Prayers Ancient and Modern 09/20

“I think of the love of God as a great river, pouring through us even as the waters pour through our ravine at floodtime. Nothing can keep this love from pouring through us, except of course our own blocking of the river. Do you sometimes feel that you have got to the end of your love for someone who refuses and repulses you? Such a thought is folly, for one cannot come to the end of what one has not got. We have no store of love at all. We are not jugs, we are riverbeds.” – Amy Carmichael

Published September 20, 2016 |

We beseech Thee, O Lord, remember all for good; have mercy upon all, O God. Remember every soul who, being in any affliction, trouble, or agony, stands in need of Thy mercy and help, all who are in necessity or distress; all who love, or hate us. Thou, O Lord, art the Helper of the helpless; the Hope of the hopeless; the Saviour of them who are tossed with tempests; the Haven of them who sail; be Thou All to all. The glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon us; prosper Thou the work of our hands upon us; Oh, prosper Thou our handy-work. Lord, be Thou within me, to strengthen me; without me, to keep me; above me, to protect me; beneath me, to uphold me; before me, to direct me; behind me, to keep me from straying; round about me, to defend me. Blessed be Thou O Lord, our Father, for ever and ever—Amen.

Lancelet Andrewes (1555–1626).