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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning    To whom be glory forever. Amen” / Romans 11:36

“To whom be glory forever.” This should be the single desire of the Christian.

All other wishes must be subservient and tributary to this one. The Christian

may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him to

promote this–“To him be glory forever.” He may desire to attain more gifts

and more graces, but it should only be that “To him may be glory forever.” You

are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than

a single eye to your Lord’s glory. As a Christian, you are “of God, and

through God,” then live “to God.” Let nothing ever set your heart beating so

mightily as love to him. Let this ambition fire your soul; be this the

foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter, and this your sustaining

motive whenever your zeal would grow chill; make God your only object. Depend

upon it, where self begins sorrow begins; but if God be my supreme delight and

only object,

“To me ’tis equal whether love ordain

My life or death–appoint me ease or pain.”

Let your desire for God’s glory be a growing desire. You blessed him in your

youth, do not be content with such praises as you gave him then. Has God

prospered you in business? Give him more as he has given you more. Has God

given you experience? Praise him by stronger faith than you exercised at

first. Does your knowledge grow? Then sing more sweetly. Do you enjoy happier

times than you once had? Have you been restored from sickness, and has your

sorrow been turned into peace and joy? Then give him more music; put more

coals and more sweet frankincense into the censer of your praise. Practically

in your life give him honour, putting the “Amen” to this doxology to your

great and gracious Lord, by your own individual service and increasing

holiness.

 

Evening  “He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.” / Ecclesiastes 10:9

Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily as they can

split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous business,

and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted

in every injured saint, and he is mighty to avenge his beloved ones. Success

in treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there be

no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger hereafter.

To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it has its dangers; so

then, reader, there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life

which it will be well for you to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood

and field, or by disease and sudden death, but to perils of a spiritual sort.

Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the devil can tempt

you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm labourer, or a mechanic, and

you may be greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet

some secret sin may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not

with the rough world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion. Nowhere

is he safe who thinks himself so. Pride may enter a poor man’s heart; avarice

may reign in a cottager’s bosom; uncleanness may venture into the quietest

home; and anger, and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most

rural abode. Even in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a little

purchase at a shop may be the first link in a chain of temptations; the mere

looking out of a window may be the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we

are! How shall we be secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only

thou thyself art able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread thy

wings over us, and we, like little chickens, will cower down beneath thee, and

feel ourselves safe!

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “The Lord’s portion is his people.” / Deuteronomy 32:9

How are they his? By his own sovereign choice. He chose them, and set his love

upon them. This he did altogether apart from any goodness in them at the time,

or any goodness which he foresaw in them. He had mercy on whom he would have

mercy, and ordained a chosen company unto eternal life; thus, therefore, are

they his by his unconstrained election.

They are not only his by choice, but by purchase. He has bought and paid for

them to the utmost farthing, hence about his title there can be no dispute.

Not with corruptible things, as with silver and gold, but with the precious

blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord’s portion has been fully redeemed.

There is no mortgage on his estate; no suits can be raised by opposing

claimants, the price was paid in open court, and the Church is the Lord’s

freehold forever. See the blood-mark upon all the chosen, invisible to human

eye, but known to Christ, for “the Lord knoweth them that are his”; he

forgetteth none of those whom he has redeemed from among men; he counts the

sheep for whom he laid down his life, and remembers well the Church for which

he gave himself.

They are also his by conquest. What a battle he had in us before we would be

won! How long he laid siege to our hearts! How often he sent us terms of

capitulation! but we barred our gates, and fenced our walls against him. Do we

not remember that glorious hour when he carried our hearts by storm? When he

placed his cross against the wall, and scaled our ramparts, planting on our

strongholds the blood-red flag of his omnipotent mercy? Yes, we are, indeed,

the conquered captives of his omnipotent love. Thus chosen, purchased, and

subdued, the rights of our divine possessor are inalienable: we rejoice that

we never can be our own; and we desire, day by day, to do his will, and to

show forth his glory.

 

Evening  “Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.” / Psalm 68:28

It is our wisdom, as well as our necessity, to beseech God continually to

strengthen that which he has wrought in us. It is because of their neglect in

this, that many Christians may blame themselves for those trials and

afflictions of spirit which arise from unbelief. It is true that Satan seeks

to flood the fair garden of the heart and make it a scene of desolation, but

it is also true that many Christians leave open the sluice-gates themselves,

and let in the dreadful deluge through carelessness and want of prayer to

their strong Helper. We often forget that the Author of our faith must be the

Preserver of it also. The lamp which was burning in the temple was never

allowed to go out, but it had to be daily replenished with fresh oil; in like

manner, our faith can only live by being sustained with the oil of grace, and

we can only obtain this from God himself. Foolish virgins we shall prove, if

we do not secure the needed sustenance for our lamps. He who built the world

upholds it, or it would fall in one tremendous crash; he who made us

Christians must maintain us by his Spirit, or our ruin will be speedy and

final. Let us, then, evening by evening, go to our Lord for the grace and

strength we need. We have a strong argument to plead, for it is his own work

of grace which we ask him to strengthen–“that which thou hast wrought for

us.” Think you he will fail to protect and sustain that? Only let your faith

take hold of his strength, and all the powers of darkness, led on by the

master fiend of hell, cannot cast a cloud or shadow over your joy and peace.

Why faint when you may be strong? Why suffer defeat when you may conquer? Oh!

take your wavering faith and drooping graces to him who can revive and

replenish them, and earnestly pray, “Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast

wrought for us.”

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God’s Power on Our Behalf

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Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.

Psalm 68:28

It is wise, as well as necessary, to beseech God continually to strengthen what He has worked in us. Failure to do so finds many Christians blaming themselves for those trials and afflictions of spirit that arise from unbelief. It is true that Satan seeks to flood the fair garden of the heart and make it a scene of desolation, but it is also true that many Christians leave open the floodgates themselves and let in the dreadful deluge as a result of carelessness and lack of prayer to their strong Helper.

We often forget that the Author of our faith must be the Preserver of it also. The lamp that was burning in the temple was never allowed to go out, but it had to be replenished every day with fresh oil; in the same way, our faith can only live by being sustained with the oil of grace, and we can only obtain this from God Himself. We will fail if we do not secure the needed sustenance for our lamps. He who built the world upholds it, or it would fall in one tremendous crash. He who made us Christians must maintain us by His Spirit, or our ruin will be speedy and final.

So let us, then, evening by evening, go to our Lord for the grace and strength we need. We have a strong argument to plead, for it is His own work of grace that we ask Him to strengthen—”the power . . . by which you have worked for us.” Do you think He will fail to protect and provide that? Let your faith simply take hold of His strength, and all the powers of darkness, led by the master fiend of hell, cannot cast a cloud or shadow over your joy and peace. Why faint when you can be strong? Why suffer defeat when you may conquer? Take your wavering faith and faltering graces to Him who can revive and replenish them, and earnestly pray, “Summon your power, O God . . . by which you have worked for us.”

Family Reading Plan     Amos 4       Psalm 150

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “I will cut off them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham.” / Zephaniah 1:5

Such persons thought themselves safe because they were with both parties: they

went with the followers of Jehovah, and bowed at the same time to Malcham. But

duplicity is abominable with God, and hypocrisy his soul hateth. The idolater

who distinctly gives himself to his false god, has one sin less than he who

brings his polluted and detestable sacrifice unto the temple of the Lord,

while his heart is with the world and the sins thereof. To hold with the hare

and run with the hounds, is a dastard’s policy. In the common matters of daily

life, a double- minded man is despised, but in religion he is loathsome to the

last degree. The penalty pronounced in the verse before us is terrible, but it

is well deserved; for how should divine justice spare the sinner, who knows

the right, approves it, and professes to follow it, and all the while loves

the evil, and gives it dominion in his heart?

 

My soul, search thyself this morning, and see whether thou art guilty of

double-dealing. Thou professest to be a follower of Jesus–dost thou truly

love him? Is thy heart right with God? Art thou of the family of old Father

Honest, or art thou a relative of Mr. By-ends? A name to live is of little

value if I be indeed dead in trespasses and sins. To have one foot on the land

of truth, and another on the sea of falsehood, will involve a terrible fall

and a total ruin. Christ will be all or nothing. God fills the whole universe,

and hence there is no room for another god; if, then, he reigns in my heart,

there will be no space for another reigning power. Do I rest alone on Jesus

crucified, and live alone for him? Is it my desire to do so? Is my heart set

upon so doing? If so, blessed be the mighty grace which has led me to

salvation; and if not so, O Lord, pardon my sad offence, and unite my heart to

fear thy name.

 

Evening   “And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger

before the firstborn.” / Genesis 29:26

 

We do not excuse Laban for his dishonesty, but we scruple not to learn from

the custom which he quoted as his excuse. There are some things which must be

taken in order, and if we would win the second we must secure the first. The

second may be the more lovely in our eyes, but the rule of the heavenly

country must stand, and the elder must be married first. For instance, many

men desire the beautiful and well-favoured Rachel of joy and peace in

believing, but they must first be wedded to the tender-eyed Leah of

repentance. Every one falls in love with happiness, and many would cheerfully

serve twice seven years to enjoy it, but according to the rule of the Lord’s

kingdom, the Leah of real holiness must be beloved of our soul before the

Rachel of true happiness can be attained. Heaven stands not first but second,

and only by persevering to the end can we win a portion in it. The cross must

be carried before the crown can be worn. We must follow our Lord in his

humiliation, or we shall never rest with him in glory.

 

My soul, what sayest thou, art thou so vain as to hope to break through the

heavenly rule? Dost thou hope for reward without labour, or honour without

toil? Dismiss the idle expectation, and be content to take the ill-favoured

things for the sake of the sweet love of Jesus, which will recompense thee for

all. In such a spirit, labouring and suffering, thou wilt find bitters grow

sweet, and hard things easy. Like Jacob, thy years of service will seem unto

thee but a few days for the love thou hast to Jesus; and when the dear hour of

the wedding feast shall come, all thy toils shall be as though they had never

been–an hour with Jesus will make up for ages of pain and labour.

 

Jesus, to win thyself so fair,

 

Thy cross I will with gladness bear:

 

Since so the rules of heaven ordain,

 

The first I’ll wed the next to gain.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “The branch cannot bear fruit of itself.” / John 15:4

How did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to Jesus and cast

yourselves on his great atonement, and rested on his finished righteousness.

Ah! what fruit you had then! Do you remember those early days? Then indeed the

vine flourished, the tender grape appeared, the pomegranates budded forth, and

the beds of spices gave forth their smell. Have you declined since then? If

you have, we charge you to remember that time of love, and repent, and do thy

first works. Be most in those engagements which you have experimentally proved

to draw you nearest to Christ, because it is from him that all your fruits

proceed. Any holy exercise which will bring you to him will help you to bear

fruit. The sun is, no doubt, a great worker in fruit-creating among the trees

of the orchard: and Jesus is still more so among the trees of his garden of

grace. When have you been the most fruitless? Has not it been when you have

lived farthest from the Lord Jesus Christ, when you have slackened in prayer,

when you have departed from the simplicity of your faith, when your graces

have engrossed your attention instead of your Lord, when you have said, “My

mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved”; and have forgotten where your

strength dwells–has not it been then that your fruit has ceased? Some of us

have been taught that we have nothing out of Christ, by terrible abasements of

heart before the Lord; and when we have seen the utter barrenness and death of

all creature power, we have cried in anguish, “From him all my fruit must be

found, for no fruit can ever come from me.” We are taught, by past experience,

that the more simply we depend upon the grace of God in Christ, and wait upon

the Holy Spirit, the more we shall bring forth fruit unto God. Oh! to trust

Jesus for fruit as well as for life.

 

Evening “Men ought always to pray.” / Luke 18:1

If men ought always to pray and not to faint, much more Christian men. Jesus

has sent his church into the world on the same errand upon which he himself

came, and this mission includes intercession. What if I say that the church is

the world’s priest? Creation is dumb, but the church is to find a mouth for

it. It is the church’s high privilege to pray with acceptance. The door of

grace is always open for her petitions, and they never return empty-handed.

The veil was rent for her, the blood was sprinkled upon the altar for her, God

constantly invites her to ask what she wills. Will she refuse the privilege

which angels might envy her? Is she not the bride of Christ? May she not go in

unto her King at every hour? Shall she allow the precious privilege to be

unused? The church always has need for prayer. There are always some in her

midst who are declining, or falling into open sin. There are lambs to be

prayed for, that they may be carried in Christ’s bosom? the strong, lest they

grow presumptuous; and the weak, lest they become despairing. If we kept up

prayer-meetings four-and-twenty hours in the day, all the days in the year, we

might never be without a special subject for supplication. Are we ever without

the sick and the poor, the afflicted and the wavering? Are we ever without

those who seek the conversion of relatives, the reclaiming of back-sliders, or

the salvation of the depraved? Nay, with congregations constantly gathering,

with ministers always preaching, with millions of sinners lying dead in

trespasses and sins; in a country over which the darkness of Romanism is

certainly descending; in a world full of idols, cruelties, devilries, if the

church doth not pray, how shall she excuse her base neglect of the commission

of her loving Lord? Let the church be constant in supplication, let every

private believer cast his mite of prayer into the treasury.

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The Church’s Special Privilege

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And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray.    Luke 18:1

Jesus has sent His Church into the world on the same errand upon which He Himself came, and this mission includes intercession. What if I say that the Church is the world’s priest? Creation is dumb, but the Church finds a mouth for it. It is the Church’s high privilege to pray with acceptance. The door of grace is always open for her petitions, and they never return empty-handed. The curtain was torn for her; the blood was sprinkled upon the altar for her; God constantly invites her to bring her requests. Will she refuse the privilege that angels might envy? Is she not the bride of Christ? Can she not approach her King at any hour? Will she allow the precious privilege to be unused?

The Church always needs to pray. There are always some among her who are declining or falling into open sin. There are lambs to be prayed for, that they may be carried in Christ’s bosom; the strong, lest they grow presumptuous; and the weak, lest they become despairing. If we kept up prayer-meetings twenty-four hours a day all the days in the year, we might never be without a special subject for supplication.

Is there ever a time when no one is sick or poor or afflicted or wavering? Is there ever a time when we do not seek the conversion of relatives, the reclaiming of backsliders, or the salvation of the lost? With congregations constantly gathering, with ministers always preaching, with millions of sinners lying dead in trespasses and sins—in a country over which the darkness of religious formalism is certainly descending—in a world full of idols, cruelties, devils—if the Church does not pray, how will she excuse her neglect of the commission of her loving Lord? Let the Church be constant in supplication; let every private believer give himself to the ministry of prayer.

Family Reading Plan    Amos 2       Psalm 145

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Victory Over Unforgiveness

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Daniel 6:1-28

Immediately after teaching His followers to pray, Jesus gave a warning about allowing unforgiveness to reside in the heart. He said that those who refuse to forgive others won’t be forgiven by the Father.

Do not misunderstand Jesus’ meaning here. Believers don’t lose their salvation when they refuse to forgive. Rather, they break fellowship with God because their unrepentant attitude gets in the way of regular confession and repentance. The Lord cannot ignore sin, and His Spirit will bring wrong behavior to the believer’s attention until he or she deals with it.

Forgiveness is an act of the will more than an act of the heart. Often people don’t feel like being merciful to someone who has wronged them. But a resentful spirit grows into a terrible burden. The Lord knows that forgiveness is best, even when it is difficult.

You won’t deal with a sin until you see it as God does. So assume full responsibility for your unforgiving attitude, and acknowledge that it is a violation of His Word. Claim the divine mercy He offers, and ask Him to enable you to lay aside anger and resentment against the other person(s). As part of the decision to move forward in grace, make a habit of praying for those who hurt you. And if God so leads, seek their forgiveness for your wrong attitude.

A bitter and resentful spirit doesn’t fit who we are in Christ. Nor is it healthy to carry an angry attitude through life. That’s why Scripture emphasizes the need to forgive. Choose to be liberated from your burden–Jesus promised to make us free when we release our sins to Him (John 8:36).