Category: Pray with Spurgeon

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

At this hour, which is an hour of grace, we would ask you to help any of your children who are under bondage. If they have lost their hope, if their faith has become weak, if their love burns low—Lord renew the youth of your people, like that of the eagles’; and let them mount up with eagles, and rise above their doubts, their deadness, and their care.

Should any of your servants be in deep trouble, will you grant them grace to glory in tribulation also, because it works patience, experience, and hope. And may the Lord grant to all his tried and troubled ones, beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I rejoice greatly in the LORD, I exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a groom wears a turban and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)

When God looks at his people, he does not see them—he sees his Son. He looks through that heavenly medium and sees them in his Son. The Lord has covered them with the robe of righteousness. The children of God who weep because of their sins can be joyful in the Lord. We are righteous in the righteousness of Christ that God has imputed to us by faith in his Son.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Teach the wonder of God to children

The best strategy for protecting our children from false teaching is to teach them theology. Theology, properly taught, will awaken wonder and awe in any child’s heart.

A great resource for teaching theology to children (ages 7-13) is Emblems of the Infinite King. The book describes crucial, biblical doctrines about God with beautiful text and stunning illustrations. I love reading this book to my kids, but I also love reading it on my own. 🤓

Awaken your children to the wonder of God and invite them to approach his throne with fear and trembling through Emblems of the Infinite King.

Buy Emblems of the Infinite King:

• 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 cry to you for holiness. You know that we do not expect to be saved by it; but we do look upon it as salvation, to be saved from sin, to be delivered from corruption; to be emancipated from the bondage of the evil is the great thought of our spirit, and we look forward to heaven with this as one of its highest felicities, that we shall be without fault before the throne of God, and that nothing that defiles shall ever enter there.

O Lamb of God, by whom we have been redeemed from sin and washed from uncleanness, will you graciously daily wash our feet, that we may be clean every whit, and may enter in through the gates into the city, and be among those of whom it is written—“They shall walk with me in white for they are worthy.”

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people…” (Ephesians 6:7)

Our work for Jesus must be the outgrowth of the soil of the heart. Our service must not be performed as a matter of routine. There must be vigor, power, freshness, reality, eagerness, and warmth about it; or it will be good for nothing. No fish ever came upon God’s altar because it could not come there alive. The Lord wants none of our dead, heartless worship.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Spurgeon’s Earliest Sermons (And Hundreds of Other Resources)

This month, the Spurgeon Study Bible is available at a discount for “Pray with Spurgeon” subscribers (Just use promo code 10OFF40 to save $10 off a purchase of $40 or more).

One of my favorite features of the Spurgeon Study Bible is the LOST SERMONS. Throughout the study Bible, you can find outlines of some of Spurgeon’s earliest sermons — you can even see them in Spurgeon’s own handwriting!

Up until a few years ago, they had never been published or widely read, and now there are 20 of them available right in your Spurgeon Study Bible. These sermons are saturated with rich gospel content. I know they will bless and encourage you.

The Lost Sermons are just one of the many incredible features to this Study Bible. I highly recommend grabbing one this month at a discount.

Buy the Spurgeon Study Bible on LifeWay.com (Use promo code 10OFF40 to save $10)

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, help us to live towards you in all devotion, confidence, obedience, resignation and simple childlike trust. Help us to love you with all our heart and soul and mind. Enable us also to live to our fellow men according to your word, loving our neighbor as ourselves. Save us from all unneighborly tempers, all hard thoughts, all slanderous words. Deliver us from bearing any anger in our heart, from everything that is ungenerous or unkind please save us, and let the law of love be written on the fleshy tablets of our renewed heart, and be carried out in all the thoughts and words and acts of our lives.

Especially help us to master our tongue; for if that be bridled the whole body will be manageable. Keep us, O God, when we are in company, and equally preserve us when we are in secret. Help us to keep the door of our lips; and grant that when that door is opened there may not come out of it sweet water and bitter, may we not both bless and curse, but may we speak that which is good to edification, and may our speech be also seasoned with salt.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“… and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15)

Brethren, to be prepared for the coming conflict, we have only to preach the gospel, and to live the gospel; and also to take care that we teach the children the Word of the Lord. This last is especially to be attended to, for it is from the mouth of babes that God will still the enemy. It is idle to dream that human learning must be met by human learning, or that Satan must cast out Satan. No.

Lift up the brazen serpent wherever the fiery serpents are biting the people, and men shall look to it and live. Bring the children out, and hold them up, and turn their little eyes towards the divinely-ordained remedy; for still there is life in a look—life as against the varied venoms of the serpent which are now poisoning the blood of men.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

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

In today’s verse of the day, Spurgeon exhorted us to turn the eyes of our children to trust and treasure God by teaching them his Word. If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you know that this is a topic I’m really passionate about.

And that’s why I’ve been 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.

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.

(This book was sold out for several weeks and is FINALLY back in stock — so I hope you’ll grab a copy now, while you still can!)

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 do bless you this morning that we can pray in this fashion, for there was a time when it never struck us that there was much wrong with us, when sin was no plague to us; when we lived even in outward sin with but slight accusation of conscience, and certainly without any pain at heart.

You know, Lord, that sin is our greatest curse; we would sooner suffer anything than sin, at least when we are in our right mind we feel so. O God, deliver us from sin! At the very thought of its coming near to us we cry, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me;” and we only find comfort in the blessed truth that you give us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let that victory be very apparent, may it be very clear to our own consciousness, very much displayed in our lives.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him,” (Colossians 2:6)

Whatever else you have done or have not done, you have received Christ. The act of faith was the putting out of your empty hands to receive all the fullness of the Godhead in receiving Christ. There are some precious experiences to which you have not yet attained, some lofty heights to which you have not yet climbed, but you “have received Christ Jesus as Lord.” That is the distinguishing mark of all true Christians. Whether you are old or young, whether you are well instructed or ill taught, whether you are full of faith or are troubled with many doubts and fears, you “have received Christ Jesus as Lord.”

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, you can save $10 when you spend $40 or more on the Spurgeon Study Bible when you use the code 10OFF40. I hope you’ll grab one today.

Buy the Spurgeon Study Bible on LifeWay.com (Use promo code 10OFF40 to save $10)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We must sorrowfully also lament our hearts, how they wander. If you give us a blessing we begin to idolize it. How often do we set our hearts upon children, upon some beloved object, or upon wealth or upon honor. Somehow or other, this spiritual adultery too often comes upon us, and the chastity of our hearts towards our God is violated. Be pleased to forgive us in this thing also.

“Take this poor heart and let it be,
For ever closed to all but Thee”— a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Let the whole heart be Christ’s alone, and never stray again.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple,” he does not have to honor his father.’ In this way, you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition.” (Matthew 15:5–6)

The Jewish leaders actually taught that a person might escape the happy duty of caring for his father and mother, surely the first duty of a child, by saying, “I have dedicated so much of my goods to the temple and the worship of God that I cannot afford it.” There are not many these days that talk that way—they generally cannot afford to dedicate anything to the temple because they are keeping their father and mother! But in both situations people will seek to escape from moral or religious duty. Now God loves not that we should bring one duty to him smeared with the blood of another, and for someone to give his money to the temple that he ought to have given to his father and mother was a violation of the strict law of God and could not possibly be acceptable to him. Thus their traditions voided God’s Word.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

It’s back! Save on the Spurgeon Study Bible this month.*

I haven’t kept it a secret that I love the Spurgeon Study Bible. This is such a valuable resource for bringing Spurgeon’s insights into your personal Bible study. The study Bible is filled to the brim with hundreds of notes taken from Spurgeon’s sermons. Reading it feels like sitting down with Spurgeon and asking him what a verse means.

The great team at the Christian Standard Bible have decided to offer a special discount on the Spurgeon Study Bible for “Pray with Spurgeon” subscribers. This month only you can save $10 when you spend $40 or more on the Spurgeon Study Bible when you use the code 10OFF40.

Buy the Spurgeon Study Bible on LifeWay.com (Use promo code 10OFF40 to save)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We ask you would forgive all the vices of our nature; but at the same time kill them, for we hate ourselves to think we should fall into such evils. Especially have mercy upon us for our unbelief. You have given us proof of your existence, and of your love to us, and of your care over us: especially you have given us your only begotten Son, best pledge of love.

And yet we acknowledge that we do doubt. Unbelief comes into the soul. We are quite ashamed of this. We could lie in the very dust to think it should be so. Lord, have mercy upon us; but also help us to be strong in faith in the future, giving glory to God.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:29–31)

No sooner does Peter begin to sink and cry out for deliverance than there is manifest goodwill and quick help in the Savior’s movement. Our Lord did not pause for debate. He did not upbraid Peter or say to him, “You have dishonored me by your unbelief.” Jesus did not accuse him harshly, rebuke him sternly, or punish him severely, leaving him to go down twice and then pulling him up the third time—thus inflicting on him the pangs of death without its extreme penalty. No! The prompt help of the Savior was ready for the pressing emergency of the one in need.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Fight unbelief with the truths of faith

Today we prayed for an end to our unbelief and doubt. Asking questions is not a bad thing — we just need to labor to answer our questions in a faith-filled, biblical way. There ARE answers available for even the toughest questions about the Bible — do you know those answers?

A great resource for being equipped to defend your faith is Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion by Rebecca McLaughlin. This book gives practical, biblical, and winsome answers to some of the world’s most pressing objections to the gospel.

Be equipped to answer questions like “Isn’t Christianity homophobic?” and “How can you say there’s only one true faith?” with Bible-centered wisdom and Christ-centered hope.

Confronting Christianity will bolster your own faith and equip you to be a bold witness for Christ. I hope you’ll buy a copy today and read it this summer.

Buy Confronting Christianity:

• Amazon (Hardback, Kindle, or audiobook 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)

At this hour, which is an hour of grace, we would ask you to help any of your children who are under bondage. If they have lost their hope, if their faith has become weak, if their love burns low—Lord renew the youth of your people, like that of the eagles’ (Psalm 103:5); and let them mount up with eagles, and rise above their doubts, their deadness, and their care.

Should any of your servants be in deep trouble, will you grant them grace to glory in tribulation also, because it works patience, experience, and hope. And may the Lord grant to all his tried and troubled ones, beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“He satisfies you with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle.” (Psalm 103:5)

Renewal of strength, amounting to a grant of a new lease of life, was granted to the Psalmist; he was so restored to his former self that he grew young again, and looked as vigorous as an eagle, whose eye can gaze upon the sun, and whose wing can mount above the storm, most fearless, most majestic, and most soaring.

Thus is the endless chain of grace complete. Sin is forgiven, its power subdued, and its penalty averted, then we are honored, supplied, and our very nature renovated, till we are as new-born children in the household of God.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Real Hope for All Your Fears and Anxiety

Today’s prayer featured a stunning image — God renewing his people so that we can soar, like an eagle, above all of our doubts and worries. Unfortunately, dealing with our fears isn’t always so easy, is it? We won’t grow past our fears unless we address them with solid biblical truth.

That’s the point of Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest by Ed Welch. This book offers a biblical perspective on fear and worry in general, and then zooms in to offer biblical hope for some of the most common fears (e.g., fear of money, fear of people, fear of death, etc.).

I’m preaching this weekend on worry and have been so thankful to re-visit Running Scared as I’ve prepared.

Reading Running Scared will give you more confidence in God and his Word that will help you deal with your own fears and to share the hope of the Bible with others too.

Buy Running Scared:

• Amazon (Paperback, Kindle, or audiobook editions)
• ChristianBook.com (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 God, deliver us we pray from the invasion of sin, as well as from the dominion of it. Grant us to walk as Christ walked; in his newness of life may we live—may the life in the flesh be a life of faith upon the Son of God who loved us, and gave himself for us; and may it be a life of love, and consecration of burning zeal for God; a life of pure holiness; such a life as the incarnate God himself has lived among the sons of men.

We lament that in the body of this death there is much that we abhor. We are tempted to laziness at times, and though busy in the world we become spiritually idle. Also, we are tempted to envy others, because they excel us, and we mourn to confess the meanness of our spirit in this matter; and also we have to lament our pride. We have nothing to be proud of; the lowest place is ours; but Lord, we often conceive ourselves to be something when we are nothing.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” (Ephesians 4:1–2)

It is a loving call. Walk lovingly. It is the condescension of God that called you. Be, therefore, lowly. It is God in tenderness who has loved you. Be, therefore, meek, “forbearing one another in love.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

How to live as a peacemaker

Today we prayed that we would be holy and that we would love others as Christ has loved us. Scripture is clear that God calls his people to be peacemakers, but in an increasingly divided world, it is hard for prideful sinners like us to resolve and avoid conflict. 

That’s why The Peacemaker by Ken Sande is such a valuable resource. This book is a comprehensive guide to understanding and addressing conflict in a biblical way.

The Bible has all the wisdom we need to prevent and resolve conflict — in our marriages, in our homes, in our workplaces, in our churches — and The Peacemaker is a great guide to the Bible’s teaching on this important topic.

I hope you’ll pick up a copy today — it’s an intensely practical guide that will help you walk in wisdom in all of your relationships.

Buy The Peacemaker:

• 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, for that is the sweetest title by which we can address you, we pray that you would save us entirely from sin. There are many in your presence who are resting in the peace which comes of justification by faith. We know that we are righteous through the righteousness of another, even Jesus Christ; but we pant and pine for personal likeness to you.

If you are our Father, then upon every child of yours should be the Father’s image impressed: so let it be. We beseech you, Lord, to enable us to recognize our death to sin; and when it tempts us may we be deaf to the voice of the charmer with the deafness of death; and when it would use our members as instruments of unrighteousness, may we be quite incapable thereof with the incapacity of death.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Who is like the LORD our God— the one enthroned on high,” (Psalm 113:5)

The challenge will never be answered. None can be compared with him for an instant; Israel’s God is without parallel; our own God in covenant stands alone, and none can be likened unto him. Even those whom he has made like himself in some respects are not like him in godhead, for his divine attributes are many of them incommunicable and inimitable. None of the metaphors and figures by which the Lord is set forth in the Scriptures can give us a complete idea of him: his full resemblance is borne by nothing in earth or in heaven. Only in Jesus is the Godhead seen, but he unhesitatingly declared, “he who has seen me has seen the Father.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

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

For Christians, doubt is often associated with our own experiences of suffering. 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, 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?:

• Amazon (Paperback edition)
• ChristianBook.com (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)

Glorious Lord God, our inmost hearts worship you; for you are high above the heavens, and yet you humble yourself to behold the things that are in heaven and that are on earth. And in your condescension you have regard to the very lowest of mankind. Many of us can sing “He has regarded my low estate,” for you raise the poor out of the dust, and the needy out of the dunghill, that you might set them among princes, even the princes of the people.

Who is a God like you? Hallelujah! Our praises shall never cease: from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, and all through the night watches, the Lord’s name is to be praised.

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)

It is a marvel of mercy that the sun should rise on the rebellious sons of men, and prepare for the undeserving fruitful seasons and days of pleasantness; let us for this prodigy of goodness praise the Lord of all. From hour to hour let us renew the strain, for each moment brings its mercy; and when the sun sinks to his rest, let us not cease our music.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Prayer is amazing! (A resource to teach your kids)

Today we prayed, marveling at the goodness of God who so graciously hears our prayers. Prayer is absolutely astounding — this incredible God has humbled himself to hear us. Wow!

Yesterday, I recommended a sermon on the Lord’s Prayer, today I want to recommend a book for your kids about this prayer — to help show your kids the wonder of prayer.

Any Time, Any Place, Any Prayer by Laura Wifler and illustrated by Catalina Echeverri is a great book that walks through the story of Scripture, showing how our sin separates us from God, how Jesus came to bring us back, and how we can communicate with this holy God through prayer all along the way.

The book will fill pre-school/early-elementary-aged kids with wonder as we think about the grace of God to allow us to pray.

I hope you’ll add it to your family’s library today and grab a copy for a friend as well!

Buy Any Time, Any Place, Any Prayer:

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