Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,

Right now, as part of my school, I am taking a class called “Spiritual Formation”.  During these five weeks, I’ve been practicing more hours than normal in devotion time and prayer time (which it is good).  For a particular week, we were talking about the power of prayer, and doing some study for a particular paper, I found a wonderful prayer, a Puritan Prayer that I want to share with you in my article.  The name of the prayer is “Christ Alone”.

O God,
Thy main plan, and the end of thy will
is to make Christ glorious and beloved
in heaven
where he is now ascended,
where one day all the elect will behold his glory
and love and glorify him for ever.
Though here I love him but little,
may this be my portion at last.
In this world thou hast given me a beginning,
one day it will be perfected in the realm above.
Thou hast helped me to see and know Christ,
though obscurely,
to take him, receive him,
to possess him, love him,
to bless him in my heart, mouth, life.
Let me study and stand for discipline,
and all the ways of worship,
out of love for Christ;
and to show my thankfulness;
to seek and know his will from love,
to hold it in love,
and daily to care for and keep this state of heart.
Thou hast led me to place all my nature
and happiness
in oneness with Christ,
in having heart and mind centred only on him,
in being like him in communicating good
to others;
This is my heaven on earth,
But I need the force, energy, impulses of thy Spirit
to carry me on the way to my Jerusalem.
Here, it is my duty
to be as Christ in this world,
to do what he would do,
to live as he would live,
to walk in love and meekness;
then would he be known,
then would I have peace in death.

In His service,
Israel

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