Get people ready for Christ

Author(s)George Crowder
Date 24 February 2023
Category Sixty days of prayer
Tags Sixty days of prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, 
who at your first coming sent your messenger John
to prepare the way for you;
grant that the ministers and stewards of your gospel
may so make ready your path, 
turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, 
that at your second coming to judge the world, 
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight,
for we ask it in your precious name. 
Amen.  

Momentous events, like a state visit or a coronation, are by nature not often repeated and thus draw comparisons with previous similar occasions.  While there is a sense of expectation for something like the previous occasion, there is also anticipation of something different from it.  With such expectation and anticipation, those who are most invested in the outcome are most active in the lead-up.  They must prepare based on what has gone before, and they must also be ready for a change to come.

There is no more momentous event than the coming of Christ, and his return is equally significant.  

In this prayer we acknowledge that the preparation for Christ’s first coming sets a pattern to follow for the second.  That just as John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ’s first coming by proclaiming a message, so we are called to be ministers and stewards of his gospel.  Just as God foretold the part of John the Baptist through the words of Isaiah, that he would be ‘the voice of one calling in the desert’ (Isaiah 40:3), so Christ himself commissioned all future disciples to ‘go and make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19).

We pray that we can prepare the world for his return based on what has gone before.  To be faithful ministers and stewards of the gospel means to speak of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.  It means to hold to the truth of the gospel and the apostolic word.  Let us say with Paul, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes’  (Romans 1:16).

We pray that we can prepare the world for the change to come.  Christ is returning to judge the world.  When John prepared the way, he did not simply announce his coming, he called people to repentance.  We make ready his path the second time, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, so that we may be found an acceptable people in his sight.

We pray this prayer because we acknowledge that Christ has given us a part to play in his salvation plan, and thus we seek his continued present empowerment for the task.  The hearts of disobedient can only be turned through the power of the Holy Spirit who turned our hearts.  We can only be acceptable in his sight through his redemptive and sanctifying grace.  He is the Just One.  We call on him as we call people to turn to him.  We actively wait on him as we actively wait for him.

So pray this with me:

Lord Jesus Christ, 
who at your first coming sent your messenger John
to prepare the way for you;
grant that the ministers and stewards of your gospel
may so make ready your path, 
turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, 
that at your second coming to judge the world, 
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight,
for we ask it in your precious name. 
Amen.