21 Days of Prayer - Day 14

O God of Grace,
You have counted my sin to my Substitute
You have counted His righteousness to me
You have Clothed me with a Bridegroom’s Robe
You have Decked me with the Jewels of Holiness.

• But in my Flesh – I am still in Rags

  • My best prayers, stained with sin;

  • My best tears, filled with impurity

  • My confessions of wrong, aggravated with pride

  • My receiving of the Spirit, subverted with selfishness

• I need to Repent of my Repentance;

  • I need my tears to be washed

  • I have no Robe to cover my sins

  • I have no Loom to weave my own righteousness

  • I stand in Filthy Garments

• Yet, by grace, I am always receiving a change of Dress, For You justify the ungodly

  • I come to you empty, and I am filled

  • I come to you naked, and I am clothed

  • You forgive me and You bring me forth, Dressed in Your Robe of Righteousness

  • Every morning, like the flowers of the field, you array me in this Precious Robe –

  • Every evening you lay me down under its cover,

  • I go out to the day’s work in it,

  • I eat and drink in it,

  • I am married in it,

  • I will grow old in it,

  • I will die in it,

  • I will stand unashamed before the great white throne in it,

  • And I will enter heaven in it, shining as the sun – dressed in Your Robe, adorned in Your Glory.

• So Grant me Jesus never to lose sight of my need to be Dressed by you. Help me always to see…

  • The exceeding sinfulness of my sin

  • The exceeding Righteousness of Your Salvation

  • The exceeding Glory of Christ

  • The exceeding Beauty of Your Holiness

  • The exceeding Wonder of Your grace

Yet even now, Dearest Christ, as I feel the pangs of pride…
I cast away my dirty rags, and clinging to Your Holy Robe, I Repent of my Repentance, and I Rest myself in you.

Adapted from the Valley of Vision p76

Prayer, like everything else in the Christian life, is for God’s glory and for our benefit, in that order.

- R C Sproul