palm treesThis Palm Sunday prayer helps us celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem the week before Easter.  Palm Sunday is a good day to pray with joy as we welcome Christ into our lives as our King, our savior and as the Prince of Peace.  Here is a prayer for you that helps us enter the joy of the Palm Sunday Bible verses in Matthew 21:1-9, Mark 11:1-10 and John 12:12-15.

Palm Sunday Prayer

Dear Lord, How amazing it must have been on Palm Sunday to see you coming down to the Holy City amid shouts of joy.  Today we join with the jubilant crowd, thanking and praising you for the great miracles you have done in our lives and in our world.   We want to celebrate by waving palm branches and spreading out our coats to carpet your pathway.

 Mt. of olives signOur faces beam because our hearts are full of gladness.  You are the one we have been awaiting, the savior whom we so desperately need.  We disregard the difficulties of our lives and welcome with gladness your peace.  Our hearts are free as spontaneous praises spill freely from our lips.  We worship you.  We honor you.  We welcome you.  We proclaim you as Lord.

We speak blessings to God for sending you into our lives.  We feel your glory.  We experience your hope and healing power.  We anticipate a world that is heaven on earth where you are our king whom we trust and love.   Come Lord Jesus.  Enter our world in splendor and power today.  Hosanna in the highest.

Yet on Palm Sundays as we take joy in your presence and gladly welcome you as our savior and Lord, we pause with you as you overlooked Jerusalem with sorrow for those who didn’t recognize you.  Just as you saw a whole city and nation that had an opportunity to welcome you but didn’t, we also see so many people around us who are not heeding your invitation to join your Kingdom.

Jesus, we pray that you will open their eyes to you, your glory, your love, your invitation to a new life.  We sorrow for the things that have brought upon themselves and the destructive things that they will bring upon themselves in the future as they drift farther and farther from you.  We pray that they will be able to hear today the great good news, that they will respond to your calling and will embrace you as their savior, the one sent to them to save them from the death of their spirits.

May we become strong witnesses to them of your glory and power.  May they see our joy in your presence and may they be filled with desire to know you because of Palm Sunday and every day when we proclaim the joy of knowing you.   Amen.

Amen.

Scripture:  Luke 19:28-43

Other Holy Week Prayers

Holy Thursday Prayer or Maundy Thursday Prayer: Promises from Jesus

Good Friday Prayer

Holy Saturday Prayer

Easter Prayer Applying the Power of Christ’s Resurrection

Copyright Karen Barber 2013.  All rights reserved.