Author: Charles Spurgeon

Pray with Spurgeon: God has always been faithful

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We adore the Most High as we take a look back at all his dealings with us. You have dealt well with your servants, according to your word. We have often provoked you, but you have as often forgiven us; we have started aside like a deceitful bow, but you have been faithful to your every word of promise. We have been feeble and weak, and are not worthy of your regard, but you have shown yourself strong on the behalf of those who serve you. The right hand of the Lord is exalted, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

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)

 This sums up his character and contains a mass of reasons for praise. He is good, gracious, kind, bountiful, loving; yes, God is love. He who does not praise the good is not good himself. The kind of praise taught in this psalm, that of joy and gladness, is most fitly urged upon us by an argument from the goodness of God.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Is Jesus the Lord of your whole life?*

So many Christians today have a compartmentalized view of Jesus — we worship him on Sunday and pray in the morning, but he doesn’t REALLY have much impact on 99% of our lives.

Of course, following Jesus in every sphere of our lives sounds really good, but what does it actually look like?

A great resource to help you — “The Story of Everything” by Jared Wilson — a free video course from Midwestern Seminary.

This free online course will help you understand how God’s great story makes sense of the most amazing and the most mundane things in our lives.

It’s been a blessing to me, and I know it will be a blessing to you as well!

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

Pray with Spurgeon: We praise Jesus, on the cross and on the throne

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O infinitely glorious Lord, to praise you is our delight. We never feel so blessed as when we are either at the foot of the cross, or at the foot of the throne, and we bless you that we know both places. We know not which of the two we can best adore. O blessed One, that ever you should come from heaven to earth to bleed and die! What can our hearts say? What can our souls render? Our eyes are better than our lips in this adoration, for we can weep to the praise of the mercy which we see in the bleeding Son of God; but still at the foot of the throne we would worship him who lives forever.

All glory be to our creator, preserver, redeemer, comforter. It is he who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. We would worship and bow down; we would kneel before the Lord our Maker, in the reverence of our hearts. All honor and glory and power and dominion be unto him who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.” (Psalm 100:4)

He blessed you, bless him in return; bless his name, his character, his person. Whatever he does, be sure that you bless him for it: bless him when he takes away as well as when he gives; bless him as long as you live, under all circumstances; bless him in all his attributes, from whatever point of view you consider him.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Preach the gospel to yourself (here’s how)

One of the ways we work to strengthen our faith is preaching the gospel to ourselves. We must constantly remind ourselves of the work that Christ has done to suffer, die, and rise again for sinners — for me. Spurgeon called those reminders “preaching the gospel to yourself.” This is an important discipline that we have to cultivate to stay rooted in God’s grace.

One tool to help you preach the gospel to yourself is Note to Self by Joe Thorn. This book contains 48 short devotions that are formatted as simple notes written for your own heart. Read them to yourself, preach them to yourself, knowing that you need these truths to live.

Note to Self is a great tool for remembering that your only hope is Christ, not your own works. I know these short devotions will encourage you and increase your love for him.

Buy Note to Self:

Pray with Spurgeon: We love God, because we have known him in Jesus

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O God, you are our God, and we will exalt you. You are our fathers’ God, and we will exalt you. You are the God of Abraham, and of Moses, and of Jacob. The Lord, the God of David, the God of the whole earth shalt you be called.

Our souls do magnify you, for you have manifested yourself to us more clearly than to the patriarchs and kings of old. In the face of Jesus Christ we see your glory. The express image of your person, you have made him to be; and we worship and adore you in him, magnifying with all our hearts the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Triune God of Israel, to whom be blessing forever and ever!

Happy are the people who call you their God. Happy are we who have by your mighty grace been born the children of the promise, the true seed of Abraham, seeing we have believed, and are thus the children of believing Abraham.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.” (Psalm 100:4)

Into whatever court of the Lord you may enter, let your admission be the subject of praise: thanks be to God, the innermost court is now open to believers, and we enter into that which is within the veil; it is incumbent upon us that we acknowledge the high privilege by our songs.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Happy Valentine’s Day — Here’s a Resource for Husbands

Today is a great day to celebrate love and (for those of us who are married) to evaluate our own marriage in light of God’s call on our lives. Husbands, we are called to lay down our lives in service for our wives — how can we grow to be the sacrificial leader that God has called us to be?

I’ve created a resource, The God Centered Husband Bible Study Workbook to help husbands understand God’s call on their lives and equip them to follow it. 

This is a simple, hands-on Bible study workbook for married guys. It will walk you through six passages of Scripture about being a husband and challenge you to serve your wife sacrificially, lead her consistently, and show her the character of God.

Use it on your own, in a small group, or one-on-one. Grab a copy for yourself and a friend.

Buy The God Centered Husband Bible Study Workbook on Amazon.

Pray with Spurgeon: God is full of mercy, we are full of thanks

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh that we could praise you! We do not feel like praying just now so much as praising you. Oh for an overflowing power of the Holy Spirit kindling our whole soul, our whole being, like a burnt-offering, that we might smoke toward heaven, rising in flames of rapturous love and mighty adoration.

The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock, and let the God of Israel be exalted. He is my God, and I will extol him. He is my father’s God and I will prepare him a habitation. Oh let the people praise you, great God, let all the people praise you; then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our God, shall bless us.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.” (Psalm 100:4)

To the occurrence of the word thanksgiving in this place the psalm probably owes its title. In all our public service the rendering of thanks must abound; it is like the incense of the temple, which filled the whole house with smoke. Expiatory sacrifices are ended, but those of gratitude will never be out of date.

So long as we are receivers of mercy we must be givers of thanks. Mercy permits us to enter his gates; let us praise that mercy. What better subject for our thoughts in God’s own house than the Lord of the house.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

The world is changing, but God’s purposes are not*

God has a plan to spread his glory over the face of the whole earth as people hear the good news about Jesus. No matter what happens in this world, this is God’s purpose. And he’s inviting you to play a part in it.

This eternal purpose of God doesn’t just change our Sunday mornings — it should change every part of our lives; how we go to work, how we think about creation, and even how we pursue relationships.

If you want some practical, biblical guidance on how God’s story can transform every part of your life, check out “The Story of Everything,” which is a free video course by Jared Wilson from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

This course is packed with amazing video content to help you understand God’s story (and find your part in it).

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

Weekend Edition: Help my church never fall

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PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (BY SPURGEON)

We pray with great earnestness that you would bless this church. We thank you for additions made to our members; we pray that they may be good men, and true, holy women, in their very hearts. Lord, keep those that are in membership. Let us not fall; let us not fall. Make us all useful. Keep the church in unity, peace and concord, and give it zeal and passionate longing for the conversion of the souls of men.

O Lord, we do ask you to remember us this weekend, when we come to worship you together, may the Lord be there! And when we gather together may a very large tide of blessing come. May many be brought in who now think nothing of you. While we are preaching, may the Holy Spirit be working, may souls be saved by thousands.

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)

Serving the Lord with Gladness

“Serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalm 100:2)

The man who has once known, who has tasted that the Lord is gracious, and been made to enter into the Lord’s covenant of mercy, and has seen under what obligations he is laid to the lovingkindness and tender mercy of the Lord, to such a man the very thought of serving God is liberty. He delights to run in the way of God’s commandments, and the statutes of the Most High are to him sweeter than honey, or the droppings of the honeycomb.

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

A FREE RESOURCE FROM MIDWESTERN

Serving Jesus: Our Effort or His?

Do I need to get busy working on becoming Christ-like, or should I pray and ask God to do a work in my heart? The biblical answer is: yes.

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: Accept our poor worship through Jesus Christ

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Blessed be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Our soul would take a flight out of our bodies for a moment up to the gate of pearl. It is open, and we pass along the golden streets, and we behold your glory, too excessive for the eye.

We hear in spirit the eternal song, and lo, we bow with all the redeemed by blood. We have no crowns to cast at your feet, O God, but all that we have, and all we are, we ascribe unto you, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” We have no words, we can only in the silence of our spirit adore, and again adore, and magnify and extol the Lord who lives forever. Accept our poor worship, through the Mediator Jesus Christ.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“He made us, and we are his— his people, the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100:3)

Shall not the creature reverence its Maker? Some men live as if they made themselves; they call themselves “self-made men,” and they adore their supposed creators; but Christians recognise the origin of their being and their well-being, and take no honor to themselves either for being, or for being what they are. Neither in our first or second creation dare we put so much as a finger upon the glory, for it is the sole right and property of the Almighty.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Short devotions on who God is and what he is like

Today’s prayer was a joy-filled celebration of the wonder of God. This is a model of excellent theology.

Theology isn’t supposed to be boring. It’s supposed to be a glorious adventure into the depths and wonders and riches of who God is and how he has worked in the world. When we think about theology, it should fill our hearts with awe and drive us to worship our great God.

The best books about theology help us along that journey — they cause us to love God more, rather than bore us or make our brains feel bigger. One book like that is Concise Theology by J.I. Packer.

Concise Theology is a collection of almost 100 short (3–4 page) explanations of crucial Christian doctrines. This book is approachable for any reader. It can be a great introduction to theology or a resource to help you teach theology to others.

When I read Concise Theology, my heart is filled with love for God and amazement at his works. I hope this book will help you worship him as well.

Buy Concise Theology:

*You can get the audiobook for free with a trial of Audible.

Pastor, your ministry depends on God (So pray without ceasing)

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

I take it that as a minister he is always praying. Whenever his mind turns to his work, whether he is in it or out of it, he ejects a petition, sending up his holy desires as well-directed arrows to the skies. He is not always in the act of prayer, but he lives in the spirit of it. If his heart be in his work, he cannot eat or drink, or take recreation, or go to his bed, or rise in the morning, without evermore feeling a fervency of desire, a weight of anxiety, and a simplicity of dependence upon God; thus, in one form or other he continues in prayer.

If there be any man under heaven, who is compelled to carry out the precept—“Pray without ceasing,” surely it is the Christian minister. He has peculiar temptations, special trials, singular difficulties, and remarkable duties, he has to deal with God in awful relationships, and with men in mysterious interests; he therefore needs much more grace than common men, and as he knows this, he is led constantly to cry to the strong for strength, and say, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” 

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this quotation in your own preaching to describe our confidence in the truth of God.

Copernicus declared the truth that the earth and the planets revolve around the sun. His opponents replied that this could not be true, for if the planet Venus revolved around the sun, she must present the same phases as the moon. This was very true. Copernicus looked up to Venus, but he could not see those phases, nor could anyone else. Nevertheless he stuck to his statement and said, “I have no reply to give, but in due time God will be so good that an answer will be found.” Copernicus died, and his teaching had not yet been justified. But soon after Galileo came forward with his telescope, and on looking at Venus he saw that she did pass through exactly the same changes as the moon.

Thus wisdom is justified by her children. Truth may not prevail today or tomorrow, but her ultimate victory is sure. Today they say that the doctrines of grace are antiquated, obsolete, and even injurious. We are at no trouble to answer the charge. We can wait, and we do not doubt that public thought will alter its tone.

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

We cannot grow the church, make disciples, convert the lost, preach the gospel, or lead the church without God. So we pray.

Oh, may God empty us of our vain self-confidence and fill us up with a Christ-centered hope that drives us to our knees in desperate prayer.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

If someone forwarded this email to you, sign up to get another one every week. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Pray with Spurgeon: We are full of love for God

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh for an overflowing power of the Holy Spirit kindling our whole soul, our whole being, like a burnt-offering, that we might smoke toward heaven, rising in flames of rapturous love and mighty adoration.

The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock, and let the God of Israel be exalted. He is my God, and I will extol him. He is my father’s God and I will prepare him a habitation. Oh let the people praise you, great God, let all the people praise you; then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our God, shall bless us.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Acknowledge that the LORD is God….” (Psalm 100:3)

Our worship must be intelligent. We ought to know whom we worship and why. “Man, know yourself,” is a wise aphorism, yet to know our God is truer wisdom; and it is very questionable whether a man can know himself until he knows his God.

The Lord is God in the fullest, most absolute, and most exclusive sense, he is God alone; to know him in that character and prove our knowledge by obedience, trust, submission, zeal, and love is an attainment which only grace can bestow. Only those who practically recognize his Godhead are at all likely to offer acceptable praise.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Find your place in God’s unchanging story*

God is at work all over the world, and he has a plan to use YOU for his glory among all nations. The only way we could serve God in this way — we need to depend on him DAILY for life.

Here’s the thing — the work of Jesus, dying for our sins and rising to bring us new life, really can impact your life every day.

Because the story of Jesus is the Story of Everything.

God’s plan isn’t just to bring you to heaven when you die, but it’s to use you TODAY for his glory… in every area of your life.

My friends at Midwestern 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.

Pray with Spurgeon: I believe in Jesus Christ

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

With great honor and depth of love do we adore the Son of God, not only God but also Man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. We have not seen you and still must rest in faith alone; but we believe that you did come to earth, did live and die, that you were buried, and on the third day did rise again from the dead; and you have gone up into glory, and you shall shortly come again to take your people from among men to dwell with you. Our heart expects you, we long for you; even so, come quickly Lord Jesus. Meanwhile, our spirit bows in lowliest and most loving reverence. With all the shining ranks above of cherubim and seraphim, we adore the Lamb in the midst of the Throne as God over all, blessed forever.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“… come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalm 100:2)

We ought in worship to realize the presence of God, and by an effort of the mind to approach him. This is an act which must to every rightly instructed heart be one of great solemnity, but at the same time it must not be performed in the servility of fear, and therefore we come before him, not with weepings and wailings, but with psalms and hymns.

Singing, as it is a joyful, and at the same time a devout, exercise, should be a constant form of approach to God. The measured, harmonious, hearty utterance of praise by a congregation of really devout persons is not merely decorous but delightful, and is a fit anticipation of the worship of heaven, where praise has absorbed prayer, and become the sole mode of adoration.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Seeing How All of Scripture Points to Jesus

Today’s prayer focused on the wonders and the greatness of God’s greatest gift — Jesus Christ. When we see Jesus for who he really is, in all of his beauty as the King of all Ages, we have to fall to our faces in worship. We must lay everything on the table in submission to this great king.

We always need resources that will magnify Christ to us — books that will remind us of how wonderful he is. One of those books is Christ from Beginning to End: How the Full Story of Scripture Reveals the Full Glory of Christby Stephen Wellum and Trent Hunter. This book walks through the story of Scripture, showing how Christ is the supreme hero and the supreme hope — he is what all of the Bible is pointing to.

This book is a helpful handbook to help you read Scripture in a more faithful, Christ-centered way and a guide to help you see Christ in every page.

This book will help you treasure Christ and the Bible more. I hope you’ll grab a copy for yourself.

Buy Christ from Beginning to End:

*You can get the audiobook for free with a trial of Audible.

Pray with Spurgeon: God’s glory is too great for us

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O Sacred Spirit, the Holy Spirit, we worship and love you, for you are our Comforter. You are now the power of this dispensation. You are with us, and you will abide with us. You dwell in our hearts; we worship you and bless the condescending love that deigns to dwell in such poor real estate as our nature.

Blessed be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our soul would take a flight out of our bodies for a moment up to the gate of pearl. It is open, and we pass along the golden streets, and we behold your glory, too excessive for the eye.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Serve the LORD with gladness…” (Psalm 100:2)

Pay him glad homage with great mirth. He is our Lord, and therefore he is to be served; he is our gracious Lord, and therefore to be served with joy. The invitation to worship here given is not a melancholy one, as though adoration were a funeral solemnity, but a cheery, gladsome exhortation, as though we were bidden to a marriage feast.

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.