Oceans
Nov 24, 2023
I stumbled upon this poem several years ago when my husband, Jeff, was a part of The Gideons International. You may be familiar with the Gideons. They're the ones who place Bibles in hotels, hospitals, and, where permitted, voluntarily distribute on college campuses and to elementary children in 5th grade. The poem was part of a newsletter encouraging bold prayers for the ministry and their goals to expand Bible distribution into countries all over the world, and in local communities where political correctness has stymied their reach.
The poem struck me then, and I've kept a printed copy of it in my journal ever since. Let Us Pray - Prayer for Spiritual Revival is by Sir Francis Drake (of the British-defeating-the-Spanish-Armada-Fame) who lived from 1540-1596 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Prayer will be a central part of our His Power at Work Mastermind. I believe our conversations with God—asking Him what He wants for us, and listening intently to His Voice—will be life-changing. In that vein, this poem is worthy of meditation as we pray.
Let Us Pray - Prayer for Spiritual Revival
Disturb us, Lord, when / We are too well pleased with ourselves, / When our dreams have come true / Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely / Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when / With the abundance of things we possess / We have lost our thirst / For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life, / We have ceased to dream of eternity / And in Your efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision / Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, / To venture on wider seas / Where storms will show your mastery; / Where losing sight of land, / We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back / The horizons of our hopes; / And to push into the future / in strength, courage, hope, and love.
The lines "have ceased to dream of eternity / And in Your efforts to build a new earth, / We have allowed our vision / Of the new Heaven to dim" remind me of the Lord's Prayer... "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."
His Power at Work will be our step into the deep, to pray, and remember, and work toward seeking first the Kingdom knowing God will speak and lead us across oceans.
It's going to be sooo good!!
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