prayer

The Remedy for Your Grief

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, prayer, promises 5 Comments

O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come. – Psalm 65:2

It is said that fat men may for a time live on the flesh they have acquired; but there is not a Christian so full of flesh that he can live on old grace. If he waxes fat he kicks, but he cannot live upon his fat. Those who are strong and mighty in themselves cannot exist without prayer. If a man should have the spiritual might of fifty of God’s choicest Christians in himself, he must die, if he did not continue to plow. My brother, cannot you look back and say, “Three or four months ago my prayers were more regular, more constant, more earnest than they are now; but now they are feeble, they are not sincere, they are not fervent, they are not earnest? “O brother, do not ask anybody what is the cause of your grief; it is as plain as possible; you need not ask a question about it. There is the cause; and where is the remedy? Why, in more prayer, beloved. It was little prayer that brought you down; it is great prayer that will lift you up. It was lack of prayer that brought you into poverty, it must be increase of prayer that will bring you into riches again.

A certain merchant wishes that he were as rich as he used to be; he was wont to send his ships over to the gold country, to bring him home cargoes of gold, but ne’er a ship has been out of port lately, and therefore can he wonder that he has had no cargo of gold? So when a man prayeth he sends a ship to heaven, and it comes back laden with gold; but if he leaves off supplication, then his ship is weather-bound and stays at home, and no wonder he cometh to be a poor man.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0051.cfm

Why Such a Leanness of Soul?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises 3 Comments

“Oh that I were as in months past.”- Job 29:2

For the most part the gracious Shepherd leads His people beside the still waters, and makes them to lie down in green pastures; but at times they wander through a wilderness, where there is no water, and they find no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainteth within them, and they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. Though many of His people live in almost constant joy, and find that religion’s ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace, yet there are many who pass through fire and through water: men do ride over their heads, (and) they endure all manner of trouble and sorrow…

One of the causes of this mournful state of things is defect in prayer; and of course the cure lies somewhere next door to the cause. You are saying, “Oh that I were as in months past!” Come, my brother; we are going into the very root of the matter. One reason why it is not with you as in months past is this: you do not pray as you once did. Nothing brings such leanness into a man’s soul as want of prayer. It is well said that a neglected closet is the birth-place of all evil. All good is born in the closet, all good springeth from it; there the Christian getteth it; but if he neglecteth his closet, then all evil comes of it. No man can progress in grace if he forsakes his closet. I care not how strong he may be in faith. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0051.cfm

 

 

 

The Debt is Paid

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, prayer, promises, salvation, The Father 3 Comments

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. -Hebrews 8:12

Oh! how sweet it is to reflect upon the great and wonderous works which Christ hath done, whereby He hath become “the High Priest of our profession,” able to save us! It is pleasant to look back to Calvary’s hill, and to behold that bleeding form expiring on the tree; it is sweet, amazingly sweet, to pry with eyes of love between those thick olives, and hear the groanings of the Man who sweat great drops of blood. Sinner, if thou askest me how Christ can save thee, I tell thee this: He can save thee, because He did not save Himself; He can save thee, because He took thy guilt and endured thy punishment. There is no way of salvation apart from the satisfaction of divine justice. Either the sinner must die, or else some one must die for him. Sinner, Christ can save thee, because, if thou comest to God by Him, then He died for thee. God has a debt against us, and He never remits that debt; He will have it paid. Christ pays it, and then the poor sinner goes free.

“O My Father! forgive____!” Why, He mentioned your own name! “O My Father, forgive him; he knew not what he did. It is true he sinned against light, and knowledge, and warnings; sinned wilfully and woefully; but, Father, forgive him!” Penitent, if thou canst listen, thou wilt hear Him praying for thee. And that is why He is able to save.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0084.cfm

Warning to Halters

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, prayer 3 Comments

How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. -1 Kings 18:21

What a splendid general confession is that in the Church of England Prayer Book: “We have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep; we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and there is no health in us.” There is not to be found a finer confession in the English language… I like an out-and-out man of any sort. Give me a man that is a sinner: I have some hope for him when I see him sincere in his vices, and open to acknowledging his own character; but if you give me a man who is half-hearted, who is not quite bold enough to be all for the devil, nor quite sincere enough to be all for Christ, I tell you, I despair of such a man as that. The man who wants to link the two together is in an extremely hopeless case. Do you think, sinners, you will be able to serve two masters, when Christ has said you cannot? Do you fancy you can walk with God and walk with mammon too? Will you take God on one arm, and the devil on the other? Do you suppose you can be allowed to drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of Satan at the same time? I tell you, ye shall depart, as cursed and miserable hypocrites, if so you come to God. God will have the whole of you come, or else you shall not come at all. The whole man must seek after the Lord; the whole soul must be poured out before Him; otherwise it is no acceptable coming to God at all. Oh, halters between two opinions, remember this and tremble. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0084.cfm

A Holy Strife

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, prayer, promises 5 Comments

Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen,”-Romans 15:33

Paul once advised the Romans to strive. Three verses before our text he actually gives them an exhortation to strive, and yet he here utters a prayer that the God of peace might be with them all. Lest you should think him to be a man of strife, you must read the verse. He says: “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.” That is a holy strife, and such a strife as that we wish always to see in the church, a strife in prayer, a surrounding the throne together, besieging God’s mercy seat, a crying out before God, until it actually amounts to a striving together in our prayers. There is also another kind of striving which is allowed in the church, and that is striving earnestly after the best gifts: a sweet contention which of us shall excel all others in love, in duty, and in faith. May God send us more strife of that kind in our churches, a strife in prayer, a strife in duty; and when we have mentioned these strifes we find them of so peaceable a kind that we come back to the benediction of our text: “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”

Mars amongst the heathens was called the god of war; Janus was worshipped in periods of strife and bloodshed; but our God Jehovah styles Himself not the God of war, but the God of peace…Peace is His delight; “peace on earth and goodwill towards men.” Peace in heaven (for that purpose He expelled the angels): peace throughout His entire universe, is His highest wish and His greatest delight.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0049.cfm

Extra Time in Prayer

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. -1 Corinthians 2:9

Ordinary closet prayer will only make ordinary Christians of us. It is in extraordinary seasons, when we are led by God to devote, say an hour, to earnest prayer; when we feel an impulse, we scarce know why, to cut off a portion of our time during the day to go alone. Then, beloved, we kneel down, and begin to pray in earnest. It may be that we are attacked by the devil; for when the enemy knows we are going to have a great blessing, he always makes a great noise to drive us away; but if we keep at it, we shall soon get into a quiet frame of mind, and hear him roaring at a distance. Presently you get hold of the Angel, and say, “Lord, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.” He asks your name. You begin to tell him what your name was:

“Once a sinner, near despair,
Sought Thy mercy-seat by prayer;
Mercy heard and set him free;
Lord, that mercy came to me.”

You say, “What is Thy name, Lord?” He will not tell you. You hold Him fast still; at last He deigns to bless you. That is certainly some foretaste of heaven, when you feel alone with Jesus. Let no man know your prayers; they are between God and yourselves; but if you want to know much of heaven, spend some extra time in prayer; for God then reveals it to us by His Spirit. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0056.cfm

Jesus’ Prayer for Us

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation 3 Comments

“I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”- John 17:15

This prayer of Christ is an ever precious portion to all true believers, from the fact that each of (us) has an inalienable interest in it. Every one of us, beloved, when we listen to the words of Christ should recollect that He is praying for us; that while it is for the great body of His elect He intercedes in this chapter and the one preceding it, yet it is also for each believer in particular that He offers intercession. However weak we are, however poor; however little our faith, or however small our grace may be, our names are still written on His heart; nor shall we lose our share in Jesus’ love.

Now, beloved, when we see persons converted to God, when men are turned from iniquity unto righteousness, from sinners into saints, the thought sometimes strikes us-would it not be good to take them at once to heaven, would it not be an excellent thing to translate them speedily from the realms of sin to the breast of the Lord who loved them with an everlasting love?..Not so, however, does Jesus pray. When the man had the devils cast out of him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, I would follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.” But Jesus said to him, “Go to thy friends and relations, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.” Some men when they are converted are all for going speedily to heaven; but they have not done with earth yet. They would like to wear the crown without bearing the cross, they desire to win without running, and conquer without a battle, but their whim has no countenance from Jesus, for He exclaims, “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0047.cfm