O God the Holy Spirit

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Description

The person and work of the Holy Spirit is often minimized or misunderstood in many reformed circles. While many of us may believe that the Holy Spirit is not giving the miraculous gifts of the New Testament to the church today, we must not live and worship as if the Holy Spirit is not at work in us in experientially. God calls us to joyful, Christ-centered worship, and without the Spirit we have no hope of replacing our empty, self-seeking loves with genuine affection for Jesus. The prayer “The Spirit’s Work” from the Valley of Vision (a book of puritan prayers) beautifully describes a biblical view of the ministry of the Spirit and how it relates to our affections and experience of the Christian life. Our chief prayer for the filling of the Spirit must not be that we would experience uncontrolled emotions or that He would give us spiritual gifts. Rather, our chief prayer to the Spirit must be that He would “direct us to the cross” and “put Jesus on display” that our worship would be cross-centered and not Spirit-centered.

Lyrics

Verse 1:
O God the Holy Spirit,
Eternal one of three,
My comforter and teacher,
Be merciful to me.
You hovered over chaos
The land and sea to part
So manifest Your power
To calm my restless heart.

Verse 2:
O God the Holy Spirit,
Direct me to the cross
Where I can see the suff’ring
My waywardness has cost.
In Jesus' death please show me
The power of my sin
And by His life convince me
This battle He will win.

Verse 3:
O God the Holy Spirit,
Put Jesus on display:
Remind me how my Savior
Took all my guilt away.
My sins were all forgiven
And satisfaction made;
Atonement was completed,
My captive soul was saved.

Verse 4:
O God the Holy Spirit,
Come deepen and impart
These saving, loving lessons
Upon my desp'rate heart
That I might loathe my evil
And flee from Satan's snares
Then run to my Redeemer
And cast on Him my cares.

Words and Music by David L. Ward. Based on the prayer "The Spirit's Work" from The Valley of Vision.
© 2006 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Original Prayer

The Spirit's Work (from The Valley of Vision)

O God the Holy Spirit,
Thou who dost proceed from the Father and the Son,
have mercy on me.
When thou didst first hover over chaos,
order came to birth,
beauty robed the world, fruitfulness sprang forth.
Move, I pray thee, upon my disordered heart;
Take away the infirmities of unruly desires
and hateful lusts;
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief;
Brighten my soul with the pure light of truth;
Make it fragrant as the garden of paradise,
rich with every goodly fruit,
beautiful with heavenly grace,
radiant with rays of divine light.
Fulfil in me the glory of thy divine offices;
Be my comforter, light, guide, sanctifier;
Take of the things of Christ and show them to my soul;
Through thee may I daily learn more of his love,
grace, compassion, faithfulness, beauty;
Lead me to the cross and show me his wounds,
the hateful nature of evil, the power of Satan;
May I there see my sins as
the nails that transfixed him,
the cords that bound him,
the thorns that tore him,
the sword that pierced him.
Help me to find in his death the reality
and immensity of his love.
Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth
in his, ‘It is finished’.
Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of
atonement achieved, expiation completed,
satisfaction made, guilt done away,
my debt paid, my sins forgiven,
my person redeemed, my soul saved,
hell vanquished, heaven opened,
eternity made mine.
O Holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons.
Write them upon my heart, that my walk be
sin-loathing, sin-fleeing, Christ-loving;
And suffer no devil’s device to beguile
or deceive me.

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Comments

[...] O God the Holy Spirit is a new hymn David Ward of Reformed Praise, based on a prayer from the Valley of Vision. Like the original prayer, it focuses on the work of the Spirit in pointing us to Jesus Christ. [...]
I really like this song!
» Jason Kent on February 24th, 2007

Oh, if only we had worship like this at my church. Lyrics that glorify God and bring you in to the throne room.

Thank you and God bless you.
» Billie on July 3rd, 2007

[...] O God the Holy Spirit [...]
I like this song. "The Valley of Vision" is a wonderful book and it's so nice to be able to sing such fantastic stuff! Thanks!
» courtney - csj on March 2nd, 2008

[...]   –There is No Greater Portrait - Eric Schumacher & David L. Ward Session 4:   O God the Holy Spirit - David L. Ward Session 5:   Abide with Me: Fast Falls the Eventide - Henry Lyte   There [...]
One of my favorites from Reformed Praise! I direct a student choir and arranged this hymn for them. We had string accompaniment and it was a beautiful part of our concert. The kids loved the music and the words. Keep writing!
» Leigh Ann Pierce on September 18th, 2009

[...] piano, fiddle 4. O Jesus - Energetic pop arrangement with a drum loop and tasty electric guitars 5. O God the Holy Spirit - Another piano and orchestra driven arrangement by Bob Parsons 6. So I Will Come - A guitar driven [...]
[...] piano, fiddle 4. O Jesus - Energetic pop arrangement with a drum loop and tasty electric guitars 5. O God the Holy Spirit - Another piano and orchestra driven arrangement by Bob Parsons 6. So I Will Come - A guitar driven [...]
» Merciful to Me | Reformed Praise on September 3rd, 2010

[...] O God the Holy Spirit – Another piano and orchestra driven arrangement by Bob [...]
[...] of sin, and applying the Gospel to our hearts. You can find out more about this song and David Ward here. O God the Holy Spirit, Eternal one of three, My comforter and teacher, Be merciful to me. You [...]
 
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