September 9, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." — Jeremiah 33:3 · KJV

There are different translations of these words. One renders it, "I will show thee great and fortified things"; another, "great and reserved things." Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience; not all the developments of the spiritual life are equally easy to attain. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, faith, joy, and hope, enjoyed by the whole family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and of conscious union with Christ that is far from being the common dwelling place of believers. We do not all have the high privilege of John, to lean on Jesus' breast, nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in the experiential knowledge of the things of God that the eagle eye of intellect and philosophy has never seen; God alone can bear us there. But the chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds that draw it, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing prayer is victorious with the God of mercy: "By his strength he had power with God; yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto Him; he found Him in Bethel, and there He spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian up to Pisgah and shows him the inheritance reserved; it lifts us to Tabor and transfigures us, until, in the likeness of our Lord, as He is, so are we also in this world. If you would reach something higher than an ordinary, groveling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of importunate prayer. When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other.