I was challenged by this short article on Charles Spurgeon and the prayer life of his church. Read it and then come out and prayer with us at 6:00 pm Sunday nights as we gather to sing a few songs, hear a couple of testimonies of God’s work in other believers’ lives and then gather into groups to pray to a God who hears prayer.

– Joe

Spurgeon and the Church Prayer Meeting

In his autobiography, C. H. Spurgeon described his gratitude for being blessed with such a praying church. “I always give all the glory to God, but I do not forget that He gave me the privilege of ministering to a praying people. We had prayer meetings that moved our very souls, each one appearing determined to storm the Celestial City by the might of intercession.”

Spurgeon regarded the prayer meeting as the spiritual thermometer of a church. His church’s Monday night prayer meeting had a worldwide testimony for many years. Every Monday night a large portion of the church sanctuary was filled with earnest and fervent intercessors. For him, this was the most important meeting of the week.

But it is here that we find ourselves in conflict with Spurgeon. We love the Sunday meetings for preaching and praise, and yet sadly neglect those meetings set aside for prayer. One of Spurgeon’s greatest concerns was that his people learn to truly pray. He taught them to pray, doing so far more by his example than by his preaching. People heard him pray with such a reality that they became ashamed of their own mere repetition of words.

D. L. Moody, after his first visit to England, was asked on his return to America, “Did you hear Spurgeon preach?” He replied, “Yes, but better still, I heard him pray.” Spurgeon fully recognized that the Church’s greatest need was not to have another “prince of preachers”, but to have more princes of prayer. Is it not likely that the church has been putting forth its preaching hand, but not its praying hand? Like Spurgeon, let us regard the prayer meeting as our most important meeting. Do you?

– David Smithers