Pray with Spurgeon: God began it, and God will carry it on

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Truly, since we have received so many mercies at your hand, we do feel that you will never forsake us, nor in any darkness, which may be in our path in the future, will you desert your own. You have done too much for us, to desert us now. We have cost you so much—Oh wondrous price that you have paid for us—and you have spent so much of wise thought, and gracious act upon us, that we are persuaded you will go through with the work which your wisdom has undertaken.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

His confidence about the future of his converts was all in God. It was not confidence in them apart from the work of God in them. He says, “God began it, and God will carry it on.” He does not depend on the strength of their principles, nor the force of their resolutions, nor the excellence of their habits. He relies upon God, who will perform what he has begun.

Granted an immutable God, we may be sure that grace will complete what grace begins. Nor can God forsake the work of his own hands from lack of patience. A man might begin to bless another, and that other might be so ungrateful that the benefactor grows impatient, and gives him up. Will God fail in grace? Assuredly not. “His mercy endures forever.” The top and bottom of it is that our confidence in one another must only be confidence in God, and our confidence for ourselves must rest in God, or it will be sheer delusion.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God has called you to not fall away; and he is holding onto you.

Today we prayed with confidence that God would keep us to the end and preserve our faith. We know this to be true — you were saved by grace, you are being kept by grace, and one day, you will be brought home by grace.

And yet, the Bible is full of warnings to not fall away and commands to hold on. Why are we commanded to do what God has promised to do for us? What is the relationship between our persevering and his preserving?

A great book for answering questions like that is Run to Win the Prize: Perseverance in the New Testament by Tom Schreiner. This is an incredible book that will fill you with the hope of Christ and encourage you to stay faithful to him until the very end.

If you are ever worried about losing your salvation, this book will comfort you.
If you are tempted to sin, this book will challenge you.

I know this short, practical, faithful book will encourage you, so I hope you’ll grab a copy today and read it this summer.

Buy Run to Win the Prize: