Wednesday is for Prayer
I’m beginning my own preparation for Lent and Easter today, two weeks before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, February 13. I want my heart to be broken again by the magnitude of my sin and need for a Savior, so that the wonders of Passion Week and the glories of the cross might lift my soul with new resurrection power on Easter morning. Spurgeon said it this way, “I am never more happy than when I am at the foot of the cross weeping over my sin.” May your own Easter preparations renew your spirit and make you bold for Christ. [The following is excerpted from the book, Experience the Passion of Christ.]
Matthew 26:36-46; mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46
A lonely place filled with shadows overlooking the City of David, the place from which Jesus had sent two of His disciples to prepare the room for the Passover celebration—that is the place of His agony in the garden.
Here He asks His disciples to pray—but they did not pray.
Here He prays for the cup to pass—but it did not pass.
And here He asks that the will of the Father be done—and the will of the Father was done.
For Isaiah wrote (Isaiah 53:10a):
But the Lord was pleased to crush Him,
putting Him to grief;
That night He was crushed for you.
While His disciples slept, His betrayer came.
You won’t sweat blood as you meditate on the suffering of Christ on your behalf. But you can try to imagine the anguish of Christ as He contemplated laying His life down for you in the mystery of His sacrifice for us all.
Lord Jesus,
my heart runs away from suffering
like water down a hill.
I shrink back from suffering
at nearly every chance.
But You willingly took upon Yourself my sin.
Your love for me is amazing
and my spirit is bowed in awe of Your matchless sacrifice.
Thank You for the wonder of Your love.
Thank You for laying down Your life for me.
Help me to live the whole of my life for You.
In Your steadfast name, I pray.
Amen.
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