A Prayer for Each New Day

Before the demands of any day beckon, the allures of a pleasant day call, the tasks of a 'regular' day take over, or the burdens of a heavy day consume, consider this eternal orientation and Godward plea...

(Read it with careful contemplation so not to miss its richness.)

Compassionate Lord,

Thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day.

Vain will be its gift unless I grow in grace,

                                                     Increase in knowledge,

                                                     Ripen for spiritual harvest.

Let me this day know thee as thou art,

                                                     Love thee supremely,

                                                     Serve thee wholly,

                                                     Admire thee fully.

Through grace let my will respond to thee,

Knowing that power to obey is not in me, but

    That thy free love alone enables me to serve thee.

Here then is my empty heart: overflow it with thy choicest gifts.

Here is my blind understanding: chase away its mists of ignorance.

O, ever watchful Shepherd, 

lead, guide, tend me this day:

Without thy restraining rod I err and stray,

Hedge up my path lest I wander into unwholesome pleasure,

                And drink its poisonous streams;

Direct my feet that I be not entangled in Satan’s secret snares,

                Nor fall into his hidden traps.

Defend me from assailing foes,

                       From evil circumstances,

                     From myself.

My adversaries are part and parcel of my nature;

They cling to me as my very skin;

I cannot escape their contact.

In my rising and sitting down they barnacle me;

They entice me with their constant baits;

My  enemy is within the citadel;

Come with almighty power and cast out, pierce to death,

     And abolish in me every particle of life not lived under the Spirit’s control this new day.

From The Valley of Vision, a Collection of Puritan Prayers