Tuesday, Week 11

And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.
— Matthew 6:7 (BSB)

Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.
— Francois Fenelon

Our Father, You have given us many invitations to come to You. You have invited us . . .
to come with our sins,
to come with our troubles,
to come with our mistakes,
to come with our cares,
to come with our sorrows.

You have told us to come at all times, that we shall . . .
never be unwelcome,
never be turned away, and
never find You too busy to hear us.

You have promised us . . .
mercy for our sins,
comfort for our sorrows,
strength for our duties,
wisdom for our ignorance,
when we come to You. We thank You for all these precious invitations and assurances.

What would we do, O God, if we might not thus come to You? To whom else could we go? There is no other in all the universe who could help us — as we must be helped. Our hearts are full of praise and rejoicing, that we may thus come to You. There is nothing we cannot bring to You — nothing too small to bring — and nothing too large. We thank You that we are so blessed, that we have all Your divine love and grace to help us in our times of need. We need no other help, but Yours. We come this morning with all our burdens.

We have sins. These are our worst burdens. They will sink us to eternal despair unless we find help. We thank You that the Lord Jesus bore our sins, and bore them away. In His name, depending upon His atonement, we come with our sins.

We have other needs.

We are not strong enough for duty.

We cannot stand against the world and the power of Satan.

We have no wisdom for life's problems, its duties, its responsibilities.

We need strength,
we need wisdom,
we need grace —
for every moment!

So we come to You, our Father, as Your redeemed children. Receive us, bless us, keep us, help us. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.