Prayer CII
Unto Thee, O Lord, would we lift up our souls, but Thou knowest how hard we find it to loose them from the bonds which bind them to earth. And so we cry to Thee that Thou wouldst come down to us that we may rise to Thee. Thou hast promised that Thou wilt breathe into waiting hearts the desires which Thou dost delight to implant and to impart. And we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst look upon our earthly-mindedness with pity, and give us the buoyancy of earnest desire after Thee that we may have Thy hand upholding us whilst our souls follow hard after Thee.
We thank Thee for the helps which sense gives to spirit on this day and in this place. May we not tarry in the means, but pass beyond them to their great purpose, and hold fellowship in the depths of our hearts with our Father-God.
We beseech Thee to accept our humble thankfulness for all Thy loving-kindness and tender care, filtered to us through daily blessings, of the things that perish, and poured upon us in all its fulness in Thy unspeakable gift which carries with it the free gift of all things.
We thank Thee for Jesus Christ; we thank Thee for the love in Him; we thank Thee for that Divine Spirit which comes to abide in men’s hearts through faith in Thy Son. We thank Thee that unto them that believe in His Name Thou givest the authority to become sons of God. We pray that He in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge may be ours, and we be His, that all things may be ours also. We thank Thee for daily benefits; we beseech Thee to help us to look upon them more wisely, as the sacraments and pledges of Thy changeless love, and of the higher gifts which Thou art ready to bestow upon us; and that we may so use the things seen and temporal as that they shall confirm and increase our possession of the things that are unseen and eternal. May the life that now is, in outward things, lead us on to the life that is for ever, and standeth in the possession and the knowledge of God.
O Lord! cleanse our hearts, we pray, from all in them that is contrary to Thy holy will, and teach us to understand that will more deeply and more fully, for dormant lurking in our conduct and in our characters are actions and desires contrary to Thy holy self.
We pray Thee to strengthen us day by day to pursue the great task of cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst teach even us transgressors Thy way. We are emboldened to ask it because we know that good and upright is the Lord. And we thank Thee that Thy goodness and uprightness do not now, since we have learnt Thee in Jesus Christ, repel us from Thyself, but rather draw us to Thee. Surely Thy deepest desire is to make Thy children like the Father, and we pray then that Thy goodness and uprightness may communicate themselves to us, and that we may too be able to walk in the ways that are higher than our ways, and to think the thoughts that are higher than our thoughts.
O Lord! cleanse, purge, purify by Thy discipline and by Thy Spirit, and help us day by day to overcome in the conflict with our own evil, and to be lords and masters of the things around us. We beseech Thee for Thy blessing as we are gathered here this morning, and adore Thy loving-kindness and Thy tender care, which, knowing our frame and remembering that we are dust, dost permit and enjoin us to gather together thus, and help one another in the Divine life, and towards communion with Thyself. May we this morning truly have our fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And may our gathering together help each of us to fill up that which is lacking in our faith, and to be more assuredly and joyously in the possession of that power which cleanses from all unrighteousness, and makes partakers of the very fullness of God.
We beseech Thee to forgive our many sins, to accept our humble petitions, and to grant us the light of Thy countenance to shine in our hearts and on our paths, for the sake of Him Who brings all light into our darkness, even our Saviour Jesus Christ.