O Holy Spirit,
As the sun is full of light,
the ocean full of water,
Heaven full of glory, so may my heart be full of thee.
Vain are all divine purposes of love
and the redemption wrought by Jesus
except you work within,
regenerating by your power,
giving me eyes to see Jesus,
showing me the realities of the unseen world.
Give me yourself without measure,
as an unimpaired fountain,
as inexhaustible riches.
I bewail my coldness, poverty, emptiness,
imperfect vision, languid service,
prayerless prayers, praiseless praises.
Suffer me not to grieve or resist you.
Come as power,
to expel every rebel lust, to reign supreme and keep me yours;
Come as teacher,
leading me into all truth, filling me with all understanding;
Come as love,
that I may adore the Father, and love him as my all;
Come as joy,
to dwell in me, move in me, animate me;
Come as light,
illuminating the Scripture, molding me in its laws;
Come as sanctifier,
body, soul and spirit wholly yours;
Come as helper,
with strength to bless and keep, directing my every step;
Come as beautifier,
bringing order out of confusion, loveliness out of chaos.
Magnify to me your glory by being magnified in me, and make me redolent of your fragrance.
I had to look up "redolent." It means "strongly smelling of something."
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. 9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. 10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. 12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. 13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Verse 11 is my "Life Verse." I chose this verse years ago to be the verse for my life.
Wyrtzen says that this passage has an "ethereal quality. How magnificently he expresses God's sovereignty! How tenderly he caresses the name of the Lord who loves him and preserves his life!"
David uses all of his "verbal artistry" to pour out his love to God in a song. Oddly enough, Wyrtzen considers verse 11 to be the climax. Here are his comments.
"Suddenly I am startled out of my reverie, brought up short, reduced to tears. I, who never cry! 'An undivided heart!' I know that line - that hauntingly familiar refrain. I understand so well how a heart can be ripped open and laid bare, fragmented, broken. Yet I rarely share this kind of intimate pain, but bury it beneath a facade of cool indifference.
"So David knows that agony too! Yet there is no hint of self-pity. From the heights of ecstasy to the 'depths of the grave,' he keeps on singing!"
And so do I. With my last breath, if I am able, I will be singing praise to God, as he comes to take me home.
Holy Spirit, I pray that you guide me into the truth of the Scriptures as I read them and meditate on them. I thank you for the convictions that you have brought into my heart this year. You have convicted me of the importance of the Family; the Church. Not the institution, but the Body of Christ! Jesus loves the Church, and we should love her also. And as part of this Body, it is our responsibility to care for each other. And we are called upon to love each other as Christ loved us. So, Spirit, please empower us to do this. You have also convicted me, more recently, of the importance of meekness and peacemaking as I studied the "beatitudes." We are still working on that, aren't we? I pray your patience on me as I continue to work. 52 years of habits don't die easily.
Father, I pray for those in our fellowship who need healing. Christi with her knees, Gina with her cancer treatments, Kathy with her internal issues...and others that I may not be remembering at the moment, but you remember all. You know us intimately, even more than we know ourselves.
I pray for Bill, our shepherd, as he leads us in whatever direction you lead him. I pray that we, as a body, would exhibit confidence in him, trusting that he is listening to you.
PRAY FOR THESE NATIONAL LEADERS IN THIS NEWS THIS WEEK:
John Holdren, Director of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Sue Myrick, United States House of Representatives, North Carolina.
Tami Cantil Sakauye, Nominee to Chief Justice, Supreme Court of California.
Robert Scher, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia.
Grace and peace, friends.