OzThoughts Friday 3rd April 2009.

OzThoughts Friday 3rd April 2009.

Last year when my work colleagues heard I was going to spend a few days in Rome, they joked that I was going to see “the boss”. They knew of course, that as a hospital Chaplain Coordinator I am paid by the Catholic Church and therefore the Pope is “my boss”. (It’s all a bit technical but the hospital pays the church which then pays me).

I went along with this idea of a “private audience with his Holiness” until we realized that the very day I visited the Vatican City he would land in Australia for the World Youth gathering. We then discussed whether a “job swap” was the real reason I was going.

Now an audience with the Pope may be one thing but how much more important is an audience with the holy and almighty Heavenly Father. That’s what we can all have through prayer.

Our prayer and worship time is an audience with God. We are in his holy presence. The Psalmist David is only one of many recorded in the Bible as understanding the privilege of an audience with God.

Psalm 18:1-6 (The Message)
1-2 I love you, God— you make me strong.
God is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag
where I run for dear life,
hiding behind the boulders,
safe in the granite hideout.

3 I sing to God, the Praise-Lofty,
and find myself safe and saved.

4-5 The hangman's noose was tight at my throat;
devil waters rushed over me.
Hell's ropes cinched me tight;
death traps barred every exit.

6 A hostile world! I call to God,
I cry to God to help me.
From his palace he hears my call;
my cry brings me right into his presence—
a private audience!
PRAYER: (Using the Song Book as our Prayer Book):
[Listen: Songsters: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music/mus_2369.mp3
In the secret of thy presence,
Where the pure in heart may dwell,
Are the springs of sacred service
And a power that none can tell.
There my love must bring its offering,
There my heart must yield its praise,
And the Lord will come, revealing
All the secrets of his ways.

Chorus
In the secret of thy presence,
In the hiding of thy power,
Let me love thee, let me serve thee,
Every consecrated hour.

More than all my lips may utter,
More than all I do or bring,
Is the depth of my devotion
To my Saviour, Lord and King.
Nothing less will keep me tender;
Nothing less will keep me true;
Nothing less will keep the fragrance
And the bloom on all I do!

Blessed Lord, to see thee truly,
Then to tell as I have seen,
This shall rule my life supremely,
This shall be the sacred gleam.
Sealed again is all the sealing,
Pledged again my willing heart,
First to know thee, then to serve thee,
Then to see thee as thou art.
Author: Albert Orsborn (1886-1967)
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 591

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