Wednesday, February 24, 2016

A Present Salvation

Creator and Redeemer God,

Author of all existence, source of all blessedness,
I adore you for making me capable of knowing you,
   for giving me reason and conscience,
   for leading me to desire you;
I praise you for the revelation of yourself in the gospel,
   for your heart as a dwelling place of pity,
   for your thoughts of peace towards me,
   for your patience and your graciousness,
   for the vastness of your mercy.
You have moved my conscience to know how
   the guilty can be pardoned,
   the unholy sanctified,
   the poor enriched.
May I be always amongst those who not only hear but know you,
   who walk with and rejoice in you,
   who take you at your word and find life there.

O keep me always longing
   for a present salvation in Holy Spirit comforts and rejoicings
   for spiritual graces and blessings,
   for help to value my duties as well as my privileges.
May I cherish simplicity and godly sincerity of character.
Help me to be in reality before you
      as in appearance I am before men,
   to be religious before I profess religion,
   to leave the world before I enter the church,
   to set my affections on things above,
   to shun forbidden follies and vanities,
   to be a dispenser of as well as a partaker of grace,
   to be prepared to bear evil as well as to do good.
O God, make me worthy of this calling,
   that the name of Jesus may be glorified in me
      and I in him.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

God Enjoyed

O incomprehensible but prayer-hearing God,

Known, but beyond knowledge,
   revealed, but unrevealed,
   my wants and welfare draw me to you
   for you have never said, "Seek me in vain".
To you I come in my difficulties, necessities, distresses;
   possess me with yourself,
      with a spirit of grace and supplication,
      with a prayerful attitude of mind,
      with access into warmth of fellowship,
   so that in the ordinary things of life
      my thoughts and desires may rise to you,
   and in constantly looking to you I may find a resource
      that will soothe my sorrows,
      sanctify my successes,
      and equip me in all ways for dealings
      with my fellow men.
I bless you that you have made me capable
   of knowing you, the author of all being,
   of resembling you, the perfection of all excellency,
   of enjoying you, the source of all happiness.
O God, be with me in every part of my taxing and trying life journey;
   I need the same counsel, defense and comfort
      I found at my beginning with you.
Let my walk with you be more at the forefront of my mind,
   more observable to those around me.
While Jesus is representing me in heaven,
   may I reflect him on earth,
While he pleads my cause, may I show forth his praise.

Please continue the gentleness of your goodness towards me,
And whether I wake or sleep, let your presence go with me,
   and your blessing attend me.
You have led me on and I have found your promises true,
I have been sorrowful, but you have been my help,
   fearful, but you have delivered me,
   despairing, but you have lifted me up.
Your guarantees are ever upon me,
   And I praise you, O God.