DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
You are a prayer-hearing God. You know where there is prayer, though it be unuttered, and even the lips do not move. Oh, hear the tax collector who dares not lift his eyes to heaven; hear him while he cries, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Hear such as seem to themselves to be appointed unto death. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. Oh, that you would grant peace and rest to every troubled spirit within this house; yes, and to all such all over the world, who now desire to turn their faces to the cross, and to see God in Christ Jesus reconciling them to himself.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18:13)
It was the fault of the Pharisee that, though he entered the temple to pray, he did not pray; there is no prayer in all that he said. It is one excellence of the tax collector that he went up to the temple to pray and did pray; there is nothing but prayer in all that he said. “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” is a pure, unadulterated prayer throughout.
It was the fault of the Pharisee that when he went up to the temple to pray he forgot an essential part of prayer, which is confession of sin; he spoke as if he had no sins to confess but many virtues to parade. It was a chief excellence in the devotion of the tax collector that he did confess his sin and that his utterance was full of confession of sin; from beginning to end it was an acknowledgment of his guilt and an appeal for grace to the merciful God.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Christmas Gift Idea for Parents (New and Old)
Parenting can be exhausting. And parenting faithfully is impossible without daily help from the grace of Christ. If you are still looking for a Christmas gift for a parent in your life, check out Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family by Paul David Tripp.
This book is full of encouraging, grace-saturated, biblical truth that will help parents persevere. This is not another parenting book that leaves parents feeling condemned for not doing enough —this is a life-giving book that will leave parents amazed at everything God has done.
This book is a great read for parents in any stage of the journey, so I hope you’ll grab a few copies for friends on your Christmas list this year.