Lord God, you know I need to call on you for my daily bread.

But how much more reason have I to crave the graces of your Holy Spirit –

    for supplying my soul with heavenly food,

    especially with saving faith.

When I am tossed about with the storms of doubts and fears,

    show me how to lay hold of your word and promises.

Then all the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil,

    will never prevail over me, since I know in whom I have believed.

Increase the light of my faith, 

    that it may daily cast forth more clear beams.

Preserve that faith in the darkness of death,

    that it may guide me to eternal life.

And rule and govern me by your Holy Spirit,

    that I may never lose faith by agreeing to do anything

    that is against the light of my conscience.

Confirm the good work you have begun in me,

    strengthen me inwardly, and preserve me blameless 

    until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ,

    that I may inherit eternal life.

Amen.

 

Robert Parker, c. 1564 – 1614, English Puritan minister and scholar

 

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That is why I am suffering as I am. 

Yet this is no cause for shame, 

    because I know whom I have believed, 

    and am convinced that he is able to guard 

    what I have entrusted to him until that day.