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A Prayer about Life as a Nonstop Coming to Jesus Meeting

     As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.1 Pet. 2:4-6

Heavenly Father, I used to think that “coming to Jesus” was a phrase whose meaning is exhausted when we first trust your Son to be our Savior—that magnificent merciful moment of crossing over from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son you love.  For sure, that is the most glorious and essential “come-to-Jesus-meeting” we’ll ever have. How I praise you for showing me how much I needed the gospel, and for giving me the faith to trust Jesus-plus-nothing for my salvation.

But it’s obvious to me now that the whole Christian life is about coming to Jesus. The day we stop coming to Jesus is the day we no longer need grace. We need Jesus today as much as the first day he entered our lives. In fact, we’ll never exhaust our need for what he alone can give. Even as we enjoy life in the new heaven and new earth, we’ll forever discover more and more reasons to give Jesus the worship, adoration, and praise of which he alone is worthy. Father, we arise and come to your beloved Son right now…

Indeed, Lord Jesus, you are the life-giving living Stone for your beloved people; the precious cornerstone of the living temple called the body of Christ; the rock of refuge that’s higher than I am (Ps. 61:2-3); the rock from which God gave water in the wilderness in Moses’ day (1 Cor. 10:1-4). You are the honey-giving rock of whom Asaph spoke (Ps. 81:16), and you are Daniel’s stone, cut from a mountain by the hands of God, which will become an everlasting kingdom of redemption and restoration (Dan. 2:36-45).

Lord Jesus, we exalt you and delight in you. The more precious you become to us, the more we watch our shame melt away. The more we treasure you, the more our other “treasures” become like empty-nothings, fool’s gold, and broken cisterns. The quicker and more often we come to you, the more we realize that it’s you who is always coming to us first. We can’t outdo you at anything except sinning.

Jesus, we come to you right now—we come bringing our thirst to the fountain of your fullness; we bring our misery to the commissary of your kindness; we bring our weakness to the endless supply of your strength; we bring our brokenness to the infirmary of your infinite mercies; we bring our weariness to the oasis of your refreshing affection. We come to you right now, Lord, for enough gospel manna to meet the demands of this one day. So very Amen, we pray in your precious and shame-freeing name.

 

 

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