Are we truly present at worship? Can we focus away from the world in adoration of Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
A devotion I read talked about our worship of God needing to be done from our spirits, our true selves. This week’s hymn asks God’s Spirit to give our souls divine truth, to awaken our spirits, to clear our sights, and to reign in our consciences.
John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.
I help out at a Pay It Forward shop at our church. Parents with new babies come in to find baby clothing at no cost. Sometimes we hold the babies while they shop. Oh the sweetness of a brand new soul given from God. This makes me think of a hymn about the sweet spirit of God. The song acknowledges the presence of the Holy Spirit and how it can make us look and feel. It also asks the sweet Holy Spirit to stay with us and fill us with God’s love so that we might lift our hearts in praise. God’s Spirit revives us!
Acts 13:52 And the disciples were continually filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
We might imagine God’s Holy Spirit as His breath in and on us, or feel the Spirit as His light warming us, or sense His presence in and around us as a powerful and graceful state. In this Sunday’s hymn feeling, hearing, and seeing the presence of the Holy Spirit are expressed.
In the following Scripture readings Jesus tells his Disciples about receiving the power of the Holy Spirit and Peter calls receiving the Holy Spirit a gift.
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Acts 2:38 And Peter answered them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Verse: In the midst of His children the Lord said He would be. It doesn’t take very many, it can be just two or three. And I feel that same sweet spirit that I felt often times before. Surely I can say I’ve been with the Lord.
Verse: There’s a holy hush around us as God’s glory feels this place.
I’ve touched the hem of His garment, I can almost see His face.
I know without a doubt that I’ve been with the Lord.
On this fourth Sunday the hymn asks the Holy Spirit to descend upon our heart, to wean us from the earth, to make us love God as we ought, to take the dimness of our souls away, and to let us seek and find God. It also requests that the Holy Spirit teach us to feel God’s presence, to have strength in struggles, to have patience in our praying, and to love as God would have us love.
The following scripture readings tell about Jesus when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him after he was baptized by John the Baptist.
Luke 3:22 And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, saying, You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight!
Luke 4:1 Then Jesus, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in the Spirit Luke 4:14 Then Jesus went back full of and under the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and the fame of Him spread through the whole region round about.
Luke 10:21 In that same hour He rejoiced and gloried in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have concealed these things from the wise and understanding and learned, and revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will and choice and good pleasure.
1)Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; wean it from earth; through all its pulses move; stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art, and make me love Thee as I ought to love.
2)I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies, no sudden rending of the veil of clay, no angel visitant, no opening of the skies; but take the dimness of my soul away.
3)Has Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King? All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind. I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling. O let me seek Thee, and O let me find.
4)Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh; teach me the struggles of the soul to bear. To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh, teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
5)Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love, one holy passion filling all my frame; the kindling of the heaven-descended Dove, my heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
Many Holy Spirit hymns ask the Spirit to come and be present in various ways. On this third Sunday the concept is about the Spirit falling afresh on us in order to melt, mold, fill, and use us.
In the following scripture readings Daniel and Mary were filled with the Holy Spirit and used for great things – most importantly Mary, the virgin mother of Christ.
Daniel 4:18 This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. And you, O Belteshazzar [Daniel], declare now its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you.
Luke 1:35 Then the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and so the holy Thing which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God.
As I found myself humming and singing last Sunday’s song, “Breathe on Me, Breath of God”, the lyrics became prayerful. I was asking to be filled with life anew, breathed on until my heart is pure, made wholly God’s, and given eternal life with Our Father. Music can be so powerful in that way. I also happened to have a devotion that was based on Psalm 51:10-12. In it David is asking God for a right spirit, for Him not to take His Holy Spirit away, and to uphold him with His free spirit. Oh, that we might all welcome God’s spirit into our midst and our lives.
Acts 9:31 So the church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was edified and walking in the respect and reverential fear of the Lord and in the consolation and exhortation of the Holy Spirit, continued to increase and was multiplied.
As we move from the Sundays of Easter to Pentecost, I have been thinking about all the hymns honoring the Holy Spirit that I have heard or sung over the years. I would love to note some scripture and a song for the next several Sundays, which some consider part of the season after Pentecost.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall everything I have told you.
And having said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit!