God of hope,

We praise you because we are an Easter people. We stand on resurrection ground. This message, the message of the gospel, gives us endless hope.

We pray for our leaders, that they will lead with confidence in this truth and hold on to the hope that can only be found in you.

Hope that cultivates courage and inspires boldness. Hope that fuels persistence to find solutions to the most difficult problems. Hope that looks expectantly to see what you will do next. Hope that holds all things in perspective.

Lord, help us all to fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.

Thank you for the freedom that is ours because of Jesus, our Living Hope.

Amen

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote:

“a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not … a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do.”

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Read more: Praying for Leaders: Focused Prayer for Those Leading Our Church