July 7th prayer

Every month there is a group of people at church that spend 48 hours in prayer — each person takes a 30 minute shift so there is a constant flow of prayer over our church, country, and world for 48 hours. This is my second month participating and as I feel like an inadequate pray-er, but a decent writer, I’m trying to pray as I write and see if I can form more cogent thoughts than my mind rambling in circles for 30 minutes on repeat of “Thank you Lord for how you provide for us — please help XXX . . .what do I have in the fridge to cook for dinner tonight — dang it, I’m supposed to be praying. Where was I? Thank you Lord . . . “

Lord, thank you for your provision throughout quarantine. For the ways you have provided for people who have lost jobs, for miraculous healings, and for those who have come to know you through this time of crisis. Thank you that we can have confidence in your power and your goodness — each of those elements being weak on their own, but because you embody both of them we are infinitely blessed. A powerful God without goodness or a good God without power are both meaningless. Thank you that we can have confidence in both your ability AND your love for us.

I pray that you would continue to pour out your blessing on your church — not individual bodies, but the entire global body. I pray that we would come together and be strengthened and unified and show your love to a world that is lost. I pray that as you sent Christ as a blessing for the world, that we would turn around and richly bless those who do not know of your marvelous gift yet. I pray that you would open our eyes to those in need around us — those who are poor in material goods as well as lacking your spirit and that your love for them would flow through us in a supernatural way.

I pray for the leadership of the UAE. Lord, I pray for wisdom and knowledge for decision makers during this time when knowledge is in short supply. I pray that you would guide them and direct them, whether knowingly or unknowingly, into a path that suits your purpose. I pray that you would reveal your strength, goodness, and mercy to them, that their eyes would be open to your GRACE. I pray they would understand that salvation isn’t something to be earned, but has already been provided through your act of love toward us.

As Psalm 46 says: “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” I pray that through these months that you would be exalted in all the earth. I pray that we would be patient as we wait for that day to come. I pray for daily patience as we must be still in a literal sense — restricted from work, from movement, from friends, from travel. I pray that this time would be redeemed. That it wouldn’t be something to be endured, but to be treasured. I pray that growth would happen through this time of isolation and hibernation. That our roots would be strengthened and that we would be storing up for the next phase of growth that is to come.

Jeremiah 17: Blessed is the woman who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. She is like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

I pray that in this time of drought, that our roots would continue to deepen, to seek living water, and continue to bear fruit. May those around us be amazed at that impossibility and be drawn to you as a result.

Father as we are stronger together, I pray that we would be able to meet in person as congregations soon. You created us for relationship with you and with one another and I pray that we would be able to meet as a healthy and strong body. That you would wipe out disease and sickness and erase fear from those who are burdened by worry. I ask for a time of community, with rejoicing and singing your praises for all you have done for us. As things stand here locally, that would take a miracle. I ask for a miracle Lord and praise you in advance for how you are moving and making a way for your church.

Lord I pray for those who are at the end of their rope. They have nothing left to hold onto. Even those who know you who feel that you are far away from them. I pray that you would make your presence known, that you would lift the cloud that surrounds them and give them hope. Please intervene in those situations where people have lost their jobs and are desperate. I pray that no one would lose their life over this — that you would stand in-between them and trouble and protect them when the enemy attacks.

I ask that you work to remove the virus completely from this planet. It has invaded every continent and every city — whether physically or with the reverberations of fear that have left no-one untouched. I ask that it would be stopped, that the disease would be reversed, that all the side effects remaining with those who have been sick would disappear. Thank you Lord for being a God who hears our requests and . . . “praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion . . .” (Ps. 103) Amen.