Prayer CXXXV
O Lord! we thank Thee for the gospel of peace, of peace with Thee, with ourselves, with all Thy providence, and with the whole world. May Thy peace guard and abide in all our hearts. Help us to come very near to Thee, in thought and desire, in faith and submission. Thou hast given great blessings to them whose wills are bowed to Thine, and whose prayers are the expression of their submissive will.
We beseech Thee that our prayers may be sweet indeed, because Thou dost give the spirit by which we pray; and that all our desires, being spoken to Thee, may be purged and elevated. We confess, O Lord, that we have often wandered from the highest good, and have chased after vanities, and become vain like the things that we pursue. We thank Thee for the test of prayer whereby we may discern the wrongness of many of our wishes, and be delivered from the feverishness of hot and earthly desires, and brought into the sanity of longing most for what we are quite sure that it is Thy will to get us.
Lord! we need Thee above all else; we need Thy love. Thy strength, Thy righteousness. We bless Thee that righteousness and strength and love are all treasured for us boundlessly in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Possessing Him we may be filled with all the fulness of God. Thou hast taught us to open wide our mouths when Thou hast taught us such a prayer. May it be the deepest desire of each of us, and may we be delivered from all that would draw us away from Thee, and preserve us from setting our hearts upon the things that are not. May all our true desires and joys, and our true possessions and experienced wealth, be in the things that are, and which can never be taken from us.
Lord! we come to Thee with humble petitions that Thou wouldst deliver us from any faults of character, and wouldst reveal to us the points wherein we are contrary to Thy holy will. We know that with us all there are many evil things of which we are not aware, and we pray the ancient prayer that Thou wouldst deliver us from secret faults. May we never shrink from the light which Thou dost bring to bear, that the candle of the Lord may search our inmost parts. May we be glad when the hidden evil is brought to light, and allow ourselves in nothing, great or small, habitual or occasional, which we do not know to be in accordance with Thy holy will. Help us to be our own most rigid judges, and to be ever charitable to one another.
We pray for Thy pardoning mercy, O Lord, and, if it might be, we would pray still more for Thy cleansing mercy, that we may be purged from all our evil, and made without spot and blameless, even in Thy sight. Give each of us the help that we most need for various duties and sorrows, and for all the discipline of life. Help us that we may never petulantly put away Thy hand, nor negligently forget Thy power. May we carry Thee into every corner of our lives, and all that we do be done as for Thee, and as by Thee. May we walk before Thee and be perfect; may we walk with Thee and be at rest. May we walk after Thee, and do Thou guide us by Thy counsel.
We bless Thee that we can be sure of the loving purpose of all that annoys and distresses and perplexes. O Lord! may our faith not fail when we need it most. May it not only be in the easy days that we say, ‘It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good.’ But may that saying be our voice in the darkness and the storm, and may all our sorrows and trials be precious to us — the root and the buds that shall produce ‘the peaceable fruit.’
Give us Thy blessing as we are gathered in Thy presence now. Lead and guide us in all our thoughts and meditations. Give us a word to speak from Thyself, and may all our hearts be prepared to hear, not what man says, but what God says to us. And we pray that Thy good Spirit may come down upon this congregation; and we ask that the abundance of Thy gracious influences may be poured out so that this may be a living church, from whom the word of the Lord sounds out, by lip and by life.
With like blessings, O Lord, we beseech Thee to visit all Christian people and communities of all names, and in all lands, and to grant that Thy servants at home and abroad may more and more lay to heart the solemn responsibilities that devolve upon God’s witnesses. Spread abroad the Name of Jesus Christ. May the world know Him that died for it. May the world bow to Him that lives to rule and bless it. Prosper the work of all our missionaries and missionary societies. In those days of distress and tribulation may Thy servants’ faith be strong, and do Thou give patience to them who are called upon to endure.
“We thank Thee, not for the martyrdoms, but for the martyrs’ crowns. We beseech Thee that once more the blood shed may be the seed of the Church. We commend ourselves, all whom we love, all Christian folk, to Thy gracious care. We pray that Thou wouldst bless our Sovereign, our rulers, all persons of influence and authority in this land who help to mould opinion and direct action, all writers and teachers and professors and students in colleges and places of learning. We thank Thee that the Name of Jesus Christ may be exalted in the world; and the infinite treasures of knowledge, and the wisdom and blessing which are shrined in Him, may be possessed and enjoyed by mankind.
Hear us in our prayer; be near us now, we beseech Thee; forgive our sins, and accept and bless us, through Christ our Saviour.