Category: Pray with Spurgeon

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Accept, this morning, the thanksgiving of some that have been sore sick, but who once again feel strength returning. Accept the thanks of others that have been far across the sea, and have come home again safely. Receive the thanksgiving of yet others who have been delivered out of great trouble, or who have seen their dear ones raised up from beds of languishing. We have all some cause for thankfulness, therefore will we praise the Lord from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“From the rising of the sun to its setting, let the name of the LORD be praised.” (Psalm 113:3)

In hours of morning light, when the dew is on the grass, and our soul is full of gladness, and in the hours of the setting sun, when the day is weary, and the night seems coming on, still let the Lord have the praise that is his due, for he is always to be praised. There is never an hour in which it would be unseemly to praise God. For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven; but the praising of God is never out of season. All time and all eternity may be dedicated to this blessed work.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Men in your church ARE using porn. Do you know how to help them?*

64% of Christian men regularly use pornography. And that means that men YOU know are struggling — stuck in sin, filled with guilt, and not knowing how to move forward.

Are you ready to help these men?

Are you ready to help their wives?

HarvestUSA is a really great, faithful ministry that focuses on equipping YOU to minister to people struggling with their own sexual sin or suffering in the aftermath of their spouses’ sexual sin.

Harvest has put together two really incredible Bible study resources that you could start using right away to help men and women in your church.

• “Discovery” is a Bible study for men stuck in sexual sin. It is gospel-centered and will help you see and address the root of your sin.
• “Jesus and Your Unwanted Journey” is a study for wives of men who are stuck in sexual sin. It will help you walk through this difficult season with compassion, honestly, and biblical truth.

These great resources are available for FREE and they even come with a Leader’s Guide, so that you can start a small group study in your own church or home right now.

I believe that God wants to use his Word THROUGH YOU to help men and women in your life. And I know that these studies will help you along the way.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O God, we know not how to express our delight in you. You are the happy God, and you are the happy-making God. You have often come to us and lifted us up out of danger and set us on our high places. You have tuned our harps. When every string was broken you came and repaired it and taught us how to sing a new song to the Lord God of our life.

Oh, that we had nothing else to do but to praise you! And truly, we have nothing else to do; but we are so slow to know this. We get full of cares and troubles and doubts and fears and sins. Lord, cleanse and purge your servants; and give us to feel that all that remains for us “Is but to love and sing and wait until the angels come to bear us to their King.”

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence and his children have a refuge.” (Proverbs 14:26)

What is this fear of the Lord? The expression is used in Scripture for all true godliness. It is constantly the short way of expressing real faith, hope, love, holiness of living, and every grace that makes up true godliness. But why was fear selected? He puts fear, because, after all, there is a something more tender, more touching, more real about fear than there is about some people’s faith.

But in speaking of fear, we must always discriminate. There is a fear with which a Christian has nothing to do. Do not be afraid of God, whatever he does with you. The kind of fear commended in the text is not such as appalls the senses, and scares the thoughts. It is a fear that has not anything like being afraid mixed with it; it is quite another kind of fear. It is what we commonly call childlike fear of God, like the child’s fear of his father.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Read Proverbs with your children

Today’s verse of the day came from Proverbs, a book that is famous for a lot of short, memorable phrases that describe how to walk in wisdom. But there’s so much more in this book. Proverbs describes a battle between two characters — the hero, Lady Wisdom, and her enemy, Lady Folly — for the hearts of young men and women.

Lady Folly is devious and our children will encounter her voice everywhere they turn. The world will call our children to sexual immorality and cheating. But Proverbs reminds us that these invitations are really invitations to death. Our children need to be taught to resist these calls and find life and wisdom at the feet of Christ.

That’s why I’ve created a new family devotional that walks through the entire book of Proverbs in five weeks. It takes less than ten minutes each day to read and discuss the book of Proverbs with your kids. And we’ll give you EVERYTHING you need (what passages to read, discussion questions, prayer points, interactive worksheets, hands-on activities, and more).

​Subscribers to GodCenteredFamily.org get UNLIMITED access to our growing library of family discipleship resources — including this new devotional through Proverbs.

So if you’re ready to teach your children how to walk in God’s wisdom, subscribe today and get started!

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O Lord, the God of your people, those whom you have chosen, and called, and redeemed, and saved, must and will bless your holy Name. Surely, if we were to refuse your praises, our silence would be sinful in the highest degree. We praise you, O blessed God, not only with our hearts but with our voices. Blessed be the day in which you brought us to accept you as our portion, and our heritage, for now we find in you a possession ample and wide.

There is no limit to your goodness, your riches are unsearchable. You have all good things within the compass of yourself, and you have given yourself to us according to your word, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” We bless the Lord that our heritage is never exhausted. The world has its winter, but you hav none. Even the world’s sun has its wintry times and we only see a little above the horizon, but you are always a summer’s sun to your people, without variableness or shadow cast by turning.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

There is variableness and there is the shadow of turning in the sun, but in that greater Father of lights there is no change in any direction; he is evermore the same, and we may go to him with unwavering confidence because he is the same. Oh! what a blessing to such changing creatures as we are to have an unchanging God!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Our sin is almost never contained — it always causes massive pain for ourselves and others. And sexual sin is no different.

A husband’s sexual sin can be DEVASTATING for a wife. As a pastor, I’ve seen this firsthand. And yet, the hope of the gospel can even shine light on the deep suffering caused by a spouse’s sexual sin.

Jesus and Your Unwanted Journey by Ellen Mary Dykas is a new Bible study for women navigating the aftermath of their husbands’ sexual betrayal. 

This Bible study will help you think through their suffering in an honest, biblical way. Lord willing, you’ll walk away from this study with a clear understanding of yourself, your husband’s sin, God’s grace, and the path forward.

Thanks to the great people at HarvestUSA, this Bible study is available FOR FREE. I hope you’ll download it now and get started soon.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Some Christians who we know are very poor. Oh let them not be too much cast down. Let them not lack any good thing. Supply their wants out of your fullness. Some of them are very young. Keep them; let not early temptations be too strong for them. Many of them are very weak in faith; comfort and strengthen them. Some, you know, are very much tempted; every day they are tempted; and perhaps they are tempted by their besetting sin. Oh keep them! Some of them are going back; they are backsliding. Gracious Father, rouse them. Besides these, there are some that are sick, and some that are desponding in spirit, and there are some who have lately had to mourn over sad bereavement. Visit every aching heart, and give consolation to every troubled spirit this day. Feed the whole company of your children with bread to the full.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoldering wick; he will faithfully bring justice.” (Isaiah 42:3)

Jesus was gentle, retiring, meek, quiet. His testimony was a very powerful one, but not a noisy one. He was never hard towards the tender ones, but always gentle as a nurse among her children. Now it is very often found that, where there is quietness and meekness, there is, nevertheless, great firmness of purpose. Noise and weakness go together, but quietness and strength are frequently combined.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

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

Today, we prayed with confidence, knowing that God is able to take care of us in any trial that we might face. In case you didn’t pick it up from this prayer, Spurgeon was able to speak very clearly about suffering, because, despite his faithful ministry, his life was filled with a lot of sickness, depression, and other trials.

Spurgeon learned supernatural wisdom from God’s Word and his own pain on how to address our suffering in a God-glorifying, hopeful way.

Spurgeon’s teaching on suffering is extremely practical and helpful, 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)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Jesus, once the dying Savior, but now risen and ascended, will you not look down on us? We do believe that you can save. You are very God of very God; there is nothing impossible with you. Here on your cross we hang; into your hands we give our spirits without reserve.

We have no hope but in you, for we believe that you are mighty to save, and that you can save us, even us. Let each man say—“Even me; even me,” and may there be, this morning, in every individual, a distinct and personal putting himself into the hands of the great Surety, by an act of simple faith. “Lord save me, or I perish.” “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Let this be the prayer of each heart this morning.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“God, you have taught me from my youth, and I still proclaim your wondrous works.” (Psalm 71:17)

When David became a man, even when he became a king, he still continued to be taught by God. With a crown on his head, he was still a scholar and disciple of the great God. Waving a scepter, he was still nothing but a child before a father when he thought of God. We find him, as a gray-headed man, still penning his psalms and being taught by God—perhaps in his last days learning most sorrowfully, staining his book with tears, discovering more of himself and more of the mercy of God, more of the power of temptation and more of the power of the sacrifice that puts away sin—more of the wanderings of his heart and more of that free Spirit who upholds us and makes us walk in the ways of God. He was always being educated. A Christian has never finished his education till he stands before the golden throne of God.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Two FREE Purity Bible Studies for Men and Women*

Pornography and other forms of sexual immorality run RAMPANT in our world today. Even within the church, men and women are held captive by the lure of pornography.

There are some great tools available to limit your access to pornography — but what we really need to do is have our hearts purified.

Two great resources to help you along this battle are available now from HarvestUSA:

• “Discovery” is a Bible study for men stuck in sexual sin. It is gospel-centered and will help you see and address the root of your sin.
• “Jesus and Your Unwanted Journey” is a study for wives of men who are stuck in sexual sin. It will help you walk through this difficult season with compassion, honestly, and biblical truth.

These great resources are available for FREE, so I hope you’ll download them and get started today.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, help us to think nothing of toil, of contempt, of public shame; but may we be prepared by evil report, good report, by honor and by dishonor, as deceivers and yet true, by being all things to all men, by some means, or by any means, to glorify your name, and to bring sinners to you.

We come to you now, having asked that the power of sin may be subdued, and we humbly pray for a perfect cleansing in the precious blood. Just as we are come to that cross of Calvary, and where the blood drops, we hide ourselves.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Your throne, God, is forever and ever; the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.” (Genesis 1:1)

The more we look at Christ, the more there is to see. That person has not seen much of Christ who has not perceived him to be God—God on the throne, God on an everlasting throne. If any of us have not yet believed in Christ as God, we do not know the Christ of the Scriptures at all, however much we may value his moral character as supreme in wisdom, unless we can say, “My Lord and my God,” as Thomas did when he saw the Lord’s wounds.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

An incredible testimony of God’s grace to help you hate sin.

We barely know how deeply sinful our hearts are. From our roots to our leaves, we are cursed with sin, so that all of the fruit we bear is poisoned and bitter.

Our only hope to escape this sin-stained, cursed existence, is God’s grace. A really great book to help you understand the seriousness of our sin and our need for God’s grace is Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry.

This book is a memoir describing Jackie’s journey out of sin, by grace. It’s an absolutely beautiful story of God’s power and mercy to save.

One of the things I love the most about this book is how its rich theology is described so beautifully. Jackie paints a picture of a God who is worthy of our worship, faith, and obedience — a God who is better than sin.

This book showed me of the ugliness of sin and the power of God’s grace in such a beautiful way. I know it will be a blessing to you — I hope you’ll grab a copy and enjoy it today.

Buy Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been:

• Amazon (Paperback, Kindle, or audiobook editions)
• ChristianBook.com (Paperback or ebook editions)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We feel that we want to be some use in the world. We would not live here selfishly, merely to be ourselves saved, and ourselves to enjoy the pleasures of this life. Lord, help us to honor you. By any means, get glory out of us. Put as much grace into us as we can hold, and put us to as much service as that grace can make us perform; or to as much patient endurance as that grace can enable us to sustain. We would be used to the utmost. We would not be laid by the side of the altar, but would be put upon it and be utterly consumed, until the fat and inwards and every part of us, shall be wholly given up to the Lord’s own work.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

A sword with two edges has no blunt side; it cuts both this way and that. The Word of God is edge all over. It is alive in every part, and in every part keen to cut the conscience and wound the heart. Depend on it: not a verse in the Bible is superfluous or a chapter that is useless.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

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

Today we prayed that God would help us to live for his glory, no matter the cost. I hope that God will answer this prayer to help you glorify him in the work of evangelism.

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 fall Bible study with someone that you know.

Buy Know Jesus on Amazon (Paperback)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Our gracious God and Father, since you have taught us to hate our wandering thoughts and sins, will you not give us grace to overcome them? Oh that we could be what we want to be! We are well aware that even our model which we have painted in our own mind is not a perfect one, for we have not fully understood the perfection of the Lord Jesus, so as to set him before us as our example. We do complain, gracious God, that even in trying to draw the picture of that example we fail, and that our thought makes an imperfect Christ out of him who is altogether matchless. Yet, even to that poor ideal of Christ we never have as yet attained. Oh that we could reach it! Oh that we could be like Christ!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water.” (Proverbs 11:25)

We are here taught the great lesson, that to get, we must give; that to accumulate, we must scatter; that to make ourselves happy, we must make others happy; and that in order to become spiritually vigorous, we must seek the spiritual good of others. In watering others, we are ourselves watered.

We have latent talents and dormant faculties, which are brought to light by exercise. Our strength for labor is hidden even from ourselves, until we venture forth to fight the Lord’s battles, or to climb the mountains of difficulty. We do not know what tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow’s tears, and soothe the orphan’s grief. We often find in attempting to teach others, that we gain instruction for ourselves.

Parents — Interested in reading Proverbs with your children? Last month, I put out a new family devotional that walks kids of all ages through Proverbs. Subscribe to God Centered Family and get instant access to the Proverbs family devotional and 19 other books of the Bible.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

See Jesus for all the Wonder He Is

I LOVE the way Spurgeon described our floundering attempts at knowing the fullness of Christ Christ in today’s prayer: “our thought makes an imperfect Christ out of him who is altogether matchless.”

Christ really is altogether matchless. He is worthy of endless praise. He is not merely a great man — he is God himself.

Everyone reading this newsletter probably knows and accepts that. But do you know what those words really mean?

A great book for furthering your eternal plunge into the endless beauty of Christ is Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective, edited by Fred Sanders and Klaus Issler. This book will help you really think critically, biblically, and theologically about who Jesus is.

It’s a great read that will challenge your assumptions, stretch your mind, and grow your faith. I hope you’ll check it out today.

Buy Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective:

• Amazon (Paperback or Kindle editions)
• ChristianBook.com (Paperback or ebook edition)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh, that you would have mercy upon us and blot out all our sins. Father, we do not love these things, our souls strive against them; and though we do not fight with the powers of darkness as we ought, neither are we adversaries as we should be, yet there is something within us which pants after holiness. The divine spark which we have within us cannot be content until it has burned up sin.

You have been pleased to quicken us by your grace, and to make us your children; and nothing ever will content our spirits until we are wholly given up to your service; until the very being and power of sin shall be cut out root and branch, and we shall be made in all things like yourself. This is our longing desire; and we feel that we shall never have any rest until we attain to it; and since we know we shall never attain to it on earth, we are convinced that there remaines a rest for the people of God, and towards that rest we would push forward with earnestness of desire.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

Have the eyes of your spiritual understanding or sanctified imagination ever looked upon Christ’s spotless, perfectly developed soul—that perfectly adjusted spirit in which no one power or passion was too prominent or predominant, but in which his whole being was beautifully molded and rounded according to the perfect pattern of moral excellence and beauty? You are to be just like that—not quick in temper, as perhaps you now are, but meek and lowly as he was; not haughty and prone to pride, but humble and gentle as he was; not selfish and self-seeking, but as disinterested and as tender to others as he was; in fact, perfection’s own self.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Pursue holiness like your life depends on it.

Today we prayed that God would help us be fully dead to sin — holy in thought, deed, and word. In this pursuit of holiness, we need a lot of help along the way, don’t we?

One of the most motivating and empowering books on personal holiness that I have ever read is The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. This book will show you the high calling of holiness that God has laid on all of his people (and why it’s so important) while also giving grace-fueled practical guidance on actually pursuing holiness in your own life.

Jerry Bridges is one of my all-time favorite authors. All of his books are worth reading — he does an excellent job at applying the truths of the gospel to the problems we face in life.

This book will equip you and empower you to pursue holiness. I hope you’ll grab a copy and be blessed by it.

Buy The Pursuit of Holiness:

• Amazon (Paperback or Kindle editions)
• ChristianBook.com (Paperback or ebook editions)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Our Father in heaven, here at your footstool we confess that our hearts are full of evil. We are always going astray from you; and though we have tasted of your love, and know something of its constraining power, yet is our soul as full of vanity as a cage that is crowded with unclean birds. Even when we would pray, our distracted thoughts are flying hither and thither. How little of our time do we spend in your service. How few are the words that we speak about you, or for your. How little is the aroma of Christ upon our garments. How seldom do we rise to God, or taste of joy above! We are of the earth, earthy; and though we hope that in some degree we are spiritual, yet alas, we are compelled to feel that we are carnal. We acknowledge, O God, our sins of omission. We have all of us forgotten you and forsaken you, times without number. Nor are we without sins of commission too, for we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have done those things which we ought not to have done, as well as left undone those things which we ought to have done.

Oh, that you would have mercy upon us and blot out all our sins.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I did not say to the descendants of Jacob: Seek me in a wasteland. I am the LORD, who speaks righteously, who declares what is right.” (Isaiah 45:19)

God has clearly revealed that he will hear the prayer of those who call upon him, and that declaration cannot be contravened. He has so firmly, so truthfully, so righteously spoken, that there can be no room for doubt. He does not reveal his mind in unintelligible words, but he speaks plainly and positively, “Ask, and you shall receive.” Believe, O trembler, this sure truth—that prayer must and shall be heard, and that never, even in the secrets of eternity, has the Lord said unto any living soul, “Seek me in vain.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Read Mark’s Gospel with your Children

Almost a year ago, I created God Centered Family — a resource to give parents EVERYTHING they need to teach their kids the Bible in just ten minutes each day.

Since then, I’ve been able to create interactive, easy-to-use family devotionals that walk through 19 books of the Bible.

And I’m SO EXCITED that the latest family devotional is able now — through Mark’s Gospel.

Mark paints a picture of Jesus as the supreme servant who came to forgive our sins (Mark 10:45). Our children frequently sin against us, our siblings, their friends, and others. We want our children to put off selfishness and start serving others more consistently. But our children can never do this in their own strength.

Our children need to be served by Jesus, the selfless servant who died to forgive their sin and help them serve others. Jesus is the savior and example our children really need.

Subscribers to God Centered Family get unlimited access to a growing library of family discipleship resources, including this new devotional through the Gospel According to Mark.

I hope you’ll download a free sample or subscribe today.