Category: Pray with Spurgeon

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Look, at this time, we ask you, upon us as a church, and give us greater prosperity. Add to us daily. Knit and unite us together in love. Pardon church sins. Have mercy upon us that we do not do more for you. Accept what we are enabled to do. Qualify each one of us to be vessels fit for the Master’s use; then use each one of us according to the measure of our capacity. Will you be pleased to bless the various works carried on by the church; may they all prosper. May all faithful ministries throughout the world be richly refreshed, and bring forth a great harvest for God.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“‘Follow me,’ he told them, ‘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.”

It did not seem a likely thing that humble fishermen would develop into apostles, that men so handy with the net would be as much at home in preaching sermons and in instructing converts. One would have said, “How can these things be? You cannot make founders of churches out of peasants of Galilee.” That is exactly what Christ did, and when we are brought low in the sight of God by a sense of our own unworthiness, we may feel encouraged to follow Jesus because of what he can make us.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A simple read to help you (and others!) love your church more

Today we prayed, thanking God for our own churches. Whether your church is thriving, as Spurgeon’s was when he prayed this, or if your church has been in a season of difficulty, we all need to grow to love our local church family more.

And a great resource for helping you along the way is Love Your Church by Tony Merida. This is a new book that outlines eight great things about being a church member. I’m so thankful for the book’s faithfulness to Scripture and practical application.

Because the book is short, it’s a great resource to give to someone else to help them grow their own love for the church. If you know someone who you long to see more connected to the church, I encourage you to grab a copy of this book for them.

The book is simple and short. I promise you, if you will read this book and apply it’s lessons to your own local church, you will grow in love for your church family and grow in godliness as a result.

Buy Love Your Church:

• Amazon (Paperback or Kindle 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)

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

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

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“So take courage, men, because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told to me.” (Acts 27:25)

Paul’s firm faith was grounded in revelation. Nothing is so sure as the revelation in God’s inspired book. The person who quibbles with the revelation of the Word of God has given up the foundation of faith. We should boldly proclaim what God has said. Paul’s faith went on to a conviction of the absolute certainty of that revelation. We can apply this to whatever promise God has made. Whatever declaration he has set forth in his Holy Word, it will be just as it was told. Here is the joy and certainty of the believer.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Tired of praying the same way about the same things?

It’s so easy for our prayer lives to fall into a rut — we pray the same words about the same problems day after day, and that’s boring. When we’re bored in prayer, it’s hard to pray with any kind of consistency or passion. But the Bible has a solution to our prayer problems — praying the Bible.

Praying the Bible is praying God’s own words back to him. When we use God’s Word as the foundation and starting point for our prayers, we pray in a more God-centered way about more God-centered issues.

I was first introduced to praying the Bible several years ago in a short book, Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney. This book is a short, approachable explanation of why and how to praying the Bible (and how to teach others).

Praying the Bible has absolutely revolutionized my prayer life. I hope you’ll grab a copy of Praying the Bible and enjoy the benefits of building your prayer life on God’s unchanging Word.

Buy Praying the Bible:

• Amazon (Hardback or Kindle editions)
• ChristianBook.com (Hardback 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 ask you once more that you would, by some means, cause peace to be re-established throughout the earth. Grant that this nation may not be drawn into war. We have been foolish once over it, grant that we may not be so again; but Oh, let your Kingdom come without the use of the sword. Oh, angel of war, will you not rest! Oh, sword of the Lord, put yourself into your scabbard and be still; for the sake of the great Prince of Peace we ask it.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“He will settle disputes among the nations and provide arbitration for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war.” (Isaiah 2:4)

At present the nations are heavily armed, and are inventing weapons more and more terrible, as if the chief end of man could only be answered by destroying myriads of his fellows. Yet peace will prevail one day; yes, and so prevail that the instruments of destruction shall be beaten into other shapes and used for better purposes.

How will this come about? By trade? By civilization? By arbitration? We do not believe it. Past experience forbids our trusting to means so feeble. Peace will be established only by the reign of the Prince of Peace. He must teach the people by his Spirit, renew their hearts by his grace, and reign over them by his supreme power, and then will they cease to wound and kill. Man is a monster when once his blood is up, and only the Lord Jesus can turn this lion into a lamb. By changing man’s heart, his blood-thirsty passions are removed. Let every reader offer special prayer today to the Lord and Giver of Peace, that he would speedily put an end to war, and establish concord over the whole world.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Testimony of Bold Gospel Hope and Clear Gospel Witness in Ukraine

This update from a Ukrainian pastor is incredibly important and moving:

“We have decided to stay, both as a family and as a church. When this is over, the citizens of Kyiv will remember how Christians have responded in their time of need.

And while the church may not fight like the nation, we still believe we have a role to play in this struggle. We will shelter the weak, serve the suffering, and mend the broken. And as we do, we offer the unshakable hope of Christ and his gospel.”

Read more on the Gospel Coalition.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

And now, Lord, we ask you to accept of us this morning whatever offerings we can bring. We bring our hearts to you, full of love for you for what you have done; full of gratitude, full of faith, full of hope, full of joy. We feel glad in the Lord. But we do confess that if there be anything acceptable in these our offerings, they are all first given us of you.

Well may we lay those fruits at your feet that were grown in your garden, and that gold and silver and frankincense which your yourself gave us: only first give us more! Oh, to love the Savior with a passion that can never cool! Oh, to believe in God with a confidence that can never stagger! Oh, to hope in God with an expectation that can never be dim!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:24)

Parents sin when they omit religion from the education of their children. Perhaps the thought is that their children cannot be converted while they are children, and so they think it is of small consequence how we teach them in their tender years. We will reap what we sow. Let us expect our children to know the Lord. Let us from the beginning mingle the name of Jesus with their A B C. Let them read their first lessons from the Bible. It is a remarkable thing that there is no book from which children learn to read so quickly as from the New Testament: there is a charm about that book which draws forth the infant mind. But let us never be guilty, as parents, of forgetting the religious training of our children; for if we do we may be guilty of the blood of their souls.

Editor’s Note: Parents, you know that you have a responsibility to teach your children the Bible, and I want to help you along the way. I’ve created a new resource — GodCenteredFamily.org, where you can get a family devotional every day. Teach your kids to know and treasure the Bible in just ten minutes each day.
Download a free family devotional at GodCenteredFamily.org.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

How does God’s unfailing love allow suffering and evil?

Today, we prayed, asking God to deepen our faith. For some of us, this kind of prayer is challenging to pray. Our experience tries to drown out the truth of Scripture. Surely a God who allows so much suffering cannot really be worthy of our unending love?

Grappling with questions like “If God is love why do bad things happen?” can increase your amazement at the wonders of God’s love. And so wrestling through those questions is important.

One great resource for helping you tackle those questions is The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson. This short book explains God’s love in a thoroughly biblical way that will leave you amazed at God’s grace and more eager to love others.

I know this book will increase your confidence in God — I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of 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)

Lord, maintain the faith you have created; strengthen it, let it be more and more simple. Deliver us from any sort of reliance upon ourselves, whatever shape that reliance might take, and let our faith in you become more childlike every day that we live; for, O dear Savior, there is room for the greatest faith to be exercised upon your blessed person and work. O God, the Most High and All-sufficient, there is room for the greatest confidence in you. O Divine helper, the Holy Spirit, there is now sufficient room for the fullest faith in your operations. Grant us this faith.

Oh, work it in us now, while, at the same time, we do confess that if we have it not, it is our shame and sin. We make no excuse for unbelief, but confess it with detestation of it, that we should ever have doubted the truthful, the mighty, the faithful God. Yet, Lord, we shall fall into the like sin again, unless the grace that makes us know it to be sin shall help us to avoid it.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.” (Proverbs 6:20)

True religion comes to many of us recommended by parental example. Unhappily, it is not so with all of you. There are some who had an evil example in their childhood, and who never learned anything that was good from their parents. You, dear friends, have special cause for thankfulness, that your children shall not be subjected to the same disadvantages as you yourselves suffered. Since the Lord has looked in love upon you, let your households be holiness to the Lord, and so bring up your children that they shall have every advantage that religious training can give, and every opportunity to serve the living God.

Editor’s Note: Parents, teach your children God’s Word by reading the Bible to them every day. Get all the resources you need at my new website, GodCenteredFamily.org.
Download a free family devotional at GodCenteredFamily.org.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Grow in godliness. Let Spurgeon be your guide.*

Today, we prayed that God would increase our faith. And we know that this our only hope. Our faith comes from God himself.

Through all of life’s twists and turns, our great God is helping you, holding you, inviting you to know him.

That’s the topic of Spurgeon’s book, The Saint and His Saviour. He wrote this book to help you know God and find more joy in him.

This book is an incredibly practical guide to pursuing God and fighting sin.

I promise you, if you read this book, you will grow in godliness, you willenjoy God more.

It will be well worth your time to read.

I’m incredibly thankful for a new audiobook edition of The Saint and His Saviour, out now from Goodwill Audiobook Classics Library. This audiobook is a great production — it’s one of the best ways to start reading The Saint and His Saviour today.

This audiobook is an incredible resource — I hope you’ll grab this new audiobook and be blessed by it.

Buy The Saint and His Saviour Audiobook Now.
(It’s also available in paperback and Kindle formats.)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Help us to make an acceptable confession of sin, with much mourning, with much deep regret, with much self-loathing, and with the absence of anything like a pretense to merit or to excuse. Here we stand, Lord, a company of tax-collectors and sinners, with whom Jesus deigns to sit down.

Heal us, Emanuel! Here we are, needing that healing. Good Physician, here is scope for you; come and manifest your healing power! There are many of us who have looked unto Jesus and are lightened, but we do confess that our faith was the gift of God. We had never looked with these bleary eyes of ours to that dear cross, unless first the heavenly light had shone, and the heavenly finger had taken the thick scales away. We trace therefore our faith to that same God who gave us life, and we ask now that we may have more of it.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.” (Psalm 51:2)

A hypocrite is satisfied with the washing of his garments, but the true repentant sinner cries, “Wash me. ‘Wash me throughly from mine iniquity.’ It is almost the only thing that I can really call my own, and it is most sadly mine, O Lord, wash mine iniquity right away!”

You notice that David’s prayer is not concerning the punishment of his sin, but concerning the sin itself. That is the one thing which is eating into his heart; see how many words he uses to describe it: “My sin; mine iniquity; my transgressions.” He cries to God to help him to get rid of that which is the source of all his sorrow. The thief dreads the gallows, but the repentant sinner fears not the punishment of his sin, it is the sin itself that terrifies him.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

We are shaped by our habits — so cultivate good, godly habits in your home.

Parents, have any of your children ever learned anything important the first time you said it? Of course not. Our children won’t learn the most important things (like knowing the Bible, loving God, and trusting Christ) by being told once — they need to be told these things over and over again.

Teaching our children anything requires a lot of repetition, so let’s cultivate daily rhythms of reading and discussing God’s Word with our families.

That’s the goal of GodCenteredFamily.org — making family Bible time a daily habit in your household, so that God is at the center of your family’s life.

If you want to have a daily family devotional, you don’t have to do it alone. I want to help you along the way. When you subscribe to GodCenteredFamily.org, you’ll receive everything you need for a daily family devotional, so that having a daily family Bible time is a joy instead of a burden.

I hope you’ll try out these family devotionals today and start to make God’s Word a daily, joy-filled habit in your home.

Download a free one-week family devotional at GodCenteredFamily.org.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Now, Lord, we acknowledge that all good must come from you, through Jesus Christ by your Spirit, if ever we are to receive it. And we come humbly, first of all acknowledging our many sins. How many they are we cannot calculate, how black they are, how deep their ill-desert; yet we do confess that we have sinned ourselves into hopeless misery, unless your free undeserved grace rescues us from it.

Lord, we thank you for any signs of repentance—give us more of it. Lay us low before you under a consciousness of our undeserving state. Let us feel and mourn the atrocity of our guilt. O God, we know a tender heart must come from you. By nature our hearts are stony, and we are proud and self-righteous.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift…” (Ephesians 2:8)

We are saved “through faith,” but salvation is “by grace.” Sound forth those words as with the archangel’s trumpet: “By grace you are saved.” What glad tidings for the undeserving!

See then, dear friend, that the weakness of your faith will not destroy you. A trembling hand may receive a golden gift. The Lord’s salvation can come to us though we have only faith as a grain of mustard seed. The power lies in the grace of God, and not in our faith. Great messages can be sent along slender wires, and the peace-giving witness of the Holy Spirit can reach the heart by means of a thread-like faith which seems almost unable to sustain its own weight. Think more of him to whom you look than of the look itself. You must look away even from your own looking, and see nothing but Jesus, and the grace of God revealed in him.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Read the whole Bible (every chapter!) to your kids (and help them stay engaged)

We know and believe that God’s Word is powerful. God, through his Word, has brought us to salvation and taught us to fight sin in every form. If you want God to do that kind of work in your children, start by regularly exposing them to the wonderful Word of God.

To help you along the way, I’ve created a new resource, GodCenteredFamily.org. Subscribers receive everything they need for a daily family Bible time, including…

• Daily Scripture readings (read and discuss the whole Bible every three years)
• Discussion questions (lead your kids to understand and apply the Bible)
• Interactive worksheets for each child (help kids stay engaged)
• Prayer guides and suggested songs (respond to the reading together)
• Hands-on activities and object lessons (encourage active learning)
• Bonus resources for parents (become a more faithful parent)

I believe that God is going to do amazing things in your family’s life. And he’s going to do it through his Word. I know that if you subscribe to God Centered Family and make family Bible time a daily habit, you and your kids will know the Bible better, foster a deeper family connection, and love God more.

Download a free one-week family devotional at GodCenteredFamily.org.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We know that we are especially dependent upon you when we come to deal with spiritual things. O God, we are less than nothing in the spiritual world. We do feel this growingly, and yet even to feel this is beyond our power. Your grace must give us even to know our need of grace. We are not willing to confess our own sinfulness until you show it to us. Though it stares us in the face, our pride denies it, and our own inability is unperceived by us. We steal your power and call it our own until you compel us to say that we have no strength in ourselves.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. When God’s warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, “I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory,” defeat is not far distant. God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckons on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for “it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

How God’s grace helps you grow

Today we prayed, acknowledging that we will never grow spiritually without God’s help. 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.

Buy The Discipline of Grace:

• 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)

O Lord God, the great I AM, we do confess and cheerfully acknowledge that all comes from you. You have made us and not we ourselves, and the breath in our nostrils is kept there by your continued power.

We owe our sustenance, our happiness, our advancement, our ripening, our very existence entirely to you. We would bless you for all the mercies with which you surround us, for all things which our eyes see that are pleasant, which our ears hear that are agreeable, and for everything that makes existence to be life.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Let everything that breathes praise the LORD. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 150:6)

He gave them breath, let them breathe his praise. Join all living things in the eternal song. If you are the least or greatest, do not withhold your praises. What a day will it be when all things in all places unite to glorify the one only living and true God! This will be the final triumph of the church of God.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Preach the gospel to yourself (here’s how)

One of the ways we work to strengthen our faith is preaching the gospel to ourselves. We must constantly remind ourselves of the work that Christ has done to suffer, die, and rise again for sinners — for me. Spurgeon called those reminders “preaching the gospel to yourself.” This is an important discipline that we have to cultivate to stay rooted in God’s grace.

One tool to help you preach the gospel to yourself is Note to Self by Joe Thorn. This book contains 48 short devotions that are formatted as simple notes written for your own heart. Read them to yourself, preach them to yourself, knowing that you need these truths to live.

Note to Self is a great tool for remembering that your only hope is Christ, not your own works. I know these short devotions will encourage you and increase your love for him.

Buy Note to Self:

• 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)

There are many we know who are strangers to the gospel. May the new note strike them. From the silver cornet of the gospel may there come to them a sound unknown before, which shall reach their very soul; and may they answer to it. Bid them come to Christ and live today. O divine love, sweetly draw them. Cast the bands of love about them, and the cords of a man, and draw them to Thyself. Young men and young women, ay, and old men and old women—draw them to yourself, most divine Lord; and may there be many trophies to the power of the gospel today. All our prayer is now before you. We wish everybody to be saved. The Lord grant it, for Christ’s sake.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.” (Ephesians 5:25)

The love of Jesus—what a theme it is! The apostle said it passes knowledge; and if it passes knowledge, much more does it excel any description that can be given of it. This love of Christ is the most amazing thing under heaven, if not in heaven itself. Love between mortal and mortal is natural and comprehensible, but love between the infinite God and us poor sinful finite creatures, though conceivable in one sense, is utterly inconceivable in another. Who can grasp such an idea? Who can fully understand it? This is the miracle of miracles.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Happy Valentine’s Day — Here’s a New Resource for Husbands

Today is a great day to celebrate love and (for those of us who are married) to evaluate our own marriage in light of God’s call on our lives. Husbands, we are called to lay down our lives in service for our wives — how can we grow to be the sacrificial leader that God has called us to be?

I’ve created a new resource, The God Centered Husband Bible Study Workbook to help husbands understand God’s call on their lives and equip them to follow it.

This is a simple, hands-on Bible study workbook for married guys. It will walk you through six passages of Scripture about being a husband and challenge you to serve your wife sacrificially, lead her consistently, and show her the character of God.

Every man lives for something. This Bible study will challenge you to stop living for yourself, your wife, or your career, and live for God more faithfully.

Perfect for individual, small group, or one-on-one Bible study, my prayer is that this Bible study will help you become the husband that God has called you to be.

If you’re a husband, grab a copy for yourself (Committing to become a more godly husband is a great Valentine’s Day gift for your wife).

If you’re a wife, grab a copy for your husband (helping your husband grow is a great Valentine’s Day gift as well!)

Buy The God Centered Husband Bible Study Workbook on Amazon.