Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892)

Who Was He?

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born on 19 June 1834 in Kelvedon, Essex, England, into a family of preachers — both his father and grandfather were Congregationalist ministers. He was dramatically converted at the age of sixteen when, caught in a snowstorm, he stumbled into a small Primitive Methodist chapel and heard a lay preacher speak on Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.” The simple message pierced his heart and he was born again.

Within the year he was installed as pastor of a small Baptist congregation, and by the age of twenty he had been called to New Park Street Chapel in London — one of the most significant Baptist churches in the country. His preaching immediately drew enormous crowds. The chapel was far too small, and after moving to several larger venues, the Metropolitan Tabernacle was built in 1861 to seat 6,000 people.

Spurgeon preached to an estimated ten million people over his lifetime, trained nearly nine hundr ed pastors through his Pastors’ College, founded an orphanage, and wrote prolifically — his collected sermons filling sixty-three volumes and still being read today. He preached typically four times a week and knew his 6,000 members by name.

Despite his extraordinary ministry, Spurgeon suffered greatly from gout, depression, and the grief of false accusations from fellow ministers. He never ceased preaching through his suffering, and many of his deepest writings on prayer came from his darkest seasons. He died in Menton, France, on 31 January 1892, aged 57, and is still widely regarded as the greatest preacher of the modern era.

A Great Answer to Prayer Early in his ministry at New Park Street Chapel, Spurgeon faced a crisis of faith. The congregation was small and declining. He prayed earnestly for God to fill the church with souls.

Within months of his arrival, the building was overflowing, the aisles jammed, and thousands stood outside straining to hear. Spurgeon testified that this dramatic turnaround was purely and entirely an answer to prayer.

More profoundly, Spurgeon often spoke of the prayer meeting as the engine of Metropolitan Tabernacle. He said the Monday evening prayer meeting — attended by thousands every week — was the secret of everything the Tabernacle accomplished. When asked about the power of his ministry, he would take visitors to the basement where hundreds of people could be found on their knees at any hour. “Here,” he said, “is the powerhouse.”

One of the most celebrated stories in Spurgeon's ministry involves a bedridden woman who read of D.L. Moody's meetings in America. She began praying specifically for God to send a great preacher to her own church in London. Unknown to her, Moody arrived in England and was invited — by the pastor of her very congregation — to preach. The result was extraordinary — hundreds coming to faith in a single meeting. Spurgeon used this story repeatedly to demonstrate the power of one praying person.

Key Scriptures Jeremiah 33:3 — “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

Hebrews 4:16 — “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Matthew 21:22 — “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

His Words on Prayer “True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length.”

“Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence.”

“The power of prayer can never be overrated. They who cannot serve God by preaching need not regret. If a man can but pray, he can do anything. He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and earth at hi s disposal.”

“After all, prayer is nothing but taking God's promises to Him, and saying to Him, “Do as Thou hast said.” Prayer is the promise utilised. A prayer which is not based on a promise has no true foundation.”

“In prayer, we stand where angels bo w with veiled faces. There, even there, the cherubim and seraphim adore before that selfsame throne to which our prayers ascend. And shall we come there with stunted requests and narrow, contracted faith?”

Prayer and the Word of God “Whenever you cannot u nderstand a text, open your Bible, bend your knee, and pray over that text. Prayer is the key that opens the cabinets of mystery. Prayer and faith are sacred picklocks that can open secrets and obtain great treasures.”

“The best praying man is the man who is most believingly familiar with the promises of God. After all, prayer is nothing but taking God's promises to Him, and saying to Him, “Do as Thou hast said.””

Prayer and the Holy Spirit “Prayer is the creation of the Holy Spirit. We cannot do without prayer, and we cannot pray without the Holy Spirit.”

“If you could pray the best prayer in the world without the Holy Spirit, God would have nothing to do with it. But if your prayer be broken and lame and limping, if the Spirit made it, God will look upo n it and say, as He did upon the works of creation, “It is very good.””

“Prayer is the autograph of the Holy Ghost upon the renewed heart.”