John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless

August 5

I will not leave you comfortless. — John 14:18

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O GOD, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy love and wisdom and power and grace and mercy. Thou has put an infinite longing for Thee in our hearts. In Thy absence we feel our orphanage. We have aspirations which Thou alone can satisfy. We have sins which Thou alone can cleanse. We have infirmities which burden and shame us without Thy help and strength and forgiveness. We thank Thee for Thy forgiving love, Thy protecting care, Thy comforting presence. We beseech Thee to direct us in all the ways of Life; Give us guidance in our perplexities, strength in weakness, comfort in sorrows, inspiration in despondencies, and courage in our battles of life. Give us patience in hard labor. May we not become weary in well-doing. May we be real representatives of the Christ we confess and profess. Thou knowest our sorrows and bereavements and trials. Sanctify them to our highest spiritual good. Put into our souls the psalm of love. May it dominate our lives, and express itself in every Christlike attitude and spirit in all the relations of life. Let the Holy Spirit dwell within us. In the midst of the sorrows that tend to embitter and the burdens that oppress, get under us with the mighty arms of Thy love, and lift us up into conscious communion with Thee. Help us, O Father, to be willing to enter doors of usefulness that open daily. May we be faithful to Thee and our fellows. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

G. M. Matthews, D.D.,

Dayton, Ohio