A Prayer

Father,

You are the God who is near. And that is so good to know. We don't need to hunt for You and hope that, somehow, we will find You. No, You are near. And because You are near we can talk with You and hear from You.

It is so good that we can talk with You. We can ask our questions, express our confusion, lay out our desires, convey our thanks. You are near.

It is so good that we will hear from You. You will answer our questions, dispel our confusion, guide our desires, appreciate our thanks. You are near.

We are so grateful for the kind of relationship that we have with You, a great gift of Jesus. But there is more of You to get to know, more of You to get to enjoy. So, help us to know You better, You, the God who is near. We want this not just because there are more good things for us to enjoy. We also want this because it is as we enjoy You more that our lives will reveal You more. And that will be a blessing to the saints around us who are also getting to know You better. But it might be a blessing to unbelievers around us who have no clue about who You are. Maybe by watching us these lost souls will come and join us in getting to know You better. Maybe they will come and follow Jesus.

It's good to know, Father, that there will always be more to know about You, more to be revealed and more to respond to with great wonder. This will continue even into eternity. You're that big. But help us now to make more progress so that we will experience here more of the life of eternity that has been promised to us.

And now, Father, to that end, we ask for Your blessing on the preaching of the Word. Help us to understand more of what it means that we are Your people so that we can do better at making You look good. Through Christ our Lord Amen.