Prepare our hearts
This is an excerpt from the free new resource, Our Certain Hope: Prayers for Lent and Easter. Receive the full prayer book through Carmen’s monthly newsletter, Keeping up with Carmen.
Lord of all Creation, we bow before You this day awed by the verdant beauty of the world you created. While there may be days blanketed by clouds, You likewise bless us with a radiant sunset and awaken us from the darkness into the newness of another sun kissed day.
Keep us ever mindful that rainbows require rain and sunrises require the darkness of night – so that as we enter more deeply into the season of Lent, as we move with Jesus toward Jerusalem, as Calvary comes into view, as death draws near, we will be able to see the glimmer of Easter and the hope of resurrection.
We come before You, Lord, with hearts and minds that are heavy for those we love whose lives are not all that they desire them to be. We pray for them the gracious gifts of health, hope and a hand to hold. We pray for those who are lonely, a friend to come alongside. We pray for release and rescue for those who feel as if they are drowning in the swirling chaos of modern life. For those, Lord God, whose bodies are wracked by disease and pain, we pray for Your miraculous healing touch. Come, Lord Jesus, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, as the Great Physician, heal every infirmity and relieve every concern.
Give each of us, Lord, the surpassing gift of Your peace and the certain hope of resurrection to newness of life in Jesus Christ. Indeed, send us forth from this place as your agents of grace in the world that we may be to others salt and light, leaven and hope.
Amen
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
– 1 Peter 1:3-5
