Scripture: John
20:19–31
Having had this reading earlier in the week, please resist
the temptation to skim it over (although if you have time for nothing more,
please skim!) and take your devotion time to re-read the Gospel lesson slowly –
maybe even out loud.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to teach you as you read the
Scripture lesson, and ask him to teach you to pray, opening your heart and mind
to pray according to God’s will.
Prayer
On Fridays you will be encouraged to pray for a variety of
prayer requests. The hope is that through these prayer requests we will,
obviously, intercede for those need prayer, and that we will learn to think
more broadly in our prayers. If time is short, you could simply pray the Lord’s
Prayer.
Pray that the Holy Spirit fill us
with faith and hope in the Risen Christ as we await the salvation of our souls.
Pray for joy in God’s salvation.
Pray for the Spirit to sustain
our faith and to purify us when we a grieved by various trials.
Pray a prayer of thanks that we
are blessed to believe even though we have not yet seen the Risen Jesus with our
earthly eyes.
Pray for those who are
unbelieving, as Thomas was, asking the Spirit to open their hearts with faith
to receive the hope of his resurrection.
Pray that the glorious salvation
of the cross and empty tomb move us to praise God for all things; for creation,
redemption, the work of the Spirit, daily blessings, and more.
Pray for faith to rejoice when
we suffer any kind of mistreatment for Jesus’ sake, that we were counted worthy
to suffer for his name’s sake.
Pray that we would obey God
rather than men, and that God would guide us as we deal with the politics of
our day to not be faithful to parties or policies but to follow him as he leads
us in his way through his Word.
Pray for those who suffer
various trials: sickness, sorrow, persecution, loneliness, insecurity, lack of
material goods, a bad conscience, difficult temptations, etc.
Pray for the political leaders
of our day that their work would bring peace and harmony to the world, and that
they in no way would hinder the work of the Gospel.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer.
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