DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
God bless our country! May faith be multiplied in the land! Preserve our nation at this juncture. Guide, we pray, the deliberations of councils and princes. May peace be preserved, and at the same time may the great purposes of God with regard to the spread of liberty and of the gospel be subserved by every decree of government.
O God, we ask you, ease the world of the sway of every evil principle. Let the day come, when all classes of men shall study the interest of others as well as their own, when the various nations shall yield to the one scepter of Christ and, like kindred tribes, shall melt into one. Yes, hasten his coming and his reign when the shout shall go up to heaven, that the “Lord God omnipotent reigns.”
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“LORD, you have searched me and known me.” (Psalm 139:1)
No pretended god knows anything about us; but the true God, the Lord, understands us, and is most intimately acquainted with our persons, nature, and character. How well it is for us to know the God who knows us! The divine knowledge is extremely thorough and searching; it is as if he had searched us, as officers search a man for contraband goods, or as pillagers ransack a house for plunder. Yet, the Lord knows all things naturally and as a matter of course, and not by any effort on his part. Searching ordinarily implies a measure of ignorance which is removed by observation; of course this is not the case with the Lord; but the meaning of the Psalmist is, that the Lord knows us as thoroughly as if he had examined us minutely, and had pried into the most secret corners of our being.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
God’s plan for reaching all nations
Today, we prayed for our own nation and its leaders. Today, it is so easy (and tempting) to be distracted by politics and the latest news scandal. We often forget that God’s plan for reaching the world isn’t social reform or political power, but local churches preaching the hope of the resurrected Christ.
Churches are really important. But, what is a church, anyway? Every Christian has an answer to that question. But is your answer biblical, or is it merely defined by your own experiences (whether good or bad)?
God designed the church, so he knows how it can work best. The good news is, we don’t have to guess at God’s design for the church; it has been clearly revealed to us in the pages of Scripture.
This new short book, The Church: An Introduction by Gregg Allison is a great resource for deepening your understanding of the church. This book is short and approachable. It will drive to your knees in worship and gratitude for God’s wisdom in his plan for your church.