Browse by Genre

O Lord, our gracious and glorious Lord, who dwellest in the light inaccessible, and inhabitest the praises of Eternity, we would worship before Thee with the reverence and godly fear becoming us. Thou art holy, separated from all the limitations of Thy creatures, and far above our thoughts. But we bless Thee that Thou hast come near us, near us in Thy daily gracious providences, near us in the voice in our own hearts, near us best of all in Thy Son. And we thank Thee that, impassable for us as is the gulf between us and Thee, Thou hast bridged it over; and there is for us now a way into the Holiest of all, by which thoughts and love and trust and obedience can pass into Thy presence, and be united to Thee.

We thank Thee, Lord, for all Thy blessings to us. We praise Thee for daily care and nightly mercies. We beseech Thee that Thou wouldst help us to offer up to Thee not only the words of thanksgiving but the sacrifice of loving, trustful, and obedient hearts, and that our characters may become more like what Thou wouldst have us to be. We have to pray for the forgiveness of many imperfections and sins. We could not lose the consciousness of our own shortcomings. We pray Thee to deliver us from all illusions as to our own strength and our own righteousness. We pray Thee for quickened consciences, enlightened by Thee; and we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst preserve us from ever losing sight of our own deep necessities, or from ever seeing them so mountainous and great as that they obscure Thy greater mercy and Thy more than sufficient supplies. May we ever hold in one grasp our own need and Thy infinite riches, our own sinfulness and Thy free blessing, our own deficiencies and Thy wealth.

We beseech Thee to receive our acknowledgments; we pray that they may become more adequate and more operative in our lives, so that to us all the service shall be an honour, and all that the Lord lays upon us shall be a joy to accept and to do. Forgive our many sins, cleanse our hearts from their manifold evils, deliver us from all our errors, lead us into the full truth. May we live by the truth that we know, and be ever growing in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour. Hear us in our prayer, and in Thy great mercy forgive and accept us, through Christ our Lord.

Take us, O Lord, we pray Thee now, into Thy gracious care, and what we have failed to ask, or have asked amiss, do Thou give in large abundance, not for our sakes but for Christ’s sake, and for Thy own Name and love’s sake.

We pray that Thou wouldst use our many necessities and wants as open doors through which Thy grace may come into our hearts. We pray that we may keep open the door for the entrance of all Thy gifts. Draw near to us now, and help us always to wait on the Lord so that we shall not want any good. Thine ears are open to the cry of the righteous; make us righteous that our cry may ‘enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.’ Teach us how and what to desire. Help us to subordinate all our wishes for earthly things to the higher aspirations after greater and deeper good. May our lives be in accordance with that prayer; and may we, in all our daily pursuits and amidst all the temptations and distractions that belong to our earthly life, be seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Lord, we feel that our lives would be very different if that prayer were fulfilled, and we know that it is in Thy heart to fulfil it unless we hinder Thee. So we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst mould us, and discipline us so that we may cease to set our affections and minds on things of earth shutting out the things that are above where Christ is. We may not know what we ask, we do not know how Thou mayest be pleased to fulfil the petition; but we ask Thee to help us that we may stand to it, and even if Thou dost answer it by disappointment and by sorrow may believe that they too are working together for our good. Hear us; in Thy mercy forgive, quicken, strengthen and answer us, through Christ Jesus our Lord.