Living by Prayer

from The Valley of Vision

O God of the open ear,
Teach me to live by prayer as well as by providence,
    for myself, soul, body, children, family, church;
Give me a heart frameable to thy will;
    so might I live in prayer, and honour thee,
        being kept from evil, known and unknown.
Help me to see the sin that accompanies all I do,
    and the good I can distill from everything.
Let me know that the work of prayer is to bring my will to thine,
    and that without this it is folly to pray;
When I try to bring thy will to mine it is to command Christ,
    to be above him, and wiser than he:
    this is my sin and pride.
I can only succeed when I pray
    according to thy precept and promise,
    and to be done with a it pleases thee,
    according to thy sovereign will.
When thou commandest me to pray for pardon, peace, brokenness,
    it is because thou wilt give me the thing promised,
        for thy glory, as well as for my good.
Help me not only to desire small things
    but with holy boldness to desire great things
        for thy people, for myself,
            that they and I might live to show thy glory.
Teach me that it is wisdom for me to pray for all I have,
                       out of love, willingly, not of necessity;
                  that I may come to thee at any time,
                      to lay open my needs acceptably to thee;
                  that my great sin lies in my not keeping
                      the savour of thy ways;
                  that the remembrance of this truth is one way
                      to the sense of thy presence;
                  that there is no wrath like the wrath of being governed
                      by my own lusts for my own ends.