Spurgeon’s Thoughts on Prayer
*devotion is from a Spurgeon morning devotional*
~editor
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer.
ESV Psalms 66:20
In looking back upon the character of our prayers, if we do it honestly, we shall be filled with wonder that God has ever answered them. There may be some who think their prayers worthy of acceptance-as the Pharisee did; but the true Christian, in a more enlightened retrospect, weeps over his praters, and if he could retrace his steps he would desire to pray more earnestly.
Remember, Christian, how cold thy prayers have been. When in thy closet thou shouldst have wrestled as Jacob did; but instead thereof, thy petitions have been faint and few-far removed from that humble, persevering faith, which cries, I will not let thee go except thou bless me.
Yet, wonderful to say, God has heard these cold prayers of thine, and not only heard, but answered them. Reflect also, how infrequent have been thy prayers, unless thou hast been in trouble, and then thou hast gone often to the mercy-seat: but when deliverance has come, where has been thy constant supplication? Yet, not withstanding thou hast ceased to pray as once thou didst, God has ceased to bless. When thou hast neglected the mercyseat, God has not deserted it, but the bright light of the Shekinah has always been visible between the wings of the cherubim. Oh! it is marvellous that the Lord should regard those intermittent spasms of importunity which come and go with our necessities.
What a God is he thus to hear the praters of those who come to him when they have pressing wants, but neglect him when they have received a mercy; who approach him when they are forced to come, but who almost forget to address him when mercies are plentiful and sorrows are few.
Let his gracious kindness in hearing such prayers touch our hearts, so that we may henceforth be found. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
blessings,
~Michael
Praying For Guidance
“Take your difficulty to God in prayer and say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears’ (1 Samuel 3:9). Do not ask God to confirm your opinion; ask Him to make your opinion conform to His truth.” - C.H. Spurgeon
ht: Josh Harris
Please Pray….
A few evenings ago, my wife and I decided to have a prayer night. We wanted to approach the Lord’s throne with some of our specific questions and concerns, as well as seek His vision for us. But God had another idea. What we heard that night was not what we expected. As we prayed, God led our prayers to focus on a specific country, which God had recently laid on my wife’s heart.
The country: Tajikistan. Ever heard of that one before? Well, their government is trying to close all doors to Christianity—and make it very hard to have religious freedom. In fact, if their president decides to pass a particular law this month, the government will be even harsher in enforcing strict punishment on those caught holding church meetings in their homes, or telling anyone about Jesus.
Next to Tajikistan, is a country called Kazakhstan, whose Christians are also facing persecution. In December 2008 they proposed a law that anyone caught worshiping, teaching about God, praying, doing charitable work, etc. would be charged a fine fifty times their month salary. Fifty times!!! I don’t know about you, but I know I couldn’t afford that.
As we were praying, my heart started to break. All I could see, in my heart, was a call for: hope, strength, life, faith, and love.
In America, we should consider ourselves fortunate to be able to freely worship, praise, and spread the news about our Lord.
So why don’t we use our freedom more often? Why do we have so much trouble talking about Jesus Christ in America? Are we afraid that something is going to happen?
I sit and wrestle over, chew on, fight with, and cry about the fact that I get scared to share the gospel sometimes. For what!! Why am I scared? Why do I care what people think about me anyway?
I pray I have the courage to stand up and be brave like these persecuted Christians. I want to be a “Jesus Freak”—Sold out to no one but Jesus Christ Himself.
I want to leave you with some things for your spirit to feast on. Below I have included a sermon by John Piper. Please listen to it and let it soak in.
Also, take a look at the links that are included. There is some amazing information about what other Christians are facing around the world and what you can do to help. Most importantly, remember to pray for your persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.
Blessings
Get Involved - Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Ruth 3: I Am Asking You To Protect Me
We ask Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Saviour not only because He offered this free gift but He is the only One who can.
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Prayer for Mumbai, India
Everyone, I wanted to post something concerning the situation in Mumbai, India. If you read this please take time out to pray for Sower of Seeds(they are personal friends of ours), the nationals, peace, justice, the country, and other missionaries we may not know about. Below is an email, from a friend, who travels back and forth to Mumbai:
Hey man, thank you for praying and spreading the word! Here is the situation as I know it:
-Sower of Seeds has 6 Americans on the ground now. They seem to be safe. And are situated in other parts of the city.
-7 locations that would be frequented by tourists have been targeted.
-Terrorists seem to be targeting Brits and Americans.
-78 confirmed dead
-200+ injured
-They do have hostages at one of the hotels, some are foreigners.
-We do not know who is behind the attacks.
-The attacks are on going…
Please pray for the safety of the S.O.S. staff, the people of Mumbai, and those directly effected by these senseless attacks. I will do my best to keep everyone posted and up to date. Thanks and God bless!
The Path To Where I Stand
When I first started this blog, I had certain aspirations that at the very least my testimony would be heard. I had hoped that perhaps that one, perfectly timed blog post would bring some sort of good news of hope, faith and love to the one reader who needed it. If Jesus Christ could use it, then so shall it be done.
Honestly, I just wanted a place to organize my thoughts.
Over the last several months, I began to ponder, “What defines a testimony when speaking about the healing power of the Almighty God?”.
In the way I speak of testimony, Dictionary.com defines it as
tes·ti·mo·ny -noun open declaration or profession, as of faith
However, I like the second definition even more so:
tes·ti·mo·ny -noun evidence in support of a fact or statement; proof.
When I take both definitions into account, I am reminded just how intensely powerful a testimony really is. Therefore, when I give accounts of my life to people I just had the pleasure of meeting, I want to be careful about which parts of my life I let people know if I want to convey a message of hope, faith or love; if I share everything in my life, both good and bad, how can that possibly show the love of Jesus Christ?
I ran into this dilemma one night chatting with some young adults last night after service. These are the same young enthusiastic, creative, intelligent adults who are on the verge of experiencing all that adult life is going to give them: education, career, marriage, kids, responsibilities, travel, teaching, missions, ministry or just enjoying what life has in store for them. I called it a dilemma because in the case where I was in fellowship with one young man, I shared a part of my story about my first marriage.
One thing is for sure, I never want the words that are coming out of my mouth to dissuade anyone to experience something as incredible, beautiful and holy as marriage itself.
It would be one thing if my marriage had a happy ending. Then it would give God all the glory. It would be whole other thing if my marriage had a not-so-good ending to it.
Therein lies the conundrum: do I not speak a word about my first marriage? Do I keep this appearance that everything is okay and not reveal my past?
Or can God use everything, I mean everything, in my life in order to give Him all the glory and honor?
If I did share everything, then…
I would then use my testimony to let others know that my life is far from perfect and that is more than okay.
That we do life together and share in life’s victories and defeats, triumphs and tragedies.
Whatever we do experience, whatever we do face, through our friendships and investments in one another, we face them together so we can share each others’ burdens or lift each other in joy and happiness.
That we are not meant to do this life on our own.
James 5:16 (ESV) Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
It is so easy to take this verse and go completely legalistic with “look here, it says confess! you must confess your sins!” while there is a young woman who has just been raped and is wondering if she is wrong and in sin because she doubts that God is even good. Or better yet, to give a real world example, there is this man, who was struggling so badly with porn and lust, that he fooled everyone else into thinking it was cancer just so he could write a worship song to God believing with all of his heart and might that God could simply heal him of his addiction to porn.
People, we are not meant to do life on our own.
Yes, confess your sins, weaknesses, bondages, struggles, doubts and fears to one another, but then do what? … pray for one another, that you may be healed.
Let us share your Burden
Our Prayer For You
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred,
let me sow love;
Where there is injury,
pardon;
Where there is error,
the truth;
Where there is doubt,
the faith;
Where there is despair,
hope;
Where there is darkness,
light;
And where there is sadness,
joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled,
as to console;
To be understood,
as to understand;
To be loved
as to love.
For it
is in giving
that we receive;
It is in pardoning
that we are pardoned;
And it
is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
St. Francis
ht: Anne Jackson