DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
We trust we can say also that we love the Lord, but oh that we loved him more! Let this blessed flame feed on the very marrow of our bones. May the zeal of your house consume us; may we feel that we love the Lord with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, with all our strength; and may there be about our life a special consecration, an immoveable dedication unto the Lord alone.
O Lord Jesus, deepen in us our knowledge of you. You have made the first lines of your likeness upon our character; go on with this work of sacred art, until we shall be like you in all respects. We wish that we had greater power in private prayer, that we were oftener wrestling with the covenant angel. We would that the Word of God were more sweet to us, more intensely precious—that we had a deeper hunger and thirst after it. Oh, that our knowledge of the truth were more clear, and our grip of it more steadfast.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons because zeal for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” (Psalm 69:8-9)
Zeal for God is so little understood by men of the world that it always draws down opposition upon those who are inspired with it; they are sure to be accused of sinister motives, or of hypocrisy, or of being out of their senses. When zeal eats us up, ungodly men seek to eat us up too, and this was pre-eminently the case with our Lord, because his holy jealousy was pre-eminent. With more than a seraph’s fire he glowed, and consumed himself with his fervor.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
A resource to deepen your love for God
Today we prayed that our love for God and his Word would increase — that we would be more fully dedicated to him. Oh, isn’t that always true of us? Don’t we always long to know God more dearly, to worship him more truly, and to serve him more fully?
I’ve read one book that has fanned the flame of my love for God more than any other in the past year, it’s called Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. This book is an absolutely stunning picture of God’s grace to us in Christ. You know that Christ died for you, but do you know why?
I’ve been moved to tears several times while reading this book and seeing the stunningly beautiful and biblical picture of Christ’s love for his people. The book is great reading for any sinning and suffering Christian (which is all of us!)
I hope you’ll grab a copy and read it this summer. I promise that you won’t regret it!