Author: Charles Spurgeon

Pray with Spurgeon: Prone to wander, Lord I feel it

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Glorious Lord God; our faith is fully assured of your being, and our heart rejoices in your infinite love. Blessed was the day when first we knew our God. We mourn and lament with deep penitence, that we should have lived so long strangers to our best friend, to him in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways.

It is of your grace that we were ever brought to know you. Had we been left to ourselves, we should have wandered on, and have remained in darkness till this day; but blessed be your name, O God of all grace, you have revealed yourself to us, you have brought your life to our death, and made us alive in you.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“The men were amazed and asked,‘What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!’” (Matthew 8:27)

It was well that they were amazed; it would have been better had they adored. If Christ had been only man, the wonder about him would have been beyond all wonderment. He was divine, and hence to his royal word all nature yielded. This is the end of the wonder of the intellect, but it is the beginning of the worship of the heart.

In this case, our glorious King for the moment unveiled his glory, and commanded obedience from the most boisterous of the elements. In our own cases how often have we had to cry out, “What kind of man is this!” How grandly has he brought us through terrible storms! How easily has he calmed the surges of our souls! Blessed be his name! Still “the winds and the sea obey him.”

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Read Spurgeon’s earliest sermons in a beautiful series of books*

One thing many people don’t know about Spurgeon is that he started preaching when he was only 17-years-old, about a year after his conversion. Four years later, he would become the pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London and his sermons began to be regularly published.

But what happened to the sermons he preached before his arrival in London?

Up until a few years ago, these sermons were completely unavailable for reading anywhere. But now, a new series of books is making the outlines and manuscripts of these sermons available for our enjoyment and edification: The Lost Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon.

To be honest, before I read the Lost Sermons, I wasn’t sure how useful reading sermons written by a 17-year-old Spurgeon would be, but WOW, the content is so rich.

Each book contains hundreds of outlines and sermons from Spurgeon’s early ministry, including full-color scans from Spurgeon’s personal notebooks, along with typed-out transcripts.

Everytime I pick up any of the volumes, I can’t put them down. Reading them is just such a delight.

Thanks to my friends at B&H Academic, every volume in the Lost Sermons collection is 50% off for “Pray with Spurgeon” subscribers — just use promo code LOSTSERMONS6 when you check out on Lifeway.com.

You can use this code for any of the volumes in this series, including the newly-released volume six!

Buy the Lost Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon on Lifeway.com (Use promo code LOSTSERMONS6 to save 50%)

Pray with Spurgeon: Jesus already knows what we need (before we ask)

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, make us useful to your own children who have backslidden. May we be as Peter was, to whom you said, “when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). O Lord, make us useful among backsliders—this very day may some of us be enabled to do somewhat toward the fetching up of the rear guard, of those that loiter and linger, that the whole army of Christ may quicken its pace and march to victory.

And now, Lord Jesus, we have a thousand things to ask of you, and of your Father; but you know what we have need of before we ask. Give to each one of your own, that special gift most needed: we may not even know what it is, but according to your own wisdom and prudence, deal out of your treasury things new and old, for the enrichment and comfort of your people.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32)

We little know what we owe to our Savior’s prayers. When we reach the hill-tops of heaven, and look back upon all the way whereby the Lord our God has led us, how we shall praise him who, before the eternal throne, undid the mischief which Satan was doing upon earth. How shall we thank him because he never held his peace, but day and night pointed to the wounds upon his hands, and carried our names upon his breastplate! Even before Satan had begun to tempt, Jesus had forestalled him and entered a plea in heaven. Mercy outruns malice.

Pray with Spurgeon: God, help us serve you

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Now we are asking you to let your love be revealed to us, in all its sweet influences; and now we ask also that our love to you may be fervent, we pray that you would make us useful to our brethren. O Lord, we would not live unto ourselves; make us serviceable in gathering in the lost sheep.

Make us wise that we may go after them in their devious wanderings, and discover them. Lord, help us to speak a word in season to him that is sad of heart. When your arrows stick fast in the conscience, may we know how to apply the balm of Jesus’ wounds. Make us ready to tell out the sweet gospel which has been so precious to our own souls; and as men that have newly come ourselves from the presence of a pardoning Savior—men but newly washed in that dear blood which makes white as snow, may we go and tell to our fellow men, all black as they are, how they also can be made whiter than snow.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For there is nothing reliable in what they say; destruction is within them; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongues.” (Psalm 5:9)

Pouring out foul, putrid gas. They cannot speak without using filthy or blasphemous expressions; or if they do, there is falsehood lurking behind their words, for deceit and evil of all kinds are in their hearts.

Always beware of people who flatter you, and especially when they tell you that they do not flatter you, and that they know you cannot endure flattery, for you are then being most fulsomely flattered, so be on your guard against the tongue of the flatterer.

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A kid’s book to teach the importance of evangelism

Today, we prayed that God would help us serve him with our words, especially to non-Christians. By God’s design, this usually happens when one Christian shares about his hope with a non-believer. Evangelism is a crucial topic in the Christian life that we need to teach others, including our children.

Lately my family has been loving a new book that focuses on “How God uses people to save people.” It’s called The Prisoners, the Earthquake, and the Midnight Song by Bob Hartman, illustrated by Catalina Echeverri. This book tells the story of Paul and Silas while they were in prison in Philippi for proclaiming Christ, and encourages children to proclaim Christ with the same kind of boldness.

The book is incredibly creative (without sacrificing faithfulness to the biblical text) and the illustrations are stunning. It’s a ton of fun and children under ten will love it. Your kids will be amazed at the story of Paul, Silas, and the incredible work that God did in Philippi.

This isn’t just a cheap Bible story — this is a great book full of rich theology, an incredible (true!) story, and an important message. It will encourage kids of all ages to boldly proclaim Christ, no matter the cost.

I hope you’ll add this book to your family’s library!

Buy The Prisoners, the Earthquake, and the Midnight Song:

Pray with Spurgeon: I am weak, but God is not

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, some of your children think you are weak because they are; and suppose that grace will fail them, because the flesh does: but oh, teach them better, and may they know that it is just in the death of the creature, that they shall find the life of God revealed.

Oh that our spirit might be always subject to the Divine Spirit: may its earthiness and feebleness, only reveal the heavenliness, and the strength of the indwelling Spirit of God. And oh, grant us to feel that we have power to overcome sin; that we have power to resist the lusts of the flesh, and to despise the pride of the world and the lust of the eyes.

Though we groan within ourselves concerning the body of this death, yet we also sing “thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Help your children to take the victory, to rejoice that they do conquer; yes that we are more than conquerors, through him who has loved us.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:57)

The Christian is the only champion who can smite the dragon of death; and even he cannot do it of himself, but when he has done it, he shall cry, “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Boldly the Christian comes to the realms of death, and entering the gates there, he cries, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” And when he has said it, the dragon drops his sting, he descends into the grave; he passes by the place where fiends lie down in fetters of iron; he sees their chains, and looks into the dungeon where they dwell, and as he passes by the prison door, he shouts, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect!” They growl, and bite their iron bonds, and hiss in secret, but they cannot lay anything to his charge. 

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Be amazed by our great God.

Our view of God is much too small, much too tame. The Bible reveals a ravishing, glorious, fear-inspiring, awesome picture of the God who created all things and sits in the heavens. If you want to better understand God’s glorious infinity, read None Like Him by Jen Wilkin.

In each chapter, Jen unpacks one of God’s incommunicable attributes — the attributes that make God unlike us — and discusses how knowing each of these attributes of God will change our lives. This is biblical, rich, glorious theology.

This book will fill you with love and amazement at God’s greatness — what a great way to begin a new year! I know that it will grow your faith. I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy None Like Him:

Pray with Spurgeon: Oh, sweet love of God, comfort me

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Are your dear children poor, or are they sick in body, or are they losing those they love, or is there yet a newly-dug grave over which they could shed floods of tears? Oh, sweet love of God, comfort them. Cover all the rocks, O mighty tide of everlasting love, till not a rock is seen; and on that glassy sea may our spirits float above the rocks, which else had wrecked our lives.

We do pray that you would give us comfort, but also give us strength as well as consolation. Lord, we are very weak, and in ourselves we have no desire to be otherwise, because when we are weak, then are we strong; but we are very strong in you, and we do wish to have faith to perceive this.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“But I enter your house by the abundance of your faithful love; I bow down toward your holy temple in reverential awe of you.” (Psalm 5:7)

I will not stand at a distance, I will come into thy sanctuary, just as a child comes into his father’s house. But I will not come there by my own merits; no, I have a multitude of sins, and therefore I will come in the multitude of your mercy. I will approach you with confidence because of your immeasurable grace. God’s judgments are all numbered, but his mercies are innumerable; he gives his wrath by weight, but without weight his mercy.

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A Resource to Help You Pray in 2022

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. This year, I’m really excited about a new resource that I know is going to really help fuel my prayer life in 2022.

There’s a new book called 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’m excited to grow my prayer life using Psalms in 30 Days. I hope you’ll grab a copy and join me.

Buy Psalms in 30 Days:

Pray with Spurgeon: We rejoice in God’s love

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Our Father, will you be pleased today to fill us with delight because of your love. Are we heavy of heart? Let your sweet love lighten the burden; for what after all can there be to trouble the man whom God loves?

Shall we not find even in your rod of discipline to be sweet, as Jonathan did, when he dipped his rod in the honey? Have you not said, “as many as I love I rebuke and chasten,” shall we not therefore take your rebukes and chastenings, and even rejoice in them, because therein the love of God is manifested toward us.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:19)

What is our comfort when God rebukes and chastens us? Our great comfort is, that he loves us still. Oh! what a precious thing faith is, when we are enabled to believe our God, and how easy then it is to endure and to surmount all trouble! Now, Child of God, when you are troubled, you have such a rich consolation poured into your heart, that you might endure all with a smile and sing in the furnace. Remember, all you have to suffer is sent in love.

It is hard work for a child, when his father has been chastening it, to look at the rod as a picture of love. You cannot make your children do that: but when they grow up to be men and women how thankful they are to you then! “O father,” says the son, “I know now why it was I was so often chastened; I had a proud hot spirit; it would have been the ruin of me if you had not whipped it out of me. Now, I thank you, my father, for it.” When we come of age, and we go into our estates in Paradise, we shall look back upon the rod of the Covenant as being better than Aaron’s rod, for it blossoms with mercy.

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A New Bible Reading Plan for 2022

Reading the entire Bible in a year is an incredibly fruitful discipline. As you encounter every verse of God’s Word year after year, you know God (and his Word) better. Recently, my friends at B&H Publishing sent me a copy of the Day by Day Chronological Bible which is an incredible resource for reading the entire Bible in a year.

In the Day by Day Chronological Bible, the entire Bible is arranged chronologically (in the order the events took place) and divided into 52 weeks of readings to help you read the entire Bible throughout the year. There are also brief introductions to every “scene” and “act” of the Bible’s story, so you don’t get lost in the details or forget who the characters are.

The readings are broken down by week and day, instead of date, so you can start reading any time, but the new year is a fantastic time to get started (And, there are only six days per week, so you won’t fall too far behind, even if you miss a day).

If you’re looking for a new way to read the Bible in 2022, I highly recommend you check out the Day by Day Chronological Bible.

Buy The Day by Day Chronological Bible:

Pray with Spurgeon: God is still drawing us to himself

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

You did pluck us like brands out of the burning. We remember well when you did draw us from a corrupt world, and from our own self-righteousness, and we came to Jesus. But you are drawing still: we feel the sacred bands; we yield to them, glad to do so. Lord, draw us this morning upward to yourself, nearer than ever. May we not be satisfied with those heights of devotion to which we have attained; but may we reach somewhat higher today.

Oh that we might become more completely consecrated! May the image of Christ become more perfect upon us; stamp it deeper into our nature. We trust the image is there; but oh, that it set still deeper into our very selves, that all might see that the seal of the Holy Spirit was upon us, in the likeness of Christ our Lord.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?’” (Zechariah 3:2)

The brand is in the fire. Nor is it merely a brand lying upon the heap, to be by-and-by put upon the flames; it is “a brand plucked out of the fire.” It has been in the fire. Does not this portray our condition, not only congenial for the fire of sin, but actually burning and blazing in it? We have blazed away the reverse of merrily since then; some have become charred with sin, till their very bodies contain the marks of that tremendous fire.

But, blessed be God, we have a brand plucked out of the fire. Sinners these, who, though they have still within them the propensity to sin, are no longer in the fire of sin. They have been taken away from it. They have received the renewing grace of God. The fire that once burned within them has been quenched.

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Another Classic Daily Devotional from Spurgeon

Yesterday I recommended Spurgeon’s classic devotional, The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith, which contains 365 readings, one for each day of the year.

Another much-loved daily devotional by Spurgeon is Morning and Evening, which contains two readings for each day, so that you can start and end every day of 2022 in God’s Word.

Morning and Evening is a masterpiece. It will encourage and guide you throughout the new year.

Buy Morning and Evening:

Pray with Spurgeon: God, thank you for your love

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We come to you with a prayer for love. We have expressed our love, but we are ashamed when we have done so, because, after all, what is our love? It is so faint, so cold to you, compared with your love to us. So we would adore you this morning for the love which you have manifested to us.

You loved us before the foundation of the world: yours is no new compassion; for those whom you foreknew, you predestined to be conformed unto the image of your Son, out of your own pure love to them: and because you have loved us with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness you have drawn us, and we feel the drawings now.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

We love God, not because we felt that we ought to love him, but “because he first loved us.” A sense of duty is a very proper thing concerning many matters, and I do not deny that it is our duty to love God with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, for this is the very essence of the law of the Lord, but no man ever loves as a mere matter of duty.

You love even an earthly object because you cannot help yourself, and you love God because he is infinitely lovely, and because he has so completely won your heart as to engross your whole affection. We could not help doing so. The mighty deeps of his immeasurable love, high up on the eternal hills, flow down into the inmost recesses of our empty hearts. When, afterward, a fountain of love is seen springing up out of them, the secret of its action is to be traced to that great reservoir away up on the everlasting hills.

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Spend the New Year with Spurgeon, trusting God’s promises

Spurgeon frequently said that God’s promises are like checks. And because God is never lacking in resources, his account is always full and his checks never bounce.

Spurgeon’s classic devotional, The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith, contains 365 readings (one for each day of the year) to help you trust and treasure God’s promises.

Reading through The Cheque Book in 2022 will definitely encourage you.

Pray with Spurgeon: The Wonder of Christmas — A Holiday Prayer

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Most glorious Lord God, it is marvelous in our eyes that God should become incarnate, that your Son should take our flesh upon himself. It surprises us greatly that the Lord of Life should condescend to die, and that the incorruptible One should be laid in the grave. We are full of loving gratitude, we are also full of adoring wonder.

When we have stood at the tomb and looked into it, and thought of Jesus having lain there, when we have seen it open and knew that it was empty, we bless your name that even he died and was buried, and magnify you that his is risen again from the dead.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!” (Luke 2:13–14)

Mere men—men possessed with pride, think it a fine thing to preach before kings and princes; and think it great condescension now and then to have to minister to the humble crowd. Not so the angels. They stretched their willing wings, and gladly sped from their bright seats above, to tell the shepherds on the plain by night, the marvelous story of an Incarnate God.

And mark how well they told the story, and surely you will love them! Not with the stammering tongue of him that tells a tale in which he hath no interest; nor even with the feigned interest of a man that would move the passions of others, when he feels no emotion himself; but with joy and gladness, such as angels only can know. They sang the story out, for they could not stay to tell it in heavy prose. They sang, “Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men.” I think they sang it with gladness in their eyes; with their hearts burning with love, and with breasts as full of joy as if the good news to man had been good news to themselves.

Pray with Spurgeon: Thank you Jesus, for coming at Christmas

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

This morning do we feel our hearts warmed towards you, in the person of your dear Son. Surely we cannot see him made our brother, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, sympathizing with us, married to us, dead for us, and risen again for us—we cannot gaze into his right royal face, without feeling our heart melt at the very sight of him.

Oh Jesus, we love you—we are yours; and you are ours. You have given yourself to us, as well as for us; and now we cheerfully give ourselves back to you, feeling that we are never so much our own, as when we are yours; that indeed we are not ourselves, until we are lost in you; but that then have we found our truest manhood, when it and all else is surrendered to the all-conquering power of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10–12)

The anointed Saviour has full power to save, for he “is Christ the Lord;” and therefore he is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him.

He is wrapped in swaddling cloth, not in marble balls, wrapped in purple and fine linen, and welcomed by the great and mighty of earth; nay, this greatest of all princes is born amid the poverty of our ordinary manhood. He is One chosen out of the people, the people’s Savior, and a manger receives the people’s King.

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God’s grace, growth, and New Year’s resolutions

Did you know that God’s grace doesn’t just save you, it also gives you the power that you need to slay sin? As we celebrate Christmas this week, we’re celebrating that, “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, [AND] instructing us to deny godlessness…” (Titus 2:11–12).

Don’t just make New Year’s resolutions this year — be equipped with God’s strength to actually grow.

I already recommended it yesterday, but 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!

Buy The Discipline of Grace: