Genesis 3:16-19
To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Gracious God,
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ and also my dear Father, I thank you that you have permitted me to see another Lenten season, during which I am privileged again to meditate on the Cross of Christ with its many comforting spiritual lessons. May this holy season bring me rich personal blessings. Cause the message of the slain Lamb of God to impress upon my heart and mind the awfulness of my transgressions and to lead me to Calvary for pardon and peace. Lead me to see that my sins caused His great agony in the Garden; that my transgressions nailed Him to the Cross of Calvary; that He was forsaken by His own that I might not be forsaken by you; that He died so that I might not die eternally.
O Lord Jesus, grant that especially during this sacred season the story of your wondrous love for me may draw me closer to you so that in gratitude for your great love I may rejoice in my redemption, walk with you in willing obedience, and follow your example of love and sacrifice.
O Holy Spirit, during this Lenten season grant all Christians a double measure of your outpouring to arouse the indifferent listeners, to stir up the lukewarm, to encourage the timid, to assure the doubting, to calm the disturbed, and to console the sorrowing. May troubled souls everywhere by the message of Lent be led to sincere repentance and trusting faith in the Cross of Calvary, so that, dying to sin, they may live to you now and forever.
(Taken from My Prayer Book, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO)
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