Thursday, Week 1

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
— Mark 11:24 (BSB)

Prayer is the supreme way to be workers together with God.
— Wesley L. Duewel

Night has drawn its veil over the world again, and we come to take refuge in You. You are our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. We fear not the darkness, for You are in it. It is but Your garment enfolding You. You are as truly in the darkness, as in the light. May the wings of night be to us as Your wings — under whose shadow we shall find refuge, warmth, and blessing.

Some things have not gone well today. We have had our troubles. Our hearts have been hurt. You are the healer — will You heal us? Take the tangled threads out of our clumsy hands, disentangle them and weave them into a web of beauty! Take the dark things of the day's providences, the things that seem wrong, and by the power of Your grace, transmute them into blessing. Help us indeed to keep our hands off the strange, complex affairs of our lives — for we would only spoil the pattern which You are fashioning in us, if we attempted to adjust these complicated affairs. May You take entire charge of the myriad things of our lives that are beyond our managing, and bring good and only good out of them.

We ask for a more perfect faith, that we may never doubt Your love or Your goodness for a moment. Save us from all fear and from all unbelief. Help our half-beliefs, our little faiths. Help us to see the invisible things, and to rest upon them as upon an eternal rock!

Forgive the sins of this day. Accept our thanks for all Your goodness. Shelter us tonight, and bless us in our sleep, giving us renewal of strength. May we rise in the morning, if we are still in this world, ready for a new day of service. We ask all for Jesus' sake. Amen.