Renewed Prayer

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I was sitting here this morning studying for Sunday's sermon and gleaning personal challenges along the way when the CD I was listening to gave a song to the occasion. This CD is something the pastor at Poplar Grove COB gave us to borrow; it's a Church of the Brethren choir from PA. Somehow this song hit me in a new and powerful way. No doubt anyone who is GB, or closely affiliated, knows this song as #837 in the Christian Hymnary, but somehow it seemed new this morning, especially the first verse.

Lord, I am fondly, earnestly longing
Into Thy holy likeness to grow
Thirsting for more and deeper communion
Yearning Thy love more fully to know

Dead to the world would I be, O Father!
Dead unto sin, alive unto Thee
Crucify all the earthly within me
Emptied of sin and self may I be

I would be Thine, and serve Thee forever
Filled with Thy spirit, lost in Thy love
Come to my heart, Lord, come with anointing
Showers of grace send down from above

Open the wells of grace and salvation
Pour the rich streams deep into my heart
Cleanse and refine my thought and affection
Seal me and make me pure as Thou art.
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