My everyday prayer from The Valley of Vision

O Thou Most High,
Creator of the ends of the earth,
Governor of the universe,
Judge of all men,
Head of the church,
Saviour of sinners;
           thy greatness is unsearchable,
           thy goodness infinite,
           thy compassions unfailing,
           thy providence boundless,
           thy mercies ever new.
We bless thee for the words of salvation.
How important, suitable, encouraging are the doctrines, promises, and invitations of the gospel of peace!
We are lost: but in it thou hast presented to us a full, free and eternal salvation;
           weak: but here we learn that help is found in One that is mighty,
           poor: but in him we discover unsearchable riches,
           blind: but we find he has treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
We thank thee for thy unspeakable gift.
Thy Son is our only refuge, foundation, hope, confidence;
We depend upon his death,
          rest in his righteousness,
          desire to bear his image;
May his glory fill our minds,
          his love reign in our affections,
          his cross inflame us with ardour.
Let us as Christians fill our various situations in life,
           escape the snares to which they expose us,
           discharge the duties that arrives from our circumstances,
           enjoy with moderation their advantages,
           improve with diligence their usefulness,
And may every place and company we are in be benefitted by us.
Amen

This is a prayer from The Valley of Vision.  I have blogged an excerpt from it once before but this is it in its entirety.  It's from the prayers at the back of the book - a series of set prayers for morning and evening.  This one is the prayer for the sixth morning of the week. 

But it is the prayer that I find myself praying almost every day, not just on the sixth morning of the week.  It provides me with a picture of the True God.  It shows me the true me.  It shows me what God has done for me in Jesus.  And it shows what is good for me to do, day by day, in light of all of these things.  Hour by hour, what I need to recall in this equation changes - and I find different parts of this prayer coming to mind, as circumstances warrant.

The other prayers for the rest of the week, morning and evening, are excellent too.  But for months now, this one has been my everyday prayer.

A prayer for Sunday morning

Here is another prayer from the section "A Week's Shared Prayers" from The Valley of Vision. This one is for Sunday morning and makes for a beautiful start to this day.

O Lord,

We commune with thee every day,
     but week days are worldly days,
     and secular concerns reduce heavenly impressions.
We bless thee therefore for the day sacred to our souls
     when we can wait upon thee and be refreshed;
We thank thee for the institutions of religion
     by use of which we draw near to thee and thou to us;
We rejoice in another Lord's Day
     when we call off our minds from the cares of the world
     and attend upon thee without distraction;

Let our retirement be devout,

     our conversations edifying,
     our reading pious,
     our hearing profitable,
    that our souls may be quickened and elevated.

We are going to the house of prayer,
     pour upon us the spirit of grace and supplication;
We are going to the house of praise,
     awaken in us every grateful and cheerful emotion;
We are going to the house of instruction,
     give testimony to the Word preached,

     and glorify it in the hearts of all who hear;

          may it enlighten the ignorant,
          awaken the careless,
          reclaim the wandering,

          establish the weak,

          comfort the feeble-minded,

          make ready a people for their Lord.

Be a sanctuary to all who cannot come,

Forget not those who never come,

And do thou bestow upon us

     benevolence towards our dependants,

     forgiveness towards our enemies,

     peaceableness towards our neighbours,

     openness towards our fellow-Christians.

Amen

Let us as Christians fill our various situations in life

Back when I was teaching I used to say to my year seven students, "There are two rules for life.  Be nice to your teacher.  And be nice to your mummy.  If you do these two things all will go well for you."  Of course they would laugh.  When you are twelve years old you don't call your mum "Mummy."  But making twelve year olds laugh is one way to make them listen to you! 

In a similar vein to the year seven rules of life, but far better, my husband farewells our boys off to school each morning by saying, "Be a blessing to your teachers and be a blessing to your friends."  Such wonderful words for them to hear as they head off for their day, most especially because they understand, at least in small part, what it means to be a blessing.

I have been dipping into The Valley of Vision again recently.  At the back there is a set of prayers for the week - one for each morning and evening.  This morning's prayer - the prayer for the sixth morning of the week - finishes up with some wonderful words that amplify an aspect of what it means to be a blessing to those about us as we make our way through our day. 

We thank thee for thy unspeakable gift.
Thy Son is our only refuge, foundation, hope, confidence;
We depend upon his death,
     rest in his righteousness,
     desire to bear his image;
May his glory fill our minds,
     his love reign in our affections,
     his cross inflame us with ardour.
Let us as Christians fill our various situations in life,
     escape the snares to which they expose us,
     discharge the duties that arise from our circumstances,
     enjoy with moderation their advantages,
     improve with diligence their usefulness,
And may every place and company we are in be benefited by us.

The line "Let us as Christians fill our various situations in life," particularly caught my gaze, that "every place and company we are in be benefited by us."  Beautiful.  A helpful thing to bring to mind while travelling through the day.  And it reminded me of this...I have thought about this subject before.

Morning Needs

I thought I might start sharing, from time to time, the occasional prayer from The Valley of Vision which is a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions edited by Arthur Bennett.

My first choice, "Morning Needs" (p. 218), steeped in direct and indirect references to Scripture, is an amazing prayer for starting the day.  I have enjoyed using this prayer some mornings, especially when I am at a loss to know what to pray in my own words.  It captures the needs of my day so wonderfully.

O God, the Author of all good,

I come to thee for the grace another day

    will require for its duties and events.

  I step out into a wicked world,

  I carry about with me an evil heart,

  I know that without thee I can do nothing,

    that everything with which I shall be concerned,

    however harmless in itself,

    may prove an occasion of sin or folly,

    unless I am kept by thy power.

Hold thou me up and I shall be safe.

Preserve my understanding from subtilty of error,

  my affections from love of idols,

  my character from stain of vice,

  my profession from every form of evil.

May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore thy blessing,

  and in which I cannot invite thy inspection.

Prosper me in all lawful undertakings,

  or prepare me for disappointments;

Give me neither poverty nor riches;

Feed me with food convenient for me,

  lest I be full and deny thee

  and say, Who is the Lord?

  or be poor, and steal, and take thy name in vain.

May every creature be made good to me

  by prayer and thy will;

Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it,

  to improve my talents,

  to redeem my time,

  to walk in wisdom toward those without,

    and in kindness to those within,

  to do good to all men,

    and especially to my fellow Christians,

And to thee be the glory.

Amen

[Photo of a Galapagos tortoise at our local zoo, having his morning shower. 
We were there at just the right time!  With a camera!!]