Thank You, Father, for a very productive day yesterday. My body is protesting some but it was well worth the effort. Please place Your hand upon my shoulder today, I welcome Your guidance and direction. Amen.

Lord, You pulled me to a Puritan prayer today…and it spoke to me. What it had to say wasn’t pretty but it is true too frequently in my life. Thankfully it isn’t as applicable today but it has been very much so…and not that long ago. It is comforting to know that I am not alone, others struggle, too. It is encouraging to know, too, that we can be “more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:31-39

I read through the prayer twice and then prayed through it myself. It is well worth sharing…

YET I SIN

Eternal Father,
Thou art 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 thee;
     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 thee;
     as a rebel I have misused my strength,
     and served the foul adversary of thy kingdom.
Give me grace to bewail my insensate* folly,
Grant me to know that the way of transgressors is hard,
                                      that evil paths are wretched paths,
                                      that to depart from thee is to lose all good.
I have seen the purity and beauty of thy 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.
Thy 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.

Amen…so be it.

Nov 18th, Fri, 6:33 am

A couple of words I had to look up
*insensate: without sense, understanding, or judgment; foolish.
**contemn: to treat or regard with disdain, scorn, or contempt.