Prayer Guide 05 April 2020

Today is Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday is the day in the church year when traditionally we mark the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem for the last week of His life. As He rode into town on the humble beast, Jesus was not oblivious to what was about to happen to Him. His enemies were going to get the upper hand, and He would be rejected and crucified. And within a generation the city would be obliterated.

Palm Sunday: The sovereign Christ weeps over the hard-hearted, perishing people of Jerusalem as they fulfilled His plan. Jesus was serene in sorrow, and sorrowful in sovereignty. Jesus’s tears are the tears of sovereign mercy. And therefore His sovereign power is most beautiful.

Oh, that we would see and savour the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, that as we admire and worship Jesus this holy week, we would be changed by what we see and become more moved to kindness and not sarcasm and bitterness, that we would be self-denying, and a need-meeting people.

Prayer. Prayer is the means God appoints to accomplish His saving work in the world.

Zechariah 9:9–17 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. For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. The LORD of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.

Read and pray over Psalm 131.

Psalm 131

I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul
A Song of Ascents. Of David.

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

Prayer – Coronavirus

  • Cry to God for mercy. Pray that many would repent and turn to Jesus.

  • Pray for the NHS staff. Pray for mercy for them.

  • Pray for those who are infected by the virus.

  • Pray for all those sick, that they would be healed.

  • Pray for those grieving that they would be comforted.

  • Pray for those in leadership, for wisdom.

  • Pray for safety for one another.

  • Pray for us all coping with lockdown.

  • Pray for those suffering financially.

  • Pray that we would all follow the advice given with good grace.

5 April 2020, prayerJutta DevenishPrayer guide, prayer