An Expectant Spirit

AN EXPECTANT SPIRIT

a prayer to open

Here’s my heart, Lord. Speak what is true.

Here’s my life, Lord. Speak what is true.

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

I long, yes, I faint with longing

to enter the courts of the LORD.

With my whole being, body and soul,

I will shout joyfully to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young

at a place near your altar,

O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!

What joy for those who can live in your house,

always singing your praises.

What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD,

who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,

it will become a place of refreshing springs.

The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

They will continue to grow stronger,

and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.

Listen, O God of Jacob.

O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield!

Show favor to the one you have anointed.

A single day in your courts

is better than a thousand anywhere else!

I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God

than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

For the LORD God is our sun and our shield.

He gives us grace and glory.

The LORD will withhold no good thing

from those who do what is right.

O LORD of Heaven’s Armies,

what joy for those who trust in you.

Before Christ, God’s people experienced his presence in the physical Temple in Jerusalem. They traveled from far away throughout the year to visit the Temple, where they found refreshment and renewal. Experiencing God’s presence there enabled them to return to their towns and continue to follow in his ways. Since Christ, we no longer need to visit a physical temple in order to experience God’s presence. God lives in and among his people. As Paul described to the church in Corinth, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, NIV). When we are among other believers, we experience God’s presence in a unique way. We know the love and strength and refreshment of Christ in and through the people with whom we are gathered. And when we have had a taste of Christ’s presence, our bodies and souls long for more. How might our lives be shaped if each time we gathered with other believers, we expected to experience and help others experience God’s presence in a unique way that would bring refreshment and renewal?

• Read this passage again slowly. What word or phrase stands out to you? Why do you think that word or phrase speaks to you? What does it say?
• When do you feel a sense of longing for God’s presence?
• Reflect on a time recently when you were refreshed and renewed while gathered with other believers. How did you experience God’s presence in and through the people you were with?

I long to know your presence, Lord—to experience your healing and refreshment and to be reminded of your goodness. With you I find healing and wholeness, light and hope. Don’t let me forget the power of gathering with your people and the restoration that brings to my mind, heart, and soul. Allow me to be a refreshment to others whose souls are depleted or hearts are hurting. Amen.