The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

You have brought me to the valley of vision
   where I live in the depths but see you
      in the heights;
   hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold your 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

      your stars shine;

Let me find your light in my darkness,

   your life in my death,

   your joy in my sorrow,

   your grace in my sin,

   your riches in my poverty

   your glory in my valley.

The Lord's Supper

God of all good,

Thank you for the methods you give us for getting grace;
   please help me to see in those methods your loving purposes
      and to know that they are the joy and strength of my soul.
You have prepared for me a feast;
   and though I am unworthy to sit down as guest,
   I wholly rest on the worthiness of Jesus,
   and hide myself beneath his righteousness;
When I hear his tender invitation
   and see his wondrous grace,
I cannot wait, but must come to you in love.
By your Spirit will you stir my faith that I may rightly discern
   and spiritually recognize the Savior?
While I gaze upon the emblems of
      my savior's death,
   may I ponder why he died, and hear him say,
      'I gave my life to purchase yours,
      presented myself an offering to take the wrath for
         your sin,
      shed my blood to blot out your guilt,
      opened my side to make you clean,
      endured your curses to set you free,
      bore your condemnation to satisfy
         divine justice.'
O may I rightly grasp the width and length
      of this design,
   May I draw near, obey, extend the hand,
   take the bread, receive the cup,
   eat and drink, testify before all men
      that I do for myself, gladly, in faith,
         esteem, love and receive my Lord,
      to be my life, strength, nourishment,
         joy, delight.
In the Lord's supper I remember his eternal love,
      boundless grace, infinite compassion,
      agony, cross, redemption,
   and receive assurance of pardon, adoption,
      life, glory.
As the outward elements nourish my body,
   so may your indwelling Spirit invigorate
      my soul
   until that day when I hunger and thirst
      no more,
   and sit with Jesus at his heavenly feast.

WORSHIP

Glorious God,
It is the flame of my life to worship you,
   the crown and glory of my soul to adore you,
   and heavenly pleasure to approach you.
Please give me power by your Spirit to help me
      worship now,
   that I may forget the world,
      be brought into fullness of life,
      be refreshed, comforted, blessed.
Give me knowledge of your goodness
   that I might not be overwhelmed by your greatness;
Give me Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God,
   that I might not be terrified,
      but be drawn near with devoted love,
         with holy boldness;
Jesus is my Mediator, Brother, Interpreter,
   Source, Mediator, Lamb;

      him I glorify,
      in him I am set on high.
Crowns to give I have none,
   but what you have given I give back,
   content to feel that everything is mine
      when it is yours,
   and the more fully mine when I have yielded
      to you.
Let me live wholly to my Savior,
   free from distractions,
      from worrying care,
      from hindrances to the pursuit
         of the narrow way.
I am pardoned through the blood of Jesus -
   O give me a new sense of it,
   continue to pardon me by it,
   may I come every day to the fountain,
   and every day be washed anew,
   that I may worship you always
      in spirit and truth.

Scriptural Convictions

O God of love,

I approach you with encouragements
      that come from your character,
   for I am not left to grope after you
      in the darkness of my nature,
   nor to worship you as the unknown God.
I cannot find out your perfections,
   but I know you are good,
       ready to forgive, full of mercy.
You have displayed your wisdom, power,
      and goodness in all your works,
   and have revealed your will in the Scripture
      of truth.
You have caused it to be preserved, translated,
      published, multiplied,
   so that all men may possess it and find
      you in it.
Here in Scripture I see your greatness and your grace,
   your pity and your rectitude,
   your mercy and your truth,
   your being and men's hearts;
Through it you have magnified your name,
   and gifted mankind with the gospel.
Please have mercy on me,
   for I have ungratefully received your gifts,
   done little to improved my privileges,
   made light of spiritual things,
   disregarded your messages,
   resisted examples of the good,
      rebukes of conscience,
      admonitions of friends,
      leadings of providence.
I deserve to have your kingdom taken away from me.
Lord, I confess my sin with feeling, lamentation,
   a broken heart,
   a contrite spirit, self-abhorrence,
      self-condemnation, self-despair.
O give me relief by Jesus my hope,
   faith in his name of Saviour,
   forgiveness by his blood,
   strength by his presence,
   holiness by his Spirit:
And let me love you with all my heart.

A Disciple's Renewal

0 God who saves me,

Help me.

I am so slow to learn,

   so prone to forget,

   so weak to climb;

I am in the foothills of faith when I should be

   on its heights;

It hurts me when I notice my graceless heart,

   my prayerless days,

   my lack of love,

   my laziness in the heavenly race,

   my dirty conscience,

   my wasted hours,

   my unspent opportunities.

I am blind while light shines around me:

   please open my eyes,

   and grind to dust my evil heart of unbelief.

Will you make it my chiefest joy to study you,

   think deeply about you,

   gaze on you,

   sit like Mary at your feet,

   lean like John on your hreast,

   appeal like Peter to your love,

   count like Paul all things excrement, compared to you.

O grant that I may grow and progress in grace

      so that I may have

   more decisiveness in my character,

   more vigor in my purposes,

   more elevation in my life,

   more fervor in my devotion,

   more constancy in my zeal.

As I have a position in the world,

   please keep me from making the world my position;

May I never seek in the created

   what can be found only in the Creator;

Let my faith never cease from seeking you

   until it becomes sight.

Ride forth in me, O King of kings

      and Lord of lords,

   that I may live victoriously,

      and in victory accomplish my goal.

Resting in God's Love

My Dear Lord,

I depend upon you completely,
   please help me stop depending on other things.
You are my all, and you overrule all
   and delight in me.
You are the foundation of goodness,
   how can I distrust you?
   how can I be anxious about what happens to me?
In comparison to your preciousness
   the world and all its enjoyments are
      infinitely poor:
I value the approval of people no more than pebbles.
In the midst of the good things I receive from you
   may I never begin to feel that I deserve them.
May I love you, the Giver, in all of your gifts,
   not forgetting that my greatest danger
      arises from my advantages.
Produce in me a despairing of self that will
   make Jesus precious to me,
      delightful in all his roles
      pleasurable in all his ways,
   and may I love his commands
      as well as his promises.
Help me to discern between true and false love,
   the one consisting of supreme love to you,
      the other not,
   the former uniting your glory and man's happiness
      that they may become one and the same,
   the latter dividing and separating them both,
      seeking my happiness while ignoring your glory.
Teach me that genuine love is different
   from what comes from reason alone
      or from the motive of self-interest,
   that such love is a pleasing passion giving
      joy to the mind that possesses it.
So, please help me to see the difference
   between the genuine and the false
      and to rest in you who are all love.

Worthless Service

O my Lord,

Forgive me for serving you in sinful ways -
   by celebrating my own strength,
   by forcing myself to minister because "somebody has to do it",
   by accepting the applause of others,
   by assuming that I have your help
      but not checking to see if my love for you has grown lukewarm,
   by trusting in the strength of my devotion to Christ and not in Christ himself,
   by trusting in any other foundation to stand upon besides you;
      for when I do this I show that I trust myself more than you.
Help me to see
   that trust in you, moved by your help, is what accomplishes anything,
   that faith brings us nearer to you,
      making us more than mere humans,
   that you work most strongly on a person when his gaze is not upon himself, but upon you,
   that faith's focus is upon God all-sufficient, Father, Son, Holy Spirit
      as the God who works,
      indirectly, through the means of your commands and promises,
      directly, in all the hidden power that we know and see, by faith, to be in you
      abundantly, accomplishing everything you desire, in the revelation of your will.
If I do not have such faith I am nothing.

My calling is to set you above all others
      in my inner thoughts and in my outward viewpoint;
But my sin is that I am always placing myself above you.
Lord, it is the unique evil of sin
   that every violation of your law comes
      from the belittling of who you are
      from despising you and your glory
      from preferring things before you.
Help me to abhor myself in comparison to you,
And keep me in a faith that works in love
      and serves by grace.