Monday, September 10, 2007

A Prayer for "Crucifixion and Resurrection"

I've often said to those who've asked that if I could only possess one book other than the Holy Bible, it would be The Valley of Vision. Yes, it would be tough to pawn-off Calvin's Institutes or Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics or Vos' Biblical Theology or even Barth's Church Dogmatics, but this would be the book I'd keep with me.

It has been said by one of the aforementioned authors that prayer is what reveals our real theology. What we think and say about God is only as good as our prayer life proves. The Valley of Vision is a heavenly collection of topical prayers from some of the most robust preachers and teachers in English Calvinism's history (Brainerd, Bunyan, Spurgeon, Toplady, Watson, Watts, etc.). What is deposited here is not without as much theological insight as any other tome of theology ten times its length. For that reason, it would be my Bible's only companion, if necessity ever brought me to it.

Here is the prayer that I read this morning, aptly titled "Crucifixion and Resurrection:"

O LORD,
I marvel that thou shouldst become incarnate, be crucified, dead, and buried. The sepulchre calls forth my adoring wonder, for it is empty and thou art risen; the four-fold gospel attests it, the living witnesses prove it, my heart's experience knows it. Give me to die with thee that I may rise to new life, for I wish to be as dead and buried to sin, to selfishness, to the world; that I might not hear the voice of the charmer, and might be delivered from his lusts. O Lord, there is much ill about me- crucify it, much flesh within me - mortify it. Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approbation, the shame of being thought old-fashioned, the desire to be cultivated or modern. Let me reckon my old life dead because of crucifixion, and never feed it as a living thing. Grant me to stand with my dying Saviour, to be content to be rejected, to be willing to take up unpopular truths, and to hold fast despised teachings until death. Help me to be resolute and Christ-contained. Never let me wander from the path of obedience to thy will. Strengthen me for the battles ahead. Give me courage for all the trials, and grace for all the joys. Help me be a holy, happy person, free from every wrong desire, from everything contrary to thy mind. Grant me more and more of the resurrection life: may it rule me, may I walk in its power, and be strengthened through its influence.

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