Lenten Devotional for March 29

Presented to the First African Baptist Church and Society, Boston, MA, 1835

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. Enable me to say from my heart, Thy will be done, O God. The heaven is thy throne, and earth is thy footstool; neither may any say unto thee, what doest thou? But thou art the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, yet will thou condescend to look upon him that is of a humble, a broken, and a contrite heart.

As such, enable me, O God, to bow before thee at this time, under a deep sense of my guilt and unworthiness. It was my sins that caused thee to arise in thy wrath against me. Be pleased, O God, to blot them from thy book, and remember them no more for ever. Bless the church to which I belong. Thine arm is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is thine ear heavy that it cannot hear; but it is our sins that have separated thee from us. Purge us from all our dross; hide thy face from our iniquities, and speak peace to our troubled souls.

Bless thy servant, our pastor; let not this soul be discouraged, but may an angel appear unto him, strengthening him. Bless all the benighted sons and daughters of Africa, especially my unconverted friends. And though I may long sleep in death before thou wilt perform this work, yet grant that in the resurrection morn we may all awake in thy likeness, and our souls be bound in the sure bundle of eternal life. Amen.

(from Prayer in America)