Week 1 Thursday Evening Prayer

BLESSED FATHER! another day is hastening to a close. Lord, grant that we may be duly impressed with this thought. Our actions, and words, and thoughts, our purposes, and desires, and motives, and anxieties, are all before Thee. O God, Thou hast seen the evil that is in them. We confess our sinfulness. We cannot justify ourselves in Thy sight. Lord, wash us and all our services in the fountain of Christ's blood. At our best state we are vanity. We have come short of Thy glory. Lord, forgive us, and accept us in the Beloved. Then shall we lie down in peace, and take quiet sleep under the gracious care of our heavenly Father.

Yet, ere we retire for rest, hear our acknowledgments of Thy grace and goodness toward us throughout the day. Thou didst bear with us, though unworthy and unfaithful. Thou didst enable us to prosecute our earthly calling, though, alas, how little have we done in it for Thee! Thou hast kept us from many dangers, seen and unseen, however unmindful we have been of Thee and Thine. Thou hast continued our opportunities of doing and receiving good, though we did not improve them as we ought to have done. We can make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only. Whatever our attainments or labors may have been, we lay them all at the foot of the Cross. Jesus only is worthy. We cast the crown of blessings, wherewith Thou hast blessed us, before the throne, and the Lamb who sits upon it. For His sake, we beseech Thee to accept our services, unworthy as they are in themselves. May our folly be thus made wisdom, and our weakness strength. Whatever we were enabled to do, in harmony with Thy will, may it be accepted, and blessed, and prospered.

Oh, let not the day close without some benefit to ourselves and others. Forbid that it should ever be found that we had lived this day in vain. Rather may the words we spoke, and the actions we performed, prove to be seeds of truth and righteousness, which shall grow and bring forth fruit abundantly. May our lives be so spent, that when we die it may be truly said of us, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: yea, saith the Spirit, they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Now and then may it be given us to say, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Living or dying may we be the Lord's.

And while we thus pray for ourselves, we would not be unmindful of others. Bless, Lord, our relations and friends. May they be friends of Jesus. Bless the sick and afflicted: comfort and counsel them. Bless the widow and the orphan: protect and provide for them. Bless the dying, and ripen them for heavenly rest. Bless the ministers of Thy word, the missionaries of the Cross, and the teachers of the young, and the rulers of our own and other lands. Bless the President of the United States, the legislators and all the judges of the land. Bless all the people, and may they lead peaceable and quiet lives in all godliness and honesty. These and all other blessings we ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.