# Devotion Day 6 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Late have I loved you, O Beauty, so ancient and so new, late have I loved you! And behold, you were within me and I was outside, and there I sought for you, and in my deformity I rushed headlong into the well-formed things that you have made. You were with me, and I was not with you. ~St. Augustine* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 86 #### Great Is Your Steadfast Love #### A Prayer of David. **86 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.2 Preserve my life, for I am godly;save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.3 Be gracious to me, O Lord,for to you do I cry all the day.4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.* *5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace.7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you,for you answer me.* *8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.9 All the nations you have made shall comeand worship before you, O Lord,and shall glorify your name.10 For you are great and do wondrous things;you alone are God.* *11 Teach me your way, O Lord,that I may walk in your truth;unite my heart to fear your name.12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.* *14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me;a band of ruthless men seeks my life,and they do not set you before them.15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant.17 Show me a sign of your favor,that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.* #### Scripture for the Day: 1 Timothy 4:1-16 #### Some Will Depart from the Faith *4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.* *A Good Servant of Christ Jesus* *6 If you put these things before the brothers,[a] you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive,[b] because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.* *11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,[c] so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.* #### Reading for Reflection: *Practice comes first in religion, not theory or dogma. And Christian practice is not exhausted in outward deeds. These are the fruits, not the roots. A practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary, who brings the world into its Light and rejudges it, who brings the Light into the world with all its turmoil and its fitfulness and recreates it. (A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Lord Most High *From the ends of the earth* *From the depths of the sea* *From the heights of the heavens* *Your name be praised* *From the hearts of the weak* *From the shouts of the strong* *From the lips of all people* *This song we raise, Lord* *Throughout the endless ages* *You will be crowned with praises,* *Lord Most High* *Exalted in every nation* *Sovereign of all creation* *Lord Most High, Be magnified* ### Closing Prayer *My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. (Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton)*