05.13. THIRTEENTH WEEK
THIRTEENTH WEEK
SUNDAY MORNING
Jesus, who died for our sins, and rose again from the dead, we worship You on this Your day. You are the resurrection and the life. You brought life and immortality to light in Your gospel. You could not be held of death — but conquered it, thus vanquishing the last enemy.
We rejoice today in the blessings which You have brought to us by Your resurrection. You are a Savior who has met every power of evil, and has overcome every enemy. We have nothing to fear even in death, for You have proved Yourself Lord of death, and have the keys of the grave. You will rescue all Your people from death’s power.
You are a Savior who was dead — but who now lives to die no more. We have You for a living Friend and Companion. We are sure of Your help, O strong Son of God, in our every time of need, trial, and danger. On this Lord’s day we think of You as away beyond death, and able therefore to lead us through death. Bring us into living fellowship with Yourself. May this be to us a resurrection day, a day of victory over some old sin, a day of new life and hope. Help us to conquer some earthly desire, and enter into some new freedom. May we rise into newness of life. May You make this Sunday one of real blessing to us and to many others. Bless the churches everywhere. Let the power from on high be given to all who preach the gospel and to all who teach in the Sunday schools. Help us to open our hearts to receive Your love and the power of Your Holy Spirit. And we will give all the praise to the Father through You, O Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
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SUNDAY EVENING
O God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness — shine upon us, into our hearts, this evening, and give us Your peace. We thank You for all that this Sunday has been to us, for its quiet, for its instruction, for its worship, for its fellowship with You and with Your people, for its opportunities of Christian service. May You bless to our home Sunday rest and fellowship. May our family life be enriched by means of this day’s privileges. May we be enabled to make our home sweet with the sweetness of Heaven.
Bless us in our individual spiritual life. Bring us nearer to Yourself. May our thoughts of the risen Jesus lift our souls into sweeter communion with Jesus. May He be, more than ever before, our personal Friend, dearer to us than any other friend in all the world. May we live nearer the heart of Jesus from this day than ever we have lived before.
Then we pray that our Christian life may be deeper and holier from this day. May we have more of Jesus in our hearts. May we be more fully consecrated to Your service than ever we have been before. Make us more earnest, more prayerful, more holy in heart and life. Give us more wisdom in working for You. May we be teachers of others, as we speak of the things of Your grace. May we be winners of souls. May all the influence of our lives be for good. May we be more helpful to others.
We ask Your blessing on all the work done for You this day. Bless not only the public ministry of Your word — but remember all that has been done by humble workers in private ways. Give us now Your good-night peace, our Father, as we close our eyes. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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MONDAY MORNING
Father, may the light of Sunday stream down through all the days of the week. May Sunday’s blessings overflow into the common days, like water from a great fountain, and may all the week be holier, brighter, sweeter, purer, and happier therefor.
We address ourselves now again to toil and conflict. We have had our day of rest, and now we hear the command, "Six days shall You labor," calling us afield. Help us to shake off all sloth — and to be diligent, earnest, and faithful in our labor. Save us from indolence and half-heartedness. Whatever our hands find to do, may we do with our might. As the time is short and ever shortening for us — may we redeem every moment of it from waste, and give it something worthy to carry forward for eternity. May we be diligent in business, doing all our daily work with energy, with carefulness, with all the skill we can command, so as to please You.
Help us to make this a profitable week, the best we have ever lived — a week of usefulness, a week of spiritual growth, a week of education, a week of love and all good serving of each other and of our fellows.
We beseech You to forgive us all our sins and to make us more and more conscious of our personal unworthiness, and our constant need of divine cleansing. Let no iniquity gain or hold dominion over us. Subdue in us all evil propensities and desires. Restore unto us the joy of Your salvation. Send us out today as Your messengers, to carry Your words of comfort and life to others and to do errands for You. Help us to be a blessing to many. Give us a profitable day, and bring us together at its close in peace and love. We ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
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MONDAY EVENING
Give us light at the evening time, O God. Whatever shadows have been about us today, may they flee away now, and may the brightness of Your love stream about us.
There are things hard to understand in our life. Sometimes we have trouble. Sorrows darken the air about us. Tears flow. Bereavements break the circle of love. We experience losses and trials. Your providences are hard to read. We cannot see love written in them. Sometimes we are tempted to ask whether there can be love in them at all, they seem to be working so irrefutably and so sorely against us.
Father, we thank You for the many assurances that for Your children, love always works in Your providences. The things that seem to be against, us are really working for our good, though it may take time to bring out the result.
We ask for a faith that shall never doubt Your Fatherly love, whatever our experiences may be. Help us to trust You when we cannot see, knowing that afterwards we shall know that good has come out of all the strange events. Give us patience, and help us to learn to wait for You, when we cannot see the goodness.
We lay all our burdens at Your feet. We would not carry one of them into the night with us. We would leave them all with You. Take all the tangled threads into Your own hand, and unravel them, weaving them into a web of beauty. Forgive us all our doubts and fears, our little-faiths and our half-faiths, and give us the faith of little children. Then we shall be blessed and happy. Then we shall see Your blue sky with its countless stars. And may grace, mercy, and peace be upon us forever. Amen.
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TUESDAY MORNING
Lord, teach us how to pray. We thank You for the privilege of prayer, that we can bring our wants and wishes to You freely, no matter what they are — sure that You will give them patient consideration. You never despise the prayer of any of Your children. The feeblest and lowest may come with the smallest request — and You will open the door to hear. We rejoice that we have such a loving Father in Heaven.
Teach us how to pray. Give us the confidence of children. Help us to come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our times of need. We are sure of Your willingness to do always for us, the thing that is best. So we would cast our requests upon You, saying, "As You will." Give us the faith that will trust You with our desires — leaving to You how and when the answer shall come. If the thing we ask for is not given, help us to believe that refusal is greater kindness to us than the granting of the request would have been.
We come with our requests for temporal blessings. We ask You for daily bread, for health, for prosperity in business. If it be Your will, Father, grant us all these mercies and favors. If any of them are withheld, we are sure it shall be in love, and we will say, "May Your will, not ours, be done."
We pray also for spiritual blessings, asking You to give us more grace, more love, more of Your Spirit’s influence. Hear these our prayers, and give us an answer of peace. So may we abide in You, and may Your love enter into our hearts. Give as the best things, the things we need the most — not what we ask, unless what we ask is best. We make these prayers in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
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TUESDAY EVENING
Father, we come to You again with confidence and trust. We are not afraid to trust You. You have never yet failed or disappointed us, when we have come to You with our needs — and You will not fail nor disappoint us now. Help us to believe in You, even when all things seem to be against us, knowing that it is because the story of Your providence is not finished, that it seems to move adversely for us.
We have no power of our own to bring good out of evil, to compel enmities, opposition, and hindrances — to work out good for us in the end. But You can do even this. We would leave, therefore, with You all the things that seem adverse and evil, and ask You to bring the blessing out of them for us.
We remember, this evening before You, our friends who have troubles. You know who they are and what the troubles are. Give them faith and comfort in their trial. Let them not be cast down by the things that are hard to endure. May they have faith that shall not fail in any experience of trial.
We remember all the interests of our own home. We desire to make our home a good place to grow up in for worthy life, and for Heaven. We need You continually to help us to make it heaven-like and sweet. May Your love abide with us, softening our hearts and sweetening and refining our spirits.
We pray for all who love the Lord Jesus Christ. May they love Him more and more. May all believers grow in grace. We pray for the lost world. Have mercy upon it and save it. Help us to do our part in saving it. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be upon us all forever. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ WEDNESDAY MORNING
We ask You, our Father, to give us a true blessing this morning. May it enter into our lives and make them more like Jesus. May it become a fountain of the water of life in each heart of ours. May it make us hate sin more and love right and good more. May it leave the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ branded more indelibly upon us. May it stamp the image of Jesus more deeply and clearly upon us.
We desire to carry Your blessing with us into all the day. May we love You more, and follow You better, and serve You more acceptably — because we have Your blessing upon us in the early morning.
We ask You — as we must always ask You — to forgive us our sins, and cleanse and purify our hearts and lives. We are not worthy to receive any blessings at Your hands — but You are gracious and merciful, and we come to You sure of the blotting out of our sins, when we have truly confessed them and sincerely repented of them. Give us indeed the grace of repentance, that we may receive Your forgiveness and Your peace.
We desire to leave our sins behind us and not to continue to repeat them. Help us to put them away. If we have unintentionally wronged any one — give us grace to undo the wrong, so far as we can. If we have taken anything from another wrongfully — give us grace to restore what we have taken. May our religion make us honest and truthful. May it make us just and righteous. Save us from an easy-going religion that makes no impact upon the life. May our religion go to the depths of our being, and may it cleanse us at the heart, and sanctify and transform all our life. May it lead us to noble service. We ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ WEDNESDAY EVENING
We would praise You, O God, for Your mercy and truth, and for all the wonders of Your love. Teach us how to sing. Sometimes we almost forget how to sing, we so rarely utter our thanksgiving to You. We come to You continually with requests, asking for favors of many kinds — but we speak our gratitude very infrequently. We fail to thank You for the things we have most earnestly asked You to give to us, forgetting when we get them, that they are answers to our prayers, that they are indeed gifts from Your hand.
Father, we confess this sin of ingratitude before You and implore Your forgiveness. And may we be enabled to make our repentance real and true, by henceforth thanking You more faithfully for all the blessings of Your love and grace. We thank You now . .
for answered prayers,
for the good things of Your providence,
for the good things of Your word and of Your Spirit,
for home and friends, and
all the blessings of country and church.
We thank You for this day’s blessings, for its enjoyments, for all it has brought to us of good, for Your presence with us, and for the hopes of glory. We thank You for what You are to us as our Father, for the love that You have for us, for the revealings of Your grace and comfort.
Teach us to sing, so that our hearts may always be praising You. May our lives be songs, and may we sing Your praise wherever we go, not with our lips only — but in our disposition, in our conduct, in our character. May all who see us and know us, hear the music of love and praise wherever we go. Fill us with the joy of Jesus — and then we shall sing. Breathe Your life into our souls — and then our lives shall be songs. Grant these things for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THURSDAY MORNING
O God, who has spared our lives through another night, and brought us to a new morning — seal to us Your new mercy by new gifts of grace. We thank You for the rest of the past night. We thank You for the favors that await us, for the provision made ready for our bodies, for the hopes of the day upon which we are now entering. Give us truly grateful hearts; and may we never grieve You by coldness, by unfaithfulness, by ingratitude, by unbelief, or by want of love.
We beseech You to prepare us now by Your Spirit for all the duties of the day, for all its vicissitudes. What its hours may bring forth, we cannot know; nor would we, if we could. We would rather leave them all with You, that You may lead us and prepare the way for us, than that we should choose for ourselves. So we will trust You to take us in Your appointed way. Choose for us, God; nor let our selfish desires, cheat our poor souls of good You have designed. Choose for us — Your wisdom is unerring, and we are fools and blind. We cannot, dare not, choose for ourselves. The day may have shadows for us, or it may bring to us hardship and self-denial; but we shall not be afraid. Our path through gloom, shall lead to joy and peace. So we will press on in patient self-denial, accepting the hardship, not shrinking from the loss. Our blessing lies beyond the hour of trial — our crown lies beyond the cross. Let us not falter in any experience.
Let not the world have dominion over us today. Help us to fix our eyes on our heavenly home, and press onward to the glory that waits for us there with You. Hear us, O God, and grant to us Your blessing and grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THURSDAY EVENING Our Father who are in Heaven, we come to You with the children’s confidence, saying, Abba, Father. Teach us to love You and trust You. Put into our hearts the spirit of adoption.
We thank You for the privileges we enjoy as Your children. Help us to realize what they are. Reveal Your love to us. We cannot see You, and we are so slow to believe that You love us. Make known to us this precious fact, and may Your love be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
We thank You for all our blessings — the good things of Your providence, the better things of Your grace. We thank You for our home and its tender affections. We thank You for our friends, and for all the gentle friendships that bless our lives. We thank You for our children, and for their sweetness and beauty. We thank You for schools, for books, and for teachers. We thank You for Your church, with its ordinances, its sacraments, its fellowships, and for the help that comes to us from it in so many ways.
Grant to us a blessing now at the ending of another day. Receive out of our hands all the work we have done, and bless it. Forgive us all our sins, and strengthen our weakness that we may not sin against You so readily. May we learn to live in this world, as not belonging to it — but as only pilgrims, passing through the world to our heavenly inheritance. Yet we desire to live well while we stay here, using the world and not abusing it, and living in it so as to leave a blessing in it. Lead us on and on, to the end, and then bring us to the close of life’s last day in peace, and to Heaven’s immortality, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.
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FRIDAY MORNING
Father, in all things we have come short, and we ask Your grace and mercy. You have promised by Your servant John, that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins. We come to You with confession. Make Your face shine upon us, and give us Your peace.
You have kept us through the darkness, from all the perils of the night. We thank You, and we would take further blessing and grace from You. May we be enabled to make this a very worthy and beautiful day. May its every task be finished. May all its assigned work be done. Give us the true loving spirit toward all men. In all our fellowship with others, may we be gentle, thoughtful, charitable, large-hearted, unselfish, and helpful. Preserve us from envy, jealousy, and all bitterness. May we be useful, quieting others’ fears, soothing their pains, comforting their sorrows.
Help us in all our trials and cares to be patient, victorious, and strong. May we endure trouble and sorrow, sweetly and calmly. May we pass through temptation unhurt by its fires, as the Hebrew children passed through the fires of the king’s furnace. May we live in the world, and not be hurt by the world. May our love for You grow stronger and stronger, as we pass toward the end of our earthly pilgrimage. May Heaven draw upon us continually, lifting us nearer to You in spirit every day, ennobling all our life, and throwing about us ever stronger bonds of divine grace.
We go forth now into the day to serve You as You will have us serve You. Make us faithful and true. Breathe upon us, and fill us with Your Spirit. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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FRIDAY EVENING The day is done, our Father, and we bring it to You. Give it Your blessing. As it is now to be folded away with all past days, to remain closed until the books are opened — pass Your cleansing hand over it, and then put Your seal upon it. Bless all we have done. Forgive our sins. Sanctify to us all our experiences. Make clean our hearts within us. Strengthen us in our souls.
We ask for rich blessings upon our home and home life. You instituted the home; the family is Your ordinance. Hence we feel confidence in asking You to make our home pleasing to You in its love, its fellowship, and all its affairs. May each one of us, older and younger, be blessed. In all the future of our family life may we have divine guidance. May the young grow up here into divine beauty, finding their home to be a school of Heaven. Help us to make our home hospitable and loving, a center of holy influences.
We bring to You all the interests of our lives — our business, our household tasks, our school work, our friendships, our hopes, plans, and fears. Grant Your grace upon all these things. We pray for the trusts You have placed in our hands, all the interests of Your kingdom that are in our custody. Help us to be faithful to every duty, and may nothing suffer in our care.
Almighty and most merciful Father, we now commend ourselves, and all who are dear to us, to You. Tenderly care for the old. Pity the weak and the tempted. Have mercy upon the fallen. Comfort the sorrowing. Bless the sick and those who watch beside them. Hear us, O God. Receive our prayer. Save us at last in Heaven, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SATURDAY MORNING
O God, our heavenly Father, we bless You for the revealing of Your love which You have given us in Jesus Christ. He has taught us to call You our Father, telling us . . .
that You love us with all a father’s tender affection,
that Your care for us is constant, and
that we have all the privileges of children in Your family.
Help us also to be Your faithful children — obedient, trustful, loyal, and true.
We thank You, our Father, for the goodness and mercy of the past night, and for all Your kindness toward us. Give us true gratitude that we may never fail to recognize Your hand in the favors we receive. May Your goodness ever lead us to greater carefulness in living, that we may never grieve You by sin or by unbelief. Help us to keep our hearts ever open to the gentlest influences of Your love.
We would remember before You, all the interests of Your church. Bless all those who have confessed Your name, and give them grace to be true and faithful to You in all their ways. May Your people be led . . .
into holier living,
into deeper experiences of Your love,
into intenser earnestness in Your service,
into fuller consecration.
Give Your church greater power and influence in the world.
We desire that our own household life may become more and more imbued with Your grace. Whatever is not according to Your will, may You help us to bring into full accord. May we be brought very close together in true affection. May we live together sweetly, patiently, unselfishly, and helpfully — so that Jesus would not hesitate to be a guest in our home. We ask all these favors and mercies in Jesus Christ’s precious name. Amen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SATURDAY EVENING
O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father, we draw near to You with love and faith, at this eventide. Graciously pardon all our sins, which are many — and give us Your peace. We are Yours, Your own children — and we owe to You the best honor, obedience, and service which it is possible for us to render. Help us to fulfill our obligations and to meet our responsibilities.
We thank You for Your goodness to us this past week. You have showered Your blessings upon us with a most bountiful hand. You have given us favors of many kinds. Some of Your gifts have come to us in strange form — in trials, in burdens, in disappointments, in losses. Still we know that they are Your gifts, and as such have in them good and blessing for our lives. Give us grace to accept whatever You send to us, knowing that Your love can never give us anything but kindness. Even if the cup is bitter — may we be enabled to accept it.
We yearn for deeper, richer blessing upon our household. We would grow more like our Savior. May our home life be such that we shall find in it always sanctifying influences. May our tender human affections enlarge our hearts so that we shall love You more. May we learn to live together patiently, thoughtfully, unselfishly, doing each other good and never evil.
Come and be our guest, O You who were a guest in the old Bethany home, bearing there so much comfort, so much love — blessing the little home so deeply. Come and be our guest and bring to our home, all that you took to that old-time home. Bless us everyone with present and eternal blessings. We ask in Your precious name. Amen.
PRAYER WHEN THERE IS SICKNESS
O Jesus, our Friend, we lift up our hearts to You in earnest prayer. May You draw us near to Yourself and give us tender comfort in this time of our anxiety. We remember how when a friend of Your was sick in the days of Your flesh, word was sent to You — "He whom You love is sick." We speak now the same message to You, "Our loved one, who is dear to You, is sick." We ask for your blessing upon him. We earnestly pray that if it is according to Your will, the precious life may be spared and restored again to health. Give wisdom to the physician and bless the medicines and the means. While our dear one suffers may he be sustained by Your grace, held near Your own heart, and kept in peace. And may he come again from the sick-room with a sweeter trust in You, with more patience and trust, ready for better service. We ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
PRAYER WHEN A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY HAS DIED
O God, our Father, we Your children bow at Your feet in our sorrow. To whom can we go, but to You? We desire to submit ourselves to Your will. You have laid Your hand upon us — and our hearts are broken. But in our grief, we will trust You. Even so, Father, for so it seems good in Your sight.
We thank You for the comforts which come to us from the gospel, for the words of divine promise which whisper themselves into our hearts, for the assurance of the sympathy of Jesus, who wept with His friends in their bereavement; for the blessed hopes of resurrection and immortality which come to us from the broken grave of the Redeemer. We rejoice that our believing loved one who has fallen asleep is with Jesus, absent from the body but present with the Lord. May You quiet our hearts and comfort us. Give us Your peace. Bless our broken home circle. May the memories of the vanished life stay in our hearts as holy blessings. May our household life be all the sweeter, for the grief that has touched it. We have no words to speak. We would get near to Your heart, we would creep into Jesus’ bosom, into His everlasting arms, and be still. Bless us with the tenderest blessings of Your love, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
PRAYER ON SETTING UP A NEW HOME
O Jesus, our Savior and Friend, we want to come very near to You to get Your blessing. We are glad that You went to a marriage feast at Cana of Galilee, and smiled upon the joy of that sacred hour. We invited You to our wedding, and You have given us Your blessing. Now as we set up our new home, we ask Your blessing upon it. May we be very happy together. May our love never change nor grow cold — but may it become more tender every day, and may it prove constant and true, Help us to keep our mutual vows, and may we be true helpers of each other’s life in all ways.
We ask Your guidance in all our plans. May we do Your will only and always. Let not our love for each other draw our hearts from You — but may we love You ever first and best. Bless all our business affairs. Sanctify to us our friendships. Help us to make our home a center of influence for Jesus. May we be enabled to live so that all who come within our doors may receive a blessing.
Now as we bow together in our new home, lay Your hand upon our heads and give us Your blessing of grace, mercy, and peace. We ask it in Your precious name, O Jesus. Amen.
PRAYER WHEN A BABY HAS BEEN BORN
Our Father, we ask You to bless us. We thank You for the new life that has come into our home. We bring it to You in consecration. We would lay it in Your arms. We ask for Your divine keeping for it. We cannot keep it, for the world is very full of evil. You alone can guard it from harm.
We ask You for grace to make our home a fit place for this precious life to grow up in. Help us to make it . . .
a place of love,
a place of prayer,
a place of all beautiful living,
a place sweet with Heaven’s fragrance.
Make us fit to hold this child in our arms, to clasp it in our bosom, to be its teachers and guides. Help us to answer its questions, to solve its problems, and to be to it a pattern of holy living.
We receive this little child as Your gift to us, and we promise to bring it up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Give us wisdom, strength, and grace that we may be worthy to nurture this child for You, and that at last all of us may meet together in Heaven. We ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
PRAYER FOR ABSENT MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY
O God, You are everywhere present. Your eye keeps watch over all places. We commend to Your loving thought and care, our absent loved ones, praying that You will keep them from evil and bless them in the experiences through which they are passing. Preserve them from accident, from moral harm, from sickness, from sin. Bring them back to us in due season, enriched for holier life and greater usefulness. We ask in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
PRAYER WHEN THERE ARE GUESTS IN THE FAMILY
Father, we thank You for our friends and for the friendships which mean so much to our lives. Bless the friends who are now with us, bowing here at Your feet. We thank You for their coming. Sweeten our fellowship. Let Your grace fill their hearts. Make them holy and lead them ever in right ways. May they be kept in Your fear and fitted for larger and larger usefulness. In all their care and toil and burden-bearing, may they have Your help. Choose the ways of life for them and let no harm come near to them. Watch over their home while they are absent from it, and tenderly care for their dear ones. We ask in Jesus Christ’s precious name. Amen.
PRAYERS BEFORE MEALS
We thank You, our Father, for this provision which You have made for us. Help us to be grateful for all Your mercies and favors. May this food strengthen us and will You enable us to use our strength in Your service, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O God, You open Your hand and satisfy all our needs. We take these gifts from You with gratitude and ask your blessing upon them, in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Father, give us this day our daily bread, with Your blessing, and help us to be contented with such things as we have, living to Your honor and glory, through Jesus Christ. Amen.