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Draw near: Praying to the Holy Spirit

Lynne Baab • Tuesday October 18 2022

Draw near: Praying to the Holy Spirit

I wonder how many of you remember this praise song:

Spirit of the Living God,
Fall fresh on me,
Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.

In the 1980s we sang it often at church, so I assumed it came from that era. I just learned that it was written in 1926 after the author, Daniel Iverson, heard a sermon on the Holy Spirit at a revival meeting. Rev. Iverson was a Presbyterian minister who served congregations North and South Carolina and Georgia, then planted seven congregations in Miami. (You can listen to a contemporary version of his song here, with a fascinating change in wording in the last line: “Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.”)

I’ve been looking for hymns and praise songs that address the Holy Spirit directly. I found more than I expected, but my expectations were very low. Here’s the refrain to a praise song by Vertical Worship:

Come, Holy Spirit, come
Rush in like a flood, Heaven, open up
Come, in never ending waves, I am swept away
Holy Spirit, come
(You can read all the words here, and you can listen to it here.)

Addressing the Holy Spirit in prayer is a bit confusing, because Christians are often not entirely sure about who exactly the Holy Spirit is. These two examples of prayers to the Holy Spirit imply that the Holy Spirit is forceful and wild. Rev. Iverson asks the Holy Spirit to break us. Vertical Worship compares the Holy Spirit to a flood of never ending waves that sweep us away.

This forceful picture of the Holy Spirit as a powerful, unpredictable force is undoubtedly influenced by the story of the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-36. Another picture of the Holy Spirit comes from Jesus’ words in the Upper Room the night he was betrayed. I’m going to give you three excerpts from John 14 and 16. I invite you to read these words slowly and imagine yourself writing a prayer to the Holy Spirit based on what Jesus says to his disciples about the Holy Spirit. What would you ask the Holy Spirit for?

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. . . .

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. . . .

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
—John 14:16-17, 25-26; John 16:7-14

In The Message translation of both John 14 and 16, Eugene Peterson uses “Friend” in place of “Advocate.” That certainly raises a lot of options for prayer.

Here’s a prayer I might write based on John 14 and 16, with a hint of the two praise songs mentioned above: Holy Spirit, thank you for Jesus’ promise that you will abide with me as an Advocate and Friend. Thank you that you have led me into God’s truth so many times. Thank you for the many moments when you have taught me, shaped me, and helped me return my focus to Jesus over and over. Thank you that sometimes you give me eyes to see the fruit of my small moments of obedience to God. I don’t know exactly what it means that Jesus says you will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment, but whatever it means, I pray that you will do your work in the world. And I pray that you will continue to do your work in me. Help me to learn from you about how to glorify Jesus. Help me to hear your voice as you speak Jesus’ words to me. Help me to be open to whatever you want to do in me.

(Next week: a prayer to the gracious, truthful, tender Holy Spirit. Illustration by Dave Baab: Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon. If you’d like to receive an email when I post on this blog, sign up under “subscribe” below.)

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