Prayer of John Wesley

Most great and glorious Lord God,
accept my imperfect repentance,
and send your Spirit of adoption into my heart,
that I may again be owned by you, call you Father,
and share in the blessings of your children.



O Lord, take full possession of my heart,
raise there your throne,
and command there as you do in heaven.
Being created by you, let me live for you;
being created for you, let me always act for your glory;
being redeemed by you, let me give to you what is yours;
and let my spirit cling to you alone, for your name's sake.



Deliver me, Lord God, from a slothful mind,
from all lukewarmness,
and all dejection of spirit.
I know these cannot but deaden my love for you;
mercifully free my heart from them,
and give me a lively, zealous, active and cheerful spirit;
that I may vigorously perform whatever you command,
thankfully suffer whatever you choose for me,
and always be ardent to obey in all things your holy love.



O Lord, let us not live to be useless, for Christ's sake.



You are never tired, O Lord, of doing us good;
let us never be weary of doing you service.
But as you have pleasure in the well being of your servants,
let us take pleasure in the service of our Lord,
and abound in your work and in your love and praise evermore.



Forgive them all, O Lord:
our sins of omission and our sins of commission;
the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper years;
the sins of our souls and the sins of our bodies;
our secret and our more open sins;
our sins of ignorance and surprise,
and our more deliberate and presumptuous sins;
the sins we have done to please ourselves,
and the sins we have done to please others;
the sins we know and remember,
and the sins we have forgotten;
the sins we have striven to hide from others
and the sins by which we have offended others;
forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all for his sake,
who died for our sins and rose for our justification,
and now stands at your right hand to make intercession for us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.