Prayer LXXIII
O Lord our God, we bow down before Thee, the blessed and only Potentate, and from the midst of death and the grave lift up our thoughts to Him Who only hast immortality; and we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst shine into our hearts with Thine own light, with that light which we can approach unto, and give us to see Thee in the face of Jesus Christ. We thank Thee that all in Thyself which puts us so far from Thee is brought near us in that Word that was made flesh, so that we can come even to Thy majesty and draw near to Thy heart, sinful as we are, and beseech Thee to love us as Thy children, and to give to us the spirit of adoption whereby we may cry, ‘Abba! Father! ’
O Lord! help us, we pray Thee, looking up to Thee, to see in Thee the living God Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, and so to bring all our gladness to be hallowed in Thy presence, and all our possessions to be held in stewardship for Thee, and to be used to Thy glory. And go with us, we pray Thee, through all the various scenes of daily life, and help us in them all to lay hold on the eternal life that is brought near to them by our faithful use of the life that passes away.
We thank Thee, O Lord, that we can come to Thee thus with all the burden of our weakness and weariness, of our cares and sorrows, of our failures and sins; and can beseech Thee that Thou wouldst take all the weight away from us, and help us with free hearts to draw nearer to Thyself and to live evermore in the light of Thy face. When we think of what we are, and what Thou wouldst have us to be, and of what we might be if we were faithful in our use of Thy gifts to us, we feel that no confession can be too humble. But we thank Thee that the lightest word of penitence is music in Thy ear. We pray that Thou wouldst teach us to understand ourselves fully, and to realise more completely than we have ever done how solemn and great are the demands that Thou dost make upon us, and the possibilities which Thou dost open to us.
O Lord! help us to gather into our hearts, and to make influential in our lives, larger and ever-increasing measures of Thy grace that is stored for us in Jesus Christ; and may we be able to do and to bear all things through that Christ Who ’ strengthens us with might by His Spirit in the inner man.’ Go with us, we beseech Thee, according to all the variety of our daily duties and present circumstances. We believe that Thou dost appoint, with fatherly care, to each of us our necessary share of joy or sorrow, of health and pain. And we pray that Thou wouldst help us to recognise more fully than we ever have done, and more constantly than we have done. Thy real presence in our daily lives, and Thy sweet ordering of all that is. And we beseech Thee to strengthen us to get all the good that Thou dost mean out of every changing condition here below, that these may all tend, like breaking waves of the sea, to carry us in thir current to the harbour.
We pray Thee to strengthen us with might by the Spirit in the inner man, that we may use all things here as helps and leaders to Thyself. ‘Forgive all the imperfections of our past, strengthen us for better service in the time to come., Enable us to realise more completely and joyously Thy continual presence with us. May it never be a dread, but always a delight, to have to say, ‘Thou, God, seest us,’ and in the light of Thy countenance may we walk unto all pleasing.
Give us Thy presence in our worship this evening. Forgive all the imperfection of our motives, the feebleness of our desires, the sluggishness and slothfulness of our faith. And help us as we bow here before Thee this evening that Thy word may shine out in its glory to us, and that we may be led nearer to Thyself, and made more fit for all the duty of our daily lives by our gathering together thus.
We beseech Thee to be near each of us in our various conditions. Comfort all sad hearts — speak Thy peace to troubled ones. Be very near us each, in all our perplexities and difficulties. And help us in all of them to follow the Lord Who leads us. We pray for Thy help to be given to all Christian people in their various circumstances, that wherever Thy servants are there may be Thy witnesses, and that all men may know whose are Thy children, and Whom they serve.
Accept us as we come near to Thee now, O Lord; forgive our many sins; break up the fallow ground of our hearts; put into our coldness earnest desires after Thee; and make this hour of prayer for us an hour of blessing, and of true communion with the living God. We beseech Thee to hear us, and forgive all our sins, and to bless us now in that great Saviour in Whose Name we present all our petitions.