Hey Church!

Hey Church! 

Below are two prayers from A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie–one for morning and one for evening. Depending on what time of day you read this, you may find one of the prayers more fitting. Even better, if you can set aside time Saturday night before bed and Sunday morning before church, I hope these prayers will help prepare your heart for worship. 

Morning*

ALMIGHTY God, you are always present in the world around me, in my spirit within me, and in the unseen world beyond me; let me carry with me through this day’s life a most real sense of your power and glory. 

O God around me, forbid that I should look at the work of your hands today and give no thought to you, the Maker. Let the heavens declare your glory to me and the hills speak of your majesty. Let every fleeting loveliness I see speak to me of a loveliness that does not fade. Let the beauty of the earth be to me a sacrament which makes real the beauty of holiness revealed in Jesus Christ my Lord. 

O God within me, give me grace today to recognize the stirrings of your Spirit within my soul and to listen most attentively to all that you have to say to me. Do not let the noises of this world so confuse me that I cannot hear you speak. Help me never to deceive myself about the meaning of your commands; and so help me in all things to obey your will, through the grace of Jesus Christ my Lord. 

O God beyond me, you dwell in unapproachable light. Teach me that even my highest thoughts of you are but a dim and distant shadow of your transcendent glory. Teach me that if you are in nature, you are still greater than nature. Teach me that if you are in my heart, you are still greater than my heart. Let my soul rejoice in your mysterious greatness. Let me take refuge in the thought that you are utterly beyond me, beyond the sweep of my imagination, beyond the comprehension of my mind. Your judgments are unsearchable and your ways past finding out. 

O Lord, hallowed be your name. Amen. 

Evening

ALMIGHTY God, in this hour of quiet I seek communion with you. I want to turn away from the worry and fever of today’s work, from the world’s jarring noises, from the praise and blame of other people, from the confused thoughts and fantasies of my own heart, and instead seek the quietness of your presence. All day long I have been working and striving, but now in stillness of heart and in the clear light of your eternity, I want to think about the pattern my life has been weaving. 

May there fall on me now, O God, a great sense of your power and your glory, so that I may see all earthly things as they really are.

Help me to know more deeply that with you one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day.

Give me now such a clear understanding of your perfect holiness that I may no longer be full of pride in my own achievements. 

Give me now such a clear vision of your uncreated beauty that I may never be satisfied with anything less.

Though the earth and man were gone,

And suns and universes cease to be,

And Thou wert left alone,

Every existence would exist in Thee.

Dear Father, I am content to leave my life in your hands, knowing that you have counted every hair of my head. I am content to give over my will to yours, believing I can find in you a righteousness, an integrity, that I could never have obtained on my own. I am content to leave all my loved ones in your care, believing that your love for them is greater than mine. I am content to leave in your hands the causes of truth and justice and the coming of your kingdom, believing that my passion for them is just a feeble shadow of your steady purpose. 

To you, O God, be glory forever. Amen.