Use this prayer through the questions Jesus asked during his final week to help deepen your church’s Easter celebration.
Full Prayer
Please pray aloud: Heavenly Father, lead my church to answer the questions your Son asked on Holy Week. Open our lips that we may answer you, Lord!
Lead us to the temple where he asks, “Is not my house called a ‘house of prayer for all nations’?” Show us how we have made your church into something else. Show us how we have corrupted your place of refuge for the nations with vain pursuits. That we may confess our idolatry.
Lead us to the Passover meal where he asks, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” Move us to see what it looks like to love those who do not expect it. Show us the service opportunities we have that we consider to be beneath us. That we may confess our selfishness.
Lead us to dark Gethsemane where he asks, “Why are you sleeping?” Show us how we’ve been lulled into sleep by the pleasures and indulgences of life. Show us how we are distracted by the anxieties of the world. That we may confess our slothfulness and be renewed in your urgent and imminent to save the world.
Open our lips that we may answer you, Lord!
—Pray for Your Church
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Lead us to the judgment hall where he asks, “Why did you strike me?” Show us our sin that you laid on him. Show us our known and unknown iniquities, those done and left undone, those done once and those done repeatedly, that have caused him to bleed in our place. That we may confess our rebellion.
Lead us up Calvary’s mournful mountain where he asks, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Show us how it was your will to crush him and to cause him to suffer, in order to make his life an offering for sin. That we may declare your forgiveness.
Finally, God, lead us to the empty tomb where he asks, “Why are you crying?” Show us his resurrection, and remove all our grief. Show us how there will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. That we may declare your victory over death for Christ is risen!
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Some of the Scripture used in today’s prayer: Psalm 51:15, Mark 11:17, John 13:12, Luke 22:46, Luke 21:34-36, John 18:23, Matthew 27:46, Isaiah 53:10, John 20:15
In the middle of praying for your faith or your loved ones, it’s easy to forget to pray for the very thing we all need—the church.
In 52 Prayers for Your Church, you’ll be guided to pray for 52 different aspects of your church. From prayers for volunteers to prayers for the growth of the church to prayers for the building itself, you’ll not only discover new topics for prayer, but you’ll learn how to pray for those topics in a Scriptural and conversational way.
Whether for personal use, or for a Bible study, or for a church–wide effort, your church will be blessed by 52 Prayers for Your Church!
