you satisfied my deep needs. Blessed forever be your name for this free, rich, abounding mercy. Since then, my in…
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