Today is being called a National Day of Prayer. Of course, every day we are called to devote ourselves to prayer, but obviously sometimes extreme circumstances drive us to extreme devotion.
I want to outline the different ways we are going to pray this morning.
First of all, of course, you can just pray where you are, maybe on your own, maybe in families. But we’ll be walking through some prayer content to help focus your prayers.
Pray by typing. You can write prayers in your notebook. You can write what you are praying and post it on Facebook and Whats App. You can then also engage with what others are praying and respond to what they have written online.
Pray with your body. A few months back we introduced our body liturgy, worshipping God by
Yadah – raising hands
Towdah – lifting hands in surrender
Barak – bowing before the Lord
Shabach – shouting
Zamar – stringed instruments and music – if you have an instrument, play it. If you don’t. grab some spoons and make some noise, or claps those washed hands.
Tehillah – the singing of songs
Halal – ecstatic dancing
Prayer for Scotland have offered these guidelines for us to pray through together:
Start with praise and worship - declaring the greatness, power, awesome majesty and total authority of our God. Psalms 145 - 150 are good for this.
Thank God for His love, goodness, kindness, compassion, patience, grace and mercy to you, this nation and the world, despite all the sin and darkness.
That in His mercy, God would slow and limit the spread and impact of the virus, with fewer cases, and in particular far fewer deaths, than expected.
For the protection of the elderly, frail and vulnerable, especially against the wicked in society who would seek to take evil advantage of their situation..
For NHS and Social Care staff who are on the front line – for their safety, health, energy and protection. That they would have all the resources they need to treat and care for those needing that care – whether in hospital, in the care home, or at home. Pray especially for any frontline staff you know by name.
For the Medical Directors and Scientists seeking to understand this new virus – that God would give them supernatural revelation and clarity, resulting in accurate forecasts and advice.
For the Governments in the 4 nations having to take drastic decisions affecting every citizen – that they would have the wisdom and courage to make the right decisions and ‘do what it takes’ to deal with the impact of the virus both on society and the economy. That there would be unity both within the UK leadership and with the leaders of Scotland, Wales and N Ireland.
For business leaders owners and employees rapidly facing a very uncertain future – that leaders/owners would be able to look after their staff and that businesses would rapidly recover once the virus peak has passed.
For our society – that we would turn from individual selfishness to being a caring, compassionate community. That much good would come out of this crisis – good that would not be temporary but would last.
For Foodbanks - that the level of donations would rise again so they can continue to serve the neediest in society, and for the health of volunteers and staff.
That our social fabric would be maintained with no breakdown of law and order.
For the Church – that we would grasp this unique opportunity to be ‘salt and light’ in our communities, drawing many to Jesus, to the Cross, to salvation and eternity in the Kingdom of light, not the dominion of darkness.
