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Shaping a time of prayer for dwelling with Bible texts, prayer responses, songs of faith, and a concluding benediction.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths. -Proverbs 3:5-6
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word;
I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord.
Born of thy love, thy child may I be,
thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.
Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise;
thou mine inheritance, now and always.
Thou and thou only, first in my heart,
Ruler of heaven, my treasure thou art.
True Light of heaven, when vict’ry is won
may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
-Ancient Irish hymn, c. 700 a.d.
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together,
and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
This is the greatest and first commandment.
And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” -Matthew 22:34-40
Merciful God, I join all your people today who want to know your purposes and make them their own. We want to know your will and fashion our lives according to it. So, good God, how do we go about this? I’m thinking we must become your students. We must take a keen interest in you and in your ways. We must ask about you, talk about you, think about you, figure out what you want. Then we must make your wants our wants. This is loving you with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind. Simply to know your purposes and make them our own. That’s the only way we can discern your will for our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
--Neal Plantinga
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -Romans 15:13
