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�Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear to my cry.
Do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You,
a pilgrim, as all my fathers were.�
- Psa 39:12
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FOR A PILGRIM SPIRIT
"O Lord, in the morning I will direct my prayer to You."
"And confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth."--Heb. 11:13
O God, again, in the multitude of Your mercies, You are permitting me to
approach the footstool of Your throne. I am another day nearer death-oh,
may I be a day nearer You! With a new morning's dawn may I hear the
pilgrim summons-"Arise, for this is not your rest." Before I mingle with
the world, give me to feel I am not of it, but born from above, and for
above; and cherishing more of a pilgrim spirit, may my prayer and
watchword be-"I desire a better country."
Lord, I bless You for the rich provision You have made for the
wilderness journey-for all Your mercies, temporal, providential, and
spiritual. Forbid that the many gifts of Your love should draw me away
from Yourself, the bountiful Giver, or obliterate the solemn
impression-"I am a stranger with You and a sojourner, as all my fathers
were." May I "use the world without abusing it." By the varied
discipline of Your providence, may I be led to feel that all my
well-springs are in You. May the world's fascinations be becoming more
powerless-sin more hated-holiness more loved-heaven more realized-God
more "the exceeding joy" of my soul. Driven from all creature supports
and earthly refuges, may Jesus be the prop and staff of my pilgrimage.
When the world is bright, may I rest upon Him, and seek that He sanctify
my prosperity. When the wilderness is dreary, and the way dark, may He
hallow adversity. When friends are removed, may I feel that I have One
left more faithful than the best of all earthly friends; and when death
comes, and the pilgrim warfare ceases, leaning confidingly on that same
arm, may I enter the pilgrim's rest.
O adorable Savior!-You who were once Yourself a pilgrim-the lonely,
weary, homeless, afflicted One-who had often no arm to lean upon, and no
voice to cheer You-an outcast wanderer and sojourner in Your own
creation-I rejoice to think that You have trodden all this
wilderness-world before me-that You know its dreariest paths. I take
comfort in the assurance that there is at the right hand of the Majesty
on high, a fellow-Sufferer, who has drunk of every "brook in the
way"-shed every tear of earthly sorrow-heaved every sigh of earthly
suffering-and who, being Himself the "tried and tempted One," is able
and willing to support every pilgrim who is tried and tempted too.
I beseech You this day to look down in great kindness on all my beloved
friends. Seal to them a saving interest in Your great salvation. Wash
them all in Your blood-sanctify them all by Your Spirit. May not one be
missing on "the day when You make up Your jewels."
Pity a fallen world. Your Church is slumbering-the enemy is all
vigilant-souls are perishing. Arise, Lord, and plead Your own cause.
Promote greater unity and love and concord among Your own people. Let us
be nearer Jesus, and then we shall be nearer one another. Give us all
more of the single eye to Your glory. Make us more self-sacrificing-more
heavenly-minded-more Savior-like. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
"Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning, for in You do I
trust." |
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