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 by 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 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 vigour 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.

--Valley of Vision