taken hold of

Opening Prayer:

Take me to you, imprison me, for I

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

~John Donne

Scripture: Philippians 3:12-14

Journal: How has God taken hold of you?  How are you straining and pressing on to take hold of life with him?

Reflection: “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14

If we truly have been taken hold of by God, if we have been ravished by the One who loves us like no other, then we will do everything in our power—strain and press and wrestle and fight—to take hold of the life and the love he offers to us.  We will simply have no choice; our hearts will not allow us to do otherwise. 

Pray

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, seize our hearts with the power of your great affection, so that everything in our lives might become an expression of love to you.  Amen.