Category: April

A Prayer about Palm Sunday Wonder  

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double. (Zech. 9:9–12)

Lord Jesus, I’ll exhaust the wonder of this passage as soon as I drink Niagara Falls dry, as soon as I memorize the names of every star you’ve launched into the heavens, as soon as I finish climbing all the Alps in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and France. 

On this Palm Sunday morning, I’m overwhelmed with your humility and your sovereignty. What other king could conquer warhorses and warriors by riding the foal of a donkey? What other king could break the battle bow and the backbone of all warfare by the brokenness of the cross?

What other king could ever replace the politics of tyranny with a reign of peace? What other king would offer his life and death for the redemption and restoration of rebels, fools, and idolaters like us? What other king could possibly make prisoners of sin, death, and “waterless pits” into prisoners of hope? 

Jesus, you are that King. There is no other such king. Who is the King of Glory? It is you, Lord Jesus, and only you. Who is the King of Grace? It is you, Lord Jesus, and only you. Who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? It is you, Lord Jesus, and only you. 

Our joy is great as this Holy Week begins, for you have come to us righteous and victorious. May your cross and your crown continue to free us from other imprisonments so that we may live as prisoners of hope and agents of redemption. We pray in your peerless and priceless name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Very Reason Jesus Came  

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:27–32)  

Lord Jesus, it’s Monday of Holy Week, and I’m deeply moved as I reflect on how profoundly troubled you were as the events of that week began to unfold. There was no doubt in your mind why you came into Jerusalem riding the foal of a don- key. There was great conflict, but no doubt. 

There would be no surprises. You knew what was coming. In a matter of days, you would take the holy wrath of judgment day for all who will trust in you. At the end of the week, your “bruised heel” (Gen. 3:15) would secure the ultimate crushing and “casting out” of the “ruler of this world” (John 12:30)— Satan himself. At the end of the week, you would pay the supreme price that alone guarantees the redemption and “drawing” of men and women from every single nation, tribe, people, and language— a number as great as the stars in the sky, the sand of the beaches, and the dust of the earth. 

For this very reason you came from eternity into time and space. For this very reason you emptied yourself of your glory by taking the form of a servant man— the Lord’s Servant. For this very reason the Father spoke thunderous words from heaven for our benefit. For this very reason you became obedient— even obedient to death on the cross. Understandably so, your heart was greatly troubled, Lord Jesus. 

As the events of our week now unfold, grant us grace to survey the wonders of your cross with greater awe and gratitude than ever. In a time when many in our culture are marginalizing and minimizing, denying or dismissing your cross, may our boasting in your cross grow by all-time exponential proportions. We pray in the beauty and bounty of your most glorious name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Jesus’ Compassion and My Blindness  

As he [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace— but now it is hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:41–42 NIV)  

Dear Jesus, everything about Holy Week reveals the depth of your compassion for sinful, broken people just like me. The tears you wept coming into Jerusalem, even the anger you showed in driving the money changers out of the temple— every encounter, parable, and action gives staggering clarity to Paul’s words, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6–8 NIV). 

Paul was writing about me. I’m the powerless, ungodly sinner for whom you died, demonstrating God’s incomparable and irrepressible love for me. I was God’s enemy when you reconciled me to him through your death on the cross (Rom. 5:10). May I never believe otherwise. 

I would still be blind to what alone brings me peace if you hadn’t opened my eyes to see my need of you and your death for me. The gospel would still remain hidden from my eyes unless you had given me sight to behold you as the Lamb of God who takes away my sin. I can’t and I won’t sneer at a single Pharisee, Sadducee, priest, teacher of the law, or anyone else who tried to trick or trap you during Holy Week. I am just as worthy of judgment as they. 

How I long for the day when I will no longer even be tempted to look for peace, for shalom, anywhere else but in you, Jesus. I yearn for the day when I will see you as you are and I will be made like you (1 John 3:1–3). This is my great hope. Until that day, keep healing the eyes of my heart of all spiritual myopia, astigmatism, or anything else that keeps me from seeing the magnificence of your glory and the full measure of your grace. I pray in your tenacious and tender name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Main Question in Life  

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ?” (Matt. 22:41–42)  

Dear Jesus, it’s Wednesday of Holy Week. The question you directed to the Pharisees, you still put before us: “What do you think about the Christ?” There’s no more important question for us to wrestle with in life. Continue to free us from all wrong notions we have about you—those generated in our fallen hearts; the ones that come to us from the father of lies, Satan; others that simply reveal the wrong and incomplete teaching we have received through the years. 

But what do I think about you today, Jesus? What do I believe in my heart? You are everlasting God, and I am a mere man. I would despair if you were anything less, and I am weary of trying to be more. You are the Creator, Sustainer, and Restorer of all things. You don’t just care about my soul; you care about everything you have made. 

You are the second Adam— our substitute in life and in death. You lived a life of perfect obedience for us, and you exhausted God’s judgment that stood against us. By you, we have been completely forgiven, and in you, we have received perfect righteousness. I humbly stake my life and my death upon what you’ve done for us. Jesus, you are all this and so much more. Eternity will be an endless revelation of your glory and grace. 

But this holy week, what stuns me the most is to realize you are always thinking about us. We are in your heart and on your mind all the time. You are always praying for us and advocating for us before the Father. You’re the One who knows us the best and loves us the most. With fresh gratitude and awe, we worship you. We make our prayer in your gracious name and for your everlasting glory.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Mandate Jesus Gave Us  

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1) 

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34–35 NIV)  

Lord Jesus, as I meditate and pray my way through these Scriptures, I’m quite literally undone. What but the gift of faith can enable me to grasp the wonder of these words and the magnificence of this moment? What but the power of the gospel can enable me to believe and obey them? Grant me both, I pray; grant me both. 

On our calendar we call this day Maundy or Mandate Thursday. It is a day of Holy Week and a day in the history of redemption brimming over with glory and grace. Passover will soon become the Lord’s Supper— your supper. The promises of the old covenant will soon be fulfilled by the blood of the new covenant—your blood. 

Having shared eternal glory with the Father, you now show stunning grace to your disciples. Having loved this ragtag bunch of broken men— who squabbled with each other hours earlier for positions of honor and who within a few hours would all scatter and deny you— having loved them so well, you now show them even greater manifestations of your love. Your disrobing to wash their feet was with a full view to your being stripped naked to wash their hearts and our hearts. What wondrous love is this indeed! How wide, long, high, and deep! 

“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34 NIV). This is the new and never-ending mandate we’re now under as your disciples. Don’t let me ever forget that the measure of your love is not just the basin and towel of the upper room but your cross and your death at Calvary. There simply is no greater love— none. 

Jesus, as my heart comes more fully alive to how you loved me by your death and how you love me now in your resurrection glory, I’ll seek to make fewer excuses for loving poorly and to offer quicker repentances when I do. As you continue to show me the full extent of your love for me in the gospel, love through me to your glory. I pray in your name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about the Good of Good Friday  

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) 

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46)  

Lord Jesus, it’s the day in Holy Week we call “Good Friday.” I’ve always felt conflicted about calling the day of your crucifixion “good.” It seems quite a bit insensitive and self serving. That there had to be a day when you, the God who made us for yourself, would be made sin for us is not good at all. 

But on the other hand, that you would so freely and fully give yourself for us on the cross is never to be surpassed goodness. There never has been and there never will be anything that is more deserving of the appellation “good” than your death for us. 

For out of the same heart and the same mouth came these two cries from the cross: “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34) and “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). The first required the second. The second secured the first. Together, both of them buckle my knees, still my heart, and loose my tongue. 

Yet how can I begin to express the wonder, love, and praise I feel in response to what you’ve done for me on the cross? It’s like wanting to paint the most magnificent spring landscape I’ve ever seen, but with a palate of three colors and both of my arms in a cast. It’s like having a passion to write a great symphony in honor of you but knowing I’m just a kazoo player who doesn’t read music. It’s like desiring to cook you a great banquet with my microwave oven, a loaf of white bread, and a can of processed cheese. 

There’s simply no way I can possibly offer a response congruent to the magnificence of your mercy and the measure of your grace for me at Calvary. So like everything else I have to offer you, Jesus, take my humble praise and purify it, magnify it, and cause it to be a sweet aroma in your heart. No one could ever take your life from you, and I could never find life on my own. Because you were fully forsaken, I am forever forgiven. Because you exhausted God’s judgment against my foul sin, I now live by the gift of your perfect righteousness. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I pray in your all glorious, all gracious name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Resurrection Promise 

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” (Matt. 27:62–64 NIV)  

Jesus, as Good Friday gave way to silent Saturday, the range of emotions following your crucifixion was as broad as the Grand Canyon. I can only imagine the degree of shock and the depth of sadness that filled the hearts of your disciples, your family, and your friends. And yet there were also those who were filled with glee and re- lief that you, “the deceiver,” could no longer threaten their existence. 

As the sun rose on Saturday, no one could have possibly understood that the most undeserved death imaginable would yield the greatest return calculable. As you were nailed to the cross, the written code— God’s law, with all its regulations and requirements— was taken away from us, losing all its condemning power over us. As you drew your last breath, you were actually disarming the powers of darkness and triumphing over all authorities marshaled against the reign of God (Col. 2:14–15). 

No one yet grasped that your mortal punishment would bring our eternal peace, that your fatal wounding would secure our everlasting healing, and that your being crushed would lead to our being cherished by the thrice holy God (Isa. 53). Though they had the Scriptures, they had no clue. 

And yet the chief priests and the Pharisees did remember your promise of resurrection. They weren’t sad about your death; they were mad with fear about the possibility of your life. Having already plotted to put to death a resurrected Lazarus, they weren’t about to indulge a resurrected rabbi. 

Oh foolish, silly, sinful men— they could sooner hold back the rising of the sun than the rising of the Son of Man, the Son of God, God the Son! Resurrection Sun- day was coming, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. The silence of Saturday would soon be shattered with the shouts of Sunday: “The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!” 

Jesus, continue to astonish and nourish our hearts— my heart— with the whole Easter story and the full glory of who you are and everything you have done. I pray in your peerless name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about Resurrection First fruits  

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Cor. 15:20–26)  

Exalted and resurrected Jesus, I offer a threefold “Indeed!” and a threefold “Hallelujah!” early this morning. You have been raised from the dead! Preaching the gospel is not useless; it’s essential. Faith in you is not futile but fertile. We’re no longer encased in our sins; we’re fully wrapped in your righteousness. Those who have “gone to sleep” in you are not slumbering in the void; they are savoring your resurrection glory.

We are less to be pitied than anybody and more to be grateful than everybody (1 Cor. 15:14–19). Because you have been raised from the dead, everything changes, Jesus. You are the first fruits and guarantee of a whole new order— the “new creation” dominion of redemption and restoration. The decay in our earthly bodies will give way to the delights of our resurrection bodies. 

The kingdom of this world has already become, and will be fully manifest as, the kingdom of our God and of you, his Christ. You are already reigning, and you will reign forever and ever. All evil dominions, wicked authorities, and malevolent powers have already been defeated by you and one day will be completely eradicated by you. 

Jesus, your death is the death of death, and your resurrection is the resurrection of all things. Oh, the wonder, the glory, the grace! In light of this great hope, because this gospel is true, free me and my friends from the pettiness and emptiness of living for ourselves. Because of your compelling love, show us how to live for you, for you died for us and have been raised again! Again I shout it, a threefold “Indeed!” and a threefold “Hallelujah!” I pray and shout, in your most glorious name!

Amen. 

A Prayer about My Foolish, Slow Heart  

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25–27)  

Gracious Jesus, of all your postresurrection appearances (1 Cor. 15:3–7), I treasure the visit you paid disheartened friends on the road to Emmaus the most (Luke 24:13–35). That you met with a shattered and shamed Peter was incredibly kind and healing. That you appeared to the apostle Paul, who in his own words was a man unworthy of even being called an apostle, marked him forever. All of us have en- joyed the fruit of that visitation through Paul’s life and writings. 

But I love how you came alongside of the Emmaus men, for I am so much like them. I am a foolish, slow of heart man who constantly needs you to preach the gospel to my heart by the Holy Spirit. How I praise you for your tender forbearance, unlimited patience, and gracefull persistence. 

As you dealt with my brothers, so deal with me. Continue to reveal yourself as the main character and hero in all the Scriptures. Don’t let me read the writings of Moses without thinking about you, Jesus— especially the law. May Moses’s words always drive me to you. For you have fulfilled the demands of the law for me, and you are now fulfilling the beauty of the law in me as the gospel changes me. I don’t want to forget that, even for a nanosecond, lest I lapse into graceless guilt or performance based pride. 

And continue to show me how you are fulfilling everything the prophets have spoken— not just the things concerning your sufferings on the cross and your resurrection from the dead but also all the promises of your present work in the world as a redeemer and restorer. May a vision of your present reign and coming kingdom give me “redemptive heartburn” like that which you ignited in the hearts of my Emmaus brothers. Continue to open the Scriptures to me, Jesus, until the day you return to finish making all things new. I pray in your holy and transforming name.

Amen. 

A Prayer about My Cluttered Spirit and God’s Kindness  

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6–7 NIV)  

Loving Father, I’d be a crazy man to start this particular day without immersing my heart in the truth and riches of the gospel. I already feel a busy, cluttered spirit rearing its ugly head inside of me. Whether it’s poor management or providence, I’m supposed to see more people and get more done than is realistic. The control meister in me is at work, planning my day as though everything is up to me— as though I’m an orphan without a heavenly Father. In short, I really need the gospel today. It’s good to know your mercies are more than a match for my heart today and every day. 

So here’s what I choose to remember right now: you not only raised Jesus from the dead on Easter Sunday, but you raised up all your children in him, including me. I’m seated with him in the heavenly realms, no longer cemented to the earthly way of seeing people and doing things. 

You’ve called me to live today as a man of resurrection, not resentment. All day long, in the coming ages and throughout eternity, you are committed to showing me the incomparable riches of your grace and kindness toward me in Jesus. I do believe this, but not as much as you intend. 

Father, thank you for being so tenaciously compassionate with me. It’s the riches of your kindness, tolerance, and patience that lead me to repent in this very moment. Right now, as your Spirit convicts my heart; right now, with palms up, I both worship you and release my tightfisted grip on this day. 

You will give me all the grace I need to do anything you ask of me today. You will give me all the kindness I need to be kind to the people you are bringing to me. You will give me all the mercy I need to be present in the moment and not anxious about the next thing on today’s schedule. 

At the end of today, you will be the God who yet again worked in all things for my good and your glory. I pray with hope, in Jesus’ centering and freeing name. 

Amen.