“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” —Philippians 4:6
Dear God, our Heavenly Father, we humbly come before you, seeking your divine help in this great time of need. We need to hear from you. We need a word from you. Speak to our hearts. This is my prayer…
Even as doctors, scientists and our political leaders impart their best wisdom; even as this pestilence encroaches upon our communities, claiming lives, threatening millions; even as we are encompassed by fear and a legitimate concern over the well-being of family, friends and our fellow man, only you can settle our hearts and minds.
We need your peace for such a time as this. Give peace, oh Lord.
Jesus, you are the Prince of Peace.
Lord, you are the architect of all creation. There is no virus, no plague, no pestilence, no pandemic, no earthen tragedy that has ever caught you unaware.
And while some might question the necessity of, or our proclivity, for prayer in times like these, people of faith have no recourse except to call upon your name.
So we call upon you. We seek your face. We beseech your mercy and grace. We ask for wisdom and your divine hand of provision and guidance.
Lord, look upon the homeless and indigent, those families who live in cars or in tent homes, those who make their beds beneath viaducts and overpasses with no resources to “shelter in place.”
Lord, we pray that the church will now arise and be the church. To be the hands and feet of Jesus, and to now remember the widow, the poor and the orphaned.
Let the church resound with a message of hope and with the effectual fervent prayer for healing and deliverance — even as it mourns in repentance for its sins of greed, hypocrisy and having abandoned its first love.
Lord, hear our prayer…
Be an unbreachable fence around single mothers, the elderly and the infirm who are now cut off from family amid this pandemic. Be an impenetrable shield to medical workers and staff, researchers and first responders on the front lines.
Let our leaders speak truth. Lord, tie the tongues of liars who would deceive the people. Let this time of social isolation be a time of holy consecration, family rededication and meditation.
Let the spirit of community and brotherhood arise. Let us remember to love our neighbor as ourselves—to look out for one another, having been fully reminded by this current state of emergency that we are all in this together. Reminded, that you, oh Lord, are no respecter of persons.
Lord, every now and then, we need reminders. Reminders of our human frailty. Reminders of our powerlessness — in spite of our own pride and sense of economic, political or social status.
Every now and then, since the beginning of time, Lord, there comes a moment of truth for humanity. A moment when all the earth seems to stand still, aghast at man’s inability to deter, avert and remedy, or even fully explain or comprehend an impending or unfolding historical catastrophe — the collective deaths of thousands or millions.
And yet, in that moment of truth, as people of faith, we stand in captivating awe of an omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent God whose eye is on the sparrow. “And I know,” in the words of the songwriter, “He watches me.”
So Lord, we thank you.
Thank you, Lord, for watching over us. For deliverance. For the faith and wisdom to seek the grace and mercy of an invisible God, even as an invisible enemy encroaches. By your Spirit, we shall prevail.
We trust in you, oh Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.
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Email John Fountain at Author@johnwfountain.com
