¹⁹ Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour,
Who daily bears our burdens.
²⁰ Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.
~ Psalm 68

This is an extraordinary thought — and a great comfort.
We struggle to bear our burdens, but God is our Saviour who bears our burdens daily.
It is from Him that escape comes from death.
Jesus said that when we are weary and burdened, we are to come to Him.
Peter tells us to cast all our burdens on Him, because He cares for us. What is stopping us?

“Our God is a present and a seasonable help.
All evils are at His command to be gone,
and all comforts at His command to come.”
~ Sibbes

Petition: Please join with us in praying for:

1. The World — The number of confirmed cases is 30,911,999 (up 2,020,323 from last week).
There have been 959,027 deaths of people with Covid-19 (up 36,586).
The pattern seems to be that the number of cases is increasing, but the death rate is dropping.
Mexico is a country which has seen a significant rise in both.

2. Australia — now has had 26,898 cases (up 247 compared with 372 in the previous week), with 849 deaths (+39 compared with 57 the previous week)

There are 109 people in hospital (-128), with 10 in intensive care (-7).
7,296,252 tests have been carried out, with 0.4% being positive.
24,057 people have recovered. There are 909 (-406) active cases.
Victoria is now below 20 new cases per day.

3. Vaccine and Cures — The Australian government is to put an extra $6 million into three different potential vaccines being developed in the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne.

4. Church — There are a significant number of churches without pastors.
In the current environment, it is difficult to call people from other countries and even other states.
Pray that the Lord would provide suitable and Godly under-shepherds for His flock.

5. Personal and Family — We pray for those who are separated from loved ones due to strict borders and lack of travel. Give thanks for technology, but pray that we will soon be able to meet face to face.

A Prayer of Repentance:
O Lord, we confess that we so often go on in our own strength or turn aside after other idols. But as Psalm 68 says: You are the one who refreshes Your people, who sets the lonely in families, who gives abundant showers. Lord, forgive us. Fill us. And refresh us. Amen.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving:

³² Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth,
sing praise to the Lord,
³³ to Him who rides across the highest heavens,
the ancient heavens,
Who thunders with mighty voice.
³⁴ Proclaim the power of God,
Whose majesty is over Israel,
Whose power is in the heavens.
³⁵ You, God, are awesome in Your sanctuary;
the God of Israel gives power and strength to His people. Hallelujah!
~ Psalm 68:32-35