Category: Pray with Spurgeon

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Now, Lord, bless your people. Let those that fear your name be happy in you. May those who are truly yours, have a joyous and happy season. May they rejoice in the great love of God, and feel their souls overflow with delight at their remembrance of it.

But, oh, we ask you especially save souls. May many, many, many be brought out of darkness into marvelous light, and delivered from the prison-house into the liberty of Christ. Lord, there are some people we know who have heard us many times, and yet you have not spoken to their hearts effectually. Oh, speak to them. Take them in hand, great Lord. They shall be made willing in the day of your power. Oh, that this might be the day of your power!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Then I will teach the rebellious your ways, and sinners will return to you.” (Psalm 51:13)

Do you not see, brothers and sisters, that we must be in a right state of heart if we are to serve God well? We cannot teach transgressors his way, with a confident hope that they will be converted unto him, unless we ourselves possess the joy of God’s salvation, and are upheld by his good Spirit. If we go to God’s work out of order, we shall make a mess of it, and accomplish nothing that is really worth doing; but when God gives us his comforting grace within, and his upholdings on every hand, then shall we teach with power, and sinners shall learn to profit.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Followers of Christ speak about Christ

Today we prayed that our evangelistic conversations this week would be fruitful. 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.

Buy Marks of the Messenger:

• 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)

We trusted in the great atonement, and we found a peace. Oh, what shall we say of this peace? Our soul sings at the remembrance of the peace which has never been taken from us. Many days have passed since first we knew it, and many changes we have seen, but we have never lost our hold on Christ; nor has he ever lost his hold of us; and here we are still, to weep to the praise of the mercy that we have found, and to tell to others, as we have breath to speak, that the Lord is a great sin-pardoning God.

There is none like him, passing by transgression, iniquity, and sin; and, for Jesus’ sake, receiving the vilest of the vile to his heart, and casting out none that come unto him; taking up even the blasphemer and the drunkard, yes, the very worst, and washing even these from their crimson sins, and making them whiter than newly-fallen snow. O Lord, we sometimes wish that we could sing like cherubim and seraphim. Then would we praise you better. But as it is, human voices are all we have, but they shall be used to the praise of “free grace and dying love,” to which we owe all that we have, and all we ever hope to have.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy,” (Jude 24)

Christ is able to guard us from stumbling; much more is he able to preserve us from falling away, from utterly departing from the faith. But we would do that if it were not for his guardian care. There is nothing that the worst of men have done that the best of men could not do if they were left by the grace of God. Do not think so much of yourself as to imagine yourself incapable of even the greatest crime. That very thought proves that you are capable of committing any crime.

Remember the power that bestows this privilege. To be guarded from stumbling throughout a long life is not of ourselves. It is not to be found in our own experience; not even in the means of grace alone. That same power that made the heavens and the earth, and keeps the earth and heavens in their places, is needed to make a Christian and to keep him standing before the sons of men.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God has called you to not fall away; and he is holding onto you.

Today’s prayer praised God for his grace at the beginning of our salvation and today’s verse and commentary praised God for his grace to preserve our salvation. You were saved by grace, you are being kept by grace, and one day, you will be brought home by grace.

And yet, the Bible is full of warnings to not fall away and commands to hold on. Why are we commanded to do what God has promised to do for us? What is the relationship between our persevering and his preserving?

A great book for answering questions like that is Run to Win the Prize: Perseverance in the New Testament by Tom Schreiner. This is an incredible book that will fill you with the hope of Christ and encourage you to stay faithful to him until the very end.

If you are ever worried about losing your salvation, this book will comfort you.
If you are tempted to sin, this book will challenge you.

I know this short, practical, faithful book will encourage you, so I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy Run to Win the Prize:

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

Lord, understanding your gospel caused us much pain, for we found in our hearts an enmity to you, a natural alienation; and we found that we had grieved you, that we had vexed your spirit by sin. We admire you all the more for this, for we would not care for a God who did not hate sin. Oh, with what reverence we fell at your feet, even when we heard you speak in tones of thunder, and say, “The person who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:20).

When your grace had really made us to know you, your justice, terrible as it was, had our submissive reverence. We felt that, if our souls were sent to hell, righteousness and justice would approve it well. O God, we remember how we lay at your feet. Our thoughts were as a case of knives cutting our hearts; and then you came to us, and you made your love known. O blessed day in which you revealed yourself dressed in the silken robes of love! When we saw, that Jesus died that we might live, that the cross was the best proof of divine affection, then we looked to Jesus suffering in our stead. We trusted in the great atonement, and we found a peace.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

when we read of anything being a wage, what does it mean? It means that it is a reward for labour. Death is sin’s due reward, and it must be paid. A master employs a man, and it is due to that man that he should receive his wages. If his master did not pay him his wages, it would be an act of gross injustice. Now, if sin did not bring upon man death and misery, it would be an injustice. It is necessary for the very standing of one universe that sin should be punished. It must be so. They that sow must reap. The sin which hires you must pay you. Wrong cannot produce right. Iniquity, transgression and sin must, in the nature of things, become darkness, sorrow, misery, death. Every transgression and disobedience must receive its just recompense of reward. There is no use in attempting to alter it so long as God and justice reign: those who do sin’s work must receive sin’s wage, and “the wages of sin is death.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

How could God be a forgiving savior AND a fair judge?

Today’s prayer and Scripture reading celebrated the wonderful good news that our just God is also a gracious Savior. How can God fulfill these two (seemingly contradictory) offices? How can he be “just and the justifier” (Romans 1:16)? Because his justice has been completely satisfied on the cross of Christ.

Christ took our sin onto himself — a doctrine often called, “The Great Exchange,” which is also the title of an incredible book, The Great Exchange: My Sin for His Righteousness by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington.

(Any book written by Jerry Bridges is worth having — he’s also clear and understandable, while being robustly biblical and incredibly practical)

This book is a rich, biblical explanation of the logic of our salvation (Christ paid for our sins!). It is also a very practical guide to show how this doctrine can change your life and fill you with hope today.

I know The Great Exchange will be a blessing to you, so I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy The Great Exchange:

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

Glorious God, there are many of us who can bless you that we know you. There was a time when we lived in your world, but had never known the Creator. We were partakers of your providence, but we did not know the Provider. We went up and down in the sunlight, but we were blind. There were voices all around us, but we were deaf to all things spiritual. And some of us lived in this way for years.

Some people we know are like that today: they know not God: neither do they desire the knowledge of your ways. They can see and understand many things, but they do not desire to know him in whom they live and move and have their being. It was a happy day for us when, in the infinite sovereignty of your love, you did look upon us and call us by your grace. Then did the dead heart begin to beat. Then did light enter the darkened eye, and then we turned to you. It was the best discovery we had ever made, when we found that there was, after all, a God, ready to hear us, willing to listen to our cries.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see, and they followed him.” (Matthew 20:34)

Oh, that the reader, if he be spiritually blind, may ask for the touch of Jesus, and receive it at once, for immediately he will receive sight! An inward light will in an instant shine forth upon the soul, and the spiritual world will become apparent to the enlightened mind. The Son of David still lives, and still opens the eyes of the blind. He still hears the humble prayer of those who know their blindness and their poverty. If the reader fears that he, too, is spiritually blind, let him cry unto the Lord at this very instant, and he will see what he shall see, and he will for ever bless the hand which gave sight to the eyes of his soul.

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:

• Amazon
• ChristianBook.com*

*This book is just $0.99 on ChristianBook.com! Grab a copy for yourself and one to share with a friend.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Dear Father, there are many of us praying now from the bottom of our hearts, that all our children may be your children, and that all related to us may be of the family of Christ. Then, Lord, we thank you for that blessed word, “For the promise is for you and for your children” (Acts 2:39), but you did not stop there, for you have said, “and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). Lord, bring in the far-off ones. Save poor fallen women, save the equally fallen men.

Oh God, have mercy upon all nations. The Lord be pleased to let his light shine over all the sons of men, and accomplish the number of his redeemed; to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he has made us accepted in the Beloved. And to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be glory, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:39)

 Comprehending the vast population of the whole globe, throughout all time, Peter says, “This promise is to you all.” Therefore, that is a promise to me. Well do I remember the time when I first laid hold of that truth. I was in great sorrow of soul, for I thought that there was no gospel for me; but I caught a ray of hope from that blessed word “everyone”—oh, how I love that word “everyone”—“Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved” (Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21).

Whoever comes to Christ, he cannot possibly cast him out, for if he did, it would make Christ a liar.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Teach your kids to love Jesus (and know the Bible) in just ten minutes a day.

Today we prayed that our own children would come to know Christ. This is one of the biggest passions of my life — equipping parents to disciple their kids; to teach their children the truth of the Bible, the beauty of the gospel, and the wonder of God.

A few months ago, I created a new resource, GodCenteredFamily.org. Over there, I offer parents a simple, daily guide to read and discuss the Bible with kids of any age.

All Christian parents have a desire to see their kids know and love the truth of the Bible — this is a simple resource to help you get into God’s Word together. I hope you’ll check it out.

You can download a free sample right here and learn more here.

Visit 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)

Father, our prayer is that you would bless those that do not know you. We pray that we may have in our own hearts much of the heaviness that Paul knew, when we think of the many ungodly ones, especially of those that are of our own kith and kin, such as have heard the gospel from their very childhood, in whose father’s house there was a prophet’s chamber, whose mother died with the name of Jesus on her lips, whose father, grown grey with age, is on the road to glory, and they are still unconverted. Oh, bring them in!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.” (Romans 9:1–3)

They hated Paul intensely; nothing could surpass the malice of the Jewish leaders against the man whom they reckoned to be an apostate from the true faith, because he had become a follower of Christ, the Nazarene. Yet note what is Paul’s feeling towards his cruel countrymen; he is willing, as it were, to put his own salvation in pawn if by doing so the Jewish people might but be saved. Of course, this could not be; and no one understood better than Paul did that there is only one Substitute and one Sacrifice for sinners.

Do you, dear friends, feel that same concern about your brethren, your kinsmen according to the flesh? If they are not saved, do you greatly wonder that they are not, if you have no such concern about them? But when once your heart is brought to this pitch of agony about their souls, you will soon see them saved.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Spurgeon’s word to non-Christians — updated in contemporary English

Today we prayed for God to save people that we don’t know him, and we saw a challenge in God’s Word that we must be concerned about those who don’t know Christ.

This passion for the lost permeated every aspect of Spurgeon’s ministry, and it led him to write a book — All of Grace. A dear friend of mine has updated this classic book in contemporary English to make it more accessible for modern readers.

Reading this book will reinvigorate your passion for God — it is an incredible explanation of the wonder of God’s grace that will leave you amazed! But reading this book will also equip you for evangelism. As you read Spurgeon’s appeal to the lost, you will be equipped to share with the lost people you know.

Reading All of Grace will bless you in so many ways. I hope you’ll grab a copy of this newly updated edition.

Buy All of Grace:

• Amazon (Kindle editions)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, will you keep those that are not troubled. Let them rejoice with trembling. Will you preserve us all from any of the intoxication that comes of prosperity; and when our heart is glad, if it be not with the high joy that comes of God, let us always look to you to sober us in such moments.

The Lord lead us safely on to his eternal kingdom. We will not ask whether the road will be rough or smooth. We leave that with you; only bring us to behold the face of him we love. If you will give us bread to eat and clothes to put on, and bring us to our Father’s house in peace, it is all we ask below. Whatsoever your will ordains, only do bring us to our Father’s house in peace. Grant us this.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“… because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:9)

If we have really believed in Jesus, we have, at this moment, the assurance of the perfect pardon of all our sins. And I will venture to put it as strongly as this, and to say that those white-robed spirits before the eternal throne are not more clear of the guilt of sin before the bar of infallible justice than was the dying thief the very moment that he turned his eye in faith to Christ upon the cross of Calvary, or than you are if you are now trusting to the same Savior, or than I am as now depending alone upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

The pardon that God gives to believers in Jesus is not a semi-pardon. It is not a putting away of some of their sins, or a putting them away for a time. It is a perfect putting away of their sins forever, a casting of them, once for all, behind God’s back “into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19), so that they shall never be found again.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

The (not-so-surprising) cure for anxiety

The path to a peaceful life, free of anxiety, starts by laying down your pride, by relying on the Savior instead of yourself. If you want peace in your life, start by growing in humility.

That’s the point of Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson. This book discusses Christ’s call to humility and practical steps to walk in it. It will definitely encourage you, shape you into Christlikeness, and fill you up with peace.

Buy Humble Roots:

• Amazon (Paperback, 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)

Remember some present who have lately been bereaved. They lately had the sentence of death in themselves, by reason of sore disease of body. Help, strengthen, comfort, deliver.

The widow and the fatherless are always in your care. Look, most tender and compassionate Lord, upon all such as are in any trouble of mind, or body, or estate; and let the rich comforts of the Comforter himself be dispensed to them.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3)

Our best friend is not dead. Our great patron and helper, our omnipotent Savior, is not lying in the tomb today. He lives; He ever lives. Now, observe the connection between a risen Savior and our living hope. Jesus Christ died, not in appearance, but in reality. Then, at the end of the appointed time, the same Savior who was laid in the tomb rose from the dead, not in secrecy, but before the Roman guards who watched the sepulcher.

So then, the resurrection of Jesus is virtually my resurrection. If he were dead still, then I might fear that I, dying, should die. But he, having died, arose again in due season and lives. Therefore I, dying, shall also rise and live, for as Jesus is so must I be.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Read Spurgeon’s hope-filled final message

Today’s prayer asked God for hope in the face of death, comfort as we mourn those we have lost. This is a fitting prayer for this week, because Monday was the anniversary of Spurgeon’s own death.

Shortly before his death, Spurgeon delivered a message titled The Greatest Fight in the World, in which he expressed his confidence in God’s Word alone for the Christian life and the Christian ministry.

I’ve recently been reading The Greatest Fight and have been so encouraged by Spurgeon’s confidence in God — the kind of confidence that perseveres, even in the face of death.

Today, 130 years after his death, Spurgeon’s final message can encourage us to stay faithful to God’s Word as we trust in Christ alone to keep us to the end. I know that it will encourage you, so I hope you’ll grab a copy.

Buy The Greatest Fight in the World:

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

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

And now, our Father, hear the pleadings of your children, as we bow before you and yield everything to your parental will. Now bless your children. Sanctify us, Lord, spirit, soul, and body. Cleanse us even as with hyssop (Psalm 51:7). Cleanse us in our inward parts, and make us to know wisdom in the secret places of our spirit.

And, Lord, will you also help your children who are very sorely burdened. When you lay on a burden, give strength equal to it; and if the burden should press heavier and heavier, hold the everlasting arms yet more consciously underneath us.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7)

Sprinkle the atoning blood upon me with the appointed means. Give me the reality which legal ceremonies symbolise. Nothing but blood can take away my blood-stains, nothing but the strongest purification can avail to cleanse me. Let the sin-offering purge my sin. Let him who was appointed to atone, execute his sacred office on me; for none can need it more than I.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Feeling weary? Be refreshed in the glorious gospel of God’s grace*

Today we prayed that God would help us and we saw in God’s Word that he saves us and sustains us by his pure grace — not our works.

One of Spurgeon’s most-loved books, All of Grace, is an extended appeal to trust in God’s grace for salvation. It was written for non-believers, but it will also be an incredible encouragement to remind you to rest in God’s grace alone.

All of Grace is a much-needed message for our current day. So many Christians (myself included!) are feeling weary and worn down by the weight of our sin. If you’re feeling weary, you need to know that God has grace for you.

All of Grace is such a valuable book. Spurgeon’s joy in God’s grace is overflowing from every page. This book is incredibly refreshing.

There’s a new audiobook of All of Grace available now. Listening to solid Christian audio is a great way to redeem the time spent on menial tasks (like doing dishes, commuting, or anything else). I hope you’ll check out the All of Grace audiobook. I know that it will encourage your faith and help you grow in grace.

Listen to a free sample of All of Grace on Audible.
(Also available in paperback or Kindle)

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O you are God, we have heard you say, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10); and what a silence you have made in our heart, where else there had been murmuring and complaint, when we have understood “The Lord has done it.” Aaron held his peace when he knew this; and so would we.

Nay, we would do more. We would speak out of our griefs and our down-castings, and say, “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord…. Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him” (Job 1:21, 13:15) “for God is indeed good to Israel, to the pure in heart” (Psalm 73:1).

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him.” (Job 13:15)

Job was a master sufferer. He was brought lower than any, and, therefore, being a man of faith, having overcome and triumphed by faith, it was like him to utter such a noble speech as this. I hope all of us who have any faith at all may have that faith so increased that, without boasting, we might be able to echo Job’s words. Faith is not a grace of luxury but a grace of necessity. We must have it, or we would not be the people of God at all. The common habit of the Christian is a habit of trusting.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God is at work in your trials. Learn more from Spurgeon

Today we prayed, asking God for faith like Job — a faith that holds fast to God, even when we are surrounded by trials. When we are overwhelmed by trials, we must hold fast to our God.

Spurgeon knew that suffering was an important experience in the Christian life, which is why he preached about it so often. If you want to learn Spurgeon’s biblical wisdom on trials, check out Spurgeon on Suffering: Reflections on Our Pain and God’s Grace. This is a collection of 12 classic sermons on trials, suffering, and perseverance.

I put this collection together to help suffering Christians (which is all of us!) find a deeper, more biblical hope through the worst of our trials. I know that this book will encourage you.

(Plus, buying a copy of this book is a great way to support this ministry, so I can continue to send out a newsletter each day)

Buy Spurgeon on Suffering:

• Amazon (Paperback or Kindle editions)