Devotional exercises; Devotional literature; Prayers; Spiritual life -- Christianity
Blessed Jesus! I desire to remember that it is Thou and Thou only who
hast not left me "comfortless." It is Thou who hast devised and
completed a way by which "Thy banished" may not be "expelled" from a
Father's presence. Thou hast opened a door of welcome to the chief of
sinners. It is Thy blessed voice and Thy glorious work which utter the
gracious declaration, "In my Father's house there are many mansions."
Oh let me lean with a more simple and entire dependence on Thee; let
me live from day to day with an unfaltering trust in Thy mercy. May
every new evening, as it finds me laying the incense-offering of
gratitude and love on Thine altar, find me also a stage nearer my
Father's house, nearer _home_, and nearer _Thee_.
Take all my beloved friends under Thy shadowing wings this night. The
darkness can not screen them from Thee; the curtains of night can not
exclude Thy kind and watchful eye. Guide, guard, protect them, and
bring them all at last to Thy heavenly kingdom.
Bless Thy Church everywhere; lengthen her cords and strengthen her
stakes. Be a wall of fire around Thy Zion and the glory in the midst
thereof. Clothe her priests with salvation, let her saints and people
shout aloud for joy.
Bless those on whom Thou hast laid Thine afflicting hand. May they
take refuge in the arms that are chastising them, and be enabled to
say in unmurmuring submission, "The Lord's will be done." Hear me,
gracious Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, my blessed Lord and
Saviour. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE AS
INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS
AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
ELEVENTH EVENING.
FOR WEANEDNESS FROM THE WORLD.
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."--John
xvii. 16.
O God, I desire to come into Thy gracious presence this night,
beseeching Thee to bless me. Let my prayer come before Thee as
incense. May the incense-offering of gratitude and thanksgiving ascend
from a grateful heart. How manifold are the proofs I have to recount
of kindness on thy part! how deep the ingratitude I have to mourn on
my own! My sins have reached unto the clouds; they are more in number
than the sand of the sea.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. I cannot evade Thy
righteous scrutiny; all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him
with whom I have to do! Lord, I have to lament the proneness of this
evil heart of unbelief ever to depart away from Thee, the living God.
I mourn the debasing influence of earthly things; the fascinating
power of a present evil world. How inclined to conform to its evil
maxims and unholy practices! How often am I found ranged among those
who "mind earthly things;" my soul cleaving to the dust, instead of
soaring upwards to Thyself, my alone satisfying portion!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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