A Prayer

By J. Gregory Mantle

    My omnipotent Lord, enable me to do what, apart from Thy enabling, is impossible. Yet since it is Thy will I can ask in the utmost confidence. I would be detached from everything that would hinder me, and therefore hinder Thee, in the accomplishment of Thy purpose.

    Let me be willing that Self should be completely dethroned in my life. When I have sometimes thought the victory was won, I have found to my humiliation that I was still in bondage to my old enemy. He is too strong and subtle for me. Do Thou, therefore, cleanse the temple of my being as Thou didst in the days of Thy flesh. Drive out all the buyers and sellers, and make my heart a house of prayer.

    Teach me the life of absolute dependence on Thee. I am so prone to creaturely activity and creaturely self-assertion I have so often failed to realize that apart from Thee I can do nothing.

    My Master, lead me to Thy door;
    Pierce this now willing ear once more:
    Thy bonds are freedom; let me stay
    With Thee, to toil, endure, obey.

    May I show my devotion to Thee by my love of Thy Word, and by my glad and quick obedience to Thy sayings. May I never pick and choose among Thy commands, but regard every Word of Thine as binding on me. To this end please help me patiently and diligently to study Thy precepts; to be as glad to come to Thee for law as for life; and to remember that Thy commandments are not grievous.

    Let me never through carelessness or self-indulgence be disapproved: but, submitting to the discipline of the Holy Spirit, may I lay aside every weight; run the heavenly race; and at last finish the course and win the crown. I ask this in the Name of Jesus my Saviour and King. Amen.