Today the Church celebrates Easter Sunday: the resurrection of Jesus. We at iHope are professing Christians, and we accept Jesus as our Lord, our Savior, and the Messiah of Israel. His death on “Good Friday” is good because it restored our relationship with God. His resurrection on “Easter Sunday” is a joyful celebration that changed history! God is just, and He counts Jesus’ sacrifice as complete for every person then, now, and forever who follows Jesus. On Easter, Death was defeated, and the only natural outcome was Life. We hope you will pray with us today.

O God! There will never be cause for celebration as big and loud and right as the celebration of Jesus’ obedience to you on the cross and his resurrection to eternal life. The events that we celebrate this weekend are the turning point of history itself! Death defeated; humanity restored; and new Life eternal. Amen! We thank you for Easter Sunday and for the truth and permanence of what we celebrate today. We cannot fully comprehend the awesome nature of what we are celebrating, but we praise you and look forward to the day of Jesus’ return, when we will see you face to face.

We pray for the Church, who is the bride of Jesus, cleansed by his blood. Lord, unite the church to live out Jesus’ command to love each other as He loves us (John 15:12). We pray for our neighbors, family, and friends who do not know Jesus, and we pray for our own open lips, embracing arms, and gospel-proclaiming church bodies. May our feet be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15). Glorify your name, O God. We offer you our lives today as a “living sacrifice” holy and pleasing to You (Romans 12:1). Thank you for Easter! Thank you bringing us into right relationship with you. Thank you for redemption, the atonement given through Jesus the Christ, and our sanctification. Amen.