DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Let our spirit and body be consecrated to God. May there be no reserves; may everything be given up to you. Reign forever! Pierced King, despised and nailed to a tree, sit on the glorious high throne in our hearts, and may our lives prove that you are Lord over us; by our every thought and desire, and imagination, and word, and act, in every respect being under your divine control.
Your people breathe to you out of our very hearts the prayer that you would reign over us without a rival. O Savior, use for yourself what you have bought with blood, drive out the enemy, and let no power have any dominion over us except the power of your good Spirit who brings about righteousness and peace.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“Give us today our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)
We pray for providential supplies for ourselves and others—“Give us.” We ask for our food as a gift—“Give us.” We request no more than bread, or food needful for us. Our petition concerns the day, and asks only for a daily supply; bread enough for this day. We ask not for bread which belongs to others, but only for that which is honestly our own,—“our daily bread.”
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
How God’s grace helps you grow
As you make New Year’s Resolutions and plan for your growth in the New Year, do not slide into self-reliance.
God saved you by grace, and he is going to help you grow by grace too.
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.
Reading The Discipline of Grace will definitely help you grow in holiness in 2024. I hope you’ll grab a copy today.