Waiting in the Silence of Surrender 6-28-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Refresh me and renew me in the power of the presence of Your Spirit. ... My youngest daughter, Madison, turned ten this summer. She told me a while back that she doesn't need to read my morning prayers each day because I always pray the same thing. I don't think she ever makes it past, "Good morning, Lord Jesus." It is true that for this past year and a half that You've been calling me to pray in this way, I've settled in to a familiar pattern that helps me center my heart and soul on You. Though I pray many different ways throughout the day, calling upon Your name in every dimension of Your Being as Father, as Son, as Holy Spirit, I begin these morning prayers centered on You, Lord Jesus Christ. When we turn our hearts to God in prayer, the Father is always sending the Holy Spirit to lead us (Romans 8.26-27); and the Holy Spirit is always leading us to Jesus (John 14.26 and 15.26); and Jesus is always revealing the heart and will of the Father (John 14.10-11). As we enter in to the communion of prayer in trusting surrender, You increase and we decrease. As we wait in the quiet of the silence before You, You still our thoughts and open our hearts. As be embrace You in the intimacy and intensity of seeking the fullness of Your presence, You begin to cause Your thoughts to be our thoughts and Your desires to be our desires. You abide in us and we abide in You, as closely as the created can abide in the Creator (John 14.15-17 and 15.1-11). As I seek You each morning and begin to consciously and deliberately open my human spirit to Your Holy Spirit, You lead me to watch and wait in the silence of surrender, in humility before You. The " ... " of my morning devotional is the time of silence as I watch and wait for Your leading -- sometimes for a moment, sometimes for much longer -- until You begin to form Your thoughts and desires in my mind and heart. As I surrender and entrust myself to You, You bring me back into created order, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, as You bring my body into submission to my soul, my soul into submission to my spirit, and my spirit into submission to Your Holy Spirit. This is a dimension of "the communion of the Holy Spirit" by "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" as we soak in "the love of God" (2 Corinthians 3.13). "Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Psalm 37.6). "Make me to know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all day long" (Psalm 25.4-5). "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning" (Psalm 130.5-6). "Those 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" (Isaiah 40.31). As we turn our hearts toward You and lift up our faces to behold You, Your Holy Spirit is changing us and conforming us into the image of Christ, the Son of God, to the glory of God our Father (Romans 8.29-30). As we behold You in worship and prayer, we become more like You; for we become like what we worship. "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Corinthians 3.18). This is all part of the mystery of abiding in Christ and allowing Christ to abide in us -- the God of the universe humbling Himself in love and grace to live in our hearts and fill us with Your Spirit, that we "may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3.13-21). "Morning by morning" You feed us Your Word, as much as we need for day (Exodus 16.21). "Morning by morning" You teach us Your ways and lead us in Your paths (Isaiah 50.4). Your steadfast love never ceases and Your mercies never come to an end; they are "new every morning; great is Your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3.22-24). As we begin our days focused and centered on You, we rise from prayer to embrace the challenges of the day, empowered and anointed by Your Holy Spirit, to fulfill our calling and live our destiny in Christ on earth, to the glory of our Father in heaven. What an amazing mystery; what amazing grace. Help us to embrace You as we seek You. Form us, and conform us, and transform us, as You make us more like You each day, while we watch and pray. As we learn to watch and wait for You in the silence of surrender and the intimacy of Your presence, we will not be disappointed. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please come if you can to the Annual Conference of Aldersgate Renewal Ministries in Kansas City this year, July 6-10, "The National Conference on Spirit-filled Living in the Wesleyan Tradition." I will be teaching one of the equipping sessions on being empowerd with the Holy Spirit. For details or registration, please contact them online at www.aldersgaterenewal.org To subscribe/unsubscribe please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!