DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
You know, Lord, for you search the heart and you test the reins of the children of men—you know we can truly say, unless indeed we are under a very deep delusion, that we do wish to promote your glory among the sons of men; and that we count nothing to be riches, but that which makes us rich towards God; nothing to be health, but that which is sanity before the most High—holiness in your sight; and we reckon nothing to be pure, but what you have cleansed; and nothing to be good, but that upon which your blessing rests.
Yet Lord, though it be so, though our mind has been by your Spirit set towards holiness, there is a death within us; the old nature which strives against our life, and the members of the body, often join with the corrupt nature within, to lead us astray. We swing towards holiness, and then we seem like the pendulum, to swing the other way. We are wretched, because of this, and we cry out to you to deliver us. Oh that you would deliver us!
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.” (2 Peter 1:11)
You shall get far into the kingdom, you shall know the innermost joys of it. You shall get near the King, and you shall become like the King; and when you come to die, you shall not be tugged into the harbor like a dismasted, water-logged vessel, but you shall go in like a full-rigged ship with all sails set, and so you shall have an abundant entrance into the fair haven of eternal felicity.
May God grant us this unspeakable blessedness, so that we shall not “be saved—but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15), but that we shall find our heaven begun below, and go from heaven below to heaven above scarcely knowing any change at all! There have been saints who have found the stream of Christ’s love running so strongly, and carrying them down to the great ocean of eternal life, that they have scarcely known where the river and the ocean have met.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Find great joy in our great God
Today we prayed, confessing that God is our only hope and happiness. His love is our only true riches. To enjoy this love is the point of the Christian life. That’s why God created you: to know him and enjoy him forever.
If you want to learn more about what it actually looks like to enjoy God in your every day life, read Desiring God by John Piper. This book is an incredible explanation of how God invites us to know him for our joy. This book will leave you amazed at God’s glory, and thoroughly, unshakeable happy in God.
Each chapter focuses on one portion of Scripture, making this book great devotional reading. It will leave you amazed at the goodness of God and leave you desiring more and more of him.
I hope you’ll grab a copy and enjoy it — I know you’ll be blessed by it.