Sunday, December 9, 2012
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.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
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;
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.
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.
Monday, November 12, 2012
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.
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.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
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.
Monday, September 3, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, May 14, 2012
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.
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.
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