Prayer CXIX
O Lord! Infinite Love, Fountain of all good. Rock of Ages, Thou Home of our hearts, and Friend of all. Help us to draw near to Thee now with true hearts, and not only in this outward form of worship, but may our thoughts be set free from low and earthly cares; and our joys and our sorrows, our circumstances and our duties, impel us towards Thyself, and not hinder us from drawing near to Thee.
We thank Thee, O Lord, for the firm assurance which we all may have of Thy fatherly heart, of Thy changeless goodness, of the infinite wisdom and tenderness of all Thy purposes towards us. And we beseech Thee that the strength-giving and ennobling assurances that we are in amity with Thee, and compassed about by Thee, for our blessedness and defence, may enter into every part of our lives, and may satisfy every part of our natures, and make us possessors indeed of God.
O Lord! we come to Thee now to claim our portion in that great and free forgiveness which frankly pardons great or small sin. And we beseech Thee that we may understand ourselves so as to know that whatever may have been the outward purity and righteousness of our lives, we belong to those who have much forgiven. When we think of our own inward nature, of our wandering and wayward wills, of our many rebellions against Thee, of the selfishness which has covered so much of our lives, of the negligence and slothfulness towards things that are good, of the feeble resolutions so often broken almost as soon as made, of the gulf between what we ought and what we would do, and of all the manifold acts of weakness and unworthiness which even men can see in us, and we ourselves can see, we would bow ourselves before Thee, and acknowledge the greatness of our transgressions. Then we would stretch out the hand of faith to lay hold on the greater greatness of Thy pardoning mercy. Our iniquities are more than the hairs of our head, but Thy thoughts which are to usward, and are all thoughts of goodness and mercy, are more even than they. So we dare to look up, and we come to Thee, O Lord, in the assurance that Thou art glad to welcome back Thy wandering children, and art ready to give us of the richest gifts which it is possible for us to receive.
We pray that Thy good Spirit may be with us in our service of this evening. Thou knowest how unfit we are to speak to our brethren gathered here. But we pray that Thou wouldst help, that Thou wouldst teach and inspire, that Thou wouldst give thoughts and words, that Thou wouldst carry Thy truth to the hearts and consciences of all of us that hear; and we pray, Lord! that some wandering child of Thine may be brought back this evening, and that some of us who have seen no beauty in Jesus Christ that we should desire Him may learn that He is the altogether lovely, and the Pearl of great price.
Bless our meeting together, OLord; and whatever other purposes it may serve or fail to attain, may there be set forth amongst us the glory of Christ’s Name, and the power of His Cross. We thank Thee for all Thy loving-kindness and tender care over us. We pray for one another, and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst be near each of us, according to our different necessities and characters. Thou hast laid Thy hand heavily upon some of us. There are some sad hearts here this evening. We beseech Thee to be very tender and gracious to such. Some wounds can only be bound up by Thy gentle hand, but we bless Thee that bandage and balm are with Thee. And we pray that Thou wouldst come near any of us that are sad and weary, perplexed and lonely, desolate or forsaken, and be to each of us that which we most need, whether it is that which we most desire or no.
And now. Lord, we desire to commend ourselves to Thy gracious care, and humbly renew our petitions for Thy help and blessing in our worship, and offer our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, of loving hearts and trusting, through Jesus Christ our Saviour-Lord.