Wednesday Prayer Note #8 - Perfect Freedom

Prayers of Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

These prayers are extracts from Augustine’s Confessions.*

Almighty God,

in whom we live and move and have our being,

you have made us for yourself,

so that our hearts are restless till they rest in you;

grant us purity of heart and strength of purpose,

that no passion may hinder us from knowing your will,

no weakness from doing it;

but in your light may we see light clearly,

and in your service find perfect freedom;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Eternal God,

the light of the minds that know you,

the joy of the hearts that love you,

the strength of the wills that serve you;

grant us to to know you that we may truly love you,

so to love you that we may fully serve you,

whom to serve is perfect freedom;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The idea that stands out to me in these prayers is that serving the Lord is perfect freedom. It seems like this is an important thought to Augustine. But is he combining opposite ideas: freedom and service?

What do you think about it? Is it a contradiction of terms to be a Free Servant? In a typical way of thinking those are opposite terms, but not for the child of God. For us, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are learning that real life and perfect freedom are found in serving the Lord and seeking his will above our own.

Jesus taught us, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24,25)

We gain real life by willingly giving up our selfish ambitions for our own life. We find perfect freedom by willingly becoming a servant of the Lord.

This is an important part of our prayer life, too. It is the time we say to the Lord, “My life is yours. I am your servant. And I know that serving you brings real life.” Perfect freedom.

Let’s take this example of prayer from Augustine, which I believe reflects the prayer life of our Lord Jesus, and open up our hearts to experience fullness of life by fully giving over our lives to serving God.

We have set aside Wednesdays as a Day of Prayer for us to seek the Lord’s wisdom and guidance in the important decisions facing our church family. Many of us will be spending time in prayer at 12:00 noon on Wednesdays. Would you join us?

*2000 Years of Prayer, compiled by Michael Counsell, p. 30.