Terence Peter Crosby has done us a favor by compiling and editing C.H. Spurgeon’s Forgotten Prayer Meeting Addresses (Day One Publications, 2011), a collection of addresses on prayer which were not included in the massive collections of Spurgeon’s sermons. This is a gem for anyone who appreciates Spurgeon- and who can’t use encouragement in prayer?

Here is one gem from the book as Spurgeon considers Jacob’s wrestling in Genesis 32:

There was something in Jacob that was too strong, so he had to be made weaker. He was much too clever, and cunning, and crafty, for the Lord to bless him as he was; and there are many of God’s children, nowadays, who are very much like him. They know too much, they feel themselves too strong, they have not enough of the true child spirit, they are not little enough and humble enough for God to bless them.

So Jacob, being so big in his own estimation, had to be taken down a great deal before he was fit to receive the blessing that God intended to give him. (12)