Prayer of John Wesley

I was catching up on my reading of Jesus Manifesto and was reminded of this John Wesley Prayer. It was given by one of the staff at our West Virgina Mission Trip over the summer.

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

One of the things we forget as Christians is that our lives are no longer our own when we give it to Christ, but His. Go figure! We are not only following Him, but He is living and working IN us and we are becoming LIKE Him.

Remember the WWJD (what would Jesus do) bracelets? I had two or three of them. In college I learned that they could also stand for "we want Jack Daniels" depending on the conversation. They had good intentions but they were based on thinking about following a certain way, certain process, and examples. Anyone can try to follow the teachings and ways of Jesus without being a Christian.

When you are completely in love with Jesus and realize that He is living on the inside of you; the question changes. It moves from, "what would Jesus do" to "what will I do?" What will I do in light of this gift I have on the inside of me and with this love I have for the One who has rescued me from death. Don't try to behave...just be.

Paul said it like this

Galatians 2:19-20
So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. ²⁰ My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless.