29.12 | Come, Lord Jesus

Revelation 22

‘He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.’

Revelation 22:20-21

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Come, Lord Jesus.

Let there be no desire more greatly within our hearts. For truly every single thing that we have ever yearned for is held in this prayer.

Every longing for community and for intimacy, for knowing and for being known. Every yearning for deep sharing and hearty laughter, for hours spent in the intimacy of silence and the glory of idle chat. Every longing for joy and dancing, abundant tables and overflowing cups, for gentle song and shouts of delight. For all that is marvellously ridiculous unto the aching of laughter unstoppable and delight so profound it stirs in us tears of wondering awe. Every longing for beauty and adventure, for experiencing the wonders and wildness of a creation that takes our breath away with a holy appetite that at once is fulfilled and grows when we taste it. Every longing for vast moors and craggy peaks, for humid jungles and turquoise waters. Every delight in the microscopic and amazement at the massive.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Every longing to learn and to journey beyond—to learn the mysteries of stars and starfish, of cavernous depths and windy heights, to learn the intricacies of scientific laws and galaxy mysteries, and to dance in the contours of aurora colours on northern horizons.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Every longing for healing and wholeness, to run and climb and leap and spring with the vigour and vitality of a body untouched by sickness and pain and age and scars.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Every longing for a world in which peace rolls like a river and justice is the only and eternal way—of dignity restored and the most despised finding honour beyond all dreams and all imaginings. Every longing for the family of humankind to find the immeasurable love and belonging that can only grow when the Father of all is found at the source and centre of our every way.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Every longing to meet Perfect Love Himself, and to find that in all details of our stories—in our every moment of joy and questions unto our very deepest moments of pain, that our story has most greatly been held in the Father of most perfect, secure, and healing love. Love that holds us in perfect security. Love that heals us in perfect care. Love that frees us in perfect liberty. To learn that before all other things, we begin, and end, in being loved.

Come, Lord Jesus.

For this prayer, my dear friends, is the beating heart of every prayer you have every prayed, for truly every promise of God finds its Yes in Him, and all the yearnings of your heart are myriad manifestations of a homesickness for He who alone is your perfect Home.

For the Story that we have read is His. For the life that we yearn for is found only and ever in Him. And the eternity that awaits will always and only be ushered in the beauty of the Kingdom that is certainly coming.

As we finish this great journey of this year, dear friends, may we land it with eternity longings burning more greatly than ever in our hearts. For truly, such things as we have tasted are merely the foothills of the Kingdom. Beyond these lands are greater lands to come. And so, as we began, so we continue.

Further up, and further in, my friends.

For greater days are yet to come.

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Reflect:

Immerse your heart in gratitude for such coming realities. Turn your longings to thanks for all that is certainly to come.

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Pray:

Come, Lord Jesus,

Into my every thought, and every desire,

Into my every plan, and my every way.

Come, Lord Jesus,

Into every pain that I see, and every pain that I feel,

Into every crevice of this soul, and every thought in this mind.

Come, Lord Jesus,

Until I am made new,

In the wonders of love,

In the flavours of the heavenly,

And in the perfect beauty of Your coming age.

And, Lord Jesus,

As I finish this season of my pilgrimage,

Send me forward into greater things,

For all that I have tasted and seen

Is just the beginning.

Come, Lord Jesus,

In Your mighty Name,

Amen

Old Testament:

Malachi 1-4 | Psalm 150