Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

November 13– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“Men ought always to pray.”

—Luke 18:1

If men ought always to pray and not to faint, how much more should Christian men. Jesus sent his church into the world on the same errand for which he himself came, and this mission includes intercession. The church is the world’s priest. Creation cannot speak for itself, but the church is to find a mouth for it. It is the church’s high privilege to pray with God’s acceptance. The door of grace is always open to receive her petition, and she is never turned away. The veil was torn for the church; the blood was sprinkled upon the altar for her; God constantly invites her to ask whatever she wants. Will she refuse the privilege which angels envy? Is she not the bride of Christ? Isn’t she allowed to enter her King’s presence at every hour? Should she allow that precious privilege to go unused?

The church always has need for prayer. There are always some in her company who are declining or falling into open sin. There are lambs to be prayed for, that they may be carried next to Christ’s chest—the strong, so they won’t become presumptuous, and the weak, so they won’t become despairing. If we held prayer gatherings twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year, we would never lack anything to pray about. 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 sinners, or the salvation of the depraved? No! With congregations gathering, ministers preaching, and millions lying dead in trespasses and sins– in a country over which the darkness of false religion is descending; in a world full of idols, cruelties, and deceits, if the church does not pray, what kind of excuse will she give for neglecting the commission of her loving Lord?

Let the church be constant in prayer; let every believer cast his mite of prayer into the treasury. [M&E]