When God Visits My Table: A Prayer

Yes, dearest Jesus! I am truly Yours, by every tie which can make me Yours. I am Yours by the gift of God the Father, by Your marriage contract with me, by the Holy Spirit anointing me in You, making me One with You — and in You — before the world.

Yes, generous Lord! I come to buy from You with no money in hand — because I know very well, through Your teaching, that neither the obedience of people or of angels can purchase any connection to You. It is only through Your own precious merits and Your atoning blood.

So now, Lord, possessing You, I possess All Things. I will give up everything else, and forget about everything else, since Jesus is mine, and I am His, in time and to all eternity.

Precious, precious Jesus! I bless Your name that I hear Your voice. Your loud and powerful knocks, by Your Word and by Your Spirit, have made me eager for You to come in.

Put in Your hand, Lord, by the door opening, and open my heart. Give me grace to receive You, to embrace You, to love You, to delight in You, to welcome You.

I would say, in the warmth and desire of my soul, and in the language of Your own most sacred words: ‘Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, everlasting doors, and the King of Glory will come in!’

And what have You promised, Lord, when the door of my poor heart is opened? You have said, ‘I will come in to him, and eat with him, and he with Me.’

Bountiful Lord! Will You really give me the precious privilege of a union with You? Communion with You and Your graces? Will You feed and feast me at my poor house? I have nothing to set before You; I can offer nothing good enough for You to accept. But I hear You say, ‘I am the bread of life, and the bread of God that comes down from heaven. I am All, and provide all!’

Lord, I fall down under a deep sense of my vileness and Your glory, my emptiness and Your all-sufficiency.

Blessed Master! Be my all in all, and let my poor soul feast on Your fullness. Amen.

— Robert Hawker