Going through the motions. ( Jude v 20 - 21 )

There is a modern song that has this line in it ,it reads,' I'm sorry when I just go through the motions '. Driving is a bit like that, so easy in a comfortable car, to not concentrate, just go through the motions, or when we read something  and we realise that we cannot remember what we have read. Many sing hymns with out really thinking about what they are singing ,likewise  prayer, there is an old saying which goes, 'I often say my  prayers, but do I pray?. Going through the motions, we are all guilty  of it, The preacher saw a man sleeping ,so he said to the man next to him,  '' Wake him up'', and the man replied,'' You put him asleep ,you wake him up''.  It could be that the preacher was  going through the motions. Lets consider Jude v 20 -21,two things we read in these verses ( 1) 'praying in the Holy Spirit', John Calvin wrote, 'Such is the coldness of our make-up that none can succeed in praying without the prompting of the Holy Spirit'. We need the Holy Spirit, so pray to that end. ( 2 ) 'Keep yourselves in God's love'.  Moffatt  writes ,'God's love has its own terms of  communion' One writer explains it like this, 'If we desire to remain in close communion with God , we must give to God the perfect love and the perfect obedience, which goes hand in hand'.

                                                   Come, Holy Spirit, come,

                                                   Let  Thy bright beams arise;

                                                   Dispel the sorrow from our minds, 

                                                   The darkness from our eyes.

                                                   Revive our drooping faith,

                                                   Our doubts and fears remove,

                                                   And kindle in our breasts the flame

                                                   Of never dying love.