My God,
I bless thee that thou hast given me the
eye
of faith,
to see thee as Father,
to know thee as a covenant God,
to experience thy love planted in
me;
For faith is the
grace of union
by which I spell out my
entitlement to thee:
Faith casts my
anchor upwards
where I trust in thee
and engage thee to be my Lord.
Be pleased to live
and move within me,
breathing in my prayers,
inhabiting my praises,
speaking in my words,
moving in my actions,
living in my life,
causing me to grow in grace.
Thy bounteous
goodness has helped me believe,
but my faith is weak and
wavering,
its light dim,
its steps tottering,
its increase slow,
its backslidings
frequent;
It should scale the
heavens, but lies grovelling
in the dust.
Lord, fan this
divine spark into glowing flame.
When faith sleeps,
my heart becomes
an unclean thing,
the fount of every loathsome
desire,
the cage of unclean lusts
all fluttering to escape,
the noxious tree of
deadly fruit,
the open wayside of
earthly tares.
Lord, awake faith to
put forth its strength
until all heaven fills my soul
and all impurity is cast out.
(The Valley of Vision)
