encourage

Father, give us all your Holy Spirit

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

​Veni Sancte Spiritus, by Lawrence OP, via  Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

 
Dear Heavenly Father, we ask you now to give us all your Holy Spirit,
    and to give him continually, that he might awaken, enlighten, encourage,
    and enable us to dare to take the small and large steps of moving 
    out of the comfort with which we can comfort each other 
    and into hope in you.
Turn us away towards you!
Do not allow us to hide from you!
Do not let us do anything without you!
Show us how glorious you are and how glorious it is to trust and obey you!
 
We would ask the same for all people,
    that nations and governments may bow to your Word,
      and that they will be willing to work for justice and peace on earth,
    that your Word may be understood and taken to heart
      by all those who are poor, sick, imprisoned, troubled, oppressed, and unbelieving;
    that through word and deed your Holy Spirit may be made known to them;
      and that you may be perceived by them as the answer to their sighs and cries;
    that all Christian churches and confessions may learn to recognize him anew 
      and serve you with renewed faithfulness;
    that your truth may remain bright in all of humanity’s error and confusion,
      until such a time as he shall ultimately enlighten all people and all things.
 
You are glorified, you who make us free in Jesus Christ, your Son,
    by confessing and standing on this: that our hope is in you. 
Amen.
 
Karl Barth, 1886 – 1968, Swiss Reformed theologian
Fifty Prayers, slightly modified
 
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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 
    so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
 

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Grace to interpret the Scriptures

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 
We implore you, Father of the only-begotten, 
    Lord of the universe,
        the one who has crafted all creatures,
        the maker of things that have been made.
 
We stretch out clean hands, 
    and we unfold our thoughts to you, Lord.
Have compassion, spare, benefit, improve and multiply us 
    in virtue, faith and knowledge.
 
Visit us, O Lord.
We display our own weaknesses to you.
Have mercy and pity on us all.
Lift up this people, and make us gentle and sober-minded.
Cleanse us and set us apart to worship you rightly.
 
Send your Holy Spirit into our minds
    and give us grace to learn the Scriptures
    and to properly interpret their meaning,
        that others may be encouraged 
  through your only-begotten Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit,
    through whom and to you be glory and strength
    both now and to all the ages of the ages, Amen.
 
Serapion Scholasticus, 300-360, Egyptian Monk and Bishop
 
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But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

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Prayer to close out a minister’s conference

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
W. L. Ransome
 
Almighty God, we thank thee for the hours we have spent on this campus.
Every now and then when the way seems dark,
    you give us a little sample of what is better further along.
We have been encouraged this week by the fact that 
    what we have received is a sample of that which is waiting for those 
    who hold out and prove faithful to the end.
We are like the ox who is pulling the load up the hill,   
    and about to give out;
    when the driver gets out of the ox cart and carries a little food up the hill –
    and the oxen know the food is up there,
    by faith they pull harder.
We are gonna pull harder now.
We are gonna cut more deeply.
We are gonna believe more firmly.
We are gonna hold more assuredly,
    because one thing you told Peter,
    “that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.”
Help us to go back now.
When Samson wanted to burn down the wheat fields of the Philistines,
    he got a hundred or so foxes and tied their tails together.
He struck one match and lighted all those fiery tails and
    turned them loose among the wheat fields of the Philistines.
When the foxes got through,
    the enemies of God didn’t have nothing to feed on.
We’ve been tied together here this week.
The Servant of God has lighted our hearts with the candle of Thy Word.
He’s turning us loose now! 
We’re going out into the world, 
    and we’re gonna burn down hell and the kingdom of Satan in this age!
May the grace of God 
  and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit
  and the peace that passeth all understanding,
    abide with us until that same Jesus,
        who went into the first airship, manned by two pilots,
        ascended out of sight,
    and the angel said,” In like manner, He’s coming again.”
And when He comes, when He comes,
    all those looking for Him by faith will be with Him
    and shall never separate from that Holy Church.
Where the shadows never fall, calendars never bedeck the walls,
    funerals are never had, and parting is no more.
On the sea of glass, we will retire.
Palms of victory in our hands,
    we will waive to Him who shall reign forevermore.
 
prayer given by W. L. Ransome at the Hampton Ministers’ Conference 1973
 
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Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, 
    for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, 
    but encourage one another, 
    especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

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seasons of your presence

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Derek Thomson on Unsplash  
O my God,
let me never forget that seasons of consolation are refreshments here, 
    and nothing more; not our abiding state. 
They will not remain with us except in heaven. 
Here they are only intended to prepare us for doing and suffering. 
I pray Thee, O my God, to give them to me from time to time. 
Shed over me the sweetness of Thy Presence, lest I faint by the way; 
    lest I go about my daily work in a dry spirit, 
    or am tempted to take pleasure in it for its own sake, and not for Thee. 
Give me Thy Divine consolations from time to time; 
    but let me not rest in them. 
Let me use them for the purpose for which Thou givest them. 
Let me not think it grievous, let me not be downcast, if they go. 
Let them carry me forward to the thought and the desire of heaven.
 
John Henry Newman, 1801-1890, English Catholic priest, theologian & poet
 
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He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.
 

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