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This is the second of our Friday updates, which we are starting because of the seriousness of the current situation in Australia and the world. There is a sense in which we are at a tipping point, so the need for prayer is ever more urgent.

Each Friday, we will take a passage from Romans to meditate on, and then list some prayer points.
The weekly Monday prayer notes will continue.

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⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you,
because your faith is being reported all over the world.
⁹ God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the Gospel of His Son,
is my witness how constantly I remember you
¹⁰ in my prayers at all times;
and I pray that now at last by God’s will
the way may be opened for me to come to you.
~ Romans 1:8-13

God is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times.
I wonder how many of us glibly say ‘I will pray for you’… and then never do. God is our witness.
There is nothing more important that we can do for one another,
than pray constantly for our brothers and sisters.

Petition: Please join with us in praying for:

1. Australia – Victoria is in trouble, with hundreds more cases each day and several deaths, often in care homes. There is evidence that the spread is because a considerable number of those who have tested positive are not self-isolating and are spreading Covid-19.
NSW is still battling to avoid a Victorian situation, although the numbers are being kept down (18 in the latest day), and most are being tracked and traced. There is concern about the number of places where infected people have visited.
Queensland has recorded its first community transmissions for a while, because of the selfishness of a few teenagers who lied about where they had been (Melbourne).

Pray that people would be more self-disciplined, less selfish and more honest.

2. The World – Continue to remember the situation in South Africa, where almost half a million people have been identified as having Covid-19, with almost 8,000 deaths. Other countries in Africa are much lower – although this may be because of a lack of testing. However, Africa as a whole has not been as badly affected as South America, the Middle East and the USA.

A Song of Praise – Psalm 91
This version by Sons of Korah is beautiful – meditate on the words:

Prayer:
O Lord, we are fearful and almost in despair.
We watch with horror as people die and others are getting sick.
We plead with you to remove this illness from our world.
But most of all we pray that in the midst of sickness, we will look to you for health.
In the midst of death, let us seek eternal life.
We bless You that You came into this world,
so that those who believe in You would not perish but have everlasting life.
May this illness remind us all of our mortality and weakness.
And may we reach out to You, as You reach out to us.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Twice-weekly devotions by David Robertson via Christians United — COVID19 Call to Prayer.[Photo by Alabaster Co on Unsplash]