The Spirit's Work

"O God the Holy Spirit,

Thou who dost proceed from the Father and the Son, have mercy on me.

When thou didst first hover over chaos, order came to birth, beauty robed the world, fruitfulness sprang forth. 

Move, I pray thee, upon my disordered heart;

Take away the infirmities of unruly desires and hateful lusts;

Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief;

Brighten my soul with the pure light of truth;

Make it fragrant as the garden of paradise, rich with every goodly fruit, beautiful with heavenly grace, radiant with rays of divine light.

Fulfill in me the glory of thy divine offices;

Be my comforter, light, guide, sanctifier;

Take of the things of Christ and show them to my soul;

Through thee may I daily learn more of his love, grace, compassion, faithfulness, beauty;

Lead me to the cross and show me his wounds, the hateful nature of evil, the power of Satan;

May I there see my sins as the nails that transfixed him, the cords that bound him, the thorns that tore him, the sword that pierced him.

Help me to find in his death the reality and immensity of his love.

Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth in his, 'It is finished'.

Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of atonement achieved, expiation completed*, satisfaction made, guilt done away, my debt paid, my sins forgiven, my person redeemed, my soul saved, hell vanquished, heaven opened, eternity made mine.

O Holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons. 

Write them upon my heart, that my walk be sin-loathing, sin-fleeing, Christ-loving;

And suffer no devil's device to beguile or deceive me."

Last night I read this prayer from The Valley of Vision before I went to bed. It was amazing, so I knew I needed to post it. Hopefully it will be as encouraging to anyone else who comes across it as it was to me.

*As I read it again a few minutes ago, I realized I had no idea what "expiation" meant, so I looked it up on dictionary.com. It's defined as "the means by which atonement or reparation is made." I understand the concept of atonement, but since I was unable to define it well, I looked that one up also - "satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends." Jesus Christ died to satisfy God's wrath that existed toward us because of our sin. Sometimes it hits me how powerful this is. We serve an awesome God.