Hi, this is me -

HOLY LORD,

I have sinned times without number,
and 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 ben laid on Christ;

Go on to subdue my corruptions,
and grant me grace to live among them.

Let not the passions of the flesh nor the 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 for 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 which all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,
for sometimes putting me into the furnace
to refine 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 taking delight in thee.

Then I shall bless thee, God of Jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.
_______


I was thinking I was going to boldface the parts that just struck me straight to my sinful heart and, in turn, make my heart swell in praise to God for His mercy and work of sanctification in my life - but as I was going through this prayer, everything but the conjunction words were in bold...

(This prayer was taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions)