Happiness

O Lord,

Help me never to expect any true happiness from the world, but only in you.
Let me not think that I will be more happy by living to myself,
   for I can only be happy if I'm working for you,
   and if I desire to live in this world
   only to do and suffer what you give to me.
Teach me
   that if I do not live a life that satisfies you,
      I will not live a life that will satisfy me.
Help me to desire the spirit and attitude of angels
   who willingly come down to this lower world
      to perform your will,
   though their desires are heavenly,
   and not at all set upon earthly things;
      then I will have the attitude I ought to have.
Help me not even to think of living to you in my own strength
   but always to look to and rely upon you for assistance.
Teach me that there is no greater truth than this:
   that I can do nothing by myself.
Lord, this is the life that no unconverted person can live,
   yet it is an goal that every godly soul presses after;
So let it be my concern to devote myself and all to you.
Make me more fruitful and more spiritual,
   for barrenness is my daily affliction and load.
How precious is time, and how painful to see it fly
   with little done to good purpose!
I need your help:
O may sensibly depend upon you for all sanctification,
   and every accomplishment of your purposes
      for me, for the world,
      and for your kingdom.

Fullness

Heavenly Father,

You have revealed to me myself as a mass of sin,
   and yourself as the fullness of goodness,
      with strength enough to help me,
      wisdom enough to guide me,
      mercy enough to enliven me
      and love enough to satisfy me.
You have shown me that because you are mine
       I can live by your life,
       be strong in your strength,
       be guided by your wisdom;
   and so I can rest my thoughts and heart in you.
This is the exchange of wonderful love -
   for me to have you for myself
   and for you to have me, and to give me yourself.
There is in you all fullness of the good I need,
   and the fullness of all grace to draw my to yourself,
   I who, otherwise, could never have come.
But having come, I must cling to you,
   be knit to you,
   always seek you.
There is no one who is all good as you are:
With you I can live without other things,
   for you are God all-sufficient,
   and the glory, peace, rest, joy of the world
      is a temporary, perishing thing
         in comparison with you.
Please help me to know that the one who hopes for nothing but you,
   and in all things hopes only for you, hopes truly,
   and that I must place all my happiness in holiness,
      if I hope to be filled with all grace.
O Convince me that I can have no peace at death,
   nor hope that I should go to Christ,
      unless I intend to do his will
   and have his fullness while I live.

Comforts

Giver of all good,

Streams upon streams of love overflow my way.
You have made me out of nothing,
   have brought me back from foreign land
   have transformed me from ignorance to knowledge,
      from darkness to light,
      from death to life,
      from misery to peace,
      from foolishness to wisdom,
      from error to truth,
      from sin to victory.
Thanks be to your for my high and holy calling.
I bless you for ministering angels,
   for the comfort of your Word,
   for the helpful functions of your church,
   for the teaching of your Spirit,
   for your holy sacraments,
   for the communion of saints,
   for Christian fellowship,
   for the recorded chronicles of holy lives,
   for godly examples that make me want more of you
   for the people whose life-lights it would be a sad to ignore.
Your will in all your provide is
   to enable me to grow in grace,
   and to be prepared for your eternal presence.
My heaven-born faith gives promise of eternal sight,
   my new birth is a pledge of never-ending life.
I draw near to you, knowing you will draw near to me.
I ask of you, believing you have already given.
I entrust myself to you, for you have redeemed me.
I bless and adore you, the eternal God,
   for the comforts of these thoughts,
      the joy of these hopes.

Sleep

Blessed Creator,

You have promised your loved ones sleep;
Please give me the restoring rest that's needed for tomorrow's toil;
If dreams be mine,
   let them not be tinged with evil.
Let your Spirit make my time of repose
   a blessed temple of his holy presence.

May my frequent lying down make me familiar with death,
   the bed I approach remind me of the grave,
   the eyes I now close picture to me their final closing
Keep me always ready and waiting for admittance to your presence.
Weaken my attachment to earthly things.
May I hold life loosely in my hand,
   knowing that I receive it on condition of its surrender;
As pain and suffering reveal my changing health,
   may I not shrink from a death that introduces me to the freshness of eternal youth.
I retire this night in full assurance of one day
   awaking with you.
All glory for this precious hope,
   for the gospel of grace,
   for your unspeakable gift of Jesus,
   for the fellowship of the Trinity.
Please do not withhold your mercies in the night season;
   your hand never wearies,
   your power needs no repose,
   your eye never sleeps.

Help me when I helpless lie,
   when my conscience accuses me of sin,
   when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts,
   when my eyes are held awake by personal anxieties.

Show yourself to me as the God of all grace, love and power;
   you have a balm for every wound,
      a solace for all anguish,
      a remedy for every pain,
      a peace for all trouble.
Permit me to commit myself to you
   awake or asleep.

Rest

Heavenly Father,

My faith is in you,
My expectation is from you,
My love goes out toward you,
   I believe you,
      accept your Word,
      submit to your will,
      rely on your promises,
      trust your providence.
I bless you that the court of my conscience
   proves me to be yours.
I do not need signs and wonders to believe,
   for your Word is sure truth.
I have cast my anchor in the port of peace,
   knowing that present and future
      are in nail-pierced hands.
You are so good, wise, just and holy,
   that no mistake is possible to you.
You are the fountain and source of all law;
   what you command is mine to obey.
I yield to your sovereignty all that I am and have;
   do with me as you will.
You have given me silence in my heart
   in place of murmurings and complaints.
Keep my wishes from growing into willings,
   my willings from becoming fault-finding
      with your providences
   and have mercy on me.
If I sin and am rebellious, help me to repent;
   then take away my mourning and give me music;
   remove my sackcloth and adorn me with beauty;
   take away my sighs and fill my mouth with songs;
   and when I am restored and rest in you
   give me summer weather in my heart.

Contentment

Heavenly Father,

If I should suffer need, and go unclothed, and be in poverty,
   make my heart prize your love,
   know it, be constrained by it,
   though I be denied all blessings.
It is your mercy to afflict and try me with wants,
   for by these trials I see my sins,
   and desire to be rid of them.
Please help me willingly accept misery, sorrows, temptations,
   if those things will help me feel sin as the greatest evil,
   and be delivered from it with gratitude to you,
   acknowledging this as the highest testimony of your love.
When your son, Jesus, came into my soul
   he became more dear to me
      than sin used to be;
   his kindly rule replaced sin's tyranny.
Teach me to believe that if I ever want to conquer any sin
   I must not only labor to overcome it,
   but must invite Christ to take its place,
   and he must become more valued to me
      than the vile lust had been;
   that his sweetness, power, life may be there.
So I need to seek a grace from God that will oppose sin,
  but I should not seek it as a thing on it's own, apart from himself.
When I am afraid of evils to come,
   please comfort me by showing me
      that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch,
         but in Christ I am reconciled and live;
      that in myself I find insufficiency and restlessness,
         but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace;
      that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good,
         but in Christ I can do all things.
Though now I have his graces in part,
   I shall shortly have them perfectly
   in that state where you will show yourself fully reconciled,
   and alone sufficient, efficient,
      loving me completely,
   with sin abolished.
O Lord, may that day come quickly!

Joy

O Christ,

All your ways of mercy lead toward and end in my delight.
You wept, grieved, suffered that I might rejoice.
For my joy you have sent the Comforter,
   have multiplied your promises,
   have shown me my future happiness,
   have given me a fountain of life.
You are preparing joy for me, and me for joy;
I pray for joy, wait for joy, long for joy;
   O give me more than I can hold, desire, or think of.
Measure out to me times and amounts of joy,
   at my work, business, duties.
If I weep at night, give me joy in the morning.
Let me rest in the thought of your love
   your pardon for sin, my title to heaven,
   my future unspotted state.
I am an unworthy recipient of your grace.
I often undervalue your blood and dishonor your love,
   but in repentance I can draw water from the wells of your joyous forgiveness.
Let my heart leap towards the eternal sabbath,
   where the work of redemption, sanctification,
      preservation, glorification is finished and perfected forever,
   where you will rejoice over me with joy.
There is no joy like the joy of heaven,
   for in that state are no sad divisions,
   unchristian fights,
   contentions, evil plans
   weariness, hunger, cold,
   sadness, sin, suffering,
   persecutions, wearisome work.
O healthful place where none are sick!
O holy assembly where all are priests!
How free a state where none are servants
   except to you!
Bring me speedily to the land of joy.