Category: Pray with Spurgeon

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PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (BY SPURGEON)

If any in your presence this weekend are unsaved, oh save them at our service. Do grant that the services may bring such glad tidings to their ear, that their heart shall leap at the sound of it, and they shall return unto God, who will abundantly pardon. Bless every preacher of the Word today, and all classes of young men and women, and every form of holy service.

Accept the prayers and praises of your people. Receive them even from the sick beds of those detained at home. Let not one of your mourners, the weary watchers of the night, be kept without a smile from God. The Lord bless us now, and all his chosen people. Our soul cries out for it. Break, O everlasting morning, break o’er the dark hills! Let our eyes behold you, and till the day break and the shadows flee away, abide with us, O our Beloved, abide with us now.

Amen.

THE LARGEST SPURGEON COLLECTION IS COMING TO THE U.S.

Thanks to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College for sponsoring the Weekend Edition.

This week, Midwestern announced that they recently acquired thousands of manuscripts, sermon outlines, personal items, and more from Spurgeon’s College in the UK. This makes Midwestern the new home of the largest collection of items from the life and ministry of Charles Spurgeon.

Learn more about this exciting announcement right here.

WEEKEND LONG READ (SERMON BY SPURGEON)

The Christian: A Debtor

Now, what is not right towards man is not right towards God. If it is robbing man to spend the money in pleasure wherewith we ought to pay our debts; it is robbing God if we employ our time, our talents, or our money, in anything but his service, until we feel we have done our share in that service. I beseech you, members of churches, deacons, or whatever you may be, lay this to heart. To God’s cause you are debtors. Do not expect to get thanked at last for doing much, for after all you have done, you will only have done what is your duty.

Read the full sermon from the Spurgeon Center for Biblical Preaching at Midwestern Seminary.

A FREE RESOURCE FROM MIDWESTERN

The Purpose of Worship

Most Christians will admit there are Sunday mornings when they awaken and wonder whether it’s even worth getting out of bed. Surely God doesn’t need our worship? We’re not serving on the set up team this week. No one will notice if we’re not there. We can perhaps read the Bible ourselves a bit later, pray from the comfort of the couch, pop on some Christian music over coffee. So why bother with corporate worship?

Read the full article on For the Church

PREPARE FOR MINISTRY AT MIDWESTERN

What Jesus purchased is precious. We’ve made it our purpose. Midwestern Seminary exists for the Church, and we serve the church by biblically educating God-called men and women to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ. If you’re called to serve the church, train with us, for the Church.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, look upon your people. We might pray about our troubles. We will not; we will only pray against our sins. We might come to your about our weariness, about our sickness, about our disappointment, about our poverty; but we will leave all that, we will only come about sin. Lord make us holy, and then do what you will with us.

We ask that you would help us to adorn the doctrine of God our savior in all things. If we are fighting against sin, “sin that so easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1), Lord lend us heavenly weapons and heavenly strength that we may cut the giants down.

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 you have believed in Jesus, you have received a present, immediate salvation. There are some who do not understand or realize this; they miss the whole joy of our holy religion. They are always hoping to be saved by-and-by, but those who are in Christ Jesus by a living personal faith receive here and now the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Spurgeon’s hope for depressed people

Scripture calls us to praise God, even through our trials. This can sound like a difficult prospect for many of us, who are often stuck in a fog depression that keeps us from seeing God’s goodness. But Spurgeon himself can offer us a lot of counsel in that area.

Many people don’t realize that Spurgeon was plagued with crippling depression throughout his life and ministry. Throughout this struggle, Spurgeon cultivated a deep, Christ-centered hope that allowed him to continue to live and minister. We all have something to learn from Spurgeon.

You can learn more about Spurgeon’s struggle with depression — and the hope that kept him through it —in Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Realistic Hope for Those Who Suffer from Depression by Zack Eswine. This book isn’t just a biography of Spurgeon — it describes lessons that we can learn from his real battle with depression.

Spurgeon’s Sorrows is a great resource for anyone who struggles with depression, and it’s a great Christ-centered gift that you can buy for someone else who is struggling.

Buy Spurgeon’s Sorrows:

• 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)

May we have no burden to carry, because, though we have a burden, we have rolled it upon the Lord. May we take up our cross, and because Christ has once died on the cross may our cross become a comfort to us. May we count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that in all this God will be glorified, his image will be stamped upon us, and the eternal purpose will be fulfilled, with which he has predestinated us to be conformed unto the image of his Son.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,” (1 Peter 1:8)

The people who have received the salvation of their souls are those who love the One they have never seen and who even rejoice in him whom they do not see. You may conclude that you are truly a child of God—you may make certain of your election and of your adoption into the Lord’s family—if you can truly say, “I am one of those who have not seen the Lord Jesus, and yet I have believed in him.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

The God who never worries (even when we do)

Today’s prayer praised God because (while we are constantly worried and working), he sits enthroned in perfect peace. This prayer reminded me of an incredible book — None Like Him by Jen Wilkin.

In each chapter, Jen unpacks one of God’s incommunicable attributes — the attributes that make God unlike us — and discusses how knowing each of these attributes of God will change our lives. This is biblical, rich, glorious theology.

The book is structured just like this prayer — exposing one of our shortcomings and showing how God is gloriously more powerful than we are (and why that’s really good news).

None Like Him will fill you with love and amazement at God’s greatness. I know that it will grow your faith. I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy None Like Him:

• Amazon (Paperback, Kindle, or audiobook 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)

May we love God; may we love you, oh Savior; may we love the people of God as being members of one body in connection with you. May we love the guilty world with that love which desires its salvation and conversion; and may we love not in word only, but in deed and in truth. May we help the helpless, comfort the mourner, sympathize with the widow and fatherless, and may we be always ready to put up with wrong, to be long suffering, to be very patient, full of forgiveness, counting it a small thing that we should forgive our fellowmen since we have been forgiven of God. Lord tune our hearts to love, and then give us an inward peace, a restfulness about everything.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7)

Wherever faith is found, it is the sure mark of eternal election, the sign of a blessed condition, and the forecast of a heavenly destiny. It is the eye of the renewed soul, the hand of the regenerated mind, the mouth of the new-born spirit. It is the evidence of spiritual life, the mainspring of holiness, the foundation of delight, the prophecy of glory, and the dawn of endless knowledge. If you have faith, you have infinitely more than he who has all the world and yet is destitute of faith.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Teach the wonder of God to children

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

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

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

Buy Emblems of the Infinite King:

• Amazon
• ChristianBook.com

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

We cry out to you to be delivered from the power of sin, to be delivered from the power of temptation without, but especially from indwelling sin within.

Lord purify us in head, heart and hand; and if it is necessary that we should be put into the fire to be refined as silver is refined, we would even welcome the fire if we may be rid of the dross. Lord save us from constitutional sin, from sins of temperament, from sins of our surroundings. Save us from ourselves in every shape, and grant us especially to have the light of love strong within us.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials” (1 Peter 1:6)

Even when the Christian is most “distressed by various trials,” what a mercy it is that he can know that he is still elect of God! Any man who is assured that God has “foreknown before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet 1:20) may well say, “We rejoice greatly.” Let me be lying upon a bed of sickness and just revel in that one thought. Before God made the heavens and the earth and laid the pillars of the firmament in their golden sockets, he set his love upon me. Upon the breast of the great high priest he wrote my name, and in his everlasting book it stands, never to be erased—elect “according to the foreknowledge of God.” Why, this may make a man’s soul leap within him, and all the heaviness that the infirmities of the flesh may lay upon him shall be as nothing.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God’s love is an ocean. Dive in with Spurgeon.

A major theme in Spurgeon’s preaching (and all of Scripture!) is the incomparable love of God. God’s love provides for us, serves us, helps us, forgives us. God’s love, seen supremely at the cross of Christ, is our only hope in life and death. It’s important that we continually remember and reflect on the greatness of God’s love.

To help you continue to enjoy God’s love, I put together a new book, Spurgeon on God’s Love. This book compiles twelve sermons by Spurgeon, all reflecting on the glorious reality of God’s unchanging love.

These sermons have really encouraged me over the last few months and I know that they will encourage you! Plus, buying a copy is a great way to support this ministry, so I can continue to send this newsletter every day.

I hope you’ll grab a copy for yourself (and another one for a friend!) and reflect on God’s love in your summer reading.

Buy Spurgeon on God’s Love:

• Amazon (Paperback or 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)

We adore you because you are holy, and we love you for your infinite perfection. For now we sigh and cry after holiness ourselves. Sanctify us wholly, spirit, soul and body. Lord, we mourn over the sins of our past life and our present shortcomings. We bless you that you have forgiven us; we are reconciled to you by the death of Thy Son. There are many who know that they have been washed, and that he that takes away sin has taken their sin away. These are they who now cry to you to be delivered from the power of sin, to be delivered from the power of temptation without, but especially from indwelling sin within.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 5:5)

What a glorious thing it is to know that the salvation God has given us in Christ is a perfect salvation of our complete selves! Not a hair of your head shall perish. You shall go into the furnace, you shall walk amid the glowing coals of death, but you shall come forth with not a smell of fire passed upon you. At the Lord’s appearing you shall be none the worse for the fall of Adam. You shall be none the worse for your own transgressions; you shall be none the worse for all the scars of battle; you shall be none the worse for dying. You shall be in heaven as bright as God himself could have made you if you had never fallen and never sinned.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

TWO DAYS LEFT: Get Two Free Books*

Evangelism is an urgent and weighty task. We know that we need to do it (and most of us feel guilty that we don’t do it more), but we have a lot of questions about how to do it right.

I’m really thankful for the way Share the Gospel by Tony Payne (A new resource from Matthias Media) answers so many of these questions. And because this book is rooted in the truth of Scripture, it isn’t full of guilt-trips about missed opportunities — it’s about letting the wonderful grace of God propel us to announce it to everyone and anyone!

This book is one of the most practical resources on evangelism that I’ve seen — it is full of easy-to-use tools to start conversations, transition to the gospel, and share with clarity.

If you want to live faithfully as Christ’s ambassador, you will NOT regret the time you spend in this book.

THIS MONTH ONLY, if you pre-order Share the Gospel, you’ll also receive TWO FREE COPIES of The Christian Gospel (which helps non-Christians understand the Bible’s big story and God’s plan to save sinners through Jesus).

Pre-Order Share the Gospel and receive two free books when you mention SpurgeonBooks.

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

PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (BY SPURGEON)

Lord visit our church. We have heard your message to the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1–7); it is a message to us also. Oh, do not let any of us lose our first love. Let not our church grow cold and dead. We are not, we fear, what once we were. Lord revive us! All our help must come from you. Give back to the church its love, its confidence, its holy daring, its consecration, its liberality, its holiness. Give back all it ever had and give it much more. Take every member and wash his feet, sweet Lord, most tenderly, and set us with clean feet in a clean road, with a clean heart to guide them, and bless us as you are known to do in a divine fashion.

Bless us, our Father, and let all the churches of Jesus Christ partake of like care and tenderness. Walking among the golden lamp stands trim every lamp and make every light, even though it burns but feebly now, to shine out gloriously through your care.

Amen.

ENTER TO WIN $10K FOR YOUR PASTOR

Thanks to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College for sponsoring the Weekend Edition. I’m so thankful that their continued partnership has made it possible to bring back the Weekend Edition!

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and Midwestern is hosting a giveaway of $10,000 to celebrate one faithful pastor (including a $5,000 donation to the church and $5,000 towards a well-deserved family vacation for the pastor).

Plus, anyone who enters or nominates their pastor will receive a free ebook of Spurgeon the Pastor by Midwestern professor Geoff Chang.

You can nominate your pastor (or, if you are a pastor, enter yourself!) right here.

WEEKEND LONG READ (SERMON BY SPURGEON)

The Gracious Lips of Jesus

Imagination’s utmost stretch cannot conceive of anything more gracious; and the contemplation of the most devoted Christian cannot think of any words more majestic in goodness, more tender in sympathy, more full of honey, and more luscious in their sweetness, than the gracious words that proceeded out of the lips of Jesus Christ.

Read the full sermon from the Spurgeon Center for Biblical Preaching at Midwestern Seminary.

A FREE RESOURCE FROM MIDWESTERN

Should Christians Hope in Old Testament Promises?

In grasping how OT promises relate to us, we must not say, “We are part of the new covenant, and therefore old covenant promises do not apply to us.” In fact, the NT is very quick to cite OT promises—assuming their lasting significance!

Read the article here.

PREPARE FOR MINISTRY AT MIDWESTERN

What Jesus purchased is precious. We’ve made it our purpose. Midwestern Seminary exists for the Church, and we serve the church by biblically educating God-called men and women to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ. If you’re called to serve the church, train with us, for the Church.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Our Father, we worship and love you; and it is one point of our worship that you are holy. There was a time was when we loved you for your mercy; we knew no more; but now you have changed our hearts and made us in love with goodness, purity, justice, true holiness; and we understand now why “the cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.” We adore you because you are holy, and we love you for your infinite perfection.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:4)

Our inheritance is undefiled, for it was won by the obedience, the perfection, and sufferings of Jesus. No thought of wrong was used in the getting of the portion of the well-beloved of God. An inheritance may be defiled after it is possessed, but heaven never shall be. Satan shall never enter there, nor sin of any kind pass through the gate of pearl. What a joy is this! Defilement is on everything in this fallen world. We cannot purge ourselves completely; earthly things all bring a measure of defilement with them. But up there our portion shall not be stained with sin; we shall be perfect, and all around us perfect too.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Hands-On Bible Study for Real Men

I created The God Centered Husband Bible Study Workbook to teach men two things:

1. How to be the husbands God has called them to be.
2. How to study the Bible for themselves (not just skim it)

The secret to becoming a godly husband is not making your life revolve around your wife, but centering your life on God. So this hands-on Bible study will leave you amazed at God’s grace and empowered to be a more Christ-like leader.

Grab copies for yourself, a small group, or one-on-one discipleship.

Buy The God Centered Husband Bible Study Workbook on Amazon.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Now we come back to a theme that still seems to engross our desires. Oh, that Christ might come. Oh, that his word might be made known to the uttermost ends of the earth! Lord, they die, they perish, they pass away by multitudes! Every time the sun rises and sets they pass away! Make no delay, we beg you. Give wings to the feet of your messengers and fire to their mouths, that they may proclaim the Word with swiftness and might like the Day of Pentecost. Oh, that your kingdom might come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

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)

We are born again, and by that means we are delivered from the power of corruption. The new nature having no depravity in it, nor tendency to sin, it “is not able to sin” because it “is fathered by God” (1 John 3:9). The moment the heavenly life is implanted it begins to war with the old nature and continues to struggle violently with it. There is a deadly enmity between the two; the new nature will never be reconciled to the old or the old one to the new, but the new will conquer and overcome the evil.

Who can estimate the privilege of receiving a heaven-born nature that, however weak and feeble it may be at first, is ever-living, and by the power of God will gain the ultimate victory?

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

A Joy-Increasing Evangelism Resource*

Evangelism is one of the greatest privileges and joys we have as Christians. But unfortunately, we often allow fear to stop us from talking about Jesus — robbing us of joy.

The new book Share the Gospel by Tony Payne begins by addressing some of the most common roadblocks that PREVENT Christians from sharing their faith, including lacking confidence, worry about people’s questions, and more.

And then the book gives the timeless remedy for each of them: knowing the incomparable love of God in Christ.

Seriously, this book (and accompanying videos) are a GOLDMINE of encouragement and practical tools for evangelism.

Don’t let fear steal your joy any longer — grab a copy of Share the Gospel and grow this fall.

Pre-Order Share the Gospel and receive two free books when you mention SpurgeonBooks.

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

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh, from the tree declare your salvation, and from the throne let it be published in proclamations of a king. “Let the peoples praise you, O God; yes, let all the peoples praise you.”

Our heart seems as if it had not anything else to ask for when it reaches to this; yet would we go back a moment and say: Lord, forgive us our sins; Lord, sanctify our persons; Lord, guide us in difficulty; Lord, supply our needs. The Lord teach us; the Lord perfect us; the Lord comfort us; the Lord make us meet for the appearing of his Son from heaven!

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“… chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” (1 Peter 1:1–2)

See, you are elected to a very high privilege. You are chosen by God from before the foundation of the world, out of his free favor, that you should be a sanctified, obedient, and cleansed people. Since God has chosen you to this, do not give way to the world, but gird up your loins to contend with it. Do not be carried away with every novelty; be sober. Do not be downcast and dispirited, but bravely hope.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God’s love is an ocean. Dive in deep with Spurgeon.

God is love. Three simple words that seem easy to understand, explaining a reality that we could NEVER fully appreciate. We ought to be amazed at God’s never-ending love, but we usually end up just taking it for granted. To avoid this, we have to constantly be turning to the Bible to rediscover God’s unchanging love.

To help you continue to enjoy God’s love, I put together a new book, Spurgeon on God’s Love. This book compiles twelve sermons by Spurgeon, all reflecting on the glorious reality of God’s unchanging love.

These sermons have really encouraged me and I know that they will encourage you! Plus, buying a copy is a great way to support this ministry, so I can continue to send this newsletter every day.

I hope you’ll grab a copy for yourself (and another one for a friend!) and reflect on God’s love.

Buy Spurgeon on God’s Love:

• Amazon (Paperback or Kindle editions)