Devotionals: The Valley of Vision

HEAVENLY FATHER, My faith is in thee,         My expectation is from thee,         My love goes out toward thee,   I believe thee,       accept thy Word,       acquiesce in thy will,       rely on thy promises,       trust thy providence. I bless thee that the court of conscience   proves me to be thine. I do not need signs and wonders […]

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 though I think I do not deserve them; Use them to make me tenderly […]

O GOD, May I never be a blot or a blank in life,         cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of,   or make my liberty an occasion to the flesh. May I by love serve others, and please my neighbour   for his good to edification. May I attend to what is ornamental as […]

O GOD MOST HIGH, MOST GLORIOUS, The thought of thine infinite serenity       cheers me, For I am toiling and moiling, troubled     and distressed,   but thou art for ever at perfect peace. Thy designs cause thee no fear or care     of unfulfilment,   they stand fast as the eternal hills. Thy power knows no bond,   thy goodness […]

MOST HOLY GOD, May the close of an earthly sabbath         remind me that the last of them     will one day end. Animate me with joy that in heaven praise     will never cease,   that adoration will continue for ever,   that no flesh will grow weary,       no congregations disperse,       no affections flag,       no thoughts wander,       no will […]

O CHANGELESS GOD, Under the conviction of thy Spirit I learn that       the more I do, the worse I am,   the more I know, the less I know,   the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am,   the more I love, the more there is to love.     O wretched man that I am! O […]

O MAKER AND UPHOLDER OF ALL THINGS, Day and night are thine; they are also         mine from thee —   the night to rid me of the cares of the day,       to refresh my weary body,       to renew my natural strength;   the day to summon me to new activities,       to give me opportunity to glorify thee, […]

HOLY LORD, How little repentance there is in the world,         and how many sins I have to repent of! I am troubled for my sin of passion,   for the shame and horror of it as an evil; I purpose to give way to it no more,   and come to thee for strength to that end. […]

LORD JESUS, Give me to love thee, to embrace thee,       though I once took lust and sin in my arms.       Thou didst love me before I loved thee,   an enemy, a sinner, a loathsome worm. Thou didst own me when I disclaimed myself; Thou dost love me as a son,   and weep over me as […]

O LORD OF GRACE, I have been hasty and short in private prayer,     O quicken my conscience to feel this folly,     to bewail this ingratitude; My first sin of the day leads into others,   and it is just that thou shouldst withdraw     thy presence   from one who waited carelessly on thee. Keep me at all […]

MY FATHER, Enlarge my heart, warm my affections,     open my lips,   supply words that proclaim ‘Love lustres     at Calvary.’ There grace removes my burdens and heaps them     on thy Son,   made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me; There the sword of thy justice smote the man,     thy fellow; There thy infinite attributes were […]

SOVEREIGN COMMANDER OF THE UNIVERSE, I am sadly harassed by doubts, fears, unbelief,     in a felt spiritual darkness. My heart is full of evil surmisings and disquietude,   and I cannot act faith at all. My heavenly Pilot has disappeared,   and I have lost my hold on the Rock of Ages; I sink in deep mire […]

MY DEAR LORD I depend wholly upon thee,     wean me from all other dependences. Thou art my all, thou dost overrule all     and delight in me. Thou art the foundation of goodness,   how can I distrust thee?   how be anxious about what happens to me? In the light of thy preciousness   the world and all […]

GRACIOUS GOD, My heart praises thee for the wonder         of thy love in Jesus; He is heaven’s darling, but is for me   the incarnate, despised, rejected,   crucified sin-bearer; In him thy grace has almost out-graced itself, In him thy love to rebels has reached its height; O to love thee with a love like this! […]

LORD JESUS, If I love thee my soul shall seek thee,       but can I seek thee unless my love to thee       is kept alive to this end? Do I love thee because thou art good,   and canst alone do me good? It is fitting thou shouldest not regard me,   for I am vile and selfish; […]

O LORD, I am a shell full of dust,     but animated with an invisible rational soul     and made anew by an unseen power of grace; Yet I am no rare object of valuable price,   but one that has nothing and is nothing,   although chosen of thee from eternity,   given to Christ, and born again; I […]

LORD OF ALL BEING, There is one thing that deserves my greatest care,       that calls forth my ardent desires, That is, that I may answer the great end for which     I am made —   to glorify thee who hast given me being,   and to do all the good I can for my fellow men; Verily, […]

GREAT GOD, In public and private, in sanctuary and home,     may my life be steeped in prayer,   filled with the spirit of grace and supplication,   each prayer perfumed with the incense     of atoning blood. Help me, defend me, until from praying ground I pass to the realm of unceasing praise. Urged by my need,   invited […]

GOD OF THE PUBLICAN, Be merciful to me a sinner;       this I am by nature and practice,     this thy Word proclaims me to be,     this I hope I feel myself to be; Yet thou hast not left me to despair,   for there is no ‘peradventure’ in thy grace; I have all the assurance I need […]

O DIVINE LAWGIVER, I take shame to myself     for open violations to thy law,   for my secret faults,   my omissions of duty,   my unprofitable attendance     upon means of grace,   my carnality in worshipping thee,   and all the sins of my holy things. My iniquities are increased over my head: My trespasses are known in the […]

O LORD, Thou knowest my great unfitness for service,       my present deadness,       my inability to do anything for thy glory,       my distressing coldness of heart. I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable,   and loathe and abhor myself. I am at a loss to know what thou wouldest     have me do,   for I feel amazingly deserted by thee, […]

LORD JESUS, I am blind, be thou my light,     ignorant, be thou my wisdom,     self-willed, be thou my mind. Open my ear to grasp quickly thy Spirit’s voice,   and delightfully run after his beckoning hand; Melt my conscience that no hardness remain,   make it alive to evil’s slightest touch; When Satan approaches may I flee […]

INCOMPREHENSIBLE, GREAT, AND GLORIOUS GOD, I adore thee and abase myself.     I approach thee mindful that I am     less than nothing,       a creature worse than nothing. My thoughts are not screened from thy gaze. My secret sins blaze in the light of thy countenance. Enable me to remember that blood which cleanseth     all sin,   to […]

LORD OF IMMORTALITY, Before whom angels bow and archangels veil       their faces,   enable me to serve thee with reverence     and godly fear. Thou who art Spirit and requirest truth     in the inward parts,   help me to worship thee in spirit and in truth. Thou who art righteous,   let me not harbour sin in my heart, […]

O LORD GOD, I pray not so much for graces as for       the Spirit himself,   because I feel his absence,   and act by my own spirit in everything. Give me not weak desires but the power of     his presence,   for this is the surest way to have all his graces,   and when I have the […]