Daily Devotional April 21st - April 25th
5-Day Devotional: The Prayer , Cross And Resurrection.
Monday: The Hour Has Come
Reading: John 17:1–5
1"When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.:
Devotional:
In the shadow of the cross, Jesus doesn’t run or hide—He prays.
He doesn’t ask to be spared—He asks to glorify the Father.
This moment, long anticipated throughout His ministry, is now here.
“The hour has come.”
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus often said, “My hour has not yet come.” But now, the hour of suffering has arrived—and Jesus steps into it not with dread, but with divine resolve. His prayer reveals the heartbeat of heaven: not escape, but obedience. Not survival, but surrender.
This same Jesus defines eternal life not as a destination, but as a relationship: “that they may know You.”
Today, whatever “hour” you’re facing—grief, pressure, transition—know that it’s not too small or too dark for God to use. What if this moment, like Jesus’, is less about getting out, and more about bringing glory in?
Reflection:
What does it look like for you to glorify God in this season?
Are there hard places in your life you need to reframe as holy ground?
Prayer:
Father, help me face my challenges with the same resolve as Jesus.
Let my life—whether in joy or in sorrow—reflect Your glory.
Draw me into deeper relationship with You, where true life is found.
________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday: Sanctified in Truth
Reading: John 17:6–19
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Monday: The Hour Has Come
Reading: John 17:1–5
1"When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.:
Devotional:
In the shadow of the cross, Jesus doesn’t run or hide—He prays.
He doesn’t ask to be spared—He asks to glorify the Father.
This moment, long anticipated throughout His ministry, is now here.
“The hour has come.”
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus often said, “My hour has not yet come.” But now, the hour of suffering has arrived—and Jesus steps into it not with dread, but with divine resolve. His prayer reveals the heartbeat of heaven: not escape, but obedience. Not survival, but surrender.
This same Jesus defines eternal life not as a destination, but as a relationship: “that they may know You.”
Today, whatever “hour” you’re facing—grief, pressure, transition—know that it’s not too small or too dark for God to use. What if this moment, like Jesus’, is less about getting out, and more about bringing glory in?
Reflection:
What does it look like for you to glorify God in this season?
Are there hard places in your life you need to reframe as holy ground?
Prayer:
Father, help me face my challenges with the same resolve as Jesus.
Let my life—whether in joy or in sorrow—reflect Your glory.
Draw me into deeper relationship with You, where true life is found.
________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday: Sanctified in Truth
Reading: John 17:6–19
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Devotional:
Jesus now turns to His disciples—the ones who have stumbled and questioned, but still followed. He doesn’t pray for ease. He doesn’t ask that they be taken out of the world. He asks that they be kept, sanctified, and sent.
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.” In other words, set them apart by shaping them in Your Word.
We live in a world of shifting values and voices, but Jesus gives us an anchor: the truth of God that sanctifies and steadies us for mission.
Sanctification isn’t about perfection—it’s about transformation. It’s not about being pulled out of the world, but being changed within it so that we can impact it.
Reflection:
Where in your life do you need God’s truth to shape you more deeply?
How are you being sent—as a parent, a coworker, a friend, a neighbor—to reflect Jesus?
Prayer:
Lord, sanctify me in Your truth.
Root me in Your Word when the world feels unstable.
Give me courage to stand in Your truth and live sent by Your Spirit.
________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday: United in Christ
Reading: John 17:20–26
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Devotional:
Jesus now turns to His disciples—the ones who have stumbled and questioned, but still followed. He doesn’t pray for ease. He doesn’t ask that they be taken out of the world. He asks that they be kept, sanctified, and sent.
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.” In other words, set them apart by shaping them in Your Word.
We live in a world of shifting values and voices, but Jesus gives us an anchor: the truth of God that sanctifies and steadies us for mission.
Sanctification isn’t about perfection—it’s about transformation. It’s not about being pulled out of the world, but being changed within it so that we can impact it.
Reflection:
Where in your life do you need God’s truth to shape you more deeply?
How are you being sent—as a parent, a coworker, a friend, a neighbor—to reflect Jesus?
Prayer:
Lord, sanctify me in Your truth.
Root me in Your Word when the world feels unstable.
Give me courage to stand in Your truth and live sent by Your Spirit.
________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday: United in Christ
Reading: John 17:20–26
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.
26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Devotional:
Here’s the remarkable part of Jesus’ prayer—He prays for us. Yes, for us. Before the cross, He saw our faces. Before the resurrection, He carried our names.
His final request before the crucifixion? Unity.
“That they may all be one…”
Jesus knew that a divided world would need a united Church. He prayed that our love for one another would be so deep, so supernatural, that the world would see Him in us.
This unity is not uniformity. It’s not pretending to be the same—it’s loving one another across our differences. It’s grace in disagreement and choosing unity where culture often drives separation. And this kind of unity isn’t rooted in preference or personality—it’s rooted in Christ. He is the foundation that holds us together when everything else tries to pull us apart.
Reflection:
Is there someone in the body of Christ you need to forgive, serve, or reconnect with?
How can your life help the world see the unifying love of Jesus?
Prayer:
Jesus, make us one—as You and the Father are one.
Heal divisions. Let Your love be the glue that binds us together,
and let our unity show the world who You are.
________________________________________________________________________
Thursday: It Is Finished
Reading: John 19:28–30
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Devotional:
These three words—“It is finished.”—echo across eternity.
They are not the cry of defeat.
They are the declaration of completed redemption.
Every law fulfilled. Every sin atoned. Every barrier torn down.
Jesus’ final breath was not the end—it was the breakthrough.
So why do we so often live as if it’s still up to us to earn God’s love or prove our worth?
We add weight where Jesus already lifted the burden.
Today is an invitation to stop striving—and rest in what’s already been done.
Reflection:
Where are you still trying to finish in your own strength what Jesus already completed?
Are there areas where you need to stop performing and start trusting?
Prayer:
Jesus, thank You for Your finished work.
Help me to live in the freedom of grace—
not striving, not performing, but resting in Your love and redemption.
________________________________________________________________________
Friday: The Resurrection and the Life
Reading: John 20:1–18
1Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,
7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
Devotional:
The stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty. Jesus is alive.
And who does He appear to first? Mary.
A woman dismissed by society. A heart broken by grief. A voice trembling in sorrow.
But when Jesus speaks her name—everything changes.
The resurrection is not just a doctrine—it’s a declaration:
Hope is alive. Grace is stronger. Death is defeated.
And just like Mary, we are called to carry this message.
She ran from the tomb with trembling joy to say, “I have seen the Lord!”
Now it’s our turn.
Reflection:
How does the resurrection shape the way you face hardship, loss, or fear today?
What would it look like to carry resurrection hope into your conversations and relationships this week?
Prayer:
Risen Lord, thank You for calling my name.
Let the power of Your resurrection fill me with purpose and joy.
Help me to live today as a witness that You are alive, and everything has changed.
23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.
26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Devotional:
Here’s the remarkable part of Jesus’ prayer—He prays for us. Yes, for us. Before the cross, He saw our faces. Before the resurrection, He carried our names.
His final request before the crucifixion? Unity.
“That they may all be one…”
Jesus knew that a divided world would need a united Church. He prayed that our love for one another would be so deep, so supernatural, that the world would see Him in us.
This unity is not uniformity. It’s not pretending to be the same—it’s loving one another across our differences. It’s grace in disagreement and choosing unity where culture often drives separation. And this kind of unity isn’t rooted in preference or personality—it’s rooted in Christ. He is the foundation that holds us together when everything else tries to pull us apart.
Reflection:
Is there someone in the body of Christ you need to forgive, serve, or reconnect with?
How can your life help the world see the unifying love of Jesus?
Prayer:
Jesus, make us one—as You and the Father are one.
Heal divisions. Let Your love be the glue that binds us together,
and let our unity show the world who You are.
________________________________________________________________________
Thursday: It Is Finished
Reading: John 19:28–30
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Devotional:
These three words—“It is finished.”—echo across eternity.
They are not the cry of defeat.
They are the declaration of completed redemption.
Every law fulfilled. Every sin atoned. Every barrier torn down.
Jesus’ final breath was not the end—it was the breakthrough.
So why do we so often live as if it’s still up to us to earn God’s love or prove our worth?
We add weight where Jesus already lifted the burden.
Today is an invitation to stop striving—and rest in what’s already been done.
Reflection:
Where are you still trying to finish in your own strength what Jesus already completed?
Are there areas where you need to stop performing and start trusting?
Prayer:
Jesus, thank You for Your finished work.
Help me to live in the freedom of grace—
not striving, not performing, but resting in Your love and redemption.
________________________________________________________________________
Friday: The Resurrection and the Life
Reading: John 20:1–18
1Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,
7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
Devotional:
The stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty. Jesus is alive.
And who does He appear to first? Mary.
A woman dismissed by society. A heart broken by grief. A voice trembling in sorrow.
But when Jesus speaks her name—everything changes.
The resurrection is not just a doctrine—it’s a declaration:
Hope is alive. Grace is stronger. Death is defeated.
And just like Mary, we are called to carry this message.
She ran from the tomb with trembling joy to say, “I have seen the Lord!”
Now it’s our turn.
Reflection:
How does the resurrection shape the way you face hardship, loss, or fear today?
What would it look like to carry resurrection hope into your conversations and relationships this week?
Prayer:
Risen Lord, thank You for calling my name.
Let the power of Your resurrection fill me with purpose and joy.
Help me to live today as a witness that You are alive, and everything has changed.