Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
By: George Croly, 1780-1860
Listen as you read. This is a nice string quartet version.
We begin our journey to greater spiritual resonance with some new material again this week. The first line mentions our hearts specifically and the last focuses in on loving so we will begin there with today’s Tuning. On Thursday we will use our minds to think about what it means to ask the Spirit to wean us from the things of earth and empower us with His might. But first, let’s tune our hearts.
Spirit Descend
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
The obvious place to begin our Tuning is the start of Jesus ministry, moment the Holy Spirit came down and settled on Him at His baptism. (Luke 3:21-22) It was a confirmation of the pleasure of the Father in His Son. The Spirit descended on Christ as a sign, not to do the work for which we need Him.
And what is that work? To teach us all things and to remind us of everything Jesus has said, as recorded in John.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26 ESV
We are welcoming the Holy Spirit to come and do that work when we sing “descend upon my heart”. We want Him to come and make His nest in our intellect, will and emotions. We want Him to rest there.
And this is not a once in a while kind of request. We need to routinely, but not in a religious way going through the motions, sincerely invite Him to come. To come down from on high. To make His home in the center of all that we are.
So do you do that? Do you ask Him every day, several times a day constantly throughout the day to descend on your heart? He wants to teach you new things and remind you of things you already know. Ask Him right now to come and do His work in you. Ask Him to teach you things you do not know, and remind you of things you do.
Seriously, do that right now. And determine to do it regularly.
Asking Him to come is extending the invitation to teach and remind, but it is so much more than that.
Make Me Love You
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
The last line is an interesting one. It seems counterintuitive with regard to love. How can God make us love Him? Is it love if we are made to do it?
There are at least two things to consider here. First, is the possible use of the word make. And second, how God actually does that.
The word make has many meanings. Look it up here. I think you will be surprised. The definition that I think is in use here is the one which means compel, or to cause to act in a certain way. It is different than being made to do something as in being forced, but implies some of the same sense of not truly being in control of how we respond.
The reason I think we are compelled to love God is simply the response to coming to receive and understand His love for us.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 ESV
What a beautiful image that is. The Holy Spirit pouring God’s love into our hearts. This makes our hope secure.
In other words, when the Spirit does His work of pouring God’s love into our hearts, our response is being compelled to love Him. So what we are effectively asking the Holy Spirit to do is come and pour God’s love into us because when He does we will be compelled, or made, to love God.
And that is a very good thing because it is in loving God where we truly need His help, in this most important of endeavors, the pursuit of which influences all others. Loving the Lord our God with all our hearts. Spirit help us.
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart. Heavenly Dove, come down and make your nest in my heart. Teach me what I do not know and remind me what Jesus has said. Help me to love You by pouring the Father’s love into my heart. In Jesus name. Amen.
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Video 6.1 Transcript
Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
The third Person of the Trinity, described as the Heavenly Dove like at the baptism of Jesus, is invoked here. In that occurrence He was a confirmation of the pleasure of the Father in His Son. What we long for is His enabling us to evoke a similar pleasure in the Father through our living. Welcome Him.
Oh, that the Holy Spirit would help our hearts to manage without some of the things of earth of which we have become increasingly fond. Oh, that we would sense His presence moving through every pulse of our hearts. Ask Him for these things.
We are weak, but He is strong. What perfect vessels to put His glory on full display, ones that can truly take no credit for the work He does in them! Humble yourself, by admitting your weakness, and His strength.
And here is where we truly need His help, in this most important of endeavors, the pursuit of which influences all others. We must love the Lord. How? With all our hearts. Spirit help us.
Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.
Sing
Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond. Until next time, be Resonant.
Image Attributions
Spirit Descend Upon My Heart – http://eskipaper.com/love-white-dove.html#gal_post_28130_love-white-dove-1.jpg
Dove flying – http://eskipaper.com/love-white-dove.html#gal_post_28130_love-white-dove-1.jpg
Love Poured Out – https://breathedeeply.org/2014/02/27/love-poured-out-2/
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