Scripture: Luke
24:13–35
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.
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 about our hearts – three of
the readings speak about different aspects of our hearts – that our hearts may
not be slow to believe, that when we sin we might be cut to the heart and rush
to receive God’s grace, that our hearts might be pure from sin as we live in
Jesus’ forgiveness, and that our hearts would burn with joy and excitement when
we hear God’s Word.
Pray for our neighbors – that we
might love them as we should, that God would draw or hold them close to him in
faith, that they be blessed physically and spiritually, and that they may know
the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Pray that fear and love of God
might work rightly in our lives – that fear would help us cling all the more
tightly to God’s love, and that our love for God would help us desire to do his
will and obey his Word all the more diligently.
Pray for the nations – that God’s
Word would be abundantly active in them, that those who do not believe would be
moved to repentance and baptism, and that God’s justice would prevail in the
relationships of nations.
Pray for those who are in need –
the sick, the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, and the persecuted.
Pray for those who grieve – that
Jesus’ resurrection would comfort them and fill them with hope.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to open
your heart and mind to receive God’s Word, believe it, understand it, and share
it.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer.
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