An Evangelists Prayer

"Teach me, your servant, Lord I pray you, by your Holy Spirit,
how to devote myself to them and how to spend myself on their behalf.
Give me, by your indescribable grace,
the power to bear with their shortcomings patiently,
to share their grief's in loving sympathy, and
to give them help according to their needs.
Taught by your Spirit, may I learn
to comfort the sorrowful, confirm the weak and raise the fallen;
to be myself one with them in their weakness,
one with them when they burn at causes of offence,
one in all things with them, all things to all of them
that I may gain them all.
Give me the power to speak the truth straightforwardly, and yet acceptably,
so that they all may be built up in faith and hope and love,
in chastity and lowliness,
in patience and obedience,
in spiritual fervour and submissiveness of mind.
And, since you have appointed this blind guide to lead them
this untaught man to teach
this ignorant one to rule them,
for their sakes, Lord, if not for mine,
teach him whom you have made to be their teacher,
lead him whom you have bidden to lead them,
rule him who is their ruler.
Teach me, therefore, sweet Lord,
how to restrain the restless, comfort the discouraged, and support the weak.
Teach me to suit myself to everyone
according to his nature, character and disposition,
according to his power of understanding or his lack of it,
as time and place require, in each case, as you would have me do."

From London City Mission Magazine "Span"