Tuesday, Week 4

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.
— 1 Peter 4:7 (BSB)

God cannot hear the prayers on our lips often because the desires of our heart after the world cry out to Him much more strongly and loudly than the our desires for Him.
— Andrew Murray

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, grant us access to You in our prayer, for we come in the name of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. You have invited us to come to You, and we come boldly to Your throne of grace to find mercy and to obtain help in time of our need. Grant us Your peace. Accept us graciously. We are sorry for our sins which have grieved You. We offer no excuse, nor would we try to make our sins seem less heinous than they are. We simply confess them — and ask You to forgive us.

We have our burdens to carry. Some of them are heavy, and it seems to us that we cannot bear them. But we remember Your promise, that if we cast our burden upon You, that You will sustain us. So we would cast these burdens of ours upon You. We do not ask that You should take them away from us, for it may be that we should continue to bear these burdens. So we ask for grace to keep our burdens, and we plead Your promise for strength to sustain us as we walk beneath them in faith and confidence. Let us not faint and sink down under the load; but may we be enabled to walk erect, helped by Your sustaining grace.

Teach us to do Your will. Your will is always the best thing for us, the only good thing we can do. To go against Your will, is to grieve You, and hurt our own life. Show us what Your will is, day by day, step by step — what You would have us to do. Then teach us to DO Your will. Incline our hearts unto Your commandments. Then help us to obey Your precepts. It is not easy for us to do this, with our evil hearts — but may You help us all this day to do only the things that will please You. We ask this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.