DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Save your people from unbelief, save them from confidence in the creature. Bring us one and all to be, as to the world, even as a weaned child. May we have done with these things; and as to you, O Lord, may we with strong desire seek after yet more of you, and cling to you as our sure confidence forevermore.
As for the future, we desire to bless your name that you have covered it from our eyes; nor would we wish to lift even a corner of the veil which hides from us the things that are to be; but we delight to feel that he who has ruled all things for our good changes not.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “‘I do believe; help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:24)
There were within him two men, as it were—a believing man, and an unbelieving man, and the two struggled for mastery; “Lord, I do believe; but there is so much unbelief in me, I pray that you would drive it out, that I may believe in you wholly.”
There was faith, even though it was mixed with unbelief. It was a faith that made him pray and the Lord Jesus Christ found out where the faith was. He had, as it were, broken the great black lump of dead coal that looked to be nothing but unbelief, and there was the living light of faith burning in the very center of it.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Preach the gospel to yourself (here’s how)
Today we prayed that God would strengthen our faith and drive out our unbelief. One of the ways we work to strengthen our faith is preaching the gospel to ourselves. We must t 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.