Amazing Grace

This seems appropriate after my last post (which is below as it's reverse chronological).

O thou giving God,

My heart is drawn out in thankfulness to thee,
   for thy amazing grace and condescension to me
   in influences and assistances in thy Spirit,
      for special help in prayer,
      for the sweetness of Christian service,
      for the thoughts of arriving in heaven,
      for always sending me needful supplies,
      for raising me to new life when I am like one dead.
I want not the favour of man to lean upon
   for thy favour is infinitely better.
Thou art eternal wisdom in dispensations towards me;
   and it matters not when, nor where, nor how I serve thee,
   nor what trials I am exercised with,
   if I might be prepared for thy work and will.
No poor creature stands in need of divine grace
   more than I do,
And yet non abuses it more than I have done,
   and still do.
How heartless and dull I am!
Humble me in the dust for not loving thee more.
Every time I exercise any grace renewedly
   I am renewedly indebted to thee,
   the God of all grace, for special assistance.
I cannot boast when I think how dependant
   I am upon thee for the being and every act
   of grace;
I never do anything else but depart from thee,
   and if ever I get to heaven it will be because
      thou willest it, and for no other reason beside.
I love, as a feeble, afflicted, despised creature,
   to cast myself on thy infinite grace and goodness,
   hoping for no happiness but from thee;
Give me special grace to fit me for special services,
   and keep me calm and resigned at all times,
   humble, solemn, mortified,
   and conformed to thy will.

Contentment

Heavenly Father,


If I should suffer need, and go unclothed,
      and be in poverty,
   make my heart prize thy love,
   know it, be constrained by it,
   though I be denied all blessings.
It is thy mercy to afflict and try me with wants,
   for by these trials I see my sins,
   and desire severance from them.
Let me willingly accept misery, sorrows, temptations,
   if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil,
   and be delivered from it with gratitude to thee,
   acknowledging this as the highest testimony of thy love.
When thy Son, Jesus, came into my soul
   instead of sin, he became more dear to me
   than sin had formerly been;
 his kindly rule replaced sin's tyranny.
Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any
      sin subdued
   I must not only labour to overcome it,
   but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it,
   and he must become to me more than
      vile lust had been;
   that his sweetness, power, life may be there.
Thus I must seek a grace from him contrary to sin,
   but must not claim it apart from himself.
When I am afraid of evils to come,
   comfort me by showing me
      that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch,
         but in Christ I am reconciled and live;
      that in my self I find insufficiency and no rest,
         but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace;
      that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good,
         but in Christ I have ability to do all things.
Though now I have his graces in part,
   I shall shortly have them perfectly
   in that state where thou wilt show thyself
      fully reconciled,
   and alone sufficient, efficient,
      and loving me completely,
   with sin abolished.
O Lord, hasten that day.

Election

Holy Trinity,

All praise to thee for electing me to salvation,
   by foreknowledge of God the Father,
   through sanctification of the Spirit,
   unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus;
I adore the wonders of thy condescending love,
   marvel at the true believer's high privilege
   within whom all heaven comes to dwell,
   abiding in God and God in him;
I believe it, help me experience it to the full.
Continue to teach me that Christ's righteousness
   satisfies justice and evidences thy love;
Help me to make use of it by faith as the ground of my peace
   and of thy favour and acceptance,
   so that I may live always near the cross.
It is not feeling the Spirit that proves
   my saved state but the truth of what
   Christ did perfectly for me;
All holiness in him is by faith made mine,
   as if I had done it;
Therefore I see the use of his righteousness,
   for satisfaction to divine justice and making me righteous.
It is not inner sensation that makes Christ's death mine
   for that may be delusion, being without the Word,
   but his death apprehended by my faith,
   and so testified by Word and Spirit.
I bless thee for these lively exercises of faith,
   for the righteousness that is mine in Jesus,
   for grace to resign my will to thee;
 I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal,
   and I love to leave them there.
Then prayer turns wholly into praise,
   and all I can do is adore and love thee.
I want not the favour of man to lean upon,
   for I know that thy electing grace is infinitely better.

Purification

O God, the Eternal All, help me to know that
   all things are shadows, but thou are substance,
   all things are quicksands, but thou art mountain,
   all thing are shifting, but thou are anchor,
   all things are ignorance, but thou are wisdom.
If my life is to be a crucible amid the burning heat,
   so be it,
   but do thou sit at the furnace mouth
      to watch the ore that nothing be lost.
If I sin wilfully, grievously, tormentedly,
   in grace take away my mourning
      and give me music;
   remove my sackcloth
      and clothe me in beauty;
   still my sighs
      and fill my mouth with song,
   then give me summer weather as a Christian.

Divine Promises

All thy promises in Christ Jesus are
   yea and amen, and all shall be fulfilled.
Thou hast spoken them, and they shall be done,
   commanded, and they shall come to pass.
Yet I have often doubted thee,
   have lived at times as if there were no God.
Lord, forgive me that death in life,
   when I have found something apart from thee,
   when I have been content with ephemeral things.
But through grace I have repented;
Thou hast given me to read my pardon
     in the wounds of Jesus,
   and my soul doth trust in him, my God incarnate,
   the ground of my life, the spring of my hope.
Teach me to be resigned to thy will,
   to delight in thy law,
   to have no will but thine,
   to believe that everything thou doest is
      for my good.
Help me to leave my concerns in thy hands,
   for thou hast power over evil,
   and bringest from it an infinite progression
      of good,
   until thy purposes are fulfilled.
Bless me with Abraham's faith
   that staggers not at promises through unbelief.
May I not instruct thee in my troubles,
   but glorify thee in my trials;
Grant me a distinct advance in the divine life;
   may I reach a higher platform,
   leave the mists of doubt and fear in the valley,
   and climb to hill-tops of eternal security in Christ
      by simply believing he cannot lie,
      or turn from his purpose.
Give me the confidence I ought to have in him
   who is worthy to be praised,
   and who is evermore.

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 he passions of the flesh not 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 tho 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.

Humility in Service

Mighty God,

I humble myself for faculties misused,
   opportunities neglected,
   words ill-advised,
I repent of my folly and inconsiderate ways,
   my broken resolutions, untrue service,
   my backsliding steps,
   my vain thoughts.
O bury my sins in the ocean of Jesus' blood
   and let no evil result from my fretful temper,
      unseemly behaviour, provoking pettiness.
If by unkindness I have wounded or hurt another,
   do thou pour in the balm of heavenly consolation;
If I have turned coldly from need, misery, greif,
   do not in just anger forsake me:
If I have withheld relief from penury and pain,
   no not withhold thy gracious bounty from me.
If I have shunned those who have offended me,
   keep open the door of thy heart to my need.

Fill me with an over-flowing ocean of compassion,
   the reign of love my motive,
   the law of love my rule.

O thou God of all grace, make me more thankful,
   more humble;
Inspire me with a deep sense of my unworthiness
   arising from
      the depravity of my nature, my omitted duties,
      my unimproved advantages, thy commands
      violated by me.
With all my calls to gratitude and joy
   may I remember
      that I have reason for sorrow
         and humiliation;
O give me repentance unto life;
Cement my oneness with my blessed Lord,
   that faith may adhere to him more immovably,
   that love may enwtine itself round him
      more tightly,
   that his Spirit may pervade every fibre
      of my being.
Then send me out to make him known
   to my fellow men.

             -from the Valley of Vision

God All-Sufficient

This is from The Valley of Vision, a book of puritan prayers that I've been reading for the last month.


God All-Sufficient

The world is before me this day,
and I am weak and fearful,
but I look to thee for strength;
If I venture forth alone I stumble and fall,
but on the Beloved's arms I am firm as the eternal hills;

If left to the treachery of my heart
I shall shame thy Name,
but if enlightened, guided, upheld by the Spirit,
I shall bring thee glory.

Be thou my arm to support,
   my strength to stand,
   my light to see,
   my feet to run,
   my shield to protect,
   my sword to repel,
   my sun to warm.

To enrich me will not diminish thy fullness;
All thy lovingkindness is in thy Son,
I bring him to thee in the arms of faith,
I urge his saving Name as the One who died for me.
I plead his blood to pay my debts of wrong.

Accept his worthiness for my unworthiness,
   his sinlessness for my transgressions,
   his purity for my uncleanness,
   his sincerity for my guile,
   his truth for my deceits,
   his meekness for my pride,
   his constancy for my backslidings,
   his love for my enmity,
   his fullness for my emptiness,
   his faithfulness for my treachery,
   his obedience for my lawlessness,
   his glory for my shame,
   his devotedness for my waywardness,
   his holy life for my unchaste ways,
   his righteousness for my dead works,
   his death for my life.