Reconciliation {Valley of Vision}

This is just an excerpt of the prayer entitled Reconciliation, found in The Valley of Vision (of course).

"Thou hast taught me the necessity of a Mediator, a Messiah,
to be embraced in love with all my heart,
as king to rule me,
as prophet to guide me,
as priest to take away my sin and death,
and this by faith in thy beloved Son who teaches me
not to guide myself,
not to obey myself,
not to try to rule and conquer sin,
but to cleave to the one who will do all for me."

So many times I've found myself trying to mortify (put to death) my sins by trying to just stop doing them. While getting rid of sin is obviously a good and necessary thing, I need to be reminded that on my own strength, I can't do it. I need to cling to God, because He's the only one who can really help me "rule and conquer sin". He was able to defeat sin once and for all, so why do I not come to Him for help whenever I try to get victory over particular sins in my life? This prayer was such a great reminder that I need to depend on Him, not myself.

Also, if you are able, I encourage you to read the rest of the prayer. It's a really good one over all. It contrasts what God does for us with what is our responsibility to do in response. And it is such a good reminder that I am often unable to do things on my own strength and how important it is to ask Him for help in those situations.

The Precious Blood

As I mentioned in my other blog, sometimes I find out songs I really like are based off of prayers from The Valley of Vision. The first one I found was from To The Cross I Cling (to see the post, click here). Today, while I was reading The V. of V. to calm myself (I've had a bit of a stressful morning with the wedding today, and I couldn't find my camera which was bad....but I did find it eventually), I came across The Precious Blood. I read it, and right away I realized it was the basis for a song I really like by Sovereign Grace Music with the same title. I figured I'd post the words to the prayer and the song, so you can enjoy them if you so choose.

The Precious Blood

Blessed Lord Jesus,

Before thy cross I kneel and see the heinousness of my sin,

my iniquity that caused thee to be 'made a curse',

the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath.

Show me the enormity of my guilty by 

the crown of thorns,

the pierced hands and feet,

the bruised body,

the dying cries.

Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God,

its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought.

Infinite must be the evil and guilt that demands such a price. 

Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper,

born in my birth,

alive in my death,

strong in my character,

dominating my faculties,

following me as a shadow,

intermingling with my every thought,

my chain that hold me captive in the empire of my soul.

Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light,

the air supply my breath, 

the earth bear my tread, 

its fruits nourish me,

its creatures subserve my ends?

Yet thy compassions yearn over me,

thy heart hastens to my rescue,

thy love endured my curse,

thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.

Let me walk humbly in the lowest depths of humiliation,

bathed in thy blood,

tender of conscience,

triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.

The Spirit's Work

"O God the Holy Spirit,

Thou who dost proceed from the Father and the Son, have mercy on me.

When thou didst first hover over chaos, order came to birth, beauty robed the world, fruitfulness sprang forth. 

Move, I pray thee, upon my disordered heart;

Take away the infirmities of unruly desires and hateful lusts;

Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief;

Brighten my soul with the pure light of truth;

Make it fragrant as the garden of paradise, rich with every goodly fruit, beautiful with heavenly grace, radiant with rays of divine light.

Fulfill in me the glory of thy divine offices;

Be my comforter, light, guide, sanctifier;

Take of the things of Christ and show them to my soul;

Through thee may I daily learn more of his love, grace, compassion, faithfulness, beauty;

Lead me to the cross and show me his wounds, the hateful nature of evil, the power of Satan;

May I there see my sins as the nails that transfixed him, the cords that bound him, the thorns that tore him, the sword that pierced him.

Help me to find in his death the reality and immensity of his love.

Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth in his, 'It is finished'.

Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of atonement achieved, expiation completed*, satisfaction made, guilt done away, my debt paid, my sins forgiven, my person redeemed, my soul saved, hell vanquished, heaven opened, eternity made mine.

O Holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons. 

Write them upon my heart, that my walk be sin-loathing, sin-fleeing, Christ-loving;

And suffer no devil's device to beguile or deceive me."

Last night I read this prayer from The Valley of Vision before I went to bed. It was amazing, so I knew I needed to post it. Hopefully it will be as encouraging to anyone else who comes across it as it was to me.

*As I read it again a few minutes ago, I realized I had no idea what "expiation" meant, so I looked it up on dictionary.com. It's defined as "the means by which atonement or reparation is made." I understand the concept of atonement, but since I was unable to define it well, I looked that one up also - "satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends." Jesus Christ died to satisfy God's wrath that existed toward us because of our sin. Sometimes it hits me how powerful this is. We serve an awesome God.

Today while I was thinking about hurricane Irene and the effect its had on my family on the east coast. I realized just how many people are affected by the potential impending disaster, and that it could be quite a doozy for quite a lot of people. Then I remembered a line from This Hope's "This is Our God" - the waves and wind obey Him. Hurricane Irene will obey God. It will do exactly what God plans for it. Now, if His plan includes damage, that could cause some people to shake their fists at Him and ask "why?" But we can't know His ways, because we are too depraved and too finite to understand God and His will. But we can know that it is what will bring the most glory to Him. And that brings so much comfort.

Spurgeon Quote

"Whether I am up or down, the Lord Jesus Christ is the same. Whether I sing or sigh, the promise is true and the Promiser is faithful. Whether I stand on the summit or am hidden in the vale the covenant stands fast and everlasting love abides." -Spurgeon

"Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. That was the proof of His love-that He gave that Son, that He let Him go to Calvary's cross, though 'legions of angels' might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us-not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process."
--Elizabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity

For the Father up Above Is Looking down in Love

So many songs I learned as a kid in things like Sunday School, VBS, or Awana are full of doctrine. Serving in Awana last year was such a blessing (one of the biggest of my life) because I had the ability to be reminded of these songs which bleed rich truths, ones I took for granted as a kid. For several weeks, I've been toying with the idea of writing a blog post with quotes from some of my favorites. Then that idea turned into possibly writing a series of posts, each one about its own song. So this is my little experiment. Yes, I am a kid at heart.

"Oh be careful little eyes what you see...

"Oh be careful little ears what you hear...

"Oh be careful little feet where you go...

For the Father up above is looking down in love,

...so be careful little eyes what you see."

...so be careful little ears what you hear."

...so be careful little feet where you go."

This song, which I've known almost my entire life, is one I would do well to sing to myself and meditate on each day. If I truly lived my daily life remembering that God is watching me, I wonder how different what I see, what I hear, and where I go, would be. It's wildly important to remember to be careful, to be on your guard, each and every day. Peter reminds us, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (I Peter 5:8). This is crucial to remember.

Also, the line in the middle is an amazing one - "For the Father up above is looking down in love." I can't even begin to tell you how many times today God's love was made evident to me. He really is up there, looking down here and helping us fight temptation, comforting us, teaching us, answering prayer, etc. And He really does love us. So, so, so, so much. If you're ever tempted to doubt that He's there, start looking back and counting your blessings. They're there, and there's an immense number of them. Sometimes, you just have to reflect a bit before you realize something was actually a blessing in disguise.