This
week's 'thought' comes to you from one of the best
selling books on prayer in recent years, entitled: "Valley
of Vision - A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions."
It is a collection of actual Puritan prayers, and was compiled by Arthur
Bennett, who served at various churches in England and taught
Biblical Theology and Christian Doctrine at All Nations Christian College.Though some might think written prayers aren't really "prayerful," or that to be true prayer it must be spontaneous, he rightly notes: "Prayer is vocal, and may therefore on occasions be written... Too often ex tempore prayer lacks variety, order and definiteness. The reason lies partly in a neglect of due preparation. It is here that the care and scriptural thoroughness which others found necessary in their approach to God may be of help."
Today I include two prayers. The first is a prayer for grace which I photocopied and now have taped on the inside cover of my Bible. Scribbled on it are the words: "The Eve before my trip to Bolivia. My prayer for 8/27/06." I was about to leave for a few days to speak to a group of missionaries in Santa Cruz, even though I myself was struggling through a spiritually dry and difficult time of readjustment to stateside living after 11 years in Honduras. If you have not gone through a spiritually dark time of struggle yourself, you may not understand this one.
The second prayer is a prayer for renewal which I also photocopied and dated -- July 30, 2000. It was the cry of my heart at that time, though it summarizes my ongoing desire on a regular basis. Either way, I hope something in them may resonate with the state of your soul and your personal needs at this very time. (*I have taken the liberty to update some of the language.) Enjoy.
Need
of Grace
"O
LORD, you know my great unfitness for service, my
present deadness, my
inability to do anything for your glory, my
distressing coldness of heart.
I
am weak, ignorant, unprofitable, and loathe and abhor my sin.
I
am at a loss to know what you would have me to do, for
I feel amazingly deserted by you, and
sense your presence so little...
Return
again with showers of converting grace to a poor gospel-abusing sinner.
Help
my soul to breathe after holiness, after a constant devotedness to you, after growth in grace more abundantly every day.
O
Lord, I am lost in the pursuit of this blessedness, And
am ready to sink because I fall short of my desire.
Help
me hold out a little longer, until the happy hour of deliverance comes, for
I cannot lift my soul to you, if
you of your great goodness bring me not near.
Help
me to be diffident, watchful, tender, lest I offend my blessed Friend in thought and behavior.
I
confide in you and lean upon you, and need you at all times to assist and lead me.
O
that all my distresses and apprehensions might prove to be but Christ's school to make me fit for greater service by teaching me the great lesson of humility.
Prayer
for Renewal
"O
Savior, help me.
I
am slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb; I
am in the foothills when I should be on
the heights.
I
am pained by my graceless heart, my prayer less days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the heavenly race, my
sullied conscience, my wasted hours, my
unspent opportunities...
Make
it my chiefest joy to study you, meditate upon you, gaze upon you, sit like Mary at your feet, lean like John upon your
breast, appeal
like Peter to your love, and count like Paul all things as dung [in comparison to
you].
Give me increase and
progress in grace so that there may be more decision in my character, more
vigor in my purposes, more elevation in
my life, more fervor in my devotion, more consistency
in my zeal.
As I have a position in the
world,
keep me from making the world my position.
May
I never seek in the creature what can be found only in the Creator.
Let not faith cease from seeking you until it vanishes into sight in your
presence.
Ride
forth in me, O King of kings and Lord of lords, that I may live victoriously,
and
in victory attain my end, the endless bliss of entering into the Temple who is
God;
and basking in the light of the glory that shines forth from the face of
Christ;
worship Him whose beauty will enthrall
the hearts of the redeemed for all eternity."
May our faithful God
stir the embers in your soul, and fan them into greater flame by
the breath of His Holy Spirit's renewed presence and activity, Pastor
Jeff
