Archives: June 2006

O Lord,

Bend my hands and cut them off,

for I have often struck You with a wayward will,

when these fingers should embrace You by faith.

I am not yet weaned from all created glory,

honour, wisdom, and esteem of others,

for I have a secret motive to eye my name in all I do.

Let me not only speak the word sin, but see the thing itself.

Give me to view a discovered sinfulness,

to know that though my sins are crucified

 they are never wholly mortified.

Hatred, malice, ill-will,

vain-glory that hungers for and hunts after

mans approval and applause,

all are crucified, forgiven,

but they rise again in my sinful heart.

O my crucified but never wholly mortified sinfulness!

O my life-long damage and daily shame!

O my indwelling and besetting sins!

O the tormenting slavery of a sinful heart!

Destroy, O God, the dark guest within

whose hidden presence makes my life a hell.

Yet You Have not left me here without grace;

The cross still stands and meets my needs

in the deepest straits of the soul.

I thank You that my remembrance of it

is like Davids sight of Goliaths sword

which preached forth Your deliverance.

The memory of my great sins, my many temptations, my falls,

bring afresh into my mind the remembrance

of Your great help, of Your support from heaven,

of the great grace that saved such a wretch as I am.

There is no treasure so wonderful

as that continuous experience of Your grace toward me

which alone can subdue the risings of sin within:

Give me more of it.

Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), p. 71.

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.

Unmask to me sin’s deformity,

      that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.

My faculties have 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 bewail my insensitive folly,

Grant me to know that 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 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 contemn its precepts.

Your loving Spirit strives within me,

brings me Scripture warnings,

speaks in startling providences,

allures by secret whispers,

yet I choose devices and desires to my own hurt,

impiously 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 the tears of repentance I may see more clearly

the brightness and glories of the saving cross.

Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), p. 70.

“The fact is that “foreknowledge” is never used in Scripture in connection with events or actions; instead, it always has reference to persons. It is persons God is said to “foreknow,” not the actions of those persons. In proof of this we shall now quote each passage where this expression is found.

The first occurrence is in Acts 2:23. There we read, “Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” If careful attention is paid to the wording of this verse it will be seen that the apostle was not there speaking of God’s foreknowledge of the act of the crucifixion, but of the Person crucified: “Him (Christ) being delivered by,” etc.

The second occurrence is in Rom. 8:29,30. “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called,” etc. Weigh well the pronoun that is used here. It is not what He did foreknow, but whom He did. It is not the surrendering of their wills nor the believing of their hearts, but the persons themselves, which is here in view.

“God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew” (Rom. 11:2). Once more the plain reference is to persons, and to persons only.

The last mention is in I Peter 1:2: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” Who are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”? The previous verse tells us: the reference is to the “strangers scattered,” i.e., the Diaspora, the Dispersion, the believing Jews. Thus, here too the reference is to persons, and not to their foreseen acts.

Now in view of these passages (and there are no more) what scriptural ground is there for anyone saying God “foreknew” the acts of certain ones, viz., their “repenting and believing,” and that because of those acts He elected them unto salvation? The answer is, None whatever. Scripture never speaks of repentance and faith as being foreseen or foreknown by God. Truly, He did know from all eternity that certain ones would repent and believe, yet this is not what Scripture refers to as the object of God’s “foreknowledge.” The word uniformly refers to God’s foreknowing persons; then let us “hold fast the form of sound words” (II Tim. 1:13)”  (A.W. Pink.  “The Foreknowledge of God’).

SEARCHER OF HEARTS,

It is a good day when You give me

 a glimpse of myself;

Sin is my greatest evil;

 but You are my greatest good;

I have cause to loathe myself,

and not to seek self-honor,

for no one desires to commend his own dunghill.

My country, family, church

fare worse because of my sins,

for sinners bring judgment in thinking sins are small,

or that God is not angry with them.

Let me not take other good men as my example,

and think I am good because I am like them,

For all good men are not as good as You desire,

  are not always consistent,

  do not always follow holiness,

  do not feel eternal good in sore affliction.

Show me how to know when a thing is evil

 which I think is right and good,

 how to know when what is lawful

 comes from evil principle,

 Such as desire for reputation or wealth or usury.

Give me grace to recall my needs,

my lack of knowing Your will in Scripture, 

  of wisdom to guide others,

  of daily repentance, want of which keeps You at bay,

  of the spirit of prayer, having words without love,

  of zeal for Your glory, seeking my own ends,

  of joy in You and Your will,

  of love to others,

And let me not lay my pipe too short of the fountain,

never touching the eternal spring,

never drawing down water from above.

Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), p. 65.

LORD GOD ALMIGHTY,

I ask not to be enrolled amongst the earthly great and rich,

but to be numbered with the spiritually blessed.

Make it my present, supreme, persevering concern,

to obtain those blessings which are

spiritual in their nature,

eternal in their continuance,

satisfying in their possession.

Preserve me from a false estimate of the whole or a part of my

character;

May I pay regard to my principles as well as my conduct,

my motives as wells as my actions.

Help me never to mistake the excitement of my passions,

for the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

never to judge my religion by occasional impressions

and impulses, but by my constant and prevailing disposition.

May my heart be right with You, and my life as becomes the gospel.

May I maintain a supreme regard to another and better world,

and feel and confess myself a stranger and a pilgrim here.

Afford me all the direction, defense, support, and consolation

my journey there requires,

and grant me a mind stayed upon You.

Give me a large abundance of the supply of the Spirit of Jesus,

that I may be prepared for every duty,

love You in all my mercies,

submit to You in every trial,

trust You when waiting in darkness,

have peace in You amidst life’s changes.

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief and uncertainties.

Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), p. 65.