Author: Charles Spurgeon

Pray with Spurgeon: God will destroy your idols

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Now, we ask you to give victory to your church all over the world. Oh look, Mighty One, look down upon the heathen, and see how their gods stand riveted to their thrones. Cast them down, O Christ! You who have cast out the dragon, cast down these inferior powers of darkness until not an idol god shall be left.

You see how the harlot of Babylon still sits upon her seven hills, and the multitudes wander after her. Oh that you wouldst cast her like a mill-stone in the flood, and end her power forever. And the “false prophet,” too, whose power is waning, let it be utterly eclipsed; and oh, that Christ might reign! The Lord grant it!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” (Genesis 1:1)

There is no God but God, and Christ Jesus his Son is the only Mediator between God and men. Keep yourselves from allowing anything but God to get the upper hand of you; make not gods of yourselves, your own persons; make not gods of your families, make not gods of your children. Verily, I say unto you, there are many who worship their children, and set them up as little gods; and when they are taken away from them, as they will be when they worship them, then they cry out against God most bitterly.

How could they think that God would allow the little Dagons to be set up in his place? It must be God first, God last, God midst, and God without end. May he make it so with us that, henceforth, we shall have this eternal life, which consists in knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God will destroy your idols — here’s how

Today we prayed that God would destroy idols — both in our own hearts and all around the world. This process of growing as a Christian to love God more, being redeemed from our love for idols, is an incredible work of God.

That’s the point of Matt Chandler’s book, Recovering Redemption: A Gospel-Saturated Perspective on Change. This book explains the incredible work that God is going to do in your life to redeem everything about you — to destroy your idols and purify your heart.

This book will fill you with thankfulness and amazement at God’s work to save you from the penalty and power of sin every day. It will also help you understand your role in fighting sin.

This is a don’t-miss book to help make you more like Jesus. I hope you’ll grab one today.

Buy Recovering Redemption:

Pray with Spurgeon: God can heal the sick, comfort the discouraged

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O Lord, if it may please you, look upon any of your servants who are more than ordinarily tried, or who by reason of bodily weakness or the stress of severe trial, may especially need consolation; put them under the everlasting arms. So let the whole host be refreshed.

Let those that lie in hospital, be brought out of it and made whole; and as it is said of the host when you did bring it out of Egypt, “there was not one feeble person in all their tribes” (Psalm 105:37), so may it be with us; may the weakest become as David, and David as the Angel of the Lord. Great Captain of the host, we ask this high favor of you today. Deny us not we beseech Thee.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Hallelujah! Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.” (Psalm 106:1)

To us needy creatures the goodness of God is the first attribute which excites praise, and that praise takes the form of gratitude. We praise the Lord truly when we give him thanks for what we have received from his goodness. Let us never be slow to return unto the Lord our praise; to thank him is the least we can do—let us not neglect it.

Goodness towards sinners assumes the form of mercy, mercy should therefore be a leading note in our song. Since man ceases not to be sinful, it is a great blessing that the Lord ceases not to be merciful. From age to age the Lord deals graciously with his church, and to every individual in it he is constant and faithful in his grace, even for evermore.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Find freedom by fearing God.

The fear of God is a troubling and confusing phrase for many. We know that it appears all over Scripture, but we don’t know what it means. We know it means more than basic “respect” or “reverence.” But we also don’t feel right running scared from our loving Father.

A new book, Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord by Michael Reeves is a beautifully helpful guide to understanding and applying the fear of the Lord.

Reeves shows that the fear of the Lord is not a negative fleeing from God, but a wonder-filled joy in God and all that he is. The fear of God is the path to freedom from all anxiety. Reading this book filled my heart with joy and love for the God who must be feared, and I know that it will do the same for you. 

Buy Rejoice and Tremble:

Pray with Spurgeon: God, refresh me this week

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, will you be pleased to heal us of any wounds that we have received in the great conflict. You know that during the week some of us have been in the thick of the battle, and manifold temptations have gathered about us. If we have gathered any defilement, be pleased to put it away. If in conversation with the world we have mired or dusted our feet, wash them, blessed Master, this morning, that we may be clean everywhere.

If our faith has suffered any damage, or our hope is not so bright as it was, or if our love to you is not as fervent as at one time it was; if the soul be sinking under the pressure of the fight in any degree, oh you, whose every word is music, whose every promise is balm, whose every touch is life, draw near to the weary warrior now, and refresh us, that we may rise again to the conflict, and never tire until the last enemy shall be beneath our feet, as beneath our Master’s feet.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:3)

The soldier is full often a suffering man. There are wounds, there are toils, there are frequent lyings in the hospitals, there may be ghastly cuts which let the soul out with the blood. Such the Christian soldier must be, ready to suffer, enduring hardness, not looking for pleasure of a worldly kind in this life, but counting it his pleasure to renounce his pleasure for Christ’s sake.

The true soldier is an ambitious being. He pants for honor, seeks for glory. On the field of strife he gathers his laurels, and amidst a thousand dangers he reaps renown. The Christian is fired by higher ambitions than earthly warrior ever knew. He sees a crown that can never fade; he loves a King who best of all is worthy to be served; he has a motive within him which moves him to the noblest deeds, a divine spirit impelling him to the most self-sacrificing actions. Thus you see the Christian is a soldier, and it is one of the main things in Christian life, to contend earnestly for the faith, and to fight valorously against sin.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Train your children to long for God himself*

We were made to know God. That’s why Adam and Eve freely walked with God and talked to God in the Garden. It’s also why sin is so devastating — it separates us from the God we were created to know.

The story of the Bible is a story of God, creating mankind to dwell with him, and then bringing them back once separated by sin. It’s a breathtaking salvation story that we’ve all been included in, by grace.

There’s a new kid’s book that makes the wonder and beauty of this reality clear by walking through the big story of the Bible: God With Us by Jeremy Pierre, illustrated by Cassandra Clark.

At nearly 300 pages, this book is a breathtaking retelling of thirty Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments, following the grand story of the Bible, focusing on this theme of God’s presence with his people.

Your children were made to know God. Show them God’s wonderful plan to know them in God With Us.

This book will fill your child’s heart with love for God and a desire to see him face-to-face.

(And the stories are so good, you’ll be blessed as well.)

I know that this book will be a blessing to your whole family — I hope you’ll pre-order a copy today.

Pre-order God With Us on Amazon.

Pray with Spurgeon: The blood of Jesus is my only hope

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We confess our many sins, with great self abhorrence and detestation of them. The Lord be pleased to forgive his servants in this thing, and let us each this morning feel the application of the precious “blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24).

May every child of God know now, that he is clean through the washing of the blood. Oh, that we might be certain that no guilt is recorded against us now, for it is blotted out for ever and the record is destroyed. Being justified by faith may we have peace, deep, lasting peace with God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

You have come “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:24)

The blood of Jesus is the life of all vital godliness. If you have truly come to Jesus, we know how you came—the Holy Spirit sweetly brought you there. You came to the blood of sprinkling with no merits of your own. Guilty, lost, and helpless, you came to take that blood, and that blood alone, as your everlasting hope.

You came to the cross of Christ, with a trembling and an aching heart; and what a precious sound it was to you to hear the voice of the blood of Jesus! The dropping of his blood is as the music of heaven to the penitent sons of earth. We are full of sin, but the Savior bids us lift our eyes to him, and as we gaze upon his streaming wounds, each drop of blood, as it falls, cries, “It is finished; I have made an end of sin; I have brought in everlasting righteousness” (Daniel 9:24).

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A devotional to help you run from sin and cling to Christ

Today we prayed that God would help us know that we are forgiven of our sin by the great mercy of Christ. God loves to answer this prayer for assurance, and he usually does it through the promises of his Word.

One resource that’s been helpful as I’ve studied God’s Word and his promise of forgiveness is Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy by Paul Tripp. This book features 52 short devotionals (one for every week of the year) on Psalm 51. This is an incredible resource to help you remember the horrors of your sin and the wonders of God’s amazing grace.

You could read the book over the next few months with just five minutes a day, or read one devotional each week for the next year. I can’t think of a better way to spend your time than reflecting on God’s mercy towards broken sinners like us.

I hope you’ll buy a copy and enjoy mediating on God’s unending mercy with me.

Buy Whiter Than Snow:

Pastor, the Holy Spirit is a better preacher

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

At times I have thought, when I have done preaching, that I have laid down the gospel so clearly, that the nose on one’s face could not be more plain; and yet I perceive that even intelligent hearers have failed to understand what was meant by “Look unto me and be ye saved” (Isaiah 45:22).

Converts usually say that they did not know the gospel until such and such a day; and yet they had heard it for years. The gospel is unknown, not from want of explanation, but from absence of personal revelation. This the Holy Ghost is ready to give, and will give to those who ask him. Yet when given, the sum total of the truth revealed all lies within these words: “Christ died for the ungodly.”

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the wages of sin (Romans 6:23).

When we read of anything being a wage, what does it mean? It means that it is a reward for labor. Death is sin’s due reward, and it must be paid. A master employs a man, and it is due to that man that he should receive his wages. If his master did not pay him his wages, it would be an act of gross injustice. Now, if sin did not bring upon man death and misery, it would be an injustice. It is necessary for the very standing of one universe that sin should be punished. It must be so. They that sow must reap. The sin which hires you must pay you. Wrong cannot produce right. Iniquity, transgression and sin must, in the nature of things, become darkness, sorrow, misery, death. Every transgression and disobedience must receive its just recompense of reward. There is no use in attempting to alter it so long as God and justice reign: those who do sin’s work must receive sin’s wage, and “the wages of sin is death.”

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

The truth that God the Holy Spirit has to save and grow his people is liberating and humbling. Humbling, because we can’t do it on our own. Liberating, because it’s not up to us. We are not the Savior (Praise God!), but we can point to the One who is.

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: Worship Jesus with your whole heart

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh that the time were come, set for your coming, when the hidden shall be revealed, and the church of God shall no longer need her wings with which to fly, but shall come forth in all the glory with which your love arrays her, clothed with the sun and with the moon beneath her feet. Glory, and honor, and majesty, and power, and dominion, and might, be unto him that sits upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever (Revelation 5:13)!

And now, we present ourselves before the throne of the great King to pay our reverence and homage there; for the Lord is God alone, and our heart worships him intensely, reverently bowing unto the very dust before the Lord; for we are less than nothing, and the Lord is all in all.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood…” (Revelation 1:5)

John had hardly begun to deliver his message to the seven churches, he had hardly given in his name and stated from whom the message came, when he felt that he must lift up his heart in a joyful doxology. The very mention of the name of the Lord Jesus fired his heart. He could not sit down coolly to write even what the Spirit of God dictated: he must rise; he must fall upon his knees; he must bless and magnify, and adore the Lord Jesus.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Do you understand how amazing Jesus really is?

Today’s prayer and verse of the day focused on the wonders and the greatness of Jesus. 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:

Pray with Spurgeon: The crucified Savior has conquered Satan forever

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Grant to your dear children, who are by any means depressed because they feel the serpent at their heel, that they may bless the dear name of him whose heel was bruised before, but who in the very bruising broke the serpent’s head. Our souls with songs of inward joy extol the mighty Conqueror.

All honor and glory be unto him who stood foot to foot with the Arch-Enemy, but who was never wounded by him: the prince of this world came, but there was nothing in you, O Jesus, no tendency to sin, no turning aside; but you did win from the first, even to the last, a glorious victory over this dread adversary of mankind. We see you now arrayed in your vesture dipped with blood, victorious over all your foes. Our spirit triumphs in the anticipation of the time, when all your enemies shall be destroyed, and death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire, and God shall be all in all.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.” (Ephesians 2:1–2)

This is what happened to us all in our unregenerate state, we were carried along by the world, loving what it loved, judging from its views, and acting according to its maxims. Nay, worse than that, the devil himself had dominion over us, as he had over the rest of the world; “the prince of the power of the air” was the spirit that worked in us as well as in the rest of “the children of disobedience.”

What a glorious deliverance it was to be saved from the power of death, and the dominion of Satan, and to be made partakers of everlasting life!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Finding Scripture-saturated hope in the midst of doubt and suffering

Today’s prayer asked God to protect those who are depressed with the Serpent biting at their heels. When temptation feels strongest, our faith usually feels weakest. In seasons of intense temptation, it can feel like God has abandoned us.

It is hard to believe in a good and powerful God when we feel so much pain in this broken world.

In the midst of suffering and temptation, it is easy to doubt God’s love for us and feel as if he has deserted us. An excellent book to help you find hope and faith through that kind of suffering is Deserted by God? by Sinclair Ferguson.

This book offers several reflections on the Psalms of lament in the Bible, where divinely-inspired authors cried out to God in the midst of their pain.

No matter what trials you are currently going through (or will go through in the future), Deserted by God? will give you the kind of Bible-saturated firm faith you need to endure. I hope you will grab a copy today.

Buy Deserted by God?:

Pray with Spurgeon: God will crush the devil forever

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Great God, we bless you that the battle, between yourself and the powers of darkness, has never been uncertain. We praise your name, that now it is forever sure to end in victory. Our hearts this morning, amidst the struggles of the present day, would look back to the conflicts of Calvary, and see how our Lord forever broke the dragon’s head there. Oh, that your people this morning might know that they are contending with a vanquished enemy, that they go forth to fight against one who, with all his subtlety and all his strength, has already been overthrown by him who is our Covenant Head, our Leader, our Husband, our All.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

This is the first promise to fallen man. It contains the whole gospel, and the essence of the covenant of grace. It has been in great measure fulfilled. The seed of the woman, even our Lord Jesus, was bruised in his heel, and a terrible bruising it was. How terrible will be the final bruising of the serpent’s head! This was virtually done when Jesus took away sin, vanquished death, and broke the power of Satan; but it awaits a still fuller accomplishment at our Lord’s Second Advent, and in the day of Judgment.

To us the promise stands as a prophecy that we shall be afflicted by the powers of evil in our lower nature, and thus bruised in our heel: but we shall triumph in Christ, who sets his foot on the old serpent’s head. The temptations of the devil may so bruise us that we may limp with our sore heel; but let us grasp the second part of the text, and we shall not be dismayed. By faith let us rejoice that we shall reign in Christ Jesus, the woman’s seed.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Massively Beautiful Bible Book for Kids*

Recently I’ve been absolutely loving God With Us, a new children’s storybook Bible written by Jeremy Pierre and illustrated by Cassandra Clark.

Friends, this book is absolutely incredible.

It is MASSIVE in scope — it features 30 Bible stories over the course of nearly 300 pages, all focused on the one theme of God’s presence with his people.

But it’s also massively beautiful. The full-color illustrations are absolutely breath-taking, warm, and inviting. They’ll keep your children turning the pages to see what comes next.

And the storytelling is even more beautiful, telling the Bible’s big story about how sin separates from God and Jesus came to bring us back to him.

This book is incredible. If you’re a parent, you really want to add this to your children’s library. If you’re not a parent, you probably want to add it to your own library (it seriously is that good).

Pre-order God With Us on Amazon.

—

*Sponsored advertising content

Pray with Spurgeon: Hear our weak prayer (covered in Jesus’ blood)

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Forgive the weakness of our prayer, forgive the wandering of our heart: but through the Well-Beloved, who stands before you now in all his beauty, as risen from the dead; through him whom our soul loves, even as you love him; through him whom we adore as “God over all, blessed forever” (Romans 9:5), though bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh—through him and for his sake, look kindly on us now!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Eternal life is imparted by grace through faith. When it first enters the soul it comes as God’s free gift. The dead cannot earn life; the very supposition is absurd. Eternal life enjoyed on earth comes to us as a gift. “What!” says one, “do you mean to say that eternal life comes into the soul here?” I say yes, here, or else never. Eternal life must be our possession now; for if we die without it it will never be our possession in the world to come, which is not the state of probation, but of fixed and settled reward.

When the flame of eternal life first drops into a man’s heart, it is not as the result of any good works of his which preceded it, for there were none; nor as the result of any feelings of his, for good feelings were not there till the life came. Both good works and good feelings are the fruit of the heavenly life which enters the heart, and makes us conscious of its entrance by working in us repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

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. I know that it will grow your faith. I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy None Like Him:

P.S. You could get the audiobook of None Like Him (read by Jen Wilkin) for free with an Audible free trial. Christ-centered audiobooks are a great way to fill your drives, chores, and more with good, biblical content. Give it a try.

Pray with Spurgeon: God, thank you for the honor of serving you

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Bless our beloved church and its leaders. We thank you for your mercy, that many of us are spared to do service for you, notwithstanding many infirmities. We bless you for others who, having gone from us, have been brought back again; for the many teachers among us; and ask, that all may be anointed with fresh oil, that every working or suffering brother and sister may receive fresh grace this day; that this may be a time of the trimming of lamps, that all may shine brightly to the praise of your grace.

Bless our country. The Lord in mercy avert the horrors of war from us. Grant that, by some means, peace may be continued, and war come to an end where it still rages; and oh, that the policy of truth and righteousness may once more be taken up in this land, and our nation be forgiven its great national crimes.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

The black background of sin makes the bright line of love shine out the more clearly. When the lightning writes the name of the Lord with flaming finger across the black brow of the tempest, we are compelled to see it; so also when love inscribes the cross on the tablet of our sin, even blind eyes must see that “love consists in this.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Teach Children What We Lost with Sin*

Sin is absolutely horrifying, because it separates us from God. The greatest cost of Adam’s sin (and our sin) is not the earthly consequences that will plague us in this life, but the eternal consequence of separation from God.

There’s a new kid’s storybook Bible out that tells this story — showing how being with God is what we were made for, how sin separates us from him, and how Jesus came to bring us back to God.

It’s called God With Us by Jeremy Pierre, illustrated by Cassandra Clark. This book is a nearly 300-page masterpiece, telling the grand story of the Bible in a breathtaking way. It will leave your kids mourning their sin and longing for the day when Christ returns to bring us back to God.

This book has already been a blessing to my family, and I know that it will be a blessing to yours as well.

Pre-order God With Us on Amazon.