DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Bless our beloved church and its leaders. We thank you for your mercy, that many of us are spared to do service for you, notwithstanding many infirmities. We bless you for others who, having gone from us, have been brought back again; for the many teachers among us; and ask, that all may be anointed with fresh oil, that every working or suffering brother and sister may receive fresh grace this day; that this may be a time of the trimming of lamps, that all may shine brightly to the praise of your grace.
Bless our country. The Lord in mercy avert the horrors of war from us. Grant that, by some means, peace may be continued, and war come to an end where it still rages; and oh, that the policy of truth and righteousness may once more be taken up in this land, and our nation be forgiven its great national crimes.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
The black background of sin makes the bright line of love shine out the more clearly. When the lightning writes the name of the Lord with flaming finger across the black brow of the tempest, we are compelled to see it; so also when love inscribes the cross on the tablet of our sin, even blind eyes must see that “love consists in this.”
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Teach Children What We Lost with Sin*
Sin is absolutely horrifying, because it separates us from God. The greatest cost of Adam’s sin (and our sin) is not the earthly consequences that will plague us in this life, but the eternal consequence of separation from God.
There’s a new kid’s storybook Bible out that tells this story — showing how being with God is what we were made for, how sin separates us from him, and how Jesus came to bring us back to God.
It’s called God With Us by Jeremy Pierre, illustrated by Cassandra Clark. This book is a nearly 300-page masterpiece, telling the grand story of the Bible in a breathtaking way. It will leave your kids mourning their sin and longing for the day when Christ returns to bring us back to God.
This book has already been a blessing to my family, and I know that it will be a blessing to yours as well.