05.09. NINTH WEEK
NINTH WEEK
SUNDAY MORNING
Father, while we turn aside to rest this day with You — the great feverish world goes throbbing, throbbing on. May something of Your blessed Sunday peace go out into this restless world and quiet it. Make it a true blessing to all Your people, and may influences go out from it which will make its power great over all the world.
We beseech You to let Your grace be given, so that all who worship You may receive blessing. Let Your blessing be upon all assemblies that meet for worship and upon all Sunday schools. May there be divine power in the preaching of the word. May homes in which the day’s quiet prevails, receive rich blessing from the observance. May our home be thus blessed and enriched. May there come down from the heavens much of the very life of God which shall make all the land holier, purer, and sweeter.
O God, Your cause on the earth sometimes seems to languish. Your church does not appear to be earnest. The world is earnest. Every energy of evil is active. Wicked men are busy in their wickedness. But the followers of Jesus appear to be asleep! Your kingdom does not seem to be advancing among the nations. We pray again, "May Your kingdom come." Pour out of the Spirit upon all who bear the name of Jesus. Kindle revival fires in all parts of the church. We pray for ourselves, that we may be quickened in our spiritual life.
Let a blessing be upon Your whole church, and may Your cause receive an impulse from on high which shall be felt over all the world. Revive Your work among Your people. Hear us in our prayers and give us blessing, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
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SUNDAY EVENING
We come back this evening, our Father, to continue our prayer for the coming of Your kingdom. The day is past and the work of Your servants is done. Thousands of ministers have preached Your word, tens of thousands of teachers have taught the children, and in millions of Christian homes there have been supplications and prayers. Let not all this work be lost. May Your Spirit gather up all that has been done for You, and give it Your divine blessing, without which nothing can result from it.
Revive Your work in this land and in the world, through this Sunday’s ministrations. May many of Your children carry new earnestness and zeal into their living and their work tomorrow. May the seeds sown in the furrows, take root and grow. Let not the birds gather up and devour what has been sown. Let not the thorns spring up and choke it. Let not the heat of trial waste the tender growths. May the good seed grow wherever it has been sown, and may abundant harvests wave on thousands of fields. Prosper You Your own work on the earth. May Your peace rest upon our home tonight. May the gentle Dove descend and spread his white wings over us, sheltering us while we sleep. May holy influences rest upon us from Sunday, and may its teachings and impressions abide upon us all the week. May each one of us be kept from the world’s unhallowed power. Hold us all near Your heart, in the warmth of Your love, in the strong security of Your grace. May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit be upon us forever. Amen.
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MONDAY MORNING
O God, most merciful — bless us this morning. Lay Your hand upon us, in a Father’s blessing. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be upon us and in us all the day. Let Your word abide in our hearts richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing us. May it be so hidden in us, that it shall keep us from sin. May the power of Your Spirit rest upon us through all this day — cleansing and purifying our thoughts and feelings and all our inner life, and impelling us to holiness in our walk and conversation. May it please You, O God, to guide us today and keep us in all our experiences. Keep us from carelessness. Let us not drift away from the holy truths we have been taught, nor from Jesus Christ our Savior. Let us not become entangled in the affairs of this world in such a way that we shall lose any of the sanctity of our lives. Though in the world — let us not be of it. Help us to maintain a godly life in the midst of all that is ungodly. May our citizenship always be manifestly in Heaven, even though for the time we are dwelling on this earth. May we be true pilgrims, looking for a city which has foundations, whose maker and builder is God. Let us not love this world — as if we would always stay in it.
Let a personal blessing be upon each one in our family. Our needs are different. Tenderly care for those of us who are weak. Shelter any of us who will be exposed to temptation today, and let us not fall. If any unforeseen trouble or sorrow lies in our path, prepare us for it, that we be not surprised by it into sinning. May we each carry out into the world a power of love and grace which shall bless the world. We ask all for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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MONDAY EVENING
Breathe upon us with Your breath of grace and love, our Father — and give us an evening blessing. Let our prayers rise before You as fragrant incense. Let Your peace be upon us. The shadows have deepened over us — but You are in the shadows — and we are safe. Darkness has no peril, when You are keeping us. Night is as day, when . . .
Your eye keeps watch on us,
and Your hand protects us,
and Your arm embraces us.
We would go to our rest without fear or anxiety — for You are keeping us. Human arms are not strong, though their clasp is very dear. They cannot always enfold us. The strongest of them must drop in the powerlessness of death. But Yours are everlasting arms. Nothing can ever tear away their clasp. Nothing in the universe can separate us from Your love. No one can snatch us out of the hand of our Savior. We bless You for Your love, and for our security in it, and for the eternity of Your grace. Your promises are sure forever. We are as safe as if we were in Heaven — for You are our God and Father and we are Your redeemed children.
Whatever sins we have committed today, may You forgive. If we have done harm to one of Your little ones — may You show us in what way we have done it, and we will seek to undo it. If we have lost temper and have spoken unadvisedly, impatiently, unkindly, or in uncharitableness, of or to any other — we ask forgiveness. Take not Your Holy Spirit from us. Restore unto us the joy of Your salvation. Grant to us grace and teach us the better way, the more excellent way, the way of love. We would show forth Your praise in all our life. Bless us and enable us to manifest Jesus wherever we go. We ask all in the name of Jesus our Redeemer. Amen.
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TUESDAY MORNING
We lift up our eyes unto the mountains. From whence shall our help come? Our help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and earth. You will not allow our foot to be moved. You who keep us, will never slumber. You are our keeper. You are our shade upon our right hand. The sun shall not smite us by day, nor the moon by night. You will keep us from all evil. You will keep our going out and our coming in, from this time forth and for evermore.
We lift up our eyes unto You who dwells in the heavens. As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress — so do our eyes look unto You, O Lord our God, until You have mercy upon us.
Teach us Your will for this day. We earnestly desire to live out the plan of life, which You have for us in Your thought. We know it is a beautiful plan and a worthy one. Reveal it to us as we go on day by day. Show us now this day’s section of it, and help us to yield ourselves utterly to Your guidance. Let us not mar our own life, by taking any smallest fragment out of Your hands into our own. Show us Your way, and make us willing to follow in it — even if it is not the way we ourselves would choose. May we have a day of goodness and mercy. Let us not grieve You, nor turn away from Your commandments. Help us to live profitably — unselfishly and purely. Show us our faults — and then help us to overcome them and put them away. Give us grace to make restitution if we have taken anything from another which was not ours; may we be enabled this very day to pay it back. Let us never lie, nor steal, nor defraud in any way. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be upon us. Amen.
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TUESDAY EVENING
Father in Heaven, we, Your children, pray to You at this holy evening hour. Your blessings have followed us every day, and have sheltered us every night. We are weak, mere infants in this great world — but Your strength has ever enfolded us and Your love has ever warmed our hearts. This evening we seek new blessing. May Your holy love enter into our hearts and fill them, and may the beauty of the Lord Jesus be upon us.
We have met many people today. May our words spoken to one and another, as we hurried on — not be lost, nor be in vain. May they be as good seeds, and may they grow in the path, making beauty wherever we have gone. If we have spoken wrong words — may You forgive them, and grant to us an opportunity in some way to say some good word which may counteract the evil influence. May You bless to each of us, the touches and influences which other lives have left upon us. Let no marring be upon our character, because of any wrong that may have been done to us or in us today.
We ask You to bless and sanctify our friendships. Preserve us from any friendships which would do us harm, which would entangle us in unholy or hurtful relations, which would be injurious to our character. We would have for our personal friends, only those who are holy, whose influence over us will be helpful and inspiring. Choose our friends for us — and help us to be true and faithful as friends. Help us to cultivate our home affections and all our friendships, so that they may become more true, deep, and holy. Then may we always have You for our best and closest Friend, for Your love is everlasting. We ask all this in the name of our precious Savior. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ WEDNESDAY MORNING May You teach us the lesson of cheerfulness, O God. We are too easily irritated and cast down. We let little troubles and difficulties discourage us. Our joy is too easily overclouded. Our song of gladness, too easily turns into a dirge. We fret ourselves needlessly, and fail to rejoice always. Sorrows come over us like a flood, and bury us away beneath their dark waves. Our gladness is too easily turned to sadness, as life’s cares and trials come upon us.
We hear You bidding us be of good cheer, because You have overcome the world — telling us that though we have tribulations we may have peace in You. But the lesson is not easy. It is hard for us to keep the song always in our heart, and the sunshine always in our face — when there are so many cares.
We come to You, pleading that You will teach us how always to be cheerful. Help us to such a strong, quiet, firm faith in Jesus — that no matter what may come into our life, we may ever rejoice. Rescue us from disheartenment, no matter how great its cause may appear to be. Help us to cast every burden on You — sure that You will sustain us in carrying it. Help us to learn to rejoice even in disappointments, knowing that if we could see all as You see — we would find beauty and good in everything which seems to us painful and dark.
We desire to be ministers of cheer to others. Forbid that we should go out with sadness in our faces, which shall cast a shadow on other lives. May we be sunshine to others. May we show to all the world what grace can do in making us messengers of gladness. We ask this in the name of Him who overcame the world and can give us peace. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ WEDNESDAY EVENING
We asked You this morning for grace to be cheerful, and messengers of good cheer to others. We thank You for whatever we were enabled to do in learning this lesson. Bless to others every cheerful word we spoke, and may the influence of our lives be a blessing to many. Wherein we failed to practice the lesson — may You forgive us. We ask that You will continue to teach us, and may we grow in this grace of cheerfulness until our daily lives shall be daily blessings.
We have tried to carry comfort and strength to others. There are some of those about us in trouble, in which we cannot do much to help them. The trouble is beyond our reach. May You be their comforter. If it is not Your will to take away the trial — may You give them grace to endure it with patience, and may You cause it to work for their good, so that they shall grow in grace and be brought nearer to You.
We make special prayer, O God, tonight, for the children. We thank You for childhood and for all it means to homes and to this world. We thank You for children’s voices which put so much music into life. We thank You for the simplicity and the humility of the children. Bless the children to this world. May they be means of grace in every home where their voices ring. May You bless homes to the children. May all parents be so like Jesus to the little ones who cluster about them, that the young and tender lives shall be beautiful and blessed, and that they may grow up into strong men and women, fearing You, loving and living the truth, and making the world holier. And to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we will give praise, honor, and worship, for evermore. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THURSDAY MORNING
O God, who is everywhere present, who is surely here with us now while we bow before You — may You make Your presence indeed real to us, so that we shall be conscious of it. We cannot see You, and it is hard for us to know that You are truly with us. Give us faith in Your promise that You will never leave us nor forsake us, that You will be with us always, even unto the end of the world. So may Your presence make us strong, and keep us always at peace. May it inspire us always to do our best, since the Master’s eye is ever upon us. May it keep us from being ever discouraged and cast down, since You are always a very present help in times of trouble. Then may it make us most watchful over all our life and conversation — that we may do nothing and say nothing which would grieve You.
We desire, our Father, to be diligent today in all duty, and we ask You for help and guidance. Show us what You will have us to do — and then give us wisdom and grace to do all our duty. Help us to do it beautifully, so as to please You. Let us not live well, merely because we must — but may we love to do the things that are right, and do them with cheerfulness and glad-heartedness. May we glorify Your name in the midst of Your enemies, honoring You in our every word and act.
We commit to Your keeping, all of our household as we separate and go our several ways. Let no accident befall any of us. May we be kept from sickness and trial, if You will; or if any trouble comes to us, then may we be kept from sinning. Give us Your help. Uphold us by Your right hand. We ask all, with the forgiveness of our sins, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THURSDAY EVENING
Father, though dark about us — it is always light with You. We come at nightfall to thank You for the day’s mercies, and to confess our sins. Blot out every transgression. Wash us — and we shall be whiter than snow. Accept what we bring to You tonight, and let Your blessing be upon it all.
We ask You for Your special peace. We remember Your promise to keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is stayed on You. We would stay our minds on You. You are an everlasting rock. You are the same yesterday, and today, and forever. You are the everlasting Father. Nothing ever disturbs Your security. We would lean . . .
our weakness on Your strength,
our ignorance on Your wisdom,
our trembling insecurity on Your unchangeableness.
We would stay ourselves upon You. Help us to rest in You, as birds in their nest in the great rock, and not be afraid.
Save us from all fear. We are only little children in this world of danger — but we are safe in You. Help us therefore to trust and never be afraid. Cover us with Your sheltering wings. Hold us in the clasp of Your hand — in the embrace of Your everlasting arms. Preserve us from . . .
the fascinations of the world,
the assaults of the tempter, and
the insidious wickedness of our own hearts. May You bless our mutual influence as a household. We love each other; may our love grow more tender. Sometimes we fail to show our love, even appearing cold and indifferent and ungracious. Help us to be kindly-affectioned in manner, as well as loving in heart.
We pray for our neighbors and friends. May Your grace be upon them.
Comfort the sorrowing,
relieve the distressed,
have mercy upon the sinning.
We ask all in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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FRIDAY MORNING
O Jesus, our Savior, You alone can give us life. You came into this world that we might have life, abundant life. Fill us with life as we go out for this new day. We shall have need of it at every step. We shall have . . .
burdens to carry,
and battles to fight,
and trials to endure,
and duties to perform.
Give us life, abundant life, to prepare us for all these experiences, that we fail not today.
We must represent You in the world. You have said that as the Father sent You into the world — so You have sent us. We can do nothing, but as we receive life and wisdom from You. We wait at Your feet this morning, praying You to put rich grace into our souls. May we be like trees planted by the rivers of water, bearing fruit in their season. May the fruits of righteousness be in our lives. May the fruits of the Spirit abound in us. May we be to the world like rich trees, planted and nourished by You, from whose branches there shall fall much fruit to feed men’s hungers.
We cannot know what the day will have for us. We do not ask to know. We would rather walk in the dark with You — than go alone, choosing our own way. We would rather walk with You by faith — than go alone by sight. So we put ourselves into Your hand for guidance and safe keeping. You will make no mistake in leading us. No path into which You will take us, can be a wrong path. Lead us, O Jesus, for You know the way through this bewildering world. You have traversed the paths Yourself, O Jesus, and You found the way home. Lead us home, too, dear Master, to be with You forever. We ask in Your own name. Amen.
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FRIDAY EVENING
O God, our Father, we hunger for more life. We have gone through this day longing for life, and yet how little life we have had! Our souls have seemed empty of You. Our hearts have been crying out for more and more life. Reveal Yourself to us. Bring us into closer and closer personal friendship with Jesus. This is what we crave — friendship with Jesus. It is not enough for us to know Jesus as our Savior and as our Lord; we long to come into deeper and yet deeper personal friendship with Him.
Show us how to have more of Jesus in us. Whatever hinders our admitting Him into our hearts, help us to find and cast out, that Jesus may receive glad welcome to our deepest affection.
Bless to us the experiences of this day. May they all work for our good. Some things have not gone according to our mind. We hoped for things we did not get. Help us to know that Your way is better than ours, and help us to give up our way for Your, cheerfully. If we are not altogether submissive, forgive us, and teach us how good it is to take our Father’s way.
We pray for Your church. It is in many fragments; we pray that soon Your people may be one. Bring Christians nearer together in love, and faith, and life. While there is separation, may You overrule all divisions for good. May hearts be drawn together, and thus may Your people become one in spirit and effort. Save Your true disciples everywhere from sectarianism and from all that fosters differences. May Your Holy Spirit be given in such measure, that all denominational lines may melt away. Hear us in our prayer tonight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SATURDAY MORNING
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done — and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no soundness in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to Your promises declared in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O merciful Father, for Your sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Your holy name.
We bless Your name, O God, our Father, that we can come thus to You with our confessions, assured that You will, for the sake of Jesus Christ, forgive us all our manifold transgressions. May we this day have Your divine peace in our souls. May the love of Jesus also be in us, warming our hearts and making us like Yourself.
Help us in all our work and duty. Let us not falter. Preserve us from indolence and carelessness. Make us diligent in business. Strengthen us for all burden-bearing and cross-bearing, for all struggle and conflict. Let us not faint nor fail. Enable us to do every task so as to please You.
We ask also for wisdom that we may not make mistakes. Bless our influence on others; may it be always good and helpful. Give us the true spirit of neighborliness. May the mind that was in Christ Jesus, be in us making us lowly and helpful. Grant these mercies and favors in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SATURDAY EVENING Our Father, what shall we render unto You for all the mercies and kindnesses of this week received from Your hand? We have walked all the days with You and You have kept us and blessed us. We have not walked at all times worthily. We have grieved You many a time. We thank You for the mercy that never fails for the multitude of our transgressions. May you use our week’s work and bless it. We have met many people, some of them only for a moment, in passing, and some of them many times. Bless to each of them our passing word or our friendship. We have sought to be kind to those who were in need or trouble; may You bless all our giving of alms, all our visits to the sick or poor, all our efforts to help others in any way. Forgive our omissions of love’s duty, when we passed by on the other side.
We remember this evening, the many people around us in various conditions and circumstances. Some are Your own children; let a blessing rest upon them. Make them more and more worthy, true-hearted, whole-hearted Christians. Some of them are careless, drifting away from Jesus. Have mercy upon these, and save them from the perils of their course. Some of them are far from You, do not know You. We beseech You to send Your Spirit to convict them and bring them to repentance.
We remember . . .
the poor in their poverty,
the sick in their suffering and pain,
and the sorrowing in their distress.
Let a blessing rest upon the little children for whom no prayer rises in their own homes. Turn the hearts of all prayerless parents to their children, that they may plead with You for them. Fold us now in Your almighty arms, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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