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TOPIC: MacDuff, John - Gates of Prayer (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 02 Day 02
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2nd Morning—THE OMNIPOTENT CHALLENGE
"He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Rom. 8:32
O God, I come into Your blessed presence, thanking You for the rest and the refreshment of the past night. I laid me down and slept, I awaked for the Lord sustained me. You might have made my pillow a pillow of death. But I am once more among the living to praise You—permitted to bend suppliant at the Gates of mercy, and to invoke the presence and benediction of the prayer-hearing God. I bless You for Your daily bounties of creation and providence—for food and clothing—for health and strength—for social and domestic comforts and endearments; for much that is bright and joyous in my lot. Keep me from the abuse of any of Your gifts, by permitting them to supplant the Giver—may they rather be hallowed and sanctified by linking them with Yourself the Great Bestower. May I be enabled with grateful heart to say, "All my fresh springs are in You."
I thank You especially for Jesus, my gracious Redeemer, the Son of Your love. I bless You that He, before whom angel and archangel, cherubim and seraphim, hymned their triumphant anthems, "laid His glory aside"—assumed our nature—and traveled down to this valley of tears, that He might lift us up from our state of ruin and degradation, and invest us with the glories of immortality. By all that He has done and taught and suffered; by the mystery of His holy incarnation; by His completed atonement and perfect righteousness; by the merits of His Sacrifice; by the virtues of His holy life as the all-perfect pattern; by His Intercessory work and mighty pleadings at the right hand of the Father—accept of my unworthy person; pardon my daily sins—receive the fresh consecration of soul and body to Your service. I will wash my hands (not in my own innocency) but in His, so, shall I now compass Your altar O Lord, and with the Golden key of Promise unlock the Gates of Prayer.
After this mightiest pledge of Your love, You give me a blank to fill up as I please with all other needed benefits. You put into my lips the gracious challenge "Will You not with Him also, freely give me all things?" Deepen in my heart the sense of my obligation to so gracious a Savior. Strengthen my trust in His unutterable—unalterable love. May His righteousness clothe me—His blood cleanse me—His grace uphold me—His Spirit sanctify me. May it be my daily and lifelong aspiration to be more and more assimilated to His glorious image. Even should I be called to suffer with Him here, may I cheerfully bear the cross, and remember that this is only a prelude to my reigning with Him hereafter.
Be with me this day in my ordinary avocations—whether these be household duties, or buying and selling and getting gain. Preserve me from using any means for the advancement of my own interests, on which Your blessing cannot rest. May I move uncontaminated through the world's various scenes. When temptation assails me, give me grace to resist it. Enable me to put a restraint on all angry or resentful passions, all uncharitable thoughts or insinuations; to seek to avenge injuries with love—unkindness with forgiveness—manifesting patience in the midst of provocation. May I seek to defend a brother's character and extenuate his failings—considering myself lest I also be tempted. Conscious of the supreme enthronement of Your love in my heart, may I be zealous in duty—patient in tribulation—humble and thankful; living under the sovereignty of that loftiest motive, to walk and act so as to please You. That so, when Christ shall come again, He may not find me asleep and unready—but prepared to go forth joyfully to meet Him in the company of His ransomed.
I pray for all the members of my household. May they be members of the household of faith—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ—having their names written in the Lamb's Book of life. I pray for friends at a distance. May they enjoy the fellowship of an ever-present never-absent God. May Jesus be their refuge in life, their strength in prosperity, their prop in adversity—and may the music of His name soothe and refresh their souls in death.
O You, whose heart of old bled for human misery—whose pathway through the world was paved with compassion; who in Your infinite tenderness did gather around You the poor—the helpless—the sick—the sorrowful—the brokenhearted, and, as the Great Physician, did heal them all—bend Your pitying eye on all who are in any ways afflicted or distressed in mind, body or estate. Prepare the dying for death. As they feel the chill of the falling shadow, may they think of Him who has taken the substance of death away, and left nothing but the shadow. Grant that when the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken, they may enter on the full fruition of those unspeakable joys which You have prepared for those who love You.
Hear these my unworthy supplications—and all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.
2nd Evening—TRUST IN THE DARK
"Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God." Isaiah 50:10
Heavenly Father, I come into Your presence through the blessed gateway of Trust; desiring to repose in the name of the Lord and to stay upon my God. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runs into it and is safe. This is Your name and this Your memorial throughout all generations—the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. You are infinite in power and boundless in resources. Yet, though You are the mightiest of all Beings, You are also the kindest and the best of all. With You, there is an ever open door of welcome, for the poor—the helpless—the doubting—the desponding—the backsliding—the lost. While justice and judgment are the habitation of Your throne, mercy and truth go continually before Your face.
How wondrous has been Your sparing mercy in the past! The axe might long ago have been laid to the root of the tree—the mandate might have gone forth, "Cut it down." Yet with all my grievous guilt and constant backsliding, You are not "upbraiding;" Your hand of love and forbearance is stretched out still. Forbid that I should be tempted to give way to unbelieving doubts and misgivings, when You are thus waiting to be gracious. Let me not distrust the riches of Your Sovereign love and grace in Jesus, or fail to hold fast the beginning of my confidence.
O You who turn the shadow of death into the morning, enable me to confide in You in the midst of dark and perplexing dealings. Your name is often "Secret"—Your counsels are often "astonishing," walking in darkness Your people at times fail to observe the light. But let it be our comfort to know, that this fitful day, made up often of light and shadow—clearness and gloominess, is "one day known to the Lord;" and to trust Your promise, that "at evening time it shall be light." O Lord our God, who is a strong Lord like unto You! You rule the raging of the sea—when the waves thereof arise, You still them. Speak Your own "Peace be still," and immediately there shall be a great calm.
Abide with me for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. Forgive, for Your dear Son's sake, all the ills I have done this day; all shortcomings in duty—all selfish and unchristlike deeds—all tamperings with sin and temptation—all breaches and infringements of the golden rule—whatever would exalt myself at the expense of others. In the time to come, go before me with Your most gracious favor and further me with Your continual help. May the Lord God be a sun and shield—a sun to enlighten me in the midst of darkness—a shield to protect me in the midst of trouble.
Impart to me that charity which bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Deliver me from all unkind and censorious thoughts; from all reproachful and resentful words. O You who bore nameless wrongs and indignities—give me grace to overcome evil with good—remembering the saying of Your servant, "When you do good and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." Keep me from all corroding cares and feverish anxieties—let me ever confide my troubles in Your ear. Let the blessed influences of the truth as it is in Jesus, permeate and penetrate with their leavening power every daily duty, and brace me for the endurance of every trial.
I pray in behalf of all who are in sorrow; those suffering the infliction of bereavement—those enduring the pang of unspoken griefs, those hearts which know their own bitterness, walking in darkness and having no light. Preserve such, also, from the indulgence of a hasty spirit under dark dispensations. Let them know that in sending into the furnace, it is for purification not for destruction—to refine as the gold—to fit the better for Your service here, and for Your presence hereafter. Meanwhile, let them trust in the name of the Lord and stay themselves upon their God. May they too be enabled to say "I have remembered Your name O Lord in the night and have comforted myself!" Prepare the dying for death. May they hear the voice of Jesus proclaiming—"I am the resurrection and the life, he that lives and believes on me shall never die."
Bless all near and dear to me. May they have the seal of the life-giving God on their foreheads. Protect the young from those snares and temptations incident to early years—preserve them unspotted from the world—keep them as the apple of Your eye; hide them under the shadow of Your wings; and whatever separations time and distance and bereavement may make on earth, may there be at last, for severed hearts, a glorious and deathless reunion before Your throne.
Again I commend myself to Your Fatherly benediction. Watch over me during the night, granting me quiet and refreshing sleep. Let me go forth to the duties of tomorrow, and every new day, girded afresh for the conflict—trusting in the name of the Lord and staying upon my God. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.