Category: Pray with Spurgeon

Pray with Spurgeon: Jesus has made us new

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Our Father, we bless you that we dare use that name without a question; for many of us feel the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. We thank you that we have passed from death unto life, and have been born again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He who sits on the throne, and makes all things new, has made us new, and called us into newness of life, and made us to feel a life within us which must outlast the ages, for it is the life of God.

Our Father, we do not crouch before you, like slaves before a tyrant, but feel the spirit of adoption, which shall draw us into familiar intercourse with you; though still with holy trembling, for you are God in heaven, and we are still but men upon the earth, and at the very sight of you we feel a trembling coming over us; yet is there joy with it; and you have taught us to rejoice with trembling.

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)

It is joy to have heaven; it is joy to possess a new life to fit me for heaven. But the greatest of all is to have my God, my own Savior’s God, my Father, my own Savior’s Father, to be all my own. God Himself has said, “I will be for them as God, and they will be to me as a nation” (Ezek 37:27). He has not given you earth and heaven only, though that would be much; he has given you the heaven of heaven—himself. Herod spoke of giving “half of his kingdom” (Mark 6:23), but the Lord has not given you half of his kingdom, nor even the whole of his kingdom only, but the blessed God has in covenant made over his own self to you.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Teach your children the truth (or the world will teach them lies)

Parents, our most important task is teaching our children the truth about who God is and what he has done.

God has called you and equipped you to disciple your children, to train them in the fear and instruction of the Lord.

The God-given solution to keep your children from falling prey to the sinful influences around them is simple: daily exposure to God’s Word.

I’ve created a new resource to help you do that — to open the Bible with your kids in a fruitful, fun, engaging way — every day.

GodCenteredFamily.org is a daily interactive Bible reading plan for parents and kids of any age. I hope it will be a blessing to your family.

You can learn more and download a free sample at GodCenteredFamily.org.

Pray with Spurgeon: May Jesus’ name be lifted high

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, there is a great tumult in the world just now: we pray that you would overrule it for your glory. Grant that the best ends of progress, of truth and righteousness may be served; and may it be seen still, that the Lord reigns. Even though the people should riot and rebel against the truth, yet you advance your cause; even by disaster and defeat, if so it must be, or by success and prosperity.

Let your kingdom come, good Lord; let your kingdom come and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and our hearts shall sing with the angel choir, and be glad with all the ransomed before the throne, because God is glorified. This is our soul’s grandest object, that Jesus’ name be lifted high, and his throne be set up among the people, to the praise of the glory of his grace. And now unto the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, 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)

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his Anointed One.” (Psalm 2:1–2)

However mad the resolution to revolt from God, it is one in which man has persevered ever since his creation, and he continues in it to this very day. The glorious reign of Jesus in the latter day will not be consummated, until a terrible struggle has convulsed the nations. His coming will be as a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap, and the day thereof shall burn as an oven.

Earth loves not her rightful monarch, but clings to the usurper’s sway: the terrible conflicts of the last days will illustrate both the world’s love of sin and the Lord’s power to give the kingdom to his only Begotten. To a graceless neck the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is easy and light. We may judge ourselves by this, do we love that yoke, or do we wish to cast it from us?

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

The (not-so-surprising) cure for anxiety

We know that we have nothing worth boasting about in ourselves. When we forget that reality and try to boast in ourselves, we put too much pressure on ourselves and that always leads to 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:

Pray with Spurgeon: We are blessed to be a blessing

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Look on sinners! Oh look on sinners! When you bless your people, you make them blessings. When the church is vigorous, when the people praise you, then shall the earth yield her increase, then shall all the nations praise you too; for the joy of Zion is the joy of the whole earth.

When the Lord makes glad his people then he makes the earth sit still and rest, or even if it rages, yet still there is a time of salvation, a time of the ingathering of the hidden ones, and Christ’s name is glorious. But Lord there is a great tumult in the world just now: we pray that you would overrule it for your glory. Grant that the best ends of progress, of truth and righteousness may be subserved; and may it be seen still, that the Lord reigns.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“May God be gracious to us and bless us; may he make his face shine upon us so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.” (Psalm 67:1–2)

As showers which first fall upon the hills afterwards run down in streams into the valleys, so the blessing of the Most High comes upon the world through the church. We are blessed for the sake of others as well as ourselves. God deals in a way of mercy with his saints, and then they make that way known far and wide, and the Lord’s name is made famous in the earth. Ignorance of God is the great enemy of mankind, and the testimonies of the saints, experimental and grateful, overcome this deadly foe. God has a set way and method of dealing out mercy to men, and it is the duty and privilege of a revived church to make that way to be everywhere known.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

We need to stop living for ourselves

Today we prayed that God would bless us so that we would be a blessing to others, including the nations. And we saw in God’s Word from Psalm 67 that this is always God’s design — we are blessed, so that all nations would be blessed and hear the good news of salvation.

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.

Buy Something Needs to Change:

Pray with Spurgeon: Give us hope on dark and dreary days

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We thank you, for the many who are coming in among us fresh from the world. God be thanked for new converts; may they be like fresh blood in the veins of the church, keeping her alive and keeping her active; and may the spirit of the Lord come down upon pastors and deacons; Sunday School teachers and workers; and let the whole church be quickened.

Yes, and not my church only, but all the little hills of Zion, water them with showers from on high. Let the country churches receive a blessed visitation. Let all the churches in foreign lands also be visited by the self-same Comforter; and may there come to your church in these dark and dreary days, bright shining after the rain. May the time of the singing of birds come, and the voice of the turtle be heard in our land!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“As he was telling them these things, suddenly one of the leaders came and knelt down before him, saying, “My daughter just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” So Jesus and his disciples got up and followed him.” (Matthew 9:18–19)

Have we such faith as this? After centuries of manifestation, is Jesus as well trusted as in the days of his earthly ministry? Have we not those among us who have not yet learned the happy blend which we see in the ruler’s conduct? He came to Jesus, he worshipped him, he prayed to him, he trusted in him.

Our King, in whom is vested the power of life and death, yields at once to the petition of faith, and sets out for the ruler’s house. The Lord follows believers, for believers follow their Lord: such is the order of verse 19. Jesus does as we pray, and we follow as he leads. The Preacher steps down from his pulpit, and becomes a visiting Surgeon, taking his rounds. From discussing Church questions our great Rabbi very readily turns aside to go and see a sick, nay, a dead girl. He is more at home in doing good than in anything else.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

See the stories of Jesus with fresh wonder

Stories of Jesus’ miracles, like the one we read from above, often become so familiar that we forget to really be amazed at what happened: sick people really were made well, blind people really did see, and a dead girl really did get up and live! These stories are astounding, but they point to even more astounding realities about who Jesus is.

That’s the point of The Wonder Working God by Jared Wilson. This book will walk through several of Jesus’ miracles to give you a framework for reading them in your Bible. It’s an incredible book that will leave you amazed at who Jesus is and what he did. Because when we start to grasp what Jesus did, we will pray more boldly, knowing that he is still able to do miracles!

The Wonder Working God is a faith-strengthening resource. I hope you’ll grab a copy and benefit from it today.

Buy The Wonder Working God:

P.S. The paperback book is only $2.99 from ChristianBook.com right now!
(I don’t know how long that sale will last.)

Pray with Spurgeon: Help the church love God

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

At this time, great Father, will you visit my church with your great favor; and as you have abounded toward us these many years in blessing, so give us now some new token, some fresh visitation for good. Lord, you have not always given summer weather to the field of nature, but spring comes on and summer returns. Oh give us summer weather as a church.

May there be a great revival of religion in all the members, and especially in the minds of such as are growing cold or indifferent to holy things. Wherever there is any laxity of life, any slight holding of precious truth; wherever the world is creeping in with its corroding influences; wherever there is anything of sin, which our eye sees not, but which your eye detects, be pleased to put it away. Fill the whole church with unity, with love, with life, with power.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:18)

Jesus is the Builder, and he and his apostles make up the first course of stone in the great temple of the church, and this first course is one with the eternal Rock on which it rests. In the first twelve courses or foundations are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Revelation 21:14). We are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). Apostles are not the foundation of our confidence meritoriously; but they underlie us as to date, and we rest upon their testimony concerning Jesus and his resurrection.

He makes his rock-founded building into a stronghold, against which the powers of evil lay continual siege, but all in vain.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A simple read to help you love your church more

Today we prayed for our own churches. Your local church is not an activity or entertainment — it is the family that God has given you to keep you alive.

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 received a review copy several months ago and was so thankful for the book’s faithfulness to Scripture and practical application.

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:

Pray with Spurgeon: God, I am weak; fill me with joy

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

O Lord our God, we do ask you to look upon the faint-hearted and those who are falling through affliction. Bring up your people from the depths of the sea. Take away our mourning and give us music; remove our sackcloth and give us beauty; take away our sighs and fill our mouths with songs; and let this be a radiant day of gladness, and a time of feasting from the Bridegroom’s own hand; and may our own spirits rejoice in him, with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him.” (Lamentations 3:25)

With his mouth full of gravel stones and made drunk with wormwood, overwhelmed with sorrow, yet Jeremiah says, “The Lord is my portion.” Whatever else we have lost, we have not lost our God.

Even though it is out of the depths of the utmost distress that we seek God, we will find him to be good to us. “To those who wait for him.” We must not be in a hurry. We should not expect to be delivered out of our trouble the first time we begin to cry out to God. “Wait for him.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Your Kids Were Created to Know God*

None of us — including our children — were made to live for the fleeting pleasures of this world. We were made to know God. To worship God. To serve God. To be with God.

But with so many distractions around us every day, it can be easy for your kids to be distracted — to forget that they were made to know God.

We need to capture our children’s imagination, to ignite the wonders of their hearts to long for heaven. And a great resource to help you do that is God With Us by Jeremy Pierre and illustrated by Cassandra Clark.

God With Us is a new kids’ storybook Bible. It features 30 Bible stories, from the Old and New Testament, told over 300-pages with stunning full-color illustrations.

All of the stories are focused on the big Bible theme of God’s presence — what we were made to know and enjoy.

God With Us is an incredible book. You’ll definitely want to grab a copy for your family’s library.

Pre-order God With Us on Amazon.

Pray with Spurgeon: Restore my childlike faith in God

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

At this time, we would entreat you to visit us with your salvation. Lord we all want renewing, refreshing, reviving; but there are some of your people that sink very low, by reason of physical infirmity and mental suffering; they lie in the very dust. But Lord, when our soul clings to the dust, you can still quicken us, according to your word; and we ask you to make this a red-letter day in our experience.

May we renew our youth; may the love of our beliefs come back to us; may the joy of our first days be restored; may the childlike faith of the first steps we ever took towards Christ, be given to us now; and may we learn to rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.

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. The text describes the diseased one as so healed and strengthened, that he became as full of energy as the bird which is strongest of the feathered race, most fearless, most majestic, and most soaring. The Lord works marvelous changes in us, and we learn by such experiences to bless his holy name.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Pursue holiness like your life depends on it.

Today we prayed for God to bring back the complete trust and overflowing joy in him that we once had. In this pursuit of holiness, we need a lot of help along the way, don’t we?

One of the most motivating and empowering books on personal holiness that I have ever read is The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. This book will show you the high calling of holiness that God has laid on all of his people (and why it’s so important) while also giving grace-fueled practical guidance on actually pursuing holiness in your own life.

This book will equip you and empower you to pursue holiness. I hope you’ll grab a copy and be blessed by it.

Buy The Pursuit of Holiness:

Pray with Spurgeon: God the Holy Spirit Helps Us

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, you know the groanings of our heart; our prayers cannot express them: but we bless you that there is One who makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, who is with us, and dwells in us, and is promised to be with us forever.

We shall overcome, we shall win the victory, we shall rise superior to depression of spirit, we shall overcome the doubts, and fears, and tribulations of our inward heart—we shall overcome, for Christ does lead the way and victory lies in his cross; and we are sure of it, and therefore would we begin to sing the hymn of victory even now, saying—“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession” (2 Corinthians 2:14).

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.” (Romans 8:26)

I should have thought that it would have read, “But the Spirit itself teaches us what we should pray for.” But it does more than that. He goes beyond teaching us what we should pray for. He “intercedes for us, with inexpressible groanings.” Do you know what those groanings are? I am afraid that those who never had groanings which cannot be uttered will never know anything of that glory which cannot be expressed, for that is the way to it. The groanings that cannot be uttered lead on to unutterable joy.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Who is the Holy Spirit, anyway?

Today’s prayer celebrated the wonderful truth that God the Holy Spirit is praying for us. This can be a confusing topic for many Christians, because we often aren’t so sure we know who the Holy Spirit is. He’s not a positive energy or divine force — he is God himself.

A great book to understand and apply the Bible’s teaching on who the Holy Spirit is (and what he does) is Rediscovering the Holy Spirit: God’s Perfecting Presence in Creation, Redemption, and Everyday Life by Michael Horton.

This book unpacks the Holy Spirit’s work throughout the Bible and in our lives today. It is thoroughly biblical and practical.

Knowing and loving the Holy Spirit is a crucial part of the Christian life. I know this book will be a helpful tool as you worship God the Holy Spirit — I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy Rediscovering the Holy Spirit:

Pray with Spurgeon: May my sin be totally destroyed

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We are wretched, because of this, and we cry out to you to deliver us. Oh that you would deliver us! We do thank you, that Jesus gives us the victory; but we long to have that victory in ourselves more constantly realized—more perfectly enjoyed.

We would lie in the very dust before you because of sin; and yet, at the same time, rejoice in the great Sin-bearer, that the sin is not imputed to us, that it is put away by his precious blood, that we are accepted in the Beloved. But even this does not content us; we are crying after the work of the Holy Ghost within, until Satan shall be bruised under our feet, and sin shall be utterly destroyed.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.” (2 Peter 1:10)

We are told not to be slothful in business, and this matter of which Peter writes is the most important of all business. To prosper in this world may bring some advantages, but to prosper in heavenly things is infinitely better. “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure,”—that you may be sure of it, and that others may be sure of it too. Let it not continue a subject of question with you, “Am I the Lord’s, or am I not? Am I called by grace, am I chosen by God, or am I not?” Make these things sure beyond all doubt.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Beautiful Book You (And Your Kids!) Will Love*

Recently, I’ve been blown away by a new kids’ storybook Bible that beautifully captures the story of Scripture. It’s called God With Us by Jeremy Pierre, illustrated by Cassandra Clark.

This book is a stunning collection of 30 Bible stories, told over nearly 300 pages, each with beautiful, full-color illustrations. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and will keep the littlest kiddos excited and the oldest kids engaged.

And the storytelling is just magnificent. The stories are all focused on the biblical theme of God’s presence with his people throughout all of Scripture — all looking forward to the day when we will all be with him, face-to-face, as it was in the Garden.

This book is nothing short of a masterpiece. I hope you’ll grab a copy. You will love it. And your kids will too.

Pre-order God With Us on Amazon.

Pray with Spurgeon: God is all my hope and happiness

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

You know, Lord, for you search the heart and you test the reins of the children of men—you know we can truly say, unless indeed we are under a very deep delusion, that we do wish to promote your glory among the sons of men; and that we count nothing to be riches, but that which makes us rich towards God; nothing to be health, but that which is sanity before the most High—holiness in your sight; and we reckon nothing to be pure, but what you have cleansed; and nothing to be good, but that upon which your blessing rests.

Yet Lord, though it be so, though our mind has been by your Spirit set towards holiness, there is a death within us; the old nature which strives against our life, and the members of the body, often join with the corrupt nature within, to lead us astray. We swing towards holiness, and then we seem like the pendulum, to swing the other way. We are wretched, because of this, and we cry out to you to deliver us. Oh that you would deliver us!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.” (2 Peter 1:11)

You shall get far into the kingdom, you shall know the innermost joys of it. You shall get near the King, and you shall become like the King; and when you come to die, you shall not be tugged into the harbor like a dismasted, water-logged vessel, but you shall go in like a full-rigged ship with all sails set, and so you shall have an abundant entrance into the fair haven of eternal felicity.

May God grant us this unspeakable blessedness, so that we shall not “be saved—but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15), but that we shall find our heaven begun below, and go from heaven below to heaven above scarcely knowing any change at all! There have been saints who have found the stream of Christ’s love running so strongly, and carrying them down to the great ocean of eternal life, that they have scarcely known where the river and the ocean have met.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

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 portion 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.

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

Buy Desiring God: