Morning & Evening for February 7th - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Morning
Praying
always.
Ephesians 6:18
What multitudes of
prayers we have put up from the first moment when
we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer
for ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy
upon us, and blot out our sin. He heard us. But
when He had blotted out our sins like a cloud, then
we had more prayers for ourselves. We have had to
pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and
restraining grace; we have been led to crave for a
fresh assurance of faith, for the comfortable
application of the promise, for deliverance in the
hour of temptation, for help in the time of duty,
and for succour in the day of trial. We have been
compelled to go to God for our souls, as constant
beggars asking for everything. Bear witness,
children of God, you have never been able to get
anything for your souls elsewhere. All the bread
your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and
all the water of which it has drank has flowed from
the living rock--Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul
has never grown rich in itself; it has always been
a pensioner upon the daily bounty of God; and hence
your prayers have ascended to heaven for a range of
spiritual mercies all but infinite. Your wants were
innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been
infinitely great, and your prayers have been as
varied as the mercies have been countless. Then
have you not cause to say, "I love the Lord,
because He hath heard the voice of my
supplication"? For as your prayers have been many,
so also have been God's answers to them. He has
heard you in the day of trouble, has strengthened
you, and helped you, even when you dishonoured Him
by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat.
Remember this, and let it fill your heart with
gratitude to God, who has thus graciously heard
your poor weak prayers. "Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits."
Evening
Pray
one for another.
James
5:16
As an encouragement
cheerfully to offer intercessory prayer, remember
that such prayer is the
sweetest God ever hears, for the prayer of
Christ is of this character. In all the incense
which our Great High Priest now puts into the
golden censer, there is not a single grain for
Himself. His intercession must be the most
acceptable of all supplications--and the more like
our prayer is to Christ's, the sweeter it will be;
thus while petitions for ourselves will be
accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them
more of the fruits of the Spirit, more love, more
faith, more brotherly kindness, will be, through
the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest oblation
that we can offer to God, the very fat of our
sacrifice. Remember, again, that
intercessory
prayer is exceedingly prevalent.
What
wonders it has wrought! The Word of God teems with
its marvellous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty
engine in thy hand, use it well, use it constantly,
use it with faith, and thou shalt surely be a
benefactor to thy brethren. When thou hast the
King's ear, speak to Him for the suffering members
of His body. When thou art favoured to draw very
near to His throne, and the King saith to thee,
"Ask, and I will give thee what thou wilt," let thy
petitions be, not for thyself alone, but for the
many who need His aid. If thou hast grace at all,
and art not an intercessor, that grace must be
small as a grain of mustard seed. Thou hast just
enough grace to float thy soul clear from the
quicksand, but thou hast no deep floods of grace,
or else thou wouldst carry in thy joyous bark a
weighty cargo of the wants of others, and thou
wouldst bring back from thy Lord, for them, rich
blessings which but for thee they might not have
obtained:--
Oh, let my hands
forget their skill,
My tongue be silent, cold, and still,
This bounding heart forget to beat,
If I forget the mercy-seat!