W-1626
Your day is won or lost in the morning hours. I truly believe that, to a large extent, we determine the way our day is going by the way we start our days. When my day starts in a hectic rush, or when I allow my mind to dwell in negative territory early in the day, I find it’s usually all downhill from there.
It’s so important to begin your day with prayer. That’s why I want to share with you some morning prayers that come from a wonderful devotional classic entitled A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. It is one of my favorite books, containing prayers for morning and evening for a month. Dr. Baillie uses some old-fashioned words, but his thoughts are right on for us today. It has blessed and challenged me many times, so I want to share some of these morning prayers.
Dr. Baillie writes: “O God my Creator and Redeemer, I may not go forth today except Thou doest accompany me with Thy blessings. Let not the vigour and freshness of the morning, or the glow of good health, or the present prosperity of my undertakings, deceive me into a false reliance upon my own strength” (Pg. 13).
Did you ever think that success and prosperity could cause you more trouble than failures or hard times? When everything is going well and we’re getting good feedback; when people seem to be pleased with us and what we do, and our relationships are on a good footing; when our bodies are feeling good and we’re running on all cylinders—then it is so easy for us to think that we can make it on our own.
It is a subtle deception that begins to creep into our thinking. We don’t realize we’re relying on ourselves, but it happens. So, today, if things are going good for you, be thankful and enjoy it. But please don’t forget that it’s a gift from God and not your own doing.
As this morning prayer goes on to say: “Let me then put back into Thine hand all that Thou has given me, rededicating to Thy service all the powers of my mind and body, all my worldly goods, all my influence with other men. All these, O Father, are Thine to use as Thou wilt. Speak Thou in my words today, think in my thoughts, and work in all my deeds. Amen.”
This is a really good morning prayer, and I highly recommend that you pray this prayer for yourself—in the mornings or anytime.
Here’s another one of his morning prayers:
“O Thou who Thyself art everlasting Mercy, give me a tender heart today towards all those to whom the morning light brings less joy than it brings to me:
- Those in whom the pulse of life grows weak
- Those who must lie abed through all the sunny hours
- The blind, who are shut off from the light of day
- The overworked, who have no joy of leisure
- The unemployed, who have no joy of labour
- The bereaved, whose hearts and homes are desolate
And grant Thy mercy on them all . . . Let the Spirit of Him whose life was the light of men rule within my heart till eventide. Amen.”
Starting your day by remembering those worse off than you, by praying for them by name or in general, will help you see your day, your challenges, your troubles in a much different light. It takes your mind off of yourself, and that is always a good thing. The more you think of others and the less you focus on your own situation, the happier and more peaceful you will be.
This is a good prayer to begin any day. I hope you’ll use it; add to it; make it your own. Let it touch your heart in such a way that your whole day is blessed because of this morning prayer. Obviously we can and should pray at any time in any day, but there is a wonderful blessing that comes when you truly start your day with a prayer for that day. Try it!
Here is part of another morning prayer from A Diary of Private Prayer:
“Of all that will come to me this day, very little will be such as I have chosen for myself. It is Thou, O hidden One, who dost appoint my lot and determine the bounds of my habitation. It is Thou who hast put power in my hand to do one work and hath withheld the skill to do another. It is Thou who doest keep in Thy grasp the threads of this day’s life and who alone knowest what lies before me to do or to suffer. But because Thou art my Father, I am not afraid. Because it is Thine own Spirit that stirs within my spirit’s inmost room, I know that all is well . . . The good that I would I do not, but the good that Thou willest in me, that Thou canst give me power to do . . . Make this day a day of obedience, a day of spiritual joy and peace. Make this day’s work a little part of the work of the Kingdom of my Lord Christ, in whose name these my prayers are said. Amen.”
I love the thought that the threads of my day are in God’s hand, and while I never know what any day is going to hold for me, I know who holds that day. Therefore, I don’t need to fear.
Are you wrestling with some fears as you face the day? I want to encourage you to use Dr Baillie’s words to help you remember that nothing takes God by surprise, your day is totally in his hands, and therefore all is well. So, no matter what time of day it is, just stop and pray this day into God’s hands, trust him to work all things out according to the counsel of his own will, and then rest in his hands.
This is part of another one of Dr. Ballie’s morning prayers that prays for an eternal perspective:
“O eternal God, though Thou art not such as I can see with my eyes or touch with my hands, yet grant me this day a clear conviction of Thy reality and power. Let me not go forth to my work believing only in the world of sense and time, but give me grace to understand that the world I cannot see or touch is the most real world of all. My life today will be lived in time, but eternal issues will be concerned in it. The needs of my body will be clamant [noisy or urgent], but it is for the needs of my soul that I must care most . . . For the strong sense I have that this is not my home: For my restless heart which nothing finite can satisfy: I give Thee thanks, O God.”
Did you ever think that the reason your success or your possessions or even your relationships never fully satisfy you is because nothing finite can satisfy your heart? And we should thank God that only he can satisfy our longings.
I encourage you to pray each morning that God will help you see the unseen things, because they are the eternal things, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Be sure to pray a morning prayer to care most for the needs of your soul rather than the needs of your body. It’s a good way to start your day.
Here is part of one of these prayers that has challenged me many times:
“O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst bid Thy disciples to shine as lights in a dark world, in shame and contrition of heart do I acknowledge before Thee the many faults and weaknesses of which we are guilty who in this generation represent Thy Church before the world; and especially do I acknowledge my own part in the same. Forgive me, I beseech Thee, the feebleness of my witness, the smallness of my charity, and the slackness of my zeal. Make me to be a more worthy follower of Him who cared for the poor and the oppressed, and who could never see disease without seeking to heal it or any kind of human need without turning aside to help. Let Thy power, O Christ, be in us all, to share the world’s suffering and redress its wrongs. Amen.”
There are many ways we can share in the world’s suffering and seek to redress its wrongs, and as children of God, we should be at the forefront of helping the oppressed and poor. I often ask myself what have I ever truly sacrificed to help someone in need? Very, very little, for sure.
What if all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ prayed this way each morning, asking God for a compassionate heart and a willingness to reach out to those in need? We don’t have to go to far-off places to find needy people, do we? Recently I challenged my women’s class at church to find someone that week who needed some money and just give them some money, no matter how small.
I want to be the kind of Christian who sees the needy in my world and finds ways to be Jesus with skin on to them.
I do recommend this devotional to you. I know the words are a bit antiquated, but the truth Dr. Baillie expresses so beautifully speaks right into my heart. I believe it will bless you, and I encourage you to start every day with prayer. Remember, your day is won or lost in the morning hours, so develop the wonderful discipline of starting your day right with prayer.
