Week Four - "Possess My Mind...."

As a recap, here is the great prayer from Elizabeth Rhodes:

"Grant me, gracious Lord, a pure intention of heart, and a steadfast regard to your glory in all my actions. Possess my mind continually with your presence, and fill it with your love, that my whole delight may be to repose in the arms of your protection. Be light to my eyes, music to my ears, sweetness to my taste, and full contentment to my heart. Be my sunshine in the day, my food at the table, my repose in the night, my clothing in company, my succor in all necessities.
Lord Jesus, I give you my body, my soul, my substance, my fame, my friends, my liberty, and my life. Dispose of me, and all that is mine, as seems best to you, and to the glory of your blessed name. I am not my own, but yours; therefore claim me as your right, keep me as your charge, and love me as your child. Fight for me when I am assailed, heal me when I am wounded, and revive me when I am destroyed.
My Lord and my God, I ask you to give me patience in troubles, humility in comforts, constancy in temptations, and victory over all my ghostly enemies. Grant me sorrow for my sins, thankfulness for my benefits, fear of your judgments, love of your mercies, and mindfulness of your presence for evermore. Make me humble to my superiors and friendly to my equals, ready to please all and loathe to offend any; loving to my friends and charitable to my enemies. Give me modesty in my countenance, gravity in my behavior, deliberation in my speech, holiness in my thoughts, and righteousness in all my actions. Let your mercy cleanse me from my sins, and your grace bring forth in me the fruits of everlasting life.
Lord, let me be obedient without arguing, humble without feigning, patient without grudging, pure without corruption, mercy without lightness, sad without mistrust, sober without dullness, true without duplicity, fearing you without desperation, and trusting you without presumption. Let me joyful for nothing but that which pleases you, and sorrowful for nothing but what displeases you: that labor be my delight which is for you, and let all weary me that is not in you. Give me a waking spirit, and a diligent soul, that I may seek to know your will, and when I know it may I perform it faithfully to the honor and glory of your ever blessed name. Amen."

Chilcote took this prayer that is divided into four roughly equal parts and provided a theme for each section:
Part 1: Who is God to me? (first paragraph of prayer)
Part 2: What can I give to and ask of God? (second)
Part 3: How does God shape my life? (third)
Part 4: How do I live as a disciple of Christ? (fourth)

Today, we continue with part one from Chilcote.

Scripture

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” - Ephesians 3:14-19


Meditation

John and Charles Wesley taught their followers about the importance of God’s love. For the disciple of Christ, it is not too much to claim that love defines everything. Love teaches us who we are. Love receives us when, in humility and repentance, we turn back to the God who loves us with an immeasurable love. Love restores and heals our soul. Love provides our direction, shapes our actions, and establishes our goals in life. God has constructed us in such a way that love, in fact, should characterize all our relationships.

Created in God’s own image – with the capacity to love – we seek to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Faith is the means to this loving end. In other words, built upon a firm foundation of trust in Christ, our lives move toward the goal of love – the fullest possible love of God and fullest possible love of all people and things in God. What an audacious vision, to be immersed and lost in God’s love! The Wesley’s described this goal as a perfect love or Christian perfection. Charles Wesley sings about perfect love in a hymn paraphrase from Ephesians. We all gasp, he claims, to know such a love. The dimensions are so great that the soul must swell to be filled with all the fullness of God. Is this not the one burning desire of our heart – to be filled, immersed, lost in this love?

Prayer

Gracious Lord, you fully know and fully love all you have created: grant me power to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that I might be immersed and lost in your love. Amen.

Part Five coming next Monday...
pcraig