As we approach Easter, a time of profound reflection and renewal, I invite you to join me, Jo, on a journey into the heart of Holy Week. This special Friday episode promises to enrich your spiritual walk, equipping you with insights and reflections to deepen your Easter experience. We'll begin in Bethany, contemplating the deeply symbolic act of Mary anointing Jesus and the crowd's varied reactions to His miracles, as described in John 12. As we navigate these pivotal moments, I'll encourage you to engage with the scriptures personally and seek the revelations God has in store for you.
With prayerful consideration and a focus on gratitude, we'll strengthen our fellowship, especially among Sisters in Christ, as we prepare our hearts to accept the Easter blessing. I look forward to sharing this space with you, where together we will uplift one another, fostering encouragement and hope as the spirit of this sacred week resonates within us.
As we approach Easter, a time of profound reflection and renewal, I invite you to join me, Jo, on a journey into the heart of Holy Week. This special Friday episode promises to enrich your spiritual walk, equipping you with insights and reflections to deepen your Easter experience. We'll begin in Bethany, contemplating the deeply symbolic act of Mary anointing Jesus and the crowd's varied reactions to His miracles, as described in John 12. As we navigate these pivotal moments, I'll encourage you to engage with the scriptures personally and seek the revelations God has in store for you.
With prayerful consideration and a focus on gratitude, we'll strengthen our fellowship, especially among Sisters in Christ, as we prepare our hearts to accept the Easter blessing. I look forward to sharing this space with you, where together we will uplift one another, fostering encouragement and hope as the spirit of this sacred week resonates within us.
Now get out into the world and be a woman who intentionally encourages another!
#women #podcast
Speaker 1:
Good morning encouragers. It's Jo from Encourage Her Community Podcast. Welcome back to Encourage Her. You might be wondering why, if you're a regular follower, there's a Friday podcast being uploaded. Well, there's a really special reason for that.
Speaker 1:
I've been praying about the podcast and upcoming series to do and I really felt led to do something for Easter. I feel like there are so many opportunities and emphasis and focus on Advent at Christmas time and I love it and it really prepares your heart for Christmas and gets you remembering the truth and the Christmas story, all of it. And yet at Easter I don't know if it's just me, but I tend to have less of that in my life and I want to have more. So I wanted to encourage you as well in that, preparing our hearts for Easter. Easter and Christmas are not just one day of the week, right, they're part of a huge story. They're part of our story and Easter is so incredible. So I wanted to kind of slow down Easter for us a little bit. Help us to be more intentional, get us into the Word of God and the truth and then have us pray each day and really try to kind of picture ourselves going through Holy Week. So I don't really believe in inventing or reinventing the wheel if I don't need to. There are a lot of great things out there and I was able to find a resource through Christianitycom which is a free download. I'll put the link in the show notes so you can follow along if you want.
Speaker 1:
We're just gonna go through the week. This resource I found actually started on Palm Sunday and I wanted to go back a little bit further. So I'm gonna actually start today in Friday and Saturday, meaning Friday and Saturday, right before Palm Sunday. So if you're listening to this in real time, you're listening to it on Friday and you'll get Saturday as well to listen to it, and then we'll roll right into Holy Week, starting on Palm Sunday. So I'm gonna be reading from John 12 and this little rhythm, this little series will do. It will be a brief prayer at the beginning, a reading from scripture about that day of the week and then a closing prayer.
Speaker 1:
And my encouragement for you would just to be as present as possible as you listen. Maybe if you could take a walk or if you could sit on a chair with a cozy blanket and listen in You're driving in your car, to try to really focus, and maybe even before falling asleep at night would be a good time too. Some time when you feel like you can really kind of take it in would be great. And then getting into the scripture. If I mention a scripture like John 12 today, go back and reread it for yourself. See what God has for you in this day. Thank you for joining me, and I'm excited to get through Holy Week together and really just be more mindful and more present. I'd love to hear how you enjoy it and, again, the resource I'm using is from Christianitycom. I'll be reading it to you for the most part, add living where I feel led to, and just want to give them credit for that. That's just awesome. Alright, ladies. So here we go.
Speaker 1:
This is just the kickoff podcast for the rest of the Holy Week, so we're going to start off in Friday and Saturday. As I said, I'm going to pray to open us up, but I want to remind you, before I pray, the events of Friday and Saturday. On Friday and Saturday, jesus would have entered Bethany, mary, the sister of Lazarus, and Martha would have anointed Jesus with an expensive ointment. A crowd would have begun to appear. This crowd were generally a Jewish crowd, people who had either come to follow Jesus or those who were coming to see Jesus in real life person because they'd heard about him. And there was another part of the crowd that was there because they'd heard that he'd raised Lazarus from the dead. So they were to see there to see Jesus and Lazarus. Some of this crowd were not too happy because of Lazarus' resurrection. Many were now following this Jesus character. So here we are in Friday and Saturday let's get reading. I'm going to pray and open us up.
Speaker 1:
Dear Lord, thank you for Holy Week. Thank you that we get to have your word, to be reminded of your big story that we get to be a part of because of your son Jesus, who you sent to die for us on the cross, a work we'll never quite be able to understand in our human brain, but, boy, we praise you for it, lord. We realize that we need to remember this every day, not just Easter season, but we plan and hope to be intentional as we lead our way up to Easter, to really picture ourselves in the scene and really imagine how you must have felt. Lord, we're grateful, we're grateful for the work that you've done on the cross for all of us and all the generations before us and all the generations to come. We thank you for your Holy Spirit, our God-placed Spirit. You left with believers so that we could be guided and led to you while we wait for you to return. Thank you In your name, amen. John 12, 1 through 11.
Speaker 1:
These days before the Passover, jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas, I scaring yet one of his disciples, he who would betray him, said why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? Now, he had said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and, having charged with a money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said Leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial For the poor. You will always have, but you do not always have me when the large crowd of Jews learned that Jesus was there. They came Not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
Speaker 1:
Lord, we thank you for this word. I pray that it just begins to prepare our hearts for what is to come. What beauty we see in this scene, you surrounded by your closest few, your best buddies, martha, mary and Lazarus. Lord, how wild it must have felt to know what was coming and to receive an ointment and a blessing from Mary, to have Judas at your table and you know exactly what he'll do. Lord, you knew it all and yet you still completed it for us. We'll never quite understand it, lord, but help us to praise this week and be mindful of all that we have because of your Son. Thank you for this day and thank you for the week that we get. Let us be present and let us desire your word and be in a posture of gratitude as we approach Easter. Thank you for Sisters in Christ, that we get to join together in this season. Be with us today. Help us to get out into the world, lord, and be women who encourage other women In your name, amen.
