Category: Pray with Spurgeon

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

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

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

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

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

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

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

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Bible-saturated plan to grow in godliness

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

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

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

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

Buy The Practice of Godliness:

• 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)

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

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

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

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

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

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Discover freedom from guilt and deeper joy in Christ

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

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

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

Buy The Art of Turning on Amazon.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

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

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

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

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

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

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Share the sanctifying word of God with others

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Buy Know Jesus on Amazon (Paperback edition)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

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

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

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

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

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

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

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

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

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

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

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

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Buy Gentle and Lowly:

• Amazon (Hardcover or Kindle edition)
• ChristianBook.com (Hardcover 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)

Expecting to receive the precious help of your Holy Spirit, we would wait upon you, O Lord, with all earnestness of desire, with all sincerity of heart, and with all confidence of faith. Oh that now our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ! May this be a season of access to God through Christ Jesus. May we not stand at a distance from you, but may we now speak to our God as a man speaks with his friend.

Our Father, we feel that we must praise and bless your name this morning. You have smitten us during this week; very many of our families have been made to mourn, but still, your strokes are fewer than our crimes, and lighter than our guilt.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” (Psalm 55:22)

There are certain burdens of care and sorrow, of which the text speaks—especially the burdens that come from the slander, reproach, and oppression of ungodly people—which we need not carry. When we are severely tried and burdened, there is something we are tempted to do.

The text is an antidote to the malady that the psalm describes or implies. “Cast your burden on the Lord” is an injunction to do one thing in the place of something else that more naturally suggests itself to our poor foolish minds. When we are in severe trouble, we are tempted to complain. As the children of God, we ought to avoid even the semblance of a complaint against our heavenly Father.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Solid Truths to Boost Your Faith in God

Today we prayed that God would increase our faith and remove our unbelief. Many people act as if the only way to remove doubt and increase faith is by simply ignoring the genuine questions that we have about Christ or the Bible.

But Christ invites us to a better way — to really seek after the truth, even when we have questions and doubts, because we know that his Word has solid, truthful answers for us. You have no question that God is not able to answer.

A great resource for finding answers to some of the questions that you have is Truth Matters: Confident Faith in a Confusing World by Andreas Köstenberger, Darrell Bock, and Josh Chatraw. This book answers some of the most pressing questions for the truthfulness of Christianity and the reliability of the Bible with faithful, thorough, and easy-to-understand answers.

If you read this book, I am confident that it will increase your faith and equip you to better defend Christianity to others.

Buy Truth Matters:

• Amazon (Hardback or Kindle editions)
• ChristianBook.com (Hardback 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)

Gracious God, preserved by your goodness, we are permitted to come to you in prayer. We delight to find ourselves in the place where prayer is to be made, and we humbly hope that this day our supplications will be heard in heaven. Let our praise be accepted at the Throne, and that there will be for each of us a portion of meat in due season. Oh for the rainfall of the Holy Spirit upon every plant of the Lord’s right-hand planting. Let every soul be nourished today. As trees planted in the courts of the Lord, so may we flourish and bring forth fruit.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:3)

The man who delights in God’s Word, being taught by it, brings forth patience in the time of suffering, faith in the day of trial, and holy joy in the hour of prosperity. Fruitfulness is an essential quality of a gracious man, and that fruitfulness should be seasonable.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Finding peace in the Prince of Peace

We live in a broken, sin-cursed, fallen world. We desperately need the Prince of Peace to come and redeem us, to make his blessing known as far as the curse is found.

In our salvation, this cosmic redemption is already breaking in. Christ is already at work in our hearts to free us from the curse of sin and death.

Life in this fallen world is full of many things to be afraid of, but recognizing the good presence of Christ with us gives us the power to choose faith over fear.

That’s the message of Fear and Faith: Finding the Peace Your Heart Craves by Trillia Newbell. In this book, Newbell addresses a variety of common fears, and shows how the truth of God’s Word and the power of the gospel can help us overcome those fears with faith.

This book will encourage you, boost your confidence in God, and help you walk with faith every day. I hope you’ll grab a copy today and read it this summer.

Buy Fear and Faith:

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

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Permit us, Lord, to behold again the light of your countenance. May our glad spirits approach again to the Throne of Grace, receiving grace from the Throne enabling us so to do. Oh that you would have a word with our heart! May the truth be mighty; may it pierce into the conscience, may it reach the inner man. May those who are born again, and those who are afar off, receive some good thing.

Vain is the help of man. We depend on nothing of our own, but behold, here we are at your feet. God Almighty, glorify your Son Jesus by your Holy Spirit. We ask it for his sake.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

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

In this wonderful prayer our Lord, as our great high priest, appears to enter into that perpetual office of intercession that he is now exercising at the right hand of the Father. What a friend we have in Jesus, so willing, so speedy to do for us all that we need. How invaluable must the blessing of sanctification be when our Lord, in the highest reach of his intercession, cries, “Sanctify them!” The prayer means, “Father, consecrate them to your own self. Let them be temples for your indwelling, instruments for your use.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Teach your kids to LOVE the Bible (not just read it)

Today we prayed that God’s Word would bear fruit in our lives — that it would work powerfully in our deepest hearts to change us into God’s image. the Bible is so amazing, and that’s why we need to teach it to our kids.

I’ve been really loving a new kids book, Read it, See it, Say it, Sing it by Hunter Beless. This book is a really fun, rhyming celebration of the Bible that will really encourage your kids (and you!) to treasure God’s Word. My kids have really enjoyed reading it, and since first reading it, the topics and phrases from the book have come up often in our conversations.

This book doesn’t just command us to read the Bible, it encourages us to LOVE the Bible.

Read it, See it, Say it, Sing it will help your kids approach the Bible with excitement and creativity, so I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy Read it, See it, Say it, Sing it:

• Amazon
• ChristianBook.com

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We look up to you with joyful confidence, knowing that you are an inexhaustible fountain of every good thing, and believing that you will supply our need out of the riches of your fullness of glory by Christ Jesus. Will you refresh our souls? We come as the Children of Israel came to the wells of Elim, and we would now sit by the palm-trees. Let our souls gather strength. Give comfort to the mourners; give rebuke to those that slumber, and a word in season to everyone.

As for the minister, may he be one who brings forth out of the treasury things new and old. May there be food fitted for strong men, as well as milk for babies, and may we all of us retire from the Master’s house feeling that he has satisfied us with good things, and made us rejoice in himself. Our Father, hear and bless us for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” (Matthew 4:19)

When Christ calls us by his grace, we ought not only to remember what we are, but we ought also to think of what he can make us. It is, “Follow me, and I will make you.” We should repent of what we have been but rejoice in what we may be. It is not, “Follow me, because of what you are already.” It is not, “Follow me, because you may make something of yourselves,” but, “Follow me because of what I will make you.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Share your faith (and support gospel ministry in Washington DC)

Some of you know that I (Doug, the creator/editor of this newsletter) serve as a pastor in Washington DC. With God’s help, we are working to share the name of Christ in our nation’s capital — and there’s a very specific way that you can support our ministry this summer.

A few months ago, I started creating a new Bible study resource for my church. I wanted to create a super-simple tool that any Christian can use to read the Bible with a non-Christian friend. God is going to save sinners through the power of his Word — I wanted to create a tool that would give people in my church confidence to share the Bible with a non-Christian friend.

The result is Know Jesus: The Gospel According to Mark. This simple workbook is an easy-to-follow guide to help you bring a non-Christian through the Gospel According to Mark.

Each of the 15 sessions has a passage of Scripture, application questions, a single highlighted truth to reflect on, and a prayer point.

I’m really excited to see how God uses this resource in my church, but I need your help.

To raise funds to print these workbooks, I’m selling copies on Amazon. 100% of the profits from these sales will go to buy copies for non-Christians in DC (Every copy purchased = one given away for evangelism).

So I hope you’ll buy two copies — one for you and one for a non-Christian friend — and use this resource to share the hope of the gospel.

Buy Know Jesus on Amazon.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Blessed be your Name, ever-living God. Our neighbors die; friend after friend departs; few of us have not lost someone dear to us; but you abide the same, and of your years there is no end. We come to you.

You are this day as strong to deliver as in our fathers’ time; as true to your promise, and as mighty to perform your covenant as when you spoke to Abraham at Mamre, or worked mightily in the field of Zoan for the Children of Israel. You, O God, are forever strong and mighty. Never can your arm know palsy, nor can your brow decay.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

It is well that there is one person who is the same. It is well that there is one stable rock amidst the changing billows of this sea of life; for how many and how grievous have been the changes of last year?

Your cups of sweetness have been dashed with draughts of gall; your golden harvests have had tares cast into the midst of them, and you have had to reap the noxious weed along with the precious grain. Your much fine gold has become dim, and your glory has departed; the sweet frames at the commencement of last year became bitter ones at the end. Your raptures and your ecstacies were turned into depression and forebodings. Alas! for our changes, and hallelujah to him that has no change.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Christ never changes (He’s still alive today)

Today’s prayer and verse of the day celebrated our unchanging God. It is wonderful to think that, in the midst of so much change, sorrow, and suffering in this world, Christ is the same.

Of course, we know mentally that Christ is alive today… but what is he doing? After Christ rose again, he ascended into heaven. And he is doing some astounding work there right now for your good.

To better understand what Christ has been doing since he rose from the dead, you should check out The Ascension of Christ by Patrick Schreiner. This book is an accessible introduction to an often-neglected doctrine.

I know that reading it will bring you a lot of joy as you reflect on Christ’s present ministry for you. Grab a copy and read it this summer.

Buy The Ascension of Christ:

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