DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Our Father, we bless you that we dare use that name without a question; for many of us feel the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. We thank you that we have passed from death unto life, and have been born again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He who sits on the throne, and makes all things new, has made us new, and called us into newness of life, and made us to feel a life within us which must outlast the ages, for it is the life of God.
Our Father, we do not crouch before you, like slaves before a tyrant, but feel the spirit of adoption, which shall draw us into familiar intercourse with you; though still with holy trembling, for you are God in heaven, and we are still but men upon the earth, and at the very sight of you we feel a trembling coming over us; yet is there joy with it; and you have taught us to rejoice with trembling.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)
It is joy to have heaven; it is joy to possess a new life to fit me for heaven. But the greatest of all is to have my God, my own Savior’s God, my Father, my own Savior’s Father, to be all my own. God Himself has said, “I will be for them as God, and they will be to me as a nation” (Ezek 37:27). He has not given you earth and heaven only, though that would be much; he has given you the heaven of heaven—himself. Herod spoke of giving “half of his kingdom” (Mark 6:23), but the Lord has not given you half of his kingdom, nor even the whole of his kingdom only, but the blessed God has in covenant made over his own self to you.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Teach your children the truth (or the world will teach them lies)
Parents, our most important task is teaching our children the truth about who God is and what he has done.
God has called you and equipped you to disciple your children, to train them in the fear and instruction of the Lord.
The God-given solution to keep your children from falling prey to the sinful influences around them is simple: daily exposure to God’s Word.
I’ve created a new resource to help you do that — to open the Bible with your kids in a fruitful, fun, engaging way — every day.
GodCenteredFamily.org is a daily interactive Bible reading plan for parents and kids of any age. I hope it will be a blessing to your family.
You can learn more and download a free sample at GodCenteredFamily.org.