Spurgeon: February AM
* 02/06/AM
"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."