A prayer against betrayal

Dear Lord Jesus,

Tonight is the night you were betrayed. You had your last dinner with your close friends, and Peter said he’d die for you, and Judas Iscariot slipped out to meet the Pharisees and collect his 30 pieces of silver. Then you took the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with you and for you; you were headed into the greatest struggle in all of history.

Judas kissed you. Oh, the nerve of him!

Then the soldiers took you away for an illegal trial, built on lies and false accusations, while John watched and Peter cursed out the servants for suggesting that he knew you.

How could they could betray you, they who knew you so well and who served with you for three years. If they could betray you, what hope is there for me?

I am unfaithful, fearful, weak, ungrateful, even doubting. I am so unworthy of your unfailing faithfulness and grace. How can I become more resolute?

Lord Jesus, fill me with the Holy Spirit. May I go into garden and pray to you for strength and courage. May I pray for the whole world. Strengthen me and use me. Give me the boldness to endure persecution and mistreatment. And while that happens, help me look to you instead of at my circumstances.

Help me live in the eternal rather than the temporal.

And thank you for your forgiveness–for the many times I’ve already betrayed you and for the many times I will again. But I rest in your strength and your faithfulness!

Amen.