May my prayer always be as heart felt and humble as this when I find myself in sin. Eternal Father, You are good beyond all thought, But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind; My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel, and my ways reluctant to amend. I bring my soul to you; Break it, wound it, bend it, mould it. Reveal to me sins deformity, That I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it. My thinking has been a weapon of revolt against you; As a rebel I have misused my strength, and served the foul adversary of your kingdom. Give me grace to cry over my unfeeling folly. Grant me to know the way of transgressors is hard, That evil paths are wretched paths, That to depart from you is to lose all good. I have seen the purity and the beauty of your perfect law, The happiness of those in whose heart it reigns, The calm dignity of the walk to which it calls, Yet I daily violate and treat its precepts with contempt. Your loving Spirit strives within me, Brings me Scripture warnings, Speaks its startling blessings, Allures by secret whispers, Yet I choose things and desires to my own hurt, irreverently resent, grieve, and provoke him to abandon me. All these sins I mourn, lament, and for them cry pardon. Work in me more profound and abiding repentance; Give me the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears, Yet ever trusts and loves, Which is ever powerful, and ever confident; Grant that through these tears of repentance I may see more clearly the brightness and glories of your saving cross. I come to you my Lord Jesus. Amen. Adapted from Yet I sin, The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 20:41:19 +0000