Wesley’s Chapel, House & Museum, with a statue of John Wesley in the foreground. Photograph by Mike Peel
Today’s prayer, the Wesley Covenant Prayer was adapted by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, for use in services for the Renewal of the believer’s covenant with God. The original prayer was probably written by the puritan Richard Alleine. The covenant prayer and service are recognized as one of the most distinctive contributions of Methodism to the liturgy of the church in general, and they are also used from time to time by other denominations.
I am no longer my own but yours,
Put me to what you will
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal
And now glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And this covenant now made on earth, let it be satisfied in heaven.
Amen
And another beautiful prayer attributed to Wesley.
O God, seeing as there is in Christ Jesus
an infinite fullness
of all that we can want or desire,
May we all receive from him,
grace upon grace;
grace to pardon our sins,
and subdue our iniquities;
to justify our persons
and to sanctify our souls;
and to complete that holy change,
that renewal of our hearts,
Which will enable us to be transformed
into the blessed image
in which you created us.
O make us all acceptable to be partakers
of the inheritance of your saints in light.
Amen.