Belonging to Jesus

O Heavenly Father,
Teach me to see
   that if Christ has pacified thee and
     satisfied divine justice
 he can also deliver me from my sins;
that Christ does not desire me, now justified,
   to live in self-confidence in my own strength,
   but gives me the law of the Spirit of life
   to enable me to obey thee;
that the Spirit and his power are mine
   by resting on Christ's death;
that the Spirit of life within answers to
   the law without;
that if I sin not I should thank thee for it;
that if I sin I should be humbled daily under it;
that I should mourn for sin more than other men do,
   for when I see I shall die because of sin,
    that makes me mourn;
   when I see how sin strikes at thee,
    that makes me mourn;
   when I see that sin caused Christ's death,
    that makes me mourn;
 that sanctification is the evidence of reconciliation,
    proving that faith has truly apprehended Christ;
Thou hast taught me
   that faith is nothing else than receiving thy
     kindness;
 that it is an adherence to Christ, a resting on him,
    love clinging to him as a branch to the tree,
    to seek life and vigor from him.
I thank thee for showing me the vast difference
   between knowing things by reason,
   and knowing them by the spirit of faith.
By reason I see a thing is so;
   by faith I know it as it is.
I have seen thee by reason and have not
     been amazed,
I have seen thee as thou art in thy Son and have
    been ravished to behold thee.
I bless thee that I am thine in my Saviour,
    Jesus.

Belonging to Jesus in The Valley of Vision