Category: Pray with Spurgeon

Pray with Spurgeon: One glimpse of Jesus is brighter than the sun

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh, Savior, grant us a glimpse of your great love. One flash of your eye is brighter than the noonday. One word from your lips will be sweeter to us and more full of music, than the harps of angels. Grant it to every one of your children all over the world, both to the sick and to the dying. Oh how gloriously will they die!

And now Lord, we ask you to bless our country at this time, and by your great and infinite mercy preserve us, we ask you, from war. Oh, that peace may reign yet all over the world. The Lord grant that wars may utterly cease unto the ends of the earth. Oh make a way we pray, for the progress of Christianity, of civilization, of liberty, of everything that is honest and of good repute. May your kingdom come, and your will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven, for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 19:19)

What are you to do to your neighbor? Love him. It is a hard thing—to love someone. It is not enough for you to say you do not hate your neighbor; you are to love him. When you see him in the street, it is not sufficient that you keep out of his way and do not knock him down. It is not sufficient that you do not bother him by night or disturb his quiet. It is not a negative command; it is a positive command. Love is not in the not doing; it is the doing. True, you must not injure him, but you have not done all when you have simply refrained from harming him. You ought to love him, which is more than giving to charity. Only when your heart goes with your hand and the kindness of your life bespeaks the kindness of your soul do you truly love someone.

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Real Hope for All Your Fears and Anxiety

Today we prayed that God would end all wars. Unfortunately, God has not answered that prayer yet. And as we read the news, we’re often filled with dread and anxiety about the state of our world.

Whether our fears are global or very personal, we won’t grow past our worries 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.).

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. I know this book will encourage you to trust God — I hope you’ll grab a copy.

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Pray with Spurgeon: Who can separate us from God’s love?

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

As long as we live we will bless your name, our King, our God of love; for there is none like you. “Who do I have in heaven but you? And I desire nothing on earth but you” (Psalm 73:25). Our soul is clean divorced from all earth’s good, and married to the Christ of God forever. By bonds that never can be snapped, we are one with him, and who shall separate us from his love?

The Lord be pleased to reveal himself to his servants. Oh, for the uplifting of the veil, for the drawing near of the people that are made glad by the blood, for the speaking of God unto the soul, and the speaking of our soul unto God. Oh, for converse with the Eternal, for such fellowship as they may have who are raised up together with Christ, and made to sit in the heavenlies with him.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Who do I have in heaven but you? And I desire nothing on earth but you.” (Psalm 73:25)

He turns away from the glitter which fascinated him to the true gold which was his real treasure. He felt that his God was better to him than all the wealth, health, honor, and peace, which he had so much envied in the worldling. He was not only better than all on earth, but more excellent than all in heaven. He let all things else go, that he might be filled with his God.

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You need a dictionary (Seriously, you need a dictionary)

Definitions are important. When reading a book or listening to teaching, we can’t learn or apply anything if we don’t know the words an author or speaker is using.

The Baker Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms by Gregg Allison is an invaluable resource for theological studies, offering clear definitions for the most important words for understanding the Bible and theology. This is an incredible resource for looking up new words that you don’t know and for getting a quick refresher on various theological positions.

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Pray with Spurgeon: Your Will Be Done

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh, Lord, we ask for ourselves strength to bear and to do. Some of us would ask, if it were your will, restoration to health; but your will be done. Others would ask deliverance out of trouble; again, your will be done. Some would come before you with conscious guilt, and ask for a new application of the precious blood. We had better all ask it, let us all have it.

O God, bless our church and people more and more. How richly you have blessed us! When we look back upon past years, what has God done! Shall you be without our song? Even when we are not as we would be, shall our voice, if it be cracked and broken, still be silent? No, if every harp-string shall be broken but one, that one shall still resound the love of Jesus, and the glory of God.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13)

After a man is converted and has received forgiveness of sins, soon he will be tempted by the devil, for Satan cannot bear to lose his subjects. And when Satan sees someone cross the border and escape out of his hand, he gathers up all his forces and exercises all his cunning that he may slay him at once. To meet this special assault, the Lord makes the heart watchful. This is thus a prayer of watchfulness, which is necessary from the commencement of the Christian life even to its close. There is no hour in which a believer can afford to slumber. And in addition to watchfulness, a believer must never deliberately enter temptation. Anyone who does so is a liar before God.

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How God’s grace helps you grow

Today’s prayer included a plea that God would forgive us and strengthen us. We ask God to help us grow in holiness, because we know that God’s grace doesn’t just save us from sin, it also gives us the power that we 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.

If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you know that I recommend this book all the time, because it’s one of my all-time favorites and completely changed my life.

Reading The Discipline of Grace will definitely help you grow in holiness. I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

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

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh, sword of the Lord, pierce sinners through, that carelessness may be slain, that their souls may live. Oh, you who are as a polished shaft hidden in the quiver of the Eternal, go forth today to smite to the heart the proud, the self-righteous, and those that will not stoop to ask mercy at your hands.

But as for the humble and the contrite, look upon them; the broken-hearted and the heavy-laden, please relieve; and such as have no helper, please help. Bring up the sinner from the prison house, let the lawful captive be delivered. Let the mighty God of Jacob lead forth his elect, as once he did out of Pharaoh’s bondage. The Red Sea is already divided that they may march through it. The Lord save multitudes—He knows those who are his. Accomplish their number and let Jesus so be rewarded, though Israel be not gathered.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14)

Here you have the whole plan of salvation. Christ is preached, sinners hear the message of the gospel, they believe it, and so they are saved. What a mass of rubbish people have interjected into this blessed simple plan! How different this is from the cumbersome, complicated plan by which men would destroy our souls. Cling to the old-fashioned gospel and never turn away from it! Nothing can take the place of the simplicity of divine truth.

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Followers of Christ speak about Christ

Today we prayed for many sinners to be saved. Are you ready to be the answer to this prayer? To share the Word boldly and clearly with non-believers you know?

Maybe the reason so many Christians don’t do the work of evangelism is because they don’t understand it. Evangelism isn’t meant to be an unnatural, guilt-motivated task that Christians carry out with dread and fear — it’s meant to be a natural overflow of our life in Christ.

Marks of the Messenger by Mack Stiles is a short book on evangelism that has the power to transform your life. In the book, Stiles shows that evangelism isn’t motivated by fear, guilt, or pragmatism, it’s simply to be motivated by who Christ is and our faith in him.

This summer, as many places and events re-open after a season of quarantine, will be full of opportunities for evangelism. God wants to do a work through you this summer — get prepared and motivated by reading Marks of the Messenger.

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Pray with Spurgeon: We love you God, may we love you more

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

You see here many that love you—may we love you more! You see many that live by the life of God—oh, life of God, live in us to the full! You see also, we fear, some that are declining from your ways, in whom grace is but a flickering light.

Lord, trim the lamps; bring back the wanderers; for there is no joy but in God. And perhaps, nay, we fear it must be so, that you see ungodly ones, careless and indifferent. Oh, sword of the Lord, pierce them through, that carelessness may be slain, that their souls may live.

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.

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God’s grace will grow you. Here’s a practical guide.

Today we prayed that God would make us more like himself — that we would live as his children instead of children of the devil. This is our goal, to know our Father and become more like him every day. And the reason we pray for this, is because we can’t grow in godliness without God’s help.

God didn’t just start your salvation, he’s going to complete it as well. And the path to true growth is not just trying harder, but by pressing deeper into the truths of God’s saving, sanctifying grace.

That’s the point of Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners by Dane Ortlund. In this book, Dane (author of Gentle and Lowly) offers a beautiful, biblical picture of what it looks like to actually grow in godliness. The teaching is incredibly practical and will leave you amazed at the wonder of God’s grace to change you.

I hope you’ll grab a copy of Deeper and use it to slay sin in your life, by God’s grace.

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Pray with Spurgeon: We will spend and be spent for God

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Let us be helped, even to the end, to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, even to Gethsemane and Calvary. Oh, to be perfect in heart towards the Lord! Our lives are faulty; we see much to grieve over; but we long to have our whole heart towards your statutes; and we bless you that so it is; for our heart is in your ways, and we are willing to spend and to be spent for you. Reservation would we not make to the very slightest; but lay ourselves out for your honor only, for by us and in us, Father glorify your name!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne.” (Revelation 8:3)

Many Christians think their prayers are not heard because they are such poor things. But it is certain that every true prayer gets into the golden censer before the eternal throne of God. God has made provision for ensuring the acceptance of his people’s prayers. The “incense” offered “with the prayers of all the saints” makes our poor prayers acceptable to God—not the merit of our prayers but the power of Christ’s prevailing intercession. Jesus Christ has been appointed to the office of high priest so that he may take our supplications and present them before the throne of the Most High. No true prayer from the heart of a true child of God will miss its mark; all will reach the heavenly target.

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God hears your prayers, not because you’re good enough (but because Jesus is)

Today’s verse of the day shows us that our only hope in prayer is that we would be covered in the righteousness of Christ. This is our only hope with which to approach God. This should give us great hope and confidence as we pray — we do not come in our own name, but in the mighty name of Jesus!

A great, refreshing book that has really helped me learn this lesson is A Praying Life by Paul Miller. This book makes clear that our only hope of acceptable prayers is the blood of Jesus.

A Praying Life is a great, encouraging book on Christian prayer. Reading this book has cultivated Scripture-saturated prayers of childlike faith in my life. Miller describes prayer in a way that is thoroughly biblical and incredible desirable.

I know A Praying Life will help you deepen your prayer life — I hope you’ll buy a copy today.

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Pray with Spurgeon: We live for God’s glory alone

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We pray that you would help us who know you, to glorify you. We have known you from our youth, some of us, and hitherto have we declared your wondrous works. Oh, may there never be in our heart, and above all may there never come from our lips, or in our life, anything that might dishonor you. Oh, let us die a thousand deaths, sooner than ever dishonor your hallowed name. This is dearer to us than the apple of our eye.

We have loved the habitation of your house, and the place where your honor dwells. Gather not our soul with sinners, nor our lives with cruel men; but let us be helped, even to the end, to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, even if it be to Gethsemane and Calvary.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Do not destroy me along with sinners, or my life along with men of bloodshed” (Psalm 26:9)

Lord, when, like fruit, I must be gathered, put me not in the same basket with the best of sinners, much less with the worst of them. The company of sinners is so distasteful to us here, that we cannot endure the thought of being bound up in the same bundle with them to all eternity. Our comfort is, that the Great Husbandman discerns the tares from the wheat, and will find a separate place for distinct characters.

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God is real (and that is really, really good news)

Unbelief robs us of joy by bringing us to doubt that God really is there (or really is good). But when we embrace him in faith, we see that he really is perfect, loving, kind, and real.

A great resource for growing your own faith and ending your unbelief is Jesus or Nothing by Dan DeWitt. This book doesn’t just help us see that God exist, but it shows that God’s existence is really, really good news.

Because God (as he’s revealed himself in the Bible) is real, our life has meaning and joy is possible. If there isn’t a God, nothing has any meaning. 

I know that this book will strengthen your faith and equip you to share your faith with others. Jesus or Nothing is an incredible, faith-strengthening, life-giving, joy-producing, Bible-saturated book. I hope you’ll grab a copy.

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Pray with Spurgeon: Delight yourself in the Lord…

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

What a fountain of delight you are, and how richly you have promised to bless the men that delight themselves in God. You have said, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires” (Psalm 37:4). Do you reward us for being delighted? Oh, pleasant duty, which has appended to it so divine a promise. Shall we have the desire of our heart, when our heart finds all its desire in you? Oh blessed Lord, you do indeed meet them that work righteousness and that rejoice in your ways; and you fill your people with good things, so that their youth is renewed like the eagles’.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” (Psalm 37:4)

Make the Lord the joy and rejoicing of your spirit. Bad men delight in carnal objects; do not envy them if they are allowed to take their fill in such vain idols; look to your better delight, and fill yourself to the full with your sublimer portion. In a certain sense imitate the wicked; they delight in their portion—take care to delight in yours, and so far from envying you will pity them. There is no room for fretting if we remember that God is ours, but there is every incentive to sacred enjoyment of the most elevated and ecstatic kind.

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Find great joy in our great God

Today we prayed, confessing that God is our only hope and happiness. His love is our only true riches. To enjoy this love is the point of the Christian life. That’s why God created you: to know him and enjoy him forever.

If you want to learn more about what it actually looks like to enjoy God in your every day life, read Desiring God by John Piper. This book is an incredible explanation of how God invites us to know him for our joy. This book will leave you amazed at God’s glory, and thoroughly, unshakeable happy in God.

Each chapter focuses on one passage of Scripture, making this book great devotional reading. It will leave you amazed at the goodness of God and leave you desiring more and more of him.

If you think you know the point of this book, but haven’t read it for yourself, I encourage you to read it for yourself. You will be blessed by God’s glory and goodness to his people.

I hope you’ll grab a copy and enjoy it — I know you’ll be blessed by it.

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Pray with Spurgeon: God alone is our greatest joy

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O God, you are our exceeding joy. The very singing of your praises lifts our heart upward: when we can join in the solemn psalm or the sacred hymn, our heart leaps within us. And when your name is glorified, when we see sinners glorifying the name of Jesus, when we look forward to the brighter days when myriads shall flock to the Crucified: above all, when we contemplate his final triumph, then is our heart very restful, and our spirit rejoices in God our Savior. What a fountain of delight you are, and how richly you have promised to bless the men that delight themselves in God.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)

God is to be the great object of your joy. Rejoice in the Father, your Father who is in heaven, your loving, tender, unchangeable God. Rejoice, too, in the Son, your Redeemer, your Brother, the Husband of your soul, your Prophet, Priest, and King. Rejoice also in the Holy Spirit, your Quickener, your Comforter, in him who shall abide with you forever.

Sometimes, brothers and sisters, you cannot rejoice in anything else, but you can rejoice in the Lord; then, rejoice in him to the full. Do not rejoice in your temporal prosperity, for riches take to themselves wings, and fly away. Do not rejoice even in your great successes in the work of God. If the Lord is your joy, your joy will never dry up. All other things are but for a season; but God is forever and ever. Make him your joy, the whole of your joy, and then let this joy absorb your every thought. Be baptized into this joy; plunge into the deeps of this unutterable bliss of joy in God.

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We need to stop living for ourselves

Today we prayed, praising God for bringing us a great joy in him. If God is really our greatest joy, then we will be freed to give everything we are away.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always our experience today. We frequently hoard our blessings instead of pouring them out on others — this is not God’s design, so we can’t keep living that way.

That’s the point of Something Needs to Change by David Platt. This book is an incredible testimony and devotional, sharing both biblical truth about God’s heart for the nations and his plan for your life, as well as David’s own experience coming face-to-face with urgent physical and spiritual need in the Himalayas.

Warning: this book will challenge you and shake you out of your comfort zone. But the good news is that it will make you take up your call to be a blessing to all nations.

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Pray with Spurgeon: A Good Friday Prayer

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

How heavy was the load of sin! All our thoughts were engrossed with that sense of pressure and of dread. We looked on the right hand and there was none, and on the left and we found no helper; but then you yourself delivered us by leading us to look with faith to the Divine, Only begotten, and crucified Son.

At this moment vividly is it upon our recollection, how you brought us up out of the “horrible pit.” We remember now the new song which you put into our mouths, as we found our feet fast on the rock, and our goings established. It is long since then with some of us, but all the way has been strewn with mercies, and we desire this morning to record, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.” (John 20:30)

“Finished!” By that one word Jesus declared that he had broken the head of the old dragon. We have a stern battle yet to fight, but what does that matter? Our Lord has defeated the foe, and we have to fight with one who is already vanquished. Surely, “It is finished,” sounds like the trumpet of victory. Let us have faith to claim that victory through the blood of the Lamb. And let all Christians, as one mighty army, take comfort from this dying word of the now risen and ever-living Savior. His church may rest perfectly satisfied that his work for her is fully accomplished.

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Don’t just celebrate Easter — live the resurrection life with Jesus

This weekend we will joyfully celebrate Jesus’ victory over Satan, sin, and death. And the reason that this is such good news is because WE are raised up with him (Ephesians 2:6)!

How will the good news of Easter change your life on Monday? Can you really, confidently say why?

That’s the point of Risen by Steven Mathewson — this book offers 50 short, practical devotionals, each explaining a specific thing that was accomplished by Jesus’ resurrection. They’re quick to read, packed with insight, and really, really, encouraging.

Jesus’ resurrection must change our lives. I know that if you spend time reading Risen, you’ll be amazed at the incredible things that Christ has accomplished by conquering death. I hope you’ll buy a copy today!

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