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A Prayer for Good Friday (this week)

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O LORD, my God and Savior –

Mockery was a great ingredient to your woes.
Judas mocked You in the Garden;
the chief priests and scribes laughed you to scorn;
Herod set you at nought;
the servants and the soldiers jeered and harassed you with brutal insults;
Pilate and his guards ridiculed Your royalty, even though it was truth;
and on Your cross—where you bled through your hands, your feet, your brow—all sorts of horrid jests and hideous taunts were hurled at You.

Such ridicule is always hard to bear, but all the more when we are in intense agony.
And all the more when it is so heartless, so cruel, that it cuts us to the quick.

As I picture you hanging on Your cross, my great God and Savior crucified, I cannot bear the thought. Your frail and beaten Self was racked with anguish far beyond all mortal guess. A motley mob wagged their heads and thrusted out the lip in bitterest contempt and insult toward you, a suffering victim. So humble a Savior!

O Jesus, “despised and rejected of men,” “acquainted with grief and sorrow,” how could You die for men who treated You so ill, so poorly, so horridly? How? Herein is love so amazing, love divine, yes, love beyond degree! We, too, have despised You in the days of our own unregenerate state, and even since our new birth we have set the world on high in our hearts, and yet You bled to heal our wounds and died to give us life.

Oh, that we could set You on a glorious high throne in all men’s hearts! We would ring out Your praises over land and sea till men should as universally adore as once they did unanimously reject.

Your creatures wrong You, Oh sovereign LORD! And yet, Your grace comes down to us like a river from that Cross. You died and rose again that we might do the same. So we run to you, from the foot of that cross to the foot of Your throne, hearts bursting forth with thanksgiving and praise, “Oh God, take me! Like You there is no other! My life is purchased and Yours!”

(adapted from Charles H. Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional which is available free at the Blue Letter Bible website, along with many more Spurgeon resources.)

Comments

  2. 61 Resurrections Sunday ago I heard the gospel and Jesus came into an 8 yr old’s life today He is in me a part of me He lives in me to live His life through me and that awesome miracle was the work of the Cross. Pro. 3, palms 91 the whole Bible seals the life of Christ in us. Oh what a glorious Savior that poured all the vile into Himself so that we can live a glorious life here and now and join Him at the Wedding supper no words can convey Jesus thanks a zillion times a trillion. Be glorified this Resurrection Day like non other. dgc

  3. Father God, may your name continue to be praised, lifted up and to be adored among all men and all people of this earth. We thank Lord God for this great sacrifice that you made on all our behalf, without which we could have all perished. As we lift you up from the earth through our prayers, praise, worship and obedience to you, you promise to draw all men unto you. We need you now more than ever. The world is in chaos and such broken state, lives are in turmoil and many continue to be lost through the ungodly systems of the world. But our prayer is that you be glorified now more than ever before. Thank for for healing and deliverance again, in Jesus name. Amen.
    (YIW)

    • ” For if they do these things in a GREEN TREE, what shall be done in the dry!” Luke.23:28-31.Jude.1:12.
      ” ALWAYS BEARING ABOUT IN THE BODY THE DYING OF THE LORD JESUS, THAT THE LIFE ALSO OF JESUS MIGHT BE MADE MANIFEST IN OUR BODY.”
      Abundant grace be with you all.
      Poor and needy one,
      mathew

  4. I don’t understand the “Jesus”-thing. I know that this is supposedly an important person, but I don’t overstand why? A Savior from what? I thought Jehovah and Jesus were separate? Everytime I seek to find out, I am given a boat-load of scriptures and books, but it still doesn’t really clarify my question. It also seems like everyone has their own interpretation. I mean, this holy and sovereign Lord of the heavens and earth…that’s really deep. Are we glorifying it as we pollute the earth and stuff? Why listen to Paul? Does anyone know Greek to help break this whole thing down for me?

    • I am an MK too, so I can help you. Paul is a demonstration of the truth of the Gospel.
      MK, do you believe in the historic fact of the sacrifice of the cross? What does the word ‘religion’ mean? Only the Genesis story explains the Re- in religion or re-conciliation, or Re-generation.
      Something happened, and we are in trouble, deceived, so we need a rescue, like the Jessica Lynch episode!
      Hence we need a Savior, salvation.
      Now, it takes THREE (3) to make a sacrifice.
      1) Offerer 2) Offering & 3) Officiating Priest. Father, Son & the Holy Spirit (Heb.7:1; Heb.9:14).
      God the father sooo loved the TRUTH, that He gave His only Son in exchange for the original lie. God is God of truth. But this God is One and Three at once, like a very fast reversible reaction! Hear,O,MK..Deu.6:4; Mark.12:29. Jehovah & Jesus speaking the selfsame thing.Hope that will convince and convict you, MK. It is all the grace of God, humble yourself and Jehovah Himself will talk to you, teach you.
      Grace be with you.
      Poor and needy one,
      MK

    • MK, it is wonderful that you are asking these questions! A knowledge of Greek, etc. is not really necessary, although of course helpful, but that can over-complicate what faith and the gift of salvation truly is. I hope this can answer some of your questions:
      Our need for a Savior began when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden. That is referred to as “the fall of man” because what was sinless became sinful when they decided that they knew better than God and disobeyed him.
      Since then, humanity has had a sinful nature. We all act on our sinful desires and temptations. The Bible explains that the wages of sin is death – meaning that the punishment for any sinful act should really be death and an eternity spent in hell. That is how much God hates sin! In the Old Testament, we see that a sacrifice of some kind was needed as a ‘payment’ for the people’s sins. They would often sacrifice animals to accomplish this. But we could never sacrifice enough animals for all of the sins we commit!
      BUT, then came our Savior in the form of Jesus (who is still God, but in the form of man). God knew that humanity needed a Savior because we can’t possibly redeem ourselves and keep ourselves from hell. God loves us so much that he was willing to give his Son as the ultimate sacrifice to pay for our sins once and for all. God freely gives this gift of salvation to anyone who will believe. We must first humble ourselves and confess that we are sinful beings in need of a Savior. Then put our trust in Jesus and have faith that He is the one who will forgive our sins and grant us an eternity in heaven with Him. It’s as simple as that! If you have a personal relationship with your Savior, you strive to live for him every day.
      I encourage you to find a Bible-believing church and go ask more questions if you need to. They would be happy to talk with you!
      -Also, to quickly answer your other questions – Jehovah is another name that the Jews in the Old Testament gave to Lord. It means “I AM”, meaning that He is the one and only true God. The Trinity (which can be confusing) is made of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are all one being but manifest themselves into three separate beings as well.
      -Also, Paul and the other writers of the Bible were inspired by God. They all wrote the words, but God inspired, or told them, what to write. So we can believe what they all said because those words are actually God’s.
      The book of John in the Bible is a great place to start reading to find out more! I hope this encourages you to keep seeking our Savior!