Learning to Pray the Bible with Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon drew upon a vast reservoir of language and imagery in the Bible for all his prayers. Spurgeon’s assortment of scriptural quotations, images, and allusions in his pulpit prayers evidenced an understanding that the language of prayer must be infused with the language of Scripture.
Dinsdale Young, who heard Spurgeon preach and later compiled prayers of his, stated that as memorable as it was to hear Spurgeon preach, it was even more so to hear him pray. What he prayed was even more profound and beautiful than what he preached. Likewise, Charles Cook, who knew Spurgeon’s son Thomas and also published a selection of Spurgeon’s prayers, observed that “Spurgeon’s power did not lie wholly in his exceptional preaching gifts. He was a mighty man of prayer.” Little wonder, then, that the greatest impression on the American evangelist D.L. Moody upon his first visit to the Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1867 was not Spurgeon’s preaching – it was Spurgeon’s praying!
Spurgeon held a high view of prayer, evidenced not only by his teachings and exhortations on it but also by his practice. He preached numerous sermons on prayer, wrote multiple books about it, and gave advice to his pastoral students in lectures on it. He commended prayer to his congregants for personal and family practice and labored especially public prayer. He called public praying “the end of preaching,” even telling students, “If I may have my choice, I will sooner yield up the sermon than the prayer.” Young observed that for Spurgeon, “prayer was the instinct of his soul, and the atmosphere of his life.” In particular, Young recognized Spurgeon’s knowledge and reach of Scripture:
Mr. Spurgeon lived and moved and had his being in the Word of God. He knew its remoter reaches, its nooks and crannies. Its spirit had entered into his spirit; and when he prayed, the Spirit of God brought all manner of precious oracles to mind.
How were those “oracles,” “nooks and crannies,” and “remoter reaches” of the Word manifested in the pulpit prayers of Spurgeon? And how can we learn to do the same?
(To jump straight to the prayer, click on the link, then click the “View this Resource” button.)
Use Direct Scriptural Quotations in Your Prayers
One obvious way was in the use of direct scriptural quotations. Spurgeon quoted extensively from both testaments of the Bible in his prayers, especially from the Psalms and the Gospels. A favorite psalm of his to quote from was Psalm 67. He frequently included verses 3 and 5 from Psalm 67 in the closings of his prayers as he interceded for the salvation of the unconverted, envisioning more people being added to the company of believers and joining with them in praise to God alone who saves. One example can be found in the prayer, “The Love Without Measure or End,”
Lord, save men, gather out the company of the redeemed people; let those whom the Father gave to Christ be brought out from among the ruins of the fall to be His joy and crown. “Let the people praise You, O God, yea, let all the people praise You.” Let the ends of the earth fear Him who died to save them.
Note how in that intercession for the unsaved Spurgeon employed Ps 67:3, 5 as a doxological response to God’s saving act. We can likewise use Scripture quotations in praise to God for his anticipated acts of salvation or deliverance.
From the Gospels, Spurgeon repeatedly quoted from the Lord’s Prayer, specifically the first two lines of it, using those lines in the openings and closings of his prayers as well as in specific intercessions. One of the best examples of this is the prayer, “On Holy Ground.” Near the middle of that prayer, Spurgeon was again interceding for the lost and prayed this:
Oh! how we pray for this, the salvation of our fellow men, not so much for their sakes as for the sake of the glory of God and the rewarding of Christ for His pain. We do with all our hearts pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Lord, help us to do Your will. Take the crippled kingdom of our manhood and reign You over it.
Notice how Spurgeon weaved lines of the Lord’s Prayer into a prayer for the salvation of others, all the while upholding the glory of God himself as the overarching reason for that salvation! Similarly, we can appropriate God’s words to us in our words of prayer back to God and acknowledge his transcendence and pre-eminence as we do.
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The Left’s Convenient Scapegoat
The notion that white evangelicals as a group are more desirous of political power than other religious groups is simply a myth. So why all the attention to white evangelicals instead of other politically active religious and non-religious groups? The shock of Trump’s victory in 2016 sent much of the media and academia looking for a scapegoat to explain that electoral win. The high percentage of white evangelicals who supported Trump made them a natural candidate.
Once again, the topic of Christian nationalism is all the rage. It has become on the left what woke is on the right—a way to tar one’s ideological opponents. “Christian nationalism” can mean just about anything negative one wants it to mean. However, before I deconstruct this controversy let me be up front. I think it was a mistake, and not a small amount of hypocrisy, for Christians to support Donald Trump. That mistake is compounded by an almost blind loyalty that many Christians continue to give him. My criticism of how Christian nationalism is used should not be confused with a feeble attempt to defend Christian activism in all its forms.
Furthermore, let me assert that Christian nationalism does exist. I do not know the extent of the problem, but I have seen disturbing comments on social media advocating for a Christian state that treats those of other religions as second-class citizens. Often such individuals also make arguments supporting notions of a white ethnostate. I do not know the extent of such sentiment, and that is part of the problem, but it is a mistake to assume that Christian nationalism is a total myth.
I recently learned that the term Christian nationalism may have emerged in 2006 in a book titled Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. But it did not get much attention until 2016.
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Does the Bible Limit Gender to Just Male and Female?
When God chose to remake the world, he only preserved males and females because those two exhausted the gender categories of both humans and animals. The reason behind this decision seems consistent with the reason found in the initial creation of Genesis: The gender binary was directly tied to procreation. Only a male and female (no more and no less) are needed to be fruitful and multiply.
There’s a trendy new idea that denies God created only two genders (male and female). What’s the proof? Frogs. That’s right. Proponents of this view claim frogs are evidence that the gender binary of the Bible is a myth. If you’re puzzled by this, that’s understandable. Here’s how the argument works.
Defenders of this position point out that in Genesis 1, Scripture says God made creatures that live on the land and creatures that swim in the water. Frogs, however, are amphibians and aren’t exclusively land or water creatures. They don’t fit neatly in either of those creature classifications. So, although Genesis describes the creation of land and water creatures, it does not account for every kind of animal that God made.
In the same way, so the argument goes, even though Scripture says that God made humans “male and female” (Gen. 1:27), those two categories can’t account for every kind of human. God also created non-binary people—those who aren’t either male or female.
Now, there is some truth to what is being said. Many of the binary categories mentioned in the Genesis narrative don’t fully account for everything that’s created. For example, the Bible says God made day and night—allegedly the only two categories during a 24-hour period—but there’s also sunrise, sunset, dusk, and dawn that are neither day nor night.
Notice, however, in those cases (land/sea creatures, night/day), Scripture later references some of the natural variations between these binary extremes. For example, the Bible mentions frogs over a dozen times, acknowledging the existence of animals that are neither land nor sea creatures. Scripture also references dawn and twilight, even though they don’t fit the binary category of day and night.
This, however, is not the case with the binary category of male and female described in Genesis. There is never a later scriptural reference to another kind of human that falls outside the binary male-female gender category. If humans were made that were neither male nor female, why doesn’t Scripture say so?
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PCA Minister Jayson Duane Kyle Called Home to Glory
In 2001 the Kyles moved to New York City where Jay began work as the Vice-President of Asia and Latin America for Redeemer City to City. While traveling the past 20 years throughout Asia and Latin America, Jay was fortunate to see fruit from his labor. What started as a partnership working in four cities in China now has a footprint of work in over 150 cities.
Jayson Duane Kyle, age 70 of Franklin, TN entered into his well-deserved heavenly rest on March 19, 2022. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. Jay devoted his life that others might hear of and place their faith in Jesus. He was surrounded by his family as he passed into glory as well as a great cloud of witnesses around the world praying for and singing with him.
Preceded in death by his father John Emory Kyle and mother Lois Rowland Kyle. Survived by this wife of 47 years Maureen Lyman Kyle, his children Jennifer Walsh of Franklin, TN, Amy Case of West Palm Beach, FL, and Jeffrey Kyle of New York, NY, nine grandchildren: Harper, Kaila, Maddie, Lily, Watson Case; Riley, Cara, Anna Walsh; and John David Kyle; as well as his siblings Arlette McGrigg (Waxhaw, NC), Marc Kyle (Atlanta, GA), Darlene Navis (Cayman Islands), along with his nieces and nephews.
Jay was born in Salem, Oregon on April 27, 1951 to John and Lois Kyle. He was the second of four kids. After John and Lois came to faith while living in San Francisco, they packed their family up and moved to the East Coast to attend Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA. Following seminary they pastored a church in Hazard, Kentucky, and then joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in Manila, Philippines where Jay spent his middle and high school years.
Jay met his wife Maureen while attending Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. He attended seminary at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) and from there they moved to Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Coming back to the States, Jay served in various roles at Mission to the World (MTW). They moved to Mexico City, Mexico in 1987 with their three kids where they served for 14 years.
In 2001 the Kyles moved to New York City where Jay began work as the Vice-President of Asia and Latin America for Redeemer City to City. While traveling the past 20 years throughout Asia and Latin America, Jay was fortunate to see fruit from his labor. What started as a partnership working in four cities in China now has a footprint of work in over 150 cities. Jay’s work in Asia led to the formation of City to City Asia Pacific and personally helped catalyze church planting efforts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, India, and Thailand, among others. City to City Latin America was also formed and is currently serving in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, among others.
Jay had this wonderful love of people. He had this ability to make someone feel like there were the most important person in the room and that their life and story mattered. Jay wanted people to know the love of God through Jesus and gave his life so that more people could have that opportunity.
Jay loved his children and grandchildren. He loved being silly and serious. Jay loved people so well that he not only leaves behind Maureen, Jenny, Amy, and Jeff, and his grandchildren, but so many people count Jay as their friend, brother, father figure, and mentor.
Jay ran the race set before him with joy and determination.
A private family burial will be in Williamson Memorial Gardens on Friday, March 25. He will be laid to rest in the Memory Garden spot 78A2. Celebration of Life service will take place at 4pm, Saturday, March 26, 2022 followed by a reception at Christ Community Church, 1215 Hillsboro Road, Franklin, TN 37069. Randy Lovelace will officiate.
In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to Redeemer City to City.
Flowers are being arranged by Always in Bloom in Franklin.
