A Prayer to Jesus from the 1400’s: Be Everything to Me, Lord!
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Permit me not to be separated from you.
From the wicked foe, defend me.
At the hour of my death, call me and bid me come to you
That with your saints I may praise you For ever and ever.
Amen.
Posted on January 16, 2015, in Christianity, Prayer and tagged anima Christi, christianity, devotions, El cristianismo, entertainment, faith, family, inspiration, Jesus, Life, news, Not For itching Ears, Passion of the Christ, prayer, religion, spirituality, St. Ignatius of Loyola. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Not For Itching Ears 
Hi Jim,
We see the heart of this one who is praying by the words being presented to the Lord. My thought however is that it is the Spirit of God who sanctifies. We know from scripture that it is the Word of God that washes.
, ‘the washing of water by the Word’
‘it is the Spirit of God who sanctifies’
‘we are saved by the body and blood of the Lord Jesus’
‘hide me in the shadow of your wings’
‘strengthened by the power of the Spirit?’
Can we worship God and be incorrect in our doctrine or belief? I think that for a time we can. But ultimately God corrects us through the Holy Spirit. If we are not corrected in our thinking and beliefs it is because we are stubborn and rebellious. We do not listen to God.
We listen to tradition, our friends, the church teachings, or our own wishes for what is the ‘truth’.
One of the tragedies of our present time is the rejection of the Holy Spirit by believers. We become saved but refuse to go any further with the Holy Spirit. We count his things as demonic, strange fire, and so on. This may be the truth in many worship services of our day, but this does not do away with God’s provisions. We must be baptised in the Holy Spirit the apostle Paul teaches. He teaches this ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ apart from salvation.
LikeLike
“Can we worship God and be incorrect in our doctrine or belief?”
Of course we can and we do all the time!
Do you think that Christ would reject this prayer if it was offered by one of his own in sincere faith? I don’t. The spirit of what is being asked for here in no way contradicts “correct” doctrine.
LikeLike
> My thought however is that it is the Spirit of God who sanctifies
It’s not an either/or proposition. Off the top of my head…
“So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood” – Hebrews 13:12
You could also quote a bunch of verses from 1st John, 1st Peter…
> Can we worship God and be incorrect in our doctrine or belief? I think that for a time we can
I think a quick look around the Christian world proves that.
> But ultimately God corrects us through the Holy Spirit. If we are not corrected in our thinking and beliefs it is because we are stubborn and rebellious. We do not listen to God.
Aren’t you inadvertently condemning an awful lot of Christians by saying this? Lutherans and Methodists do not have the same doctrine. Wouldn’t this mean that one (or both!) are necessarily stubborn and rebellious?
LikeLike
Hi Restless Pilgrim,
I think that today’s Christians are many times ‘anything but’. They look and live more like the world than a believer. The Bible states that what we are overcome by, we will be like. We should see a much better representation of Christ in the West. But we don’t.
Both Lutherans and Methodists could be in rebellion. I myself could be in aspects of rebellion, but I’m not a leader. This is the difference. Anyone who claims to lead better watch out. God is not tricked. They could be leading many people astray. Especially in today’s Christian dynamic.
LikeLike
Jim,
This man claimed to be a leader of God. He is acknowledged as such. Mistakes in his beliefs are crucial and critical for the salvation of others. This man is all about the ‘natural’. He doesn’t mention the Spirit in his doctrinal prayer. This man is praying doctrine. Jesus says that his words are Spirit. For example, when he states to the crowd and his disciples that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. Jesus clears up what he meant by saying that these words were ‘spirit’.
What do we say to this? We Christians generally ignore this. It doesn’t line up with our beliefs and church teachings.
LikeLike
HI Lindam,
“This man claimed to be a leader of God. He is acknowledged as such. Mistakes in his beliefs are crucial and critical for the salvation of others.”
I am not sure who you are referring to.
LikeLike
https://notforitchingears.com/tag/st-ignatius-of-loyola/
The Bible says to ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’. Why does it say this if we are fully saved and assured of heaven at our confession of Christ? The Bible talks about the ability of believers to ‘fall away’ (away from Christ).
There is the parable of the ten virgins. All were virgins, all had oil, some did not have enough. These five were not allowed to enter the door. Jesus said that he did not know them, and called them wicked. There are other parables as well that demonstrate the responsibility of leaders. Leaders who started out doing right and then turned to wicked ways.
The Bible states that you can’t get grapes from thistles. That you can’t get sweet water out of a cistern at the same time as fouled water is flowing out. Our situation in the USA and Canada is that we have fouled water coming from our church leadership. Many church leaders need to be expunged from the church, others need to step down at least for a time.
We see the fruit of the leadership of the church in the USA and Canada that we have today. It is foul.
‘t
LikeLike
Good points, but I don’t see what they have in common with this post about prayer. This would be a better post for that:
LikeLike
I think what I’m saying Jim is that this is not a congregation problem. This is a leadership problem. The link that you me give here for ‘idol worship’ puts the emphasis on everyone in the church.
I’m stating the problem we have today is in the church leadership. This is where the teachings are coming from, this is where today’s Christian emphasis is coming from, leaders are the ones who are setting down the path, or the way, and it’s clear in our day that these leaders have it wrong.
I’m not sure what category my comment might be best suited for other than one where the current church leadership is challenged. You state that these men and women leading our churches have the right heart, I say that they don’t. The proof is in the pudding so to speak. The leaders we have today in large part are phoneys. What do we do about it?
That’s the question for our day. Should these leaders remain in their positions? I say no. They’ve wandered and have lost their way. We cannot follow them anymore.
Sorry about getting out of topic of prayer.
LikeLike
“I think what I’m saying Jim is that this is not a congregation problem. This is a leadership problem. The link that you me give here for ‘idol worship’ puts the emphasis on everyone in the church.”
I agree with you on this one! However, if you re-read the article you will see that I put the blame squarely at the leadership of Israel’s priests feet. People usually just follow their leaders, and that is what is happening in the Protestant church.
“You state that these men and women leading our churches have the right heart, I say that they don’t. The proof is in the pudding so to speak. The leaders we have today in large part are phoneys. What do we do about it?”
I think that is a bit unfair and you are painting with too broad of a brush. Their are some great leaders out there and you can’t possibly be acquainted with even 1/2 of 1 percent of them. But I do hear your frustration and it is probably with the church leaders in your area. There is nothing you or I can do about it. We are powerless to change the situation. My advice to you is to dive into the teachings of the early church and reshape your understanding of what Christianity once looked like and then find a congregation that best represents that. If it has some hip name or slogan like “Relevant Church – We have the most bitchin* band in town” don’t go there!
*this is a beach word and means really really cool.
LikeLike