My sheep listen to My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand. (John 10:27-28)
Richard’s Prayer
Richard of Chichester (1197–1253), also known as Richard de Wych, was an English pastor. His dying prayer was adapted for the song “Day by Day” in the musical “Godspell” in 1971. Here is a modernized version of Richard’s prayer:
Thanks be to You, my Lord Jesus for all the benefits You have given me, For all the pains and insults You have borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, of You three things I pray: To see You more clearly, love You more dearly, follow You more nearly, day by day.
Let’s consider the last sentence of the prayer in more detail:
Pray to See Christ More Clearly (Christian Doctrine)
People wonder, “Is there a God? What is He like? Is He wise, loving, and strong? Does He care? Does He hear me when I pray? Can I know Him?” Jesus’ first disciples wondered the same. Philip said: “Lord, show us the Father.” Christ replied, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.”1 When we desire to see God, we should look at Jesus. “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation… All things have been created by Him and for Him.”2
Remember, Christ’s greatest miracle is His incarnation. God’s Son freely left His throne above. Nothing was subtracted, but He added on human nature. He is equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, but Christ didn’t cling to His privileges. He freely came down to save us.3 Let’s pray to know Christ more clearly as we read through the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books are God-breathed and trustworthy witnesses to Christ. We can stake our lives and our never-dying souls on all they tell and show.
Trust wholly in Jesus. Rely completely on His sufferings. Beware of seeking to be justified with God in any other way than by Christ’s righteousness. Faith in our Lord Jesus is sufficient for salvation. There must be atonement made for our sin according to God’s righteousness. Only Christ can make this atonement because He is 100% God and 100% human in one Person. (adapted from John Wycliffe)
Pray to Love Christ More Dearly (Christian Devotion)
A human heart is roughly the size of a large fist. It weighs about 10 to 12 ounces in men and 8 to 10 ounces in women. The heart beats about 100,000 times per day (about 3 billion beats in a lifetime) and pumps about 6 quarts of blood throughout the body. By God’s design, a healthy heart does amazing things, but if it stops working, our whole body shuts down.
In the Bible, the spiritual heart is the command center of our life, the center of our mind, emotions, and decision making. Proverbs says: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”4 Our love for Christ expands as we increasingly appreciate His prior love for us: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice (propitiation) for our sins… We love Him because He first loved us.”5 Let’s pray to love Christ more dearly and study His sacrificial death and His resurrection for us in the latter chapters of the Four Gospels and as prophesied in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, centuries in advance. Love so amazing, so divine, demands our soul, our life, our all! Hasn’t Jesus earned our trust and obedience? Surely He has.
I put my faith in Christ as my Lord and Savior, and asked Him to forgive me and rule my life. From that moment forward, I have had a personal relationship with God through Jesus. I develop in that relationship through Bible reading, prayer, and living my life for Christ. (adapted from Anne Graham Lotz)
Pray to Follow Christ More Nearly (Christian Duty)
The Four Gospels show us that Jesus is looking for full-time followers, not a fan club. Not just people who believe the right truths, but people who pattern their lives after Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was always calling people to follow Him for the long haul.6 J. Gresham Machen said, “Jesus is a Brother to us as well as a Savior—an Elder Brother whose steps we must follow. Imitating Christ is a key part of the Christian life. He is our supreme and only perfect Example.”
When I pray, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me imitate Jesus’ love, joy, and peace; Christ’s patience, kindness, and goodness; Jesus’ faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.7 I ask God to empower me to show Christ’s character in concrete ways to people He sends into my life. We may be the only Bible some people read and the only Jesus some people see.
The Lord Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were under the devil’s power, because God was with Him.8 I ask God to help me do good and do no harm. I can’t heal anyone, but I can ask Christ the Great Healer to give others physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health and wholeness. Praying for people that way and following up with Christ-like acts of mercy toward them is what Christian living is all about. Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it.”9
Character is supreme in life, hence Christ stood supreme in the supreme thing. Jesus is so supreme that, when we think of the ideal, we do not add up a list of virtues. We think of Jesus Christ Himself. The standard of Christian life is no longer a code of conduct, but an ever-living Person. God the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and shape us into Jesus’ character, more and more. (Adapted from E. Stanley Jones)
Here is Richard of Chichester’s prayer again. Please pray it with me:
Thanks be to You, my Lord Jesus Christ for all the benefits You have given me, For all the pains and insults You have borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, of You three things I pray: To see You more clearly, love You more dearly, follow You more nearly, day by day.
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 John 14:8–9. 2 Col 1:15-16. 3 Phil 2:6-11. 4 Prov 4:23. 5 1 John 4:10,19. 6 Matt 4:19; 8:22; 9:9; 10:38; 16:24; 19:21; John 1:43; 8:12, 21:19, and more. 7 Phil 5:22-23. 8 Acts 10:38. 9 Luke 9:23-24.