Meeting God

Great God,

In public and private, in church and home,
   may my life be steeped in prayer,
   filled with the spirit of grace and supplication,
   each prayer perfumed with the incense of atoning blood.
Help me, defend me, until from praying ground
I pass to the realm of unceasing praise.
Urged by my need,
   invited by your promises,
   called by your Spirit,
   I enter your presence
      worshipping you with godly fear,
      awed by your majesty, greatness, glory,
      but encouraged by your love.
I am all poverty as well as all guilt
   having nothing of my own with which to pay you back,
But I bring Jesus to you in the arms of faith,
   pleading his righteousness to offset my iniquities,
   rejoicing that he will weigh down the scales for me,
   and satisfy your justice.
I bless you that great sin draws out great grace,
   that, although the least sin
      deserves infinite punishment
      because it is done against an infinite God,
   yet there is mercy for me,
      for where guilt is most terrible,
      there your mercy in Christ is most free and deep.
Please bless me by revealing to me more of Christ's saving merits,
   by causing your goodness to pass before me,
   by speaking peace to my repentant heart;
Strengthen me to keep going after you until Christ
      shall reign supreme within me,
   in every thought, word, and deed,
   in a faith that purifies the heart,
      overcomes the world,
      works by love,
      fastens me to you,
      and ever clings to the cross.