Ze 9:9, 12 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;”

What do we say to God as we reflect upon Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus Christ presented Himself formally and irrevocably as the Paschal Lamb?

Here is an insightful, stirring prayer by Scotty Smith:

“Dear Lord Jesus, we’ll exhaust the glory and grace of this passage when the Amazon River flows backwards and the sun turns into a giant snow cone. Only you could fulfill Zechariah’s magnificent vision, and you have. Only you give us a reason to ‘greatly rejoice and should aloud.’ We worship you and rejoice in you on this Palm Sunday.

No other king could vanquish warhorses and warriors, riding the foal of a donkey. No other king could break the battle bow and backbone of warfare, by the brokenness of the cross and the blood of a covenant. No other king could replace the dominion of darkness and the tyranny of evil, with a reign of grace and a kingdom of peace.

No other king would give his life and death for the redemption of rebels and idolaters like us. No other king can possibly make slaves of sin into prisoners of hope.

Lord Jesus, you are that King—the King of glory, the Monarch of mercy, the Governor of grace, the Prince of Peace. Indeed, you are the King of kings and Lord of lords! Great is our rejoicing, because grace is our salvation! You have come to us and for us—righteous and victorious, loving and sovereign.

By the riches of your grace, continue to free us from waterless pits, broken cisterns and worthless idols. By the power of the gospel, enable us to live as prisoners of hope and agents of redemption, until the Day you return to finish making all things new. So very Amen we pray, in your holy and matchless name.”

What you ultimately put your hope in will control you! In a world chasing the empty mirages of culture and promises of new, self-proclaimed “messiah’s,” how do we allow the Jesus who entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday consolidate our hope in Him alone-through worshipful and prayerful Hosanna’s.

As Adrian Roger reminds us, “We ought to be living as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back this afternoon.” Prisoners of this kind of invasive, imminent hope pray…period.  This supernatural hope is exciting but….also binding to the discipline of settling for nothing less than “waving our palm branches for Jesus” through the avenue of prayer.