T WAS 8:00 ON MONDAY MORNING AT THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Conference office in Glendale. Most of the office workers were already seated and awaiting the devotional that started each workday.
This particular morning, after we sang a hymn, a young ministerial intern quoted a simple yet profound prayer from Ellen G. White’s The Ministry of Healing, page 474. It impressed me deeply—the sincerity, the simplicity, the relevance to daily needs.
He read: “Lord, help me to do my best. Teach me how to do better work. Give me energy and cheerfulness. Help me to bring into my service the loving ministry of the Saviour.”
That morning I began a search for other prayers of Ellen White. Here are some I discovered:
• While traveling through a storm on a ship bound for Boston from Portland, Maine, Ellen White prayed: “Lord, stand at the wheel. Carry us through the perplexity. Bring us safely into port” (Maranatha, p. 129).
• When the burdens are heavy a prayer Ellen White suggested for her son Edson is appropriate: “Father, I am weary, give me rest. Unite my ignorance to Thy wisdom, my weakness to Thy strength, my frailty to Thy enduring might. Shield me with Thy protecting hand in life’s conflicts. Save me from the vigilant foe who haunts my steps” (This Day With God, p. 310).
• A wake-up prayer for early morning might be: “Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee” (Steps to Christ, p. 70).
• The surrender expressed in this prayer is an open door for Jesus to enter: “Lord, take my heart; for I cannot give it. It is Thy property. Keep it pure, for I cannot keep it for Thee. Save me in spite of myself, my weak, unchristlike self. Mold me, fashion me, raise me into a pure and holy atmosphere, where the rich current of Thy love can flow through my soul” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 159).
• Memorizing favorite prayers, such as the following, makes them available on short notice in times of need: “Lord, forgive my sin. I put my hand in Thy hand for help, and I must have it or perish, I now believe” (The Bible Echo, April 15, 1893).
Pastors, administrators, office staff, farmers, teachers, mothers, fathers, students, business professionals—we all need a personal prayer life. While driving, walking, working, relaxing, or under the pressure of a meeting or an emergency, heaven’s help is just a prayer away.
The inspiration of that morning worship is still with me. Prayers of spirit-filled people can be mine and lift me “within the veil” (The Faith I Live By, p. 9). Prayer, whether original or borrowed, is indeed “the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence” (Steps to Christ, pp. 94, 95).
Undoubtedly, there are other simple yet powerful prayers of Ellen White, which I hope to find. I’m still learning to use that “key in the hand of faith.”
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Harold L. Calkins, who served as a pastor, president of the Southern California Conference, and president of the British Union Conference, retired in 1986. He died on January 4, 2008.