A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Maybe you have friends who are Roman Catholic or from other protestant but more liturgical denominations than ours who went today and were marked with an ashen cross on their forehead. We aren't going to practice Lent in the same way, but that doesn't mean this can't be a season of intentional and heightened seeking of the Lord and His will for us as His people in this world. So, as a way to mark the start of the season on this Ash Wednesday, let me share this prayer titled The Deeps from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.

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Lord Jesus,

Give me a deeper repentance,
a horror of sin,
a dread of its approach;
Help me chastely to flee it,
and jealously to resolve that my heart
shall be thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust,
that I may lose myself to find myself in thee,
the ground of my rest,
the spring of my being.
Give me a deeper knowledge of thyself
as Saviour, Master, Lord, and King.
Give me a deeper power in private prayer,
more sweetness in thy Word,
more steadfast grip on its truth.
Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
and let me not seek moral virtue apart from thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord,
Heavenly Husbandman,
that my being may be a tilled field,
the roots of grace spreading far and wide,
until thou alone art seen in me,
thy beauty golden like summer harvest,
thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.
I have no Master but thee,
no law but thy will,
no delight but thyself,
no wealth but that thou givest,
no good but that thou blesses,
no peace but that thou bestowest.
I am nothing but that thou makest me,
I have nothing but that I receive from thee,
I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.
Quarry me deep, dear Lord,
and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

Prayer from “The Valley of Vision”