Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art;
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear.
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh,
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.
I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling:
O let me seek Thee, and O let me find!

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heaven descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.

by George Croly and Frederick A. Atkinson, 1870.

What Does This Mean?

Oh God, you are so great! We have experienced awesome weather this afternoon and we have been spared. Thank you!

Your power is beyond our comprehension. It is too great for us to fathom. After sitting under the stairs of our basement listening for the sound of a train coming, I am imagining how utterly amazed the disciples were when they witnessed "a sound like the blowing of a violent wind [that] came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." Wow, God!

Lord, fill our church with this fire. Equip us to speak the language of our neighbors to share your good news. Empower us to carry out your redemptive, healing purposes in Christ.

Help us not to stay in a holy huddle, safe inside our church, but send us out. Help us to be flexible and adaptable to follow your leading. Help us to be receptive to the Holy Spirit and willing to rely on his presence and power. May we, like Paul, "...become all things to all people so that by all possible means [we] might save some."

Lord, we pray this with fear and trembling, knowing that your ways are not our ways, and that awesome, scary and wonderful things happen when we ask you to take control of our lives.

Amen! (Let it be so)