Pastor Scotty Smith of Christ Community Church Nashville posted a great prayer on thirsting for Jesus this past Sunday, for the first Sunday of Lent – but it is a good prayer to pray ANY day of Lent.
Here’s an excerpt:
Thirst will not be denied. We’ll do almost anything to satisfy its cry and ache.
Because this is true, we join the psalmist in crying out: Jesus, intensify our thirst for you. Keep us panting like the deer, which pants after streams of water—the unpolluted, un-distilled, never-ending brooks of your grace.
Quickly drain the broken cisterns of our own making. Don’t let us be even momentarily satisfied with any other beverage than the draft you draw, the potion you pour, the life-giving libation you alone can give.
If we take up King David’s lament, “When can I go and meet with God?” you answer back without delay, “Right now, my beloved; do not wait. If you’re thirsty, come to me and drink.” “Whoever believes in me, streams of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38).
If we should say, “But Jesus, where can we find you?” you answer back even quicker, “Not in the law; not in your strivings; not in your labors; not in your penance; not in your earnestness; not in your self-loathing; not in your re-dedications; not in your vain promises; but only in the gospel of my grace.”
You can find more great Lent prayers from Scotty Smith’s Heavanward blog here.