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⁶ “Will You not revive us again,
that Your people may rejoice in You?
⁷ Show us Your unfailing love, LORD,
and grant us Your salvation.
~ Psalm 85

This is a song from the Sons of Korah (the original ones — not the Melbourne band!).
It pleads with the Lord to bring revival and renewal to His people and their land.
And it does so with the assurance that God will indeed give what is good and the land will yield its harvest.
We should be on our knees day and night pleading with the Lord to send a spiritual harvest to Australia.

“What a fearful thing it is to see men lie grovelling in the earth,
and live without God in the world,
troubling and turmoiling themselves
how to compass this thing and that thing,
as if they had no God to seek unto, nor no promise to rely on.”
~ Sibbes

Petition: Please join with us in praying for:

1. The World — The number of confirmed cases is 94,994,496 (up 4,850,621 from last week — a slight decrease). The number of deaths of people with Covid-19 is 2,029,808 (up 97,542 — the highest so far.)
China has built five new hospitals to cope with an upsurge of cases (which are officially still very low).
Mexico is again seeing a large increase and has over 140,000 deaths.

2. Australia — There have been 28,708 cases in total (up 111 compared with 112 the week before, with 20 being community transmission — 24 last week).

State	Total Cases	Weekly Change TW/LW	Total Deaths	Change in Deaths TW/LW
ACT	118	+0 (0)	3	0
NSW	5,066	+ 49 (49)	54	0
NT	93	+3 (+9)	0	0
QLD	1,293	+19 (19)	6	0
SA	593	+6 (8)	4	0
TAS	234	+ 0 (0)	13	0
VIC	20,424	+14 (19)	820	0
WA	887	+12 (+8)	9	0

There are 38 people in hospital (-3), with 2 in intensive care (-2).
404,226 tests have been carried out in the past week, with 0.2% positive.
There are 215 active cases (-91).
NSW had no new community cases today (Monday) — likewise with the rest of Australia.
There is concern about 1200 tennis players and staff flying in from countries rife with Covid-19 all over the world, and confusion as to why they are permitted to fly in, but Victorians in NSW can’t return to their own state — although at the time of writing it has just been announced that for most areas of NSW this restriction is going to be lifted.

3. Vaccine and Cures — There is concern about the deaths of 30 elderly people in Norway who were given the Pfizer vaccine — although it needs to be pointed out that these elderly people were nearing death and it appears as though they died with slight side effects — which would not normally be serious for healthier people. There is also concern that the Chinese vaccine has only proved to be just over 50% effective in some areas. The UK, where Covid-19 now appears to be out of control, is in a race against time to get the majority of the population vaccinated within a couple of months.

4. Church — Pray for preachers. That they would be faithful, diligent, loving and passionate.
That the Holy Spirit would work through the Word read and the Word preached.

5. Personal and Family — Today is Blue Monday, supposedly the most depressing day of the year. Pray that people struggling with depression, isolation or debt across Australia would see the light of the gospel shining through.

A Prayer of Repentance:

O Lord, forgive the iniquity of Your people; cover all our sins.
Set aside all Your wrath and turn from Your fierce anger.
Restore us again, God our Saviour, and put away Your displeasure from us…
Show us Your unfailing love, and grant us Your salvation.
~ Psalm 85:2-7

Song: Pray for the US as it prepares for the inauguration of President Biden this week.
Here is a great song from America’s Christian heritage —
When I Rose This Morning by The Mississippi Mass Choir.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving:
O Lord, we bless You that Your love and faithfulness meet together,
that righteousness and peace kiss one another;
that faithfulness springs froth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from Heaven.
Lord, come down amongst us — renew and revive.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

___

Weekly devotions by David Robertson via Christians United — COVID19 Call to Prayer.[Photo by Sushobhan Badhai on Unsplash]