Thursday, Week 4

And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
— John 14:13 (BSB)

Praying most often doesn’t get us what we want but what God wants, something quite at variance with what we conceive to be in our best interests.
— Eugene Peterson

O God, our Father, we Your children come to You for a blessing. As the earth needs the sun and the rain from Heaven — so do our lives need Your grace and love and life. We cannot live without You. Without blessings from You — our souls would die. Pour upon us Your grace and love, as we bow at Your feet.

We have our duties for the day; we need wisdom that we may do them well. May You bestow upon us the grace that will prepare us for whatever You have in Your plan for us. We beseech You to help us to live together as a family, in a way that will honor You. Deepen our love for each other, and help us to be patient and kindly in all of our associations. Help us to make our love like Yours. Put Your love into our hearts — and then we shall love truly. Destroy all selfishness in us, and give us the mind that was in Christ Jesus. Help us to bear one another's burdens, and to be patient one with another. Make our home more and more like Heaven. May we do Your will here — as it is done in Heaven. May our love be like Heaven's love in . . .
its purity,
its tenderness,
its sincerity,
and its fellowship.

Give us grace to be helpers of each other's spiritual good — to make each other holier, to provoke each other to love and good works. May we be means of grace to each other. We desire this morning to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, that we may receive a new baptism of love as we go out for the day. Keep us from falling along the difficult way. Let no hurt come to us. Shield us from temptation — or strengthen us to resist temptation. Bring us all home at nightfall, when the day is done. We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.