Sunday Morning Prayer by Dr. Joseph Parker – February 21, 2016

21 Feb Sunday Morning Prayer by Dr. Joseph Parker – February 21, 2016

In his 1902 biography of the pastor of London’s City Temple, Dr Joseph Parker, William Adamson gives this insight into Parker’s powerful prayer ministry: “Those who have worshipped in the City Temple have been greatly influenced by the prayers of the pastor. They are tender, reverent, filial, elevating, and breathe a child-life spirit. Some may think that they are more like meditations before, than prayers to the Lord; but when their spirit and essence are studied they reveal all the constituents of true prayer. Enshrined within them they have ‘not my will, but Thy will be done. Thou knowest best what to give without our asking.’ Frequently Dr. Parker has been asked if he prepared his prayers before he entered the pulpit, and the answer has been, ‘No, I prepare myself, not my prayers, which are the spontaneous utterances of the heart, as these are given by the Holy Ghost. I do not feel as if they are mine, and oftentimes I feel refreshed by what passes through my soul, and is uttered by my lips; and may then stop with seeming suddenness because no more has been given me to say.’ A frequent visitor to the City Temple – himself a minister – has said; ‘I can listen to the sermon without a tear, but I cannot do so to one of the prayers.”

I post these prayers here each Sunday morning as a simple tool to help encourage you in your walk and worship of Jesus.

From Dr. Joseph Parker’s message on Hebrews 6:9.

“Almighty God, we bless thee for the uplifted Cross, whose light fills creation. We see a Cross everywhere; its great shadow makes the night and the morning of the world; without that Cross there is no security. It is in everything; where anything lives something else has died. We found this in the garden, and in the nest of the birds, and in the jungle of the wild beasts, and in our family life, and in our spiritual and educational life; that some may live some must die. Thou hast put death upon thy table, and made thy sacrament and oath and immortality even in the grave and in the presence of death. God forbid that we should glory save in the Cross! If men would lead us to the throne may we go to it by the Cross. Inasmuch as we have been called by thy love to see the Cross and know somewhat of its holiest meaning, if we be risen with Christ may we prove our resurrection by the heavenliness of our love, by the heavenliness of our citizenship, by the heavenliness of our service. O Christ, the Living One, thou didst come to take us to the Father. Show us the Father: may we know that he is close at hand, though we cannot see him; that if we could but open our soul’s eyes we should see the Father in every little child, in every broken heart, in every budding flower. Oh, for eyes to see, heart-eyes, soul-eyes, the vision of the inner life, penetrating all cloud and darkness, and seeing the Shining Glory. Then should our life be rid of its burdens, its pains and its sorrow and its fear, and we should live the life of liberty. If any man is foolish enough to be making his own gospel, do thou chastise him with many disappointments day by day, until he shall begin to pray at the right altar. Thou hast sent thy Son to save us, to seek and to save the lost, to call sinners to repentance: help us to hear the music of his inviting voice, and to answer it because our sin is exceeding great. Oh, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place the prayer thy servant prayeth, and when thou hearest, Lord, forgive! Amen.”

• Parker, Joseph (2015-09-12). Ephesians to Revelation (The People’s Bible Book 26) (Kindle Locations 3348-3361). Chariot Ebooks. Kindle Edition.