My God, I feel it is heaven to please Thee, and to be what Thou wouldst have me be. O that I were holy as Thou art holy, pure as Christ is pure, perfect as Thy Spirit is perfect! These, I feel, are the best commands in Thy Book, and shall I break them? must I break them? am I under such a necessity as long as I live here?
Woe, woe is me that I am a sinner, that I grieve this blessed God, who is infinite in goodness and grace! O if He would punish me for my sins, it would not would my heart so deep to offend Him; But though I sin continually, He continually repeats His kindness to me.
At times I feel I could bear any suffering, but how can I dishonour this glorious God? What shall I do to glorify and worship this best of beings? O that I could consecrate my soul and body to His service, without restraint, for ever! O that I could give myself up to Him, so as never more to attempt to be my own! or have any will or affections that are not perfectly conformed to His will and His love! But, alas, I cannot live and not sin.
O may angels glorify Him incessantly, and, if possible, prostrate themselves lower before the blessed King of heaven! I long to bear a part with them in ceaseless praise; but when I have done all I can to eternity I shall not be able to offer more than a small fraction of the homage that the glorious God deserves. Give me a heart full of divine, heavenly love.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
A Prayer of Consecration and Worship
Friday, September 14, 2012
A Prayer of Confession and Petition
Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.
I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.
No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Nourished by Prayers of Old
Welp, it's been a whopping 6 months and 21 days since I've blogged. Can I even call myself a blogger anymore? I'm embarrassed, but would like to get back on the blogging saddle, because I hope these next several blogs will encourage you as they've encouraged me.
Much has happened over the past six and a half months, most notably the conception of our first child, a boy, who is slated to join us mid November. We are thrilled. And sobered. But also over the past several months I have been discouraged by my response to circumstances. It's easy to rejoice when life is good, but the challenge is the response to the hardships of life. We have been working through a sermon series at church on the book of James, which has been great. We have talked about trials, temptations, faith and deeds, and the tongue among other topics. Ironically I have felt like a big fat failure in most of these areas as we've been talking about them. I thank God for pastors who remind us that in our failure Christ was perfect.
My failure - the fresh look at my own sin - has caused a deep hunger to look at Christ. And so I turned to several sources for divine vision, one being an online version of the Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers. I've been so nourished by the rich words of these prayers as they really get to the heart of so many fundamental issues of the Christian life. As a result, I thought I'd share a prayer a day (or so) with you with the hope that you too will be encouraged wherever you find yourself in life.
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine; let me find Thy light in my darkness, Thy life in my death, Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin, Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley.
Much has happened over the past six and a half months, most notably the conception of our first child, a boy, who is slated to join us mid November. We are thrilled. And sobered. But also over the past several months I have been discouraged by my response to circumstances. It's easy to rejoice when life is good, but the challenge is the response to the hardships of life. We have been working through a sermon series at church on the book of James, which has been great. We have talked about trials, temptations, faith and deeds, and the tongue among other topics. Ironically I have felt like a big fat failure in most of these areas as we've been talking about them. I thank God for pastors who remind us that in our failure Christ was perfect.
My failure - the fresh look at my own sin - has caused a deep hunger to look at Christ. And so I turned to several sources for divine vision, one being an online version of the Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers. I've been so nourished by the rich words of these prayers as they really get to the heart of so many fundamental issues of the Christian life. As a result, I thought I'd share a prayer a day (or so) with you with the hope that you too will be encouraged wherever you find yourself in life.
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine; let me find Thy light in my darkness, Thy life in my death, Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin, Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley.
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