Prayer for Firmness in Temptation

"Resist the devil - and he will flee from you." James 4:1

O my Father, You are from everlasting to everlasting. Loving me from the beginning - You have promised to love me even unto the end. Notwithstanding all the fitful changes of my own changing heart towards You, there has been, and can be, no shadow of turning in Your covenant faithfulness towards me. I am at this hour, the monument of Your mercy- a living comment on the words, "Your ways are not as man's ways - nor Your thoughts as man's thoughts."

If I have been enabled in any degree to resist the assaults of temptation - it is all Your doing. I am "kept by the power of God." Unless the Lord had been my help - my soul must long before now have dwelt in eternal burnings. By the grace of God - I am what I am!

O my Father, indulged and cherished sin unfits me for the enjoyment of Your service and favor. I have to lament my proneness to evil, the natural bias of my heart to that which is opposed to Your pure and holy will. When I would do good - sin is too often present with me. I feel the power of my spiritual adversaries. If left to myself and my own unaided resources - I must hopelessly resign the conflict.

But I rejoice to think that there is help and hope and strength at hand. I would look to Him, who is now bending an eye of unchanging love upon me from the eternal throne. All Your ascension glories, blessed Redeemer, have not obliterated the tenderness of Your humanity. You are "that same Jesus." You, the abiding Friend, are still left changeless, among the changeable. And when Satan often desires to have me, that he might sift me as wheat, it is Your intercessory prayer that saves me from utter ruin. You are pleading for me, that my faith will not fail! Oh may I be found invincible in the hour of temptation, being made more than conqueror - through Him that loved me. Sheltered in You, the true Refuge - the wicked one will cannot touch me.

Let me not trifle with my own soul - or with the momentous interests of eternity. Let me every day, be living under the realizing consciousness that Your pure eye is upon me. Keep me from all that is at variance with Your gracious mind. Keep me from unchristian tempers, from an unholy or inconsistent or uneven walk. By a Christ-like demeanor, may I exhibit the sanctifying and transforming influence of the Gospel on my own soul - that others may take knowledge of me that I have been with Jesus.

God of Bethel! take under Your protecting providence all related to me by endearing ties. However far we may be separated from one another, let us never be separated from You. Let us often rejoice in this, our common meeting-place; that around Your mercy-seat in spirit we can assemble - and lay our evening incense in the one Golden Censer of our gracious High Priest!

Take charge of me this night, defend me from all danger; whether I wake or sleep, may I live together with You. All that I ask or hope for - is in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, my only Savior. Amen.
"Let my prayer be set forth before You as incense - and the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice."

This Prayer is an excerpt of John MacDuff prayer written in 1856  It is now available on Kindle for only $0.99 This is a useful book to keep preciously with you 

 

Prayer for the Knowledge of Christ

"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings." Philippians 3:10

Almighty God, draw near to me this night in Your great mercy. What am I, that nothingness, unworthiness, and sinfulness - should be permitted to stand in the presence of infinite purity, majesty, and glory? Lord, I dare not have ventured to bow at your footstool in my own merits. I am poor and wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked. Enter not in judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no flesh living can be justified.

But, adored be Your name, I have an all-sufficient ground of confidence with which to approach You. I bless You, that by the doing and dying of Jesus, You have opened up a way of reconciliation to the chief of sinners. Oh, enable me to know more fully the adaptation of His person and work, to all the necessities and exigencies of my character and circumstances. Let me know him in His infinite Godhead - as "mighty to save;" in His spotless humanity - as mighty to compassionate. 

Let me know Him in all His offices - as . . .
my Prophet, my Priest, my King,
my Kinsman-Redeemer within the veil, 
my Refuge in trouble, 
my Guide in perplexity, 
my Support in death, 
my Portion through eternity!

I rejoice, blessed Jesus, at the hidden springs of life resident in You! You are suited to all the varied needs and circumstances, and trials of Your people - for every moment of need, for every diversity of situation.

O, better than the best of earthly friends, who, though enthroned amid the hosannas of angels - have still Your human sympathy unaltered and unchanged, draw near to me this night, and breathe upon me, and say, "Peace be unto you." Let me know the melting energy of Your love, and the attractive power of Your cross. May I keep the unwavering eye of faith steadily directed to Your all-glorious sacrifice. 

Be . . .
the habitual object of my contemplation, 
the source of holiest joy, 
the animating principle of obedience.

May all creature-love be subordinated to Yours. May my temper, my walk, my conversation - be regulated in accordance with Your blessed will and holy example. May this be the lofty aim and ambition of life - to act so as to please Jesus.

Bless my dear friends, may they too be led to count all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord, whom to know is life eternal. Pity the careless; reclaim the backsliding; comfort the sorrowful; sustain the dying. May the Lord arise and have mercy on His spiritual Zion; may He show that the time to favor her, yes, the set time, is come!

Before I lay my head on my nightly pillow, I would lay anew my guilt on the head of the Divine Surety; may I fall asleep under the blessed sense of sin forgiven - and look forward to that blessed day when earth's night-shadows shall have vanished forever, and when I shall be enabled more fully "to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." And all I ask or hope for, is for His sake. Amen.

"Let my prayer be set forth before You as incense - and the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice."

This Prayer is an excerpt of John MacDuff prayer written in 1856  It is now available on Kindle for only $0.99 This is a useful book to keep preciously with you 

 

 

Prayer for Composure in Trial

"Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Your sight." Matthew 11:26

O my Father, I come into Your presence this night, rejoicing that amid all earth's vicissitudes, I have in You - a Rock that can never be shaken. You do according to Your will in the armies of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth! You do all things well - and nothing but what is well. There is no finite wisdom in Your dealings - all is the result of combined faithfulness, power, and love. 

Let me repose in the righteous ordinations of Your will. If You withhold from me earthly blessings - let me feel that the very denial is precious, because it is Your sovereign pleasure. Covenant love and wisdom cannot lead or teach me wrong; every burden and affliction are imposed by You. The lot may be thrown into the lap - but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

O You who turn the shadow of death into the morning - may every wilderness-storm only drive me nearer Yourself, my true shelter. You take the sting from every cross - and the bitterness from every cup. Let me recognize in all that befalls me - the tokens of my Heavenly Father's love! And if sense and sight should at times fail to spot "the bright light in the cloud," may I see written over every dark trial - Your own unanswerable challenge, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

Lord! the end of all Your sovereign dealings - is to subjugate my wayward will, and to unfold more of the preciousness of Jesus. Blessed Spirit of all grace! Take of the things that are Christ's - and show them unto my soul. Let me not stagger at the promises through unbelief. Let me see nothing but love in the past, love in the present, and love looming through the mists of a cloudy future. You, O my Father, are seated by my every furnace - all is meted out, all is provided for; all has a "need be" in it! 

Magnify the power of Your grace in me, by a sweet spirit of patient submission to Your righteous ordinations. May I seek to have no other prayer than this, "Father, glorify Your name." Impart that inner sunshine which no outward darkness or trial can obscure. May the peace of God, which passes understanding, keep my heart.

May Your Holy Spirit shed abroad His blessed influences over the whole Church. Revive Your work, O my God, in the midst of the years. In wrath, remember mercy. May Your ministers be more faithful. May Your people be more holy and consistent in their walk with You. May the young be growing up in Your fear and favor; may the aged find in You the staff of their declining years. May the sick and afflicted pillow their head on Your promises. May the dying fall asleep in Jesus.

I commend myself, my friends, and all belonging to me - to Your paternal care and keeping. And when earth's long night-watches of trial and sorrow are ended, may I wake up in the sorrowless morning of glory, to enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with Yourself. Through Jesus Christ, my only Lord and Savior. Amen.

"Let my prayer be set forth before You as incense - and the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice."

This Prayer is an excerpt of John MacDuff prayer written in 1856

It is now available on Kindle for only $0.99

This is a useful book to keep preciously with you 

 

Family Prayer

By James Smith

"Pour out your fury upon the heathen that have not known you, and upon the families do not call upon your name!" Jeremiah 10:25

Family prayer is a most important means of grace, and has often proved one of the greatest blessings which a family could enjoy. It is not enough that we pray as private individuals in our closets; we must honor God in our families. Twice in the day if we can, at least once — every family where Jesus is professed, should be called to bow before the Lord together. Parents and children, master and servants, should meet before the Lord their maker. The head of the family should lead the devotions if present; and his wife should lead, should he be absent. Family prayer should never be omitted if there is one of the family at home who can call upon God; even if the language is broken, and the time occupied is very brief. The gift of prayer always grows by use, and smallness of gift is no lawful excuse for omitting family prayer. If we cannot pray eloquently, we may pray earnestly — which is much better; if our language does not flow freely, we need not be long and tedious. Prevailing prayers are often short prayers.

Family devotions should generally be short, especially where there are young children, A short portion of God's holy Word should be read; and it has often been found profitable to read a few striking remarks on some spiritual subject, by an approved author. If those present can sing, a few verses of praise greatly enliven the service; if not, a short prayer, being a direct address to Jehovah, offered with feeling and fervor, under a sense of the divine presence, is very edifying and refreshing. God approves, an enlightened conscience commends, and all are benefited.

Family prayer will prevent much sin, as well as do much good. It keeps up a remembrance of the divine presence, it brings important truths before the mind, it teaches the prayerless what prayer is, it leads children to think, and brings down the blessing of God upon the house. We are to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit; but this we cannot do if family prayer is neglected. We are to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting; this cannot be observed, if we do not pray in our families. He who would excuse himself from family prayer, should expect to be excused from family blessings.

Reader, have you family prayer in your house? If not, allow me to ask, do you profess to be a Christian? Have you considered the solemn passage at the head of these remarks? If God is to pour out his fury upon the families which call not upon his name, and you have not family prayer, how can your family escape? You ought to own God in your house, and daily should you acknowledge your dependence upon Him, and obligation to Him. All your domestic comforts, all your temporal mercies, and all your spiritual privileges — flow from His love and grace; and will you daily as a family receive, and never as a family praise?

The heathens have their household gods; and will not you have your family altar? Shall they honor idols of wood and stone, and must it be said of you, "The God in whose hands your breath is — you have not glorified?" An old divine says, "A family without prayer is like a house without a roof, opened and exposed to all the storms." Again, "Family prayer bolts the door against danger at night, and opens it for the admission of mercies in the morning." Private prayer was never intended to set aside family prayer, nor should family prayer be made an excuse for the neglect of private. The one is for the person, the other for the household. Both are necessary, and properly conducted both are means of blessing.