As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
A sermon (No. 1469) delivered on Lord’s-Day morning, April 20th, 1879, by C. H. Spurgeon
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
“In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”—Philippians 4:6.
“Prayer is not a spiritual power, but a means of communicating and conversing with an All-Powerful Person.” - Layton Talbert
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” What exactly does that mean?
The phrase is found in Psalm 122:6. King David wrote Psalm 122 for the Israelites to sing as they went up to Jerusalem for their holy days. The word “Jerusalem” means “habitation of peace.” Peace and the City of Peace is the theme of this psalm.
All the tribes of Israel came “unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.” They came to Jerusalem to visit “the house of the LORD,” to be instructed in the Word of the LORD, and to praise the LORD.
“Thirdly, that we be prepared to receive his benefits with true gratitude of heart and thanksgiving, benefits that our prayer reminds us come from his hand” - DBTS Blog
“Gift #1: Pray for Your Pastor…. Gift #2: Enlist Others to Pray for Your Pastor ” - Thom Rainer
Read the series.
We’ve looked at several New Testament passages that speak directly of leaders in the church, and how the members of the church should behave toward them. I think there’s material there for all of us to attend to.
I’d like to close the series by going to a passage that doesn’t mention pastors at all, but that points us to a significant step we can take for the days ahead.
“Calloused knees. Prayer closet. Answered prayers. Prayer warrior. These four phrases don’t exactly trigger me with spiritual PTSD, but they do represent markers in my journey of moving from prayer-guilt into the grace of praying.” - Desiring God
“They asked him, ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’ [Luke 22:39-53] Is it time to fight, Lord? … This is, in essence, a prayer.” - SBC Voices
“Christ didn’t tell these two stories [Luke 11:5-8, 18:2] to imply that we need to approach God with the same request repeatedly before he complies.” - Word by Word
“Bills chaplain Len Vanden Bos said he has witnessed a unifying desire for prayer among both players and fans since Hamlin fell to the turf in Cincinnati.” - RNS
Discussion