Valley of Vision Prayers

Union With Christ

O Father,

Thou has made man for the glory of thyself,

and when not an instrument of that glory,

he is a thing of nought;

No sin is greater than the sin of unbelief,

for if union with Christ is the greatest good,

unbelief is the greatest sin,

as being cross to they command;

I see that whatever my sin is,

yet no sin is like disunion from Christ by unbelief.

Lord, keep me from committing the greatest sin in departing from him,

for I can never in this life perfectly obey and cleave to Christ.

When thou takest away my outward blessings, it is for sin,

in not acknowledging that all that I have is of thee,

in not serving thee through what I have,

in making myself secure and hardened.

Lawful blessings are the secret idols, and do most hurt;

the greatest injury is in the having,

the greatest good in the taking away.

In love divest me of blessings that I may glorify thee the more;

remove the fuel of my sin,

and may I prize the gain of a little holiness

as overbalancing all my losses.

The more I love thee with a truly graciouslove

the more I desire to love thee,

and the more miserable I am at my want of love;

The more I hunger and thirst after tee,

the more I faint and fail in finding thee,

The more my heart is broken for sin,

the more I pray it may be far more broken.

My great evil is that I do not remember the sins of my youth,

nay, the sins of one day I forget he next.

Keep me from all things that turn to unbelief

or lack of felt union with Christ.

Valley of Vision Prayers

Reproofs

O Merciful God,

When I hear of disagreeable things amongst Christians,

  it brings an additional weight and burden on my spirit;

I come to thee in my distress and make lamentable complaint;

Teach me how to take reproofs from friends,

  even thought I think I do not deserve them;

Use them to make me tenderly afraid of sin,

  more jealous over myself,

  more concerned to keep heart and life unblameable;

Cause them to help me to reflect on my want of spirituality,

  to abhor myself,

  to look upon myself as unworthy,

  and make them beneficial to my soul.

May all thy people know how little, mean, and vile I am,

  that they may see I am nothing,

  less than nothing,

  to be accounted nothing,

  that so they may pray for me aright,

  and have not the least dependence upon me.

It is sweet to be nothing and have nothing,

  and to be fed with crumbs from thy hands.

Blessed be thy Name for anything that life brings.

  How do poor souls live who have not thee,

    or when helpless have no God to go to,

    who feel not the constraining force of thy love,

    and the sweetness of communion?

O how admirably dost thou captivate the soul,

  making all desires and affections centre on thee!

Give me such vivacity in religion,

  that I may be able to take all reproofs from other men

    as from thy hands,

    and glorify thee for them

    from a sense of thy beneficent love

    and of my need to have my pride destroyed.

Valley of Vision Prayers

The Broken Heart

O Lord,

No 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 my sins rise to heaven thy merits soar above them.

Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,

Thy righteousness exalts me to they 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, by 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.

Valley of Vision Prayers

Choices

O God,

Though I am allowed to approach thee

I am not unmindful of my sins,

I do not deny my guilt,

I confess my wickedness, and earnestly plead forgiveness.

May I with Moses choose affliction

Rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin.

Help me to place myself always under thy guiding and guardian care,

To take firmer hold of the sure covenant that binds me to thee,

To feel fore of the purifying, dignifying,

Softening influence of the religion I profess,

To have more compassion, love, pity, courtesy,

To deem it an honour to be employed by thee

As an instrument in thy hands,

Ready to seize every opportunity of usefulness,

And willing to offer all my talents to they service.

Thou hast done for me all things well,

Hast remembered, distinguished, indulged me.

All my desires have not been gratified,

But thy love denied them to me

When fulfillment of my wishes would have proved my ruin or injury.

My trials have been fewer than my sins,

And when I have kissed the rod it has fallen from thy hands.

Thou hast often wiped away my tears,

Restored peace to my mourning heart,

Chastened me for my profit.

All thy work for me is perfect,

And I praise thee.

Valley of Vision Prayers

The Deeps

LORD JESUS,

Give me a deeper repentance,

a horror of sin,

a dread of its approach;

Help me chastely to flee it,

and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be thine alone.

Give me a deeper trust,

that I may lose myself to find myself in thee,

the ground of my rest,

the spring of my being.

Give me a deeper knowledge of thyself

as Savior, Master, Lord and King.

Give me deeper power in private prayer,

more sweetness in thy Word

more steadfast grip on its truth.

Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,

and let me not seek moral virtue apart from thee.

Plow deep in me, great Lord, heavenly Husbandman,

that my being may be a tilled field,

the roots of grace spreading far and wide,

until thou alone art seen in me,

thy beauty golden like summer harvest,

thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no Master but thee,

no law but they will,

no delight but thyself,

no wealth but that thou givest,

no good but that thou blesses,

no peace but that thou bestowest.

I am nothing but that thou makest me,

I have nothing but that I received from thee,

I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.

Quarry me deep, dear Lord,

and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

Valley of Vision pg. 75

Published by The Banner of Truth Trust

Valley of Vision Prayers

Belonging to Jesus

O Heavenly Father,

Teach me to see

that if Christ has pacified thee and satisfied divine justice

he can also deliver me from my sins;

that Christ does not desire me, now justified,

to live in self-confidence in my own strength,

but gives me the law of the Spirit of life

to enable me to obey thee;

that the Spirit and his power are mine

by resting on Christ’s death;

that the Spirit of life within answers to the law without;

that if I sin not I should thank thee for it;

that if I sin I should be humbled daily under it

that I should mourn for sin more than other men do,

for when I see I shall die because of sin,

that makes me mourn;

when I see how sin strikes at thee,

that makes me mourn;

when I see tha tsin caused Christ’s death,

that makes me mourn;

that sanctification is the evidence of reconciliation,

proving that faith has truly apprehended Christ;

Thou hast taught me

that faith is nothing else than receiving they kindness;

that it is an adherence to Christ, a resting on him,

love clinging to him as a branch to the tree,

to seek life an vigour from him.

I thank thee for showing me the vast difference

between knowing things by reason,

and knowing them by the spirit of faith.

By reason I see a thing is so; by faith I know it as it is.

I have seen thee by reason and have not been amazed,

I have seen thee as thou art in thy Son

and Have been ravished to behold thee.

I bless thee that I am thine in my Saviour, Jesus.