Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number and been guilty of pride and unbelief. Of failure to find Thy mind in Your Word, of neglect to seek You in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings make up a grievous list of accusations, but I give You all praise and glory that they will not stand against me, for they have all been laid on Christ. Thank You for continuing to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them.

Let not the passions of the flesh nor the cravings of my mind enslave me, but let me be surrendered to Your rule over me in liberty and power. I thank You that many of my prayers have been refused. I have prayed from lusts and been rejected. I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. I pray You continue Your 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 Your rule. Thank You for Your wisdom and love, for 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 my own sin. If You were to give me a choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, I would accept Your sanctified affliction in a heartbeat. Please deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Your grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in You. All praise, honor, and glory be unto You, The God of Israel, for keeping me upright. Amen.

Adapted, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, Arthur Bennett (1915 – 1994)