help us now really to worship You. We would thank You for this day. We bless Your name for bringing us to this season of our life.

Lord, please shut the door upon the world for us. Help us to forget our cares. Enable us to rise up into heavenly places with You. May we get rid of all of life's down-dragging tendencies. May the attractions of these grosser things be gone, and catch us away to Yourself.

We do not ask to be caught up in spiritual extacy, nor to see an angel in shining apparel.
But we do ask that by faith we may see Jesus, and may His presence be so evidently realized among us, that we may rejoice as well as if our eyes beheld Him, and love Him, and trust Him, and worship Him as earnestly as we should do, if we could now put our fingers into the print of the nails in His hands.

O, precious Lord Jesus Christ, we do adore You with all our hearts. You are Lord of all.

We bless You for becoming a human being like us, so that You might be our next of kin, and being next of kin we bless You for taking us into marriage union with Yourself, and for redeeming us and our inheritance from the captivity into which we were sold.

You have paid Your life for Your people; You have ransomed Your people with Your heart's blood. Be therefore, forever beloved and adored.

And now You are no longer here, for You are risen from death. Our souls would track the shining way by which You have ascended through the gate of pearl up to Your Father's throne. We seem to see You sitting there - Man, yet God: reigning over all things for Your people.

And our ears almost catch the accents of the everlasting song which rolls up at Your feet: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour, and power, and glory, and dominion, and might for ever and ever."

Lord, we say, "Amen."
From the outskirts of the crowd that surround Your throne, we lift up our feeble voices in earnest "Amens," for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood. And You have made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign with You. Though far off by space, we know that we are very near to Your heart.

You look over the heads of the angelic squadrons to take notice of us. And You hear the praises - and even the groans - of Your well-beloved people, for are not we most near You, Your flesh and Your bones? We know we are.

We feel within us the ties that link us with You. We belong to You, our best Beloved Saviour, and You are ours. We are longing to get through the crowd surrounding You, and to get to the forefront, and there to bow prostrate at the dear feet that were nailed to the Cross for us.

We worship the Lamb who lives for ever and ever, Who has prevailed to take the book and loose the seven seals thereof, to Whom be glory, world without end.
Hallelujah!

adapted from The Prayers of C.H. Spurgeon, 1834 - 1892.