O Everlasting Light,
Giver of dawn and day,
Dispeller of the ancient night
In which creation lay;

O Everlasting Light,
Shine graciously within;
Brightest of all on earth that’s bright,
Come, shine away my sin.

O Everlasting Truth,
Truest of all that’s true,
Sure Guide of erring age and youth,
Lead me, and teach me, too.

O Everlasting Strength,
Uphold me in the way;
Bring me, in spite of foes, at length
To joy and light and day.

O Everlasting Love,
Wellspring of grace and peace,
Pour down Thy fullness from above,
Bid doubt and trouble cease.

O Everlasting Rest,
Lift off life’s load of care;
Relieve, revive this burdened breast,
And every sorrow bear.

Thou art in Heav’n our All,
Our All on earth art Thou;
Upon Thy glorious Name we call,
Lord Jesus, bless us now.

- Horatius Bonar, 1858

Father in heaven,
our hearts desire the warmth of your love
and our minds are searching for the light of your Word.

Increase our longing for Christ our Savior
and give us the strength to grow in love,
that the dawn of his coming
may find us rejoicing in his presence
and welcoming the light of his truth.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

May you glory in nothing but the scandalous cross and in no one but the mighty and merciful Christ.

May you rejoice in your deliverance from a cruel death, a deluded slavery; from a bleak and desperate wandering.

May you be at peace in your Father’s house.

And may you who’ve been chosen by Sovereign Love, choose to lay your lives down that others may live.

May you take up the weapons of deliverance, the prayerful instruments of justice and mercy.

May you live out and proclaim the reign of the King.

May you humbly submit to the rule of your faithful Father and follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

May His grace so fill you that you overflow with the confident hope and joy His terrible and glorious death won for you.

And welcome all who hunger and thirst; who, willing to lose, will gain, who, willing to die, will truly live.

- Timothy Stoner,  The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditations on Faith

May you be comforted by the burning protective strength of your Father’s strong and stormy love.

May you be captivated by the focused heat and glow of your Bridegroom’s jealous passion.

May you recline at peace and with veiled face bow.

May you be thrilled and terrified at the rampaging, irresistible zeal of this consuming fire who has pledged Himself to do you good all the days of your life and who will not hold back even if the good seems bad, and stings and burns and blisters your skin.

May your heart thrill at the awesome God who held nothing back that He might hold you close, who poured on His Son what He never deserved that you might receive forever what you would not have desired, but were created for.

Then may your own heart become an altar aflame with fiery love and exclusive zeal to bring Him glory and expand His praise among all peoples and nations—among your friends and enemies too.

- Timothy Stoner,  The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditations on Faith

I am entirely dependent upon You for support, counsel, consolation.
Uphold me by Your free Spirit,
and may I not think it enough to be preserved from falling,
but may I always go forward,
always abounding in the work You give me to do.

Strengthen me by Your Spirit in my inner self
for every purpose of my Christian life.

All my jewels I give to the shadow of the safety that is in You
- my name anew in Christ,
my body, soul, talents, character,
my success, wife, children, friends, work,
my present, my future, my end.
Take them, they are Yours, and I am Yours, now and for ever.

- Puritan prayer, adapted

Draw my soul to Thee, my Lord
Make me love Thy precious Word.
Bid me seek Thy smiling face
willing to be saved by grace.

Lord, Thy powerful work begun
Thou will never leave undone;
Teach me to confide in Thee
Thy salvation’s wholly free.

Dearest Jesus, bid me come;
Let me find Thyself, my home.
Thou the refuge of my soul,
where I may my troubles roll.

- J. Adams, 1838
(Listen to a contemporary version of the hymn here.)

“You have shown great and faithful love to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. Lord my God, You have now made Your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. Your servant is among Your people You have chosen, a people too numerous to be numbered or counted. So give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (1 Kings 3:6-9, HCSB)

Notice several parts of this prayer:

• The prayer is rooted in Solomon’s trust in the good and faithful character of God.
• The request is rooted in Solomon’s recognition of God’s grace in establishing him as king.
• The prayer demonstrates Solomon’s humility. He describes himself as a servant, a youth, and without leadership experience.
• The request is made from a self-giving perspective, as Solomon seeks wisdom on behalf of God’s people.
• The request itself begins with the desire for obedience and only then moves to issues of discernment of good and evil.

I love the next verse too: “Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this” (v. 10).

O Love of God, descend into my heart;
Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling,
And scatter there Your cheerful beams.

Dwell in the soul that longs to be Your temple;
Water that barren soil overrun with weeds and briars
And lost for lack of cultivating.
Make it fruitful with Your dew.

Come, dear Refreshment of those who languish;
Come, Star and Guide of those who sail amidst tempests.
You are the Haven of the tossed and shipwrecked.

Come now, Glory and Crown of the living,
As well as the Safeguard of the dying.

Come, Sacred Spirit;
Come, and fit me to receive You.

- Augustine of Hippo

If God Himself be for me, I may a host defy,
For when I pray, before me my foes confounded fly.
If Christ, the Head, befriend me, if God be my support,
The mischief they intend me shall quickly come to naught.

I build on this foundation, that Jesus and His blood
Alone are my salvation, the true eternal good;
Without Him, all that pleases is valueless on earth:
The gifts I owe to Jesus alone my love are worth.

His Holy Spirit dwelleth within my willing heart,
Tames it when it rebelleth, and soothes the keenest smart.
He crowns His work with blessing, and helpeth me to cry
“My Father!” without ceasing to Him Who reigns on high.

To mine His Spirit speaketh sweet words of soothing power,
How God to Him that seeketh for rest, hath rest in store;
How God Himself prepareth my heritage and lot,
And though my body weareth, my Heav’n shall fail me not.

- Paul Gerhardt, 1656

I love the following prayer from Lancelot Andrews. It is so repentance-laden that I am moved to tears every time I read it.

Merciful and pitiful Lord, long-suffering and full of compassion:

I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned against You. O wretched man that I am, I have sinned, Lord, against you grievously, as I have participated in false vanities.
I conceal nothing from you, Lord. I make no excuses. I denounce against myself my sins. Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord in the following ways, and call to mind those particular sins I wish to confess.

I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited me nothing. And what shall I say now? Without plea, without excuse, I am self-condemned. I have destroyed my own self.

O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but in me there is only confusion. You are just in bringing sentence upon me. And now, Lord, what is my hope? Is it not you, Lord? Truly my hope is in you, if I have hope left, if your loving-kindness will abound in the face of all my sins.

O Lord, remember what I am made of and who made me, for I am the work of your hands! I was made in your image, I am the reward of your blood, and name from your Name, a sheep of your pasture, a son of your Covenant.

Do not forsake the work of your own hands. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving-kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.