Pray with Spurgeon

Daily Newsletter from SpurgeonBooks

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

It is a great covenant promise that the heart will be renewed, and the particular form of its renewal is this—that it will be made living, warm, sensitive, and tender. It is naturally a heart of stone; it is to become, by a work of divine grace, a heart of flesh. Therefore, much of the result of regeneration and conversion will be found to lie in the production of a tender spirit. Tenderness—the opposite of what is stout, obstinate, cold, and hard—is one of the most gracious signs in a man’s character. And where God has given fleshiness, or living sensitiveness instead of stoniness or dead insensibility of heart, there we may conclude that there is a real work of grace and that God has created vital godliness within.

PRAY FOR THE NATIONS

This week, we’re praying for the Odienne Jula in Côte d'Ivoire.

The Odienne Jula have maintained a strong cultural identity with dance and storytelling.

Pray that Christians gifted in the arts would go to the Odienne Jula and share the gospel with dance.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Your kids need new hearts, not just new behaviors

Parents, I hope you’ve seen how much this week’s focus on the heart can impact our parenting. Our kids don’t just need new behaviors, they need new hearts. Their deepest need isn’t to learn to respect and obey us, but to receive new life from God. Our children need a miracle.

Since only God can save our kids, we need to bring them to his feet every day, so that they might learn his ways, see his greatness, and experience his life-changing power.

That’s the point of God Centered Family, my series of family devotionals that will give you everything you need for a daily time of family worship — gathering your family to hear and discuss God’s Word and encounter God’s grace.

If you want to see God move in your home, check out God Centered Family today.

Learn more and subscribe today.

FAITH’S CHECKBOOK

Spurgeon’s classic devotional, The Chequebook of the Bank of Faith, contains a promise of God for every day of the year. Pray with Spurgeon Plus subscribers receive the daily readings every weekday.

If you want to strengthen your faith in God’s promises (and support this ministry!), subscribe to Pray with Spurgeon Plus here.

“I will save the lame.” (Zephaniah 3:19)

There are plenty of these lame ones. You may find them 20 times in an hour. They are on the right road and exceedingly anxious to run on it with diligence, but they are lame and their walk is pitiful. On the heavenly road there are many cripples. It may be that they say in their hearts, “What will become of us? Sin will overtake us, Satan will throw us down. Ready-to-halt is our name and our nature; the Lord can never make good soldiers of us, nor even nimble messengers to go on his errands.” But the truth is that God will save us and that is no small thing. He says, “I will save the lame.” In saving us he will greatly glorify himself. Everybody will ask, “How was this lame woman able to run the race and win the crown?” And then the praise will all be given to almighty grace.

Lord, though I halt in faith, in prayer, in praise, in service, and in patience, save me, I beg you! Only you can save someone as crippled as I am. Lord, let me not perish because I am among those furthest behind, but gather up the slowest of your pilgrims by your grace, even me.

Behold, he has said it shall be so, and therefore, like Jacob, prevailing in prayer, I go forward though my bones are broken.

Something to think about today if you’re feeling too weak to carry on: The Lord is your salvation.