A Lenten Prayer by Bill Wallof
Father God, as we approach Easter, by your Spirit, turn us towards the cross of your Son, Jesus. Help us to look upon him and live. May he be our only focus in these wanting days of Lent. Turn us away from any darkness that pervades our lives.
Forgive us, Lord Jesus, when we are among people who have “loved the darkness.” In our own attempts to find life on our own, we have been deceived and have done evil. But we now know that there can be no truth within us without our cross. Turn us towards that cross that our richest gain we may count but lost, and our pride might be melted away in the presence of your sacrificial love.
As we hear the good news of Easter, help us to know in our hearts that death is no longer the final word for us. May your resurrection be a source of encouragement and hope as we each live under an inevitable death sentence. Teach us that you sent Jesus to us that we might find our way through the wilderness of decay and death and be led to the fullness of life we see in the resurrection.
We pray for those who struggle with darkness this morning.
-For those who would turn and flee from your presence in temptation believing that there is yet a more fulfilling and easier way than taking up the cross. Deliver us all from the superficiality that comes with living a lie and may we experience the authenticity that comes with doing the truth.
-For those who fight illness and disease. May they hear your word of resurrection in fresh and new ways this Easter. Give them strength to do battle with disease and share in the triumph of life that you have opened to us. Help us all to know that we are not alone in battle but that you are beside us. In having passed through the door of death yourself you can now encompass each with your sustaining patience.
In coming weeks, help us to lift high the cross and the love of Christ proclaim that all might come to adore his sacred name. For it is in his name that we pray, Our Father…
“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but for those we are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
(Prayer by Bill Wallof)