John Howe: Piercing Heaven – Puritan’s Prayers

Lord, you are as worthy to be the Omega as you are the Alpha. The last as you are the first. The end as you are the beginning of all things. The ocean into which all being will flow, as the fountain from which it sprang.

I cannot live except by you. You are God alone. You are the fullness of life and being, the only root and spring of life, the everlasting I Am, the Being of beings.

You know all things. You know that I love you, and because I do, I present myself to you. It is all I can do.

I wish myself ten thousand times better, for your sake. And if I had in me all the excellencies of many thousand angels, it would not be enough. Nothing but your own goodness could make me worthy of your acceptance.

Because I love you, I want to be near you. I want to be yours. I want to lead my life with you, to dwell in your presence. I love you, O Lord, my strength, because your own perfections highly deserve it—and because you have heard my voice. You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

Amen.