Good Friday Prayer Guide
Good Friday is a day for remembering Christ’s death on the cross. During it, we mourn the sins that have separated us from God. We grieve the brokenness of the world around us. We then remember that Christ’s suffering on our behalf has paid for our sins.
Use this prayer guide to pray with people you are quarantined with or to pray together online with other Christians.
God Our Rock
This year we have been shaken by uncertainty and fear. We fear losing our health, our jobs, our loved ones. We realize isolation and broken patterns of life. We feel disoriented.
In the midst of these very real uncertainties, we must remember that we can stand on God our rock. The scriptures refer to God as a rock because He is our object of hope. And hope gives us strength to not crumble from loneliness, it brings us stability to rest on God when everything around us looks bad.
Read 2 Samuel 22:2-7:
He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.”
My Hope is Built - Norton Hall Band
Find a truth about God in the passage you can cling to and thank God that it’s true.
Lament
Because God is our rock, our fortress, and our deliverer, it is safe to bring our fears and sorrows to Him.
What fears and sorrows are you personally feeling? Bring them to God
What sorrows and fears are you seeing in those around you? Bring those to God as well.
Lord from Sorrows Deep I Call - Matt Papa and Matt Boswell
We must remember that we are not alone in our fears, nor are we the first to be sorrowed and troubled. Jesus himself felt sorrow and showed us how to pray to God in our sorrows.
Read Matthew 26:36-39
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
The Cross
Though Christ himself felt sorrow, he trusted God’s plan for Him in the midst of pain.
Read 1 Peter 2:23-25
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Spend some time remembering in prayer Jesus’s suffering and death for our sake
Look again at 1 Peter 2:23. What did Christ’s suffering accomplish for us? Spend time thanking Jesus for what His suffering has done for us.
Were You There - Andrea Thomas
Waiting for Joy
The very first Easter was not in a crowded worship space with singing and praising. On the very first Easter, the disciples were locked in their house. It was dangerous for them to come out.
They were afraid. They wanted to believe the good news they heard from the women - that Jesus had risen - but it seemed too good to be true. They were living in a time of such despair and such fear. If they left their homes, their lives and the lives of their loved ones might be at risk. Could a miracle really have happened? Could life really have won over death? Could this time of terror and fear really be coming to an end?
Alone in their homes, they dared to believe that hope was possible and that the long night was over and morning had broken. They believed that God’s love was the most powerful of all, even though it didn’t seem quite real yet.
Eventually, they were able to leave their homes when the fear and danger had subsided. They went around celebrating and spreading the good news that Jesus had risen and that love was the most powerful force on the earth.
This year, we can experience a taste of what that first Easter was like, still in our homes daring to believe that hope is on the horizon. Then, after a while, when it is safe for all people when it is the most loving choice, we will come out. We will gather together, singing and shouting the good news that God brings life even out of death, and that love always has the final say!
This year we might get the closest taste we have had yet to what the first Easter was like.
- JB Wilson, Author
Read 1 Peter 2:4-5
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Today, remember that our sins have been covered. We are right with God, not because of our deeds, but because of the Living Stone--Jesus Christ. And we must remember that Jesus is the Living Stone. The resurrection of Christ gives us hope that we are right with God and will one day be raised with Christ.
Spend some time praising God for being our rock and our salvation.
Praise to You - John Finch