Lift Off! 40 Days of Sacrifice - Day 01
John 19:28-30
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
After enduring the kind of grueling pain no man has ever experienced as He was beaten, tortured, humiliated, and nailed to a cross, Jesus came to the end of His earthly life. He had taken the full weight of mankind’s sin on his spirit and body so every one of us could find eternal freedom from sin. John 19:28-30 describes the final seconds of Jesus’ life. After taking a drink on a sponge, Jesus spoke His final words, “It is finished.” He bowed His head and died. It was done. Everything Jesus was sent by God to do was done. History had been changed. Not only were numerous prophecies fulfilled in that moment, the debt of sin was also paid in full on the cross.
The good news was Jesus’ work was finished. The bad news is that you haven’t finished. If you’re reading this, that means you have unfinished business. There’s more God wants to do in you and through you. We all have unfinished business. Paul describes life in 2 Timothy 4:7 as a race. We all have a lot to do before we finish our race. Jesus finished His race and bought our salvation as a result. Now it’s our turn to focus and take care of our unfinished business.
(excerpted from https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/914-read-letter-day/day/10)
We've made it! 40 days of prayer focused on the refugee crisis plaguing our world today. We hope that you've been well informed and prayerful in this desperate time. May we continue to pray even though this campaign has come to an end. But we also know that the work in us and in the lives of the struggling refugees is not over. Pray that God would finish the work started in the lives of those displaced, those that have just started to flee, and those that have stayed in the country of Syria. Pray that God's work would also be finished in the ministries and Christians working toward resolution and aid in Syria. And pray that God would finish the work started through this prayer campaign--that we would continue to unite with the hearts of the lost. Pray that God's saving work will be accomplished through our prayers.
Even though this Lift Off! prayer challenge is over, take a moment the rest of this week to review the past days and continue to pray. There's still a week before Easter Sunday, so let's continue the work of prayer that has been started these 40 days to keep praying this week and even beyond. Thanks for praying!
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