DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Oh, Lord, we ask for ourselves strength to bear and to do. Some of us would ask, if it were your will, restoration to health; but your will be done. Others would ask deliverance out of trouble; again, your will be done. Some would come before you with conscious guilt, and ask for a new application of the precious blood. We had better all ask it, let us all have it.
O God, bless our church and people more and more. How richly you have blessed us! When we look back upon past years, what has God done! Shall you be without our song? Even when we are not as we would be, shall our voice, if it be cracked and broken, still be silent? No, if every harp-string shall be broken but one, that one shall still resound the love of Jesus, and the glory of God.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13)
After a man is converted and has received forgiveness of sins, soon he will be tempted by the devil, for Satan cannot bear to lose his subjects. And when Satan sees someone cross the border and escape out of his hand, he gathers up all his forces and exercises all his cunning that he may slay him at once. To meet this special assault, the Lord makes the heart watchful. This is thus a prayer of watchfulness, which is necessary from the commencement of the Christian life even to its close. There is no hour in which a believer can afford to slumber. And in addition to watchfulness, a believer must never deliberately enter temptation. Anyone who does so is a liar before God.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
How God’s grace helps you grow
Today’s prayer included a plea that God would forgive us and strengthen us. We ask God to help us grow in holiness, because we know that God’s grace doesn’t just save us from sin, it also gives us the power that we need to slay sin. The work of growing in godliness is a work of cooperation between us and God’s grace.
One of my all-time favorite books is The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. This book explains how God’s grace empowers Christians to slay sin and grow in godliness. It is one of the helpful, practical, and encouraging books that I have ever read! If you want to grow in godliness, start with The Discipline of Grace.
If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you know that I recommend this book all the time, because it’s one of my all-time favorites and completely changed my life.
Reading The Discipline of Grace will definitely help you grow in holiness. I hope you’ll grab a copy today.