Won or Lost on Saturday Night

Guest post by Darryl Dash

Good advice from J.I. Packer in A Quest for Godliness:

Preparing the heart is the most important matter of all, for the Lord's Day is pre-eminently "a day for heart-work." From this point of view, the battle for our Sundays is usually won or lost on the foregoing Saturday night, when time should be set aside for self-examination, confession and prayer for the coming day. Richard Baxter's young people's fellowship used to spend three hours each Saturday evening preparing together for the Sabbath in this way. "If thou wouldst thus leave thy heart with God on the Saturday night," Swinnock assures us, "thou shouldest find it with him in the Lord's-day morning." The last rule for preparation comes from the supremely practical mind of Richard Baxter: "Go seasonably to bed, that you may not be sleepy on the Lord's Day."

P.S. Thanks to Zach for the privilege of guest blogging here the past few days.