A Prayer of Contentment

Heavenly Father,

If I should suffer need, and go unclothed, and be in poverty, make my heart prize thy love, know it, be constrained by it, though I be denied all blessings.

It is thy mercy to afflict and try me with wants, for by these trials I see my sins, and desire severance from them…

When thy Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin, He became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; His kindly rule replaced sin’s tyranny.

Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labor to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and He must become to me more than vile lust had been; that His sweetness, power, life may be there.

Thus I must seek a grace from him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from himself.

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live: that in my self I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things.

Source: The Valley of Vision