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 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.

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