Evening Prayer for Easter

O living Saviour! Lord Jesus Christ! Abide with me; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. Great is Thy grace to me! For Thou hast not only permitted me once again to celebrate in health the joyful festival of Thy triumphant resurrection, — a mercy for which I owe Thee endless thanks; but Thou hast also, as my living Saviour, caused most comforting truths to be proclaimed to me and to be brought home to my heart. Let not the tokens of Thy love to me cease. Abide with me in mercy, and hearken to the prayer with which I come to Thee before I fall asleep.

With the first glimpse of the day, when I thought of Thy blessed resurrection, I prayed fervently that Thou wouldest let Thy life be manifest in me. If, because of any defect in me. Thou canst not grant the prayer I uttered, O do Thou Thyself produce in me the needed change, that I may be made partaker of the coveted joy. As long as I remain dead in sin and am not risen to newness of life, I cannot live in Thee, nor manifest in my outward conduct the life which flows from Thee. Therefore do Thou reveal to me the real condition of my soul, and bring me to such a state as will make me in time and eternity Thine own. Cry out to me: Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and I will give Thee light. Let me hearken to this Thy voice, that I may arise and come to Thee, and may yield my heart to the operations of Thy grace.

Work in me the spiritual resurrection, that I may no longer lie dead in my sins. I cannot do this by my own power; for even though I diligently read what is calculated to edify me, and listen attentively to those who show me the way, I cannot by my own power become a new man nor live in Thee. It is Thy work; Thou must do it. Thou must work in me both to will and to do of Thy good pleasure. Therefore let Thy grace awaken me from the sleep of sin which has hitherto enveloped and fettered me, Enable me to put away all fear of men, and to seek Thee with all my powers. Let me, by an inner denial, give up my own ease and everything that would hinder me from coming to Thee, so that I may obtain and keep the true and real life in Thee. As Thou didst fit Thyself for Thy resurrection by taking back Thy noble life out of the power of death, so do Thou also fit me for my spiritual resurrection by bestowing new life on me. Give to my intellect a clearer understanding of the way in which I should walk. Give to my will a greater ability to do what is pleasing to Thee. Pour into my heart better and purer motives for all my actions. Let me do all things to Thy honor and glory. Endow me with obedient willingness to follow Thy example and to conform my mind to Thine. If Thou, O my Saviour, wilt grant these requests, then shall I be able to rise and to prove that I am a new creature.

But as Thou, after Thy blessed resurrection, not only hadst a glorified body, but didst live in a manner altogether different from that which characterized Thee before; so let me, when I have spiritually risen with Thee, feel and perceive this newly received life in me. Let others also perceive it. Let every one see by my godly conversation, my blameless walk, and my good works done to please Thee, that I am no longer darkness, but light in the Lord; that I have been called out of darkness, and, in obedience to the call, have been translated out of darkness into Thy marvelous light. Let me from this time forth deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live righteously, soberly, and godly in this present world. Let me cut loose from the world and live for Thee alone, so that Thou mayest ever live in me. Preserve me from falling asleep again after Thou, Lord Jesus, has awakened me. Keep my eyes constantly open and watchful, that I may not lose my new spiritual life, but may he changed in Thy image from glory to glory, till at last I shall be united and live with Thee for evermore. Amen.