It is our habit to spend time in the presence of God at the beginning of each day (a ‘First Fruits Qadash’, see here: https://bit.ly/4c3uScN). We are not always successful in this endeavor, but we continue to run the race. At the beginning of our morning Qadash, as part of stopping and aligning our soul and Spirit, we like to read out loud a passage from God’s Word (often a Psalm) or from a good devotional. This morning’s devotional reading aligned perfectly with where we were in our pre-dawn worship of God. Herewith:

Morning

Compassionate Lord, thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day. Empty will be its gift unless I grow in grace, increase in knowledge, and ripen for spiritual harvest.

Let me this day know You in your majesty, love You supremely, serve You wholly, adore You fully. Through grace let my will respond to thee, knowing that the power to obey is not in me, but that your free love alone enables me to walk in obedience to You.

Here then is my empty heart. Overflow it with your choicest gifts. Here is my blind understanding, chase away its mists of ignorance. O ever watchful Shepherd, lead, guide, and tend me this day. Without your restraining rod I will surely go astray. Hedge up my path that I do not wander into unwholesome pleasure, and drink of its poisonous streams. Direct my feet that I not be entangled in Satan’s 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. My enemy is within the citadel. They cling to me as my very skin. I cannot escape their contact. In my rising up and sitting down they barnacle me. They entice me with constant baits. Come with your almighty power and cast out the enemy, pierce him to death, and abolish in me every particle of sinful life (Note 1) this day. Amen.

Note 1: Sinful; anything that is contrary to the Will of God, that grieves the Spirit.

Adapted, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers And Devotions