We leave today for the mountains of Tennessee and are grateful for a season of rest. I mentioned yesterday that I will post this week some beautiful words from the Puritan prayer book, The Valley Of Vision. Today’s words focus on our great need for ongoing awareness that we no longer belong to ourselves, but unto Christ our Lord. Be refreshed in reading.
O GOD, THE AUTHOR OF ALL GOOD,
I come to you for the grace another day will require
for its duties and events.
I step out into a wicked world, I carry about with me an evil heart,
I know that without You I can do nothing, that everything with which I shall be concerned,
however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by Your power.
Hold you me up and I shall be safe.
Preserve my understanding from subtlety of error, my affections from love of idols,
my character from stain of vice, my profession from every form of evil.
May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore Your blessing,
and in which I cannot invite Your inspection.
Prosper me in all lawful undertakings, or prepare me for disappointments;
Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me,
lest I be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” or be poor, and steal,
and take Your name in vain.
May every creature be made good to me by prayer and Your will;
Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it, to improve my talents,
to redeem my time, to walk in wisdom toward those without,
and in kindness to those within, to do good to all men,
and especially to my fellow Christians.
And to You be the glory.