Family Worship.
Week Twenty-five,
Tuesday Evening.
PRAYER .
Thou art the high and holy One that inhabitest eternity, but humblest thyself to behold what is done upon the earth. Look in mercy upon us who now bow ourselves before thee, and grant unto us the Spirit of grace, and of supplication. We thank thee for thy blessed word, but would remember that thou only canst enable us to understand and to profit by it. We pray for those who resist all the evidences by which thou testifiest the truth of thy word. Persuade them that if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them who are lost, in whom the god of this world blinds their minds, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them. Bestow upon them an humble, teachable, prayerful disposition, the honest and the good heart, that they may see and receive the truth. Do thou who commandest the light to shine out of darkness, shine into their minds to give them the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. May we ourselves feel that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. May we all be the objects of thy mercy. May we, like Paul, thy servant, be truly converted to Christ by the Holy Spirit. And, O God, may we have daily increasing evidences of the reality of our union to him, in the purification of our hearts, and in the devotedness of our lives to his glory, and the spiritual and temporal welfare of our fellow-creatures. May thy ministering servants be enabled to behold Christ as ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, and procuring gifts for men. May they feel that he is Head over all things to his church, that he is the same today, yesterday, and for ever, and that he will preserve and prosper it till all his elect are gathered and prepared for heaven. May they discharge every duty in the faith of thy promises, and in a spirit of prayerful dependence on thy power. And do thou, O Lord, look down upon them as in the days of old, and give efficacy to the word of thy grace. Direct and preserve thy church amidst all her tribulations; and when a rest is vouchsafed to her, may she not sink into spiritual sloth, but be edified, and walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, be multiplied. We would remember, O God, before thee the sins of which we have this day been guilty. Make us to feel that they are sufficient of themselves to condemn us. Blessed be thy name for Christ, the propitiation. Sprinkle his blood upon our hearts, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Preserve us through the ensuing night, O thou who never slumberest, and in thine infinite mercy regard us in all things necessary for soul and body, for time and eternity, through Jesus Christ, the Son, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, be everlasting praise. Amen.