Day 13, Saturday: Jesus, My Great High Priest

by Pastor Brian Petak

“Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He did not speak much of what was needed to preach well, but much of praying well. To know how to speak to God is more important than knowing how to speak to man. Not power with men, but power with God is the first thing. Jesus loves to teach us how to pray.”

~ Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, p. 47.

Meditation

Think about what Jesus did for you as you read this out loud:

Let us stand still, and admire and wonder at the love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners; that Christ should rather die for us, than for the angels. They were creatures of a more noble extract, and in all probability might have brought greater revenues of glory to God: yet that Christ should pass by those golden vessels, and make us vessels of glory—oh, what amazing and astonishing love is this!  This is the envy of devils and the admiration of angels and saints.

Thomas Brooks, 17th Century English Puritan Pastor & Author – London, England

Call to Worship

Hear God call you to worship through his word:

 ¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, ¹¹ inquiring what person or time^[a] the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

1 Peter 1:10-12

Adoration

Pray this praise to God:

Jesus, my great High Priest,
offered his blood and died;
my guilty conscience seeks
no sacrifice beside.
His pow’rful blood did once atone,
and now it pleads before the throne.

To Christ, my substitute,
will I commit my cause;
he answers and fulfills
his Father’s broken laws.
Behold my soul at freedom set—
my Jesus paid the dreadful debt!

My advocate appears
for my defense on high;
a gracious Father hears
and lays his thunder by.
Not all that hell or sin can say
shall turn his heart, his love, away.

Should all the hosts of death
and pow’rs of hell unknown
put their most dreadful forms
of rage and mischief on,
I shall be safe, for Christ displays
superior pow’r and guardian grace.

~ Isaac Watts, 17th Century English Pastor & Hymnwriter, author of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Joy to the World”, among many others.

Confession of Sin

Confess your sins to God:

O Lord, let not your law be a curse to our consciences, but rather give us grace under this extreme and heavy burden of sin, to be fully persuaded, that you by your death have taken away all our sins, and fulfilled the law for us, and by this means have delivered us from the curse of the law and paid our ransom; and then, we, being thus fully persuaded, may have quiet and settled hearts, and a free conscience, and glad desiring wills to forsake this wicked world. Amen.

~ Henry Smith, 16th Century English Pastor and forerunner to the Puritan movement – London, England.

Assurance of Pardon

Receive these words of comfort from God:

²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Prayer of Intercession

As you make your requests to God, pray this prayer:

O God, my God, I am all weakness, but you are my strength; I am ever anew bowed down by an trial, but you can and will lift me up. Let me not fail, O God my strength; let me not be discouraged, O God my hope. Amen.

~ Edward B. Pusey 19th Century University of Oxford Professor of Hebrew – Oxford, England

Further Petition

Pray for:

• Personal: pray for the prayer life of those closest to you, that each would experience the nearness of God, and His desire for an intimate and personal relationship.
• Church: pray for those who will be attending the Practicing The Way class on fasting tomorrow, as they continue to engage this important spiritual discipline.
• Community: pray for those in our community who need to experience the hope, healing and freedom that Jesus alone offers everyone, but don’t know it yet.
• World: pray for pastors and church leaders in both North America and South America.

Connect the Heart

Consider the following questions to better connect your head and your heart:

1. What did God show you about Himself through today’s devotional?
2. What did God show you about yourself through today’s devotional?
3. What is something you need to surrender to God today as you pursue greater intimacy with Him?

Benediction

As you close your time of meditation and devotion, receive by faith this blessing from God:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

2 Peter 1:2

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_{Content for our 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting devotionals is adapted from several sources, books on prayer, meditations and liturgies, drawing heavily from O Sacred Head, Now Wounded by Jonathan Gibson (copyright 2024 by Crossway)}