Dear Lord Jesus Christ,
The Father has given me to You, making me forever belong to Christ—how immensely gracious I am! Believers often say that You exchanged the bitter cup for a cup of blessing for us. But how many truly know or feel the loneliness, weariness, poverty, and burden-bearing that the Son of Man experienced on earth? You were despised, rejected by men, deeply afflicted, acquainted with grief, bore punishment, and were stricken by God. Who truly feels that the chastisement You endured was for our peace, and that the wounds You suffered were for our healing? What does it mean to be oppressed yet silent? What does it mean to be like a lamb mute before its shearers? Lord, let me know this—let me grieve whenever I recall the persecution the Son of Man endured. But even more, let me know that all the Son of Man did was out of love for me. Let me be sorrowful, yet not despairing, for God does not want us to despair, but through His beloved Son, to escape the despair of eternal destruction. This beloved Son became the Lamb of God, accomplishing the atoning sacrifice; through His death on the cross, He secured our life.
I rejoice in the victory of Jesus Christ, and I am willing to take up my own cross and follow Him. May my new birth become God’s delight; may my testimony become the Lord’s comfort; may the grace I have received become a blessing to others. May the glorious cross of Jesus be the cross that all believers long for, as we lift our eyes and walk onward with the Lord. And may the peace and joy we display draw all peoples to become disciples of the Lord.
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!
en yan hua fang 