Prayer CXXX

O Lord! we thank Thee that whilst we bow before Thy majesty we can think of Thy love. We thank Thee that we have learnt, may we never forget the lesson, that the Throne of God is the Throne of grace. Surely Thou dost delight to give; surely Thou dost delight to forgive. Surely Thy joy is in bending down to our lowliness and replenishing our emptiness, and cleansing our sinfulness and helping our helplessness. Strengthen us now to lift up the empty hands which Thou dost delight to fill, and to open the hearts which Thou dost delight to enter. Blessed be Thy Name! Thou art first in all things. Thou givest before we ask, and whilst we are yet speaking Thou dost hear. May the instantaneous answer of peace, and of felt truth, and loosening of the bonds of earth, come to each of us now. So may we be taught to accept greater things from God, and to pray with a firmer belief in the power of the answers of prayer.

We lift up our hearts to Thee now, O Lord, in humble thanksgiving. Truly we have to praise Thy Name which alone is excellent. Thy glory above the united praises of Heaven and earth. We draw near to Thee and rejoice that we too can claim that through Jesus Christ we are brought nigh unto God. May we all find it so. And whatever may be the hindrances of our circumstances, or in our own weak hearts, of fellowship with Thyself, may all these hindrances be overcome, and for each of us this be what Thou dost intend it to be, an hour of true fellowship with God, when we shall be, in some measure, emancipated from the bonds of daily life, and lifted nearer to the Source of our true life.

We pray for Thy help, for Thy teaching, for the communication, through these outward services, of the greatest gifts of Thy love and spirit. May none of us draw near to Thee only in outward form, or thinking that we shall be heard for our much speaking, or caring not whether we are heard at all. But may we all, even here in our united aspect, enter into our closet, and shut to the door, and pray to our Father in secret. We bless Thee that both things may be true, that our worship now may be the gathered worship of Thy people, and the solitary flight of the single soul to the alone God. Strengthen us for the reception of Thy gifts, which Thou art more willing to bestow than we are to receive, and for the discharge of all the duties which Thy loving hand lays upon us. In Thy great mercy forgive and answer us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour-Lord.