Author: Charles Spurgeon

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PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (BY SPURGEON)

If any in your presence this weekend are unsaved, oh save them at our service. Do grant that the services may bring such glad tidings to their ear, that their heart shall leap at the sound of it, and they shall return unto God, who will abundantly pardon. Bless every preacher of the Word today, and all classes of young men and women, and every form of holy service.

Accept the prayers and praises of your people. Receive them even from the sick beds of those detained at home. Let not one of your mourners, the weary watchers of the night, be kept without a smile from God. The Lord bless us now, and all his chosen people. Our soul cries out for it. Break, O everlasting morning, break o’er the dark hills! Let our eyes behold you, and till the day break and the shadows flee away, abide with us, O our Beloved, abide with us now.

Amen.

GET A FREE BOOK

Thanks to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College for sponsoring the Weekend Edition.

Midwestern is giving away five sets of The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon to Pray with Spurgeon subscribers (a collection of Spurgeon’s earliest sermons, now released in a series of seven beautiful books).

There’s only four days left to enter this contest! Click here to enter to win.

They’ve also curated some great resources, including FREE seminary-level video classes. Get all of these resources right here.

WEEKEND LONG READ (SERMON BY SPURGEON)

Jude’s Doxology

“Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24–25)

Learn from this, dear friends, that the sin of man, if we are ever called to denounce it, should drive us to adore the goodness and glory of God. Sin, defiles the world; so, after you have done your best to sweep it out, resolve that, inasmuch as man has dishonored the name of God, you will seek to magnify that name. It is true that you cannot actually redress the wrong that has been done, but, at any rate, if the stream of sin has been increased, you may increase the stream of loyal and reverent praise. Take care that you do so. Jude is not satisfied with having rebuked the sons of men for their sin, so he turns round to glorify his God.

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

A FREE RESOURCE FROM MIDWESTERN

Barnabas Piper on Belonging

In this podcast, Jared Wilson talks with pastor and author Barnabas Piper about the importance and beauty of unity and community in the local church. This conversation will make you love your church more, so it will definitely be worth your time.

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.

Get a prayer from Spurgeon in your inbox every day. Subscribe to the Pray with Spurgeon newsletter for free.

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O blessed Savior, we would ask for all believers to realize their union with Christ Jesus. Oh that our hearts might follow you upward to your throne ascending high. Let us rise with you by a joyous confidence, for we shall be there before long, and let us now see your power, your state, the glories of your kingly condition, where you sit at the right-hand of God forever, having finished the propitiation for the sins of men.

We worship you, Immanuel—“God with us.” We now adore you, Jesus, before the Father’s throne. There is no coming to the Father, but by you; but in following you we have come to the Father, and to the place where the “many mansions” are.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I will pay attention to the way of integrity. When will you come to me? I will live with a heart of integrity in my house.” (Psalm 101:2)

He feels the need not merely of divine help, but also of the divine presence, that so he may be instructed, and sanctified, and made fit for the discharge of his high vocation. David longed for a more special and effectual visitation from the Lord before he began his reign. If God is with us we shall neither err in judgment nor transgress in character; his presence brings us both wisdom and holiness. Away from God we are away from safety. Good men are so sensible of infirmity that they cry for help from God, so full of prayer that they cry at all seasons, so intense in their desires that they cry with sighs and groanings which cannot be uttered, saying, “O when will you come to me?”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Tired of praying the same way about the same things?

It’s so easy for our prayer lives to fall into a rut — we pray the same words about the same problems day after day, and that’s boring. When we’re bored in prayer, it’s hard to pray with any kind of consistency or passion. But the Bible has a solution to our prayer problems — praying the Bible.

Praying the Bible is praying God’s own words back to him. When we use God’s Word as the foundation and starting point for our prayers, we pray in a more God-centered way about more God-centered issues.

I was first introduced to praying the Bible several years ago in a short book, Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney. This book is a short, approachable explanation of why and how to praying the Bible (and how to teach others).

Praying the Bible has absolutely revolutionized my prayer life. I hope you’ll grab a copy of Praying the Bible and enjoy the benefits of building your prayer life on God’s unchanging Word.

Buy Praying the Bible:

• Amazon (Hardback or Kindle editions)
• ChristianBook.com (Hardback or ebook editions)

Get a prayer from Spurgeon in your inbox every day. Subscribe to the Pray with Spurgeon newsletter for free.

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Many of us have looked to Jesus and we have been lightened, and our faces are not ashamed. We would look to him again today. Oh, that he might be set forth manifestly crucified among us, and as we look to him crucified for us, may our souls drink in deep peace and heavenly rest.

Give to every believer a sweet sense of pardoned sins, a blessed consciousness of divine love, a holy peace of mind, a blessed restfulness in Christ. Give also perfect consecration, strong resolve to serve the Lord while here below to the utmost of our capacity. Give more receptiveness that we may be ready to hold. Lord, enlarge us; give much faith to believe great things and to lay hold of great things.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I will pay attention to the way of integrity. When will you come to me? I will live with a heart of integrity in my house.” (Psalm 101:2)

To be holy is to be wise; a perfect way is a wise way. David’s resolve was excellent, but his practice did not fully tally with it. Alas! He was not always wise or perfect, but it was well that it was in his heart. A king had need be both sage and pure, and, if he be not so in intent, when he comes to the throne, his after conduct will be a sad example to his people. He who does not even resolve to do well is likely to do very ill. Householders, employers, and especially ministers, should pray for both wisdom and holiness, for they will need them both.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

You were made for God’s glory — so don’t settle for less.*

We were made to live for more than our own pleasure and comfort — we were made to live for God’s glory. This is the story of everything (God created the world for his glory) and the story of your life (God created YOU for his glory).

Recently, I’ve been watching “The Story of Everything,” which is a free video course from Jared Wilson and Midwestern Seminary. It’s a really powerful explanation of how God’s plan for the world impacts EVERY aspect of our lives.

The course has been really helpful for me, and I know it will bless you too.

It will help you see that this world cannot satisfy you, because you were made to live for more — God’s glory.

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

Get a prayer from Spurgeon in your inbox every day. Subscribe to the Pray with Spurgeon newsletter for free.

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Great God of the Sabbath, and Lord of the assemblies of Israel, we worship you, Most High, the Lord of Hosts, God all-sufficient. Our spirits bow into the dust before the infinite majesty of the All-in-All. The Lord lives. God is. We are but as passing shadows and things of an hour; but, O God, you are forever and ever, and our spirits worship you.

We ask this great favor at your hands, that the Lord Jesus Christ may stand among us by his spiritual presence, and that we may all of us be especially conscious that he is fulfilling his promise, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I will sing of faithful love and justice; I will sing praise to you, LORD.” (Psalm 101:1)

The Lord shall have all our praise. The secondary agents of either the mercy or the judgment must hold a very subordinate place in our memory, and the Lord alone must be hymned by our heart. Our soul’s sole worship must be the lauding of the Lord. The Psalmist forsakes the minor key and resolves that, come what may, he will sing, and sing to the Lord too, whatever others might do.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A simple read to help you (and others!) love your church more

Whether your church is thriving or in a season of difficulty, we all need to grow to love our local church family more. This is one of the most practical things you can do to grow in godliness.

And a great resource for helping you along the way is Love Your Church by Tony Merida. This is a new book that outlines eight great things about being a church member. I’m so thankful for the book’s faithfulness to Scripture and practical application.

Because the book is short, it’s a great resource to give to someone else to help them grow their own love for the church. If you know someone who you long to see more connected to the church, I encourage you to grab a copy of this book for them.

The book is simple and short. I promise you, if you will read this book and apply it’s lessons to your own local church, you will grow in love for your church family and grow in godliness as a result.

Buy Love Your Church:

• Amazon (Paperback or Kindle editions)
• ChristianBook.com (Paperback edition)

Get a prayer from Spurgeon in your inbox every day. Subscribe to the Pray with Spurgeon newsletter for free.

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh, if we have a spark of love toward you, may your Holy Spirit now fan it to flame. And since the firstborn has made us brothers, and is himself the firstborn among many brothers, may that same love which is in the heart of the firstborn be in the hearts of the younger brotherhood, that we may all love you, O Father, even as Jesus loves you, and you love him.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I will sing of faithful love and justice; I will sing praise to you, LORD.” (Psalm 101:1)

He would extol both the love and the severity, the sweets and the bitters, which the Lord had mingled in his experience; he would admire the justice and the goodness of the Lord.

Everything in God’s dealings with us may fittingly become the theme of song, and we have not viewed it rightly until we feel we can sing about it. We ought as much to bless the Lord for the judgment with which he chastens our sin, as for the mercy with which he forgives it; there is as much love in the blows of his hand as in the kisses of his mouth. Upon a retrospect of their lives instructed saints scarcely know which to be most grateful for—the comforts which have cheered them, or the afflictions which have purged them.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Celebrate Lent and Easter with Spurgeon and Others

Tomorrow is the first day of Lent. For thousands of years, Christians have prepared their hearts to worship the risen Christ at Easter through the season of Lent.

If you benefit from hearing Spurgeon’s prayers and Bible commentary in this newsletter each day, I know you will benefit from the daily devotional An Ocean of Grace: A Journey to Easter with Great Voices from the Past by Tim Chester. Each devotional features a passage of Scripture, a brief reflection, and a prayer from church history (diverse vocies from Augustine to Spurgeon).

As you read this book every day between now and Easter, you will find yourself overjoyed with hope that God has loved you in Christ.

I hope you’ll grab a copy and prepare for Easter — this book is a treasure, and it will make Easter much sweeter for you this year!

Buy An Ocean of Grace by Tim Chester:

• Amazon (Paperback or Kindle editions)
• ChristianBook.com (Paperback edition)

Get a prayer from Spurgeon in your inbox every day. Subscribe to the Pray with Spurgeon newsletter for free.

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Our Father, we love you with all our hearts for your matchless love in giving up your only-begotten Son for us. You were ever well-pleased with him. You have delighted in him and he in you. Yet for our sakes, for the sake of miserable puny beings, whom you might have swept away in a moment, you gave him that he might take upon him our nature; that having taken our nature he might be your servant, and might carry out his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross.

We find it very hard to see our children suffer, and if they are taken from us by death, our hearts are broken. Yet you did, infinitely loving Father, give your only-begotten Son that he might die, and that we might live through him.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.” (Psalm 100:5)

No fickle being is he, promising and forgetting. He has entered into covenant with his people, and he will never revoke it, nor alter the thing that has gone out of his lips. As our fathers found him faithful, so will our sons, and their seed forever. A changeable God would be a terror to the righteous, they would have no sure anchorage, and amid a changing world they would be driven to and fro in perpetual fear of shipwreck.

It would be good if the truth of divine faithfulness were more fully remembered by some theologians; it would overturn their belief in the final fall of believers, and teach them a more consolatory system. Our heart leaps for joy as we bow before One who has never broken his word or changed his purpose.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Learn how the Bible’s story impacts every part of your life.*

Christianity is not a “Sunday religion” — it is a faith that controls every part of our lives — our identity, our beliefs, our eternity, our hobbies, our work, our relationships, and more. It’s a worldview, because it helps us see the whole world with clarity.

God’s great story makes sense of the most amazing and the most mundane things in our lives.

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.

Get a prayer from Spurgeon in your inbox every day. Subscribe to the Pray with Spurgeon newsletter for free.

PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (BY SPURGEON)

Look, this weekend, we plead with you, upon us as a church, and give us greater prosperity. Add to us daily. Knit and unite us together in love. Pardon church sins. Have mercy upon us that we do not more for you. Accept what we are enabled to do. Qualify each one of us to be vessels fit for the Master’s use; then use each one of us according to the measure of our capacity.

Will you be pleased to bless the various works carried on by the church; may they all prosper. Let every activity be visited with the dew of heaven, may they have an abundant shower from the Lord; and may all of our efforts bring forth a great harvest for God.

Amen.

GET A FREE BOOK

Thanks to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College for sponsoring the Weekend Edition.

Midwestern is giving away five sets of The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon to Pray with Spurgeon subscribers (a collection of Spurgeon’s earliest sermons, now released in a series of seven beautiful books). Click here to enter to win.

They’ve also curated some great resources, including FREE seminary-level video classes. Get all of these resources right here.

WEEKEND LONG READ (SERMON BY SPURGEON)

Soul Saving: Our One Business

“To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.” (2 Corinthians 9:22)

At this time I shall have to speak to you upon Paul’s great object in life; he tells us it was to “save some”; we will then look into Paul’s heart and show’ you a few of the great reasons which made him think it so important that some at least should be saved; then, thirdly, we will indicate certain of the means which the apostle used to that end; and all with this view, that you, my dear hearers, may seek to “save some”; that you may seek this because of potent reasons which you cannot withstand, and that you may seek it with wise methods such as shall in the end succeed.

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

A FREE RESOURCE FROM MIDWESTERN

The Bible warned us about this

It feels all too common. I open Twitter and find news I wish wasn’t true. I hope it’s not true. But as I read I realize, tragically, it is all too true. A well-known Christian leader has fallen. He wasn’t what he seemed to be. His sins, as the Bible promises, have found him out….

Putting our faith in someone other than Jesus will inevitably lead to disappointment. Yet we do it anyway. That’s why it hurts so bad when our heroes fall.

Read the full article 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.

Get a prayer from Spurgeon in your inbox every day. Subscribe to the Pray with Spurgeon newsletter for free.

Thanks for praying with us this week. And thanks to Midwestern Seminary for sponsoring the newsletter this week.Get a free online course from Midwestern, “The Story of Everything,” taught by Jared Wilson.*

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

In our life and in our experience we have seen what great things the Lord does for those who put their trust in him, and we can say, “Happy is the man who has the God of Jacob for his confidence.” O Hope of Israel, you do not deceive. You give us no eggs that will not hatch, no mockery of blessing; but he whom you have. blessed is blessed. None can reverse the benediction.

We bless you, O God, for our election before the earth was, for our calling by your effectual grace. We bless you for our pardon bought with blood. We bless you for the power of grace which has kept us until now. Who could hold us up but you? And as we set up our Ebenezer today, it is with songs of gratitude unto the Lord whose mercy endureth forever.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.” (Psalm 100:5)

God is not mere justice, stern and cold: he has a heart of compassion, and wills not the sinner’s death. Towards his own people mercy is still more conspicuously displayed; it has been theirs from all eternity, and shall be theirs world without end. Everlasting mercy is a glorious theme for sacred song.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

How does God’s unfailing love allow suffering and evil?

Today, we prayed, thanking God for all of the ways we have seen him at work in our lives. For some of us, this kind of prayer is challenging to pray. Our experience tries to drown out the truth of Scripture. Surely a God who allows so much suffering cannot really be worthy of our unending love?

Grappling with questions like “If God is love why do bad things happen?” can increase your amazement at the wonders of God’s love. And so wrestling through those questions is important.

One great resource for helping you tackle those questions is The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson. This short book explains God’s love in a thoroughly biblical way that will leave you amazed at God’s grace and more eager to love others.

I know this book will increase your confidence in God — I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God:

• Amazon (Paperback or Kindle edition)
• ChristianBook.com (Paperback edition)