Please find below Adam's notes from the Mid-service comments this past Sunday. Meditate on this prayer from the Valley of Vision and reflect on God's great love to draw us to himself when we are so unworthy.  How do you reflect that love to others around you?

As I pray for my own sons’ salvation, I pray that God would make them capable of loving Him, and in turn capable of loving each other, and loving others; I also pray that God would open their spiritual eyes to their sin, to their wretchedness, to their need for God’s grace, and that God would indeed be gracious to them in granting them faith and repentance from sin.

This morning as we come before the Lord, I’ll be praying from the Valley of Vision. We need God’s grace! Grace is the one primal element we need to exist, whether we’re living and breathing here now, or living in eternity.

And so we live in self-deprecation, we live in humility, recognizing our need for Him. We cannot glorify Him, we cannot serve Him, and serve others in love, but for God’s grace. We cannot live in service to Him until we recognize how greatly we fall short and how greatly we need Him! All we have is Christ. And we have him because he first loved us.

“Lord, you know our great unfitness for service,
Our present deadness,
Our inability to do anything for your glory,
Our distressing coldness of heart and our hatred.
We are weak, we are ignorant, we are unprofitable,
And we hate who we are and who we’ve become.
We cannot think or act but every motion is sin.
Return again with showers of converting grace
To poor, gospel-abusing sinners.
Help our souls to long after, to breathe after, to pant for holiness,
After a constant devotedness to you,
After growth in grace more abundantly every day.
O Lord, we are lost in the pursuit of this blessedness,
And yet we are ready to sink because we fall short of our desire.
You Lord, help us to hold out a little longer,
Until the happy hour of deliverance comes,
For we cannot lift our souls to you
If you of your goodness do not bring us close.
Help us to be humble, watchful, tender,
Lest we offend our dear Savior, our Lord, and blessed Friend
In thought and behavior.
We confide in you and we lean upon you,
And we need you at all times to assist and lead us.
O that all our trials and anxieties might prove but Christ’s school
To make us fit for greater service,
Fit for greater love for you,
Fit for greater love for others,
By teaching us the great lesson of humility.”