Prayer XV
O Lord our God, help us, we beseech Thee, that our hand of faith may indeed grasp that strong Refuge, and that our souls may be bound close to Thee. We thank Thee that though our hand be weak Thine is strong. Thou dost lay hold of us by all the manifestations of Thy love around and within us. Thou dost lay hold on us most chiefly by Him Who is the Arm of the Lord; and we pray that we may never shift ourselves away, or wrench ourselves away, from that loving grasp wherewith we are apprehended of God. We beseech Thee to help us rather to respond to it, to lay hold on Him Who lays hold of us, and by our humble faith answering to Christ’s great faithfulness; and working to make our own all the blessings, the sweetness, the power, the purity which Thou hast treasured for the world in Him, we come to Thee now, O Lord, with thanksgivings for Thy great mercies to us. Strange they are, and numberless too. We bless Thee that we have a place in Thy heart, and that Thou dost make it plain to us that we have by a hundred blessings bestowed upon us day by day. And we beseech Thee that whatever be our present circumstances, whatever drops of bitterness Thou mayest have been pleased to mingle in our cup, we may still take it as the cup of salvation, and drink, calling upon the Name of the Lord.
Help us, we pray Thee, in all circumstances to keep an untrembling, unchanging faith, and at all times to be ready to do Thy will, and to bear Thy will. Strengthen our weakness, lighten our darkness, accompany us in our loneliness, lead our feeble feet in the paths of righteousness which Thou hast before ordained that we should walk in them, and give us ever to see the recompense of the reward, and to be drawn towards the great Light beyond.
We thank Thee for this opportunity of uniting our prayers, praises, and meditations together again. We pray that we may find not only our fellow-worshippers, but our Father and our High Priest in this service; and that all of us may be drawn nearer to Thee, comforted and helped, rebuked and guided, stimulated and inspired by our meeting together this morning, and that the Name of the Lord may be magnified among us. Hear us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, in this our prayer; in Thy mercy accept of us, and forgive and bless us, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.