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    Daily Guidance: A Book of Daily Bible Readings
    Daily Guidance: A Book of Daily Bible Readings
    Daily Guidance: A Book of Daily Bible Readings
    Ebook567 pages5 hours

    Daily Guidance: A Book of Daily Bible Readings

    By Martin Manser

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    About this ebook

    Selected Bible verses and hymns for every day of the year. Each day's reading is based on a single theme. A handy companion offering strength, challenge and encouragement from the Bible. It offers an opportunity to be still and reflect on God's word each day.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateOct 1, 2015
    ISBN9781483559278
    Daily Guidance: A Book of Daily Bible Readings
    Author

    Martin Manser

    Martin Manser is a professional writer and researcher. He is responsible for ‘The Penguin Wordmaster’ and ‘The Guinness Book of Words’.

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      Daily Guidance - Martin Manser

      16

      JANUARY 1

      The perfect guidance of God

      I will instruct and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

      Psalm 32:8, KJV

      If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

      Isaiah 58:10-11, NIV

      Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

      John 14:6, NRSV

      All the way my Saviour leads me:

      What have I to ask beside?

      Can I doubt His tender mercy

      Who through life has been my Guide?

      Heavenly peace, divinest comfort,

      Here by faith in Him to dwell!

      For I know whate’er befall me,

      Jesus doeth all things well.

      All the way my Saviour leads me;

      O the fulness of His love!

      Perfect rest to me is promised

      In my Father’s house above.

      When my spirit, clothed immortal

      Wings its flight to realms of day

      This, my song through endless ages,

      Jesus led me all the way.

      Frances Jane Van Alstyne, 1820–1915

      JANUARY 2

      The good shepherd

      The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

      Psalm 23:1-6, ESV

      ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. … I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. … My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’

      John 10:11,14-15,27, NASB

      Green pastures are before me

      Which yet I have not seen;

      Bright skies will soon be o’er me,

      Where the dark clouds have been:

      My hope I cannot measure

      My path to life is free

      My Saviour has my treasure,

      And He will walk with me.

      Anna Laetitia Waring, 1820–1910

      JANUARY 3

      Knowing Jesus

      ‘All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.’

      Matthew 11:27, NKJV

      ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’

      John 17:3, NKJV

      I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

      Ephesians 1:17, NIV

      I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

      Philippians 3:10-11, NRSV

      More about Jesus would I know

      More of His grace to others show.

      More of His saving fulness see.

      More of His love – who died for me

      More, more about Jesus.

      More, more about Jesus;

      More of His saving fulness see,

      More of His love who died for me.

      Eliza Edmunds Hewitt, 1851–1920

      JANUARY 4

      Bearing fruit

      Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

      Psalm 1:1-3, KJV

      The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

      Proverbs 11:30, NKJV

      I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

      John 15:5-8, ESV

      Forth in Thy Name, O Lord, I go,

      My daily labour to pursue,

      Thee only Thee, resolved to know

      In all I think, or speak, or do.

      The task Thy wisdom hath assigned

      O let me cheerfully fulfil,

      In all my works Thy presence find,

      And prove Thy good and perfect will.

      Charles Wesley, 1707–88

      JANUARY 5

      God, the Creator

      In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

      Genesis 1:1, KJV

      And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

      Genesis 1:26-27, KJV

      In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

      John 1:1-3, KJV

      Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

      the King of creation;

      O my soul, praise Him, for He is

      thy health and salvation;

      All ye who hear

      Brothers and sisters, draw near,

      Praise Him in glad adoration.

      Praise to the Lord, Who doth prosper

      thy work and defend thee;

      Surely His goodness and mercy

      here daily attend thee:

      Ponder anew

      What the Almighty can do

      If with His love He befriend thee.

      Joachim Neander, 1650–80

      tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1829–78, and others

      JANUARY 6

      Depending upon God

      Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God’? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

      Isaiah 40:27-31, NIV

      Happy the man whose hopes rely

      On Israel’s God! He made the sky,

      And earth, and sea, with all their train:

      His truth for ever stands secure;

      He saves the oppressed, He feeds the poor,

      And none shall find His promise vain.

      I’ll praise Him while he lends me breath;

      And when my voice is lost in death,

      Praise shall employ my nobler powers:

      My days of praise shall ne’er be past,

      While life, and thought, and being last

      Or immortality endures.

      Isaac Watts, 1674–1748

      JANUARY 7

      The blood of Christ

      In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

      Ephesians 1:7, NKJV

      Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

      Hebrews 10:19-22, NRSV

      ‘Man of Sorrows!’ what a name

      For the Son of God, Who came

      Ruined sinners to reclaim!

      Hallelujah! what a Saviour!

      Bearing shame and scoffing rude

      In my place condemned He stood,

      Sealed my pardon with His blood:

      Hallelujah what a Saviour!

      Philipp Paul Bliss, 1838–76

      JANUARY 8

      God’s perfect peace

      Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

      Psalm 31:19, KJV

      Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.

      Isaiah 12:2-3, NASB

      Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace – in peace because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD for ever, for in the LORD GOD you have an everlasting rock.

      Isaiah 26:3-4, NRSV

      Like a river glorious

      Is God’s perfect peace,

      Over all victorious

      In its bright increase;

      Perfect, yet it floweth

      Fuller every day;

      Perfect, yet it groweth

      Deeper all the way.

      Stayed upon Jehovah

      Hearts are fully blest,

      Finding, as He promised,

      Perfect peace and rest.

      Frances Ridley Havergal, 1836–79

      JANUARY 9

      Submitting to our Father

      Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined – and everyone undergoes discipline – then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

      Hebrews 12:7-11, NIV

      Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

      James 4:7, KJV

      Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

      Psalm 139:23-24, KJV

      Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way;

      Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

      Mould me and make me after thy will,

      While I am waiting yielded and still.

      Adelaide Addison Pollard, 1862–1934

      JANUARY 10

      The Christian’s priority

      Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

      Matthew 5:5-8, NASB

      But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

      Matthew 6:33, KJV

      Seek ye first, not earthly pleasure,

      Fading joy and failing treasure;

      But the love that knows no measure

      Seek ye first.

      Seek this first: be pure and holy,

      Like the Master, meek and lowly,

      Yielded to His service wholly:

      Seek this first.

      Georgianna Mary Taylor, 1848–1915

      JANUARY 11

      God’s holy word

      Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts….

      Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

      Psalm 119:97-100,105, ESV

      From childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

      2 Timothy 3:15-17, NRSV

      Lord, Thy Word abideth,

      And our footsteps guideth;

      Who its truth believeth

      Light and joy receiveth.

      O that we, discerning

      Its most holy learning,

      Lord, may love and fear Thee,

      Evermore be near Thee!

      Henry Williams Baker, 1821–77

      JANUARY 12

      Worshipping Jesus

      While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head. But some were indignantly remarking to one another, Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor. And they were scolding her. But Jesus said, Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.

      Mark 14:3-9, NASB

      How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

      In a believer’s ear!

      It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,

      And drives away his fear.

      Jesus! My Shepherd, Brother, Friend,

      My Prophet, Priest and King,

      My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,

      Accept the praise I bring.

      John Newton, 1725–1807

      JANUARY 13

      A life of praise

      But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

      1 Peter 2:9-10, NKJV

      Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

      Hebrews 13:15-16, NIV

      Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God,

      In every part with praise,

      That my whole being may proclaim

      Thy being and Thy ways.

      Horatius Bonar, 1808–89

      JANUARY 14

      Christ, our rock

      I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

      Psalm 40:1-4, ESV

      But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith.

      Romans 3:21-25, NKJV

      My hope is built on nothing less

      Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

      I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

      But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name.

      On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand

      All other ground is sinking sand.

      Edward Mote, 1797–1874

      JANUARY 15

      ‘Come to me’

      Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

      Romans 10:17, NIV

      Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

      Isaiah 55:2-3, NRSV

      Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

      Matthew 11:28-30, ESV

      I heard the voice of Jesus say,

      ‘Come unto Me and rest;

      Lay down, thou weary one, lay down

      Thy head upon My breast!’

      I came to Jesus as I was,

      Weary, and worn, and sad;

      I found in Him a resting-place,

      And He has made me glad.

      Horatius Bonar, 1808–89

      JANUARY 16

      God, the compassionate one

      He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger for ever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

      Psalm 103:9-14, ESV

      Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

      Micah 7:18-19, KJV

      Great God of wonders! all Thy ways

      Are matchless, godlike, and divine;

      But the fair glories of Thy grace,

      More godlike and unrivalled shine:

      Who is a pardoning God like Thee?

      Or who has grace so rich and free?

      Samuel Davies, 1723–61

      JANUARY 17

      Christ is risen!

      I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

      ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’

      The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

      Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

      1 Corinthians 15:50-58, NIV

      Christ is risen! Hallelujah!

      Risen our victorious Head!

      Sing His praises! Hallelujah!

      Christ is risen from the dead

      Gratefully our hearts adore Him

      As His light once more appears,

      Bowing down in joy before Him,

      Rising up from grief and tears.

      Christ is risen! Hallelujah!

      Risen our victorious Head!

      Sing His praises! Hallelujah!

      Christ is risen from the dead.

      John Samuel Bewley Monsell, 1811–75

      JANUARY 18

      Amazing grace!

      From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

      John 1:16-17, NRSV

      And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

      Ephesians 2:1-9, ESV

      Amazing grace! how sweet the sound

      That saved a wretch like me;

      I once was lost, but now am found;

      Was blind, but now I see.

      ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

      And grace my fears relieved;

      How precious did that grace appear,

      The hour I first believed!

      John Newton, 1725–1807

      JANUARY 19

      The law of the Lord

      The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. … Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

      Psalm 19:7-11,14, ESV

      Jesus, I can trust Thee,

      Trust Thy written Word

      Though Thy voice of pity

      I have never heard:

      When Thy Spirit teacheth.

      To my taste how sweet!

      Only may I hearken

      Sitting at Thy feet.

      Mary Jane Walker, 1816–78

      JANUARY 20

      The coming of the Spirit

      ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.’

      John 15:26-27, NIV

      So Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.

      John 20:21-23, NASB

      But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

      Acts 1:8, NKJV

      Breathe on me, Breath of God,

      Fill me with life anew

      That I may love what Thou dost love

      And do what Thou wouldst do.

      Breathe on me, Breath of God,

      Till I am wholly Thine;

      Until this earthly part of me

      Glows with Thy fire divine.

      Edwin Hatch, 1835–89

      JANUARY 21

      True obedience

      Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the poll-tax to Caesar or not?’

      But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, ‘You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’ They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’

      ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.

      Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’

      Matthew 22:15-21, NIV

      Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.

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