Here are three simple prayers I would suggest we all pray as we prepare for Easter Sunday at our churches.

1. Pray today not only for your church’s services for Easter… but for other churches in your community. Quite simply, the goal is that people would be drawn to Christ, not just your church. Pray for churches that proclaim the true Gospel of Jesus. Pray that they will be faithful. Pray for churches that do not proclaim the true Gospel of Jesus. Pray that God would convict them and change them so that the Gospel is spread through your community and beyond.

2. Pray that the Gospel of peace found in the risen Savior would be plain and clear and not clouded by the “show”. We pull out all the stops on Easter. We should. But if all the showier parts of our services detract from the Gospel of peace… why are we gathering. PREACH CHRIST. Pray that our churches will be plain and clear with Christ, His life, His death, and His resurrection.

3. Pray for a harvest brought by the Holy Spirit… not your church’s programs and plans. Pray that God will do what ONLY God can do… draw people to Himself. Our egg hunts, music, decorations, services all serve one purpose. NOT growing our ministries. NOT getting the word out about how great our ministries are. NOT having “awesome” worship (since when did we get to decide what was awesome in worship. I thought that was God’s job) BUT the purpose is to present Jesus, and to rest in His power, not our programs, to bring a harvest.

Let’s PRAY TOGETHER today… to PREPARE for tomorrow.