The eye of faith…

My God,

I bless thee that thou hast given me the eye of faith,
to see thee as Father,
to know thee as a covenant God,
to experience thy love planted in me;

For faith is the grace of union
by which I spell out my entitlement to thee:

Faith casts my anchor upwards
where I trust in thee
and engage thee to be my Lord.

Be pleased to live and move within me,
breathing in my prayers,
inhabiting my praises,
speaking in my words,
moving in my actions,
living in my life,
causing me to grow in grace.

Thy bounteous goodness has helped me believe,
but my faith is weak and wavering,
its light dim,
its steps tottering,
its increase slow,
its backslidings frequent;
It should scale the heavens, but lies grovelling
in the dust.

Lord, fan this divine spark into glowing flame.

When faith sleeps, my heart becomes an unclean thing,
the fount of every loathsome desire,
the cage of unclean lusts
all fluttering to escape,
the noxious tree of deadly fruit,
the open wayside of earthly tares.

Lord, awake faith to put forth its strength
until all heaven fills my soul
and all impurity is cast out.

From: The Valley of Vision,
A. Bennett, ed. (Banner of Truth)

Confession: refusing to be stuck in regrets

Paul Tripp writes,

Confession is not only owning responsibility before God and the appropriate people (those whom my sin and failure has affected), but it is refusing to be stuck in our regrets, and refusing to give up hope. It is believing that no only does God forgive me, but he has promised to change me. And as he changes me, I will grow a whole new harvest of good fruit.

— Lost in the Middle; Mid-Life and the Grace of God (SP, 2004), p. 124

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”1 John 1:9 esv