Good Friday Prayer
[Jesus death on the cross allowed us entry before the throne room of God to make supplication and entreaties before our heavenly Father. This prayer is for our church body; that God would be faithful to fulfill what Christ has earned on our behalf. It is in light of Christ’s death we plead before God for help in our time of need.]
O great and majestic King of the Universe, our benevolent Father and lover of our souls:
On this anniversary of the sacrifice of Your Lamb upon the altar, the sacrifice made in Your heavenly temple by our great High Priest and King, we lift up this prayer to You.
We come together in unity and love, being of the same mind and of the same purpose. We have celebrated the communion table and we remember Your covenant which You initiated and made with us and sealed with the blood of Your Son.
We come to You as Your people and as Your children to make three requests before your throne.
The first is this:
Give us desire to value your glory
You are the most-high God. Creator of the Universe who gives breath and life to all living things. All things are created by You and for You.
Your throne is majestic, high above all other thrones. Nothing can stand against You. In Your hand is all-power and Your wisdom knows no end. Your works are pure and good. Your ways are exceedingly righteous.
Nothing is too great for you to accomplish.
At the command of Your word, the mighty angels obey. You speak, and the lightning goes forth and the whole earth trembles. You bring the sunshine by day and the moonlight in the evening. Your ways are marvelous and your power knows no boundaries.
Your holiness is to be celebrated and magnified. There is no glory like your glory.
God hear our prayer: Open our eyes to see the immense value of Your glory and work in us to desire Your glory above all things.
Our second request is this:
Give us a hatred for sin and a thirst for righteousness
As we look into Your word, we realize where we have came from.
We were unworthy of Your goodness. You commanded us to be good and we sought our own evil ways. You instructed us to be loving and instead we despised and scorned. You sought to feed us goodness out of Your loving hand and we turned away to feed upon rubbish.
Our greatest sin is not to value Your infinite worth. We chose to stick our faces in dry dust and feed upon filth rather than drink from Your fountain of living waters and eat the bread of life from Your hand. We committed the sin of unbelief.
We were your enemies, children of evil loving darkness and hating the light.
We were weak and unable to save ourselves. Our sin accumulated a debt we could not pay.
You weighed us in the scales of justice and we were found wanting. You, the Almighty Judge of the living and the dead, are right and just. You must judge that which is evil and you must condemn the wicked.
We see how from scars caused by of thorns and whips, from the imprint of nails, and from the blood spilt on the ground how You rightly judge sin.
Open our eyes to fathom the horror of our sin that put Christ in the grave. And as we contemplate the horror, make us to hate our sin with a holy hatred. Let us never desire to stray into the darkness; don’t let us enter our secret corner of sin. God, please remove the fuel for our sin.
Save us from our propensity toward evil. Create in us a heart seeking purity and godliness. Make us inclined toward Your gates. Cause us to find our satisfaction and fulfillment at the table of holiness.
God hear our prayer: Give us a hatred for sin and fill us with an insatiable hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Our third request is this:
Make us able to comprehend the love of Christ and to be a people abounding in love
Because of Your great mercy and grace, you revealed to us the depths of Your love. Your grace displayed in Christ is inexhaustible.
You did not spare Your beloved Son, Heaven’s Pearl of great price. You have not spent rubies or diamonds, gold or silver for our redemption, but You spilled His blood for the cleansing of our souls.
Christ willingly paid the price we could not pay; He bore the wrath which we could not bear; He lived the life we could not live.
He exchanged His glory for our wickedness; His beauty for our hideousness; His purity for our filth; His righteousness for our sin.
Nobody has loved us like this before.
Such love is amazing and deep. It is a love which the angelic hosts look upon and worship. Christ’s love is an everlasting love, and a selfless sacrificial love.
God hear our prayer: Make us able to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ and to live as a people abounding in love.
Hear our prayers God of Glory
Your glory fills the heavens and our prayer asks for you to be faithful to Your glory.
We know you to be compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; You have shown us much lovingkindness and have forgiven our iniquity, transgression and sin; yet we also know You will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
We ask great things of a great God.
Answer us from Your throne, not because we have earned Your favor for we are nothing before You. Answer us because we come to You in the name of the One who has gained us entry to go boldly before Your throne of grace. We ask in the name above all names; the name written on our hearts. Jesus paid the price for our requests with His blood. Listen to the One who intercedes on our behalf at Your right hand. Hear our prayer for the glory of His name.
All God’s people said … Amen
