You Make Me Dwell in Safety

This Day Is Past

My Lord God Adonai:
God of earth and sea and sky,
I lift my voice, I speak my prayer,
And cast on you my every care.

This day, Lord, now is past,
And I am much in need of rest.
I need your peace, I need your calm,
I beg your Spirit's healing balm.

(by Bob Hostetler; photo via pixabay.com)

Incline My Heart

O Thou whose eternal presence is hid behind the veil of nature, informs the mind of man, and was made flesh in Jesus Christ our Lord, I thank Thee that He has left me an example that I should follow in His steps.

Jesus Christ said, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. O God, incline my heart to follow in this way.

Jesus Christ said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. O God, incline my heart to follow in this way.

Jesus Christ said, Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. O God, incline my heart to follow in this way.

Jesus Christ said, Love your enemies. O God, incline my heart to follow in this way.

Jesus Christ said, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. O God, incline my heart to follow in this way.

Jesus Christ said, Fear not, only believe. O God, incline my heart to follow in this way.

Jesus Christ said, Except ye turn again and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. O God, incline my heart to follow in this way.

Jesus Christ said, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. O God, incline my heart to follow in this way.

Amen.

(a prayer of John Baillie in A Diary of Private Prayer; photo via pixabay.com)

Bind

Today's prayer from the "31 Ways to Pray for Your Kids" app for iPhone and iPad...and my prayer today for my kids and my grandkids.

In the Process of Your Coming

I’ve begun to understand something I have known for a long time: You are still in the process of your coming. Your appearance in the form of a slave was only the beginning of your coming, a beginning in which you chose to redeem men by embracing the very slavery from which you were freeing them. And you can really achieve your purpose in this paradoxical way, because the paths that you tread have a real ending, the narrow passes which you enter soon open out into broad liberty, the cross that you carry inevitably becomes a brilliant banner of triumph.

It is said that you will come again, and this is true. But the word again is misleading. It won’t really be “another” coming, because you have never really gone away. In the human existence that you made your own for all eternity, you have never left us.

But still you will come again, because the fact that you have already come must continue to be revealed ever more clearly. It will become progressively more manifest to the world that the heart of all things is already transformed, because you have taken them all to your heart.

Behold, you come. And your coming is neither past nor future, but the present, which has only to reach its fulfillment. Now it is still the one single hour of your Advent, at the end of which we too shall have found out that you have really come.

O God who is to come, grant me the grace to live now, in the hour of your Advent, in such a way that I may merit to live in you forever, in the blissful hour of your eternity.

(from Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas)

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

Saturday Psalm #78

O Lord, bless my teaching
in speaking and in writing;
grant me words worth listening to.
In parable,
in mystery,
new insights or old,
let me give a testimony that will make you glad.

Let my words be accessible to young and old;
let everyone grasp
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
your power, and the wonders you have done,
the statutes decreed to your people,
the law you established in Israel,
which you commanded them
to teach their children,
so the next generation would know,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.

Let everyone put their trust in you
and not forget your deeds.

Let us not be like our predecessors,
and like so many these days,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts are not loyal to you,
whose spirits are not faithful to you.

Let us not
turn back on the day of battle;

Let us not
forsake our covenant with you
and refuse your guidance.

Let us not
forget what you have done,
the wonders you have shown us.

Let us not
forget your miracles,
both in ancient times
and the ones we have seen with our own eyes:

Seas divided,
walls of water,
a cloud by day
and fire by night.
Water from rocks in the desert
and manna every morning,
but they continued to sin against you,
rebelling against the Most High;
they willfully put you to the test
by demanding the food they craved;
they spoke against you, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the desert?

When water gushed from a rock,
and streams flowed abundantly,
they kept complaining,
demanding meat from your hand.

Save us from such complaining and faithlessness, Lord God.
Save us from your anger.

Bread of heaven, feed us till we want no more!

Let us never forget that you are our Rock,
that God Most High is our Redeemer.

Let our hearts remain loyal to you,
whatever our outward circumstances.
Teach us to measure our success
by your mercy,
your forgiveness,
your constant forbearance and goodness to us.

What you have done before,
do again, Adonai!

Lead us like sheep through a desert.
Guide us safely, and teach us to be unafraid.
Drive out our enemies before us,
and give us the fulfillment of your every good promise.

You are a sanctuary for your people,
like Zion, which you established long ago.

Make your people today like Israel of old,
and our leaders like David the shepherd king. Amen.