Thursday February 6, 2025

On February 10, 2025 we are pausing our First 15 devotionals and encouraging everybody to download the Lectio 365 App to serve as our daily devotional time for the rest of 2025. We feel like this is the best way to fully embrace our year-long focus on prayer because of the unique format the Lectio 365 App provides. To download the app, simply search “Lectio 365” in your app store or scan the QR code below. You can also stop by our Connecting Point this weekend and a member of our staff can help download it to your device. If you are unable to use an app as a resource and would prefer to receive this devotional via email, send us an email here and we will connect with you.

Today is Thursday, February 6, and this week we are praying through the words of The Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition.

I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You, exalted for You, or brought low for You. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine, and I am Yours. So be it. And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen. (The Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition)

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:5-7

Today I focus on the words of the Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan tradition that say, “Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing.” Let’s face it, our lives are sometimes full and sometimes empty. Our calendars are sometimes full and sometimes empty. Our hearts are sometimes full and sometimes empty. The state of our spiritual self experiences an alternating fullness and emptiness as we move through the rhythms and seasons of life. You might take a moment to examine your soul and consider where you are today – is there a fullness or an emptiness?

You may be in a season of emptiness or spiritual dryness brought on by grief or loss, disappointment or loneliness, sin or separation from God. You may be longing for God to fill you or you may not even be aware of the depths of your emptiness. Perhaps God is leading you to a season of abundance and filling.

Perhaps for you it is the other way around. You may be in a season of fullness, and God may lead you to a time of emptying. In our life with God, we must endure times of emptying so that He can fill us again. Emptying ourselves might include relinquishing certain habits, pastimes or activities that over-occupy us and keep us too busy for God.

When we empty ourselves we may need to surrender something, let something go, set something down, or give something up. Emptying may feel like a season of closet cleaning or garden pruning. Times when growth is carefully pruned away by a loving Gardener to make room for new growth and fruitfulness. Emptying may occur in seasons of busyness, when we have taken on too much. Emptying may occur in seasons of pride, when we forget who we serve, have misaligned our priorities and need to humble ourselves before God.

We can trust Jesus to lead us in times of emptying and filling. He knows what is best for us. God provides treasure housed in the clay jar of this fragile human body. God cannot fully enter in and fill us with His Spirit until we are emptied. So we pray to the One who loves us and knows us, “Lord, Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing.” Because we trust He knows what is best for us at this particular time, during this particular season, in these particular moments.

Moments when He takes something away so our souls are emptied and waiting. Moments when He gives us everything and fills us to overflowing. That is life with God, the ebb and flow of walking with Jesus, the tide of love that washes gently away from the coast in order for the waves to break once more on the rocky shoreline of our hearts.

Ask: Is Christ inviting me into a season of emptying or filling? Do I trust He knows what is best for me and will give me exactly what I need at the precise time I need it?

Pause and Pray

Jesus Christ, You are Lord, I belong to You. I am here to serve You and Your kingdom. Thank You for shining Your light in my heart and giving me the hope of Your glory. You have provided a beautiful powerful treasure contained in the fragile clay jar of my soul. Empty my heart to make room for you. Empty my mind to more fully focus on You. Empty my crowded calendar to make time for You. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Fill me with Your love, joy, hope and peace. Fill me to overflowing. Amen.

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