Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
February 6
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!"