You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;
You have been angry — now restore us!
You have shaken the land and torn it open;
mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
You have shown Your people desperate times;
You have given us wine that makes us stagger.
But for those who fear You,
You have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.
Save us and help us with Your right hand,
that those You love may be delivered.
~ Psalm 60:1-5

This is a beautiful prayer/song. And so appropriate for our times. Our land has been shaken. There are fractures. We are seeing desperate times. But the Lord has given us a banner. We march, stand, live and love under the banner of Christ. There is no more secure place to be.

“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.”
― G.K. Chesterton

Petition: Please join with us in praying for:

1. The World – The number of confirmed cases is 16,157,585 (up 1,708,834 in the week – compared with 1,588,917 the previous week). There have been 647,159 deaths of people with Covid-19 (up 42.043 compared with 37,159 last week). Mexico, India, Peru and Chile are causing particular concern. There have also been increases in Spain, Italy and France – with fears of a ‘second wave’ being increased.

2. Australia – now has had 14,403 cases (up 2,601 in the past week, compared with 2,005 the previous) with 155 deaths (+33 compared with 14 the previous week).

As we go to press, the latest figures for Victoria have come out – with 546 new Covid-19 cases, a record for a single day in Australia.

State	Total Cases	Weekly Change TW/LW	Total Deaths	Change in Deaths TW/LW
ACT	113	+0	3	0
NSW	3,668	+100	49	0
NT	31	+0	0	0
QLD	1,076	+5	6	0
SA	447	+3	4	0
TAS	229	+ 1	13	0
VIC	8,181 5,696	+2,485	71	+33
WA	658	+7	9	0

The number of deaths in Victoria has almost doubled in the week — the vast majority are elderly people in care homes. The cases in NSW seem confined to a couple of clusters which have been traced.

There are 241 people in hospital (+106) with 51 in intensive care (+22). 3,935,134 tests have been carried out, with 0.4% being positive. 9,170 people have recovered. There are 4,399 active cases.

3. Vaccine and Cures – There are now 200 vaccine candidates in the world, with 22 in clinical trials. The WHO still thinks that a vaccine is highly unlikely before next year.

4. Church – A number of cases from the Thai restaurant cluster in south-west Sydney have also been linked to a couple of churches and Catholic schools. Pray that our churches would be kept safe from this virus.

5. Personal and Family – This has been a testing and proving time for many families.
Pray that our relationships would grow and develop as we learnt together to trust the Lord.

A Prayer of Repentance:

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Maker of all things, Judge of all men;
We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness,
which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed.
By thought, word, and deed, against Your Divine Majesty,
provoking most justly Your wrath and indignation against us.
We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings.
The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; the burden of them is intolerable.
Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father;
for Your Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake.
Forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please You in newness of life,
to the honour and glory of Your Name;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
~ Book of Common Prayer

A Prayer of Thanksgiving:
O Lord, we know that human help is worthless.
Give us aid against the enemy.
We thank You that with You we gain the victory.
Help us to live in the light of Your victory at the Cross
and the coming victory on the Day of judgement. Amen.

___

Twice-weekly devotions by David Robertson via Christians United — COVID19 Call to Prayer.[Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh from Pexels]