September 4

Read: John 17:15-21 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world (John 17:18).

Give Me The Spirit Of Jesus

Can God use me to lead a friend to Jesus? Yes, if I have in me the spirit of Jesus — if I see things as He saw them and if I am stirred by the facts that stirred Him. Our Lord was persuaded that it was worth giving His life to save a lost man — and He gave it. That was Jesus’ sense of mission. Is it not a similar sense of urgency that He looks for in us after we have given ourselves fully to Him?

In the Garden of Gethsemane, on the eve of the Crucifixion, Jesus prayed for us. What was the burden of His prayer? He prayed that we might remain here to help Him accomplish the work for which He was giving His life. Will we sincerely open our hearts to the implications of His intercession for us? “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world… As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.., that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

That is the mind of Christ. It was for this that Paul prayed when he wrote, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). It is for this deeper identification with Christ that we offer our prayer today.

Self-Dedication

We bind unto ourselves today, Thee our God; Thy power to hold us, Thy hand to guide us, Thine eye to watch us, Thine ear to hear us, Thy wisdom to teach us, Thy Word to give us speech, Thy presence to defend us; this day and every day; in the Name of the Blessed Trinity Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; unto whom be the Kingdom and the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever. — St. Patrick