DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Now, Lord, listen to the voice of your children’s cry this morning. Wherever there is a sincere heart seeking for greater holiness, answer that request; or, wherever there is a broken spirit seeking for reconciliation with you, be pleased to answer it now. You know where there is prayer, though it is 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.”
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)
Not daring to come near to the inner shrine, he stood far off. I do not suppose that he thought he had really prayed; he scarcely dared to call it prayer. Perhaps, as he went home, he said, “I went up to the temple to pray, but I was so bowed down with a sense of my guilt that I could not pray.” But that was not our Lord’s verdict: “I tell you, this one went down to his house justified….”
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE*
Making plans for the new year? Spurgeon is here to help.
I’ve been spending a lot of time this week thinking about the new year — new habits I want to form, goals I want to pursue, ways I want to grow.
Whatever your spiritual goals are in 2021, I want to encourage you to check out Spurgeon’s classic daily devotional book, Morning and Evening.
Morning and Evening is a great devotional for any Christian reader. There are two entries for every day of the year, each having a brief passage of Scripture with Spurgeon’s reflections.
There are some really beautiful editions of Morning and Evening available online.
Buy the original Morning and Evening on Amazon or check out this updated edition, edited by Alistair Begg.
(Both of these books are beautiful hardback editions.)
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