Week 8 Day 1 Devotions
In our devotions this week as we look at the topic of prayer, I have chosen some of the prayers that John Wesley wrote. It is sometimes a good idea to use the prayers that others have written as this can help us enlarge our own prayer life and even take us to areas that we wouldn't normally think of praying about. The prayers I have selected are from “Prayers for Children” in the Works of John Wesley: the Jackson Edition, Volume Eleven. The language of course is 18th-century English but I have chosen not to paraphrase but to quote Wesley directly.
PRAYERS FOR CHILDREN. PREFACE.
My Dear Child,
A lover of your soul has here drawn up a few Prayers, in order to assist you in that great duty. Be sure that you do not omit, at least morning and evening, to present yourself upon your knees before God. You have mercies to pray for, and blessings to praise God for. But take care that you do not mock God, drawing near with your lips, while your heart is far from him. God sees you, and knows your thoughts; therefore, see that you not only speak with your lips, but pray with your heart. And that you may not ask in vain, see that you forsake sin, and make it your endeavour to do what God has shown you ought; because God says, "The prayers of the wicked are an abomination unto the Lord." Ask then of God for
the blessings you want, in the name, and for the sake, of Jesus Christ; and God will hear and answer you, and do more for you than you can either ask or think.
JOHN WESLEY.
O LORD God Almighty, Father of angels and men, I praise and bless thy holy name for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to me and all mankind. I bless thee for my creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thy great love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ. I bless thee for preserving me in the night past, and bringing me safe to the beginning of a new day. Defend me in the same with thy mighty power, and grant that this day I fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but let all my doings be so ordered by thy governance, that I may do always that which is righteous in thy sight, through Jesus Christ my Redeemer. Grant me such grace, that I may be able to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with a pure heart and mind to follow the steps of my gracious Redeemer. Keep me, I beseech thee, O Lord, from all things hurtful to my soul or body, and grant me thy pardon and peace, that, being cleansed from all my sins, I may serve thee with a quiet mind, bring forth plenteously the fruit of good works, and continue in the same unto my life’s end, through Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Redeemer. Amen.
