Enable me, O God, to collect and compose my thoughts 

    before an immediate approach to you in prayer.

May I be careful to have my mind in order

    when I take upon myself the honour to speak

    to the Sovereign Lord of the universe,

    remembering that upon the temper of my soul

    depends, in very great measure, my success.

You are infinitely too great to be trifled with,

    to wise to be imposed on by a mock devotion,

    and abhor a sacrifice without a heart.

Help me to entertain an habitual sense of your perfections,

    as an admirable help against cold and formal performances.

Save me from engaging in rash and precipitate prayers

    and from abrupt breaking away 

    to follow business or pleasure

    as though I had never prayed.

 

Susanna Wesley, 1669-1742, mother of John & Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism

 

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The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works.

The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
    he also hears their cry and saves them.