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Daily Devotionals

January 2, 2020

Have Thine Own Way

January 2, 2020


DAILY READINGS

Jeremiah 18:1-11
1 Peter 1:13-16
This weekend’s scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

FIELD NOTES

Adelaide Pollard wanted to go to Africa as a missionary in 1902. Discouraged because she did not have the money to make the trip, she went to an evening prayer service. During the service she overheard another woman say, “It really doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord, just have your own way with our lives.” The image of the potter from Jeremiah 18:3 came to her mind. When she got home, she wrote “Have Thine Own Way” in its entirety in a brief period of time.

1. Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will; While I am waiting, yielded and still.

2. Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

3. Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine! Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

4. Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me.

Later George Stebbins wrote the tune, “Adelaide,” in remembrance of her.

We have a chance to renew our relationship with God as we begin 2020 with The Covenant in the Wesleyan Tradition, which expresses the same trust in God as “Have Thine Own Way.” If you are memorizing The Covenant Prayer, I suggest you continue memorizing it two lines a day and keep the words in your mind through the day. If you started yesterday, complete the memorization of the first four lines.

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.

Questions for the Field

  1. What are some of the contracts you’ve signed during your life? Have you kept your agreements?
  2. What are some agreements God made with you during your life? Has God kept them?
  3. What agreements have you made with God during your life? Have you kept them?
  4. What new promises do you need to make to God?

Family Field Talk

  1. What promises have you, as parents, made to your children?
  2. What promises have you made to your parents?
  3. Are there any new promises you need to make to each other today?
  4. Are there any promises we need to make as a family to God?
  5. Please consider the possibility of memorizing The Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition as a family.

Prayer Guide

Lord, Jesus Christ, You are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Your promised love never ends. Your presence is with us now. Lord, help us to live in your promised love. Help us share this love. Lord, we break promises to you all the time when we sin, yet your promise of forgiveness is still there. Lord, help me live in your love such that we sin less and grow in your promised love, and thus keep our promises. In your gracious name I pray. Amen.

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