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

SINCERITY

ELECTOR OF SAINTS,

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and callest to thyself.

With thee is mercy, redemption, assurance, forgiveness;

Thou hast lifted me, a prisoner, out of the pit of sin

    and pronounced my discharge,

     not only in the courts of heaven,

     but in the dock of conscience;

hast justified me by faith,

    given me peace with thee,

    made me to enjoy glorious liberty as they child.

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 of services,

     while 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.

May nothing render me forgetful of thy glory,

or turn me aside from thy commands,

or shake my confidence in thy promises,

or offend thy children.

Let not my temporal occupations injure my spiritual concerns,

or the cares of life make me neglect the one thing needful.

May I not be inattentive to the design of thy dealings with me,

or insensible under thy rebukes,

or immobile at thy calls.

May I learn the holy art of abiding in thee,

        of being in the world and not of it,

        of making everything not only consistent with

         but conducive to my religion.

Valley of Vision Prayers

MY DEAR LORD

I can but tell thee that thou knowest

I long for nothing but thyself,

nothing but holiness,

nothing but union with they 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.