• 
• 
• 
• 

Today's Devotional

Read John 8:19–40.

O Lord, we draw near to you, the one who hears and the answers prayer, unto whom all flesh shall come. O you, who inhabits eternity, bow down your ear and hear us, and help us. We praise you for the Savior’s patience and meekness, lowliness and sufferings for us. We grieve that one apostle should have betrayed and another should have denied him. O God, forsake us not; leave us not to ourselves, lest we should be unmindful of your so great goodness, and deny, either in thought, or word, or deed, him who loved us and gave himself for us. O may that kingdom, which is not meat and drink, nor of this world, but righteousness, and peace, and joy, be planted in each heart, and prevail speedily over all the earth. May we prefer Christ above all, and count all but loss for the excellency of him, and be ready to suffer the loss of all that we may retain him…. Hear us, and help us, and answer us, in the name and through the mediation of our great High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us. Let your mercy be upon us, for we trust in you. May grace, and mercy, and peace be upon us, and abide with us always, through Christ Jesus. Amen.

About the author and the source

Rev. John Cummings (1807–1881) was a Scottish clergyman and a prolific author, virulently anti-Catholic and fascinated with the Bible’s apocalyptic literature. He even set a date for Christ’s return (which, not surprisingly, proved to be wrong). He also produced a two-volume set of family prayers for each morning and evening of the year.