Most Gracious God in Heaven, at the start of Holy Week, we reflect with great gratitude and sadness at what our rebellion, sin and iniquity led to on that Friday, almost two thousand years ago. On a hill far way, as the old rugged Cross exacted brutality and pain from the Suffering Savior, You brought one Final Atonement for all the sin of all the world, past, present and future.
Lord, Your Great Son, Creator of Heaven and earth, bore our sin and shame and carried our pains. He was afflicted for the terminal illness of the consequences of our sins. He was persecuted, flogged and then pierced through for our rebellion. He was crushed for all our outrageous iniquities. But by His Wounds, we were healed. By His Stripes He brought us the roadmap to redemption. By His Sacrifice, we were exonerated from paying a massive debt, for which we had absolutely no hope of even paying the interest.
Father, as the Lord Jesus set His Mighty Eyes towards Jerusalem and never wavered, may WE never waver from our commitment to serve, honor and obey You, as the Bride of Christ we have been set apart to be.
May we, as joint heirs with Christ in the Eternal Kingdom, resolve to set our hearts in motion to love You with all our mind, body and soul.
May our feet be planted on the solid ground of the Gospel of Jesus and the Word of God, which stands forever in the Heavens.
May our hands reach out and serve the least of these and never grow weary from doing good, from our homes to the hopeless.
May our ears listen to the clarion call from the Word of Truth to be ye Holy, as YOU are Holy, so we will not stray from the narrow paths of righteousness.
May our eyes see You in all creation as we worship You in Spirit and in Truth, as one day, even the rocks will cry out.
May our mouths proclaim the Salvation of the Lord, wherever we see the lost, hurting and those who need a hand up or a hope whispered.
May the Sacrifice, which comes at the end of the week which changed the entire course of human history, not be trivialized but studied to show ourselves approved.
May it be honored so that we do not grieve the Heart of the Lord and the Holy Spirit.
May this same Sacrifice by the Good Shepherd Who rescued His wayward sheep, be passed down not just to generations not yet born, but the living who grew up in homes where the Name of the Lord is not well known or revered.
Father, so, as we remember the Savior's suffering and persecution, may we as Christians, even venture to call our current sufferings - our jewels!
May we regard suffering for Christ a significant honor.
May the griefs we endure be the fuel for a life symbolized by perseverance.
May our sorrows and troubles be seen in light of Who He is and What He did for us, for on that great and glorious Day, when we see Him - face to Face - all things which are now murky as in a mirror, we shall see Him as He is - the King of Heaven and the Lord of all.
For it is in His Mighty, Strong, Delivering, Powerful, Liberating and Excellent Name we pray - Amen and amen.
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