Be much in prayer, in this dark hour,
For great are Satan’s wiles;
Far worse than persecuting power
Are his seductive smiles.
And error comes in such disguise –
Smooth-tongued and circumspect –
That none but truth-enlightened eyes
The monster can detect!
And fair profession, hand in hand
With evil, stalks abroad
But to deceive. O! who can stand,
Save those who trust in God?
Be much in prayer, ‘mid all thy joys,
So shall their depths increase;
For lack of watchfulness alloys
The very sweetest peace.
What power to stand is gained by saints
Who love to “watch and pray,”
And who escape the desert taints
In this defiling day?
Be much in prayer for laboring ones,
Who in the Master’s name,
And with the Master’s message run,
His mercy to proclaim.
To ruined man, so sunk in sin –
So far from God by works;
O! pray that love may enter in
Where naught but hatred lurks!
The harvest’s great, the workmen few,
And naught of time to spare;
Iniquity increases, too –
Remember this in prayer.
What conscious power, ’mid conscious need
Where God’s blest Spirit sways;
The Sovereign One to rule and lead
In service, prayer and praise.