Pray with Spurgeon: May God draw near to us

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DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Lord, we humbly approach you, yet we earnestly ask you to draw near to us. Pull us close, and we shall eagerly follow you. Blessed Spirit, assist our weaknesses, for we confess our uncertainty in knowing how to pray as we should. Holy Spirit, we implore your presence to guide our thoughts and words rightly, so that in our communal prayers, each of us may feel a personal connection. We are grateful, remembering that if the minister in the sanctuary cannot intercede for any one of us, there is one who carries the names of all his redeemed upon his breast and shoulder. He will lovingly safeguard the interests of his own.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—” (Ephesians 2:8)

We have this expression, “by grace are you saved,” twice over in this chapter. Paul knew that he needed to repeat himself, or people would forget what he taught. At bottom, all the wanderings from the faith at the present day amount to this, salvation by works instead of salvation by grace. The battle of the Reformation has to be fought over again. Men are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. All the enmity of natural men is against that truth. They want to be saved by their own morality, and all sorts of things that they put instead of salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Reflecting on the promises of God with your kids

Lately, I’ve been posting a lot about the family devotionals that I am writing to walk kids through the entire Bible. While NOTHING can replace reading the actual text of Scripture to your kids, Bible storybooks can also be incredibly helpful resources. And I’m really excited about a new Bible storybook.

God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook by Carl Laferton is a new Bible storybook available for pre-order right now. I was thankful to receive a review copy, and I am BLOWN away by the quality of this book. Over 400+ pages, the book re-tells 92 foundational Bible stories to show kids (ages 2–8) the big story of the Bible.

As the title suggests, the book focuses on tracing God’s promises through all of Scripture. The book has special, bright colored icons that mark every time God makes a promise AND whenever he keeps that promise — its a tangible illustration to your kids that God is trustworthy and faithful.

I’m REALLY thankful for this resource. I know that my family will read it often for YEARS to come and I hope you’ll buy a copy for your family as well.

Pre-Order God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook: