A Prayer Following Prayer

I got this from Tim Challies today.

It’s a Puritan prayer from the Valley of Vision.

O God of grace,
I bewail my cold, listless, heartless prayers;
their poverty adds sin to my sin.
If my hope were in them I should be undone,
But the worth of Jesus perfumes my feeble breathings, and wins their acceptance.
Deepen my contrition of heart,
Confirm my faith in the blood that washes from all sin.
May I walk lovingly with my great Redeemer.
Flood my soul with true repentance that my heart may be broken for sin and unto sin.
Let me be as slow to forgive myself as thou art ready to forgive me.
Gazing on the glories of thy grace may I be cast into the lowest depths of shame.
And walk with downcast head now thou art pacified towards me.
O my great High Priest,
pour down upon me streams of needful grace,
bless me in all my undertakings,
in every thought of my mind,
every word of my lips,
every step of my feet,
every deed of my hands.
Thou didst live to bless,
die to bless,
rise to bless,
ascend to bless,
take thy throne to bless,
and now thou dost reign to bless.
O give sincerity to my desires,
earnestness to my supplications,
fervour to my love.

4 responses

  1. “…the worth of Jesus perfumes my feeble breathings, and wins their acceptance.”

    I love this. I'm always struck anew by the depth of these prayers!
    (Though I must admit that after a prayer so sober as this I usually like to read one about my worth and status in Christ. Dr. Childers was always so fond of telling our class, “For everyone one look you take at your sin, take ten looks at your Savior.” Especially wonderful advice for moralistic perfectionists! :))

    Thanks for sharing!

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