A prayer

We had an evening of praying the other night in my connect (bible study) group, in between books, and so I subjected them all to a Puritan prayer from my new Valley of Vision book (I've been flicking about in this and enjoying it, though some of the prayers are a bit odd). We have just finished the book of Philippians, with it's elements on doing all things in Christ's strength, and rejoicing always, and were also in the "confession" part of the evening (we also call ourselves the "loving God more group"), so, while it was a bit randomly chosen, I thought this one fitting (I actually just copied it from The Banner of Truth, where I found them all online):

Thou Great I Am,

I  acknowledge and confess that all things come of thee –

   life, breath, happiness, advancement,

   sight, touch, hearing,

   goodness, truth, beauty –

       all that makes existence amiable.

In the spiritual world also I am dependent entirely upon thee.

Give me grace to know more of my need of grace;

Show me my sinfulness that I may willingly confess it;

Reveal to me my weakness that I may know my strength in thee.

I thank thee for any sign of penitence;

     give me more of it;

My sins are black and deep,

   and rise from a stony, proud, self-righteous heart;

Help me to confess them with mourning, regret, self-loathing,

   with no pretence to merit or excuse;

I need healing,

Good Physician, here is scope for thee,

   come and manifest thy power;

I need faith;

Thou who hast given it me, maintain, strengthen, increase it,

Centre it upon the Saviour’s work,

   upon the majesty of the Father,

   upon the operations of the Spirit;

Work it in me now that I may never doubt thee

   as the truthful, mighty, faithful God.

Then I can bring my heart to thee

   full of love, gratitude, hope, joy.

May I lay at thy feet these fruits grown in thy garden,

   love thee with a passion that can never cool,

   believe in thee with a confidence that never staggers,

   hope in thee with an expectation that can never be dim,

   delight in thee with a rejoicing that cannot be stifled,

   glorify thee with the highest of my powers,

        burning, blazing, glowing, radiating, as from thy own glory.