“Keep her life and doctrine pure grant her patience to endure, trusting in thy promise sure: we beseech thee, hear us. Pray for the Church to remember that we are not alone in our battle against sin and death Jesus leads and abides with his people, and his Spirit dwells in us.

Unfortunately, many churches don’t keep the Lord as their guide-we often let distractions in this world (including ourselves) be our comforts and guides.

Pollock begins with supplication for God to be near his Church and to lead her through this dark and trying world. “Jesus, with thy church abide be her Savior, Lord, and Guide, while on earth her faith is tried: we beseech thee, hear us.” These selected verses can provide a foundation for prayer as we earnestly ask the Lord to continue building his Church and plead alongside other believers that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matt. He ends each verse with, “we beseech thee, hear us,” fervently asking the Lord to fulfill these requests.

There are 18 original verses of Pollock's hymn, but each hymnal contains only a selection of those verses.

Thomas Benson Pollock wrote the hymn “Jesus, With Thy Church Abide” in 1871, and it stands as a powerful prayer prompt for believers. Do you pray for your local church? Do you pray for the Christian Church around the world- fellow brothers and sisters in Christ suffering persecution, struggling to stay faithful to Scripture during major culture shifts, or walking through the nightmare of war? Recently, the Lord brought to mind a hymn that has given me specific ways to pray for the local church I’m a part of and for the Church abroad, especially when it can feel like the only light left of the Christian Church is a flickering flame in a world of paralyzing darkness.

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