you are the blessed God

You are the blessed God,
happy in yourself
and the source of happiness in your creatures,
my Maker, Benefactor, Proprietor, Upholder.

You have produced and sustained me,
supported and indulged me
saved and kept me;

You are able in every situation to meet
my needs and deficiencies.

May I live by you,
live for you
and never be satisfied with my Christian progress
except as I resemble Christ;

And may conformity to his principles, temper,
and conduct grow hourly in my life.

Let your unexampled love constrain me to
holy obedience,
and render my duty my delight.

If others deem my faith folly
my meekness infirmity,
my zeal madness,
my hope delusion,
my actions hypocrisy,
may I rejoice to suffer for your name.

Keep me walking steadfastly toward
the country of everlasting delights,
that paradise-land which is my true
inheritance.

Support me by the strength of heaven
that I may never turn back
or desire false pleasures
that wilt and disappear into nothing.

As I pursue my heavenly journey by your grace
let me be known as a man with no aim
except that of a burning desire for you,
and the good and salvation
of my fellow men.


- adaptation of a Puritan prayer from "Valley of Vision"