Category: Pray with Spurgeon

Pray with Spurgeon: Believe in Jesus with your whole heart

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

And now we have a prayer to put up to you, Great God, and it is this, that in us your dear Son may see some portion of the travail of his soul. Lord, let him see a reward for his sufferings, in all of us being repentant for sin, and trusting in God, and confessing his name. We know many who still indulge in the sins which brought Christ to death, some that still are trusting in their own righteousness and so are despising his; because if their’s will suffice, then his were superfluous.

O God, we ask you, bring men away from all their false trusts to rest in the great sacrifice of your dear Son. Let not one person here be so callous to the merit of Christ as not to love him, or so indifferent to the efficacy of his blood as not to desire to be cleansed in it. Oh, bring every one of us now to believe in Jesus Christ with our whole heart unto eternal life, that the may have a portion with the great.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

As the very soul of prayer lies in communion with God, we shall pray best when all our attention is confined to him; and we shall best reach our end of being accepted by him when we have no regard to the opinion of anyone else.

Secret prayer is truly heard and openly answered in the Lord’s own way and time. Our King reigns “in secret”: there he sets up his court, and there will he welcome our approaches. We are not where God sees when we court publicity, and pray to obtain credit for our devotion.

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What’s so amazing about grace?

We sing and celebrate God’s “amazing grace” every day, but when was the last time you sat down to really consider and celebrate the good news that God saves sinners by grace?

One book to help cultivate enjoyment of God’s grace is By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me by Sinclair Ferguson. Sinclair Ferguson is an incredible writer and this book is a great Bible study, with each chapter focusing on a different aspect of God’s amazing grace.

You will walk away from this book singing with joy at the wonders of God’s grace. I hope you’ll buy a copy today.

Buy By Grace Alone:

Pray with Spurgeon: Father, Son, and Spirit have loved us

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We adore you, O Father, for your great love in the gift of Jesus: we equally adore you, most blessed Jesus, for resigning your life for our sakes: and then we adore the Blessed Spirit who has led us to know this mystery and to put our trust in Jesus.

Unto the one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, do we pay our reverent homage this morning; only we see him yet more clearly than the patriarchs of old did; for God in the face of Jesus Christ is seen in the clearest light that mortal eye can bear.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“He [Aaron] is to wear a holy linen tunic, and linen undergarments are to be on his body.” (Leviticus 16:4)

Our great high priest offered me without spot to God. But the Jewish high priest must make himself typically pure by putting on the snow-white garments of holy service. Before doing so, he must wash himself with water, that he might come before God acceptably. No one might approach the Holy God with impurities on them.

If you want to read more, check out the Spurgeon Study Bible. This month only, you can get the Spurgeon Study Bible for 50% off — use promo code SPURGEONBOOKS. Click here to learn more.*

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Celebrate a Christ-centered Easter with your kids

I love Easter. A day set aside to specifically remember and celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus is always a day well-spent. But it can be hard to focus our children’s attention on the real meaning of Easter when the culture around is constantly screaming messages about bunnies, eggs, and candy.

A Very Happy Easter by Tim Thornborough is a great book to help kids remember the real meaning of Easter. This fun book encourages a lot of interaction, instructing kids to copy the faces they see throughout the book.

This is a fun book for the whole family — grab one today and start preparing to celebrate Easter in a few weeks!

Buy A Very Happy Easter:

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Pray with Spurgeon: Jesus died to kill your sin

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We lie in the very dust before you in utter shame, to think that we have sometimes heard the story of your Son without emotion, and even told it without tenderness. The theme truly has never become stale to us.

We can say in your presence that the story of Christ’s death still brings joy, and makes our hearts to leap. But yet, Lord, it never has affected us as we could have expected it would. Give us more tenderness of heart, give us to feel the wounds of Jesus till they wound our sins to death. Give us to have a heart pierced even as his was, with deep sympathy for his griefs, and an all-consuming love for his blessed person.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin…” (Romans 6:6)

We are to regard ourselves as persons that have been dead. We are ourselves, it is true; and yet in another sense we are not our own selves. We are not to look upon ourselves as though we owed any kind of service to the power which we obeyed before we knew the Lord. We are new people, we have got a new life, and have entered upon a new existence—the old man is crucified with him.

There was no getting free from the power of sin, except by dying to it; but, being dead to it, we are free from it; and, now being dead that way, we have entered into a new life that we might live as Christ lives.

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How God’s grace helps you grow

Today’s prayer and verse of the day celebrate the glorious truth that God’s grace doesn’t just save you from sin, it also gives you the power that you need to slay sin. The work of growing in godliness is a work of cooperation between us and God’s grace.

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! If you want to grow in godliness, start with The Discipline of Grace.

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Pray with Spurgeon: God loves sinners (he really does!)

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Your grace has almost out-graced itself; your love has reached its height: love to rebels; so to love, that even your Son could not be spared. O God, we are afflicted in our hearts to think we do not love you more, after such love as this.

Oh, were there not a stone in our hearts, we should melt in love to you; we should account that there was no thought fit to occupy the mind but this one stupendous thought of God’s love to us: and henceforth this would be the master-key to our hearts, that should unlock or lock them at your will—the great love with which you have loved us.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the Lord’s unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5)

Come here, astronomers, geologists, naturalists, botanists, chemists, miners, yes, all of you who study the works of God, for all your truthful stories confirm this declaration. From the midge in the sunbeam to leviathan in the ocean all creatures own the bounty of the Creator. Even the pathless desert blazes with some undiscovered mercy, and the caverns of ocean conceal the treasures of love.

Earth might have been as full of terror as of grace, but instead it teems and overflows with kindness. He who cannot see it, and yet lives in it as the fish lives in the water, deserves to die. If earth be full of mercy, what must heaven be where goodness concentrates its beams?

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A devotional to prepare for Good Friday

As we prepare for a season of celebrating Good Friday and Easter, it is important for Christians to think about why Christ died, and why he rose again. Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die by John Piper is an excellent devotional for considering the cost and the reward of the cross.

The book offers fifty short devotionals, each explaining a different reason Jesus came to die. Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die is a great devotional to prepare your heart for Good Friday, and making every day a cross-shaped one.

Buy Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die:

Pray with Spurgeon: Jesus, the King of the World

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, gather in the unconverted: our prayers can never conclude without pleading for the dead in sin. Oh, quicken them, Savior! If any one reading this has a little daughter that lies dead in sin, like Jairus may they plead with Jesus to come and lay his hand upon her that she may live. If we have any relatives unsaved, Lord, save them: save our servants, save our neighbors, save this great city.

Yes, let your kingdom come over the whole earth. Let the nations melt into one glorious empire beneath the sole sway of Jesus the Son of David and the Son of God. Come quickly, O Lord Jesus, even so, come quickly.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23–24)

There are degrees of guilt; but all men have sinned. There is no difference in that respect, whatever gradations there may be in the sinners.

Dear hearers, are you all justified, that is, made just, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? You are certainly all guilty in the sight of God; have you all been made righteous by faith in the redemption accomplished on the cross by Christ Jesus our Lord? I beg you to consider this question most seriously; and if you must truthfully answer, “No,” may God make you tremble, and drive you to your knees in penitence to cry to him for pardon!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE*

Study (the entire Bible) with Spurgeon

Good study Bibles have been an incredible blessing to me throughout my Christian life. They are incredible tools for understanding and applying the Bible.

One of my favorite study Bibles is The Spurgeon Study Bible. This is a great tool for deepening your understanding of Scripture.

Two great features: there are hundreds of study notes taken from Spurgeon’s sermons throughout the Bible, and there are short introductions by Spurgeon on every book of the Bible. This is a great way to get a board overview or detailed reflection, right from Spurgeon, on any section of Scripture.

The Spurgeon Study Bible is a great resource for Scripture study. And this month only, they are 50% off when you use promo code SPURGEONBOOKS. I hope you’ll grab one today.
Buy the Spurgeon Study Bible on LifeWay.com (Use promo code SPURGEONBOOKS to save 50%)

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Pray with Spurgeon: The cross is my only hope

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Gracious God, we praise you with our whole hearts for the wondrous revelation of your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. We think every day of his passion, for all our hope lies in his death: but as often as we think upon it, we are still filled with astonishment that you should so love the world as to give your only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Oh, that heaven’s eternal darling should come to earth to be made a man, and in manhood’s form to be despised and rejected of the very men whom he came to bless; and then should be made to bear the sin of many and to be numbered with the transgressors, and, being found in that number, to die a transgressor’s death, a felon’s death upon the gibbet of the cross. Oh, this surpasses all belief if it had not indeed been actually so: and if the sure word of prophecy had not of old declared it, we could not have imagined it. It would have seemed blasphemy to have suggested such a thought; yet you have done it.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.” (1 John 4:18)

There is a loving, holy fear, which is never cast out. Filial fear grows as love grows. That sacred dread, that solemn awe of God, we must ever cultivate; but we are not afraid of him. Dear heart, God is your best Friend, your choicest love.

You long to approach him. Though he is a consuming fire, you know that he will only consume what you want to have consumed; and will purify you, and make your gold to shine more brightly because the consumable alloy is gone from it. He will not consume you, but only that which would work for your hurt if it were left within you. Refining fire, go through my heart! Consume as you will! I long to have sin consumed, that I may be like my God. Say you not so, my brethren?

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Big Theology for Little Hearts

Parents, we have a responsibility to teach our children the wonders of who God is and what he has done. Teaching theology is not an optional hobby for parents, it is a command from God. And this command applies to even the youngest ages.

A great resource for teaching theology to the littlest among your family is the “Big Theology for Little Hearts” series, by Devon and Jessica Provencher (published by Crossway). Help your children understand what God is like with these three board books. Each one is full of simple language, engaging illustrations, and rich truth about who God is.

The first three books in this series are available now:

Pray with Spurgeon: We live for God

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord bless us. We live for you; our one aim in life is to glorify you, you know. For you we hope we would gladly die. Yes, for you we will cheerfully labor while strength is given.

Oh, send prosperity, and not to us only, but to all workers for Jesus, to all missions in foreign lands, and missions in the heathendom at home. Bless all of your churches far and near. The Lord send plenteous prosperity to all the hosts of his Israel. May your kingdom come! 

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:25)

After each day’s work, God looks on it; and it is well for us, every night, to review our day’s work. Some people’s work will not bear looking at and tomorrow becomes all the worse to them because today was not considered and its sin repented of by them. But if we mark the errors of today, a repetition of them may be avoided tomorrow. Only God can look on a day’s work and say of it, as a whole and in every part, that it is good. As for us, our best things need sprinkling with the blood of Christ, which we need not only on the lintels and side posts of our house but even on the altar and the mercy seat at which we worship God.

I found this verse and commentary in the Spurgeon Study Bible. This month only, you can get the Spurgeon Study Bible for 50% off — use promo code SPURGEONBOOKS. Click here to learn more.*

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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:

Note: I received a review copy of this book from Crossway.

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Pray with Spurgeon: Without God, we can’t do anything

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Look, at this time, we ask you, give my local church church greater prosperity. Add to us daily. Knit and unite us together in love. Pardon church sins. Have mercy upon us that we do not more for you. Accept what we are enabled to do.

Qualify each one of us to be vessels fit for the Master’s use; then use each one of us according to the measure of our capacity. Will you be pleased to bless the various works carried on by the church; may they all prosper. The Lord bless these works; for unless you build the house, they labour in vain that build it (Psalm 127:1).

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.” (Psalm 127)

The word vain is the key word here. Men desiring to build know that they must labor, and accordingly they put forth all their skill and strength; but let them remember that if the Lord is not with them their designs will prove failures. Without God we are nothing. Great houses have been erected by ambitious men; but like the baseless fabric of a vision they have passed away, and scarce a stone remains to tell where once they stood.

Not only do we now spend our strength for nothing without the Lord, but all who have ever labored apart from him come under the same sentence. Trowel and hammer, saw and plane are instruments of vanity unless the Lord be the Master-builder.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A guide for taking children through the Old Testament.

Often parents want to read the Bible to their kids, but aren’t always sure how, especially in the Old Testament. Long Story Short by Marty Machowski is an excellent guide for bringing your family on a journey through God’s Word.

The book contains 78 weeks of ten-minute devotions to help your family read, remember, understand, and apply the Old Testament, while understanding how Christ is the hero of the whole story. This is a great resource for any family.

Buy Long Story Short:

Pray with Spurgeon: God’s grace helps us believe

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh, to love the Savior with a passion that can never cool! Oh, to believe in God with a confidence that can never stagger! Oh, to hope in God with an expectation that can never be dim! Oh, to delight in God with a holy overflowing rejoicing that can never be stopped; so that we might live to glorify God at the highest bent of our powers, living with enthusiasm—burning, blazing, being consumed with the indwelling God who works all things in us according to his will!

Thus, Lord, would we praise and pray at the same time; confess and acknowledge our responsibilities; but also bless the free, the sovereign grace that makes us what we are. O God of the eternal choice, O God of the ransom purchased on the tree, O God of the effectual call, Father, Son and Spirit, our adoration rises to heaven like the smoke from the altar of incense. Glory and honor and majesty and power and dominion and might be unto the one only God, forever and ever (Jude 25), and all the redeemed by blood will say Amen.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

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

Jude says, “Both now and ever.” Well, we will attend to the “ever” as eternity rolls on; but let us attend to the praise of God “now”—at this moment.

Come, brothers and sisters, think of what you owe to him who has kept you to this day, and will not let you go. Think of where you might have been; and think, I may say, of where you used to be, in your unregenerate state. Yet you are not there now; but here you are, without self righteousness, made to differ from your fellow-men, entirely through the grace of God. You have been kept, perhaps twenty years; thirty years, forty years,—possibly, fifty years. Well, unto him be the glory; give him the glory even now.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A guide to help you grow in prayer and other disciplines

Books on prayer and other spiritual disciplines are usually either unbiblical or unpractical. That’s why Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney is such a valuable resource.

This book is practical (It will offer actual guidance to improve your prayer life and other spiritual disciplines), but it is also biblical (every recommendation is rooted in rich, biblical understanding of the spiritual disciplines).

God has a plan for you to grow in godliness, to be more like Christ. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will guide you on that path. I first read this book five years ago, but I return to it frequently for help with prayer, Bible reading, and other important practices.

Buy Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life:

Pray with Spurgeon: Anything good is from God (not us)

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Now, Lord, we ask you to accept of us this morning whatever offerings we can bring. We bring our hearts to you, full of love to you for what you have done; full of gratitude, full of faith, full of hope, full of joy. We feel glad in the Lord. But we do confess that if there be anything acceptable in these our offerings, they are all first given us of you. No praise comes from us until it is first wrought in us, for

“Every virtue we possess,
And every victory won;
And every thought of holiness,
Are yours, great God, alone.”

Well may we lay those fruits at your feet that were grown in your garden, and that gold and silver and frankincense which you yourself did bestow: only first give us more!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28–29)

Many people say, “God out of Christ is a consuming fire;” but Paul wrote nothing of the sort. It is “our God”—and he is not “our God” except as we view him in Christ—who is “a consuming fire.” How greatly we ought to reverence him, and how earnestly we ought to ask of him that the divine fire may burn up everything in us that ought to be consumed, that only that may remain which will first endure the great shaking, and which will afterwards endure the great burning. May the Lord graciously grant to each one of us that grace which shall abide the fire!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Preach the gospel to yourself (here’s how)

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: