Author: Charles Spurgeon

Pray with Spurgeon: Die with Jesus (so that he can raise you up)

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh that the name of Jesus might always charm me. Whatever others may do, may we fear and love Jesus. Oh crucify us, nailing us to his cross. Let us die with him; let us slumber in his grave; and then let us wake up and live only in his resurrection. And may our life be an ascended one, which he has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)

The old life is dead. You are dead to it. You will not be consumed by it, you cannot be controlled by it. You have a newer and higher life. Let it have full scope.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

What does it actually look like to have new life in Jesus?

As we prayed and saw in today’s verse of the day, God’s design for our lives is that we would die with Jesus and be raised up with Jesus. This sounds really great… but what does it actually mean?

A really great, practical book to help you understand what it means to die and rise with Jesus is J-Curve: Dying and Rising with Jesus in Everyday Life by Paul Miller. This book describes how our suffering and trials in this life are God’s plan to help us grow: We die to ourselves and are risen up to new life.

This book will help you understand your suffering and sin. It will fill you up with hope to know that God hasn’t given up on you (and he never will).

I know this book will encourage you and help you grow, so I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy J-Curve:

Pray with Spurgeon: God will keep the truth alive

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We bless you on the behalf of the much tried among your children. They went through fire and through water; men did go over their heads, yet you have preserved them. Their hope seemed to wither like the fading leaf and the summer of their joy turned into a bleak winter of adversity, yet the spring time has come to them, and the time of the singing of birds; yes, they begin to pluck their first ripe fruits, and they joy and exult in the Lord.

O Lord, we praise you for keeping alive a testimony for the truth in the land. There have been dark and evil days, and some that professed to be your servants have turned traitors to the gospel; yet still you have heard the cry of the faithful, and the candle is not put out, neither has the sun gone down; but even unto this day the Lord, the God of Israel reigns in the midst of his people, and his saints exult in his name.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.” (Psalm 80:18)

It is in Christ that we abide faithful, because he lives we live also. There is no hope of our perseverance apart from him. If the Lord gives life out of death, his praise is sure to follow. The Lord Jesus is such a leader, that in him is life, and the life is the light of men. He is our life. When he visits our souls anew we shall be revived, and our praise shall ascend unto the name of the Triune God.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God wants you to be confident in your salvation. Here’s how.

Today we prayed a prayer of thankfulness that God has preserved suffering Christians through their trials. This is the foundation of our hope, that God is holding onto us, equipping us to hold onto him. From the beginning to the end, he is our Savior.

Many faithful Christians are living in a state of constant fear, worrying about whether or not they’re really saved. Friend, if this is you, know that this is not God’s design for your life. God wants you to walk confident in your eternal security, not because of your own goodness, but because of Christ’s grace.

If you’re walking in worry about whether or not you’re really saved, Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart by J.D. Greear is a great resource. Greear offers a diagnostic for Christians to “know for sure that you’re saved.” It’s not rooted in looking back at the moment of your conversion, but about honestly evaluating God’s preserving work in your life right now.

This book is really biblical and really practical. I hope God will use it to encourage you and end your worry. You don’t need to get saved again, because Christ will always hold onto you.

Buy Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart:

Pastor, God teaches you so that you can teach others

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

“Therefore, every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom treasures new and old.” (Matthew 13:52)

If the Lord has instructed us in his kingdom, it is for the sake of others. Toward these we must act as one who keeps house, and brings out provisions for the family. Some things have been laid up to ripen, and these the steward fetches out in due season; others are the better for being fresh from the garden; and these he serves up at once. He keeps back nothing; but he does not confine his provision to one single thing. He is not weary of the old; he is not afraid of the new. Old truth is made new by a living experience: new views of truth, if indeed it be truth, are only the old in a fresh light.

We must in our instruction of others cultivate variety, but we must not aim at it by poisoning the children with deadly drugs for the sake of giving them novel dishes. Only things worth putting into a treasury are worth bringing forth to the household. That scribe had need be well instructed who has to keep on handing out a variety of precious truth throughout a long life.

Lord, make us sufficient for these things. Instruct as, that we may instruct our household. May we make no reserve for self, but bring out for your people all that which you have put in our charge. Oh, to be accepted by you on the day of your return, because we are found faithful to our trust!

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the foolishness of salvation by works.

An old preacher says, “A silly servant who is bidden to open a door, sets his shoulder to it and pushes with all his might; but the door stirs not, and he cannot enter, use what strength he may. Another comes with a key, and easily unlocks the door, and enters right readily. Those who would be saved by works are pushing at heaven’s gate without result; but faith is the key which opens the gate at once.”

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

I’ve been particularly challenged this year to “deepen the well,” to always be learning, so that I can always teach with conviction, freshness, and vigor. Do not eat on manna that you have stored up since seminary — dive afresh into God’s Word every day. And, once you have been refreshed in the depths, surface to teach your people the wonderful works of God.

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

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Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks

Pray with Spurgeon: Help us to walk with Jesus

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Most glorious and inestimably precious Jesus; we desire to honor you more. How few are the jewels which we put into your Crown! How small is the homage which we pay to you! Help us to live talking of Jesus, and walking with Jesus, receiving his image. May our lives be distinct portraits of the life of Christ. May we so live that men may take knowledge of us that have been with the Nazarene, and have caught his speech, his manner, and his conduct.

Most glorious Spirit, it is yours to make our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit, and to drive out from us everything which would prevent Jesus from dwelling within. Do this, until we shall live wholly and only for him. Better to die for Jesus than to live for self; better to bleed for Jesus than to preserve one’s life without suffering, separated from him.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

You are to be advertisers of the praises or virtues of Christ; not only to know them, and to be glad to know them, but to make them known to others.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A resource to help you share your faith (AND help others too!)

Today we prayed that God would help us to constantly be talking about Jesus as we walk with Jesus. And we saw in the verse of the day that this is our duty — to be “advertisers of the virtues of Christ.”

Evangelism can be daunting for some, but it doesn’t have to be complicated! The most effective thing you can do with a non-Christian friend is to read the Bible together.

And to help you do that, I’ve created a new resource, Know Jesus. This is a simple, easy-to-use Bible study. It’s designed for a Christian to take a non-Christian through 15 passages in Mark’s Gospel.

I worked really hard to create a resource that was as easy-to-use as possible, because we are called to share Christ with others.

The best part: 100% of the profits from this book are given to purchase copies for evangelism in Washington, DC, where I live and minister. (One copy purchased = one copy for a non-Christian in the nation’s capital).

So I hope you’ll buy two copies (one for you and one for a non-Christian friend) and start a late-summer Bible study with someone that you know.

Buy Know Jesus on Amazon (Paperback)

Pray with Spurgeon: God, help us love you more

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O Father, we have a thousand wants, and we have but few words in which to express them; but you know them altogether. Our Father, who art in heaven, we want to love you more! Sometimes we feel the spirit of adoption, and we can cry “Abba Father;” but there are times when this world creeps in, and when gloomy doubts prevail, and we fear to call you ours. Strengthen our faith, that our love may be strengthened too.

You know all things; you know that we love you. Oh for grace to love you more! And we want to have a greater longing, and hungering, and thirsting after Christ. We would not be indifferent to his charms. He has given himself to us. Oh let us not live as though we were destitute of such a Treasure. He is, we hope, dearer to us than all our senses are, our limbs, our passions, or our eyes. Oh let us live nearer to him, or, when absent, let us mourn as the dove that laments for her mate. If we may not drink of him, give us at least grace to hunger and thirst after him.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘Let it be done for you according to your faith.’” (Matthew 9:29)

throws the whole responsibility upon their confidence in him. Again he arouses their faith; and this time he throws the whole responsibility upon their confidence in him. He touched them with his hand; but they must also touch him with their faith.

The word of power in the last sentence is one upon which he acts so continually, that we may call it, as to many blessings, a rule of the kingdom. We have the measuring of our own mercies; our faith obtains less or more according to its own capacity to receive. Had these men been mere pretenders to faith they would have remained blind. If we will not in very truth trust our Lord, we shall die in our sins.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Bible-saturated plan to grow in godliness

Today we prayed that God would help us grow to love him more. We don’t want to be controlled by worldly passions anymore — we want to live for God.

While our growth in holiness is a miracle that only God can do, we also have a role to play in this work. You will not automatically grow in godliness — you need to pursue godliness with the strength that God the Holy Spirit gives you.

A great, practical book on growing in godliness (self-control, taming the tongue, and more) is The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges. This book won’t just tell you that something is sinful, it will actually equip you practical tools and truths from God’s Word to slay your sin and live in godliness.

Whatever pressing sin you are currently facing and want to grow in, The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges is a great resource to help you take your next steps. I hope you pick up a copy today.

Buy The Practice of Godliness:

Pray with Spurgeon: Wash us clean again by the blood of Christ

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Father, we now ask you to have pity upon us, your children; who have of late erred and strayed, even as we have done before. You have washed us. In that fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, we have found perfect cleansing. But as the priests needed to wash their feet every day, so do we. Oh wash us clean again; and as before the judgment seat we are clean, so now before our Father’s face, let us, too, be clean.

O you who dwell in Zion, rid us of corruptions within. Drive out the Canaanites. Some of our besetting sins are like those that have chariots of iron; drive them out before us by the irresistible power of your grace, until the whole of my soul in its uttermost lengths shall belong unto God alone.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth.” (3 John 4)

It is grievous to see how some professing Christian parents are satisfied as long as their children display cleverness in learning or sharpness in business, although they show no signs of a renewed nature. If they pass their exams with credit and promise to be well fitted for the world’s battle, their parents forget that a superior is calling, involving a higher crown, for which the child will need to be fitted by divine grace and armed with the whole armor of God. If our children lose the crown of life, it will be but a small consolation that they have won the laurels of literature or art.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Discover freedom from guilt and deeper joy in Christ

Today we prayed, lamenting our former life and celebrating the new life we have in Christ. As we think about who we were before we knew Christ, it can be easy for many of us to feel a constant sense of guilt from our past sins. And while it’s good to feel remorse over our sin, God has called us to live in freedom and joy with a clear conscience.

A great (and very short!) book to help you understand your conscience, repentance, and freedom from guilt and shame is The Art of Turning by Kevin DeYoung. This short book unpacks the “conscience” and encourages you to turn from Christ sin every day.

This book is so incredibly life-giving. If you read it, you will find freedom from guilt and increased desire to know Christ. I hope you’ll pick up a copy today.

Buy The Art of Turning on Amazon.

Pray with Spurgeon: Even our poor prayers are accepted

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

While we have any being we will praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And when we leave this clay to be the food of worms, it shall be in confident expectation that our body shall rise again, and our spirit shall mount to heaven, singing as it mounts, to look forever into the face of God, forever to sing the praise of him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood.

Oh that we knew the language of heaven! We wish that we could borrow the notes of angels, but until then, good Lord, we offer you such as we have, and since it is perfumed with the Savior’s merits, and put into the golden censer which he waves in his hand, we believe that even our poor frankincense and myrrh shall not be unaccepted, but that you will receive it through Jesus Christ, the great High Priest.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification. We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding. Do not say of any error, “It is a mere matter of opinion.” No man indulges an error of judgment, without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice. Hold fast the truth, for by so holding the truth shall you be sanctified by the Spirit of God.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Share the sanctifying word of God with others

Today’s verse of the day pointed us to the stunning power of God’s Word. By his Word, God is able to transform us and make us more like his Son. And that means if we want to see lives transformed, we need to bring people to the Word (not our own opinions).

In the last few months, I’ve been working to create a resource to help people in my church read the Bible with a non-believing friend.

My goal was to create a Bible study that was simple enough for ANY Christian to walk through with a non-Christian they know.

I’m really excited about what we’ve put together — its a simple Bible study workbook called KNOW JESUS that walks through the Gospel According to Mark in 15 sessions.

I know that this resource is going to be bear a lot of fruit in our church, and I want to share it with you — you can purchase copies of this book on Amazon.

I hope you’ll grab one for you and one for a non-believing friend you know.

And the best part, for every copy sold, we’ll use 100% of the profits to buy copies for a non-Christian in Washington DC, where I serve as a pastor.

(Every copy purchased = one given away for evangelism in DC)

Buy Know Jesus on Amazon (Paperback edition)

Pastor, don’t contradict your own preaching

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

Let the minister take care that his personal character agrees in all respects with his ministry.

We have all heard the story of the man who preached so well and lived so badly, that when he was in the pulpit everybody said he ought never to come out again, and when he was out of it they all declared he never ought to enter it again. From the imitation of such a Janus may the Lord deliver us.

May we never be priests of God at the altar, and sons of Belial outside the tabernacle door; but on the contrary, may we, as Nazianzen says of Basil, “thunder in our doctrine, and lighten in our conversation.” We do not trust those persons who have two faces, nor will men believe in those whose verbal and practical testimonies are contradictory. As actions, according to the proverb, speak louder than words, so an ill life will effectually drown the voice of the most eloquent ministry. After all, our truest building must be performed with our hands; our characters must be more persuasive than our speech.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe God’s grace in helping us resist temptation.

I have known what it is to escape from a strong temptation without falling into it, and I think that I have felt as grateful to God as a man would be who had seen a shark after him, and had been almost between its jaws, and had just slipped away as he heard the monster close his mouth with a snap.

I remember standing under a building that was being built and seeing a mass of stone fall from a great height just in front of me. What a thud it made! How narrow was my escape! How I started! But what joy filled my heart!

So it is when one is delivered from temptation—from temptation that began to overpower the heart.

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

We must remain diligent to watch our life and doctrine closely. Not just so that we can continue to meet the qualifications for our office, but also so that we don’t heap shame upon Christ or doubt upon our message.

“Let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)

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

Pray with Spurgeon: God called us away from our wandering

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O our gracious Friend and Father, we bless you, then, with all our hearts for the trials you have given us, and for the mercies with which you are pleased to sweeten them. Oh how good you have been to us, your people. In old eternity you did ascribe our names in the Book of Life.

In the fullness of time, you gave your Darling from your bosom, that he might be offered up a sacrifice for us, and then when the full time was come, you did call us by your grace from wandering in the ways of sin unto the paths of righteousness. You did take us out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay. You did set our feet upon a rock, and did establish all our goings. Therefore we will praise the God of grace.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“But whoever listens to me will live securely and be undisturbed by the dread of danger.” (Proverbs 1:33)

Whatever comes upon the earth, you, beneath the broad wings of the Lord, shall be secure. Stay yourself upon his promise; rest in his faithfulness, and bid defiance to the blackest future, for there is nothing in it dangerous for you. Your sole concern should be to show forth to the world the blessedness of hearkening to the voice of wisdom.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Trust in God’s preserving, purifying power through all of your suffering

Today’s verse of the day commentary reflected on the fake that we can trust God through ANY trial, because he has promised to preserve his people. God is at work in your suffering to preserve you and to purify you.

This was one of the major themes in Spurgeon’s teaching on suffering, but it was not all he had to say on the topic. Spurgeon learned supernatural wisdom from God’s Word and from his own pain on how to address our suffering in a God-glorifying, hopeful way.

Spurgeon’s teaching on suffering is very useful, so I compiled a brief collection of it in a short book, Spurgeon on Suffering. This book contains 12 classic sermons from Spurgeon on suffering, pain, and God’s grace through it all.

I hope you’ll buy a copy today, and I hope it will bless you.

(As a side note, purchasing a copy is a great way to support this ministry so that I can continue to send this daily newsletter!)

Buy Spurgeon on Suffering on Amazon (Paperback or Kindle edition)

Pray with Spurgeon: It is impossible for God to be unkind

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We are constrained to say, now, when your chastening hand falls upon us—“The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). It is impossible for you to do that which is unkind, and if we have received good at your hands, shall we not receive with equal cheerfulness that which appears to be evil?

You do well, O Lord, and in everything you do the best thing that could be done. We would not only be resigned to your will, but we would feel a divine pleasure and satisfaction in the thought that you have your own will; for who should have it, who should reign, who should be the disposer of events, but yourself?

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Trust in the LORD forever, because in the LORD, the LORD himself, is an everlasting rock!” (Isaiah 26:4)

Seeing that we have such a God to trust in, let us rest upon him with all our weight; let us resolutely drive out all unbelief, and endeavor to get rid of doubts and fears, which so much mar our comfort; since there is no excuse for fear where God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be sorely grieved if his child could not trust him; and how ungenerous, how unkind is our conduct when we put so little confidence in our heavenly Father who has never failed us, and who never will.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God is patient. It’s time to learn why.

I was so encouraged by this line in today’s prayer: “It is impossible for you to do that which is unkind.”

Impossible, because kindness is deep within God’s very nature. Kindness is who he is.

One book that has reminded me afresh of the beauty and the freeness of God’s love is Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. This book is an absolutely stunning picture of God’s grace to us in Christ. It will fill you up with confidence to know that God will always be patient, because that’s who he is.

I’ve been moved to tears several times while reading this book and seeing the stunningly beautiful and thoroughly biblical picture of Christ’s love for his people. The book is great reading for any sinning and suffering Christian (which is all of us!)

I hope you’ll grab a copy and read it this summer. I promise that you won’t regret it!

Buy Gentle and Lowly: