Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for April 26th, AM.
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2010.

“This do in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)

Christians will sometimes forget Christ! There would be no need for Paul’s loving caution if there were not a fearful supposition that our memories might prove treacherous. This is not merely conjecture, because it is sadly too well confirmed in our experience. Forgetting Christ is not just a possibility, but a lamentable fact.

It would seem almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb, and loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God, could forget our gracious Savior. But, if startling to the ear, it is,  too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the crime.

Forget Him who never forgot us?

Forget Him who poured His blood forth for our sins?

Forget Him who loved us even to the death?

Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us, that we suffer Him to be as a traveling man, stopping over only for a night. The one we should make the abiding tenant of our memories is instead merely a visitor. The cross, where our memories should linger, is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness.

Doesn’t your conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourself forgetful of Jesus? Temptations steal away your heart, and you are unmindful of Him upon whom your affection ought to be set. Earthly business engrosses your attention when you should fix your eye steadily upon the cross. It is the incessant turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things which distracts us from Christ.

Let us firmly resolve to not forget Jesus our Beloved in our hearts, and, whatever else we let slip, let us hold fast to Him.

Question: What are some of life’s distractions that cause us to “forget” Jesus, if only briefly?

About the Author: Charles Spurgeon

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.

Let us pray with you

“Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.”  Psalm 119:49

Whatever your specific need is, you will likely find a promise about it in the Bible.

Are you feeling wearied and weak because your life has been troubling and tiring? Here is the promise: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (Isaiah 40:29) When you read such a promise, take it back to our great God who promised it, and ask Him to fulfill His own word.

Are you seeking after Christ, and yearning for closer relationship with Him? This promise shines like a star upon you: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Take that promise to God’s throne continually. Do not plead anything else, but go to God over and over again, praying “Lord, You have said it, I humbly ask that You do as You have said.”

Are you distressed because of sin, and burdened with the heavy load of your wrongdoings? Listen to these words: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25) You have no worth of your own to deserve God’s pardon, but plead His written promises and He will perform them.

Are you afraid that you won’t be able to persevere to the end? Do you fear that, after having thought yourself to be a child of God, you might instead be a ‘castaway’? Take this word of grace to God’s throne and plead it: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed.” (Isaiah 54:10)

If you have lost the sweet sense of the Saviour’s presence, and are seeking Him with a sorrowful heart, remember these promises: “Return to me, and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:7) and “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.” (Isaiah 54:7) Rest your faith upon God’s own word, and whatever your fears or desires, look to God’s “Bank of Faith” in your Father’s written word, saying, “Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.”

Question: Which of the needs noted above by Spurgeon do you need to be in prayer with God about today?

About the Author: Charles Spurgeon

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for August 25th, AM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2009.

“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8

Faith in scripture is described as being known through all the senses:

Faith is sight: “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” (Isaiah 45:22, KJV)

Faith is hearing: “Hear me, that your soul may live.” (Isaiah 55:3)

Faith is smelling: “All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia” (Psalm 45:8); “your name is like perfume poured out.” (Song of Solomon 1:3)

Faith is spiritual touch. By this faith the woman came behind and touched the edge of Christ’s cloak (Luke 8:43-48) and likewise we handle the things of the good word of life.

Faith is equally the spirit’s taste. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103) “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man,” says Jesus, “and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53) This “taste” is faith in one of its highest qualities.

One of the first experiences of faith is hearing. We hear the voice of God, not with the outward ear alone, but with the inward ear. We hear it as God’s Word, and we believe it to be so; that is the “hearing” of faith.

Then our mind looks on the truth as it is presented to us. We understand it and perceive its meaning; that is the “seeing” of faith.

Next we discover its preciousness. We begin to admire it, and find how fragrant it is; that is faith in its “smell.”

Then we embrace the mercies which are prepared for us in Christ; that is faith in its “touch.”

Therefore what follows from all of these enjoyments? Peace, delight, communion … which are faith in its “taste.”

Any one of these paths to faith is saving. To hear Christ’s voice as the sure voice of God in the soul will save us. But true enjoyment is the aspect of faith where Christ, by holy taste, is received into us, and made, by inward and spiritual understanding of His sweetness and preciousness, to be the food of our souls. It is then we sit “under His shadow with great delight,” (Song of Solomon 2:3, KJV) and find His fruit sweet to our taste.

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2:2-3

Question: Which way of “perceiving faith” is most effective for you, and why?

About this Author: Charles Spurgeon

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for October 9th, AM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” Jude 1:24-25

In some sense the path to heaven is safe. But in other respects there is no road as dangerous; it is overrun with difficulties.

One false step (and how easy it is to step absently if grace is absent), and down we go. What a slippery path some of us tread! How many times have we cried along with the Psalmist, “My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.” (Psalm 73:2, KJV) If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but relying on our own abilities, how weak we are! In the best roads we soon falter, in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble. A straw may throw us, and a pebble can wound us; we are mere children tremblingly taking our first steps in the walk of faith. Thankfully our heavenly Father holds us by the arms or we would soon fall all the way back down!

We have many foes who try to push us down. The road is rough and we are weak, but in addition to this, enemies lurk in ambush, who rush out when we least expect them, and try to trip us, or hurl us down the nearest cliff. Only an Almighty arm can preserve us from these unseen foes, who are seeking to destroy us. Such an arm is engaged for our defense.

If we are kept from falling, how much more should we bless the patient God which watches over us day by day! Think how prone we are to sin, how apt to choose danger, how often we end up bringing ourselves down, and these reflections will make us sing more sweetly than we have ever done, “Glory be to Him, who is able to keep us from falling.”

He promises that He will remain faithful, and He is able to keep us from falling, so that even with a deep sense of our utter weakness, we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety, and say, with joyful confidence,

“Against me earth and hell combine, But on my side is power divine; Jesus is all, and He is mine!”

Question: How do you try to constantly keep your eyes on Jesus?

About this Author: Charles Spurgeon

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for June 9th, PM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2010.

“Search the Scriptures.” John 5:39, KJV

The Greek word here rendered “search” signifies a strict, close, diligent, curious search, such as men make when they are seeking gold, or a hunter earnestly tracking their target. We must not be content with superficially reading a chapter or two. Instead, with the light of the Spirit, we must deliberately seek out the deepest meaning of the word.

Understanding Holy Scripture requires searching. Much of it can only be learned by careful study. There is milk for babies, but also meat for those who are mature in faith. The rabbis wisely say that a mountain of significance hangs on every word, on every syllable even of Scripture. The second century theologian Tertullian exclaims, “I adore the fullness of the Scriptures.” No one who merely skims the book of God can truly profit from it. We must dig and mine until we obtain the treasure buried deep within.

The door of the word only opens via the key of diligence. The Scriptures are the writings of God, bearing the divine stamp and imprint. Who would dare to treat them with frivolously? He who despises them despises the God who wrote them. God forbid that any of us should leave our Bibles to become swift witnesses against us in the great day of account!

The word of God will repay you for mining it. God does not want us to sift a mountain of rubbish with here and there a grain of wheat in it. Instead, the Bible is like treasure stored in a mansion … we have only to open the door and find it. Scripture grows on the student. It is full of surprises. Under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to the searching eye it glows with splendor of revelation, like a vast temple paved with gold, and roofed with rubies, emeralds, and all types of gems. But truly there is no merchandise like the merchandise of Scripture truth.

Most importantly, the Scriptures reveal Jesus: “They are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39, KJV) No more powerful motive can be urged to Bible readers than this: anyone who finds Jesus finds life, heaven, all things. Happy are all who, searching his Bible, discovers their Savior.

Questions: How has your Bible reading been recently? If you had a reading plan this year, how have you kept up with it, or what has hindered your progress?

About this Author: Charles Spurgeon

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for April 27th, AM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.

“God, even our own God.” Psalm 67:6

It is strange how little use we make of the spiritual blessings which God gives us, but it is stranger still how little use we make of God Himself. Though He is “our own God,” we rarely take our problems to Him, and ask little of Him. Seldom do we seek counsel at the hands of the Lord. In fact, we often we go about our daily lives without seeking His guidance!

In our troubles we constantly strive to bear our burdens ourselves, instead of casting them upon the Lord so that He will sustain us. We can take our problems to God, for the Lord seems to say, “I am yours, come and make use of me as you need; you may come freely to use my resources, and to Me, the welcome offerer.”

It is our own fault if we don’t make use of the riches of our God. Since you have such a friend, and He invites you, draw from Him daily. Never crave spiritual nourishment when you have such a great God to go to; never fear or faint while you have God to help you. Go to your treasure and take whatever you need – there is all that you can want. Learn the divine skill of making God all things to you. He can supply you with all, or, better still, He can simply “be” to you instead of all.

Let me urge you, then, to make use of your God. Make use of Him in prayer. Go to Him often, because He is your God. Who would disdain to use so great a privilege? Fly to Him, tell Him all your wants. Use Him constantly by faith at all times. If some dark thoughts are clouding your mind, use thy God as a “sun”. If someone is causing you harm, find in God a “shield”. For He is a sun and shield to His people. If you have lost your way in the mazes of life, use Him as a “guide” for He will direct your steps. Whatever you are, and wherever you are, remember God is just what you want, and just where you want, and that He can do all you want.

Questions: Do you sometimes find it difficult to pray? What prevents you from having a more active prayer life?

About this Author: Charles Spurgeon

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for November 3rd, AM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2009.

“Behold, he prayeth.” Acts 9:11 (KJV)

Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. The moment Saul began to pray the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for anywho who is distressed, but still praying. Often a poor broken-hearted person bends their knee, but can only utter their cries in the language of sighs and tears. Yet these groans are heard like harps in heaven. Those tears are caught by God and treasured in heaven.

“Thou puttest my tears into thy bottle” (Psalm 56:8, KJV) implies that they are caught as they flow. Anyone whose fears prevent them from forming the right words will still be understood by the Most High. He or she may only look up with misty eyes, but “prayer is the falling of a tear.” (Oswald Chambers) Tears are the diamonds of heaven, and sighs too are a part of the music of Jehovah’s court.

Don’t think that your prayer, however weak or trembling, will be unheard. Jacob’s ladder is lofty, but our prayers lean on the Angel of the covenant and so climb to the Most High. Our God not only hears prayer but also loves to hear it. “He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.” (Psalm 9:12)

God doesn’t highly regard lofty words, nor does He care for the pomp and pageantry of kings. He will not listen to the swell of warlike drumming, and He will disregard the triumph and pride of humankind. But wherever there is a heart heavy with sorrow, or a lip quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a repentant sigh, the heart of Jehovah is open. He marks it down in the registry of His memory. He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, a precious fragrance will spring forth.

“Faith asks no signal from the skies,
To show that prayers accepted rise,
Our Priest is in His holy place,
And answers from the throne of grace.” (Josiah Conder)

Question: What prayers and sighs do you need to lift up to God today? (Contact us if you’d like us to pray with you.)

About this Author: Charles Spurgeon

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for February 20th, AM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2009.

“God, who comforts the downcast …” (2 Corinthians 7:6).

Who else comforts like Him? The sweetest promises and whispered words of comfort, coming from us, can fall upon deaf ears to someone who is truly poor, melancholy, and distressed. As much as we may try to comfort them, it may only be a note or two of mournful resignation that you get in reply. You will bring forth no psalms of praise, no hallelujahs, no joyful sonnets. But let God come to His child, let Him lift up their head, and the mourner’s eyes glisten with hope. “‘Tis paradise, if thou art here; If thou depart, ’tis hell?”

You could not have cheered them, but the Lord has done it. “God, who comforts the downcast …” Even when there is no comfort to be found in the world, there is comfort in God. There is no physician among the creatures, but the Creator is Jehovah-Rophe (”The LORD who Heals”). It is marvelous how one sweet word of God will become whole songs for Christians. One word of God is like a piece of gold, and the Christian is the metal-worker who can hammer that promise out for whole weeks.

So, then, there is no need for you to collapse in despair. Go to the Comforter, and ask Him to give you consolation. You are like a poor dry well. When a pump is dry, you must pour water down it first to prime it, and then you will get water. So too when you are dry, go to God, ask Him to pour His joy in your heart, and then your joy will be full. Don’t go to earthly friends, for you may find them to be like Job’s “comforters”. Instead, go first and foremost to your “God, who comforts the downcast …” and you will soon say, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul” (Psalm 94:19).

Question: Where in your Bible do you most often turn when you’re seeking consolation?  As you look back, what can so often be the reason that one is
downcast?

About this Author Charles Spurgeon

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2009.

“Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept” (Mark 14:72).

As long as Peter lived, a fountain of tears began to flow whenever he remembered how he denied his Lord. It is not unlikely that it was so, for his sin was very great, and grace granted to him afterwards was even greater.

This same experience is common to all of God’s children; according to the degree the Holy Spirit has removed your natural heart of stone. We, like Peter, remember our boastful promises: “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” (Matthew 26:33, NLT). We eat our own words with the bitter herbs of repentance. When we think of how we promised we would act, and how often in, overt or subtle ways, we have denied our Lord, we may weep whole showers of grief.

Peter must have contemplated, at length, his denial of his Lord. The place in which he did it, the reasons that led him into such heinous sin, the lies and blasphemies he uttered, and the dreadful hardness of heart which drove him to do so again and yet again. How can we, when we are reminded of our misdeeds, and their exceeding sinfulness, remain indifferent and stubborn? Shouldn’t we repent of our sin, and cry to the Lord for renewed assurances of His pardoning love? May we never take a dry-eyed look at sin. Doing so threatens us on a dangerous and lonely path, with a tongue parched in the flames of hell.

But Peter must also have thought about his Master’s look of love. The Lord followed up the rooster’s warning voice with a cautioning look of sorrow, pity and love. That glance was never out of Peter’s mind so long as he lived. It was far more effectual than ten thousand sermons would have been without the Holy Spirit. The regretful apostle would be sure to weep when he recollected the Savior’s full forgiveness, which restored him to his former place. (John 21:15-19)

To think that we have offended so kind and good a Lord is more than sufficient reason for being constant weepers, both out of sorrowful repentance and at the same time joyful, thankful forgiveness. Lord, smite our rocky hearts, and make the waters flow.

Questions: When you look at the world, what issues bring you sadness? What about within your own life?

About this Author Charles Spurgeon

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for July 27th, PM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.

“Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” Romans 8:33

What a wonderful challenge! It’s wonderful because it’s totally unanswerable. Every sin of those whom God has chosen was laid upon Jesus, the great Champion of our salvation, and by His atonement carried away.

There is no sin in God’s book against His people. He sees no sin in Jacob, and no immorality in Israel, because they are wiped clean of their sin forever through in Christ. When the guilt of sin was taken away, the punishment for sin was also removed. For the Christian there will be no angry rebuke from God’s hand; no, not so much as a single frown of vengeful justice. The believer may be scolded by his Father, but God as Judge has nothing to say to the Christian, except “I have absolved you: you are acquitted.”

For the Christian there will be no “capital punishment” from God in this world, much less any second death. A follower of Christ is completely freed from all punishment as well as the guilt and power of sin.

Sin may stand in our way, and frustrate us with its constant warfare, but sin is a conquered foe for every soul who walks with Jesus. A Christian can overcome any and every sin if they rely upon God to do it. Those who wear a white robe in heaven overcame through the blood of the Lamb, and we may do the same.

No lust is too mighty, no tempting sin too strongly entrenched. We can overcome it through the power of Christ. Your sin is a condemned thing. It may kick and struggle, but it is doomed to die. God has written condemnation across its brow and Christ has crucified it, “nailing it to His cross.” Go now and renounce it, and the will Lord help you to live to His praise, for sin with all its guilt, shame, and fear, is gone.

Question: How do our sometimes valid feelings of guilt relate to our being made “blameless” in Christ?

About this Author: Charles Spurgeon