Prayer VI
O Lord, our gracious Father, we come to Thee to pray that Thou wouldst help us to have our loins girded and our lamps burning; and that Thou wouldst strengthen us, with all energy and faithfulness, to labour at Thy command, and to offer all our works to Thee. May we increasingly be able to look beyond the things seen and temporal. May they be transparent to us, and shew us the things unseen and eternal. Help us not to make snares of what Thou dost mean for merciful occasions for growth in Thy likeness to Thee. Help us not to shut Thee out with the screens of our duties or of our blessedness. May we day by day be looking for, and hasting unto, the Lord in the brightness of His coming; and may our lips be all the more full of earnest service, because we know that the night is far spent and the day is at hand.
Regard us all now, in the light of our circumstances. Thou knowest these better than we know ourselves, and far better than we know one another. May Thy gracious wisdom guide us, and may we not resist Thy guidance. May they not fail to give us what Thou seest our condition most requires. May we not turn away from Thy gifts, nor squander or misuse them. Keep us from wasting our Lord’s substance, from wasting the substances that Thou dost give us. May we feel that we are stewards as well as possessors; and may we, in all things, seek to praise and glorify Thee. Bless us each according to our diverse requirements. Comfort any that are in sorrow; be near all lonely and sad hearts. Let sorrow and loss be ministers to us of joy and gain. And may any tribulation of any kind, great or small, any difficulty or perplexity, anything disagreeable or unwelcome that comes to us in the way of our duty be useful to, and minister good to, as. And do Thou grant that, amidst all losses and pains, we may hear the great Voice that says to us, ‘Come up hither! ’ and may we more and more set our affections on the things above, where Christ is; and with Him so many whom we know and loved, sitting at the right hand of God.
Help us each in our several parts in this service, that hearing we may hear what God the Lord shall speak, and speaking we may preach the preaching that He bids us. Hear, and forgive us, and accept our petitions through Jesus Christ our Saviour.