O Holy Spirit,
As the sun is full of light,
….the ocean full of water,
….Heaven full of glory,
……..so may my heart be full of thee.
– Spiritus Sanctus, from The Valley of Vision, p28
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I continue to enjoy my copy of The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. The opening prayer is the opening lines of this particular prayer.
Actually, I’ve made a point of reading this prayer every morning for the last week. As I mentioned some days back, I felt the need to shore up my relationship with the Lord. First, I set my alarm 15 minutes earlier. For quite a while I got up at 4:00 AM but, at that time, I felt it would be better used trying to get a bit more sleep, so I set it for 4:15. But now I’ve made the deliberate decision to get up at 4:00 again. And I’ve exchanged some old unproductive habits, for new productive ones.
I read Our Daily Bread from their app, first thing. Then later, after a bite of breakfast, I’ve been reading this prayer from The Valley of Vision and another devotional entitled, The Way of Love: Re-Discovering the Only Path to Peace in this Life by Ted Dekker. (He is one of my favorite fictional writers, but I received this devotional as a gift and decided to start reading it.)
Focusing on the heavenly inspired has helped realign my heart and mind and I plan on keeping it up!
There’ve been a couple of things that have spoken to me from the Spiritus Sanctus prayer. One is after the author pleads for filling by the Holy Spirit, they write,
I bewail my coldness, poverty, emptiness,
………….imperfect vision, languid service,
…………prayerless prayers, praiseless praises.
There’s sure nothing wrong with being honest with ourselves! The phrases prayerless prayers and praiseless praises grabbed me each time I read them.
Another line that gave me pause was…
Come as joy,
….to dwell in me, move in me, animate me;
Picture that, being animated by joy! The world could sure use some of that…a lot of that!
Then …make me redolent of thy fragrance.
I wrote of the word redolent when I was first loaned this book back in August 2016
Its definition: strongly reminiscent or suggestive of (something). May I be redolent of the Holy Spirit’s fragrance for the rest of my life! For me to live for Him I must remain full of Him. I cannot fill myself with the things this world deems important. It’s like comparing a healthy meal to just consuming junk food. It may taste good in my mouth, but I won’t feel so good later and eventually, it will kill me. A steady diet of the world cannot satisfy – only He can do that.
And when we’re full of the Holy Spirit, we cannot help but cast off His aroma. May everything I say and do be redolent of Him! May the way I live draw others to Him.
When Karen puts a roast in the crockpot to cook for the day, by the time supper rolls around the whole house is permeated with the scent of that scrumptious meal! May I be so full of You, Holy Spirit that people have to get a taste!
Dec 21st, 2022, Wed, 8:37 pm
