So, You. You. Bye! and and So, Let me welcome you in the Saviour's name to our Bible study tonight, here live from the manse in Portland, Owen, and trust that everybody can hear me well this evening. And wherever you join us in the world, again, we welcome you. It's good to be able to join together. for our midweek Bible study and then we'll get down to a time and season of prayer within our own homes. We're very thankful to the Lord for his goodness toward us and his mercies and we can thank God for that as we come to hymn prayer now before we come to the preaching of God's word. So let's unite please together in prayer together please. Let's pray. Our loving Father we come to thee as dependent children Lord, individuals and families requiring, O God, Thy mercy, day by day and moment by moment, rejoice in Thy grace, the grace of God that brought salvation to these souls of ours and drew us lovingly on to the Redeemer and drew us on to His pure side. And Lord, brought us into the family of God, brought us into union with Jesus Christ, Glory in the cross. There is our glory and therein is our boast. We boast in none other but save Christ and him crucified. We come, dear God, aware of our great need, the many issues, O God, that lie in our own homes, our own hearts, and how we need to hear from God. We pray for a word fitly spoken. Grant, dear God, the word to be the blessing. Grant, O Father, as we meet in under these circumstances, that still we'll know a sense of the divine presence in our homes. Lord, come to us, we pray. We rejoice in the promises of God. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to thee, that where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. Lord, come, fill me with thy Spirit, fill me with thy power. O God, grant, dear Father, great help to be given in the ministry of the Word. And Lord, may souls be blessed, and hearts be challenged, because we offer prayer in and through the Saviour's precious and wonderful name. Amen. If you have a copy of the Word of God there with you, we're turning this evening to Psalm 27. Psalm 27 and as you turn there let me thank you for making the effort to join with us tonight we appreciate it and we do not take it for granted we're glad that you've joined with us and may the Lord be blessed or may we be blessed as we hear God's precious word. Psalm 27 we'll read the psalm together it is a psalm of David a Davidic psalm and we'll read the psalm together please. The psalmist And by the Holy Ghost wrote these words. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked even mine enemies and my foes came upon me, to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. The war should rise against me, and this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When thou sayest, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Hide not thy face far from me, Put not thy servant away in anger, Thou hast been my help, leave me not, Neither forsake me, O God, of my salvation. When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and teach me in a plain path, because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, and be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Amen. And we'll end our reading at the end of the chapter. And let's just again briefly pray. Father in heaven, we pray for now the help of thy spirit, fill both preacher and hearer alike. And may, dear Father, thy word be a blessing to our souls together tonight because I pray these my petitions in and through the name of Christ my Saviour. Amen. Brethren and sisters there is something referred to within this psalm that none of us like doing and yet something that is part and parcel of life. The thing that I'm referring to is waiting. In Psalm 27 verse 14 we read, Now we live in a world that craves for instant gratification. If you want to purchase something but you can't wait until you buy it in a shop, then you just have to go online, purchase it and have it shipped overnight to your front door. If you want to get in contact with someone, all you have to do is to pick up the telephone and give them a call, send them a text message, send them a message through Facebook Messenger or maybe go onto your computer, send an email or send a tweet or send a message through Snapchat, all of which can connect you almost immediately to the person or at least within a few seconds. As a society we have access to instant money, although with a price attached. We have access to immediate answers to questions by just simply typing in to Google. We have instant news, whether that be fake or otherwise, instant notifications about everything, instant entertainment, instant pleasure. If we have to wait for a few minutes at a fast food restaurant, we become agitated and complain. What's taking them so long? When we go for an appointment to the doctors, If we sit for an appointment at the dentist or at the bank or solicitors, we expect to be seen straight away without having to wait at all. However, you come to quickly learn that waiting is part of living in this world. Waiting is part of living in this world. Sadly, our impatience with regard to secular matters spills over into our spiritual lives. When we pray, we want an immediate answer to prayer. And if that's not forthcoming, then we go to God and we tell him to hurry up. If the answer is delayed, we get worked up about it. Sometimes we find ourselves then murmuring against God like spoiled children. The Bible has much to say about the subject of waiting. And I want us to delve just a little into the scriptures and see what they have to say about this subject matter of waiting. And I trust that what we'll consider this evening may profit you, especially the next time. that you find yourself waiting on the Lord, waiting for an answer to prayer, waiting for some deliverance. Now there are a number of matters that I want to draw your attention to as we think about the subject of waiting. The first matter we want to consider is the prevalence of waiting, the prevalence of waiting. Beloved, never get into your mind the thought that you're the only Christian that God has placed in His waiting room. When you are found in such a place, let me say that you find yourself among many of the most godliest and choicest saints of God. Examples abound in scripture of people who were called upon God or called upon by God to wait, some for many years, even decades, before their desires were granted and before their prayers were answered. It was prevalent, this waiting, waiting for God and waiting upon God whilst waiting for Him. This is found to be a prevalent experience among the saints of God that we find within the scriptures. Let me give you just a few examples. I think of Joseph at the age of 17. Joseph was given a promise from God, a promise communicated to him via two dreams. that one day his brothers would bow the knee before him. For years, Joseph waited for God to make good on his word, during which the promise, not seeming to get any closer to its fulfillment, but rather as the years rolled on, the promise seemed to get further and further away from him. We're told in Psalm 105 in the verse 19, until the time that his word came, or his promise came. The word of the Lord tried him. As he waited for God to bring the promise to pass, it was trying for Joseph, it was difficult, it was perplexing to God's child. Where is the promise? I'm sure he asked himself on many occasions. However, after 13 years of waiting, God made good on his word and brought Joseph's brothers down into Egypt and caused them to bow the knee before him because he had been made the second most powerful man in Egypt and possibly the known world at that time. 13 years of waiting for one promise to be fulfilled. I think of the children of Israel. They are another example of a grouping of people who were called upon by God to wait for the fulfilment of a promise. God promised to Abraham and his offspring the land of Canaan but the father of the faithful during his earthly pilgrimage went up and down that land and yet he was a stranger in it. Then his offspring, his posterity, they left the land and went down into Egypt and there under the lash of their taskmasters they waited and they waited and they waited for God to fulfill his word. As they waited I'm sure they thought, did they not have God's promise? Had he not said that the promised land, the land of Cana would be theirs? Why was he waiting so long? Why the long delay? Has he forgotten us? Have our cries fallen on deaf ears? Ah, their waiting wasn't easy. It was long, it was wearisome for them, and yet the Lord fulfilled the promise. Four centuries. 430 years to be exact, it would take for God to make good on his word and to lead the children of Israel out of their bondage and into the promised land. God called upon them to wait. And then I think of that dear woman, Hannah. We find her in 1 Samuel, in the chapter number one. No doubt about it. No doubt about it at all. that Hannah earnestly petitioned God for a child. Year after year, she saw the family of her adversary, Peniah, growing, expanding, getting larger by the year. And yet here's the womb of this dear saintly and godly woman, remaining barren. 1 Samuel 1 verse 4 tells us that Hannah's adversary provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb. Waiting on God was a very painful experience for this woman who desired to be a mother. Very, very painful experience for Hannah and yet she took her case to God in prayer. And he in his time and he in his way saw fit to grant Hannah her request. And he gave her Samuel and then subsequent children. And then I think of the man who is attributed to have written this very psalm that we have read tonight. The psalmist David. another character in the scripture who was given a promise in days of youth but had to wait many years before he saw its fulfillment. God promised him that he would be king of Israel. Samuel came and anointed him in the homestead and yet instead of becoming king immediately, years of waiting Years of delay seemed to pass. Such was the length of time between the promise given and its fulfillment, along with the trying circumstances that he had to go through on his way to the throne, that David would find himself, I believe, on many occasions wondering, would it ever come to pass? Would God ever make good on his word? But God did. And after years of waiting, David was crowned King of Israel. Many times throughout the Psalms, David would speak about waiting and the need to wait. Something that he had learned by experience. God had taught him the benefit, the profit that there was in waiting. Not pushing ahead, not going before God, not trying to open the way for himself, but just to wait on God and to wait for God. And so, repetitively throughout the book of the Psalms, we find him speaking about this waiting on God. Let me give you a few. We have read one tonight. Look at the verse 14 of chapter 27 again, because he says it twice. wait on the Lord and be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart and he'll do it whilst you wait. This strengthening of the heart, this adding to faith, this emboldening of the child of God and the development of the child of God. Ah, this is done during the times of waiting. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord, in case you missed it. Wait on Him. Psalm 37, verse 7. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently. for him. Psalm 40 verse 1 again the psalmist from experience he said, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined on to me, he bowed his ear down and heard my cry. Psalm 62 verse 1 and 5, Truly my soul waiteth upon God, from him cometh my salvation. My soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. Here's a man who's no confidence in men. Here's a man who's no confidence in self. Rather, here's a man who has full confidence in his God. He's going to wait on God. God's going to deliver him. God's going to intervene. God's going to break through. And so I'm going to wait on him. Psalm 69 verse 3, I am weary of my crying, he said. My throat is dry, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. Maybe that's you tonight. It seems to be that God is long at answering. God is long at delivering. Ah, you're found in good company. I think of Martha and Mary. Four days had elapsed since the news was conveyed to the Son of God that Mary and Martha's brother, Lazarus, was sick. For days they waited. For days they waited for his arrival. during which their brother died, and yet he would delay his coming to Bethany. Questions flooded these ladies' minds as to why he tarried so long, and such were expressed to him at his arrival. But God had a greater purpose, a greater purpose to fulfil than they ever imagined. purpose that required them to wait, to allow events to unfold that would bring greater glory to the God-man. But I need not go into the Bible's record to find occurrences and incidents in the life of saints in which they are found to be waiting on their God, because there have been times brother, sister in your life, that you have found yourself in a state of waiting. You have found yourself waiting for God and waiting on God. No doubt about that. Such a state is common and prevalent among the saints of God. And so, do not despair. And do not question God's love or care for you, if he has placed you in his waiting room. Many of God's saints have found themselves in such a place, so why not you and me? If obstacles are not yet removed, if trials yet bear down upon you, remember, Your lot is no different than many godly saints who have gone on before. And remember also, remember that your father's love has not grown cold towards you, or his hearing has grown dull, or that he has forgotten you in any way. Your waiting times are as much part of his plans for you as those times when you're pressing forward in your Christian life. God has reasons, maybe only known to him, why he calls you to wait for that recovery from sickness that you desperately long for, for that marriage partner that you long to meet, for that deliverance from trouble that you seek for. So wait. He knows what he's doing. At times, we need to take to heart the advice that Naomi gave to Ruth there in Ruth chapter three, verse 18. Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall, for the man will not be in rest. until he have finished the thing this day. Sit still until thou know how the matter will fall. The prevalence of waiting. But note secondly with me in connection to the subject of waiting, I want you to notice the practice in waiting. The practice in waiting. If waiting is part and parcel of life, if it's something that we just cannot avoid, then the question is not, will I or do I have to wait? But the question is, how am I to wait? How am I to wait? And really there are only two ways in which a person can wait. All of us will either wait passively or we will wait patiently. We wait passively or we wait patiently. Now a passive person hopes that something good will happen and they are willing just to sit around and wait to see if it does. After a short period of time they give up and say, that's it, I've waited long enough, nothing's going to happen. And they become agitated, frustrated, anxious, perplexed, This is the person who waits passively. And yet, that is not how the Christian is to wait. No, rather the Christian is to wait patiently. The patient person is hopeful, believing the answer is on the way, due to arrive at any moment of time. Patient waiting is what the Christian is exhorted to do in the scriptures. Let me give you a number of passages of God's word that remind us of the need to patiently wait. Psalm 37 verse 7, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psalm 40 verse 1 again, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. Lamentations chapter 3 verse 26, it is good that a man should both hope and quietly, patiently wait for the salvation of the Lord. Romans chapter 8 verse 25, but if we hope for that we see not, then we do with patience wait for it. James 5 verse 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and having long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain. I take the latter one, James 5-7. The picture is of the farmer going out to sow the seed. There he does it, sowing the seed in the springtime, covering it over with the soil. And then he starts to wait. He waits for the first risings of new life, the green stalk appearing. And then it rising into the sky, week after week, month after month, making its way through the summer, ripening, turning from green to golden yellow. And then when harvest time comes, having patiently waited from the initial sowing of the seed, now is the moment, now is the time to bring and to gather and to garner in the harvest. But between the harvest and the sowing, there were months of patient waiting. And this is what we are to do, brethren and sisters. Now the patient waiting for God does not mean that we sit back and fold our arms. and do nothing. No, no. It isn't a call to idleness, that I do nothing as I wait for God. No, no, it is a call to action. It is a call to action that is marked by a calm repose of soul and of spirit. Now honestly, I speak honestly, this goes against my nature. This goes against my nature. This goes against my temperament. This goes against my makeup as a man. Because I want immediate results. I want to see immediate growth. in the fellowship of believers. I want to see souls coming each Sunday that I preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm sure that this goes against your nature. This patient waiting on God, this calm repose, this trusting in God in the intervening time between the promise given and the promise fulfilled, this surely goes against your nature, brother, sister. You have to admit it. We want instantaneous deliverance from our troubles, of course we do. Who wants to be in trouble? We want immediate answers to our prayers, of course we do. We want to see instant relief from our sickness and our bodily ailments. Who wants to be in pain? Who wants to be, as it were, in that point of no man's land, that place of, we would say, limbo, where we don't know what is wrong with us? Of course we want that immediate healing. Of course we want speedy respite from all of our difficulties. This is about our nature. And yet, and yet, an all-wise, all-loving, all-knowing God, knowing that we have need of patience, calls us to wait. Because in the waiting, our patience is developed. I address you, Christian parent. Have you learnt the art of waiting patiently on God with regard to your children? You brought them up in the ways of the Lord. You've prayed for them, no doubt about it. No doubt about it. You've wept for them. You've prayed for them. You've counseled them, you've warned them, you've disciplined them, and yet they have chosen to live a life that is contrary to God's word. If you're such a parent, then God would have you to patiently wait on him and wait for him. Adopt the posture and adopt the position of the prodigal's father. He waited for the return of his son. Luke chapter 15 tells us that while the prodigal was yet a great way off, his father saw him. I believe the prodigal's father patiently waited on God and patiently waited for God for the return of his son. And that patient waiting was rewarded. Wait on in prayer, Christian mother. Wait on in prayer, Christian father. Keep on praying. Christian worker, have you learnt the art of waiting patiently on God with regard to your labours for the master? Maybe I'm addressing a discouraged Sunday school teacher, maybe a youth worker, maybe a minister, pastor, evangelist, a tract distributor, and you've saw very little outwardly for your labours in the gospel, yet we must not expect to see the harvest the moment that the seed is sown. We are to patiently wait for God to give the increase As Ecclesiastes 11 verse 1 encourages us, cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many days. And so we are to cast the seed of the word of God into the hearts of all that God places before us and wait patiently for God to bring forth the harvest. We can become agitated, at times frustrated at the seeming lack of God's intervention within our lives, Have you not been there, child of God? You've prayed, and no answer forthcoming, no deliverance, no relief, no respite, and you're in despair, and you're frustrated, and yet, faith, that which they just live by, is what is required in such times as we wait upon God and as we wait for God. Faith. Faith that He is working all things together for our good. Faith that not one thing that He has promised will not be fulfilled. Octavius Winslow wrote, there is no more Sorry, there is not a more God-honouring grace of the Christian character than patience. A patient waiting on and for the Lord. It is that Christian grace, the fruit of the Spirit, which will enable you to bear with dignity, calmness and submission the afflictive dealings of your Heavenly Father, the rebuke of the world and the wounding of the saints. While we wait on God, let us continue to do our duty and live in the light that God has already given us. By living in that light, we will find that God will make the future path clearer in His time. And so, wait patiently. Let me mention one final thought connected with this subject of waiting, namely the purpose to our waiting. The purpose to our waiting. I've come to learn in my own Christian life that God does not always intervene on behalf of his children at once. Why? The reason he makes us wait is that there are valuable ends to accomplish in our lives. as we wait on the Lord. It was James Vaughan who said, waiting has four purposes and we want to think of those four purposes briefly. Firstly, God calls us to wait because it cultivates the virtue of faith. It cultivates the virtue or the Christian grace of faith. There are times in our lives that we ask God that he would increase our faith. And often we think the best way for that to happen is by God answering our prayers or granting our desires immediately. That'll increase my faith. If I pray tonight and by tomorrow morning the answer is given, that's going to increase my faith in my God. If that happened, if that happened, then I believe that we wouldn't trust God. And we wouldn't live dependent on God as when he tells us to wait. God's delays, times in which he causes us to wait upon him, is as effective at increasing our faith as any other way God employs to accomplish that goal. Waiting on God causes the Christian grace of faith to be strengthened in us. Our faith is emboldened and increased. Secondly, God calls us to wait because it gives time for preparation for the coming gift. It gives time for preparation for the coming gift. God is aware that the giving of the desired gift, the fulfilling of the promise, the securing of deliverance too soon would be more harmful to us than having us to wait for such things to come to pass. He knows that pride would maybe arise in our hearts. Self-dependence might well increase. Ingratitude would most likely develop in our lives if he was to grant the answer to prayer, the deliverance sought immediately. And so, what does he do? He withholds the gift. He withholds the promise. He withholds the deliverance while he prepares us for the receiving of it so that we might understand that such has come from God and that we are indebted to him for the answer to prayer, for the deliverance wrought, for the promise fulfilled in our lives. It prepares us in the fact that we are humbled when God does come to our aid. And so it prepares us, the waiting. We come to understand that it is God that has done it. God worked it. God came to my aid. He came to my situation. and I'm forever in debt to him. Thirdly, God calls us to wait because it makes the blessing sweeter when it eventually arrives. It makes the blessing sweeter when it arrives. In Proverbs 13, verse 12, We have the words hope deferred, maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. That verse teaches us is that when anything that is hoped for is delayed for any length of time, the mind becomes uneasy, the heart sinks and feels. The person becomes dispirited. They give up all hope of ever enjoying the desired blessing. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. However, when the desire cometh, when that which is hoped for is granted, it's like the very tree of life that stood in Eden's paradise. It brings unspeakable pleasure and delight to the recipient. Is that not the case? That which you long for, and God eventually brought it to pass. Ah, it was sweeter, wasn't it? And what made it sweeter was the delay. What made it sweeter was the months of waiting, the years of waiting. Ah, it's so much sweeter. Think of the greater joy that must have filled the heart of Hannah when she held Samuel in her arms after years of earnest petitioning the throne of grace. Think of the delight that would have entered the hearts of Mary and Martha when the Son of God raised their brother to Lazarus of life again. The period of waiting only caused the blessing to take on a deeper sweetness when it eventually came. Fourthly, the purpose behind me waiting, the fourth reason, it shows us the sovereignty of God to give just when and just as He pleases. It shows to you and I the sovereignty of God to give just when and just as He pleases. As I've said, like spoiled children we want the blessing now and yet God shows us through our waiting that He is sovereign when it comes to the timing and to the manner in which He grants the blessing we seek from Him. Do you know what waiting does, folks? And I use very simple language here. Waiting puts us back in our place. You are the creature. I am the creator. You are the subject. I am the king. You are the servant. But I am the master. And as I will it, And when I will it, so such shall be granted, but not until then. And so God places us and puts us black in our place and causes us to realize as we wait that it is God who sovereignly controls all things in our lives and not us. Not us. Sage Spurgeon remarked, If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts, for blessed are all they that wait for him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us. He tries faith, sorry, it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord's people, have always been a waiting people. Therefore, although waiting times are difficult for us all, if we come to reap the aforementioned benefits and blessings, then we must view such waiting times as most suitable, and most needful, and most fitting for us in our Christian lives. Brother, sister, if God has you waiting upon Him and for Him in these days, then let me encourage you to continue to wait and wait patiently and remember the purposes of why He has you waiting. In the words of Psalm 27, verse 14, wait on the Lord and be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. May God help us to be patient waiters as we await God stepping in to our own personal lives, the life of the church, the life of the nation, and in this world at large. Let us wait on Him and let us trust Him as we wait. May God be pleased to bless this word to your hearts this evening for Christ's sake. Let's briefly pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for thy word. We pray that thou will minister through it to hearts tonight and may this word be a blessing for some soul. We offer prayer in through the Saviour's precious name. Amen and Amen. Let me give you just a brief number of prayer points before we get down to prayer in our own homes. Remember the services at the weekend, 12 noon and 6 pm. here on Facebook Live, God willing, and also at the church, the drive-in church services. Our brother Mr. Matthew Eccles will preach in the morning and God willing, I will preach at the evening service in the will of God. Remember all those who are sick within the congregation and those who do need a touch from the Lord. Pray for Scott Kernaghan at this time. Our brother Scott, he needs a touch from the Lord and remember myself as we continue to just need that touch from the Lord in these days and we're thankful for your prayers. Continue to pray that the Lord will just help and that we'll get to the bottom of things in coming days. Pray for those who are continually working on the front line. Pray for ministers Our ministers are under the great burden and the great stress of lockdown and we hope that we are coming out of that and there's many a man and he needs a good break over the summer. So pray for the ministers and those laymen who are preaching in these days, pray for them. Pray that the return to church for us all will be a safe return and that everything will fall into place as it should over the coming weeks. As we said we'll make announcements in coming weeks concerning that. Pray for the movings of God's Spirit among us in coming days and in the nation at large. God will be pleased to pour out his spirit and may God be pleased just to bless you in your homes. How thankful we are. I believe that we should also in our prayers thank God for his mercy. We thank God that what we have presently to this point endured and experienced has not been as terrible as was predicted. Though many families have suffered at the result of COVID-19 yet we're very thankful for God's mercy and God's hand upon our own congregation and so pray that that will continue and that as things are eased that there will be no fresh outbreaks, but that we'll make our way and eventually, whenever that is, we'll get back completely and entirely into the house of God. No person wants that more than this preacher. And I can say that honestly. No one wants that more than this preacher. But pray to that end. that God will bless. Now let's seek the Lord together. I'll be brief and then let me encourage you to pray in your home and with those that are there with you. Thank you for joining, we really appreciate it, taking the time out. Now please take yourself off to the Lord in prayer and let's wait patiently on Him. Loving Father, O God, we come to confess that at times we are impatient waiters. And yet, Lord, thou hast told us to wait patiently on thee. Give us the grace, the grace of patience, Lord, that we might be enabled to do this. Oh God, let us not carry over this thought and experience that we know in secular affairs with regard to instantaneous answers and pleasures, Lord, into the spiritual realm of our lives. Lord, there are things that you want to teach us. Lord, let us learn the lessons while we wait on thee, while we wait for God's intervention. Lord, help me to learn the lessons. Lord, strip away all my pride. Humble me under Thy mighty hand. Lord, grant, dear Father, a heart that patiently waits on Thee. And Lord, as I wait, and as we wait, may grace be afforded to us. We pray these, our prayers. Praying for the meetings at the weekend and every servant of thine who will preach, O God in the province, bless thy servants we pray. We offer prayer in and through the Saviour's precious name. Amen.