"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."--James iv. 7.
O God, Thou art from everlasting to everlasting. Loving me at the
beginning, Thou hast promised to love me even unto the end.
Notwithstanding all the fitful changes of my own changing heart
towards _Thee_, there _has_ been, and _can_ be, no shadow of turning
in Thy covenant faithfulness towards _me_. I am at this hour the
monument of Thy mercy--a living comment on the words, "Thy ways are
not as man's ways, nor Thy thoughts as man's thoughts."
If I have been enabled in any degree to resist the assaults of
temptation, it is all Thy doing. I am "kept by the power of God."
Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul must long ere now have dwelt
in silence. By the grace of God I am what I am.
Lord, indulged and cherished sin unfits me for the enjoyment of Thy
service and favor. I have to lament my proneness to evil, the natural
bias of my heart to that which is opposed to Thy pure and holy will.
When I would do good, sin is too often present with me. I feel the
power of my spiritual adversaries. If left to myself and my own
unaided resources, I must often hopelessly resign the conflict.
But I rejoice to think that there is help and hope and strength at
hand. I would look to Him who is now bending upon me an eye of
unchanging love from the throne. All Thy ascension glories, blessed
Redeemer, have not obliterated the tenderness of Thy humanity. Thou
art "that same Jesus;" Thou, the abiding Friend, art still left
changeless among the changeable; and when Satan often desires to have
me, that he might sift me as wheat, it is Thy intercessory prayer that
saves me from utter ruin. Thou art pleading for me, that my faith fail
not! Oh may I be found invincible in the hour of temptation, being
made more than conqueror through Him that loved me. Sheltered in Thee
the true Refuge, the wicked one will touch me not.
Let me not trifle with my own soul or with the momentous interests of
eternity. Let me every day be living under the realizing consciousness
that Thy pure eye is upon me. Keep me from all that is at variance
with Thy gracious mind. Keep me from unchristian tempers, from an
unholy or inconsistent or uneven walk. By a Christ-like demeanor may I
exhibit the sanctifying and transforming influence of the Gospel on my
own soul, that others may take knowledge of me that I have been with
Jesus.
God of Bethel! do Thou take under Thy protecting providence all
related to me by endearing ties. However far we may be separated from
one another, let us never be separated from Thee. Let us often rejoice
in this our common meeting-place; that around Thy mercy-seat in spirit
we can assemble, and lay our evening incense in the one Golden Censer
of our gracious High Priest!
Take charge of me this night, defend me from all danger; whether I
wake or sleep, may I live together with Thee; and all that I ask or
hope for is in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, my only
Saviour. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE AS
INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS
AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."