"O Lord, in the morning I will direct my prayer to You."
"Grow in grace."—2 Pet. 3:18
O God, draw near to me in fullness in Your great mercy.
Another peaceful morning has dawned upon me. May it be mine to know the
happiness of those who walk all the day in the light of Your countenance.
O best and kindest of Beings, teach me to know, amid the
smiles and the frowns, the joys and the sorrows, of an ever-changing world,
what it is to have an unchanging refuge and portion in You. I can mourn no
blank, I can feel no solitude, when I have Your presence and love. If I have
nothing beside—stripped and divested of every other blessing—I have the
richest of all, if I am at peace with God.
I desire to dwell with devout contemplation on the infinite
loveliness of Your moral nature. Lord, I long to have this guilty, erring
soul, molded and fashioned in increasing conformity to Your blessed mind and
will. Let my great concern henceforth be, to love and serve and please You
more and more. May all Your dealings with me, of whatever kind they be,
contribute in promoting this growth in holiness. May prosperity draw
forth a perpetual thank-offering of praise for unmerited mercies. May
adversity purify away the dross of worldliness and sin. May every day be
finding the power of sin weaker and weaker, and the dominion of grace stronger
and stronger. Living under the powers of a world to come, may I look forward
with joyful expectation to the time when sin shall no longer impede my
spiritual growth—when Satan shall be disarmed of his power, and my own heart
of its deceitfulness—when every faculty of a glorified and exalted nature
shall be enlisted in Your service in a world of eternal joy.
O blessed Advocate within the veil—You who are even now
interceding for Your tried and tempted saints, "that their faith fail
not"—Impart to me a constant supply of Your promised grace. Not only sprinkle
my heart with Your blood, but conquer it by Your love. Fill me with deep
contrition for an erring past—inspire me with purposes of new obedience for
the future. May I know, in my sweet experience, that "Your yoke is easy and
Your burden light"—that, growing in holiness, I am growing in happiness too.
Give me an increasing tenderness of conscience about sin—lead me, with more
filial devotedness, to cultivate a holy fear of offending so gracious a
Father. Habitually realizing my new covenant relationship to You, may I ever
be ready to exclaim, with joyful sincerity "O Lord, truly I am Your servant!"
Revive, blessed God, Your own work everywhere. "Take to
Yourself Your great power, and reign." Remove all hardness and blindness of
heart—all contempt of Your Word. May it have free course and be glorified.
Bless my dear friends. However far separated from one
another, we can ever meet at the same throne of the heavenly grace, pleading
the same "exceeding great and precious promises." May we all be following the
same path of grace now, and meet amid the endless joys of glory hereafter. And
all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.
"Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning, for
in You do I trust."