Need of Grace

Loving me some puritans prayers right now :) This one in particular was especially sweet. Do you ever feel so sinful, so cold, and unable to muster up any affections to the One who saved you from death? This prayer is so real and I love it. Sometimes we feel may that way-maybe for just a day- or maybe for months. May God warm our hearts to his love. May we have the faith to believe in His goodness to us wicked sinners....pray along with me...


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,
and sense thy presence so little;
Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth,
and the dreadful sin of my nature,
so that I feel all sin,
I cannot think or act but every motion is sin.
Return again with showers of converting grace
to a poor gospel-abusing sinner.
Help my soul to breathe after holiness,
after a constant devotedness to thee,
after growth in grace more abundantly every day.
O Lord, I am lost in the pursuit of this blessedness,
And am ready to sink because I fall short of my desire;
Help me to hold out a little longer,
until the happy hour of deliverance comes,
for  I cannot lift my soul to thee
if thou of thy goodness bring me not nigh.
Help me to be diffident, watchful, tender,
lest I offend my blessed Friend
in thought and behavior;
I confide in thee and lean upon thee,
and need thee at all times to assist and lead me.
O that all my distresses and apprehensions
might prove Christ's school
to make me fit for greater service
by teaching me the great lesson of humility

-Valley of Vision, Need of Grace ( A collection of puritan prayers & devotions)