Author: Charles Spurgeon

Pray with Spurgeon: Prepare us for Jesus’ return

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Remember your people in their families and convert their children; give us help and strength; spare precious lives that are in danger; be gracious to any that are dying; may the life of God swallow up the death of the body. Prepare us all for your glorious arrival; keep us waiting and watching, and do come quickly to our heart’s desire, for we pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, for yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever.”

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.” (Psalm 19:2)

The witnesses above [the heavens, testifying to the glory of God] cannot be slain or silenced; from their elevated seats they constantly preach the knowledge of God, undeterred and unbiassed by the judgments of men. Even the changes of alternating night and day are mutely eloquent, and light and shade equally reveal the Invisible One; let the changes of our circumstances do the same, and while we bless the God of our days of joy, let us also extol him who gives “songs in the night.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Get your anger under control.

If you’re feeling angry in your workplace, home, or anywhere, I want to recommend a short booklet to you, Help! My Anger is Out of Control by Jim Newheiser.

This booklet is packed with biblical truth to help us understand and address anger in a way that glorifies God and depends on Christ. I’m exaggerating when I say that this book saved my life and my marriage.

Whether you want to get your own anger under control or help someone else with their anger, Help! My Anger is Out of Control is a great resource.

Buy Help! My Anger is Out of Control:

Pray with Spurgeon: God will provide, we do not need to worry

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, give us day by day our daily bread; provide for your poor people; let them not think that the provision for themselves rests fully on themselves; but may they cry to you, for you have said, “Your bread shall be given you, your waters shall be sure.” If we follow you, if you lead us into a desert, you will cover our path with manna. May your people believe this, and let them have no worry, but like the birds of the air which neither sow nor gather into barns, and yet are fed, so may your people be.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1)

It is not merely glory that the heavens declare, but the “glory of God,” for they deliver to us such unanswerable arguments for a conscious, intelligent, planning, controlling, and presiding Creator, that no unprejudiced person can remain unconvinced by them. The testimony given by the heavens is no mere hint, but a plain, unmistakeable declaration; and it is a declaration of the most constant and abiding kind. Yet for all this, to what avail is the loudest declaration to a deaf man, or the clearest showing to one spiritually blind? God the Holy Spirit must illuminate us, or all the suns in the milky way never will.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Real Hope for All Your Fears and Anxiety

Today we prayed that God would help us to note worry or doubt. Unfortunately, dealing with our fears isn’t always so easy, is it? We won’t grow past our fears unless we address them with solid biblical truth.

That’s the point of Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest by Ed Welch. This book offers a biblical perspective on fear and worry in general and then zooms in to offer biblical hope for some of the most common fears (e.g., fear of money, fear of people, fear of death, etc.).

Reading Running Scared will give you more confidence in God and his Word that will help you deal with your own fears and to share the hope of the Bible with others too.

Buy Running Scared:

Pray with Spurgeon: Bless the poor, protect the rich from love of money

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh, keep us, Lord. This life is full of trial. There are many that are perplexed about temporary things. Let not the enemy lead them to do or think that anything is amiss, because of the limited supply. Others are blessed with prosperity. Lord, let it not be a curse to them. Let them know how to abound as well as to suffer loss. In all things may they be instructed to glorify God, not only with all they are, but with all they have, and even with all they have not, by a holy contentment to do without that which it does not please you to bestow.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)

Undue harshness, and irritating severity are here forbidden, but holy discipline and religious training are commanded. Wise fathers will take note of this verse. Fathers must not be ill-humored and morose to their sons and daughters, nor must they exact from them more service than they can render, nor ridicule them, nor shew partiality to one above another, nor stint them in necessaries, for this is to provoke them to anger.

Editor’s Note: If you’re looking for resources to help you lead your kids to be lifelong followers of Jesus, check out the family devotionals from God Centered Family.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Beautiful Book to Help Children Understand Pain

The God that we proclaim to our children is in control of all things. And even when the most unimaginably horrible circumstances come against us, we can trust that he is good.

That’s the theme of The Moon is Always Round by Jonathan Gibson. This book for kids of any age tells the story of a family grieving the loss of their baby. This book encourages children (and their parents) to trust in our good God, no matter what our circumstances tell us to believe.

This book is absolutely beautiful. Words can’t express how wonderfully deep, simple, and beautiful this book is.

Even if the worst of trials come against us, the moon is always round, and God is always good.

Buy The Moon is Always Round:

Pray with Spurgeon: You have given us Jesus, give us wisdom now

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Above all, give us spiritual help. Give us wisdom, which is profitable to get. Give us the absence of all self-seeking, and a complete yielding up of our desires to the will of God.

Help us to be as Christ was, who was not his own, but gave himself to his Father for our sins; so may we for his sake give ourselves up to do or suffer the will of our Father who is in heaven.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.” (Matthew 6:14–15)

This enforces Christian action by limiting the power of prayer according to our obedience to the command to forgive. If we would be forgiven, we must forgive: if we will not forgive, we cannot be forgiven. This yoke is easy; this burden is light. Very sweet is it to pass by other men’s offenses against ourselves; for thus we learn how sweet it is to the Lord to pardon us.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

New Family Devotional on Matthew’s Gospel

Today, we wrapped up our Verse of the Day series on Jesus’ teaching on prayer from Matthew 6. Later this week, we’ll return to the Psalms for the Verse of the Day.

Parents, if you want to keep studying Matthew, I want to recommend the latest family devotional from God Centered Family — this is a great resource to help you lead your kids to be lifelong followers of Jesus.

If you want to show your kids a glorious picture of Jesus as the gentle savior and mighty king of all nations, the fulfillment of the Old Testament, read Matthew to them. This family devotional will give you everything you need to teach your kids the Bible (and it just takes ten minutes every day).

Subscribers to God Centered Family get instant access to a growing library of devotionals.

Learn more and subscribe to God Centered Family ($6 /month)

Weekend Edition: May God’s truth prevail

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PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (BY SPURGEON)

Today, as we gather, we pray that your truth may prevail against the many anti-Christs that have gone forth against it. Our Father, restore a pure language to your Zion once again. Take away, we pray, the itching for new doctrine, the longing for that which is thought to be scientific and wise above what is written, and may your church come to her moorings, may she cast anchor in the truth of God and there abide; and if it be your will may we live to see brighter and better times.

Amen.

GET A FREE COURSE

Thanks to Midwestern Seminary for sponsoring the Weekend Edition of this newsletter.

My friends at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have put together a GREAT video class from Jared Wilson that unpacks exactly how God’s story really can impact every part of your life.

It’s called “The Story of Everything” and it’s available FOR FREE right now.

Click here to get started with this FREE seminary-level course.

WEEKEND LONG READ (SERMON BY SPURGEON)

A Faithful Friend

“… there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)

The world’s friendship is ever brittle. Trust to it, and you have trusted a robber; rely upon it, and you have leaned upon a thorn; ay, worse than that, upon a spear which shall pierce you to the soul with agony. Yet Solomon says he had found “a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Not in the haunts of his unbridled pleasures, nor in the wanderings of his unlimited resources, but in the pavilion of the Most High, the secret dwelling-place of God, in the person of Jesus, the Son of God, the Friend of sinners.

Read the full sermon from the Spurgeon Center for Biblical Preaching at Midwestern Seminary.

A FREE RESOURCE FROM MIDWESTERN

The Problem with Resolutions

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson discuss the problems we run into when we make New Year’s resolutions — or resolutions of any kind — and how to best handle new commitments and new habits in the Christian life.

Listen to this podcast on For the Church

PREPARE FOR MINISTRY AT MIDWESTERN

What Jesus purchased is precious. We’ve made it our purpose. Midwestern Seminary exists for the Church, and we serve the church by biblically educating God-called men and women to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ. If you’re called to serve the church, train with us, for the Church.

Pray with Spurgeon: We are forgiven, may we never worry

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Bless us; forgive us our trespasses wherein we have sinned against you. Seal our pardon upon our consciences, and make us feel that as we truly forgive them that trespass against us, so have you forgiven us all our iniquities. We pray that you would lead us not into temptation. Do not try us, Lord, nor suffer the devil to try us. If we must be tried then deliver us from evil, and especially from the evil one, that he may get no dominion over us.

Oh, keep us, Lord. This life is full of trial. There are many that are perplexed about temporary things. Let not the enemy lead them to do or think aught that is amiss, because of the straitness of supply

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13)

In the course of providence, the Lord tests our graces and the sincerity of our profession; and for this purpose he does “lead us into temptation.” We ask him not to try us too severely. Lord, let not my joys or my sorrows become temptations to me.

But if I must be tried, Lord, deliver me from falling into evil, and especially preserve me from that evil one, who, above all, seeks my soul, to destroy it. Temptation or trial may be for my good, if I am delivered from evil. Lord, do this for me, for I cannot preserve myself.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God’s grace sets us free from sin

Today, we prayed asking God to forgive us and remove every sin that separates us from God. No matter how many times we sin, we find his grace to be an inexhaustible ocean.

But God’s grace is NOT about forgiving our sin and leaving us stuck; it’s about empowering you to actually change. The book Unlimited Grace by Bryan Chappell will show you how wonderfully large and never-ending God’s grace is, and how this grace has the power to change your life from the inside out.

I know this book will encourage you and fill your heart with love and gratitude for God’s grace. If you’re feeling discouraged and shameful about your past sin, this book will assure of God’s never-ending kindness towards sinners. If you’re feeling stuck and unmoved in your present sin, this book will help you to lean into the power of God’s grace to change.

Buy Unlimited Grace:

Pastor, you are a sinner preaching to sinners

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

We are made to see that the Lord is God, and that beside him there is none else. Very frequently God teaches this to the minister, by leading him to see his own sinful nature. He will have such an insight into his own wicked and abominable heart, that he will feel as he comes up the pulpit stairs, that he does not deserve so much as to sit in his pew, much less to preach to his fellows. Although we feel always joy in the declaration of God’s Word, yet we have known what it is to totter on the pulpit steps, under a sense that the chief of sinners should scarcely be allowed to preach to others.

Ah, beloved, I do not think he will be very successful as a minister, who is not taken into the depths and blackness of his own soul, and made to exclaim, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the preeminence of Jesus.

In white, all the colors are blended. A perfectly white substance combines all the colors of the rainbow merged in true proportion, but green and indigo and red are only the reflections of a part of the solar rays. So John, Peter, Paul are parts of the light of heaven; they are differing colors, and there is a beauty in each one of them. But if you want to get the whole of the rays of light, you must get to Christ, for all light is in him. In him is not simply the red or the blue, but in him is light, the true light, the whole of light.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

HUGE thanks to the CROSS Conference for sponsoring Shepherding with Spurgeon for the next few months.

This year’s CROSS Con is taking place right now in Louisville, Kentucky. You can check out the free livestream to hear from John Piper, David Platt, and more. Stay tuned for more information about next year’s conference and how you can use this event to disciple the 18–25 year-olds in your church.

Pray with Spurgeon: Help us spread the truth

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We pray for the coming of our Lord very speedily to end these sluggish years, these long-delaying days. But, if he does not come yet, put power into your truth and enliven your church that she may become energetic for the spread of it, that so your kingdom may come. We seek the glory of God first and above everything. We ask for grace that we may live with this end in view.

May we lay ourselves out to it. May this be our morning thought and the thought that we have in our minds when we lay awake at nights: “What shall I do, my Savior, to praise? How can I make him illustrious and win another heart to his throne?”

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12)

No prayer of mortal men could be complete without confession of sin. Prayer which does not seek for pardon will fail, as the Pharisee’s prayer did. Let proud men boast as they please, those who are in Christ’s kingdom will always pray, “Forgive us our debts.”

This pardon we can only obtain as we freely pass over the offenses of others against ourselves: “as we forgive our debtors.” This is a reasonable, nay, a blessed requirement, which it is a delight to fulfill. It would not be safe for God to forgive a man who will not forgive others.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

How God is at work in your life this year (and right now!)

Making goals for the new year can be an incredible fruitful activity, but we need to remember that all of our efforts to improve ourselves are worthless without God’s help.

Last year, I was really blessed reading How People Change by Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane

The goal of this book is to solve “the gospel gap.” We believe that Christ’s work has forgiven our past sins and will give us hope in the future, but we’re often confused about how a relationship with Jesus will actually change our life here and now.

This book offers an incredibly hopeful, practical, and biblical guide for growing in godliness and quitting sin. I know it will bless you this year, so I hope you’ll grab a copy and read with me.

Buy How People Change:

Pray with Spurgeon: Jesus on the throne of our hearts

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Let our spirit and body be consecrated to God. May there be no reserves; may everything be given up to you. Reign forever! Pierced King, despised and nailed to a tree, sit on the glorious high throne in our hearts, and may our lives prove that you are Lord over us; by our every thought and desire, and imagination, and word, and act, in every respect being under your divine control.

Your people breathe to you out of our very hearts the prayer that you would reign over us without a rival. O Savior, use for yourself what you have bought with blood, drive out the enemy, and let no power have any dominion over us except the power of your good Spirit who brings about righteousness and peace.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Give us today our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)

We pray for providential supplies for ourselves and others—“Give us.” We ask for our food as a gift—“Give us.” We request no more than bread, or food needful for us. Our petition concerns the day, and asks only for a daily supply; bread enough for this day. We ask not for bread which belongs to others, but only for that which is honestly our own,—“our daily bread.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

How God’s grace helps you grow

As you make New Year’s Resolutions and plan for your growth in the New Year, do not slide into self-reliance.

God saved you by grace, and he is going to help you grow by grace too.

We ask God to help us grow in holiness, because we know that God’s grace doesn’t just save us from sin, it also gives us the power that we need to slay sin. The work of growing in godliness is a work of cooperation between us and God’s grace.

One of my all-time favorite books is The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. This book explains how God’s grace empowers Christians to slay sin and grow in godliness. It is one of the helpful, practical, and encouraging books that I have ever read! If you want to grow in godliness, start with The Discipline of Grace.

Reading The Discipline of Grace will definitely help you grow in holiness in 2024. I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy The Discipline of Grace:

Pray with Spurgeon: Your Kingdom Come

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We ask that today, even today, many hearts might be won to God. Convince men of the wrong of being alienated from God, put into their hearts sorrow for sin and dread of wrath to come, and lead and drive men to Christ. Oh, how we pray for this, the salvation of our fellowmen, not so much for their sakes as for the sake of the glory of God and the rewarding of Christ for his pain.

We do with all our hearts pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Lord, help us to do your will. Take the crippled kingdom of our manhood and reign over it. Let spirit and body be consecrated to God. 

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

Oh, that you would reign over all hearts and lands! Men have thrown off their allegiance to our Father, God; and we pray with all our might that he may, by his almighty grace, subdue them to loyal obedience. We long for the coming of King Jesus; but meanwhile we cry to our Father, “your kingdom come.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Resource to Help You Pray in 2024

It seems like every year, I make a new year’s resolution to pray more frequently and more biblically. This is healthy — we should realize our need for prayer more and more every year. Over the last two years, my prayer life has been REALLY blessed by a really great resource, Psalms in 30 Days by Trevin Wax.

This book is a collection of thirty days of prayers (morning, midday, and evening) that includes all 150 psalms and prayers from Scripture and church history. With this book, you can pray through all of the psalms every month.

These prayers are so incredibly fresh, deep, and life-giving, and having a book that is set aside just for prayer is a physical reminder (on your table, shelf, desk, or bedside table) to pray (Plus, the book looks great!)

I’ve been using Psalms in 30 Days this year and it’s been such an incredible blessing. I’m excited to continue diving into it in 2024 (it definitely hasn’t gotten old yet!). I hope you’ll grab a copy and join me.

Buy Psalms in 30 Days: