The Call

     A few months ago my husband and I attended a funeral of a Jesuit priest. The funeral was on a Tuesday morning in St. Louis about five hours from our home, so we drove over on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning while in the hotel a friend called saying she had just read a prayer written by St. Ignatius Loyola in 1491 that she wanted to read to me.
   

  She began reading the “Take, Lord, Prayer.”
“Take, Lord, and receive
all my liberty,
my memory,
my understanding,
and my entire will.
You have given it all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is Yours;
Do with it what You will.
Give me only your love and your grace
That is enough for me.”

We left the hotel and entered the beautiful cathedral where the funeral mass of resurrection was to be held. I picked up a card with a picture of the priest and began to read the words on the card:
Take, Lord, and receive
all my liberty,
my memory….

I read the same prayer I had just heard on the phone. You can imagine that this prayer had my attention.

Then it hit me. This “Take, Lord” prayer is the heart of the message of Come to the Fire.Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty. I choose to give up my freedom to decide what I will say, do, or think. I will do all You ask me to do.

Take my memory—those painful memories that only You can heal, memories that have caused me to fail to forgive.
Take my understanding. I choose to be humble and teachable.
Take my entire will—all that I have and call my own. I choose to always desire to please You.

But even as I give You my will, I recognize that my giving it is not enough. You must take it. Without Your help, I cannot fully let go of it. I trust You to take all I give You.

Your love and Your grace are enough for me. I need only You and Your approval.

If you have prayed this from your heart and trusted Jesus to receive what you offered Him, you have Come to the Fire!