This past weekend we read a prayer in service called “To Be Fit for God.” It comes from a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions called The Valley of Vision.
The book was compiled by Arthur Bennett in 1975 (though some of the prayers themselves are as old as the 17th century), "not to supply prayers but to prompt and encourage the Christian as he treads the path on which others have gone before."
As you re-read this prayer I hope you’re encouraged to seek out daily your own ‘Altar encounters’ with God..
To Be Fit for God
THOU MAKER AND SUSTAINER OF ALL THINGS
Day and night are thine,
heaven and earth declare thy glory;
but I, a creature of thy power and bounty,
have sinned against thee by resisting
the dictates of conscience,
the demands of thy law,
the calls of thy gospel;
yet I live under the dispensation of a given hope.
Deliver me from worldly dispositions,
for I am born from above and bound for glory.
May I view and long after holiness
as the beauty and dignity of the soul.
Let me never slumber, never lose my assurance,
never fail to wear armour when passing through
enemy land.
Fit me for every scene and circumstance;
Stay my mind upon thee and turn my trials
to blessings,
that they may draw out my gratitude and praise
as I see their design and effects.
Render my obedience to thy will holy, natural,
and delightful.
Rectify all my principles by clear, consistent,
and influential views of divine truth.
Let me never undervalue or neglect any part
of thy revealed will.
May I duly regard the doctrine and practice
of the gospel,
prizing its commands as well as its promises.
Sanctify me in every relation, office, transaction
and condition of life,
that if I prosper I may not be unduly exalted,
if I suffer I may not be over-sorrowful.
Balance my mind in all varying circumstances
and help me to cultivate a disposition
that renders every duty a spiritual privilege.
Thus may I be content,
be a glory to thee
and an example to others.
