Daily Affirmations - Day 2 - Place of Safety - Sweet Hour of Prayer

Day 2: Sweet hour of prayer

I cry to You, Lord; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

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As I look upon my past life and see how mercifully God has dealt with me, how He has guided and protected, and how He has shielded me from the power of the tempter, my heart cries out, “What a mighty God! What a great and loving Father!”

Counting my blessings, I find they so far outnumber my trials that it brings me real courage to press on, knowing that, as I do, grace will be given me to meet whatever may yet lie in my pathway...

Although at times I was greatly distressed, yet often when I was in secret prayer, my heart was greatly comforted and I experienced seasons of quiet, peaceful blessings…

Whenever I called upon Him, He always gave me relief and never failed to provide a way of escape from every temptation and difficulty.

~ Enoch E. Byrum, Riches of Grace

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Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

That calls me from a world of care,

And bids me at my Father’s throne

Make all my wants and wishes known.

In seasons of distress and grief,

My soul has often found relief,

And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

The joys I feel, the bliss I share,

Of those whose anxious spirits burn

With strong desires for thy return!

With such I hasten to the place

Where God my Savior shows His face,

And gladly take my station there,

And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

Thy wings shall my petition bear

To Him whose truth and faithfulness

Engage the waiting soul to bless.

And since He bids me seek His face,

Believe His Word and trust His grace,

I’ll cast on Him my every care,

And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

May I thy consolation share,

Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,

I view my home and take my flight.

This robe of flesh I’ll drop, and rise

To seize the everlasting prize,

And shout, while passing through the air,

“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”

~ William W. Walford, 1845

George Herbert: Prayer

Prayer the Church's banquet, angel's age,

God's breath in man returning to his birth,

The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgramage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth:

Engine against th' Almightie, sinner's-towre,

Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,

The six-daies' world-transposing in an houre,

A kinde of tune, which all things heare and feare;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,

Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,

Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,

The milkie way, the bird of paradise.

Church-bels beyond the starres heard, the soul's bloud,

The land of spices, something understood.

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