Day Forty-Five

As you imagine the disciples of Jesus gathered in Jerusalem, waiting for the promised Spirit who would empower them for their mission, what are they doing? How are they spending the time of waiting and anticipation?

We see some mentions in the biblical texts of some of the things they did. Luke mentions in his gospel that they “stayed continually at the temple, praising God,” (Luke 24:53, NIV) and then in Acts 1 he tells us how they chose a replacement for Judas. Apart from that, we don’t have anything but speculation.

I think one safe guess would be that they prayed. A lot. They knew a change was coming, even if they didn’t know exactly what it would look like. So I can certainly imagine them spending time before God in prayers of submission and surrender. And I can imagine a simple prayer of supplication as well, one of only three words:

“Come, Holy Spirit.”

Well, maybe not that exact prayer. Their Trinitarian understanding wasn’t yet fully formed, so the idea of actually praying to the Holy Spirit and asking him to come in power probably didn’t occur to them. But I’m sure the spirit of that prayer, asking that the Holy Spirit would fall on them and fulfill the promise Jesus had left with them, was something they knew in some form or another.

But for those of us who live post-Pentecost, “Come, Holy Spirit” is a beautiful and completely valid prayer to offer. Over the centuries it has been expressed in many forms, perhaps most famously in a 13th century Latin prayer. Here is one English translation:

Come, thou Holy Spirit, come,
and from thy celestial home
shed a ray of light divine;
come, thou Father of the poor,
come, thou source of all our store,
come, within our hearts to shine.

Thou of comforters the best,
thou the soul's most welcome guest,
sweet refreshment here below;
in our labor rest most sweet,
grateful coolness in the heat,
solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine,
shine within these hearts of thine,
and our inmost being fill;
where thou art not, man hath naught,
nothing good in deed or thought,
nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds; our strength renew;
on our dryness pour thy dew;
wash the stains of guilt away;
bend the stubborn heart and will;
melt the frozen, warm the chill;
guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
and confess thee, evermore
in thy sevenfold gifts descend:
Give them virtue's sure reward,
give them thy salvation, Lord,
give them joys that never end.

This is a wonderful prayer to offer as we prepare for the celebration of Pentecost Sunday. It is filled with beautiful, poetic language describing the Spirit’s work in our midst. It asks for the Spirit to pour out what some churches call the “seven-fold gifts,” which are a reference to Isaiah 11:2-3:

“The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear…”—Isaiah 11:2-3 (HCSB)

In the coming days we will be examining some of the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst, but for today let’s put all of the theology and application aside and simply pray that the Holy Spirit would come…to us, to our churches, to our nation, and to our world. We are in such desperate need of the Spirit’s work right now. For today’s devotion, could we turn to God in intercession, asking him to send the Spirit anew into our midst?

For our songs today we will have three different versions of this prayer, and you can choose one to focus on in your time of reflection and worship. One is a liturgical piece by John Michael Talbot, another is a more contemporary folk/worship rendition by a group called Liturgical Folk, and one is a traditional hymn version. Pick whichever one best suits your own musical tastes, or listen to all three and let them each lead you into prayer in their own unique way.

After listening to the prayer, the text will be repeated in our Reflection Section for you to sit with, reflect upon, and offer to the Lord, along with a Scripture text for contemplation.

John Michael Talbot, traditional liturgical/reflective

Liturgical Folk, modern folk/worship style

University of Texas Chamber Singers, traditional hymn

Time of Intercession & Reflection

Come, thou Holy Spirit, come,
and from thy celestial home
shed a ray of light divine;
come, thou Father of the poor,
come, thou source of all our store,
come, within our hearts to shine.

Thou of comforters the best,
thou the soul's most welcome guest,
sweet refreshment here below;
in our labor rest most sweet,
grateful coolness in the heat,
solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine,
shine within these hearts of thine,
and our inmost being fill;
where thou art not, man hath naught,
nothing good in deed or thought,
nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds; our strength renew;
on our dryness pour thy dew;
wash the stains of guilt away;
bend the stubborn heart and will;
melt the frozen, warm the chill;
guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
and confess thee, evermore
in thy sevenfold gifts descend:
Give them virtue's sure reward,
give them thy salvation, Lord,
give them joys that never end.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”—Ezekiel 36:25-28 (NIV)