Study to be Approved (Part V)

A PRAYER BEFORE BIBLE STUDY

O God of truth,

I thank thee for the holy Scriptures,

their precepts, promises, directions, light.

In them may I learn more of Christ,

be enabled to retain his truth

and have grace to follow it.

Help me to lift up the gates of my soul

that he may come in

and show me himself when I search

the Scriptures,

for I have no lines to fathom its depths,

no wings to soar to its heights.

By his aid may I be enabled to explore

all its truths,

love them with all my heart,

embrace them with all my power,

engraft them into my life.

Bless to my soul all grains of truth garnered

from thy Word;

may they take deep root,

be refreshed by heavenly dew,

be ripened by heavenly rays,

be harvested to my joy and thy praise.

Help me to gain profit by what I read,

as treasure beyond all treasure,

a fountain which can replenish my dry heart,

its waters flowing through me as a perennial river

on-drawn by thy Holy Spirit.

Enable me to distil from its pages faithful prayer

that grasps the arm of thy omnipotence,

achieves wonders, obtains blessings,

and draws down streams of mercy.

From it show me how my words have often been

unfaithful to thee,

injurious to my fellow-men,

empty of grace, full of folly,

dishonouring to my calling.

Then write thy own words upon my heart

and inscribe them on my lips;

So shall all glory be to thee

in my reading of thy Word!

(From the Valley of Vision, ed. by Arthur Bennet, published by The Banner of Truth Trust, p. 190)