Holy Week Devotional - Wednesday
Holy Week Devotional Guide – Wednesday 4-8-20
I hope you are continuing on with these daily devotions for Holy Week and they are encouraging your walk with Him. You can spend a brief period of time or a longer period of time with these. They are designed to assist you in your time with the Lord. May the Lord bless you as you meet with Him!
Holy Week is focused on the final week of Jesus’s life on earth and what it means for our faith and lives.
Quiet yourself to focus your attention on the Lord and ask Him to draw near and help you draw near to Him in this prayer time.
Father, please help me focus my thoughts on You and let me draw closer to You and feed on Your presence and Word. Forgive and cleanse my sins and fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I can hear and understand what You are saying and be satisfied in You.
Today’s Gospel Reading - John 13:21-32
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.” His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
Personal Reflection
Jesus spent his last night with His disciples before His arrest before He was crucified. After sharing a meal and washing their feet, He announced that one of them will betray Him, and then revealed it would be Judas. When Judas took the bread from Jesus, “Satan entered into him.” Judas left the door of his heart open for Satan and darkness to enter. This is our warning to guard our hearts and love for Christ.
Have I let evil or darkness into my life? Where am the most vulnerable? Where do I need from the Lord to shut the door and keep it shut? Who might I need to share my struggle and ask for prayer?
A Prayer of Response
O Lord, I know You died because of MY sin. I am weak apart from You. And I know that Satan is a lion seeking to prey upon my weakness. But Your grace is sufficient and Your power is made perfect in my weakness. Please forgive me where I’ve failed to guard my heart against the devil, or maybe even knowingly consorted with his suggestions. Have mercy, Lord, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Just as You used Judas’ betrayal to accomplish our salvation for Your glory, please transform my darkness into light and a testimony for Your glory. In Your name, Amen.
Present your requests to God for yourself, your family, and others He lays on your heart.
Pray for your fellow brothers and sisters and members of our church to be delivered and strengthened against evil and overcome evil with good.
May the One who gave himself for our sins keep our whole spirits, souls, and bodies blameless at His coming, rescue us from the present evil age and every evil attack, and bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom. Amen.