Daily Devotions From Faith's Checkbook

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com.  February 14 Mercy to the Undeserving He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. (Psalm 32:10)  O fair reward of trust! My Lord, grant it me to the full! The truster above all men feels himself to be a sinner; and lo, mercy is prepared for him: he knows himself to have no deservings, but mercy comes in and keeps house for him on a liberal scale. O Lord, give me this mercy, even as I trust in Thee! Observe, my soul, what a bodyguard thou hast! As a prince is compassed about with soldiery, so art thou compassed about with mercy. Before and behind, and on all sides, ride these mounted guards of grace. We dwell in the center of the system of mercy, for we dwell in Christ Jesus. O my soul, what an atmosphere dost thou breathe! As the air surrounds thee, even so does the mercy of thy Lord.

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com.  February 13 Blessed in the Field Blessed shalt thou be in the field. (Deuteronomy 28:3)  So was Isaac blessed when he walked therein at eventide to meditate. How often has the Lord met us when we have been alone! The hedges and the trees can bear witness to our joy. We look for such blessedness again. So was Boaz blessed when he reaped his harvest, and his workmen met him with benedictions. May the Lord prosper all who drive the plow! Every farmer may urge this promise with God, if indeed he obeys the voice of the Lord God. We go to the field to labor as father Adam did; and since the curse fell on the soil through the sin of Adam the first, it is a great comfort to find a blessing through Adam the second. We go to the field for exercise, and we are happy in the belief that the Lord will bless that ex

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 12 God Delights to Give And the Lord said unto Abraham, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. (Genesis 13:14-15)  A special blessing for a memorable occasion. Abram had settled a family dispute. He had said, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me, for we be brethren"; and hence he received the blessing which belongs to peacemakers. The Lord and giver of peace delights to man ifest His grace to those who seek peace and pursue it. If we desire closer communion with God, we must keep closer to  the ways of peace. Abram had behaved very generously to his kinsman, giving him his c

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 11 Are the Children In? I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. (Isaiah 44:3)  Our dear children have not the Spirit of God by nature, as we plainly see. We see much in them which makes us fear as to their future, and this drives us to agonizing prayer. When a son becomes specially perverse, we cry with Abraham, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee!" We would sooner see our daughters Hannahs than empresses. This verse should greatly encourage us. It follows upon the words, "Fear not, O Jacob, my servant," and it may well banish our fears. The Lord will give His Spirit; will give it plentifully, pouring it out; will give it effectually, so that it shall be a real and eternal blessing. Under this divine outpouring our children shall come forward, and "one shall

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 10 A Constant Witness For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. (Acts 22:15)  Paul was chosen to see and hear the Lord speaking to him out of heaven. This divine election was a high privilege for himself; but it was not intended to end with him; it was meant to have an influence upon others, yea, upon all men. It is to Paul that Europe owes the gospel at this hour. It is ours in our measure to be witnesses of that which the Lord has revealed to us, and it is at our peril that we hide the precious revelation. First, we must see and hear, or we shall have nothing to tell; but when we have done so, we must be eager to bear our testimony. It must be personal: "Thou shalt be." It must be for Christ: "Thou shalt be his witness." It must be constant and all absorbing; we

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 9 The Dross Purged And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:9)  Grace transmutes us into precious metal, and then the fire and the furnace follows as a necessary consequence. Do we start at this? Would we sooner be accounted worthless, that we might enjoy repose, like the stones of the field! This would be to choose the viler part—like Esau, to take the pottage and give up the covenant portion. No, Lord; we will gladly be cast into the furnace rather than be cast out from Thy presence! The fire only refines; it does not destroy. We are to be brought through the fire, not left

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 8 Joyful Security I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10)  Fear of falling is wholesome. To be venturesome is no sign of wisdom. Times come to us when we feel that we must go down unless we have a very special support. Here we have it. God's right hand is a grand thing to lean upon. Mind, it is not only His hand, though it keepeth heaven and earth in their places, but His right hand: His power united with skill, His power where it is most dexterous. Nay, this is not all; it is written, "I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." That hand which He uses to maintain His holiness and to execute His royal sentences—this shall be stretched out to hold up His trusting ones. Fearful is our danger, but joyful is our security. The man whom God uphol

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 7 Return from Backsliding If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. (Job 22:23)  Eliphaz, in this utterance, spoke a great truth, which is the summary of many an inspired Scripture. Reader, has sin pulled you down? Have you become like a ruin? Has the hand of the Lord gone out against you so that in estate you are impoverished and in spirit you are broken down? Was it your own folly which brought upon you all this dilapidation? Then the first thing to be done is to return to the Lord. With deep repentance and sincere faith find your way back from your backsliding. It is your duty, for you have turned away from Him whom you professed to serve. It is your wisdom, for you cannot strive against Him and prosper. It is your immediate necessity, for what He has done is nothing compared to wh

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 6 Blessing in the City If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, blessed shalt thou be in the city. (Deuteronomy 28:2-3)  The city is full of care, and he who has to go there from day to day finds it to be a place of great wear and tear. It is full of noise, and stir, and bustle, and sore travail; many are its temptations, losses, and worries. But to go there with the divine blessing takes off the edge of its difficulty; to remain there with that blessing is to find pleasure in its duties and strength equal to its demands. A blessing in the city may not make us great, but it will keep us good; it may not make us rich, but it will preserve us honest. Whether we are porters, or clerks, or managers, or merchants, or magistrates, the city will afford us opportunities for usefulness. It

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 5 Justice Satisfied When I see the blood, I will pass over you. (Exodus 12:13)  My own sight of the precious blood is for my comfort; but it is the Lord's sight of it which secures my safety. Even when I am unable to behold it, the Lord looks at it and passes over me because of it. If I am not so much at ease as I ought to be, because my faith is dim, yet I am equally safe because the Lord's eye is not dim, and He sees the blood of the great Sacrifice with steady gaze. What a joy is this! The Lord sees the deep inner meaning, the infinite fullness of all that is meant by the death of His dear Son. He sees it with restful memory of justice satisfied and all His matchless attributes glorified. He beheld creation in its progress and said, "It is very good"; but what does He say of redemption in its co

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 4 He Will Return I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:18)  He left us, and yet we are not left orphans. He is our comfort, and He is gone; but we are not comfortless. Our comfort is that He will come to us, and this is consolation enough to sustain us through His prolonged absence. Jesus is already on His way: He says, "I come quickly": He rides posthaste toward us. He says, "I will come": and none can prevent His coming, or put it back for a quarter of an hour. He specially says, "I will come to you"; and so He will. His coming is specially to and for His own people. This is meant to be their present comfort while they mourn that the Bridegroom doth not yet appear. When we lose the joyful sense of His presence we mourn, but we may not sorrow as if there were no hope. Our

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 3 He Freely Gives He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)  If this is not a promise in form, it is in fact. Indeed, it is more than one promise, it is a conglomerate of promises. It is a mass of rubies, and emeralds, and diamonds, with a nugget of gold for their setting. It is a question which can never be answered so as to cause us any anxiety of heart. What can the Lord deny us after giving us Jesus? If we need all things in heaven and earth, He will grant them to us: for if there had been a limit anywhere, He would have kept back His own Son. What do I want today? I have only to ask for it. I may seek earnestly, but not as if I had to use pressure and extort an unwilling gift from the Lord's hand; fo

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 2 Grow Up And ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)  Yes, when the sun shines, the sick quit their chambers and walk abroad to breathe the fresh air. When the sun brings spring and summer, the cattle quit their stalls and seek pasture on the higher Alps. Even thus, when we have conscious fellowship with our Lord, we leave the stall of despondency and walk abroad in the fields of holy confidence. We ascend to the mountains of joy and feed on sweet pasturage which grows nearer heaven than the provender of carnal men. To "go forth" and to "grow up" is a double promise. O my soul, be thou eager to enjoy both blessings! Why shouldst thou be a prisoner? Arise, and walk at liberty. Jesus saith that His sheep shall go in and out and find pasture; go forth, then, and feed in t

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. February 1 Never Despair But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. (Malachi 4.2)  Fulfilled once in the first advent of our glorious Lord, and yet to have a fuller accomplishment in His second advent, this gracious word is also for daily use. Is it dark with the reader? Does the night deepen into a denser blackness? Still let us not despair: the sun will yet rise. When the night is darkest, dawn is nearest. The sun which will arise is of no common sort. It is the Sun—the Sun of Righteousness, whose every ray is holiness. He who comes to cheer us, comes in the way of justice as well as of mercy, comes to violate no law even to save us. Jesus as much displays the holiness of God as His love. Our deliverance, when it comes, will be safe because righteo

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. January 31 God Always Hears My God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)  Friends may be unfaithful, but the Lord will not turn away from the gracious soul; on the contrary, He will hear all its desires. The prophet says, "Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. A man's enemies are the men of his own house." This is a wretched state of affairs; but even in such a case the Best Friend remains true, and we may tell Him all our grief. Our wisdom is to look unto the Lord and not to quarrel with men or women. If our loving appeals are disregarded by our relatives, let us wait upon the God of our salvation, for He will hear us. He will hear us all the more because of the unkindness and oppression of others, and we shall soon have reason to cry, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy!" Because God is the

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. January 30 A Heavenly Escort And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. (Genesis 28:15)  Do we need journeying mercies? Here are choice ones—God's presence and preservation.  In all places we need both of these, and in all places we shall have them if we go at the call of duty, and not merely according to our own fancy. Why should we look upon removal to another country as a sorrowful necessity when it is laid upon us by the divine will? In all lands the believer is equally a pilgrim and a stranger; and yet in every region the Lord is His dwelling place, even as He has been to His saints in all generations. We may miss the protection of an earthly monarch, but when God says, "I will keep thee," we are in no real danger. This is a blessed passport for a trave

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. January 29 Obedience Brings Blessing Observe and hear all these words, which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God. (Deuteronomy 12:28)  Though salvation is not by the works of the law, yet the blessings which are promised to obedience are not denied to the faithful servants of God. The curses our Lord took away when He was made a curse for us, but no clause of blessing has been abrogated. We are to note and listen to the revealed will of the Lord, giving our attention not to portions of it but to "all these words." There must be no picking and choosing but an impartial respect to all that God has commanded. This is the road of blessedness for the Father and for His children. The

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. January 28 Tears Shall Cease And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 21:4)  Yes, we shall come to this if we are believers. Sorrow shall cease, and tears shall be wiped away. This is the world of weeping, but it passes away. There shall be a new heaven and a new earth, so says the first verse of this chapter; and therefore there will be nothing to weep over concerning the Fall and its consequent miseries. Read the second verse and note how it speaks of the bride and her marriage. The Lamb's wedding is a time for boundless pleasure, and tears would be out of place. The third verse says that God Himself will dwell among men; and surely at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore, and tears can no longer flow. What will our state be when there will be no more sorrow, nor crying, ne

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. January 26 God Routs Fear Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. (Numbers 23:23)  How this should cut up root and branch all silly, superstitious fears! Even if there were any truth in witchcraft and omens, they could not affect the people of the Lord. Those whom God blessed, devils cannot curse. Ungodly men, like Balaam, may cunningly plot the overthrow of the Lord's Israel; but with all their secrecy and policy they are doomed to fail. Their powder is damp; the edge of their sword is blunted. They gather together; but as the Lord is not with them, they gather together in vain. We may sit still and let them weave their nets, for we shall not be taken in them. Though they call in the aid of Beelzebub and employ all his serpentine craft, it will avail th

Daily Devotions from Charles Spurgeon, read by Doug Smith.  To read the entire book online, visit spurgeon.org.  For more information about the program, visit brotherdougsmith.wordpress.com. January 25 He Acts on Honest Confession He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. (Job 33:27-28)  This is a word of truth, gathered from the experience of a man of God, and it is tantamount to a promise. What the Lord has done, and is doing, He will continue to do while the world standeth. The Lord will receive into His bosom all who come to Him with a sincere confession of their sin; in fact, He is always on the lookout to discover any that are in trouble because of their faults. Can we not endorse the language here used? Have we not sinned, sinned personally so as to say, "I have sinned"? Sinned willfully, having perverted that which is right? Sinned so