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I bought Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers about a year ago and have been using it in my time with the Lord since then. I wanted to share one of the prayers that I really connect with and find myself broken in front of the Lord praying.

PURITAN PRAYER

Holy Lord,
I have sinned times without number,
and have been guilty of pride and unbelief,
of failure to find thy mind in thy Word,
of neglect to seek thee in my daily life.
My transgressions and short-comings
present me with a list of accusations,
But I bless thee that they will not stand against me,
for all have been laid on Christ;
Go on to subdue my corruptions,
and grant me grace to live above them.
Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings
of the mind bring my spirit into subjection,
but do thou rule over me in liberty and power.
I thank thee that many of my prayers
have been refused –
I have asked amiss and do not have,
I have prayed from lusts and been rejected,
I have longed from Egypt and been given a
wilderness.

Go on with thy patient work,
answering ‘no’ to my wrongful prayers,
and fitting me to accept it.
Purge me from every false desire,
every base aspiration,
everything contrary to thy rule.
I thank thee for thy wisdom and thy love,
for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,
for sometimes putting me into the furnace
to refine my gold and remove my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin.
If thou shouldst give me choice to live
in pleasure and keep my sins,
or to have them burnt away with trial,
give me sanctified affliction.
deliver me from every evil habit,
every accretion of former sins,
everything that dims the brightness
of thy grace in me,
everything that prevents me thaking delight
in thee.
Then I shall bless thee, God of Jeshurun,
for helping me to be upright.

“O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” has always been one of my favorite hymns. I grew up going to a Methodist church. So we sang it quite regularly. Something about this song always seemed to connect with me.

Charles Wesley, who wrote this hymn, wrote over 6,000 hymns. What was special about this hymn is the fact that it commemorated the one year anniversary of his renewal of faith. the title of this song was inspired by his Moravian teacher , Peter Böhler, who said, “Had I a thousand tongues I would praise Him with them all.”.

I just love the idea of that! Until recently I when i read that i just thought it meant “O for a thousand people to sing of our great Redeemers praise” (Which is still great..) , but Wesley is praying and wishing that he had a thousand tongues himself that he could sing to God with. That’s the passion we should have!

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of his grace!

Glory to God, and praise and love
Be ever, ever given,
By saints below and saints above,
The church in earth and heaven.

On this glad day the glorious Sun
Of Righteousness arose;
On my benighted soul He shone
And filled it with repose.

Sudden expired the legal strife,
’Twas then I ceased to grieve;
My second, real, living life
I then began to live.

Then with my heart I first believed,
Believed with faith divine,
Power with the Holy Ghost received
To call the Savior mine.

I felt my Lord’s atoning blood
Close to my soul applied;
Me, me He loved, the Son of God,
For me, for me He died!

I found and owned His promise true,
Ascertained of my part,
My pardon passed in heaven I knew
When written on my heart.

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! The name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
‘Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
‘Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and, listening to his voice,
New life the dead receive,
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.

James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

I’m a 21-year-old Southern boy, who has traveled the world and experienced many things in my life already that some people will never have the chance to do.

I have lived a good life.                    Do you know what made it good? GOD
I love steak.                                    Do you know what makes it great? GOD
The feeling certain music gives you.  Do you know what makes it great? GOD

Whether its your favorite food, that special song, or even special someone. That experience Comes from God.

I have been reading this text for years and have even put it to memory, but the true weight of it didn’t hit me until recently. EVERY good and perfect thing comes from God.
Let me say that again…   EVERY GOOD and perfect THING COMES FROM GOD.

Most times we don’t think like that, when goods things happen it just makes us happy and we lose the chance to pause and worship our creator: The Giver of  ALL Good Things.

There have been so many more moments of worship since God opened my eyes up to this idea. I pray that He would do the same for whoever reads this and that the worship of our Lord would continue throughout the day and our lifetime.