Excerpt from Valley of vision..... sincerity in religion

I have been reading this wonderful little prayer/devotional book Valley of vision,

here is an excerpt that really spoke to me today

[i]Save me from the false hope of the hypocrite:

May i never suppose i am in Christ unless i am a new creature,

never think i am born of the spirit

unless i mind the things of the spirit,

never rest satisfied with professions of belief

and outward forms and services,

wile my heart is not right with thee.

[b]May i judge my sincerity in religion

by my fear to offend thee,

my concern to know thy will,

my willingness to deny myself.[/b][/i]

A lot of godly wisdom to be found in the
writings of the Puritan fathers. This
is a real way to guage your spiritual
temperature!! :-)

Save me from the false hope of the hypocrite:

May i never suppose i am in Christ unless i am a new creature,

never think i am born of the spirit

unless i mind the things of the spirit,

never rest satisfied with professions of belief

and outward forms and services,

wile my heart is not right with thee.

May i judge my sincerity in religion

by my fear to offend thee,

my concern to know thy will,

my willingness to deny myself.

Resting on God

O God Most High, Most Glorious,

T he thought of thine infinite serenity

cheers me,

For I am toiling and moiling, troubled

and distressed,

but thou art for ever at perfect peace.

Thy designs cause thee no fear or care

of unfulfilment,

they stand fast as the eternal hills.

Thy power knows no bond,

thy goodness no stint.

Thou bringest order out of confusion,

and my defeats are thy victories:

The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

I come to thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows,

to leave every concern entirely to thee,

every sin calling for Christ’s precious blood;

Revive deep spirituality in my heart;

Let me live near to the great Shepherd,

hear his voice, know its tones, follow its calls.

Keep me from deception by causing me to abide

in the truth,

from harm by helping me to walk in the power

of the Spirit.

Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities,

burning into me by experience the things I know;

Let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel,

that I may bear its reproach,

vindicate it,

see Jesus as its essence,

know in it the power of the Spirit.

Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill;

unbelief mars my confidence,

sin makes me forget thee.

Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut

at their roots;

Grant me to know that I truly live only

when I live to thee,

that all else is trifling.

Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout,

strong and happy.

Abide in me, gracious God.

[i]My dear Lord,

[b][size=x-large]I[/size][/b] can but tell thee that thou knowest

I long for nothing but thyself,

nothing but holiness,

nothing but union with thy will.

Thou hast given me these desires,

and thou alone canst give me the thing desired.

My soul longs for communion with thee,

for mortification of indwelling corruption,

especially spiritual pride.

How precious it is

to have a tender sense and clear apprehension

of the mystery of godliness,

of true holiness!

What a blessedness to be like thee

as much as it is possible for a creature

to be like its Creator!

Lord, give me more of thy likeness;

Enlarge my soul to contain fullness of holiness;

Engage me to live more for thee.

Help me to be less pleased with my spiritual

experiences,

and when I feel at ease after sweet communings,

teach me it is far too little I know and do.

Blessed Lord,

let me climb up near to thee,

and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle

with thee,

and pant for deliverance from the body of sin,

for my heart is wandering and lifeless,

and my soul mourns to think it should ever

lose sight of its Beloved.

Wrap my life in divine love,

and keep me ever desiring thee,

always humble and resigned to thy will,

more fixed on thyself,

that I may be more fitted for doing

and suffering.[/i]

[i]Heavenly Father

[b][size=large]T[/size][/b]hou hast revealed to me myself

as a mass of sin,

and thyself as the fullness of goodness,

with strength enough to succour me,

wisdom enough to guide me,

mercy enough to quicken me,

love enough to satisfy me.

Thou hast shown me that because thou art mine

I can live by thy life,

be strong in thy strength,

be guided by thy wisdom;

and so I can pitch my thoughts and heart in thee.

This is the exchange of wonderful love –

for me to have thee for myself,

and for thee to have me, and to give me thyself.

There is in thee all fullness of the good I need,

and the fullness of all grace to draw me to thyself,

who, else, could never have come.

But having come, I must cleave to thee,

be knit to thee,

always seek thee.

There is none all good as thou art:

With thee I can live without other things,

for thou art God all-sufficient,

and the glory, peace, rest, joy of the world

is a creaturely, perishing thing

in comparison with thee.

Help me to know that he who hopes for nothing

but thee,

and for all things only for thee, hopes truly,

and that I must place all my happiness in holiness,

if I hope to be filled with all grace.

Convince me that I can have no peace at death,

nor hope that I should go to Christ,

unless I intend to do his will

and have his fullness while I live[/i]

[i]O God of the open ear,

[b][size=large]T[/size][/b]each me to live by prayer

as well as by providence,

for myself, soul, body, children, family, church;

Give me a heart frameable to thy will;

so might I live in prayer,

and honour thee,

being kept from evil, known and unknown.

Help me to see the sin that accompanies all I do,

and the good I can distil from everything.

Let me know that the work of prayer is to bring

my will to thine,

and that without this it is folly to pray;

When I try to bring thy will to mine it is

to command Christ,

to be above him, and wiser than he:

this is my sin and pride.

I can only succeed when I pray

according to thy precept and promise,

and to be done with as it pleases thee,

according to thy sovereign will.

When thou commandest me to pray

for pardon, peace, brokenness,

it is because thou wilt give me the thing promised,

for thy glory,

as well as for my good.

Help me not only to desire small things

but with holy boldness to desire great things

for thy people, for myself,

that they and I might live to show thy glory.

Teach me

that it is wisdom for me to pray for all I have,

out of love, willingly, not of necessity;

that I may come to thee at any time,

to lay open my needs acceptably to thee;

that my great sin lies in my not keeping

the savour of thy ways;

that the remembrance of this truth is one way

to the sense of thy presence;

that there is no wrath like the wrath of being

governed by my own lusts for my own ends.[/i]

[i]O God,

I know that I often do thy work

without thy power,

and sin by my dead, heartless, blind service,

my lack of inward light, love, delight,

my mind, heart, tongue moving

without thy help.

I see sin in my heart in seeking the approbation

of others;

This is my vileness, to make men’s opinion

my rule, whereas

I should see what good I have done,

and give thee glory,

consider what sin I have committed

and mourn for that.

It is my deceit to preach, and pray,

and to stir up others’ spiritual affections

in order to beget commendations,

whereas my rule should be daily

to consider myself more vile than any man

in my own eyes.

But thou dost show thy power by my frailty,

so that the more feeble I am,

the more fit to be used,

for thou dost pitch a tent of grace

in my weakness.

Help me to rejoice in my infirmities

and give thee praise,

to acknowledge my deficiencies before others

and not be discouraged by them,

that they may see thy glory more clearly.

Teach me that I must act by a power supernatural,

whereby I can attempt things above my strength,

and bear evils beyond my strength,

acting for Christ in all,

and have his superior power to help me.

Let me learn of Paul

whose presence was mean,

his weakness great,

his utterance contemptible,

yet thou didst account him faithful and blessed.

Lord, let me lean on thee as he did,

and find my ministry thine.[/i]

[i]Holy Lord,

I have sinned times without number,

and been guilty of pride and unbelief,

of failure to find thy mind in thy Word,

of neglect to seek thee in my daily life.

My transgressions and short-comings

present me with a list of accusations,

But I bless thee that they will not stand against me,

for all have been laid on Christ;

Go on to subdue my corruptions,

and grant me grace to live above them.

Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings

of the mind bring my spirit into subjection,

but do thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank thee that many of my prayers

have been refused –

I have asked amiss and do not have,

I have prayed from lusts and been rejected,

I have longed for Egypt and been given a

wilderness.

Go on with thy patient work,

answering ‘no’ to my wrongful prayers,

and fitting me to accept it.

Purge me from every false desire,

every base aspiration,

everything contrary to thy rule.

I thank thee for thy wisdom and thy love,

for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,

for sometimes putting me into the furnace

to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin.

If thou shouldst give me choice to live

in pleasure and keep my sins,

or to have them burnt away with trial,

give me sanctified affliction.

Deliver me from every evil habit,

every accretion of former sins,

everything that dims the brightness

of thy grace in me,

everything that prevents me taking delight

in thee.

Then I shall bless thee, God of Jeshurun,

for helping me to be upright.[/i]

Continual Repentance

O God of grace,

T hou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,

and hast imputed his righteousness

to my soul,

clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,

decking me with jewels of holiness.

But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;

my best prayers are stained with sin;

my penitential tears are so much impurity;

my confessions of wrong are so many

aggravations of sin;

my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with

selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance;

I need my tears to be washed;

I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,

no loom to weave my own righteousness;

I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,

and by grace am always receiving change of

raiment,

for thou dost always justify the ungodly;

I am always going into the far country,

and always returning home as a prodigal,

always saying, Father, forgive me,

and thou art always bringing forth

the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it,

every evening return in it,

go out to the day’s work in it,

be married in it,

be wound in death in it,

stand before the great white throne in it,

enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of

the exceeding sinfulness of sin,

the exceeding righteousness of salvation,

the exceeding glory of Christ,

the exceeding beauty of holiness,

the exceeding wonder of grace.

Man A Nothing

[i]O Lord,

I am a shell full of dust,

but animated with an invisible rational soul

and made anew by an unseen power of grace;

Yet I am no rare object of valuable price,

but one that has nothing and is nothing,

although chosen of thee from eternity,

given to Christ, and born again;

I am deeply convinced

of the evil and misery of a sinful state,

of the vanity of creatures,

but also of the sufficiency of Christ.

When thou wouldst guide me I control myself,

When thou wouldst be sovereign I rule myself.

When thou wouldst take care of me I suffice myself.

When I should depend on thy providings I supply

myself,

When I should submit to thy providence I follow

my will,

When I should study, love, honour, trust thee,

I serve myself;

I fault and correct thy laws to suit myself,

Instead of thee I look to a man’s approbation,

and am by nature an idolater.

Lord, it is my chief design to bring my heart back

to thee.

Convince me that I cannot be my own God,

or make myself happy,

nor my own Christ to restore my joy,

nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me.

Help me to see that grace does this by providential

affliction,

for when my credit is good thou dost cast me

lower,

when riches are my idol thou dost wing them

away,

when pleasure is my all thou dost turn it into

bitterness.

Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy

appetite, lustful heart;

show me that none of these things

can heal a wounded conscience,

or support a tottering frame,

or uphold a departing spirit.

then take me to the cross

and leave me there.[/i]

The Broken Heart

[i]O Lord,

N o day of my life has passed that has not

proved me guilty in thy sight.

Prayers have been uttered from a

prayerless heart;

Praise has been often praiseless sound;

My best services are filthy rags.

Blessed Jesus, let me find a covert in thy appeasing

wounds.

Though my sins rise to heaven thy merits soar

above them;

Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,

thy righteousness exalts me to thy throne.

All things in me call for my rejection,

All things in thee plead my acceptance.

I appeal from the throne of perfect justice

to thy throne of boundless grace.

Grant me to hear thy voice assuring me:

that by thy stripes I am healed,

that thou wast bruised for my iniquities,

that thou hast been made sin for me

that I might be righteous in thee,

that my grievous sins, my manifold sins,

are all forgiven,

buried in the ocean of thy concealing blood.

I am guilty, but pardoned,

lost, but saved,

wandering, but found,

sinning, but cleansed.

Give me perpetual broken-heartedness,

Keep me always clinging to thy cross,

Flood me every moment with descending grace,

Open to me the springs of divine knowledge,

sparkling like crystal,

flowing clear and unsullied

through my wilderness of life.[/i]