Today’s reading is a poem written by Augustine of Hippo as a prayer to the Holy Spirit. He is asking for the Holy Spirit to be present in him, to act in him, draw his heart, strengthen and guard him, all to be more holy himself. This is a great prayer for us to pray as well. I found something he also said about prayer from this website.
Here is what I thought was good and true:
St. Augustine on Prayer
According to St. Augustine, we need not pray for what we need because God already knows what we need before we even ask. Instead, we ought to pray, he suggests, to increase our desire for God, and so that we might be able to receive what He is preparing to give us.
“The deeper our faith, the stronger our hope, the greater our desire, the larger will be our capacity to receive the gift, which is very great indeed. …. The more fervent the desire, the more worthy will be its fruits. When the Apostle tells us: Pray without ceasing (1 Thes5:16), he means this: Desire unceasingly that life of happiness which is nothing if not eternal, and ask it of him alone who is able to give it.”
(Letter 130)
Trail to the Tree
Day 15 Crucified With Christ
The scripture reading is about when Jesus was on the cross and He was in total separation from God and asked, ” Why have You forsaken Me?”
Ann says: Today, repent. Name the ugly sins that crucified Him. Write down your idols and angry heart, your lies, your gossip, your envy and pride. See what caused His stripes. Nail the paper to a tree. Die to the old you. Feel His wounds. Touch His pain. Be washed in His blood.
Are you prepared to be crucified with Christ?
When I was first saved I watched Jesus of Nazareth, The Gospel of John and The Passion of The Christ many times even after my salvation experience with The Gospel of John. I wanted to understand everything Jesus said and did so much. One thing that hit me during one of the times watching was the darkness that fell when He was on the cross. I didn’t understand His words for awhile but one day I heard Him say, ” Why have You forsaken Me?” and I realized God was away from Him for the first time in His life. The darkness was what Jesus felt because He was dying for all the sins of humanity. God being sinless cannot be in the presence of sin. Jesus took the wrath of God that we deserve. Jesus was experiencing what it’s like to be out of God’s presence. He knows the hell that comes from the absence of God. Anyone who has not received Jesus’ sacrifice is in this “hell”. I was there, I know what it’s like. I described it in my journal as a long dark tunnel and at the time I only saw glimmers of light. I felt hell in my mind. It’s hard to explain unless you have experienced it but when I saw Jesus on the cross in darkness, I knew God left Him. I knew Jesus felt what we feel. He is a Savior who can relate to our sufferings as it says in Hebrews 2:18, Because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted, He is able to help and provide immediate assistance to those who are being tempted and exposed to suffering.
Day 1- Get your thinking straight and be in God’s presence
Day 2- Be reading the Bible and trust God
Day 3- Reverence, worship and praise God and Jesus for who God is and what Jesus has done.
Day 4- Be faithful to Him and He will be faithful to fill you. Look to Jesus with gratitude and prayer.
Day 5- Notice the miserable and suffering, ask God to reveal them so I can tell them the Good News that there is hope and there is a Savior, His name is Jesus!
Day 6- Stay close to God with a repented heart. He will bring life out of the mundane if I trust Him to do it.
Day 7- Relationship means dependence. Depend on your relationship with Jesus to do God’s will and bring Him joy and joy to yourself.
Day 8- Don’t hesitate to ask God for help out of all temptations, trials, distresses and troubles. Keep God on your mind, always.
Day 9- Being thankful and having faith for the presence of God in my life will prompt miracles.
Day 10- Let my heart stay vulnerable so God can multiply His love through me.
Day 11- God helps us through the words of Jesus.
Day 12- Surrender and live a new life
Day 13- Receive and give thanks for God’s grace and live holy
Day 14- Remember grace through Jesus to stay awake
Day 15- Pray for the Holy Spirit’s presence to stay out of darkness, repent when necessary
breaths of my soul 