O God, our heavenly Father, we cannot go into the day without Your blessing and help. We are blind, and cannot see where to set our feet, and we need to be led by the hand One who knows all the paths. We put our hands in Yours this morning. Show us the way, for You know its every step.
Tell us what You would have us to do. You have a plan for our day's life. There are things You have set down for each one of us to do. May we find these things, and may we have grace to do them all. Keep us from being so absorbed in our own plans and schemes, that we cannot take Your plan and do Your will. If sometimes it is hard for us to take Your way, if it breaks into our cherished hopes and desires — still help us always to say, "May Your will be done."
We ask You to give us grace to live today as we should live. Life is not easy for us. Our burdens are heavy. There are temptations at each step. Help us to speak only the words that will minister grace to those who hear. Help us to be honest in all our business transactions. Help us to be thoughtful and kind to all we meet. Help us to be a strength to many. Let us be a discourager to none.
Please bless all of our work today. Without your blessing, there can be no true profit. As earth's flowers need Heaven's sun and dew — so our lives need Heaven's grace and love to make them what they should be. Breathe on us now, as we bow here at Your feet, and fill us with Your Spirit as we go forth. Then we shall be blessed, and be ready for a day of love and peace and joy.
We ask all these favors, with the forgiveness of our sins, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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THURSDAY EVENING
Our Father, before we lay ourselves down to sleep, we thank You for protection and provision, and for all the blessings of this day. We committed ourselves to Your keeping in the morning — and You have not forgotten us for a moment. We thank You for our home-happiness during the day. Father, bless our family life, and make it more tender and helpful. May our home become a holier place to live in and to grow in. May all its influences be holy, stimulating, uplifting, and enriching. Fill it with Your Holy Spirit, and then it shall be like Heaven.
O Son of God, who made Your home in a household of earth for many years at Nazareth, and went often as a guest into the home of love at Bethany — come and dwell in our home, and bless it with Your tender grace. May we sit at Your feet as Mary did, hearing Your word and learning from You. Then in the time of sorrow, You will come to be our Comforter. We would also break the alabaster box of our heart's love and anoint Your feet. Come, dear Master, and be our abiding guest. Stay with us all the time. Help us to make our home such a place as You will care to dwell in — a home of truth, of pure feelings, of gentle words, of thoughtful affection.
So now, at the end of this day, as we retire to rest, we commit all our household to Your care. Forgive us all our sins. Accept the work we bring to You — only little fragments of what we meant it to be — stained, too, by sins. Take it as it is, and let your blessing rest upon it. Keep us through the darkness, and prepare us for the morrow, whether we shall spend it on earth or in Heaven. We ask all in Your name, O Lamb of God. Amen.
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J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.