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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Macduff Collection: MacDuff, John - Gates of Prayer: 23 Day 23
TOPIC: MacDuff, John - Gates of Prayer (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 23 Day 23
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23rd Morning—TRUST IN GOD
"Trust you in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Isaiah 26:4
O God, I bless and praise Your holy name, that You have spared me during another night—permitting me, once more, to kneel at the Gates of Prayer, and to offer anew my morning sacrifice of thanksgiving. Give Your benediction and blessing. Sprinkle me afresh with the peace-speaking blood. Grant me forgiveness for the past—impart grace and strength for the future. In all my ways I would acknowledge You—direct my paths. That future is in Your hands. I will trust and not be afraid. O my God, when my soul is cast down within me, "I will remember You from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites, from the Hill Mizar." I will recall former tokens and pledges of Your love and favor, and implicitly confide in You for the time to come. Your hand is never shortened—Your ear is never heavy. Give me cheerful acquiescence in Your most holy will—undeviating reliance in the wisdom and rectitude of Your appointments. Save me from all impatience; all fretting and disquietude. Whatever may now be crossing my wishes, or thwarting my plans, or disappointing my hopes—may my faithlessness be rebuked, by the assurance from lips which cannot err—"Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things."
Blessed Savior, in whom stands our eternal life, be my guide and protector this day. May I be enabled to maintain my temper unbroken and my conscience undefiled; to stand fast in my integrity, with a single eye to Your glory. Keep me from all deflection from the paths of purity and peace. Keep me from envy and uncharitableness—from pride and ambition—from discontent and dissatisfaction with the position I am called to occupy—from all that would bring discredit on the religion I profess, and that would form a blot in life's retrospect at the hour of death. Let me set a watch on every questionable and wayward impulse. May Your present discipline, however mysterious at times it may be, tend the better to fit me for the duties and occupations of that blessed world, where I shall no longer need to trust You in the midst of dark dealings, but where trust shall be merged in the full and everlasting enjoyment of Your presence and love.
Look in great mercy on the children of sorrow. In absolute self surrender, may they lean on You. If, when called to traverse mazy and thorny paths, they are led, in the lack of faith, to say, "Not here, Lord"—may Your voice be heard, gently rebuking their distrust, "What is that to you, follow Me." May those bereft of loved ones, listen to divine accents breaking over the sleepers in the silent land—"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from henceforth; yes, says the Spirit, for they rest from their labors and their works do follow them." Meanwhile, may they confide in a wisdom that never errs, and a love that never changes; anticipating that better time, when no angel of sorrow shall evermore come dawn "to trouble the pool;"—and when their "loved and lost" shall be loved, never to be lost again.
Extend the gracious influences of Christianity. Reveal Christ to many needy, sin-stricken souls, as the Physician who heals all diseases. Blessed Savior—Prince of Peace! take to Yourself Your great power and reign. Hasten the day, when, by the regenerating influences of Your gospel, You shall sprinkle many nations, and kings shall shut their mouths at You—when, seated on the throne of universal empire, angels shall laud You and saints shall crown You; and Your Church triumphant, gathered in from every kindred and tribe and people and tongue, shall unite in the eternal ascription—"Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood."
O God, I desire anew to commit myself, and all belonging to me, to You and to the word of Your grace—rejoicing that the blessings of the covenant are in Your hands. Give us whatever You know to be good—deny us whatever You know to be evil. And all I ask is for the sake of Jesus Christ, my blessed Lord and Savior. Amen.
23rd Evening—THE FINAL WELCOME
"Enter into the joy of your Lord." Matt. 25:23
O God, I desire to come into Your presence on this the close of another day—adoring You for the gracious welcome You ever give to the mercy-seat. Have You not said, "Knock and it shall be opened?" Have You not set Your seal to the words, that if an earthly father, in the tenderness of his love, knows how to give good gifts unto his children—much more may I expect to receive a plenitude of blessings from the hands of my Father in heaven? Open unto me the gates of righteousness; and, from Your holy habitation, command upon me the blessing, even life for evermore.
I thank You, O great Redeemer, for the reception You did accord of old in Your ministry of love on earth, to all who sought You in penitence and faith. I bless You for that welcome which You bestowed on "the weary and heavy laden"—on the sin-stricken and the sorrow-stricken. No bruised reed was ever broken by You—no smoking flax was ever quenched by You. The most erring sheep was pursued by You, the Great and Good Shepherd—until You found it, and laid it upon Your shoulders rejoicing. Still it is Your blessed prerogative to welcome back the wanderer—to seek and to save that which is lost.
I bless You, that exulting in Your free welcome, seated on the Throne of Grace, I can also with hope and confidence anticipate Your last and most joyous welcome on the Throne of Glory. All my boldness in the prospect of that Great day, is founded on Your completed work and glorious righteousness. I would exclaim now—what will form my sole plea then—"Behold, O God, my shield—look on the face of Your anointed!" I know that I have a living Redeemer, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth, to plead my cause before an assembled world, and to give the glad summons—"Enter into the joy of your Lord!" Keep me, meanwhile, earnestly and habitually looking for this blessed hope. Preserve me from whatever would dim or darken its elevating influences—from all sloth and carelessness—all frivolity and sin. May I seek to make life, more than it has been, a preparation for eternity. In all my worldly duties and engagements, with the prospect of giving in my account at His appearing and His kingdom, may I hear the voice of Jesus saying, "Occupy until I come."
Whatever talents You have confided to me, give me grace diligently and faithfully to improve them. Keep me from the abuse of my stewardship. If You have given me worldly means—material prosperity—preserve me from selfishly hoarding the gifts of Providence, but, according to my ability, may I rejoice at being the almoner of Your bounties to others. Thus faithful over a few things, may I finally be made partaker of Your own gracious promise of abundant recompense. If You have denied me earthly good, may I strive all the more, to give You the consecration of the heart, and to lay up my treasure in heaven. Give me increasing aspirations after holiness. May I be enabled to walk in the path of obedience—daily renouncing and overcoming the power and practice of sin. Having the hope of seeing the Redeemer as He is, may I purify myself even as He is pure—and thus, having obtained victory over all my spiritual enemies, may I be ushered at last into that glorious land, where there is no sin to crucify, no corruption to subdue—where there is nothing to be delivered from—where the joy and the presence of the Lord will be an eternal strength.
Lord, have mercy on the whole world. Let the people now sitting in darkness see a great light. On those that are in the region and shadow of death, may the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His beams. Adored be Your name for the assured word of promise, that the day is approaching, when alike obdurate Jew and idolatrous heathen will join their voices together in the shout of welcome—"Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."
O Comforter of all who are cast down—Healer of the brokenhearted—Friend of the friendless, look in infinite compassion on those who need Your pitying love. Stay Your rough wind in the day of Your east wind. May those laid on couches of sickness, manifest a spirit of unmurmuring submission to Your will; recognizing Your hand, and Your hand alone—remembering that You are never arbitrary in Your dealings—that even "wearisome nights are appointed." Give them strength to be silent ministers of the truth, by exhibiting the power of Your sustaining grace; looking beyond the cloudlands of earth, to the better country, where the inhabitant shall no more say, "I am sick." Thus patiently bearing their cross, may they anticipate, with calm and joyful expectancy, that blessed hour, when all the sorrows and tribulations of earth will be forgotten in the words of welcome, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom."
Graciously accept of my thanks for the mercies of the by-past day; and give to me, this night, the sleep of Your beloved; for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.