O God the Holy Spirit

David WardHymns

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.
CCLI Song #4922746