Opening Prayer: God unto whom all hearts are open and unto
whom every will speaks, and from whom no secret thing is hidden, I pray You
cleanse the intent of my heart with the ineffable gift of Your grace, that I
may perfectly love You, and worthily praise You. Amen. ~The Cloud of the Unknowing
Scripture: Joshua 24:14-24
Journal: How do the words of Joshua 24 speak to your life
today? What disturbs you? What encourages you? What challenges you? What invites you?
Reflection:
We, who have heard the call of our God to a life of
entire consecration and perfect trust, must do differently from all this. We must come out from the world and be
separate, and must not be conformed to it in our characters or in our
lives. We must set our affections on
heavenly things and not on earthly ones, and must seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness, surrendering everything that would interfere with this. We must walk through the world as Christ
walked. We must have the mind that was
in Him. As pilgrims and strangers, we
must abstain from lusts of the flesh that war against the soul. As good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we must
disentangle ourselves from the affairs of this life as far as possible, that we
may please Him who hath chosen us to be soldiers. We must abstain from all appearance of
evil. We must be kind to one another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath
forgiven us. We must not resent injuries
or unkindness, but must return good for evil, and turn the other cheek to the
hand that smites us. We must take always
the lowest place among our fellow-men; and seek not our own honor, but the
honor of others. We must be gentle and
meek and yielding, not standing up for our own rights but for the rights of
others. We must do all that we do for
the glory of God. And, to sum it all up,
since he who hath called us is holy, so must we be holy in all manner of
conversation; because it is written, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” (The
Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith)
Prayer
Closing Prayer: Most Holy God, you demand our all, let us give
you nothing less than that, by the power of your Spirit working within us. Amen.
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