Word of Life,
Thank you for your Word in the Bible and through Jesus Christ so that we can know you and your ways. Thank you that you have given us sound minds, moldable spirits, and great freedom as individuals; help us to use these things well. When we are worrying, remind us that worry is meditating on the negative and we need to turn our minds and hearts to your Word. When we are speaking, cause our words to speak life to us and to those around us. Give us a hunger to read, to know, and to speak your Word over our circumstances and this world in general. We know that if we don't have our minds, hearts, and spirits set on you, the enemy of our souls will make sure we set it on anything else. Our enemy uses the "noises" of this life - adversity, strife, struggle, calamity, fears, confusion, etc. - to distract us from your Voice and the beautiful silence, music, and melodies of Holy Spirit. Good Shepherd, tune our spiritual ears to ponder on your goodness, grace, mercy, and hope, especially in this world that wants to shout down your Voice. Tune our hearts to hear your voice, your beautiful silence, and your melodies. Draw us to you, to find your salvation, and to live your abundant and full life. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." (Eph. 6:11-13 NIV)
"Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life,and have it to the full." (John 10:7-10 NIV)
"So come, let us worship: bow before him,
on your knees before God, who made us!
Oh yes, he’s our God,
and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.
Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks:
“Don’t turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising,
As on the day of the Wilderness Test,
when your ancestors turned and put me to the test." (Psalm 95:6-8 MSG)
[The demon Screwtape writes:] Music and silence—how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since our Father entered Hell—though longer ago than humans, reckoning in light years, could express—no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise— Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile—Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it.
From The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
