# Seek Day 4 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Father, You alone know what lies before me this day. Grant that in every hour of it I may stay close to you. Let me today embark on no undertaking that is not in line with your will for my life, nor shrink from any sacrifice which your will may demand. For my Lord Christ’s Sake. Amen. (A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 24 #### The King of Glory #### A Psalm of David. *24 The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,[a] the world and those who dwell therein,2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.[b] Selah7 Lift up your heads, O gates!And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts,he is the King of glory! Selah* #### Scripture for the Day: 2 Chronicles 7:12-22 *12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 17 And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’* *19 “But if you[a] turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you[b] up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”* #### Reading for Reflection: *That practice which is alike the most holy, the most general, and the most needful in the spiritual life is the practice of the presence of God. It is the schooling of the soul to find its joy in His divine companionship, holding with Him at all times and at every moment humble and loving converse, without set rule or stated method, in all time of our temptation and tribulation, in all time of our dryness of soul and disrelish of God, yes, and even when we fall into unfaithfulness and actual sin. (The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Abide with Me *Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;* *The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:* *When other helpers fail and comforts flee,* *Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.* *Thou on my head, in early youth didst smile;* *And, though rebellious, and perverse meanwhile,* *Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,* *On to the close Lord, abide with me.* *Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;* *Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;* *Change and decay in all around I see—* *O Thou who changest not, abide with me.* *I need Thy presence every passing hour;* *What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?* *Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?* *Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.* *I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;* *Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;* *Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?* *I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.* *Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;* *Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;* *Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.* ### Closing Prayer *Lord, I am yours; I do yield myself up entirely to you, and I believe that you do take me. I leave myself with you. Work in me all the good pleasure of your will, and I will only lie still in your hands and trust you. Amen. (The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith)*